Trip Hazard

Slightly Male

Noah

"Noah, what're you doing tonight? We're thinking of going bowling," Elijah doesn't wait for me to reach him before he starts to speak, so he's lucky I'm listening. My other friends are also hovering around at my locker. Looks like I'm the last one to show up. No surprises there.

"I would if I could amigo, but its date night, if you know what I mean," I wink sexily and give my best lighthearted smirk. For reference, I'm going for that classic James Dean smile. Dreamy.

"Holmes, have you got something in your eye?" Lachlan interjects.

"Yeah, what just happened to your face? Dude, that was weird." Alexis adds.

"I think he's been bitten by something poisonous." Sadie prods my stomach.

"Should we call a doctor?" Seth flashes his phone torch in my eye, blinding me.

I scowl. I hate every single one of them and myself even more for trying. Especially when they start high-fiving each other, clearly smug, laughing at me. I glare, flaring my nostrils.

"It wasn't that funny," I whine.

"Yeah, yeah it was." Lachlan turns to smirk at me. A lock of his short blond hair falls forward, and for anyone else it would flick him in the eye, but on him it just looks like James Dean level effortless. Fuck him.

"You're all in a good mood, considering the stunt the Ranelagh kids pulled this morning." I point out, fiddling with my locker combination. I can never remember it, but if I twist it in just the right way, it opens.

That does the job of killing the vibe considerably. Good job, Noah. Alexis and Sadie mutter to each other while Eli and Lachlan just look irritated. Seth's the only one who doesn't seem that bothered. He grins wickedly.

"I'm sure they'll get what's coming, sooner or later." His eyes narrow.

"Preferably sooner," Elijah mutters. We all make some sort of noise in agreement.

It's about time that Buckingham get our revenge. Ranelagh has been more active than ever lately in their pranks, and they're beginning to get in our way. There's no doubt it's the fact that we destroyed them last football season and it's pissed them off. As shown by exhibit A, because this morning when I got to school, almost all the teachers were gathered around the flower beds.

At first, I didn't think much of it, they have a tendency to just stand over the 'outstanding natural flora', reciting the Latin names, but then the students swarmed, like the horrible little creatures that they are. I can say that about them because I did the exact same, rushing over a little giddy. Turns out, the Ranelagh Seniors had carved out in the shrubbery 'PENIS'. Originality runs deep in this neighbourhood, it seems. I'm not too sure how they did it so well, I'll give them that, it's artfully done. But Principal Mortimor looked absolutely crushed. Those shrubs were his pride and joy.

To make matters worse, not only are the shrubs located right outside the front of the school but this week Buckingham's hosting it's annual gala. Talk about timing. Those Ranelagh kids are savvy to say the least, even if they are just gutter rats.

While they carry on bickering over Ranelagh, I reach into the locker next to mine and pull out Elijah's homework for next lesson. He gives me a look but doesn't stop me as I scrawl in the answers on my sheet, making sure I get a good 30% wrong. Mrs. Jackby never usually takes it in, but honestly, I need all the help I can get with Latin. But believability is key, I've made the mistake of getting 100% too often, and then teachers have high expectations of you. I shudder at the thought of it.

I've almost finished when a loud voice makes me jolt, sending a dark pen line through the page. No rescuing this one. Fan-fucking-tastic. I look up angrily at the source, ready to exchange some words.