"So that is how we get the cube root of-" Mrs. Murray was starting to explain to us before the bell rang loudly cutting her short from her lesson.
She started saying some stuff about doing an exercise on our textbooks but half the class wasn't paying attention anymore since most of them were packing up their stuff with their attention already elsewhere. I myself put my notebook back in my bag before waiting a bit as my other classmates exited the room.
When there were only several people left, a few talking to Mrs. Murray about the homework we submitted this morning, and a few who were still sleeping unfazed by the bell ring, I got out as well, slinging my shoulder bag over to the side as I exited into the halls of Jackson Middleton High.
The murmurs of conversations filtered the air, as the students intermingled with one another filling the halls with their chatters. Falling into step with the crowd, I headed for my locker to switch up my books for the next period.
While I was stashing my Algebra book away, the metal door of my locker came closing shut. I almost jumped from where I stood as a tall figure stood in front of me.
"Hey Blaine" He grinned at me.
"Jeez man… you didn't have to do that." I said frowning slightly as I fake punched him on the shoulder. Ryder just kept his grin plastered on his face, his expression basically radiating off excitement. "What?" I asked curious as to what was up.
Ryder was one of my best friends. He was really tall and athletically built. He had chestnut brown, old school Justin Bieber hair and was also a sophomore like me. He had this goofy personality where he liked making people around him laugh and what not and honestly he was a good hearted kid.
"So my folks are going out of town this weekend…" he began, excitedly bouncing in his place.
"Umm… so I'm guessing th-" I started to say.
"YES! The sleepover is on YEAH!" Ryder almost yelled cutting me halfway and making me flinch at the same time. He was a little too loud, causing other heads to turn and look at us. It made me a little uncomfortable as they gave us weird looks and realizing what he did, Ryder bit his lower lip flushing a little. "The sleepover is on…" he repeated in a whisper this time.
"Sweet" I said.
"What is?" a playful voice asked as a girl with chocolate brown hair walked up to us.
"Oh, Hey Marley" I greeted her with a smile.
"H-hi Marley…" Ryder stuttered, scratching the back of his head.
"Hey guys" she said, joining in our conversation. "What's so sweet Blaine?"
Marley was my other best friend, also a sophomore. She was the eyes and ears of the school and basically if you wanted some info on anyone, she was the person to go to; she apparently knew everyone in school. She wasn't the gossip type though and another thing is that Ryder secretly crushed on her but she didn't know which was weird since it was pretty damn obvious.
"Ask Ryder" I said.
"What's so sweet Ryder?" she turned to him. Ryder opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out and I chuckled at him. Marley raised her eyebrows in confusion, thinking she had missed an inside joke.
"I-I just invited Blaine t-to my place for the weekend." He managed to finally say.
"Oh... you guys still have sleepovers? Seriously?" she asked holding back her laughter.
"W-what?" Ryder frowned.
"Well I don't know… maybe because my brother stopped having sleepovers a year ago when he got into High school? You two are both sixteen an-"
"Seventeen" I corrected.
"Seventeen…" she emphasized "and are still having pajama parties?" she giggled. I just rolled my eyes at her comment.
"Yea, call it childish but our sleepovers are different from the sleepovers kids have. I mean we stay up all night playing video games, order pizza and we even watch some movies" Ryder grinned mischievously at the word movies.
"Wow… that must be fun huh?" she smiled sarcastically making Ryder's mood plummet into another frown.
"It is…" he mumbled softly.
"Mr. Lynn, shouldn't you be in class?" Mr. Jefferson, the Biology teacher, and also Ryder's next class called as he walked past the three of us. Seeing this, Ryder cussed and immediately said a quick goodbye before running after his teacher. I couldn't help but smile at the silly boy.
"So did you hear about the guy helping Coach Cooperman this semester?" Marley asked me sounding as excited as Ryder was earlier with the sleepover news. We started to walk down the halls while we conversed.
"No…" I said not really interested where this was going. Gym wasn't really one of my favorite classes.
"Sam Evans" she said the name with a dreamy smile on her face.
"Umm… I'm sorry but am I supposed to know who he is?" I arched an eyebrow questioningly.
"Oh my gosh, are you serious? He graduated last year! He was part of the football team Blaine…" she eyed me as she spoke waiting if maybe I'd remember the guy but my clueless expression must've told her otherwise. "Blonde hair? Really hot? Cute blue eyes? Seriously? Nothing?"
"Nope" I shook my head which she gave an exasperated sigh.
"How can you not remember him, I mean you're gay right?" she asked which I didn't really get why.
"What's that gotta do with remembering him?" I asked as she stopped walking.
"Well Sam Evans is one hell of a hottie I'm surprised you don't know him." Marley concluded before leaving me to go to her class. I was about to retort something back but the bell ringing again told me I had to be in class too. With a sigh of my own, I made my way to Spanish class.
It wasn't until lunch time before I saw Ryder and Marley again; the three of us shared a table like we usually did just to ourselves.
"Are you gonna finish that?" Ryder asked me as he had his eyes on my plate with my half-eaten casserole. Shrugging, I pushed my tray to him as an invitation while Marley just pursed her lips at this.
"Would it kill you to finish your food first before getting all artsy again?" she asked.
"You know you sound like my mom." I said pausing from working on the sketch I started on last night.
One thing about me was I loved drawing. I always had my sketchpad in my bag wherever I went. I guess you can say it was one of the ways I expressed myself since I wasn't much of a social person. An introvert you could say and through drawing I could put across how I felt. My mom said it was just a teenager angst thing, but for me drawing was my passion. If some people dreamed to be actors or doctors, I aspired to be an artist.
"Maybe because we're both right? You barely eat anything when you start drawing" she mused as to which I shrugged.
"Wha are you woking on wight now?" Ryder asked with a mouthful of food and tipped his head closer to me. Laying the pad flat, I showed him my current project, a sketch of a teenage guy who had headphones on chilling to his iPod while leaning against a wall.
"Wow." He muttered.
"Well I gotta admit that is something" Marley said as she looked at it herself, nodding in approval.
"Thanks…" I said with a smile.
"Why doesn't he have legs?" Ryder asked.
"Umm… is it maybe because I'm not done yet?" I chuckled.
"Well well, what do we have here?" a voice from behind me came. Turning around to the source, I find three dudes wearing letterman jackets with their food trays in hand. The guy who spoke smiled at us and I had a feeling he was the ring leader amongst the three. He had olive skin tone and short black hair, and a very fit body. I admit he was kinda good looking.
"Leave us alone Jake" Marley said and from her tone I could tell these people weren't friendly.
"What? I'm just admiring your friend's work here" he shrugged. "In fact, I feel like helping…"
With that said Jake took his milk carton and poured it over my sketchpad getting the drawing wet. My jaw dropped as I watched him ruin the drawing and all I could do was stare as the dairy drink drenched the whole thing. Jake snickered along with his other two friends before walking away just like that.
My heart sank as I eyed my drawing all soaked up, I mean, it wasn't just the drawing which was ruined, my entire pad milked. I sighed heavily feeling angry and frustrated at what just happened. As much as I wanted to get revenge on those low life people, I couldn't do anything. I felt powerless.
"THEY'RE SUCH ASSHOLES!" Ryder pounded his fist against the table before getting up in his seat. I grabbed him by the wrist to stop him once he almost bolted for that Jake dude.
"Don't…" I simply said to him.
"You can't just let them do that!" He argued, seeming more upset than I was.
"What are you gonna do? There's three of them and only one of you… just… it's okay… you don't need to beat them up for me… it's not worth the fight" I said. Ryder looked at me for a second before letting out a deep sigh.
"I hate that you let people bully you." Ryder said.
"I'm used to it…" I shrugged.
"People are just gonna push you around Blaine, step on you. You let everyone take advantage of you because you are so agai-" He argued.
"Ryder" Marley warned and I heard the 'stop' in her tone too. Sighing once more, Ryder shook his head before we all just continued with lunch, or whatever was left of it.
My gloomy mood continued for the rest of the day and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what had upset me. It didn't help that I had gym today which was my least favorite class. I was on an unlucky strike, or so I thought. I soon found out that Coach Cooperman, the gym class teacher wasn't around and that meant I didn't have to attend his class right?
"You can't ditch!" Ryder told me once I was about to leave. We were in the locker room area and I was about to change into my PE uniform when I found out about Mr. Cooperman being MIA.
"Why not? Coach isn't around is he?" I argued packing up my stuff.
"Yea but there is gonna be someone else handling the class" Ryder said trying to stop me as I headed for the exit.
"Well I don't care, I've had a bad day and I just want to get home as soon as possible" I was surprised Ryder didn't stop me when I left the locker room but it was true, I just wanted to be in the comfort of my room and don't have to worry about anything else.
"Whoa hold up, where are you going?" a guy with lengthy blonde hair stopped me on my way.
"Uhh… home?" I said confused why this dude I didn't know held me up.
"Uhh …no you're not" he chuckled "Let me guess, you're Blaine right?" He said as he brushed his bangs off his face.
"Yea… why?" I asked narrowing my eyes at him.
"Well you still got gym class" he said matter of fact as he looked at the clipboard he was holding. I didn't know if he was a new faculty member or something but he was starting to piss me off.
"Yea but the teacher in charge isn't around…" I explained.
"Who says he isn't?" He said giving me a cheeky grin as he patted my shoulder before walking past me towards the gym. "If I were you I'd be there or else…"
