People say that high school is supposed to be the best time of your life. It's supposed to be filled with excitement, trying new things, and completely new experiences. Movies about high school almost always involve wild parties, finding your 'true love', or something else equally exciting. However, it wasn't that way for Phil Lester. In fact, his high school career has basically been the complete opposite of all of those things.
It wasn't that he wasn't pretentious and was too good for those kinds of things, he just never felt like doing them. And even if he did, he certainly didn't live in the right town for it. He lived in the very small town of Sawtry, and there was almost nothing to do here. Phil and his parents moved here when Phil was around 7 years old from Manchester.
Now, if he still lived in Manchester, he might be having the 'high school experience'. Although, as hipster as it sounds, he preferred spending his spare time at home drawing or playing video games, or hanging out with his best friend, PJ Liguori. Unenthused about his last day of freedom before the beginning of his final year of school, that's exactly what he was doing right now.
Phil and PJ were just wrapping up their final round of Mario Kart, and PJ was so close to finally beating Phil.
"I'm gonna do it, Phil. I'm finally gonna beat you!" PJ half-shouted.
Phil rolled his eyes, "We'll see about that, Peej." he smiled.
As if on cue, Phil got a blue shell and, as he was coming up behind Pj, threw it at him. This gave Phil enough time to pass PJ, and he crossed the finish line.
"What?! That's not fair! I was sooo close!" PJ exclaimed.
Phil laughed, "It is fair, Peej, that's how the game works. I'm just better at it than you." Phil smiled, smugly.
PJ lightly shoved him and laughed. "Are you hungry? I feel like I could eat everything in my house." he said, walking into the kitchen.
At the mention of food, Phil sprang up and joined PJ in the kitchen. He sat on one of the barstools as PJ was getting sandwich supplies.
"Ugh, I don't want to go back to school tomorrow." Phil groaned.
"Why did you have to bring that up? I was having such a good time." PJ whined as he started on his sandwich making.
Phil chucked as he also started to prepare his meal. "Sorry." he said. "Who knows though? Maybe it'll be a good year. They always say that your last year is the most laid back. You know, minus all of the constant worrying about what you're going to do with your future."
PJ glared at him, "Thanks Phil. Very comforting."
Phil looked down, sheepishly. "Right. I should probably stop talking."
PJ laughed and shook his head, "Nah, it's fine. It's just that, like, time goes by SO fast. I can literally remember things from 5 years ago that feel like they happened yesterday. It's a really weird feeling." he said.
"I know what you mean," Phil sighed "but let's not talk about it anymore. We have exactly.." Phil took out his phone and looked at the time. 6:24 pm. "..fourteen hours and 36 minutes left until school starts." he smiled.
"That's plenty of time left to play more Mario Kart." Pj grinned.
They finished making their sandwiches and set out to the lounge to continue their game. When they finished their food, Phil looked at the time again. An hour had passed. Time was going by almost too quickly.
Phil stretched his legs and got up from the sofa. "I should probably get home. I'm gonna need lots of sleep if I want to survive tomorrow." he chucked.
"Yeah, same here. I'll see you tomorrow though! You can still give me a ride, right?" PJ asked.
Phil nodded, "Yeah, I'll be here around 7:15, that way we have enough time to get all of our books and find our new lockers and everything."
"Alright mate. See you then!" Pj said, and gave Phil a hug goodbye.
Phil got in his car and was on his way home. Before he went home, he stopped at the local video game store to browse. Himself and Pj came here a lot. So much that everyone that worked there knew who they were. Phil walked in and was about to greet whomever was working at the present time, when he realized that the boy working was not a familiar face.
The boy looked up from the book he was reading. "Hi! Can I help you find anything today?" he said politely.
Phil returned the smile, "No thanks, I'm just looking." he said.
The boy nodded, "Well let me know if you need help with anything!" he smiled, yet again.
Phil looked at him confusedly for a moment, before browsing through the new DS games. He saw Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, forgetting that they had come out. He decided on getting Omega Ruby, and made his way to the checkout counter.
The boy from earlier again looked up from his book and scanned the item. Phil noticed his name tag read 'Dan'.
"Um, sorry, but are you new here? I come in here all the time and I've never seen you here before." Phil asked him.
Dan smiled at him with that polite smile, "Yeah, I moved here a week ago from Wokingham. I wasn't expecting a video game store in a town as small as this, but once I saw it, I knew it was a sign." he chuckled.
"Oh, are you going to school here then?" Phil asked.
Dan nodded, "Yep! I didn't really want to spend my last year of high school in a new place, but everything will work out. I hope." he said, almost sadly.
Phil frowned slightly. "Well you're more than welcome to hang out with me at school. I'm Phil." he smiled and reached out his hand.
"I'm Dan." he smiled and took Phil's hand to shake it.
"I better go, it's getting a bit late, but like I said, feel free to talk to me at school!" he grinned.
Dan nodded his head, "I definitely will. I'll see you tomorrow, Phil!"
Phil waved and headed out for his car. Maybe he was right. Maybe this year was going to be different.