Chapter 1

Someone New

Fang laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for his phone to ring. He shifted onto his side and scanned his room for his earbuds, which were nowhere to be found. He was supposed to call me, he thought and frowned. He was probably kidding anyway.

The next morning, Fang trudged into school, glaring at anyone who threw him a dirty look. He head towards his homeroom and ran his fingers through his shaggy black hair. When he walked into the blue and green themed classroom, he took his seat in the back and pulled out his phone, opening some silly game.

"Psst, mighty emo lord, look at me," someone whispered. Fang turned his head to the right and glared at his best friend.

"What do you want this time?" he asked and rolled his eyes.

"There's supposed to be a new kid today," Max said excitedly and smiled.

"And?"

"You should be at least a little happy. You could make a new friend," she said and offered him a gentle smile.

Fang shrugged and instead turned his attention back to his game, hatching his newly incubated tidal dragon. A few minutes later, their teacher walked in, an unfamiliar boy following her.

"Max, look," he whispered and poked her shoulder repeatedly. She turned and looked at the front of the room, where Ms. Dwyer was talking to a pale red headed kid.

"Everyone, this is James," Ms. Dwyer said with a smile. "And there's an empty spot next to Nick," she said and pointed at the desk next to Fang. The red head nodded and pushed his glasses back up onto his nose.

"Hiya," Max said with a smile and a wave, looking over Fang's head. "Jesus Fang, how tall are you?" she asked, looking back at him. Fang shrugged. "Hell if I know. Now get outta my personal egg space."

"Excuse him. He's not always like this," Max said and patted him on the head, causing James to laugh.

"So I presume you're Nick?" he asked with a small smile.

Fang nodded. "Except I prefer Fang."

"I can do that. I may accidentally call you Nick occasionally, but I promise I wouldn't do it on purpose," James nodded. "Where'd you even get the nickname Fang?"

"Max. Or at least she helped." Max smiled and turned her attention back to her book. "Anyway, I have science first. How about you?"

James pulled out his schedule and looked at it. "Ummm, science for me, too. What do you have next? I have history."

"Same. Then connections, then LA, then math."

"I think we have the same schedule, aside from connections," James said and handed Fang the paper.

"I have Spanish on A day, then computer apps on B day. You have Spanish on A day, like me. And your B day is Art, you lucky duck," Fang said and handed James' schedule back to him.

"Why am I lucky?"

"He has this weird obsession with art," Max butted in. "But he drew this really cool eye last year."

Fang smiled and looked down. "It was fuckin' dope too."

"Now I wanna see it," James laughed and leaned more towards Fang.

Fang's head shot up like a rocket. "You could come over if you really wanted to," he said a little too quickly, causing James and Max to laugh even more.

"I'd love to, but unfortunately I've got finish helping my folks unpack. Maybe tomorrow?"

Fang nodded as the bell for first period rang. He stood up and gathered his things. "C'mon. Mrs. Bell will kill anyone who's late for class," he smiled and walked across the hall with James.

"So, how'd you like your first day?" Fang asked as he sat down in his seat on the bus.

James shrugged. "I guess like any other first day. Except usually the first day doesn't include getting fussed at because you don't have the right paper."

"Agreed," Fang said and shifted, throwing his legs over James' lap. "Hope you don't mind," he said and buried his nose into his phone, scrolling through Tumblr.

James rolled his eyes and bent over Fang's legs, turning his attention to his phone as well.

About five minutes later, James' head shot up and he concentrated on Fang. "Hey," he said, trying to get the raven haired boy's attention. Fang looked up at him with curiosity. "When do you get off?"

"At one of the apartment complexes downtown. Why?"

"Because I was wondering if you wanted to come over today. I know it's sudden, but I kinda need help undoing my room, and everything you do is so neat and organized and-"

"James. Lemme call Max," he said with a small smile and opened up the keypad, dialing her number.

"She said yes, she doesn't care. What about your parents?"

James shrugged. "My mom does the overnight shift at the hospital, and my dad works at a university. They won't be around very long. And how come you have to call Max?"

"She wants to make sure I get home safe. She's like a mom, but in a good way."

"Nice. Anyway, what bus does Max ride?" James asked, readjusting Fang's legs in his lap.

"Something like one-oh-eight. I dunno to be completely honest."

"Nice house," Fang smiled as they walked in.

"Pssh, not for long," James shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Umm, not really. But why did you say not for long?" he asked in confusion, following the pale boy.

"My younger siblings. They'll be home in about an hour and a half," he explained and pulled out a carton of strawberries, setting them on the counter and popping the lid open.

"Ah. I see. Are siblings fun?"

"Absolutely not. Sometimes you're singing the Lion King dramatically and other times you wanna strangle 'em with their own intestines. But I guess that's why all our aunts and uncles get along. Nothin' but Lion King."

Fang laughed and walked over to the bar, sitting next to James. "Oh, I forgot to ask earlier, but is there something else you wanna be called?"

James laughed this time and smiled. "My dad used to call me Ignite, but now it's been shortened to Iggy. It's easier."

"Why Ignite?"

"Because I continually blew up his alarm clock and I made my little sister's stuffed pig explode."

"Nice."

"Shit, do we have homework?" James asked, looking over at his light blue backpack.

Fang shook his head. "Nah. It's the weekend. Only bad teachers give out homework on the weekends.

"But only if you've been a bad boy," James said and smirked without thinking. Fang blushed and stared at him in confusion. "What?"

James instantly went rigid as he realized what he said. "I am so, so, so sorry. I really didn't mean for that to slip out."

They sat in silence for a minute or so, until they both bursted into uncontrollable laughter. "I can not believe you said that!" Fang exclaimed between bouts of laughter and gasping for air.

"Neither can I!"

"Iggy? You home?" a soft voice called from downstairs.

"Yeah mom! And I brought a friend over. His name is Fang!" he called up the stairs, right before his mom started walking downstairs into the kitchen. His mom had light brown hair and her face held a gentle smile.

"Nice to meet you," she said and held out her hand, Fang taking it and shaking it.

"Nice to meet you, too, Fang. And you can call me Elizabeth."

Fang nodded and looked between James and Elizabeth, waiting for some sort of interaction. Instead, Elizabeth just told them she was heading to work and would be home in the early hours of the morning. "Behave, you two!" she called over her shoulder as she walked out the door. James and Fang smiled at her words.

James got up and headed towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go upstairs and finish unpacking. Wanna come?" Fang nodded and quickly followed the pale boy up the stairs.

James room had light blue walls, accompanied with a gray bookshelf and a brown desk, aside from some other things in the room. "There's like three more boxes I need to unpack, so you don't have to help if you don't want to."

"Nah, I'll help," Fang said and walked over to the small pile of boxes. "What all is in there?"

James shrugged and knelt down, opening one of the boxes. "I think some clothes, books, school stuff, and maybe one or two of my little sister's Barbie dolls."

"Ah," the raven boy nodded and opened a different box, immediately greeted with a pair of bright green boxers. "Umm, Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"Your underwear."

"Oh. I'll come get that," James said with a sheepish smile, quickly picking them up and immediately flinging them across the room. "Problem solved!"

Fang laughed and rolled his eyes. "That's no way to have a clean room, unless you like it that way."

"Whatever, I doubt your parents care about your room, I mean, my mom wont even come in here unless she has to. Although now that we're in a different house, that might change."

A forced laugh came out of Fang, even though he didn't really want to laugh. In fact, his parents not only didn't care about his room, they didn't care about him.

"Hey, are you okay? I didn't mean to make you sad or something," James apologized, his eyes filled with concern.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm good. I just… don't like talking about my parents. That's all."

James nodded, making a mental note not to bring up Fang's parents again. "Oh, you can call me Iggy if you want," he added, carrying a stack of paper and pens over to his desk.

"Cool beans," Fang smiled, taking the last three books in the Harry Potter series over to Iggy's bookshelf, putting them with the other four. "Anyway, when do you want me gone?"

Iggy turned around and looked at him with bewildered expression. "Why in the world would you think I don't want you here?"

"I dunno," Fang shrugged.

The pale boy walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, resisting the urge to take him and hug him. "You can stay overnight if you want. I don't mind," he said reassuringly. "I'm here for you."

"Thanks, Iggy."