The setting and characters are all works of fiction, too much caffeine, and an overabundance of free time. Bearing that in mind, enjoy.
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Why is it that whenever the shit deems that the time is right to vigorously fling itself into the fan, I'm always caught without an umbrella? Honestly, I'd settle for a simple jumper at this point.
I mean sure, I was fairly certain that my parents wouldn't take my coming out well, but this went far beyond my wildest expectations. Their immediate reaction was to kick me out of their house with the intention of abandoning me on the streets. How the hell could they just cast aside their only child so easily, like a broken dish, was beyond me. Thankfully, I placed a call to my grandmother Eleanor and she happily agreed to take me in, all the while chastising my parents as incompetent scoundrels. The only downside however, is that she retired to Abernathy, Virginia several years ago.
I've lived in south London my entire life, and now I'm stuck in this abysmal backwater for my last year of college or as the yanks call it, high school. I arrived in June and have so far managed to keep myself locked away safely in her quaint, two story house, located in the middle of the woods for most of my time here. She's only managed to drag me into the actual town of Abernathy twice in two months.
Unfortunately, with August comes the arrival of a new school year, which is soon going to require me to interact with these backwards hicks. If I couldn't find acceptance in London, I somehow doubt that I'll find it here.
All of this was running through my head as I stood at the end of Ellen's driveway awaiting the bus. The early morning heat was causing me to become increasingly annoyed as I continued to kick rocks, as it seemed that I was never going to be retrieved anytime soon.
Just as I was about to call it and use this as an excuse to go back inside, I saw a blotch of yellow come around the curve of the twisty road I now lived on. The elderly woman driving nearly passed me as she haltingly brought the ugly behemoth to a stop. The doors opened and she stared a cold glare at me as I climbed the steps and walked to the back of the bus. The only other people on board seemed to be small children and a few pre-teens who all eyed me suspiciously.
Once seated, I stared out of the back window grudgingly admiring the beauty of my new place of residence. The rolling hills piled high with trees and wildflowers provided the perfect landscape for the sunrise to shine upon, its amber hue casting a strange glow on the foggy bus windows further from me that were fogged over with dew.
I turned my focus to a large truck that was following us down the road. Its driver was quite the handsome lad. From my current vantage point I could see straight, shoulder length brown hair that fell down into his face to occasionally cover one eye whenever the wind would cease blowing through his window long enough for it to settle. His chin was prominent with a cleft to it and his jaw line sharp. The button up flannel shirt showed great strain in trying to contain the large, muscular chest beneath it. Just as I was beginning to enjoy my view a little too much, he lifted his head to look at me and I quickly averted my gaze. I don't plan on going back in the closet for these hicks, but nor do I much care for the idea of getting my ass kicked.
So, I simply daydreamed for the rest of the endless journey, only taking the occasional glance back at the enchanting man.
When the bus finally came to a stop, we had arrived at some fool's poor imitation of a schoolhouse. It looked more like an industrial warehouse with its beige bricks and simple two story design. I could feel the stares and see the pointing fingers as I walked up the steps to the front entrance, all of them undoubtedly trying to figure out why a stranger was suddenly cast into their midst
The main office supplied the locker combination, along with a class schedule and pointed me in the direction of the central staircase, as my locker was apparently on the second floor. I soon found my locker and placed my mini dry erase board, mirror, and calendar inside its cramped quarters when I heard a nasally voice sneer nearby. I closed the door to find a mountain of a man on the other side. Now, being five foot five it doesn't take a whole lot for someone to achieve this rank in my mind, however he had to be at least six foot six.
"Well, if it aint a little fresh meat."
His voice was surprisingly not as deep as would be imagined from such an imposing figure, with his barrel stomach extending over his huge belt buckle and his t-shirt doing its best to contain the rest of his upper body. Though it must be said that his face looked as if someone had tried to cram his eyes, nose, and mouth into the middle rather than spread them about as is normal, and it was painfully obvious that his nose had been broken a time or two.
"Like what you see, shrimp?"
"Hardly. Now if you will excuse me, I have a class to go to." I didn't want to talk to him anymore than I had to.
He turned a shade of bright red as a walked by him, though before he could say anything else the bell rung and students began to quickly swarm the hallways as they made their way to class. Thank god for that.
I quickly made my way to a desk in the back corner of the room, near the window, as the room began to fill. Tiny took a seat in the front, but not before casting me a nasty glare. An elderly woman walked in behind the large desk at the front of the room. The name Mrs. Arnold was written on a blackboard behind her.
"Welcome to English twelve ladies and gentlemen." A small but stern voice called out. "This being your senior year, I'm sure you all know that our focus will be on British Literature this semester. If what the principle told me earlier holds any water, our newest student should be especially suited to this class. Young man, would you please stand up and introduce yourself." She said as she gestured a hand towards me.
"Alex Benedict Traherne." I said after barely rising from my seat and sitting back down as quick as I could.
"Thank you Mr. Traherne. Now class, today we shall be going over the school's many policies regarding..." when I realized that she was going to be covering all the basic information and rules that a child would know by now, I simply tuned her out, preferring to watch the smaller children walk around outside on some sort of outdoor activity. Their teacher appeared to be showing them different flowers.
A bell went off after an hour or so signally that it was time to depart to the next class, which was apparently physical education for me. I said goodbye to Mrs. Arnold on my way out the door as she handed me the class's textbook. She gently placed a hand on my shoulder and wished me luck with the rest of my first day.
I was halfway down the hall before I realized that I had no idea where the gymnasium was. Pulling out my schedule, I began to try and gleam some understanding from the room numbers as to where it was located when I walked into something quite solid, which caused me to give out an embarrassing squeak. Whoever said a soft voice was nice never had to put up with having one.
I supposed that I should apologize to whomever I had nearly trounced, but as I looked up to do so my voice failed me.
"My fault hoss, I had my head in the clouds there for a minute." His voice was deep, his drawl making him sound as if he were trying to sing but not quite. Now that I was actually standing next to him, I could see that he was about six feet, his eyes were a bright blue, and his hair looked extremely silky.
"You still with me man?" He'd sort of tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. Cute.
"Sorry, I'm fine. Would you happen to know where the gymnasium is?"
A broad smile appeared on his face as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Why sure I do. In fact, I'm headed there now so you can just tag along." He used the hand on my shoulder to turn me around and give a gentle push in the direction that I had just come from, little bolts of electricity coming off of his hand the entire way.
"So you're the new guy here. You're from the U.K. aint ya?" We were walking down the stairs.
"That's right." Must think neutral thoughts. It wouldn't do at all to spring wood here in front of everybody while this walking underwear model was next to me.
"Well then, you certainly downgraded a bit. What the hell made you want come here?" I was going to dodge the question, but mercifully a small girl walked out in front of him. The collision sent her books to the floor, to which he bent over to pick them up for her, giving me a nice view of his chiseled ass. Holy shit, it shouldn't be legal for denim to fit someone that well. I don't understand how. They're clearly just casual work jeans judging from the patches and holes scattered about, but they hug him perfectly.
