Fuck his life. Seriously. All Virgil wanted was to have a peaceful day with no complications. But, no. Life couldn't throw him a bone for once.
He was packing his stuff for school when he heard a loud crash. Realizing his father woke up, Virgil hurried up. Finishing his packing and throwing on a tattered jacket, he quietly walked to the front door. Before he could leave he felt a big hand on his shoulder that stopped him. His whole body stilled as he felt his father's breath on his neck.
"Where do you think you're going?" He slurred.
'Great. He's drunk.'
"School, dad." Virgil was proud of himself for keeping his voice so calm given the fact that he was scared shitless.
"Without saying goodbye? I thought I raised you better."
'No, you really didn't.'
"I'm sorry, I forgot."
Virgil was trying to not worsen the alredy dangerous situation, so he doesn't come late. Again.
Thankfully, his dad wasn't drunk enough. He released the grip he had on his son and walked away with a muttered "not worth my time".
Virgil ran to school and, because the universe hated him, it started raining. When he finally arrived, he was wet from head to toe, but he wasn't late. Small wins. Of course that meant more people would see him wet and bruised.
He walked to the bathroom with his hood over his head, trying to fit in the crowd so less people payed attention to him. On the way, he noticed some kids giving him weird looks which made him even more self conscius.
He finally got to the bathrom, which was, fortunately, empty. His eyeshadow was ruined because of the rain and some bruises could be seen from last night. Virgil put his old backpack on the floor and removed the ruined makeup with some water and toilet paper. He didn't notice a figure approaching until he was finished with applying the eyeshadow.
"Damn, what happened to you?"
Virgil jumped and turned like a scared cat. He breathed heavily as the figure apologized.
"Wow, hi! Sorry if I frightened you," the boy seemed genuinely sorry, "My name's Roman."
'He's cute'
Virgil had to take a few seconds before he could speak.
"Hi" His voice was still shaky.
Roman was wearing jeans, a red t-shirt and a white jacket. He had short brown hair and his eyes were brown, but not like Virgil's. His were lighter. Softer.
"And may I ask for your name?"
"I'm-uh-Virgil." Virgil internally cringed at his own dumb name.
Roman smiled and extended his arm for Virgil to shake.
"Nice to meet you, Virgil"
.
The first thing Roman thought when he entered the school was 'finally', which was unusual since that's usually his first thought when he walks out of the school. But, because today wasn't Roman's day, Logan was chatty. And when Logan talks, he doesn't stop. Unfortunately, unlike Roman, Logan doesn't talk about interesting things, he talks about school. Specifically, the big test that Logan and Patton had- Roman was a year older so they didn't have the same classes.
"-ll living organisms are made up of one or more cells, which are considered the fundamental units of life. And even unicellular organisms are complex!"
'Fascinating'
"Atoms make up molecules, which then make up cell organelles and struc-"
Roman tuned out Logan's smarty talk in an attempt to make the walk to school a bit less boring. It didn't work. It was not that he didn't like the smart boy, quite the opposite, he was one of his closest friends ever and his best friend (with Patton, of course). They just had different interests which sometimes contradicted each other. Well, usually contradicted each other.
Of course, the fact that Patton was listening to Logan and actually offering some inputs wasn't helping him in changing the topic. He was really starting to feel like a dumb third wheel which wasn't good for his already low self esteem.
So yeah, finally.
"Guys, I'm gonna go 'water the flowers', you just go on and I'll meet you later." Roman interrupted whatever Logan was talking about at the moment which earned him an annoyed look from Logan and a small amused smile from Patton.
He walked away before he could get scolded for his behaviour and soon reached the blue bathroom doors. He opened it but stopped when he saw the new kid by the sinks. His breath hitched when he saw that the boy had a black eye which he was currently trying to cover up with black eyeshadow. Was that why he wears it? To cover bruises?
"Damn, what happened to you?" Roman blurted out before he could stop himself. He realized that was the wrong thing to say when the boy jumped and turned to look at him with panic and fear in his eyes. Oops.
"Wow, hi! Sorry if I frightened you," Roman backtracked to calm him down a bit "My name's Roman."
The boy seemed really frightened but was starting to relax and after a few moments he spoke.
"Hi" His voice was still a little shaky but it was the most beautiful thing he ever heard and Roman found himself wishing he could listen to him all day.
"And may I ask for your name?"
"I'm-uh-Virgil"
'Virgil, ha? Nice'
Roman extended his arm. "Nice to meet you, Virgil!"
They shook hands and Roman could swear he felt a spark when they touched.
"So, let me guess," Roman pointed to the black eye that was now covered, "I should see the other guy?"
Virgil was confused until he realized that Roman must have seen the bruise. He felt panic rise and he fought to push it back
"Actually, I just fell." He said in an unconvincing tone.
Roman furrowed his eyebrows. "And landed on a fist? I don't think that's how it works."
The younger boy did not like the direction the topic was going so he quickly muttered an excuse and ran away leaving a confused Roman behind.
Roman stood there a few seconds to figure out what just happened. That's when he saw a backpack on the floor where Virgil was a second ago.
Virgil's backpack.
He opened it without hesitation even though he knew it was a violation of privacy. He didn't quite care. He had to know what's going on with Virgil so they could be friends. Plus he was curious.
The backpack itself was old and tattered with some stains that were a few years old. The inside wasn't much better. There were some books and notebooks that were either crumpled up or straight up destroyed.
It all screamed poor.
At least now, Roman knew something about the boy. Maybe he lives in a bad neighbourhood and he got a bruise from an attack or something. Poor guy.
The bell ringed and Roman snapped out of his deductions and ran to Math class leaving Virgil's backpack in the bathroom so when the boy goes to look for it, he'll find it here. He just hopes noone will steal it.
.
'Why? Just why?'
'Did I insult the universe in some ways and now it's getting its revenge?'
'Why?'
Those were the thought Virgil had when he entered the classroom and found that his backpack was nowhere to be seen.
Now, he could go to the bathroom to search for his backpack there or he could stay in class and not be late. That choice was taken from him when the professor walked in and demanded silence so Virgil sat in the back of the class with none of his books or his homework. Great.
Thankfully, he knew how to blend in the crowd so the professor hopefully won't notice his empty desk.
"Today we're doing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet!" The teacher's cheerful- too cheerful -voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Has anyone ever read it?"
VIrgil has. Of course he has, it's a classic but he most definitely will not be raising his hand and drawing attention to himself. No way.
Only two students raised their hands- a girl with braces and a long-haired boy wearing a plaid oversized shirt. A snicker and a coughed 'nerds' could be heard from the back of the class and Virgil was suddenly very glad he didn't raise his hand a moment ago.
"Anyone else? Anyone other than Sarah and Sam?" The professor's eyes were roaming over the class until they finally landed on Virgil, who was trying to make himself as small as possible.
"Oh I forgot that we have a new student in class." As soon as he said that, every single eye was on him in an instant and Virgil felt a blush forming. "How about you? Did you read the famous tale?"
Virgil's mind was racing with pros and cons of telling the truth as he fidgeted under everyone's impatient and irritated gazes- or at least he thought that they were impatient and irritated but he couldn't see them as his eyes were looking at his hands.
"Yeah, I did." Virgil answered, softly stumbling over his words.
He looked up, assuming that the teacher would be mad over the fact that he didn't join Sarah and Sam, but he just looked happy and beamed at Virgil.
"Great! Then this will be easy for you."
Virgil visibly relaxed.
.
Turns out, the class really was easy and Virgil found himself actually liking the teacher, which was unusual since he had a deep hatred for teachers in his last school.
He was quite relaxed until he remembered what made him anxious in the first place.
His backpack.
Virgil ran to the bathroom, where he last saw it, and relaxed when he noticed it was still there.
'Maybe the universe actually doesn't hate me with a passion.'
The backpack was under the sink and when Virgil crouched he saw that it was opened. Weird.
He hoped nobody stole something from it but he didn't exactly have time to check as his next class was starting in a few minutes and he still doesn't know the location of all the classrooms. After closing his backpack, Virgil picked it up and tried to figure out where the Math classroom was.
.
Logan was revising for his Biology test when he crashed into something, or rather someone.
"Oh shi-" Logan stopped when he saw who he crashed into. The new kid who Roman was obsessing over was on the floor picking up his papers with an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry" The kid's movements were rushed, like he was trying to get away as soon as possible.
"It's okay, it wasn't really your fault." He helped pick up the papers and when they got up he offered his hand while struggling with his things in the other hand.
"I'm Logan."
The kid hesitantly shook his hand "Virgil."
"Oh, like the Roman poet!"
"Yeah" Virgil looked at him with a hint of surprise. "Most people don't know him."
"Well, I'm not most people." Logan said with a proud smile. "What's your next class?"
"Um, Math class, but I don't exactly know where it is..." He let his voice trail off as he lowered his head in embarrassment.
"I can show it to you, my class is in the same direction anyway." Logan offered.
They walked together in a comfortable silence until Logan interrupted it with a questiom.
"So, where did you come from, Virgil?
Virgil felt a little uncomfortable with talking about himself "I'm from New Orleans. Actually, a small town next to New Orleans."
"From Louisiana to Florida, ha?" Logan asked with raised eyebrows. "What made you move, if you don't mind me asking?"
"My, uh, father had a fight with a cousin or something like that, so he decided that the best course of action was not to make up, but to move." His voice got a bitter tone at the end but he quickly shook it off. "What about you? Were you here your entire life or...?"
Logan was a bit surprised how Virgil's voice could go from bitter to curious in a second. "I actually moved here when I was 5, after my father left us for another family." He didn't know why he was telling this to someone he doesn't even know but he was already in deep, so why not continue?
"Oh, I'm sorry." Virgil felt guilty for bringing the topic up
"No reason to be. Wasn't your fault." Logan stopped in front of a door decorated with lots of flowers, "This is your class."
Virgil thanked him and walked into the room which was already full with students. He found an empty seat next to a girl and waited for the class to start.
.
After the last period Virgil walked out of the school with relief. He was walking when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His mind immediately went to this morning and his father's hand on his shoulder, his breath on his neck, smell of alchohol, oh God, danger, danger, danger-
"-re you okay? Hey, it's okay." That- that's not his father's voice, "Are you okay?"
He looked up and saw a boy with blue eyes looking at him with concern and worry. 'Why would he worry about me?'
He calmed his fast-beating heart and noticed that he was on the floor and trembling. 'Good job, Virgil.'
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm good." He got up and brushed the dust off his pants as the kid still looked at him with a weird expression on his face.
"Okay, if you say so..." His voice was unsure but it quickly morphed into happy when he remembered why he was here in the first place. "You're the new kid, right? Virgil?"
Virgil paused. "How do you know my name?"
"My friends told me," He had a big smile on his face, "Logan and Roman."
'Oh.'
"My name's Patton, by the way, and Logan, Roman and me were wondering if you would want to hang out with us sometimes?"
Patton looked so hopeful asking that and Virgil just didn't want to make him sad. Or at least that's what he was saying to himself as he answered:
"Um, sure."
"Great!"
He had a feeling that he just made an important decision that's gonna affect him later. Oh, well.