It was great to be going back to school. The last few days of summer had been quite boring, with everyone getting prepared for the 9 months of homework and such. Kevin had done his school shopping with his father and grandmother in July, so his last days of August were spent on the football field with his teammates. The season was sure to be a good one. Hell, all the players on the team could be ready for the NFL in about 2 seconds.
Kevin sighed happily as he looked into the mirror of his downstairs bathroom. He combed his fingers through his hair and hummed as he placed his signature snapback hat on his head, pulling out some strands of hair through the little hole in the front. He was so excited that he started laughing nervously. Alright, Kevin... It's just school. It's just another year... Your last.
But Kevin felt, somewhere in his chest, that this year would be different from all the others. Something was going to happen... something incredible. He could feel it in his heart that he was going to meet someone that would turn out to be more special than he thought... Someone who could ease his pain. Someone he could really love.
Shaking his head and grumbling to himself, Kevin went into the kitchen to do and put away the dishes left in the sink from the past night. After placing the last cup elegantly on the steel wire shelf, Kevin threw his Joker converse on and grabbed his backpack full of locker equipment. With a happy bounce and a girly chuckle, he made his way out the back door.
Jacob and Emmett were waiting for him at the end of his driveway. Jacob had his arms crossed, and Emmett appeared half asleep.
"Hey guys!" Kevin greeted rather loudly.
Emmett gasped when he heard Kevin's booming voice. "Ahhhh, God..."
"Well, that only took 3,000 minutes," Jacob said sternly.
"Oh, shut up," Kevin replied, shoving his friend lightly. "I bought like 6 DVD's of porno for you so cut me some slack, will ya? I even WATCHED a DVD with you... then went home feeling sick. So, don't be complaining to me." Kevin pointed at himself with a cocky half smile.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
The trio started walking down the darkened street, watching the street lights flick off every time it got a little brighter. Emmett decided to start the conversation. "So, what are your guy's schedules?" Kevin and Jacob chuckled at Emmett's British dialect.
"Schedule..." Kevin mocked, making a sh sound at the beginning of the word instead of a sk.
Emmett ignored his friend's teasing. "So...?"
Kevin went first. He pulled out a crumbled piece of paper from his pocket. He cleared his throat loudly and began reciting his schedule in a sports announcer's voice. "First period: Calculus, Mr. Grant. Second period: Honors Foreign History, Mr. Meier. Third period: Symphonic Choir, Mr. Ethans. Fourth period: Honors Physical Science, Mrs. Tipps. Fifth period: Gym, Mr. Beckons, first semester; Concert Band, Mr. Freytag, second semester. Sixth period: Art 4, Mrs. Houge, first semester; Health, Mr. Smith, second semester. And last but not least, seventh period: Honors English 12, Ms. Wagner." Kevin flashed his friends and smile and crinkled up the paper, tossing it over his shoulder.
Jacob and Emmett laughed. "Really, dude? You littered! You badass!" Jacob commented.
"So, you have 2nd, 3rd, and 6th second semester period with me," Emmett concluded.
"You got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th second semester, 6th second semester, and 7th period with me. Yay!" Jacob threw his hands in the air.
"Oh, God..." Kevin laughed.
The boys chattered the rest of the way to school, making the 20 minutes seem like 5. The entered the school through the back door, along with at least 300 other students. The commons (cafeteria) was packed with students getting breakfast and chatting with their friends. There was an atmosphere of excitement in the room.
Kevin and his friends found the football table and happily took their seats.
"Hey, Deangle! I haven't seen you since practice, man! What's up with that?" One of Kevin's close football friends, Treavon Dickerson, leaned forward, grabbing Kevin's shoulder.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, we'll be seeing plenty of each other!" Kevin placed his hand on top of Dickerson's, smiling.
The rest of the team was happy the see their star player, and Kevin was more than happy to see each of them. He introduced himself the incoming freshman players (even though most of the used-to-be 8th graders knew who he was). Meanwhile, Eddy and his gang were socializing on the other side of the commons, already plotting how they were going to scam the discipline staff.
The Kankers were arguing amongst their selves in the breakfast line, and Nazz and her friends were going over their summer homework projects at a table by the cheerleaders. Nat and his team of perverts were flirting with the gay boys who were planted at their table across from the football team's.
Eddward was in the front lobby of the school, standing snug against the corner of the wall, watching students greet each other. After scanning the scene before him a little while longer, he frowned and pulled his hood up over his head. Why am I even here...
Once the clocks around the commons read 7:20, the whistle that meant it was time to go blew and the students made their way to upstairs and downstairs to their lockers. The whole room was a scramble of color as teachers directed students (especially freshman) in the right direction as middle school students began to make their way to the commons for their share of breakfast.
Kevin parted with his friends and made his way upstairs to the 2300 hallway to go to his locker and set up his space. He almost skipped merrily down the hallway, smiling with joy at his school. How good it was to return. Kevin liked school, no matter how much it looked as if he didn't. He liked the atmosphere and the fun, relaxing teachers that weren't hard on any of their students. Kevin liked Peach Creek High because it gave its students freedom in their choices and plenty of help if they didn't understand their work. Kevin loved his school, his friends, and his teachers. And if he had to move tomorrow to the Lexington or Madison school district, he would rather move a mountain with his bare hands.
Kevin found his locker and started to toy with the lock. 37... 43... 23. Bam. Kevin threw open his locker with no trouble at all. He glanced over at his locker neighbor, a Korean girl tinkering with his lock in frustration. She must be a freshman... How adorable... Kevin tapped her shoulder. The girl spun around and gasped. Apparently, she had no idea that her locker neighbor was the Kevin Deangle.
"K-Kevin Deangle!" she squeaked, instantly blushing and burying her face in her sweater.
"Need help with your lock?" Kevin asked, feeling relaxed by the girl's cuteness.
"Uh, y-yes... I'm having trouble with it... stupid thing..."
Kevin chuckled. "No problem. What's the combination?"
"67 31 12," the girl replied.
Kevin bent down and tinkered with the lock until the door swung open. He flashed a smile at the now happy looking Asian.
"Thank you!" She bounced happily and giggled.
"You got a name?" Kevin asked, leaning towards her.
The girl blushed and stammered her name. "Biyu Ching..."
"Biyu. That's pretty," Kevin complimented.
"Aw, t-thanks..." Biyu chuckled and smiled.
Looks like a cute anime girl... Well, she's better than last year's locker buddy... Kevin thought to himself, remembering the emo boy that was always covered in blood he knew last year. Kevin was pretty sure he had killed himself... poor kid.
Kevin waltzed through his first classroom's door, humming to himself as the rest of his classmates greeted him.
"Hey, Kevin!"
"What's up, Kevin?"
"You ever gonna get a new hat, Kev?"
Kevin made his way to his desk right by the teacher's own. He loved playing games with his teachers by sitting next to them so he could piss them off. But he liked all his teachers, so he was never that cruel.
Mr. Grant stepped into the room carrying a bunch of papers in his right hand. His gaze instantly fell to Kevin. "Pffft, great... You again, Deangle."
Kevin laughed. "Yes. You again, Mr. Grant."
Mr. Grant shook his head as he went around the room erasing various whiteboards. "I can't believe it. I've been stuck with you for 4 years now. You better not be a wise crack again. Although I know it'll happen, I still warn you year after year."
Kevin closed his eyes. "You know it, Grant. I'm your favorite."
Mr. Grant scoffed playfully. "Yeah right. I like you about as much as I like Mexican food."
Mexican food was Mr. Grant's favorite.
With classes about to start, students were racing around the halls, waiting for the late bell to ring. Kevin chattered with some of his friends in the Calculus room, waiting for Mr. Grant to return from the xerox room down the hall. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photo albums for the millionth time. The room had quieted down, as well as the surrounding classrooms and even most of the hallway.
Click clack click clack.
Kevin looked up to see a boy standing in the doorway. Black converse with black laces were the first thing to catch his eye. Then black skinny jeans, a red shirt, a thick leather jacket...
Kevin was hypnotized.
The whole world fell away from Kevin's mind as he watched the figure make his way into the classroom, pressing his books against his chest.
Click clack click... clack.
The mass of black stopped at the seat right across from Kevin. Kevin bent his head down to make it seem like he wasn't looking at the boy. He flickered his gaze up to see the teen placing his books on the desk. Kevin's interest rose to its highest. Who was this boy? What was his name? Why did he seem familiar? That day Kevin went at met that lady... Shiloh Palmer... could this have been her son?
The boy left the room. Kevin kept his eyes locked on the doorway. Suddenly, late bell rang, sending a flock of hurrying students to their classrooms. Kevin didn't even notice them. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the boy came back into the room, just as slow and as gracefully as ever. Kevin wished he would take his hood off. He wanted to see who this guy really was. Just moments later, Mr. Grant walked in, muttering to himself about the xerox room. The mysterious boy had now taken his seat, and was sketching in a black book with withered pages.
"Alright, everyone. I'm gonna settle a few things down in the office, then we'll get started. Go on. Talk about your boring lives." Everyone laughed and went back to socializing. Mr. Grant turned to look in Kevin's direction, his face instantly washing with a perplexed expression. "Who are you?"
The whole class stopped talking. Everyone's attention directed to the boy, still seated, pencil paused on the crinkly paper. Slowly, almost cautiously, he stood up, his tall form making Kevin shiver. The whole class waited for the figure to speak.
The boy took out a neatly folded piece of paper, unfolded it, and handed it to the math teacher.
Mr. Grant took it and looked it over. "New student."
The boy silently removed his hood. Kevin' breath hitched. He had never seen anything so... beautiful.
The boy's face was flawless, not a hair or a pimple covering the smooth skin. Crimson eyes glowed beneath his thick black hair that swooped over his face. His eyelashes were long and dark, and the eyebrows over them made him appear serious. His nose was long and sharp, the edges of his face defining his cheeks and chin well. His neck was exposed showing the same flawless, pale color his face possessed. He stared at Mr. Grant for only a second, then spoke in a voice Kevin had never heard before in his life.
"Eddward Palmer," he announced lightly in a Scottish accent that made Kevin's brain turn to much. He stared, dumbfounded, at this new student.
"Eddward Palmer?" Mr. Grant repeated. Eddward nodded. Mr. Grant looked at the paper once more, then chucked it in the recycling bin. "Alright, Eddward. Take a seat."
Eddward bowed his head and took his seat, resuming his sketching. Kevin was still staring at him after all this time. That black beanie with the two white stripes... He knew he had seen that around town before.
Kevin's gaze was cut off by Mr. Grant's body in front of his face. "Kevin?" Kevin looked up and saw Mr. Grant holding out a piece of paper.
"Y-Yes.." Kevin took it and looked down at the desk slightly embarrassed.
Mr. Grant continued to pass out papers. "Alright, class. Welcome to another year of..."
Kevin couldn't get Eddward out of his mind.
Eddward seemed to be attached to Kevin's mind wherever he went. And to his eyes. Eddward was in Kevin's second period class. He sat with the tenors in third period. He was Kevin's lab partner in fourth period. Kevin saw Eddward sitting on the bleachers in fifth period. And in sixth and seventh period, Kevin was mesmerized by Eddward's presence. Kevin had pretty much ignored his friends all day because of Eddward's face taking over his thoughts. And don't even get me started on the amount of rage boiling in Kevin's veins when he saw Eddy and his gang tamper with Eddward during lunch. Eddward sat alone, hardly touching his food, staring at the wall on the other side of the commons. Kevin was about to go sit next to him when Eddy and his band of idiots circled around the black haired boy. Kevin wanted to pucnh Eddy in the face in 7th period.
At the end of the day, when Kevin was collecting his things from his locker almost absent minded, he saw Eddward rush past him towards the stairs leading to the front lobby. Kevin stuffed his books in his locker, grabbed his athletic bag for football practice, and ran (well, quietly speed walked) behind Eddward. He followed Eddward to the music hallway where he saw Eddward enter the band room. Could he be in the marching band?
On the practice field, Kevin watched the marching band come out from the back of the school. Kevin searched for Eddward as he did his laps around the field. No sign of him. Finally, Kevin caught a glance of Eddward holding a silver flute, talking to the assistant band instructor, Mr. Bradley. Kevin couldn't help but smile. Looks like I'll be seeing you on the football field. He growled when he saw Eddy walk over to Eddward, snare drum in hand, a big, sly smile on his face.
Fuck with him, I kill you.
For the next two hours, Kevin watched the marching band practice as he did his workouts with the football team. Kevin was surprised; it looked like Eddward already knew the music. He probably practiced over the summer. Or he was learning by ear.
Kevin quickly changed in the locker room and gathered his things. He walked out the back door, making excuses to his friends why he couldn't walk with them so he could search for Eddward. He waited anxiously on the steps hoping that he would see Eddward leave the back of the band room. His wish was granted. Kevin shot right up, trying not to make it obvious he was watching Eddward, as he looked at Eddward adjusting his messenger bag. Kevin was relieved to see Eddward walk in the same direction as him. Good. Now I can find out if you're Shiloh's kid.
Kevin followed Eddward down the same route he took, until they got to Kevin's street. Kevin was ecstatic to see Eddward walk right up Shiloh's driveway and blend into the back entrance of the duplex. Kevin stopped in the middle of the street a few houses down and dance around happily.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Kevin gasped and quickly composed himself, hoping that no one saw him. The grin on his face grew bigger each second he stared at the house Eddward had entered. Kevin was now content.
He knew he had a hunch that this year would be different!