CHEWING GUM - otis milburn x reader

« prologue »

11:23 a.m.

The room was silent, with only the scratching of pencils against paper and the taunting tick of the wall clock filling the void.

'Only 20 more minutes.' I thought to myself.

Everyone continued working diligently on their assignments, but I couldn't be less interested.

Sure, I loved English. But school made the subject so unappealing. The novels and projects that are assigned are simply boring. The curriculum says that Moordale Secondary's English program revolves around 'fine and advanced literature', but that is far from the truth. Throughout the course, the novels we've received were the same ones assigned as ones in previous years: To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Catcher in the Rye... The list goes on. All good novels, but all boring. I've been reading these works since I was in primary school. I want a challenge.

I propped my head onto my arm and began to doodle in my notebook. I wasn't the doodling type, but I had never been more uninterested in school in my entire life.

After a few minutes, I checked the clock again, hoping that it was close to time to leave.

11:31. What?!

It felt like a century had passed between now and the last time I had checked. Suddenly, my stomach growled. Of course it hadn't been quiet and discreet, and had to be a loud, obnoxious rumble from the bottomless pit that was my stomach.

A few people turned and looked at me, but continued on with their work after I gave them a death glare.

I searched my bag for a piece of chewing gum, hoping it would hold me over through the next class.

No luck.

I glanced at my seat mate through my peripherals, and after watching him scratch his armpit and proceed to sniff his hand after, decided he would not be the best candidate to ask for a piece.

'Gross.' I shuddered in my seat.

I searched the rest of the room to see if there was anyone relatively normal who I could ask for a piece, and my eyes landed on the back of the black-haired boy in front of me.

Otis Milburn.

He seemed clean enough; Always dressed fairly nice, hair was always brushed into the same place, never appearing dirty, and he was pretty good at school.

Go time.

I leaned forward in my seat and gently tapped the back of his shoulder.

He turned around and gave me a confused half-smile.

"Hey Otis."

"H-hi" he looked nervous.

He seemed nervous to engage in conversation. I knew I looked like I wanted to kill someone half of the time, but was I really that intimidating?

"Hi. Got any chewing gum?" I spoke in a soft whisper, trying to be polite and also not get yelled at by the teacher.

He looked as though that was the strangest question I could've asked him. But changed his facial expression to reply to me.

"I, uh um yeah. I do actually." He turned to grab his bag off the floor and unzipped the small pouch.

He took a piece out and placed his bag back on the floor, then outstretched his hand for me to take the gum.

I smiled and grabbed it, "Thank you."

Otis gave a small smile back, his piercing blue eyes smiled at me as well. He turned back into his seat and continued writing as I placed the gum in my mouth.

Bubblegum. My favorite.

I continued to chew the gum in satisfaction, waiting for the last few minutes of the class to breeze by.

*BRRRRRRRRING*

The bell rang and I packed up my things and slung my bag over my shoulder. On my way out, I realized I was behind Otis, and should probably thank him again for the gum.

"Hey Milburn," he turned and looked at me with the same puzzled expression as when I had first asked for the gum, waiting for me to finish speaking.

"Thanks again."

"Yeah of course." He smiled and nodded his head slowly, then hurried out of the room, probably to find Eric before his next class.

My next class was only study hall, so I took the time to stop at my locker to grab my lunch, blowing bubbles and popping my gum as I went along.

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{ a/n

hey guys! i finished sex education like a week ago and i lOoOvEd it so so much. i think it's a super important show in today's culture because (even though it is dramatized and made for entertainment purposes) it gives out some pretty legitimate advice and touches on real life situations that you most likely will not/didn't learn about in high school. plus the characters are all so. damn. good. like there was not a single character that i hated. everyone played their roles so well and you already KNOW I was drooling over otis bc asa butterfield like hELLo. so yeah overall loved the show so much that i decided to write a fic about it.

hope you enjoy :)

xx

leigh }