Back! Do you mind reviewing what we should write about? Or favouring and following so we know how good or bad we're doing? Thanks!
As his face leans back, I feel the warmth around me escape. What's happening?
"As said, you're too easy too tease." My face is burning; it's so hot, a egg could fry on it. "Loosen up! We're getting you to meet new friends, not meet the people you're at war with." I chuckle at this, and decide, this can't be that bad, right?
"It sure feels like it," I say back. My eyes drift off to the ground, letting my eyes rest from his dazzling (literally) sight.
"Don't worry," he says softly, holding my chin up with his index and middle finger. I feel my eyes melt into his. When have I felt so vulnerable before? I've never let anyone knock down my personal bubble (more like titanium wall) before. "School isn't a torture zone. If they smile at you, smile back. No big deal." Those words are actually making me feel better. Or is it just him? What? No? No! Why do I keep talking to myself like this? It's Magnus. Shit.
"Okay." I straighten my back and start to look around, the whole hallway was filling up. More people were getting to school and that meant more people to have to see. And the more people I have to see, the more they'll see me. I'm not making sense at all.
Magnus smiles and gestures for me to walk first. I do. I observe his clothes for a minute. He wears a bright pink shirt, with a white button up as a layer (yet the buttons aren't done). His jeans are a solid yellow and his shoes are from . His hair is spiked up with little gel and glitter and his catlike eyes *cough*contacts*cough*to humans*cough* are brought out with some gradient eyeshadow. He's bright, loud, and yet, he has the perfect face for it. I can't pull that off at all. He's making the most of whatever he can. I guess I can expect that from an old warlock, but, not exactly all out with a regular mundane.
As we walk, I can see what he means by having people 'smile at you'. They wave, say 'hey' and 'hi' as often as they can to Magnus, and friendly smile. I'm not sure if Magnus and I are even friends or not, but if we are… shit. I'm friends with someone popular. That means attention. Shit.
"See, they're not that bad." I shrug at it, but his smile makes me smile. Oh HELL no did I just say that.
"I've barely been to half of the school," I say, hoping to back myself up little.
"Well, we've got plenty of time." That smirk. I'm going to faint soon. But if I do, I won't be able to see Magnus. I'm dreaming too far away.
We keep walking up and down different stairwells. I honestly thought that this would be boring but I can just listen to Magnus's voice all day if I wished. And I do. No I don't! You know, debating with my own brain isn't the best idea at this point. I need to get to know him first. And I do. His favourite colour is purple (apparently, it's also the non-homophobic colour with the bullying and stuff), he likes any sort of Asian food, he lives alone in an apartment with both his parents working overseas, and has a cat with the oddest name. Chariman Meow. Well, the Institute has Church so… that makes quite a bit of sense; but, his parent' don't. I'm sure they're not alive. No warlock has any parent's that stay alive after their children are raised old enough for them to beat them with magic and no magic as well. Warlocks are often abandoned, and I'm sure that is what happened. Or, no? I seriously need to get him to open up.
Once Magnus stops at my classroom, there's 5 minutes left until the bell rings. Part of my wishes there was more time, the other wishes there were less. I don't' know which one is better for me but I'll take what I can get.
"Oh, look at that," sighs Magnus, mock hurt. "You're in my English Class!" He's a good actor; too cheery for his own good. "Everybody always wants to sit next to me but today, you have the honour of doing so."
"Er… thanks?" Cue the blush.
"Trust me. Everybody wants to sit with me. It's literally a flash mob." I chuckle. "So, I bet you're the kind that sits at the back, doesn't do anything, but is secretly a straight A student, right?"
"You're not completely right, but not wrong either." It's true. I do get straight A's. I don't always sit at the back though. I never have. In the Institute, we have lessons with Hodge and we sit in a single row on the couch. That's it.
"How so? Because I'm pretty sure I'm right." Magnus scrutinizes me up and down, head to toe. Is he suspecting that I'm a Shadowhunter? Barely a day of school and I'm already blowing my cover.
"Homeschooling." That says it all.
"Ever since kindergarten?!" Magnus is literally in shock.
"Yeah. That's why I'm best friends with my brother and sister."
"There's more of you? I bet the whole family is as hot as they say in the rumours." He looks off to the side and down to the floor.
"What rumours?"
"People have seen you around the streets before. Brooklyn too. They just didn't know where you came from. I mean, this literally is the only high school in the area that's good and with the clothes they saw you wearing- once upon a time- they expected you to be one of the dropouts or the smartasses that graduated early." That is true. We walk to the Pandemonium sometimes, if we don't have enough time to warmup back at the Institute. Our clothes are just black with a couple of glamoured gear. We couldn't be that noticeable, could we? Actually, Jace and Izzy would. Jace is literally a walking gold mine and Izzy is labelled as the #1 Prostitute. (I'm hoping it's just the way she dresses. I don't approve of it but with her stubborn mind, I can't do anything about it)
"Oh." I really can't think of anything else.
"So, did you dropout or did you graduate early? I want to know the truth from someone who's living it." That. Is. Deep. I don't know how, but it is to me.
"I'd say we graduated early but that would be bragging. Dropout… well, we've never actually had a school to dropout from." Magnus nods in understanding. I barely understand half the shit I'm saying. Oh well, I'll just go with whatever he seems to think makes sense.
"What about being gay? How'd you know if you were in homeschooling?" Shit. That is the only thing I can think of right now. Other than Magnus's name that keeps going through my head, thats the only other word that comes up. Shit.
"It's kind of an embarrassing story…"
"It can't be that bad, can it?" I glance around the hallway of the pod. No ones here and yet, the bell is going to ring any minute. I decide that if we were going to get to know each other, we can at least start with the basics.
"When I was 12, I started to have a crush on my adoptive brother. It went away after a good four years." Magnus stays silent for a while, and I'm afraid that I've den something but instead, he gives me a sad smile, understanding what I had to go through those 4 years. Having to fall for someone who is straight is not a nice was to conquer your overall gayness, unless you could convert them somehow… I'm sure Magnus can do that.
"He's probably the only other guy around your age you've ever properly met so I don't blame you at all. But how'd you grow up without any friends whatsoever? To me, that's just torture." His eyes widens in hatred of the memory. I'm giving so much away and yet, he seems to be staying quiet.
"I don't do so well in big groups. It's not really my thing to go to parties either. That's more of my brother and sister's job."
"Ah… We need to change that." and the bell rings. It's louder than usual with the Listening rune. I think Clary created that too. I'm not sure. I haven't studied for a while since I've been trying to catch up with the mundane systems.
As our teacher comes to unlock the door, he notices me and introduces himself as Mr. Enwright. Sounds like a mundane name. Students are bursting through the pod doors and they all seem to start to separate me from Magnus. But still, he glances my way and gives me a sweet smile. Soon enough, Mr. Enwright unlocks the door and my classmates are asking if they can sit with Magnus. He sure wasn't kidding about that. Magnus waves them off and walks me into class. Students look at him with a sad look but once Magnus starts to approach me, they finally acknowledge my presence.
"Sitting with the newbie?" a guy in a leather jacket, tight blue shirt, ripped jeans, and Vans, comes up to greet us. With one look, I can already tell he's on an extremely good sports team.
"Hey, Ragnor. This is Alec Lightwood. Alec, Ragnor Fell. He's on the football team." That explains the muscles.
"H-hi." The stutter is back. Raziel, please help me. PLEASE!
"Ah, I can tell he's made one or two moves on ya." Is it that obvious? He leans down to my ear and whispers, "this guy is a keeper."
"Hey! Being seductive is my job." Magnus fake pouts and I stifle a laugh. Ragnor waves us off and Magnus leads me to a seat. It's not too far back, not too close to the front, but not in the centre either. That makes no sense. I'm not making sense. Is it me or does being lightheaded feel as if you're high on drugs? Our seats are towards the left, a seat down from the window.
"Rule number one in classrooms, never sit at the front or back or centre. The front is reserved for the geeks and nerds, centre are for the nobody's, back is for the ones you don't want to meet." I'm thinking, it's probably because they don't want to meet people, not people don't want to meet them. That's how I'm like. I don't like seeing new faces. I'd sit at the back, that way the teacher can't see me. But now that I think about it, the kids at the back always gets chosen to answer a question in mundane movies.
"Good to know," I sigh, letting my knapsack fall to the side of the table leg. Once I attempt to move to sit down, Magnus stops me. He's sitting on my desk.
"Wait a bit, teachers don't start the lesson until 10 minutes after the bell." I shrug and let Magnus teach me whatever is best to lead my high school life. Senior year. Damn I feel old. Isabelle is a senior too, even if she is a year younger than me. It works anyways.
I stand next to Magnus, leaning against his desk and getting to know him more. His parents only allowed him to show his true colours outside of school. In the house, he almost dressed like me. No makeup, no fancy clothes (teeshirt and jeans, black and white and gray), not even his room is as bright as people would have seen it. Only after he moved out could he truly express his style and passion. And here I am. Dull Alec.
As our conversation comes close to an end, I hear some of the guys call me Blue Eyes. One look in their direction and it's instinct that tells me that they're gay. Not just what they say but how they do things. And if you're wondering, I doubt my eyes are that blue that they need to call me that as a nickname. That's just… no.
Once the teacher starts to talk, Magnus casually moves to his seat next to mine and I slide into my seat a little farther away so we have at least some room to ourselves. I'm not good with intrusion of personal space as I've mentioned.
"So, hope you had a good summer holiday," says Mr. Enwright. He doesn't look like he cares but is forced to say it with a forced smile. And about my 'summer holiday', it was filled with demons and studying mundane crap. "As a start to the semester, why don't we have introductions of our classmates. We'll go in registration order." His voice is the most monotone voice I've heard. If there's anything more boring than him, I'd say it was… me.
As my classmates say their name and one thing about them, I listen for Magnu's name to come up. It's one of the first few ones.
"Everyone knows who I am. Magnus Bane." The class erupts in claps and hoots. Damn. This is official. I'm friends with one of the most popular guys in the school. Shit. Damn. Fuck. Insert whatever profanity you can come up with here for the next infinitive times.
Once it's my turn, I think of the most supposed interesting facts about myself. "My name is Alec and I train with weapons." I'm hoping that doesn't give too much away. The class starts to nod in approval but some don't believe me because of my innocent and shy appearance. Feeling self-conscious, I zip my jacket up and stuff my hands in my pockets. I can't roll my sleeves up otherwise, my runes would show. But anyways, if I did, I'd just feel more exposed than I already do.
The rest of the class goes on and Mr. Enwright finally starts to teach. He hands us the course outline and on the back of Magnus', he writes something to me on it.
You actually know how to fight? How can such an innocent face like you be so deadly?
It's a disguise? I write back, hoping the teacher doesn't notice. I guess this would be considered passing notes but seeing as Magnus seems to be highly skilled with begin secretive, I let it pass.
"We're going to have a little pop quiz trivia." That catches my attention. "Answer these questions on a lined sheet of paper." I take one out from my binder and get a pencil from my pencil case. Magnus has a blue glittery mechanic pencil. I have a sketch pencil. We're that different. "The play Romeo and Juliet wasn't originally from Shakespeare. Name the author who wrote the predated version and it's title." Really? That's it? EASY!This class is going to be the easier ones out of Science, Math and History.
Arthur Brooke: Romeus and Juliet. I write that on the sheet of lined paper, write beside the red margin. The teacher passes over and looks over at my sheet. I can tell that his eyes are wide in awe.
"In what short story does a man kill his own brother without realizing it?" He stays next to my desk. There's a lot of those stories. But short ones? I scroll through my list.
The Sniper. Mr. Enwright's eyes are staring at my paper again. Magnus notices and he asks me for the answer, not caring if the teacher is standing right next to my desk. I shake my head and pretend not to know the answer. Leaning on my elbow so he can't see my paper.
Mr. Enwright' questions go on and on. They get harder, but I still find them at the same level. Easy. He passes my table from time to time, pausing before continuing, scanning my paper.
Once he calls out the answers which are on his desk, he finishes with,
"Who go every answer correct?" No one raises their hand. I lie and I don't raise my hand. "Alec." The class turns to me. My head tilts up and I feel my sleeve slipping down. Once it gets to the point to where I see a black 'ink' mark, I pull it down.
"Y-yes?" My eyes are scared to look up, but I do anyways, swiping my head in one movement to get my hair out of my eyes. I can hear a couple of girls' gasps and sighs of attraction. Really? Are they serious?
"You got all the answers right. Did you study during the summer?" I feel everyone else's eyes on me. I immediately don't feel comfortable but I answer anyway.
"I was h-homeschooled." That get's everyone's attention.
"I see. Talk to me after class." My classmates start to either call me a smartass or a hot genius; coming from both girls and guys. This isn't good.
I barely got half of those. Tutor me? Magnus writes on the back of the course pack.
I'll see. I've got an unbalanced schedule. I'll get back to you on that. But… I might make an exception. That just makes me sound like a flirt but it's true. I can definitely make an exception for Magnus. After all, that's what friends do, right?
At the end of class, I pack my things as fast as I can and talk to my teacher as the whole class waits for the bell to ring.
"If you keep this up, I can put you in one of the advanced classes. AP." I think for a minute, letting the thought set in. Moving to an AP class means moving away from this class; means moving away from Magnus. Why in the name of Lord Raziel am I thinking about him now?
"Is that a good thing?" Playing dumb is my first option and the only one that seems to be open.
"Well, it looks good on resumés and covers some of the university material. It depends on how good you're going to be in my class. If you get your grades at an A* level, I can get you to move to the AP class." I nod. "You don't have to worry about it now though. It's just your first day at a high school. Just get to know the school a little more and we'll have a more detailed conversation, all right?" I nod again then move towards Magnus who waits for me to say hi. He already knows what I've been offered. I can see it in his eyes, and in his words.
"AP, huh?" I shrug.
"I don't think I'll take it."
"What?!" He seems generally surprised.
"Going into AP doesn't benefit me in any way."
"Think about it. I'm pretty sure it'll do some good to your future." Yeah, but that future can't happen if I'm not able to sit next to you, in the same class. Am I really turning down an AP offer just for Magnus? I don't know how many times I've said this but it's worth mentioning it. SHIT.
Magnus moves us on from the whole AP situation and moves me over to a corner of the classroom to discuss what classes we have together. Just 2. One in the morning (English) and the last subject of the day. Science. Even though we don't have the next class together, he walks me to it anyways. Apparently, he's just across the hall. We have the same subject, so it's in the same pod. We just have different teachers. Pity.
This History class doesn't go by as fast as I hope it does. We do the same activity as I did in English. I say my name and the training with weapons thing, followed by gasps and wonders of my innocent face. That's getting old.
Once the bell rings, I realize that I have lunch. I pack my things as slow as possible and walk out the door, one hand in my pocket, the other holding onto the strap of my schoolbag.
"Hey there, Blue Eyes." So he knows too.
"Hi, Magnus." He's waiting for me outside the door. That's cute. Oh HELL NO did I just say that. Cute? I don't even think that is a word in my vocabulary.
"Want to sit with me and my friends at lunch?" I can't deny that I want to get to know him but…
"That depends on how many friends you have. I don't do so well in big groups. You already know that." I sigh. I hate this. I hate being so shy. Why can't I be like Jace? He's so open and cool around both genders. And here I am, my virgin gay ass talking to the popular guys in school. How did I even get to know him again? Right. Locker.
"I'll only get the VIP's." If I'm not mistaken, he's already as famous as Valentine in the Shadow World, but, in a good way.
"Alright, but I warn you, I don't talk much." My head hangs low again, but Magnus brushes my arm which makes me look up at what he's doing.
"No problem, darling. Just keep that blush of yours and you'll be fine." He walks on ahead, knowing that I'll follow. What's going to happen if Jace and Isabelle are there? I said this a thousand times already within the past hour but I can never say it out loud. Shit.
