[Boyfriend to Death] Lawrence x Gender Neutral!Reader

Chapter 2

[F/N = friend's name]

After Mr. Oleander's remark, Ren and his friends had just snickered. It was pretty obvious the blond teacher wasn't really happy, evident by how Ren was promptly sent into the hallway for the rest of class.

The rest of the week went on like that. Ren and his friends poke fun at the teacher, get sent out of the classroom, and leaving the room tense for the rest of class. You didn't need to be the most perceptive person in the world to tell that Mr. Oleander was losing his patience.

It was creepy. Like, scary creepy. Creepy as if your teacher was close to snapping. Creepy as if he was close to snapping Ren's neck. 

Other than that... well, Mr. Oleander seemed pretty nice. You honestly had no idea why he would want to be a teacher, since he seems to absolutely hate any kind of social interaction, even if it's to answer a question. Maybe it was just because he liked to talk about plants? His eyes always seemed to light up when doing so.

So... yeah. He was unstable and awkward and you have no idea why your school felt comfortable hiring this guy, but he seemed nice... ish.

"...So please have this done by Friday." The sound of chairs squeaking against linoleum flooring snapped you out of your trance. Shit. You weren't paying attention.

Damn it. Guess you'll have to talk to Mr. Oleander after everyone leaves... Jeez. Honestly, there's no telling how he's going to react, especially since his one interaction with you was telling you that you were late for class on your first day.

Maybe he won't be mad? Maybe.

Probably not.

"U-Uh," You internally cursed your cracking voice and cleared your throat, waiting for Mr. Oleander to look up from his papers before continuing. "I spaced out and wasn't paying attention near the end of class."

When he just stared back at you, you averted your eyes and shuffled your feet awkwardly.

"What do we need done by Friday?"

When you still didn't get a response, you looked back at your teacher and found him staring at you with a... surprised look on his face? Your face felt a little hot before you realized you were blushing in embarrassment. Clearing your throat for a second time seemed to bring Mr. Oleander back to the real world.

"O-Oh, um..." He fumbled with the papers he was holding for a second. You told yourself he wasn't blushing and that you were imagining it. "You can find the assignment in an email I sent out. If you need help, um... you can come to me after class or during lunch."

Holy shit. What? This awkward guy just said you could approach him for help? You had to keep your jaw from dropping on the floor in fear of him getting the wrong idea and changing his mood in an instant. Awkward Mr. Oleander wasn't great, but angry Mr. Oleander was straight-up terrifying.

"Y-Yeah, okay. I will. Thanks Mr. Oleander." You still felt intimidated in the back of your mind, but your surprise was more prominent. 

The blond man... actually smiled a bit. Again, you had a small battle with your jaw to keep it from unhinging like a snake and cracking the tiles below from the sheer velocity at which it would drop. Seriously, what the hell?

As you walked out of the classroom, tense and gripping the strap of your backpack a bit more tightly than you normally would, you could almost feel Mr. Oleander's eyes on the back of your head.

__________

"...I'm telling you, [Y/N]." [F/N] said with a mouth full of food. The cafeteria was full, as usual, with loud peers and sub-par school food. And as usual, your friend was nearly inhaling the sorry excuse for food that the school tried to pass off as "healthy." They swallowed and furrowed their eyebrows when they saw you staring down at your lunch tray.

"...Hey. What's up?" [F/N] set their slice of pizza down. "You've barely talked since we got here."

"Oh!" You felt your heart beat a little faster nervously. "It's nothing. Just thinking about... uh, just thinking."

The piece of half-grease half-artificial cheese was forgotten. "Dude, it's not nothing if you're not even listening to my story."

You sighed. "It's just that... Mr. Oleander was being weird and I don't know what it meant...? If it was anything in the first place."

[F/N] chuckled. "Isn't he always, though? I'm not in his class but I've heard enough stories." When you didn't respond, your companion frowned. "Hey. If you wanna talk about it, I'm here."

"Yeah... I know."

"So are we gonna eat some garbage food or what?"