open hand and heart [ gawsten au ]

i. handshakes with fake ass band guys

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yo buddies. uh yeah i decided i'd write this little story and i hope you guys like it. i'll update when i can and i usually have chapters written prior to my update if i have time.
a few things, if you guys could comment and vote and share that'd be great. i work really hard on my writing and i'd love for it to be appreciated! also, if you want updates on the plot, characters, and when i'll update, follow my twitter, <wstenknight> the @ is the a in awsten lmao. or if you wanna be friends that's cool too! anyway thanks for reading this if you did! enjoy this update!
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"Awsten?"
Blinking back into reality, I looked at Grace. She giggled and gave me a look. She knows. "Oh, sorry. What?" The light from the yellow sign casting shadows on all of us. Such a bright shade, making us dark. "Uh, again. I'm Geoff." I looked back at the boy standing in front of me. "Uh, Awsten, it's Awsten Knight." I stuck out my hand, not realizing how clammy it became. He chuckled and shook my hand, he didn't seem to realize either. "Nice to meet you, Awsten Knight." I swore, if I wasn't careful, my heart would burst out of my chest. Something about this boy was different. His icy blue eyes that felt warm despite their tone? His contagious smile? Damn. "Oh, Otto. I packed up our crap into the van. Thanks for the help." Geoff said with a twinge of sarcasm. "Anytime, man!" Otto shot back. Grace whispered int Otto's ear, snickering. "We're gonna go sit down, alright?" And like that, they left. Damn it, Grace. "So, Otto tells me that you play guitar?" He said breaking the silence. "Er. Yeah, sometimes." That was an understatement, I play all the damn time. "Well do you sing?" He said looking up at the sign, before looking at me. "Ha, no. Just in the shower." I joked, avoiding his eyes. "Oh. That's a shame. Would've been nice to have you in the band." He said, getting closer to me. I laughed, "I'm good." "Come on, just sing for me, join the band, Awsten." He said. I leaned against the cold brick wall, right after, Geoff placed his hand by my head, leaning all his weight onto that arm. Our faces, inches away. "Gimme a call sometime. You'll make money at gigs. It'll be grand. Just call me and the spot is yours. Or if you want, something else can be yours too." He smirked, putting a plastic business card from his jacket pocket into my hand. "I don't need your money, or you." I scoffed, walking away. What a jerk.

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I set foot onto the steps, following them up to the bright red doors. The halls were crowded with friends meeting again after a long summer, as if it'd be years. "AWSTEN!" I heard from down the hall, Grace. "What's up?" I said dully. "How'd it go?" She smiled, poking my arm. "How'd what go?" I questioned, not getting what she was getting at. "Geoff! How'd it go the other night? I texted you to follow up and you never answered!" She pouted. "That jackass?" I laughed, ignoring the end of her sentence as I headed to my first period. 307, I tried to memorize. "What do you mean?? What happened???" She buzzed around me. "He's a self-absorbed jackass. Pretty face and all, but not inside." I spoke, looking at my schedule, Chemistry. Grace pouted, eventually turning away to head to class as well. I wandered down the 300's, slipping into my class a few minutes before the bell. I sat in the back, pulling out a notebook from my bag. I hoped no one would sit next to me, so no one would question my mindless doodles as class went on. That didn't last, as I felt someone sit around me. The teacher began his lesson, going on about the periodic table, I didn't really care. "So, anyway, before I go on too long, let's start with roll." Mr. Willis, from was written on the board in a bright green Ex-Po marker., spoke. I listened in to the blur of names, waiting for mine. "Knight?" I raised my hand, not bothering to look up. "Awsten?" Ugh. "I raised my ha-" I looked up to the noise, to be met with the same situation as that night. "You've got to be joking." I said, aloud. I rolled my eyes away from the blue eyed ass and went back to doodling. I'll move seats or classes tomorrow, I told myself.
The class went on with a drag, but doodling became lyric writing. Awsten wrote songs often, but no way in hell would anyone else know that. "Whatcha' writing?" Never mind. Geoff beamed at him from his seat. "Piss off." Awsten spoke, flipping a page. "Are those ly-" Ding. Geoff was cut off my the bell indicating first period was over. "One second, class" Awsten stopped in his tracks, a few feet away from the door. "Instead of a semester exam, I give students the chance to do a project instead, with a partner. We'll decide them next week." The students shot up in excitement, giving looks to their friends for partnerships. "Class dismissed."
And with that I set my stride for second period.

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Everything so far went by like a breeze. A few strict teachers and noisy students later, I'd reached last period. American History. I looked at the crumbled paper in my hand and back at the door marked "309." This is it. I walked in, the class was rather filled, students sitting on desks, not in. The teacher was nowhere in sight. Typical. I was shoved off to the side by other students rushing in. I searched around for any friends. "Dude!" I heard from the corner of the room. Otto raised his hand and patted the seat next to him. I passed through the rows, heading towards him. Almost there, someone rushed passed me, pushing me to the floor, taking my spot. Lo and behold. Geoff, again. Otto looked down and me sympathetically. "I'm sorry Awsten. Here." He tapped the person in front of him, whispering something before laughing. Then they got up and walked away. "Take a seat!" Otto gestured to the now open spot. I got up, Geoff reaching for my hand, "Sorry about that, jackass." Damn it, Grace. Ignoring his hand, I sat in the wooden desk. "Alright." A booming voice spoke. I jumped at the sound. "American History. This class is an AP class, Advanced Placement, for you morons. But for you it'll be A Pain." He said, smiling, proud of his corny joke. I chuckled softly, giving him credit for it. "Now. I've put you all on teams for our semester game." He said. "Game?" Geoff said, raising his hand. "Ah, yes. Game. Lot funner for you to play, me to watch, and for you dorks to pass." He said sorting through papers. "Funner ain't a word, sir." Some boy wearing Beats headphones spoke. "And neither is ain't. Did you keep your headphones off for English long enough to know that?" He clapped back. The class was mixed of laughter and "Ooooh's."
The boy slumped back into his seat, pride stripped of him. "As I was saying..."

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"And now, the time you've been waiting for. This is the time where we'll work on our semester final." Mr. Willis spoke. It'd been a week and everyone had been waiting for this. A hand shot up, "So, Melissa and I wan-" "Oh! I didn't tell y'all?" Mr. Willis barged in her comment. "I decide the partners." The class groaned. I was rather okay with the decision, I didn't have any friends and maybe this project would change that. "So I stayed up late last night, working on your pairings." He pulled up the projector screen to reveal the dry erase board. It was covered in blue, green, and red writing. "Look for your name, follow the arrow, there's your partner." He said simply, stepping away from the board, allowing students to come look at it. "Oh, before you complain, I've emailed everyone's parents, there's no changing, switching, or more than two." He laughed. I looked past students and saw my name, following the blue arrow to the bottom of the board, it was blocked from bickering students. "So, I guess, you should apologize. Considering we'll be together for the whole semester." Fantastic.