Chapter 1: the exchange of names
September 4th. That was when it all started. The air was mild that morning, Ben thought, parking his bike up against one of the steel posts outside the sixth form building. With very little knowledge of where anything in this town was, it had been a struggle finding his way there without asking for directions. But eventually, after some kind guidance from an old man in the city centre, Ben had finally arrived at his new school. Brushing out the creases in his shirt, he quickly hopped up the steps of the entrance to the building. New build, very modern. A set of heavy glass doors immediately opened at he approached them, and he was prompted to walk straight up to the front reception desk seeking instructions. Ben quickly yanked the headphones from his ears as he noticed a small woman sat at the desk make direct eye contact.
"Can I help you?" the middle aged woman with extremely black hair asked him, her eyes narrowing at his nervous expression. Ben stuttered for a moment, before finally clearing his throat.
"Hi. Um, I'm Ben – Chiltern. I'm new I'm supposed to be starting today?" his voice was higher than it usually was. The woman opened up a large rainbow coloured folder sitting on her desk. She scanned the pages for a minute, while Ben hovered over the desk awkwardly.
"Benjamin Chiltern. Yes, you're on the attendance list." She finally huffed.
"Oh good… I was, uh, wondering if you had a copy of my timetable? I think I left mine at home." Ben scratched his head, trying to play on the 'charming idiot' card he was used to. If the woman pitied him, she might be nice rather than scrutinizing him for forgetting his class schedule on the first day. Unfortunately, the act failed miserably; the woman was clearly unimpressed with him. She gave the boy a venomous look and slapped a piece of paper onto the front desk before whipping her head away to face her computer screen. Ben, although left feeling slightly shocked, slid the sheet from the counter top and examined it. Pushing his earphones back into his ears, he began walking down one of the long corridors; his eyes scanning the room numbers and class details. He didn't have a map of any sort of the building and knew that the prospect of even finding his first class (which he was already late for, so it seemed according to his wristwatch). He pushed his headphones into his ears and continued to almost hop to the beat down the long hall. I will find this room if it's the last thing I do Ben thought, practically spinning past a row of lockers. Until he collided with something. Someone.
"Get off of me!" a voice squirmed from under Ben's body. Ben almost instantly sprung back to his feet, making sure to stretch his hand out for the boy now lying in a heap on the floor.
"I'm so sorry" Ben tried to smile at the boy, but he was met with the flash of very scolding and unappreciative eyes.
"Do you always neglect to watch where you're going while you prance around the halls like an idiot?" the other boy asked defensively. Face red, eyes wide and panicked; he tried to push himself as far away from the other much taller boy as possible.
"I…I don't know what to say to that…" Ben eventually laughed; whether he actually found it funny or he was just felt incredibly anxious right now was unclear to him. The two teenagers looked around at the mess they had made on the floor.
"Oh for God's sake - my papers are everywhere!" the other boy sighed, furrowing his brows in a frown. Ben jumped at the chance to redeem himself, almost automatically scooping up a majority of the files that were sprawled out on the rough industrial carpet.
"I really am sorry,"
"I don't doubt that." The shorter boy replied snarkily.
"Good." Ben said.
There was an awkward silence between the two; Ben simply stood with his mouth straight looking at the other boy. He was shorter than Ben. He wore a blue striped shirt, with a navy cardigan over it. His hair was somewhere between blonde and auburn, messy at the top but brushed at the sides. The boy looked the polar opposite to Ben, who clearly could not grasp the concept of 'smart business wear'. In the mad rush of getting to his first day at this new school on time (because that had gone to plan) he had thrown on a plain grey t-shirt with a brown flannel. His hair was also messy, but more like he'd just woken up than some form of American Apparel model. His brown curls stuck out in every direction making it almost impossible to look anywhere else. The other boy seemed to be examining Ben too, and Ben was already worried he had already concluded the worst of Ben. His eyes looked calculating, like Ben could see the cogs turning in his brain.
"Do you want help with something or did I knock your train of thought out?" the shorter boy cleared his throat petulantly.
"Sorry I –I just, um…" Ben fidgeted for a moment, trying to conceive a reply that didn't make him sound like an idiot in front of the boy who was clearly intellectually superior, or at least trying to act like he was.
"You're new I can tell." The other boy said blankly, his voice barely shifting in tone. Ben was intrigued by him, he wasn't like anyone Ben had met before. There was something odd about the boy, something slightly unnerving, but Ben liked it.
"How did you know?" Ben laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You're too enthusiastic." was the other boy's reply.
"Is that something that you don't see a lot of round here?" Ben laughed, pushing some of his curls out of his face. He nonchalantly leant against one of the lockers on his side.
"You'll find out soon enough." The other boy almost laughed, while trying his best to hide a small smile forming on his face behind the mountain of papers he was trying to straighten out again. He finally made eye contact with the much taller dark haired boy, who was smiling at him oddly. The boy almost dropped all the files again in shock.
"I'm Ben, by the way," the taller boy said, stretching his hand out to the other boy firmly.
"Oh, um, hello…" he coughed. There was a moment of silence, before Ben's eyes narrowed and he cleared his throat.
"This… this is the part where you tell me your name - and then we become friends." Ben put one of his hands to the side of his mouth and whispered to the other boy, like it was supposed to be a secret. The smaller boy blinked at him, dumbfounded at such a ludicrous statement. He'd never spoken to someone as immediately outgoing as this new, very clumsy boy.
"We are not becoming friends." He said sternly, raising his eyebrows. Ben just smiled at him even more.
"Don't speak too soon." Ben said suspiciously, unnerving the other boy. He brushed a hand through his strawberry blonde hair. Hand skimming his face, he could feel his cheeks getting warm.
"Why are you still standing here?" he coughed, trying his best to regain some composure.
"I'm waiting for you to tell me your name." the still-grinning boy replied. Ben reminded the other boy of the Cheshire cat.
"Why does it matter to you?" a smile caught at one end of his mouth; he averted his eyes to the ground to wipe away any evidence that he was letting his guard down to this idiot.
"I don't know really. Every great friendship begins with the exchange of names, right?"
"We are not becoming friends!" the smaller boy insisted, his facial expression becoming tenser. He could feel his cheeks burning up with the unnerving smile spreading across Ben's face like a cancer. Frustrated he was making himself look a fool, the boy turned around and stormed off around the corner briskly. Ben was left leaning against the locker, wondering if his playful attempts at making a friend had genuinely been taken the wrong way. That could have gone better he thought to himself, resting his face into one of his palms and closing his eyes.
"Dylan." He heard a voice sigh, like it was almost embarrassing. Ben eyes shot back open to see the smaller boy was stood in front of him once more; his hands sat firmly on his hips.
"W-what?" Ben stuttered, still confused by the boy's sudden return. The other boy turned his head slightly and tightened his lips, before speaking again.
"My name – it's Dylan. Dylan Keogh."
And with that, Dylan spun back around and stormed off once more down the corridor and out of sight, before Ben could even think of a reply. He stood blinking for a moment, his eyes wide, not quite sure what had just happened. Quickly glancing around him to check that there was no one else around to bump into, he exhaled and let himself relax. Dylan Keogh he repeated in his head as he slipped the headphones back into his ears and set out looking for room N8.