We're Just Misfits

Chapter 3 - Jack Bakier

Liam stared, unsure of what to do, or say. It was clear the boy already knew that the taller guy was sitting next to him, because a frigid atmosphere oozed from his every pore. He was hunched over his desk, scribbling down in his notepad. Every once in a while, he would look up toward his laptop, type something quickly, and go back to his writing. Liam watched as the boy brushed a long blonde hair out of his pale blue eyes. The nosy teenager took in every detail: the sharp jawline, thin lips, seemingly permanent scowl and carefully styled eyebrows. Liam was very confused by the latter: he then allowed himself a slightly amused smirk, imagining the hulk of a guy staring intently at the mirror, styling his eyebrows.

The boy was soon torn from his thoughts, however, as the miserable hag of a teacher started registration. Liam was one of the first students who had their names called, his beginning with a D. When his name was uttered, the boy responded with a slightly too loud "Present!", and received a very disapproving glare from the teacher, and a few snickers from surrounding students. But he didn't focus on that: Liam was more infatuated with working out the boy's name. He soon got his answer.

"Jack Bakier." Announced the teacher. A quiet "Present" escaped the boy's lips, and Liam was caught off guard. Bakier: he recognised that name from somewhere. Then he realised. The boy sitting across from Liam, with his MacBook Pro, was the son of one of the richest men in the country, Arnold Bakier. Not only did Arnold have massive shares in some even more massive companies, he was the owner of his own company, the supermassive, self-named tech giant Bakier. Liam couldn't help but concede a small gasp.

Suddenly noticing he had been staring, and had a few rather confused looks cast in his direction, Liam turned his attention back to his laptop, and the maths homework he had a question left on. He had a few minutes left until registration ended, so cracked on with it.

*

The bell rang, slightly less shrill because it wasn't right over his head, and Liam finished off the equation, and typed in the answer. Quickly, knowing his English teacher for next period would practically whip him if he was late, the teenager packed up his stuff. Before stepping out of class, Liam snuck a quick glance at Jack, only to see him staring straight towards him. The embarrassed boy spun his head back around and practically ran to his English classroom.

The teenager arrive on time, just, and went to the back corner of the class and sat down. Liam pulled put just his laptop, knowing he wouldn't need anything else for this lesson, and typed his pin into the space grey MacBook. By the time the boy had loaded everything he needed, the teacher, Mr Daniels, had arrived. He quickly took registration and then continued on with the lesson. But Liam wasn't paying much attention. His mind kept wandering over to Jack, and the fact he'd been looking at him with such a weird expression in his eyes. Liam really couldn't put a finger on it. It looked like a strange mix of confusion and sadness. But what could possibly lead him to have such-

"Liam Darwin, are you listening to a goddamn word I'm saying?" Shouted a very angry Mr Daniels, practically drop kicking the teenager out of his thoughts.

"Yes, sir...?" Replied Liam, rather embarrassed and wondering if he could get away with it. His irritating teacher just gave him one hell of a death stare, and went back to teaching the slightly more interested portion of the class. Funnily enough, after a few minutes, this actually included the boy. He didn't trust himself to think anymore, and decided to try and study somewhat: it was the first day back at school, and it was not a very good idea to slack. He started taking notes, putting everything on one big word document, ready for him to edit at some point. Eventually, he actually learnt something, albeit something absolutely useless that he would never use again in his life except for exams.

As the lesson finished, however, Liam was very grateful. He didn't really fancy one more minute in the same room as that grouchy thing that called himself a teacher. The boy packed up his stuff, and strode hastily from the room. Liam worked his way down the tight corridors, trying not to get trampled by the hundreds of teenagers around him. Although he was a great deal taller than more of them, he still found it very easy to get squashed by the masses.

After a lot of pushing and shoving, Liam made it into his history class. This was one of the few subjects he actually enjoyed: the teacher was so laid back, and made most tasks optional. As long as you were doing something related to the subject, you were welcome to learn in any way you wish. For Liam, that was actually using Mrs. Partridge's presentations, and making detailed but fancy notes on his laptop. And as far as the teenager could tell, it worked: he was top of the class, and got a 9 in his GSCEs.

Unfortunately, as Liam walked into the airy classroom, his opinion changed. He noticed the new seating plan on the large interactive whiteboard, and mentally screamed. He was sitting in a corner of the classroom, against the wall: something he normally would have loved. But not when it involved sitting next to Jack.

Shoulders slumped, the boy walked over to his allocated seat and unpacked his equipment. A couple of minutes after he was set up, Jack arrived at class and looked at the seating plan. Finding his place, his eyes drifted over to where Liam was currently sitting, intensely reading his book. Out of the corner of his eye, Liam noticed Jack's whole face shifted from neutrality to a slight, but noticeable, scowl. The miserable teenager swiftly walked over to his seat, not paying his neighbour any more attention.

After a few minutes of silence, Liam couldn't help but glance over at the young man seated next to him. He peeked extremely discreetly, angling his whole body away from the boy. The only way one might notice the teenager would be to stare directly into his eyes: something he would notice anyone doing. Liam just wanted to be able to glean something from the secretive boy. He thought the best place to start was the boy's laptop. But as he glanced over at the shiny, super good-looking screen, Liam was shocked for the second time today. The laptop's background was peeking out, and yet no family photos showed. No personalised background, not even a cityscape. The default MacBook Pro backdrop shone through. He was not only shocked, but also confused. Who wouldn't want to show off the fact that they had a millionaire dad? Liam made a mental note to try to confront the guy at a later date. For now, however, the nosy teen searched those piercing blue eyes. And saw nothing else. Clearly, Jack was very aware of how to hide any emotion, because nobody in their right mind would be emotionless on their first day of school, especially first day of sixth form.

Liam decided to drop the matter for now and get back to the awfully boring work the teacher had set.

*

The bell finally rang, it's shrill screeching actually a welcome sound. Hastily, the teenager packed up his things and carefully slipped his laptop into his bag. He noticed that Jack was just getting up, and as he did so, he nudged his laptop. Already teetering on the edge, now it plummeted to the floor. Out of sheer instinct, Liam reached out his hands and grabbed onto it just before the MacBook shattered on the ground. Sighing, the teenager stood up straight, holding out the expensive piece of equipment. "My way of trying to make amends, I suppose." Liam said, ready to get shut down.

"Uhm, yeah, uh... thanks." Came a surprisingly shaky reply. As the shorter boy took the laptop, the two teenagers' hands whispered against each other. By the time the piece of tech was in Jack's bag, he was blushing lightly. Liam shrugged it off, putting it down to the fact the poor boy had almost shattered an Ultrabook worth three and a half grand.

But Liam couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.