city of achilles {bxb}

chapter 2

I sit next to Leon in ancient Greece and mythology (I don't fucking know what this class is actually called, I think it's too niche for anything too trim).

The teacher, Mr. Angelopoulos, smiles at me. "You're Marco, right?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Glad to have you here, man. How'd you find my classroom so quick? It's in the weird hallway."

I laugh a bit. He seems like a more down-to-earth, more readable version of Mr. Fly. "No offence, but every hallway in this school is weird."

"Well, this one is extra weird."

I nod slowly. "I see." I say, taking out my sketchbook. I sift through it carefully to make sure I don't open up on the page where I drew Leon before I knew who he was, and I make sure I don't open it up on my...'anatomy practice' (it's basically just softcore porn...when I said I've never painted homoerotica, I said painted, that excludes sketches).

Leon speaks up. "We have english class together."

"Yeah, how's that?" Mr. Angelopoulos makes conversation. He and Leon seem very comfortable with each other and I can see why- they're both extremely talkative and I get the same vibes from them. I wonder what it is.

"It's...english. It's okay. At least I have a desk buddy now."

I blush a bit and bring my sketchbook to my lap.

"Cool, cool. Right on."

I guess they can relate on a cultural level, so that's probably a part of it. I had one Italian teacher and we bonded over having big families who argue at the dinner table and grandmothers who won't take no for an answer when it comes to food. She said it more in a joking way and I sort of went along with it, even though I was dead serious. We can't have family gatherings anymore. Everyone ends up pulling their hair out by the end of it. I never tell anyone how dysfunctional my family is because I don't want pity. I just want a normal relationship.

I think I've successfully hid my patches from Leon. I wonder how long I can do this for. He seems to already be comfortable with me- maybe a little too comfortable. He seems really nice, but we're not exactly on the same wavelength. I'm not nearly as comfortable as he is, or seems.

"Good morning class!" Mr. Angelopoulos is loud.

"It's one in the afternoon." A girl says in the back. Usually, I'm in the back, but Leon always sits near the side about halfway up the column near a window. I wonder why.

"I don't care." Mr. Angelopoulos says. The class laughs. "I'm very tired, it's last period on a Monday, gross, so we're gonna do something a little more chill today. All of you have probably gotten assignments today since it's the second week of school and for some dumbass reason teachers all choose the same day to start giving out projects."

He swears in class! Definitely a cool teacher.

"So we're gonna start analyzing and comparing the true mythology versus what's usually portrayed in the media. True mythology is totally an oxymoron, but, whatever. So we're gonna watch the movie Troy, any of you seen this before?"

I have, but nobody else raises their hand, so I don't wanna be that kid.

"No? Okay- well, it's pretty well-made, but I get sort of angry with some parts, but we'll talk about that after. Now, if I can even get this thing working..." Mr. Angelopoulos sits down and puts on his glasses as he logs into the computer on his desk. "Just- talk quietly- QUIETLY, I'm looking at you Leon- amongst yourselves."

I laugh. I don't know why. It's stupid, really- for some reason my brain thinks it's funny that someone I know has been mentioned by someone else I also vaguely know. This is the kind of shit that happens when you don't talk to anyone at school for a year after you've had to dump your boyfriend who you never wanted to dump in the first place.