In the New House [DISCONTINUED]

The Dollar Store

(TW: Feeling neglected, light swearing)

"Blue or green..." Logan studied the two spiral notebooks he had in his hands. "Definitely blue."

He added the blue notebook to the rest of his school supplies, all of which were the same shade of dark blue. Logan started his walk to the checkout line and checked his phone for the time. While looking down at his phone, he was completely unaware of the boy who was crouching down to look at a row of tin lunchboxes. Of course, Logan tripped over him, landing on the floor with a smack. His shopping basket jabbed him in the ribs, which hurt like hell. The notebooks and binders were spilled all over the floor.

Great.

"Aw, fiddlesticks!" The boy Logan tripped over said, rubbing his head.

"Sorry! I didn't see you." Logan apologized, starting to gather his things.

"That's alright." The boy shrugged, helping him pick up the books. He was wearing khaki shorts and a light blue t-shirt that said Narwhals are the Unicorns of the Sea. "I probably shouldn't have been sitting on the ground."

"Yeah, that was kind of dumb." Logan said absentmindedly. The boy looked a little hurt but quickly put his smile back on.

"I'm Patton." He said, holding out his hand to shake.

"Logan."

"Nice to meet ya, Logan!" Patton said, smiling brightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well. If you'll excuse me...". Logan said dismissively, trying to walk around the peppy boy, but Patton accidentally stepped to block his path.

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"Huh? Oh I just moved here." Logan maneuvered around Patton and continued walking.

"Neat!" Patton exclaimed and started following Logan, who was not at all pleased to have someone tailing him. "Where'd you move in to?"

"The uh the house on the corner of Libel and Cerebral."

"Hey, I know that place!" Patton said. "That's where-."

"Hey, Pat? Should I get a pack of glittery gel pens or is that too much?"

Another boy came around the corner, holding a pack of six gel pens, each a different color of the rainbow. He was wearing a red crop top, skinny jeans, and a gray fitted jacket with a rainbow along the shoulders and the tag line LOVE WINS plastered across the back. Yeah, he was definitely gay.

"Oooo I didn't see those!" Patton squealed as he looked at the gel pens. Logan took this as an opportunity to escape, but Patton unexpectedly grabbed his shoulder turning him to face the boy with the pens. "This is Logan. He just moved into your old house."

The second boy's face immediately fell. Realizing his mistake, Patton quickly continued talking.

"This is Roman. He's my bestest friend in the whole wide world!" Patton said to Logan.

"Nice to meet you." Logan said very monotone.

"Likewise." Roman tried to muster a smile. "Did you find a notebook, Pat?"

"Mhm!" Patton nodded, holding up a composition notebook with a picture of puppies in a flowery meadow.

"Fabulous. I'll go check out for us." Roman said taking the notebook, his genuine smile seemingly back for good. Patton smiled as he watched Roman power walk over to the checkout counter. Very uncomfortable, Logan tried again to walk away.

"So, Logan, what school are you going to?"

"I'm going to be starting at Rosewood High School tomorrow."

"NO WAY!" Patton gasped. "You're coming to me and Roman's school!"

"First of all, Roman and I's school. Second, why would you think I was going anywhere else if Roman lived in the same house before?"

Patton looked embarrassed and looked at the floor.

"Yeah.. I guess that was kind of silly of me. Sorry."

"Alrighty, lets get out of here." Roman said as he walked back over to Patton and Logan holding a bag with the gel pens and notebook.

"Ro, did you pay for my notebook? I told you I didn't want to cause you any trouble..." Patton pouted.

"It's no trouble." Roman answered. "Besides, you paid last time."

"Darn you, Ro-Ro." Patton smiled as he nudged Roman playfully. Logan was getting more and more uncomfortable.

"If you don't mind, I have to finished unpacking." Logan lied.

"Aw okay. See you at school?"

"Sure, sure, whatever." Logan said only half-listening.

"We usually sit in the library in the mornings before class. Meet us there?"

"Sure."

"Awesome! See ya!" Patton waved cheerily as Logan quickly went to check out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Logan?" Mr. Barry called from the living room.

"Yeah, Dad?" Logan yelled back, typing on his laptop.

"Can you come pick up your Cosmic Radiation book?"

"What?" Logan looked up from his laptop.

"Your Cosmic Radiation book. You left it in the kitchen."

"No. It should be on my bookshelf." Logan stood up looking around at his bookshelf to see if the book his dad was talking about.

"Well I'm looking at it and it's by the sink."

"What?" Logan groaned and walked to the kitchen where, sure enough, his book on Cosmic Radiation was sitting on the counter. "That's impossible. I left it in my room, I swear."

"I don't care how it got here, just put it away."

Logan picked up his book and took it back to his room, flopping back down onto the bed.

"Why is it that the only times we talk are when he needs me to do something for him?"

Logan held his pillow to his chest laying on his side. It felt like he was completely alone in the world. The only person who seemed to care about his existence was that random guy from the dollar store, and he had treated him like garbage. Nothing was going right.

Logan heard his bedroom door open and close, but didn't bother to look at who it was. It was definitely his dad and Logan definitely didn't want to see him at that moment. Then came the same back rub as the day before: small circles up and down his spine. Even though it was nice, Logan didn't want anyone to be anywhere near him right then.

"Dad, I really want to be alone right now." Logan sighed, but the hand on his back didn't stop. "Go away." Still, they didn't stop. Logan felt his patience snap. "Dad, I asked you nicely to go away, so I'll ask you not nicely. Leave me the hell alone!"

Logan sat up to face his dad, but found that he was indeed alone.

"There's no way he got up, walked out, and shut the door so quickly without me hearing.."

Completely bewildered, Logan looked around his room, but didn't see anyone there.

"Strange..."