(Chapter 2)

(Time skip: first period; 's class)

Ethan was always the first person in class which some people couldn't understand. Ethan was sitting at his desk, writing while listening to music. The class bully was saying stuff to him but Ethan didn't hear a word being said to him due to his music.

Michael usually sat behind Ethan, which today he did. As long as that bully didn't go too far with Ethan, he wouldn't do anything. Michael usually didn't give a crap if anyone would mess with him but after yesterday, things changed a bit.

The boy that was talking to him got really annoyed at this and eventually pushed Ethan. Ethan looked over confused for a moment.

Michael perked up. "Hey what was that for? He couldn't hear ya so why'd you push him?" He asks with annoyance in his voice. "Since when do you care? You always make fun of your little brother all the time with your friends, so you shouldn't care about this idiot-" The bully snarls. Michael stands up. "What do you know!? Plus leave my business out of this!" He shouts.

"Hey! Please, stop fighting!" Ethan stood up, "Michael, it's fine, just ignore him! He's not worth your time or effort" Ethan grabbed Michael's wrist, sensing the danger that was in the air. Ethan really didn't want anything to go down. "You better listen to your boyfriend," Jaxon stated, walking closer to Michael. Ethan's grip on Michael's wrist tightened.

Michael retreaded his arm away from Ethan's, caught off guard from the fact that Jaxon had called him his boyfriend. "You need to mind you own f*cking business-" Michael shouts. Then the teacher walks in as everyone stands still. "Everyone settle down, get ready for class" She states.

Ethan quickly put his hands in his hoodie pocket. Jaxon quickly walked away when the teacher came in. Ethan sat down too. "Are you good?" Ethan asked Michael, looking back at him as the teacher went to grab some papers off her desk.

Michael had an annoyed look on his face before looking up at him and saying; "Yeah I'm fine-" He grabbed some papers and tried to concentrate on them but he was too distracted by everything that just happened.

Ethan sighed softly and nodded. Ethan finished a bit earlier than everyone. Ethan turned around to face Michael, "Hey, Mikey" Ethan whispered, jokingly

Jolting his head up, he looked at Ethan with a surprised look. "Don't call me that-" He laughs. He looked back down at his work, which he was still struggling on.

Ethan chuckled, "Do you want some help ?" Ethan asked, just playing around with some stupid nicknames for Michael

Michael sighed, ignoring the nicknames. "Sure I guess, It wouldn't hurt-" He says, with another sigh in his voice.

Ethan grabbed Michael's paper, "The price of dawn isn't just a book it's a game too" Ethan explained

Completely lost Michael looks at Ethan then his paper again. "I'm sorry what?" He asks with another confused expression.

"In the book we're reading 'The Fault In Our Stars' Gus gave Hazel his book to read. And Hazel found out the price of dawn was also a video game not just a book. So the answer to 'What is the price of dawn?' is 'a book and a video game'" Ethan explained

Michael fought back a smile, that was impressive he would say. "And you talk about me being the smart one, haha, thanks" He says, writing down the exact words he said.

Ethan shrugged, "Your good at coding and computer-typed stuff. I'm just good at ELA and Social Studies" Ethan explained, smiling. A girl named Bonnie looked over, "Ooo! Look, the furries are talking" Bonnie laughed.

Michael looked over. "Shut your mouth, I could say the barbies are talking when you talk with your friends-" Michael says with a smug expression. He started laughing to himself a bit, for some reason he found that funny.

Ethan held back a laugh. "Oh shut up" Braylen stated, rolling his eyes, "You can't be talking" Ethan whipped around towards Braylen, "No one cares about your opinion! You know you're just talking, trying to look cool, but is it really working?" Ethan turned back to Michael.

Michael's face was looking down, as if a shadow had been casted over his face to resemble anger. "Thanks for describing yourself Braylen, but I don't think anybody cares except the barbies, now mind your own business and focus on your sloppy hand-writing-" Michael scolds

Ethan smiled slightly, Ethan looked at Michael's hand and drew a small smiley face, "His name is Fred!" Ethan smiled, "Don't worry about Braylen, his words have no meaning, nor does Bonnie's. Or Jaxon's or Aubrey's or any of those other plastic's"

Michael mumbled to himself. "No one's words matter to me except yours right now-" he whispers to himself. Michael spent the next 4 minutes looking at his hand, with a slight smile on his face. "Hey you wanna hang out after school today? I had fun yesterday-"

Ethan pretended not to hear what Michael whispered, "I would love to but- " Ethan sighed, "My dad is having a meeting for new software for where he works and it's at our house and he needs me to clean up and get the house ready for him" Ethan explained

Michael had an expression on his face that said 'you really think that's gonna stop me?' He sighed, thinking a bit and then came up with an idea. "Why don't I help you clean up then, we can hang out in your room when finished, just ask your dad-" He suggested.

Ethan thought about it for a minute, "Yeah sure I guess. It shouldn't take long since no one is really home and it stays the same most of the time." Ethan suddenly laughed, "You know if someone broke in we would know before we even got through the kitchen"

With a confused look he asks; "And why is that?" He moved his papers out of the way to hear what Ethan was saying.

"Well, it would be easy, my little sister is blind so everything has to stay mostly in the same place, so in theory if someone broke in we would know" Ethan tried to explain.

"That makes since….I guess? So when do you think I could come over?" Michael asks, getting his stuff ready for his next class. "I can come anytime after school-" He explains.

Ethan nodded, "Well my dad won't get home till 6:00 so I'll have to walk home unless you can drive me home"

Michael sighed a bit, thinking. "Uh I guess I could drive you, do….do you not have your license yet?" he asked, finally getting his bookbag on.

Ethan starts putting things away, "I- I do! I do! But I get really bad side effects because of my meds like I get really shaky and twitchy so I'm really not supposed to drive. Plus I'll start thinking about something and forget that I'm driving and then I'm in a ditch"

"I guess we wouldn't want that to happen, plus as long as you don't drive, you'll be safe with me!" Michael says in pride, pointing at himself with a wink. "I am a really good driver after all"

Ethan smiled, "Alright, I guess I'll trust you" Ethan chuckled