Marco swallowed hard, staring wide-eyed at Jean. He was nervous and just short of terrified, yet still managed to smile kindly at him.
"Hi!" Marco chirped way to perkily.
He cleared his throat and glanced away a moment before returning Jean's gaze.
"You're Jean, right?"
The freckled boy tones down his pep, trying to act just like his regular self. But, for some unknown reason, he felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he set eyes on the punk-looking student.
Jean nods, smirking ever so slightly as Marco spoke.
"How're you liking the first day so far?"
Jean asks, leaning on his propped up hand with his chin, seeming to be ignoring the rest of the class.
Marco shrugs weakly, running a hand through his soft brown middle-parted hair.
"It's ok, I guess." He responded convincingly, really thinking that high school would be the death of him. Marco's junior high school, Nichols Middle, didn't prepare its students in the slightest for the terrors and extensive homework of high school.
To his surprise, Jean made this weird noise that was like the cross of a scoff and a chuckle. Marco raised an eyebrow at the boy, leaning back slightly in his shitty short chair.
Jean grinned widely at Marco,
"C'mon, you don't really think this is going to be a good three years, do you?"
Marco frowned, barely sticking his lip out as he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Jean.
"Someone's a pessimist." He responded, exhaling gently.
Jean shrugged,
"And you seem like an optimist. So we're even."
This caused Marco to release his mildly upset look and smile genuinely at Jean, letting out a light chuckle. Although they'd only known each other for almost 2 hours, Marco was already beginning to take a liking to this 'Jean' character.
"Y'know," Marco began, "You look really intimidating at first glance, but you're actually a nice guy." He smiled softly, directly looking in Jean's hazel eyes.
Jean's jaw tensed, turning his head away from Marco, now staring down at his clasped hands on his lap.
Marco furrowed his brows, trying to read Jean's expression; trying to figure out why he grew so tense all of a sudden. Just as he was about to ask him what's wrong, Jean responded with:
"You don't know me very well then,"