A/N: Just a short oneshot that I wrote for school. And no, my teacher doesn't know that he's grading me on gay fanfiction.
-somewhat irrelevant title, any excuse to quote Paramore-
"Philip!" my mum yells. Why does she sound so stressed? She's not the one starting a new school today.
"Ugh," I groan, and roll over, hoping I'm dreaming.
"It's half six, get up immediately or you'll be late," she says, now standing in the doorway to my room.
I debate whether or not to slam the door in her face, but decide against it and reluctantly sit up. "Get out so I can change," I say, stifling a yawn.
"Okay, okay, no need to be rude," my mum mumbles, and closes the door behind her.
All my instincts are telling me to just curl up under the covers again, but I know that in the long run it will just make things worse, so I take a deep breath and stagger myself towards the wardrobe.
You know in films, when the main character goes to school and it looks like a prison? That is exactly how this place looks. I am already ten minutes late for class, and I don't really want to attract more attention than necessary, so even though it is a really idiotic idea, I skip my first lesson. Instead I just pace around in the corridors, hoping no one will notice me.
"You skipping class?"
I nearly jump at the sound of a voice behind me. I spin around, and my ice-blue eyes meet two chocolate-brown ones, merely ten centimetres from my own face. Hastily I take a step back, and look at the person in front of me. The voice and brown eyes belongs to a boy, the exact same height as me, and a similar fringe, only his is as brown as his eyes, whilst mine is black. Though, the biggest difference between us is probably our skin, as he is a bit tanned, and I am the exact same colour as the wall to my right. But where did he come from? I swear the corridor was empty only two seconds ago.
"Um, I, uh," I try, not really sure what to say.
The boy laughs, a high-pitched, rather girly laugh. "Relax, it's alright, I won't tell," he says. "Who are you, anyway? I haven't seen you here before."
"I'm new," I answer.
"Nice to meet you, I'm new," the boy says, trying and failing not to laugh at his own joke.
I simply scowl, and reach my hand out. "My name's Phil."
He hesitates for a second, but then takes my hand. "Dan," he says.
When his fingers touch mine I can't help but retract my hand immediately. "I'm sorry," I begin, but Dan interrupts me. "It's fine, I know, I've got really cold hands. That's why I rarely touch anyone."
I raise my eyebrows at the innuendo, but refrain from commenting it. "So, uh … Are you skipping class as well, or?" I ask, a little nervous as I am not used to talk much to people.
Dan looks sad for a second, but then the smile returns, "I guess you could say that, yeah … Hey, you've got a Northern accent, right? Where are you from?"
"Manchester."
"Ah, cool! I wish I could go to Manchester someday," he says, but before I can ask why he can't, he continues, "Why did you move to Wokingham then?"
"My dad got a job," I sigh. "This place isn't too bad, but I do wish we didn't have to leave home." Dan nods sympathetically.
We carry on talking about seemingly random things, until Dan points at a clock on the wall, saying it's only five minutes until the next class.
"I've got maths now," I say, "but I have no clue as to where to it is.
"I'll show you, follow me," Dan assures me, and then abruptly starts running down the corridor and turns left. It only takes me a few seconds until I've rounded the same corner, but the brown haired boy is nowhere to be seen.
"Dan?" I call out, not really in the mood to play hide and seek.
"I'm over here, you turnip," he answers, and I can see him waving form the other end of the long corridor we just entered. Briefly I wonder how he got there so quickly, but then I see he's already disappeared again, and start to run over to where I last saw him.
Eventually we get to the classroom, and Dan walks in with me, so I assume he's also having maths now. After the awkward 'This is Philip Lester, he is new in this class blah, blah, blah' speech from the teacher, that none of the students are paying attention to, I sit down in the back, next to Dan.
The teacher, Mrs Payne, starts calling up names from the class list, to see if anyone is missing. When she reaches the bottom of the list, I notice she forgot Dan.
"Why didn't she call your name?" I ask quietly, the confusion apparent in my voice.
"Probably just a mistake," he whispers back, and opens my maths book, as he apparently forgot his own.
"But that's-" I begin, but get interrupted by Mrs Payne. "Philip, please do not disturb the class," she says, and I can tell she's annoyed with me already. I look at the other students, some of which are staring directly at me, with a mix between worry and confusion visible on their faces. I open my mouth to defend myself, seeing as I wasn't the only one talking, but decided I like Dan, and there is no need to get him in trouble as well.
"I'm sorry Mrs Payne," I say, and pretend to pay attention for the rest of the class.
Dan is in all my other classes as well that day, which I find a bit weird but I don't say anything. Before I go home that day I ask him if he can give me his number, to which he answers that he would, but he hasn't got a phone.
The rest of the week goes ok. I don't get in trouble with more than two chavs, and only one of them called me emo, so that's an improvement.
Dan visits me on Friday, and we spend five hours playing Final Fantasy VII. I offer to make us some food, but Dan says he isn't hungry, which is strange as I can't remember him eating anything at lunch either.
Later that night I'm just sitting in bed watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when suddenly my stereo turns itself on, and Matt Bellamy's voice fills the room. I sigh, pause the episode I've already seen too many times already, and walk over to shut the stereo off. I love Muse, but right now I'm just not in the mood. When I return to my bed, my laptop has shut off.
"Oh, come on!" I complain to the room, as if anyone's listening. I try turning it back on, but then the stereo starts playing My Chemical Romance and I give up.
These weird things continue to happen throughout the next month, including on my birthday. By this time Dan and I have become best friends, but whenever I bring him over to show him, everything is quiet.
After a while I stop thinking about the events, and everything is going okay, until one night in the middle of February. I wake up at around half 1, and when I open my eyes it's like I'm back on my first school day, staring into a pair of chocolate brown eyes. I'm about to say something, but Dan presses his lips against mine, and I close my eyes. When I open them again, he's gone, and I wonder if it was all a dream. After all, how would he even get into my house?
The next day, however, Dan's not at school, nor the day after that. The third day after my dream, he shows up, but is a bit distant, as if something is bothering him. I ask him if he wants to hang out after school, but he just mumbles something about being busy, and avoids meeting my eyes.
Later that day I'm doing homework in my room, when the TV turns itself on. I'm about to click the power-button, when I freeze. It was a news sending.
"Today marks the tenth anniversary of the murder of 16-year-old Daniel Howell," the news lady says. "Howell was on his way home from school, when …"
I don't catch the last of what she says. I am too busy staring at the picture in the corner. Because there, on the screen, where the picture of the dead teenager is supposed to be, is Dan.
So that's the reason. That's why no one ever talked to him, why he didn't eat, the weird happenings in my house, and most importantly – why he looked so sad on my birthday a week ago. Of course it must be hard to celebrate someone else turning a year older, when he will forever be sixteen.