So here's the next chapter guys! Can't say I'm as happy with this one as I am with the last though. Alwell, I hope you like it :) It's not what all of you seemed to be expecting, though ;) I loved all the great reviews I got on the last chapter, keep them coming XD Also the french in this chapter is basically them introducing themselves to the class.
And my amazing sister is now my beta! So earlier chapters are in the process of being edited right now :) She hasn't had a chance to read this one yet though but hopefully she'll get to the next ones before I post them.
September 3rd
He wakes up with a headache, the pieces of sun spilling through his curtains feeling like a thousand volts of electricity straight to his eyes. He groans and presses further into the warmth underneath him. It shifts, pale arms wrapping more securely around him.
"Magnus, we should probably get up now. We have school," he says and Magnus mumbles incoherently back at him, sleep language for screw off. He can basically feel the other roll his eyes at his antiques.
There's a long-suffering sigh and then he's being shoved off the bed and onto the lush carpet floor below. He glares daggers at the figure still laying on the bed as he pulls himself to his feet. Groaning, he rubs a hand over his eyes and heads off to the bathroom to take a steaming hot shower.
When he comes out, he finds Ragnor seated at the kitchen counter and munching on a bowl of Lucky Charms. Magnus throws his wet towel in his friend's face to show him just how appreciative he is of the wake up he received. The other boy just catches it, tosses it over his shoulder and offers him a cheeky grin. Magnus continues to glare.
They're late to school, having to pick up their schedules and track down their new lockers before navigating the endless halls to find their classes. This means, naturally, that Magnus' teacher decides Magnus wants to share his life's story with everyone. Tossing her a blinding smile and a witty retort, he breezes past her and finds a seat in the back corner, just in case his friend is in this class and hasn't shown up yet.
Maybe it's strange, he thinks, the way that he's so easily come to incorporate Alec into his routine. He does it unconsciously, no thought whatsoever put into shaping his life to encompass Alec. It's a scary thing, really. They only met less than a year ago and he barely knows a thing about the other boy. It's not healthy and he knows that. He knows you can't shape your life around someone else; it won't end well and it's not fair to either of you. He can't see it as a bad thing though because Alec is Alec and that's just how things are.
"Alors, pour commencer, j'aimerais qu'on fait des introductions. Je sais, je sais, vous vous connaissez déjà. Fait le quand même pour moi. Commencez pour nous Alec, s'il vous plaît." Magnus glances at his friend from the corner of his eye at that because Alec wasn't even called on once last year. The other boy just glances up from his notebook and looks the teacher over for a second.
"Je suis Alec, et j'ai dix-sept ans," he says and Magnus finds himself gawking at him because he spoke and in french and he should probably not find that as attractive as he does. Alec raises an eyebrow at him and he just shakes his head, realizing it's his turn.
"Moi, je suis Magnus. J'en ai dix-sept aussi et je suis le plus magnifique que vous allez jamais connaître," he tells the teacher with a smirk and the class gives a chorus of laughter. He catches sight of a half smile on Alec's face from the corner of his eye.
He grins back, thinking that maybe senior year will be different than the one before.
He breezes through Art making small talk with Clary and coasts through lunch giggling with Camille and Ragnor. He hasn't seen Alec since French class, couldn't find him at the start of lunch, but he's learned that it's best just to go with the flow when it comes to his friend. Nothing's really changed, when he thinks about it, even though it's a new year with new classes and new kids and new opportunities.
He's still going to the party Friday night with Isabelle, just like usual. He's still spending Art with the same naive little redhead as before. He's still pining after a best friend he knows nothing about. He's still hanging out with Ragnor and Camille and they're still trying to warn him away from Alec. It's all uneventfully the same.
He still doesn't know anything about Alec. He knows Alec, his personality and the way he reacts to things but he doesn't know Alec. It bothers him, how his best friend never tells him anything about himself, but he can't do anything. He has no one left to ask but Alec and he already knows he won't get any answers from him.
He tries not to take notice of every little thing involving Alec because he knows it's probably not his business and playing detective never ends well. He tries not to pick his friend's actions apart and piece them back together; Alec isn't a machine for Magnus to try to figure out how it works.
He tries not to. He does anyways.
"Hey, you want to come over tomorrow? Like, after school?" Alec glances up at him from the dark blue notebook he's been doodling in for the past twenty minutes of English class. He looks at him thoughtfully for a second, glancing down at the notebook and then back to Magnus.
"Yeah, sure. For how long?" he says and Magnus tries not to grin. They'd never hung out outside of school before, other than the night in the park. The grin turns into a frown at that thought. The night in the park feels like it was ages ago, to him. It's a distant memory he sometimes has trouble believing to be real. Neither had spoken a word about it, not even shared a look that might have hinted at it. Then again, all they'd done was text over the summer, not even meeting up once.
That night hadn't changed anything. They hadn't suddenly professed their undying love for each other and then rode off into the sunset to live happily ever after. They aren't together. Their relationship hasn't changed a single bit. In fact, the only thing different now is that Magnus is even more concerned about his friend than before because he knows there's something wrong but he just can't do anything about it.
He knows he should.
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