Stuck In The Middle

Chapter 1

Daniel's POV
I was wearing my bright blue sneakers matched with a black long sleeved shirt. And of course I was wearing jeans and a zip-up black leather jacket. It was snowing outside so I was wearing the light blue earmuffs my best friend had given me on my 12th birthday. As I stared in the mirror examining my outfit, my black hair turned brown by the lights above my mirror. I brushed my teeth and left the bathroom to have breakfast, when my mom said, "The bus is here!" I looked at my watch. "Crap!" I thought. "It's 8:10 already!" I grabbed my backpack, a piece of toast, and ran out the door. "Wait!" I yelled as the bus drove away. And that's where we are now. *catchy theme song ensues* I run down the road, yelling for the bus to stop. I see my dark blue eyes shining with worry in the mirror on the bus. All of the kids on the bus are laughing and recording me by now. The bus eventually stops. I get in and sit next to my best friend. I put the earmuffs in my backpack. We stare at each other for a little bit. "Nice toast." He says, bursting into laughter and pointing at the toast in my mouth. I rolled my eyes and stared at him, his orange hair turning gold in the sunlight. My other friends used to call him "Gold Hair" referencing his hair color. He has pale white skin and freckles just about everywhere on his face. He has blue-green eyes and a not so muscular structure, which shows because he almost always wears short sleeves. Like today, he's wearing short sleeves, jeans, and a thick blue jacket tied around his waist. Anyways, the school I go to is for smart people. But sometimes, not so smart people get picked out of the lottery. They got lucky on their end-of-year exams and now they're in this school. Like my best friend, actually, I haven't even mentioned their name. Ryan , their name is Ryan. The other day he asked me how to spell knight. We're in 9th grade and both 13. Sure, he isn't the brightest but he's my only friend and we stick together. He's always been like that anyways, so I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. He's even in a few of my classes, and considering how much more I use my intelligence and common sense than him on a daily basis, he's doing pretty good. I know I'm rambling, and sounds like I'm just saying bad things about him but he deserves more credit than I'm giving him sometimes. I take out my phone and open FV Family YouTube channel. I show Ryan their latest video, "We're moving!" His eyes widen and he leans in. "I thought they brought that house!" He says, looking at me. I shrug and play the video. We were about to watch it, but the bus stops. We get off. We walk into the school and I hear a few people from my bus talking about me. "Great, the news is already spreading." I think. "Whatever." I think, shrugging it off. Me and Ryan go to our separate classes, waving goodbye. I head down the hall, looking downwards. Yup, that's my life. And it was about to get a whole lot weirder. I bump into someone and they drop the folders and papers they were holding. "S-sorry!" I say, blushing. I crouch down to pick up their stuff, not looking at them. "I w-wasn't looking where I was g-going!" I manage to get out. If you haven't figured it out already, I'm not too hot with social interaction. "It's okay," A female voice says. "Here, I'll help. It's my stuff anyways." She says. "Wait a minute," I think, a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. "I know that voice!" I look up to see Alexis Ryan handing me a folder! But before I can take it, the bell rings. I freak out, drop her stuff, and bolt. A few minutes later, I'm in math class thinking of how rude I was. "Aw man aw man aw man!" I think. "Alexis Ryan goes to my school, and first time I see her in person I leave her to be late for class! She probably thinks I'm super rude!" I think, worriedly. "Then again, ALEXIS RYAN IS AT MY SCHOOL! I'm sure she'll understand I was just flustered."

Lex's POV
I quickly pick up my things and rush to class. The teacher is taking attendance, but luckily the door is still open. I quietly walk in, crouching. I head toward the desk in the back, but the teacher calls my name. "Alexis Ryan?" I stand up, raising my hand. "That's me, sorry for coming in late." I say. "It's fine Mrs. Ryan, you're new here." He says.

Daniel's POV
I look around the cafeteria for Ryan. "I can't wait to tell him about Lex!" I think, excitedly. I look over the faces of my peers, the lunch line, and occasionally the hallway. I check my phone, it had been 10 minutes since lunch started. Lex, nor Ryan are anywhere in sight. I'm about to go check the library, but I see a familiar face. "This is the best day ever, and I swear if I see Mike I'm gonna cry!" I think. Jax Ryan is walking towards me! I stare at him, taking in his long black hair, brown eyes, black jacket, jeans and sneakers. "Hi, uh have you seen my sister? Long brown hair, glasses, kinda big nose?" He asks. "Yes," I reply. "I'm actually a b-big Funnel Vision fan!" I say, not being able to keep it in any longer. "I can take you to her-I mean it's not like I'm stalking her or anything it's just that-well can I get an autograph? Or I could take you to her first-" Jax laughs, interrupting me. "Yeah, I'll give you an autograph!" He says, taking out a pen. I hand him a piece of paper and stare at him, about to burst with excitement. "I'm kind of surprised that there's at least one fan here, I mean this is a high school." He says, writing. "And who should I make this out to?" He asks, looking up. "Daniel." I reply, trying to calm myself. "Here you go!" He says, finishing and handing me the autograph. I'm quick to take it, admiring it. "Where did you say Lex was gonna be again?" He asks, putting the pen back in his pocket. "I'll show you." I say, folding the paper and stashing it in my pocket. We go to the library and open the doors. We see Lex sitting at one of the wooden tables by a bookcase. I start panicking, looking around for Ryan. Luckily, I see him. I quietly walk away, listening to Lex Jax's conversation as I fall out of earshot. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to be in the library?" He asks. "I did! You were too busy checking out the girls here, Mr. Hotshot!" She replies. "I was not!" He pauses. "Okay, I'm not gonna lie. Remove the last word of that sentence." He admits. I reach Ryan and pull him behind a bookcase. "What are you doing?" He asks. I explain how I bumped into Lex in the hallway and what happened after. "Well, I guess that makes sense." He says. "Ok, my question time now!" I say. "Why didn't you tell me you were here?" I ask. "I forgot to text you when I saw Lex!" He says. "Why don't you just apologize to her?" He asks, gesturing to her and Jax. "Because I think she'll have calmed down by, I don't know, a few days from now?" I say. "Come on, you're stalling! You're just to shy to talk to her!" He argues. "And who can blame me? I ditched her in the middle of the hallway for what to her, seems like no reason!" I argue back. "Okay, okay. It's your call." He says, putting his hands up.

Chapter 2
I thought for a minute. "You know what? You're right, I'm gonna go apologize." I decided. "I believe in you Daniel!" Ryan whispered excitedly, as we stand up. I walk over to Lex and Jax. Jax recognized me. I sit down next to them, as his eyes light up. "Lex! You won't believe-" His smile faded. "She's giving you "The Look"! She only only does that when me or Mike do something stupid. What did you do?" He hissed. He gets up and gestures to the entrance with his thumb. "I gotta go. Bye!" He said, leaving. I turned to Lex. "About what happened yesterday," I said. "I'msosorryforbumpingintoyouit'sjustthati'vewatchedFunnelVisionlikemyentirelifeandIguessitwastoomuchformetotakeinandIfreakedoutandboltedandohgodi'mramblingyouknowwhati'mjustgonnastopnow." Yeah, I did that. My cheeks turned red and I had a weird smile on my face that Ryan told me about later. "Well, I didn't get in trouble for arriving late. So, I'll forgive you." She said. "YES! YES! YES!" Lex started laughing, and the librarian glared at me. That's how I realized I was yelling. I stopped and quietly shuffled to the door. "I'm gonna-" I said, gesturing towards the door. "Yeah, you should do that," She said, trying to keep in laughter. I walked out the door, Ryan following me.  The doors closed and us walking down the hall, I turned to Ryan. "Real smooth there, bud." He said, laughing. I rolled my eyes and we kept walking.