[Boyfriend to Death] Lawrence x Gender Neutral!Reader

Chapter One

     "Room... 907..." You mumbled to yourself as you made your way through the crowded halls. Second semester had just started of (your school year,) and everyone was trying to find their classrooms, pushing past one another and doing their best to hurry as not to be late. "Where the hell is it...?"

     You weren't particularly fond of school. Who was? That didn't mean you disliked learning— no, learning new things was always interesting. But the people, the work, the drama, the teachers... most of it sucked. Plus, the rumors. God, the rumors sucked, and everyone had been at the end of one at least once.

     You didn't particularly enjoy rumors, but that didn't mean you weren't nervous about meeting your new Environmental Biology teacher.

     "He's such a freak!" "He gives me the creeps, I feel like he wants to murder us half the time." "I swear that guy has a damn screw loose." "He needs to take a shower or something, his room always smells like dirt, it's gross."

     If there was talk bigger than anything else, it was about him. Mr. Lawrence Oleander.

     You didn't want to believe any of what people were saying, but when you stepped foot in his classroom, and that sickly-sweet smell filled your nostrils, you immediately had a bad feeling about the next few months.

     The bell had already rung as you were standing outside, staring at the room number. You were late.

     "...(Y/N)?" The teacher looked down at his student roster and back up to you, his tired eyes meeting yours, and that blank stare sent a shiver down your spine. You nodded. "You're late."

     "Y-Yeah, sorry Mr. Oleander." You said, taking a seat in the front. Every other seat was taken, and you could see why. Everyone wanted to be as far away from this man as they could.

     He only sighed shakily. He seemed troubled, but the reason why was a mystery. You looked around the room to survey your new classmates as Mr. Oleander jotted something down. You felt a bit scared when you saw some typical troublemakers in the class— you knew they'd be a nuisance— and you didn't want to think about how your new teacher might react.

     "...Alright, class. I'm your Environmental Biology teacher, Mr. Oleander. This semester we'll be learning all about plants and nature, how they work, their identifications—"

     "Yeah, uh, Mr. O?"

     The teacher turned around, seemingly a bit tense and maybe even a tad nervous or upset. "Can't you save the questions until after I'm done...?"

     "Uh-huh, sure. But I was wondering if you have, like, a dead body in here or something? It fuckin' smells like it." The boy who spoke up snickered a bit with his friends, and you recognized him to be someone from your Math class last semester— a guy named Ren Hana.

     Ren was a brat, simply put. And the whole class held their breath after he spoke up. Everyone heard the rumors. Nobody knew what would happen.

     Mr. Oleander's dead eyes flickered with a bit of anger; This guy was definitely unstable— you could tell by the way he carried himself and how one small thing seemed to flick a switch. He clenched his jaw and stood up a bit more straight.

     "Ren... right?" He forced a smile, and you'd have to be blind to not realize it was strained.

     "Pfft. Yeah. What, you gonna yell at me? Send me to the principal's office? They're used to me down there. Nothin'll happen." Ren gave his signature animalistic grin.

     Mr. Oleander took a shaky breath and let it out. "No. No, Ren, I'm not." That smile stayed on his face as he walked forward, down the columns of desks until he reached Ren's and put his arms down on the wooden surface.
 
     "What I will do is tell you that you don't matter. You're like a weed, Ren. Weeds are vile. Perhaps they look pretty, like purple loosestrife, or maybe they are often associated with good things that don't exist, like clovers, but a weed is a weed. They take the form as any other plant as they string the life out of others, spreading like a disease. Invasive, unlikable.

     "All they do is cause trouble. But you know what can happen to weeds? A little bit of weedkiller can take them right out. Just a small amount of something easily destroys them. They're weak. And if the time comes I need to use some weedkiller, believe me, I will. So stay quiet, Ren, and let me do my job."

     Oh boy, was this going to be a long semester.