「reputation」➳ garrance

「...ready for it? 」

and garroth didn't know how to feel about that.

➳

"alright," mr. augustine said as he sat down in his brown leather chair behind his desk. the two boys sat in the bright blue chairs in front of the desk, neither had said a word to each other. "we like to make all our students feel welcome here, so i have assigned garroth to be your tour guide," he told laurance.

laurance looked at the blonde. "o-only if that's alright with you..."

"y-yeah, that's fine with me," garroth replied, pink rising up to his cheeks and mixing with his milky skin.

"great," the principal smiled. "laurance, here is your schedule and locker information. i hope you enjoy troy high school."

instead of smiling back at mr. augustine, laurance was staring at the ocean in his eyes, the sand in his hair, the milk in his skin, the cherry in his lips.

but things had never worked out for laurance, and this would be no different.

➳

the warning bell echoed through the hall as the two boys exited the main office. the other kids that lingered in the halls stared at them, intrigued by the popular and the newbie. garroth had learned to ignore it a long time ago, but laurance did not like the eyes on him.

"let me see your locker info," garroth said. laurance quickly handed the folded piece of paper to the blonde. "hmm... it seems your locker is a few away from mine. let's go."

laurance now had the chance the look around at the school. it was clearly run down. old wooden doors every 10 feet. white construction blocks as walls and stained tiles as floors. blue lockers were located in between the classrooms. fluorescent lighting up above, one flickering every twenty seconds (laurance counted while they made their way to his locker). it was definitely not new york city, in any way.

"here we are," garroth said, stopping at locker 216. "mine is just over there." he pointed to the locker three down from his.

"thanks," laurance mumbled, taking the paper from the blonde and trying to unlock the lock.

after three failed attempts, garroth stepped in. "here, let me try." in one go he got it.

"thanks."

"these lockers are tricky, you just have to get used to it," garroth shrugged, watching as laurance unloaded his books from his backpack and put them in the locker. "can i see your schedule?" the brunette nodded, handing his schedule to the blond. "wow, it looks like we have the same homeroom. actually, we have all our morning classes, lunch, and last period together." the final bell rang. laurance looked at garroth, a worried expression on his face. "don't worry, it'll be fine since you're new."

laurance walked next to garroth as they headed towards homeroom. there was barely any room in between them, but neither boy moved away. and when their hands brushed against each other they pretended that they didn't notice.

but it was at that point that they had started to notice the world.

➳

it was lunch time now.

the morning had run smoothly. garroth guided laurance through the morning, telling him some essential things he'd need to know. like which class was the best to pass notes in, or which teacher was the most strict. during the class that was the best to pass notes in, which was history, the boys realized they had more in common than they had thought. they both loved literature—garroth liked shakespeare and other plays, while laurance liked mark twain and other classic literature. they also loved the beach boys, which was very exciting for garroth, as he was the only one in troy with a love for the band (well, until now). by the time fourth period ended, the boys acted as if they had known each other for years, not hours.