Chapter 2: Standing in the face of danger
I said real love,
it's like feeling no fear
When you're standing in the face of danger
'Cause you just want it so much
Wally clumsily moved his table and his chair back, right next to the new guy, since he didn't show signs of wanting to move from his place. And he really wasn't in the mood to make a new enemy at school, least of all the one who looked tough and people were afraid of him.
Patton didn't even flinch when the blond finished settling down next to him and then the assignment sheets they had to do together arrived. He quickly went through them and passed them to his partner. It was like a lot of work for only two hours of classes, even for two people.
Wally reviewed the sheets and couldn't understand half of them, there were many questions that he didn't have an answer to but surely his history book would have them. The last assignment was to prepare a presentation of how the facts of things would change to provide a different result. Too much analysis for his poor brain. He hoped his partner was a little smarter. He directed her gaze towards him as she saw that the dark-haired man was already turning the pages of the book.
"I will take this leaf and you will take the other. We'll finish faster like this" exclaimed the boy taking the first sheet that Wally had in his hands and inadvertently there was a small brush between his fingers and although it was something very brief, Patton made a face but the boy couldn't notice it because he was more lost in the assignment than anything else.
"But how lucky Kuki is" Wally thought as he looked at his friend sitting next to Nigel. He looked at Abby who was paired with another girl from the class who were already talking quite a lot and Hoagie was paired with one of the new girls who was looking more at him than at homework. How did Abby keep from being jealous? It was quite obvious that the girl was interested in him.
He returned his gaze to his partner and he was staring at him.
"Err...what?" He backed away a bit because Patton's look at him was quite serious. Was he angry?
"I don't feel like staying after class or using my free time for lunch and doing this, so you better get to work. Stop distracting yourself."
He was right. If they didn't finish on time they would have to see each other later to finish up and he didn't feel like spending his free time with him at all.
He read the first question on his sheet at least three times and opened his book. He began to read but did not understand much. He glanced at the boy and saw that he was already writing. He moved a little closer to him and looked at his neat handwriting. It should be illegal for a guy to write so neatly and cleanly. His handwriting was unmatched. And then, his nose noticed something that caught his attention tremendously.
What was that?
A scent
A perfume.
The scent of him.
He smelled a sweet scent like raspberry, but not sweet enough to be a girl's perfume. It wasn't like that. It felt subtly and then some leather and wood that felt overbearing but not overly so and eventually faded away leaving a very manly scent blend.
He smelled very good.
Then he noticed his clothes. He today was wearing a dark green jacket, a loose white shirt, dark pants and brown boots that seemed very fine. He was well dressed and smelled very good. This boy really had money to buy clothes of such quality.
His cheeks flushed a little as he realized that perhaps, he was invading his personal space too much and he turned away from him and focused back on the questions.
He didn't notice the half smile Patton made as he wrote.
Wallabee Beetles finally realized his miserable existence.
And it's not that he was looking for his attention but something in him told him that maybe Wally could be his friend, that he could trust him. After all, it was the boy sitting right in front of him. If only those rumors hadn't already tainted his name, surely he would have already made a friend or acquaintance, be it Wally or whoever.
"Where is the answer supposed to be?" He spoke to himself already a little more frustrated.
"That's on page 17, and now... you're on page 14," Patton replied as he looked at the question. "It's not that difficult, it's supposed to be topics that you should have seen last year."
"Oh great, now it turns out that the troublesome guy is another Hoagie"
Wally internally thanked the boy and began to write when he found the answer. They were going too slow, they probably wouldn't finish in time.
A while later, the bell rang to end classes for the day and with that, no group managed to finish the assignment.
"Next week I want that finished, presentation included. Agree with your classmates and finish it over the weekend."
There were several complaints from the students but others were more busy deciding which house they were going to finish the work in.
"I have no problem going to your house" Patton suddenly spoke, pulling Wally out of his thoughts.
"Excuse me?" He blinked a few times at the question. Did he hear right?
"I said I have no problem going to your house and finishing this torture" he tore a corner of the page from his notebook and wrote down a series of numbers "This is my phone. If you send me a message with the address I will understand that it is you."
Wally took the paper carefully and studied the number.
"And why can't I go to your house?" He said without thinking. Then he realized what he said and gave himself a mental slap.
"Yeah right, go to the school delinquent's house. Brilliant Wally."
"Can't right now. They're remodeling my house," he said without looking at him.
"Well... I'll write to you then."
Patton didn't answer him, he took his backpack and left without saying anything else. He headed to his locker like he usually did without speaking to anyone. For now he liked the tranquility, no one had messed with him yet and that gave him a little peace. He was putting a book in his locker when it suddenly closed it, narrowly injuring his hand. When he realized who had been the idiot who dared to mess with him, he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Manners girl."
"Is that all you're going to say? Patton Drilovsky!" she yelled at her. "You've been ignoring me all week, don't you even pretend to say hello or has the change of school gone to your head?" a girl with curly red hair claimed. She wore a light black sweater, a short black jacket that fell to her waist, a silver spiked belt, and a red striped skirt with black leather boots.
"Don't you have any friends to bother?" He rested his shoulder on the locker facing the girl. There was no answer.
"Fanny, why did you change schools?"
"To try to make friends and be a normal girl," she mumbled under her breath as if she had been scolded.
"Then do what you have to do. If they see you talking to me they'll think you're troublesome or something. I don't want to interfere with your reputation."
"But you're my only friend." The girl looked down. "You could talk to me from time to time too, you don't have to pretend I don't exist. Why do you always do the same thing? You isolate yourself from everyone and don't let anyone enter your bubble. Regardless of what is being talked about in the halls, you should do something to change that. This is your chance."
"You, too, are yours and I don't want you to waste it." He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Sorry for ignoring you, I'll send you a message later."
Patton left the girl alone and left the school to go to his house. Even though he saw the others in their respective groups meeting up after class, his eyes fell on the group where Wally belonged.
Meanwhile, they talked as usual.
"So what are we playing today? I have two unopened games at home, I just have to go down to my house and look for them and…"
"I won't be home today," Nigel exclaimed, interrupting what Hoagie was saying. "Emm… Well, I have things to do with my family and I can't put it off any longer."
"Seriously babe? You always get your way and they let you stay. Oh come on, it's Friday we all have to do something together" Abby commented animatedly.
"I seriously can't put it off any longer." He looked down at her watch and saw the time. "I have to go now and the first bus is leaving, sorry guys."
They all watched as Nigel practically disappeared in the blink of an eye leaving them with no plans for a Friday.
"So…" Kuki began to speak, taking the brunette's arm. "Abby, guess who has a free double date at the beauty salon?"
"No way! Why didn't you say it before? These nails need some love."
"You too?" Hoagie asked and then turned to Wally and he shook his head.
"I'll go home then. We'll talk later." He turned and left.
"What happened to Wally?"
"You're Wally's best friend and you still don't know when something happens to him, seriously I don't know if he's the one who's distracted or you," his girlfriend answered and before the boy could give her an answer, she left with Kuki, leaving Hoagie all alone.
Wally was walking around the neighborhood with his head down, he didn't feel like rushing home and doing anything. I mean, he could do some homework but that's something girls or Hoagie would do, not a guy like him. He took the cell phone out of his pocket and then a piece of paper came out of his pocket and fell to the floor. He looked at it for a few moments and then remembered that it was his classmate's number and that he had to write to him so they could meet the next day. He ducked before the wind blew the paper away and punched the number into his cell phone.
"Damn it!, how was his last name spelled?" After trying to spell his name the right way but failing, he decided to save it as "Patton D". Simple and easy.
How should he start the conversation? He just had to say it was him and that's it. Why now everything seems so complicated?
"I'm Wally."
"That should do it."
He took the headphones out of her backpack and plugged them into his cell phone. Maybe some music would cheer him up. Whenever he tried to get close to Nigel something would happen where he would run or hide. What will he be he into?
Those thoughts that he was seeing someone hidden came back to invade his mind.
Will it be possible?
His phone vibrated. Patton answered him.
"Wow, that was fast. Surely that's someone who ran out of plans on a Friday afternoon too."
He hastened his pace towards his destination since he had to send the location of his house to Patton and to make it more precise and that the GPS would not fail him, it was better to do it from inside it.
Patton stared at the screen when Wally sent his address and minutes passed, he wanted to say something but he didn't dare.
They didn't know each other, much less were they friends.
"One step at a time. What's done is done."