Daniel Howell groans at the sound of his alarm. 6:40 wasn't his ideal time to wake up for yet another first day of school. It was his last first day of high school though, so another year before freedom wouldn't kill him. He stumbled out of his bed and into a shower. As he let the warm water run over his face, he got lost in his thoughts. His thoughts about actually being happy, not being feared by the school. It would be his last year of being feared. He wasn't going to lie and say he didn't like everyone avoiding him, but sometimes it got lonely. When he was alone, solely alone, was the only time he felt like he could truly be himself. He was halfway through straightening his dark brown fringe when his peace was disturbed.

"It's school, Luc, you have to go!" He heard his mother yell to his younger brother. (I like this name more than I do his actual brothers name.)

"I don't have to do anything!" His younger brother, Lucas, yell back.

Dan sighed. These fights between his parents and brother were becoming the usual, and it was starting to get to him. He finished straightening his fringe before throwing on clothes. Dan figured if he wore all black, nobody would notice him, and it worked for the most part. He grabbed his phone and stepped into the kitchen. Dan hesitated before opening the door, "Bye Mum" he muttered knowing his mother wouldn't hear him over the yelling. And so he was off to another start at another year at school. Dan wasn't a fourth of his way to school when he got so annoyed with the world that he decided to drown it out with music. He was blaring Twenty One Pilots, ignoring the world, whenever something ran into him.

"Watch where you're going, you little bitch" Dan growled turning to see what the mysterious force that had pushed him was.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention" The 'force', a black haired, blue eyed boy who looked to be about the same age as Dan. "I'll try and pay more attention from now on" The boy smiled at Dan and with that he walked away.

Dan stood in the middle of the sidewalk staring at the place where the boy had been. Dan had seen that boy before, he knew he had. He was pretty positive he went to school with him, yet Dan couldn't help to help to think he would have paid more attention if he had seen him. That boy was the most beautiful thing Dan had ever seen. The rest of his walk to school, he tried to remember who that boy was. Dan stopped right in front of the school, hesitating before opening the door. Almost the entire school was in the foyer. Instantly all eyes were on him. Fear was swollen in almost every person's eyes. The room fell silent as they all stared at him, for a minute too frightened to speak. He heard some people whisper things about him to their friends.

"That's Dan Howell" He heard one girl whisper.

"Wait, that's Howell?" Another, a freshman he assumed, asked the older girl next to him.

"Oh my God, he's scarier than he sounds" Another freshman muttered.

Dan shot the entire room a glare, "It's not polite to stare" He said nastily rolling his eyes and walking to find his class

"He's even scarier than Lucas" Someone said once they thought he was out of earshot

"What even is his problem?" Somebody else asked the group

"I've heard he's in a street gang."

"He's always been like this"

"He just hates people"

"He's just mad, because he can't be high while at school"

"Guys, maybe there's something going on in his life, and instead of making rumors about him and thinking he's some kind of monster, you should try being nice to him." Dan turned at those words, not being able to make out who said it.

A laugh erupted from the crowd.

"Yeah, whatever." An older boy yelled.

"Keep dreaming, Phil." A girl yelled

"Lester, that's never going to happen" and on and on the laughter came.

Dan tried to let it not get to him. But it still hurt. He acted like he was fine, but deep inside it hurt like hell. And Dan decided this; This Phil Lester kid, whoever he was, Dan was going to find him, and thank him.

Little did Dan know Phil Lester was the beautiful human from his earlier encounter.

Philip Lester is the kind of kid everybody likes. He's the kind of kid who you can always depend on. The kind you can always talk to. The kind that lights up the school.

Phil wasn't too disappointed when his alarm went off that morning. True, waking up at 7:00 wasn't very pleasant, but getting to see everybody at school was definitely worth it. He hopped out of bed and straight into the shower. Eventually he finally decided to get out of the shower. Phil grabbed a towel, wrapping it around himself, as he walked to his room.

Phil ran a towel through his black fringe, while searching his closet for clothes. When he finally decided on blue jeans and a blue and green plaid shirt, it was almost 7:40. He was suppose to be leaving right now. Phil ran a comb through his still not dry fringe, he threw on shoes, and grabbed his phone running out of his front door. It was almost 7:50 when he stepped out of the door. He had 10 minutes to complete a 20 minute walk. That's why he was running. Phil was running as fast as he could, not paying attention to where he was going, when he ran into someone.

"Watch where you're going, you little bitch" the person said. Phil froze, he knew that voice, that hair. It was Daniel Howell, the schools bad boy.

Phil just smiled as Dan turned around. He knew that Dan might not have the best life, and he might need someone there. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention" He said simply before going to walk away "I'll try and pay more attention from now on" And with that he walked away.

It was almost 8:05 when he walked into the school. The first bell wouldn't ring until 8:15, so he still had time to find his friends.

"Phil!" Somebody yelled

Phil turned to see his best friend, PJ, running towards him. "PJ!" He yelled back

"Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever!" His brown haired friend exclaimed, hitting Phil lightly on the shoulder.

"I know! It's been what? Three weeks?" Phil replied sarcastically, fixing his fringe.

PJ laughed "I've got so much to tell you."

The boys talked as they walked around the school. Many people they passed would smile or talk to Phil. He stopped along the way to talk to some freshman, but Phil and PJ finally found their way back to the foyer.

The exact moment they stepped foot on the tile was the same moment the entire room became hushed.

Phil looked around trying to figure out the cause of the sudden silence. That's when he caught sight of a brown fringe. His eyes traveled down Dans body making sure it was him. Between the straightened brown fringe, the black studs, black shirt, and black pants, it was definitely Daniel James Howell.

When people starting whispering about him, that's when pity overtook Phil. Nobody deserved to be talked about the way these kids talked about Dan. Honestly, he wasn't even sure how Dan had became the school bad boy, he just was.

"It's not polite to stare" Phil heard Dan snap before he walked off.

Once Dan was out of earshot, the crowd became rowdy again. They were all shouting about Dan. Phil heard that Dan had murdered someone, was in a street gang, had a drinking problem, had a drug problem, and so many other things that Phil was sure were untrue.

"Guys, maybe there's something going on in his life, and instead of making rumors about him and thinking he's some kind of monster, you should try being nice to him." Phil shouted to the crowd. People usually listened to him, everyone liked him. But instead of everybody agreeing with him, they all just laughed. People shouted back at him about how that was never going to happen. Phil sighed, and to his luck, the bell rang. Phil walked to his first class, Calculus, groaning. He didn't exactly enjoy math, but he had to take it. He walked into the class to see one other person sitting in the back of the class. Dan. Phil was determined to be friends with Dan, he went and sat the chair in front of him...