Miscommunication

Chapter 1

Walking into school he could feel the glances and stares, just like every day. However, he couldn't blame them, with his long blonde hair, different choice in style, pale skin, and fast walk. It would be hard to not stare. He walks up to his locker using muscle memory to quickly put his code in.

"Ryu!" A high-pitched voice squeals from down the hall. Scaring him he messes up the input of his code, cursing under his breath. He turns, looking down to see his good friend Amy.

"Hey Amy, how was your weekend?" Ryu says tiredly. Not that he was actually tired, that's just how he sounds, he was quiet and kept to himself. So whenever he did talk it was deep from no use.

"Great! Me and Tara hung out again." Amy giggles, rocking slightly on her heels. Ryu couldn't help but notice the little hearts she put under her eyes, everyday it were a different shape.

"So that's why she couldn't come over?" Ryu raises an eyebrow, a slight smirk growing on his face. Amy goes pale, knowing she said too much.

"I-no! I mean, I hung out with my family!!" She fumbles over her words covering her face with her stack of books. Ryu laughs turning back to his locker.

"Amy, I already know! Tara told me the night after" Clicking his locker open, a hand slams it shut walking past.

"Wrong! Try again loser!" Daren Perez. The tall baseball player with short brown hair, a bad attitude, and a broken home, almost wearing it on his sleeve. One of the many jocks Ryu disliked, constantly getting harassed and bullied by him and many other athletes.

"Damnit Daren! Don't you just stop!" Amy yells down the hall. Sighing to himself he turns and tries pulling open his locker.

"I think it's jammed again"

"Shit, really? I'll go get the janitor!" Amy starts walking away, getting stopped by Ryu's grip.

"No go to class you don't need to be late from my shitty locker" He let's go of her taking out his AirPods, tucking them away safely in their case

"It's only shitty because Daren abuses it every day." She retorts.

"True. But don't worry I'll go get him. We're on first name bases with how often I go there" Chuckling to lighten the frown on her face. She sighs in defeat.

"Fine... I'll  see you in 5th?"

"Nowhere else to go." Smiling he waves to her as she leaves. The bounce in her walk was mesmerizing, he wished he could be as happy as her on a Monday. Ryu drags his feet walking to the janitor's office, hesitatingly knocks on the door, a tall, fat man with a thick beard opens the door, looking down at him.

"Again?" A rough, grouchy voice speaks. Ryu shyly nods, avoiding eye contact. With no words spoken he walks past Ryu, the annoyance clear in his heavy footsteps. Opening Ryu's lock took up the first 10 minutes of 1st hour. He hated being late to class, and ironically he was nearly every day.

"You're late again." Mr. Beckley says, not looking up from his computer. Daren in the back of the class snickers, covering his mouth.

"Sorry sir, my locker got jammed again." Ryu glares at Daren, sitting down at his desk and organizing his books.

"I'm having a hard time believing that with it being every day now." Mr Beckley looks up with an annoyed expression.

"The janitor can vouch for me." Ryu glances at Daren, who is staring out the window. Some clouds were starting to come in, and this worried Ryu a bit, hoping he wouldn't have to walk home in the rain. The teacher takes a deep, loud sigh standing from his desk.

"Okay, you children. As it's Monday and this is math. I hope you haven't forgotten your books. Daren." Mr. Beckley flashes a quick glare at Daren.

"Mr. Beckley. How could you think so low of me?!" Daren gasps, dramatically looking through the books on his desk. He pauses slowly looking up to the teacher.