Somebody to Love ~ Joe Mazzello High School AU

Push-Ups

          It was the next day and I had already arrived at school. I was sitting in my Orchestra class, my viola laying on my lap, while we waited for the final bell to ring. I hadn't seen Joe yet this morning, which I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I stared blankly at the sheet music laying out on the stand in front of me, mindlessly plucking the strings of my instrument along. I've memorised a couple Queen songs on this thing, but it was nothing fancy. I looked up at the clock, and saw that it had only been two minutes since the last time I looked. Today was going to be a long day. 

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          For lunch today was classic pizza, it didn't look the best but whatever. I paid for it and passed into the lunchroom. It was yet again filled to the brim with students laughing and talking loudly. I glanced around, scanning each table, until I found them. I honestly don't think I would've spotted them if Gwil wasn't there. I snaked my way through the crowds, trying not to bump into anyone's chair. 'The gang' was sitting in the back of the room by one of the windows, and as I got closer, the air got colder; I'm not complaining because it was so hot in there. 

          "Hey Cas!" Rami greeted, sticking his hand in the air. At this everyone turned to look at me, all smiling welcomely. I noticed that Lucy wasn't there though. I finally reached the table, looking for a place to sit.

          "Hello Rami." I smiled, I sat in the open chair beside Ben that was in the very back, so I could see the whole lunch room. So it was me, Ben to my left, Gwil, Joe, and then Rami. "Where's Lucy?"

          "She has B lunch sadly." Rami answered with his raspy voice. I glanced over to Joe who was looking towards me, his face slightly turning pink as he looked away. Looking down at my pizza and grimaced at the sight of it; cold cheese and greasy. 

          "You'll get used to it. We had to." Ben leaned into me as he pointed between himself and Gwil, chuckling. 

          "How do you like the school?" Gwil piped in as he ate a pepperoni off his pizza.

          "It's pretty cool. I like my Orchestra teacher a lot."

          "You should join the Drama Club." Joe leaned onto the table, slouching over. 

          "I was actually thinking about it, joseph.backchat. Back Chat, really?" At this, Rami laughed.

          "Hey, don't hate on Back Chat." Joe pointed a finger at me.

          "Hey now, I'm not hating on the song," I put my hands up defensively, "just an interesting song to choose for a username."

          "Okay, The Invisible Man." I glared at Joe in a, fake disbelief, joking manner.

          "I'm sorry, I'm In Love With My Car was taken." Ben snorted and Gwil chuckled, causing me to smile. 

          "Touche"

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          We were in gym class once again, and today we were doing testing stuff. So the rest of the week we were going to be doing a half mile run, sit-ups, push-ups, wall jumps, the v-sit and reach, etc. It sounded like everyone was going to die when she said that, and I felt their pain when it came to push-ups and the running. With my arthritis, my knees got weak and locked up when I run a lot, but do you think I'm gonna chicken out? Welllll.... You never know. 

          "Okay, so for the next four days, you're going to need a partner." At this, everyone got up and paired off into respective groups. Joe walked up to me and smiled, but didn't say anything. I smiled back in response, and we stood next to each other as we faced the teacher waiting for the next instructions. I could feel Joe's body warmth radiating, which felt so good in this cold gym, as I swayed back and forth, humming quietly. "So I won't kill you guys today with the running, even though it's only half a mile. I think we're going to do the sit-ups and push-ups today." I mentally groaned because I couldn't do a push-up to save MY LIFE. Everyone walked into this little room and all came out with mats.

          "I'll grab us one." Joe said before walking over to the closet. I took the moment to recollect myself. Fuck, this is gonna be so embarrassing. Joe walked back over and laid the mat onto the ground. "I think I heard that we're doing push-ups first. Who's going first?" I groaned and tilted my head back.

          "Nose goes." I said as I put a finger onto my nose. Joe chuckled and then sat down onto the mat.

          "Okay, you guys are going to have one minute to do as many push-ups as you can. Your partner is going to keep count for you. You guys ready?" Everyone got into position, "Ready, set, go." Joe began doing push-ups as I counted in my head, he was doing them slow and steady. Today he was wearing a baggy blue shirt that was hanging off him, but clinging to his back. It was that one material of clothing that wasn't particularly thin, but you could see EVERY outline. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Every time he went down, I could see his shoulder blades pushing together. Holy mother of Jesus. STAY FOCUSED. I was sitting cross legged at his side and facing him. I glanced over to his arms, I noticed that even though his limbs are lanky, he had good muscle definition, not to much, the perfect amount. I could see his face from under him, and he looked focused. His ginger tinted hair stuck to his face slightly, which had a thin layer of perspiration, causing him to glow. Oh SHIT, did I lose count?? Oh, no, we're on thirty-two. Okay good. He got a couple more in before the teacher yelled time. Joe pushed up onto his knees and pushed his hair off of his forehead, which was a mess by the way. I chuckled to myself silently until the teacher told us to switch off, the smile left my face as Joe crawled off the mat. The teacher came around the room and collected everyone's numbers.

           "Ready?" Joe asked me as the teacher was almost done. I whimpered a little as a response.