Tongue-Tied (Boyxboy)

Chapter One

JESSE'S POV

I glanced up from my tray of crappy cafeteria food as Miles collapsed into the seat next to me in a huff. The table was angrily shoved back before he tucked his hands under the chair he was sitting on and hopped forwards.

"What was the point of shoving the table away if you were just going to move your seat closer to it anyway?" I asked drily. Miles turned to glare at me, his green eyes flashing furiously.

"What's got your knickers in a knot?" I asked, my lips twitching.

"Toad." Miles muttered. My eyes swept through the lunchroom, looking for the familiar annoying head of dark brown hair. I felt my lips tug into a frown when I couldn't see it.

"Where is Toad?" I asked curiously.

"He's chatting up some girl in the hallway, as usual. I really don't understand what girls see in him. He's a jerk." Miles responded, running his hand through his shock of red hair. I just hummed in response before turning back to my tray.

"So what did he do this time?" I asked.

Miles sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"Does he need to do anything other than exist for Miles to have an issue?" Sebastian joked as he set his tray on the table, Julian following close behind him. Sebastian sat down and brushed his dark blonde hair back off his face. His pale green eyes glinted mischievously at Miles, a dimple in his right cheek appearing when he grinned. Julian plopped down beside him, giving an absentminded smile before focussing on his food, his light brown hair and friendly chocolate brown eyes providing a contrast between the two.

"Where have you two been? Sebastian, you're never late to lunch." I asked. Julian poked at his salad before looking away with a scowl. The two were inseparable, constantly together and playing pranks on the rest of the group. Sebastian usually took the credit, and the blame, for anything that happened, but my gut instinct told me that Julian was actually the mastermind behind it all.

"That's because lunch is the best meal of the day. Along with breakfast. And dinner." There was a pause, "And dinner number two." Sebastian said thoughtfully.

The door to the cafeteria slammed open and Miles flinched beside me. All four of our heads jerked towards the door as Todd walked in, Jennifer hanging off his arm and twirling a lock of strawberry blonde hair around her finger as she batted her eyelashes up at him, with Ryder and Parker flanking them both. I stared at Todd, admiring the way his dark brown hair framed his face, bringing attention to beautiful icy blue eyes that seemed to observe everything but give nothing away.

"He's not actually that bad you know. I see him a lot when he visits Ryder. He's a bit sarcastic, sure, but he can be pretty funny." Julian said as we all watched Todd flirt with Jennifer. His blue eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her before he glanced up and his eyes made contact with mine. I swallowed and quickly looked away as butterflies erupted in my stomach, glancing back up in time to see Todd's face turn into a sneer as he flipped Miles the bird.

"Yeah. Funny..." Miles mumbled, "Traitor." He whispered under his breath, making my lips twitch in amusement again. Julian scowled at him before throwing a leaf of lettuce at his head. Sebastian snatched it from mid-air and quickly shoved it in his mouth. We all stared at him before making eye-contact with each other and quickly looking away again.

A clatter over near Todd made us all look over at him to see that Ryder had knocked Parker's tray out of his hand.

"Yikes. He's still death-glaring you Miles. You did a good job, whatever you did." Julian said, his eyebrows raised. I tore my attention away from the amusement that was Parker holding Ryder in a headlock towards Todd, only to see him still glaring over at our table.