The Boy In The Back (Muke)

3

I decided to just leave Michael alone for the rest of class. I didn't say anything to him in the other class we were in together, either.

At lunch, I met up with my new friends Calum and Ashton.

I sat down across from Ashton and pulled the food I had brought from home out.

Another kid walked by me and said something about the mysterious boy, Clifford, showing up to school.

"Who's Clifford?" I asked before taking a bite of my salad.

"What?" Ashton asked.

"Who's Clifford? He's in a couple of my classes, so I know who he is. But, why is everyone so obsessed with him being at school?" I questioned.

Calum and Ashton exchanged a brief look.

"There's three Cliffords. Skylar and Ethan are Michael's younger siblings. Michael's in our grade, so he's probably the one in your classes. Is he blonde?" Ashton explained.

I nodded in response.

"That's Michael. Stay away from him, Luke. He's no good." Ash told me.

"Why not?" I question, taking another bite of the salad.

Calum and Ashton exchange another look and Calum rolls his eyes.

Ashton gives me a slight smile, hopefully about to explain why Michael Clifford is apparently no good.

"He skips, he drinks, he smokes, and he's just weird. He isn't someone that you need to be hanging out with or talking to. Just ignore him from now on, okay?" Ashton explained.

"Okay." I shrugged, though Michael was the one ignoring me when I had made three attempts to speak to him. What was his problem?

At first, I thought that it was because I was wearing a skirt, a taboo thing for males. However, my mind changed when I realized that he didn't really talk to anybody. Just some blonde boy and a boy with light brown hair. Both were in a couple of my classes, though I hadn't learned their names yet.

"Have you made any other friends?" Calum questioned.

"I've talked to a few other people. A lot of people are nice to me." I stated. I didn't really count them as friends, though. Just acquaintances for now.

One was a girl named Kiara. She was nice, and she asked me a lot of questions. About my makeup, my past, my dog. She made the biggest impression on me. I couldn't remember a lot of the other one's names, but it didn't really matter.

"What class do you have next?" Ashton asked me. I looked at my brightly colored schedule and sighed.

"English." I responded.

"Hey, me too! And so does Calum. Do you want to walk with us?" Ash responded.

"Sure." I nodded, returning a small smile.

Calum sighed. I could already tell that he didn't like me. But why? I hadn't even really spoken to him much.

Once we got into English, I noticed that Michael was in there as well. The teacher assigned me the seat in front of him, which was also next to Ashton. Calum was a couple seats away from Ashton, still in speaking range.

The bell signaled the beginning of class.

Michael kept his head up for most of the class, which surprised me. He slept through all of the other classes we had together.

He even spoke to me. When I said hi to him, he gave me a very miniscule smile and said hi back.