"Bye, Mom, I'm off to school!" Dan yelled as he ran out the door. He didn't wait for an answer. He knew he wouldn't get one with his father still in the house. It was just a habit.
Ever since he'd realized just how different Dan was, he'd become a lot colder towards the elder of the boys. Dan admittedly felt bad for Adrian, his younger brother, because that meant he got all the attention and it was a bit of an overload sometimes.
Still, as Dan made his way to his new hell...school, he couldn't help but wonder if this time he'd be able to open up around someone and actually make friends instead of just pretending to fit in when he had to.
'Yeah, probably not.' Dan decided when he saw the school. Thankfully, he'd been able to get his schedule and locker number, so now the only problem was actually finding his classes.
Sure enough, he ended up being late to his first class and gave a sheepish smile when he entered in the middle of something the teacher was saying.
The teacher gave Dan a searching look before he spoke. "You must be Mr. Howell." he said.
Dan nodded. "Sorry?"
This got a smile. "It's perfectly fine. It's your first day. Go have a seat in the back and try to follow along."
Dan didn't argue, taking a seat and keeping his head down, wanting to just sink into the background so people would stop staring at him like he was some sort of alien creature.
He had a few people come up to him and talk to him throughout the day, but he generally kept to himself, not too sure about anyone.
Of course, lunch was a disaster. He ended up finding an empty table off in a corner so he didn't bug anyone about sitting with them, but halfway through lunch, someone walked up to him. "Mind if I join you?"
Dan glanced at him before smiling awkwardly and shrugging. "Sure."
They sat in an awkward silence for a while before the raven-haired boy spoke. "I'm Phil, by the way. I heard talk of a new kid and...well, I know much being new sucks so..."
Dan stared at him in surprise before he gave a true smile. "I'm Dan." he offered.
Surprisingly enough to him, talking with Phil wasn't as awkward as he thought it would be. They shared a lot of common interests - they both loved Muse, tended to spend a lot of time on video games. And honestly, they were both sort of awkward so they didn't press too much for information when it came down to it.
Dan couldn't help but think that he wouldn't mind actually being friends with Phil. Even though he knew that he'd somehow find a way to mess something up and he knew it.
Phil seemed to note where his thoughts were automatically when he fell silent, though, and spoke, surprising Dan. "Hey, would you be interested in coming over and playing Mario Kart for a while one day? Maybe we can learn more about each other."
Dan smiled faintly. "Sure, I guess. I'll have to ask my mom, but I don't see an issue."
"Great! We can work out when later?"
Dan nodded, falling silent again.
Later that evening, when Dan retired to his room for the final time, he lay in his bed thinking. He could hear his parents arguing down the hall and could honestly say he'd rather be anywhere but there at that moment. He laid there for what seemed like forever just listening to everything around him, eventually falling asleep when it all finally fell silent.
Hi. So, this was actually first published on my Quotev account, and I figured I'd transfer it here as well because I do enjoy this and I want to share it...even if it's terrible.