It was 8:46 according to the big round clock that hung inches from the ceiling in the school's central hallway, but not one student paid it any need. Its repetitive tick and tock was bypassed by the shuffling of unlaced Converse and forbidden high heels, and drowned out by the chittering chatter of giddy girls and the laughable banter of voice-breaking boys. Pages swishing as they were frantically turned in ring-binders to find last night's homework and pencils tinkering as they hit the linoleum floor like raindrops, and 16-year-old Toris Lorinaitis standing silent by his open locker, his head buried in simple daydreams.
Until of course his ears perked at the all-too-familiar clickity-clack of polished black Brogues and the high pitched whine of none other than his best friend forever; Feliks Łukasiewicz.
"Oh ehm gee, thank god you're here!" he threw his arms over Toris dramatically, his valley-girl dialect barely able to fight off the smooth Polish tang in his voice, "I'm soooo dead!"
Toris laughed nervously, gently pushing Feliks back from his body so he could breath. "Ok, what did you do this time?" he smiled. Whatever it was, it wouldn't surprise him.
"It's what I didn't do!" Feliks tossed his head back, his slick blond bob swaying like silk around his face, "'kay so you know that algebra homework we had to do? I was totally going to do it last night but then Tara texted me that Jessica was going to break up with Wally again, so I just had to call Kelly to get all the deets, but then Kelly was super upset about her parents not letting her go to Danny's party this weekend so we talked for, like, ever! And then-"Toris sighed; he knew he didn't need to hear any more, "Feliks…""Gawd Toris, I know ok? You don't have to give me that look. And you know the worst part? I didn't even get to find out about Jessica and Wally in the end!"
Toris couldn't resist a chuckle after that; Feliks was so absurd that it was just amusing to him. There was always something to distract him. "Ok look… we don't have Maths class until after break. Why don't you just do it during your free periods this morning?""I can't!" Feliks replied with an immediate pout as though he was just waiting for Toris to say that, "I have cheer practice all morning and there's no way I'm missing that to do Maths."
"Oh," Toris hesitated, "Ok, well why don't you just come up with one of your famous excuses?" But he had his answer when Feliks slumped back against his locker and stared hopelessly at the ceiling with a whimper.
"They never work on Mr Fielding! He said the next time I forget my homework I'm just gonna get instant detention or something. And there's no way I'm sitting there for like two hours with those "bad-boy" losers hitting on me," he crossed his arms across his shirt-clad chest defiantly."Um, well you're kind of supposed to do your homework in detention…" Toris squeaked between his teeth, tucking a stand of mousey brown hair behind his ear timidly.
Feliks shot him a disgusted look and a snort as though Toris had just called him fat or something equally as horrifying, "Ugh! You're not helping!" He turned his head coolly to stare at the lockers on the other side of the hall, sneaking a side-glance at Toris a few moments later to see that he was sorting textbooks into his schoolbag. Bored, Feliks' dulling emerald eyes strayed across each graffiti'd locker and clichéd motivational poster along the white walls of the corridor. A sudden glimpse of violet eyes flickered in his line of vision and caused Feliks to jump to his feet.
"Ew," he leaned in and whispered into Toris' ear in a less-than-subtle manner, "that Ivan creep is totally checking you out." He watched cautiously as Ivan Braginski noticed Feliks' gaze; snapping out of his daze and hurriedly turning around towards his locker and opening it in a desperate attempt to look busy.
"Huh?" Toris turned to Feliks and followed his suspicious eyes, spotting the tall blond boy at his locker. Shortly after, Ivan inched his head to ever-so-slightly peek over his shoulder. His eyes met with Toris' and just as quickly he turned away with a heavy blush. Toris' cheeks turned rosy and he fought back the slight smile that was playing on his lips. "O-oh, is he?"Feliks' eyes locked on Toris, speedily studying his features with one thinly plucked eyebrow raised high against his forehead, "Hey, are you-"
"Hey Toris." They both turned to see Eduard, Toris' younger brother, standing in his full school uniform and a ring-binder held protectively against his chest. He glanced up at Feliks coyly and averted his eyes, "Hi Feliks."
Toris smiled, "Hey. Were you ok with dropping Raivis off today?"
"Of course," Eduard nodded, glancing watchfully at Feliks from the corner of his eye, "He's going to his friend Peter's house after school so I can pick him up after milkshakes. You can still make it, right?"
"Of course!" Toris beamed, turning to Feliks and giving him a gentle nudge, "Hey, want to join us for milkshakes after school?" Eduard crossed his fingers subtly over the cover of his ring-binder and prayed inwardly that Feliks would agree.
"I can't," he whined, not noticing Eduard's smile drop, "I'm getting detention, remember?"
"How come?" Eduard mused before he could stop himself; "detention" was a very foreign word to him. Feliks turned his whole body towards Eduard and stared right into him with the brightest and most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, complete with long lashes like angel wings that he could almost feel against his cheek in his deepest of dreams. The sight caused his cheeks to grow red and he gripped tighter onto his ring-binder, hoping no one would notice.
"Because I haven't done my algebra homework and I can't because I have cheer practice and Mr Fielding totally hates me!" Eduard opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly Feliks could feel an imaginary light bulb sparking off over his head and he cut him off. "Hey Ed," he cooed, putting on his best flirting voice and taking one sly step closer to the spectacled, red-faced boy, his hands playfully tucked behind his back and his shoulders drawn up slightly, "you're wicked smart, right?"Eduard felt himself burning up; it wasn't often that Feliks talked directly to him, let alone with that menacingly sweet tone in his Polish-laced voice. "U-um, I guess so… I mean I'm good at algebra," he tugged at his shirt collar in an attempt to cool down, but Feliks moved one step closer again with his chest protruding forward and one leg raised femininely behind him as he leaned in.
"I bet you could get my homework done in no time," he smiled, fluttering his eyelashes, "You'd do that for me, right?"
"Y-yeah," Eduard breathed, having completely forgotten about his older brother who was waving at his good friend Alfred Bonnefoy as he passed by, "Of course." Feliks let out a sudden squeal of joy, startling Toris who spun around to see his fair-faced friend jumping up and down on the spot with his fists clenched and raised up to his shoulders.
"Ed, you totally rock!" he almost shouted, turning to open his one-shoulder bag that was slung across his torso, balanced gently against his hip. He pulled out a thick, tattered textbook and shoved it into Eduard's arms. "'kay so it's… what page was it Toris?"
"Page 92," Toris laughed as Eduard struggled not to drop the textbook and his ring-binder, hoisting them both up into his arms, "All of exercise 7." Eduard made a mental note, adjusting his glasses back in place.
"Yeah, that. I'll come pick it up at break time 'kay?"
"Yeah," Eduard nodded, pausing before he added with a smile, "You can count on me."
"Cool," Feliks began, but he was interrupted by the ring of the school bell, reminding him of his first priority. "Gotta go," he gave Toris a steadfast hug before starting off down the hallway. Still in motion, he turned back to the two brothers and gave Toris a wave, "You'd better not stand me up at lunch!""I won't," Toris laughed, waving back as he watched his best friend flick his hair out of his face and turn away to run to the GYM. Once he was out of sight, Toris turned to his brother, "Come on Eduard, I'll walk you to the library." There was no response. Toris waved his hand calmly before his brother's face, "Eduard? Hello?"
"Huh?" Eduard shook his head as he plummeted back to reality. Feliks was gone and he was late for his study period. "Oh, right," he forced a laugh, trying to ignore the slightly suspicious look that Toris was giving him, "Yeah, let's go." He glanced around them once again; the hallway was empty, crisps packets and ripped file paper splayed across the floor like marked territory for the students that were there just a moment ago. It wasn't often that the hallway was empty so shortly after the first bell, but that wasn't important. What was important was that Eduard complete Feliks' homework for him; his older brother's hot friend's homework. But first he had to get to the library before the librarian would put him down as being tardy. "Tardy" was another very foreign word to Eduard.
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Author's Comment: Please find the rest of the chapters on deviantart .com/art/Butterflies-Chapter-1-252650121 I hope you enjoy them :)
