phillip michael lester slung his bright red monochrome backpack over one shoulder lazily, letting the busted screen door slam shut behind him, a small moth that was resting above the doorway taking off at the sudden movement. the loud noise drowned out his short goodbye to his mum, who stood at the chipped kitchen counter, kneading the squishy dough for the poppyseed muffins she was planning to bake that morning. phil began the short trek to his high school, a big brick building with a big green lawn and beautiful landscaping lining the walls of the facility. he shoved one hand in the large pocket of his favorite hoodie, a dark blue sweatshirt with the words 'muse' printed on it. his other hand was being used to tap out a message on twitter, replying to one of his idols on a video sharing website called youtube. he reread the tweet quickly, than satisfied with his answer, confirmed the note by clicking the 'send' button.

he was so preoccupied by an exchange occurring between him and small fan account for his fan account-weird, I know, but it's totally a thing-on the little screen in front of his face that he didn't even notice when a boy looking maybe two years younger than phil seemingly apparated into thin air, stumbling a few steps before regaining his balance. the teenager looked around, bewildered, before realizing what just happened and hiking his dark skinny jeans up, attempting to appear natural.

looking up smugly, the six foot one boy smiled, proud that he's made it this far. however, it seemed that he'd spoken a bit too soon, because three steps later, he was using a hand to cling onto phil before he completely face planted into the hard cement of the pavement. "shit-" the kid mumbled before looking up at phil, quickly letting go. the older of the pair towered maybe two inches over the other.

"I'm so damn sorry, I was rushing to get to school and I wasn't paying attention. you see, I'm new here and not quite sure where the school is, it seems a lot farther than it looked on the map and I'm new to london. I don't really understand much of this hum-i mean, uh, local culture and I'm just oh so lost and confused, and then-"

the younger boy was cut off by the phil, who was chuckling a little.

"it's okay," he replied with a kind smile, hoping to quiet the other's nervous rambling.

"I promise I won't bother you again, please just don't beat me up, peej said if I'm not careful someone was gonna beat me up. one time when i was a kid, this scary six grader said they were gonna-what?"

phil blinked. how did he even talk that fast?

the newcomer had chocolate colored iron straight hair, swept into a neat fringe, with mocha eyes to match. He was tall, and skinny as a stick. a thin charcoal jumper was hanging on his thin frame, matched with a pair of equally as dark jeans and a pair of converse that phil thought completed the whole 'I'm the mysterious new kid that no one truly knows' look. he had small black earrings in either ear, and a small ring that he kept fiddling with, alternating between twirling the jewelry around his small finger and glancing at phil.

suddenly remembering the question, phil nodded his head. "I said it's okay. you don't need to keep apologizing, it's really not that big of a deal."

"oh."

the kid looked pleasantly surprised, like a young child who received a cookie instead of a spanking. phil was amused by his reaction.

"I'm phil." the ebony haired teeanger stuck out his hand for his peer to shake.

"dan. dan howell."