Sweet Boy ✔

five

asher
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"I'm super duper hungry, can you show me where the cafeteria is?" Pip asked once it was lunch time.

We walked over to the cafeteria. I never eat in here so it felt pretty strange. Luckily though, as soon as we walked in, Conan spotted us and called us over to his table.

"Hey Pip, let me introduce you to my friends," Conan greeted happily, "Alright we got Theo, Levi, Isaiah, and Zander," As soon as he said Zander, Pip looked to me, raising her eyebrows and silently mouthed 'he's a hottie'.

I gave a slight chuckle as we took out seats at the table. We sat in between the boys, I was next to Conan and Pip was next to Isaiah. I looked across from me to find Zander. I smile back at him once I notice him looking at me.

"Have you two met yet?" Conan asks, motion between Zander and I.

"Uh yeah, out on the field yesterday before P.E," Zander replies although not very loudly. I just nod along, agreeing with him.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go get some food because I'm fucking starving. Ash, do you want anything?" he asks me but I slowly shake my head. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast this morning but I'm not hungry.

I look back over at the table and everyone already seems to be in conversation. Levi was talking to Theo and Pip seemed to be hitting it off with Isaiah. I look back at Zander, we both being the only ones not talking but I didn't want to start anything.

"Well, how are you," I turn my head up, surprised by the sound of his voice. It was so calming and soft whilst still being firm.

"I'm alright, school's school I guess so I'm not really over the moon," I say before looking down at the wooden table. I don't know why I was so nervous to talk to him.

"I don't really want to butt in with your personal life, but you should eat something, here have these," he says before pushing the cup of fries my way.

"No that's alright, you have them. I ate something before I came in here so I'm not very hungry," it was a lie. I didn't want to take his food so I pushed the cup back towards him.

"So Asher, what do you do?" I look at him, confused by his question, but he notices, "Well, Conan plays lacrosse and seems to be a pretty popular one if you look at all the girls he has hooked around his finger, but I want to know what you do? Like do you play a different sport or something?" I was a little jealous of the fact that Conan was the popular twin, but I never let it stop me from doing my thing.

"I don't do anything, no. As you can see, I'm not really built to play sports. I'm not a drama, music, or school nerd. I'm just kinda me, I do my own thing," I eventually find the reply.

"And care to tell me what your own thing is?" he asks with a hopeful look in his eyes. I wonder why he was so interested?

"My own thing? I sit alone, I don't talk to anyone, and I breeze through school," I say, feeling sadder about myself, "My own thing is being invisible, I guess,"

I finally look back up at Zander, the look in his eyes had gotten sadder.

"Change it then, you're obviously not happy being invisible, so why not change it?" good question.

"It's not that I want to be invisible, I just am. When you have known everyone in this school for years, they don't just magically change over night and want to talk to you. And Conan has always been the more popular one, everyone puts the attention on him. When people see me, even family, they never ask how I'm doing, they only ever ask how Conan is doing. I'm getting tired of it, I just want someone to care for me more than they care for him. I'm sick of always being so invisible!" I blanked out into another world when I said that. I didn't realise that my voice had gotten so loud. The whole table was looking at me now. Fuck!

I quickly turn around and stand up but bump into another body. Conan. I saw the look on his face. Not one of hurt but it wasn't happy either.

I feel the tears coming to my eyes and take that as my queue to leave. I race out of the cafeteria, wiping at the tears falling from my face. I head outside and run towards the back of the building towards the tennis courts and my favourite tree. No one ever comes out here which, at this point, I'm highly thankful for. I sit down on the grass, shutting my eyes and leaning back on the tree.

zander
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"Are you alright?" I asked the boy who was sitting on the grass, you could see the lines where tears had run down his face.

I could see the nod of his head, but he didn't go on any further.

"I felt invisible once," I started off, I didn't want to go into too much detail of my past, but at this moment, it felt right to just let some of it out. "At my old school, I said something to some people, it wasn't a bad thing, people just didn't take it well. From that moment on, I lost my friends, my family, the people I thought were closest to me had drifted away," I wanted to stop myself, but it felt as if I just couldn't.

"For months and months, I felt as if I didn't belong there. A part of me had died as soon as I lost everyone. I stopped playing lacrosse, which was one of the most important things in my life. I started skipping school, because the pressure I felt once I walked in made me feel miserable. I turned to doing things that a kid never should do but it felt as if my common sense had lost all control," I had to stop now. I wanted to say more but I couldn't. That part of my life I have tried to close up and I don't want to open it back up again.

"Do you want to skip the rest of the day with me? I have a feeling that neither of us really want to be stuck here right now," He looks up at me, his eyes were bloodshot, but his crying had stopped. I see the nod in his head and the slight smile that appeared on his face.

I stood up and started walking away, soon enough, Asher was quickly following behind me. I had never stood next to him. I thought he would have been a head shorter than me but he wasn't, he was only by an inch.

We eventually made it to my car. He looked surprised by it, like most people. It was bright yellow and only had two doors. It was what my grandparents got me though so I couldn't really complain.

"So where do you want to go?" I asked him. He was more upset at the moment, so it was only right if I let him choose.

"Honestly, Eastfield forest, north entrance," a forest? I was expecting something like the diner or an ice cream shop. But a forest?

"Alright, if that's what you want. You're going to have to tell me where to go though. Remember, I'm still new around here," I really, really hope he wasn't a serial killer out to get me.

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alright so as of (let me check the date)... the 20th of January 2021, I see that not many people like this chapter, lol its too cringey for yall. sorry about that. i aint going to change it though 💁🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♂️. i like my cliche cringe. if yall dont like it, you can stop reading (i mean, I would prefer it if you didn't but... yeah please don't) or see through the cringe and keep going. please choose the latter. please and thanks ahaha.

question: thoughts on zander?

vote, comment, share, whatever ♡

thanks lovelies <3