Sunsets and Constellations | B X B

• T W O •

"Alright boys and girls, this is it, you've arrived and though most of you don't want to be here, you might as well suck it up and try to do your best." rang a familiar voice throughout the courtyard, magnified and booming through the speakers.
Elijah tunes out the rest of Miss Delavere's speech and looks around him. There were about seven hundred students in total.

Who knew?

He was just estimating. While he was busy counting through the heads ahead of him a sharp pain travelled up his shin. He yelped uncharacteristically and accidentally caught the attention of several boys and girls around him. Something had bitten him. He rolled his eyes and gestured to the people who were staring at him to look away.

He looked towards his right and was met with a pair of big grey eyes.

God, those were unreal.

He suddenly couldn't fucking breathe normally. There were too many people around him. He needed some space, soon. The owner of the gorgeous pair of eyes raised his eyebrow in question and looked away. Even in the dark of the night, his eyes looked as bright as a ringlight.
He snapped out of his trance when the boy awkwardly looked away and didn't didn't move after that.
Eventually, the crowd broke around him and started scattering toward the basement when he was brought back to his reality. If you asked him, he'd say it was quite unfortunate.

"Can we go together? I can't do this." a voice says behind him, gripping his shoulder.

Ryder was standing behind him, looking extremely uncomfortable and out of place. Elijah nods and they follow the crowd. Everyone was walking around cautiously, smiling timidly and looking like deer caught in headlights. Ryder was all he had now, he didn't feel like making any more friends.
They grab their plates and stand in line and are served some shell-pasta in a rich, delicious looking sauce with a side of garlic bread and a cup of hot chocolate. They wordlessly walk to the farthest table and sit by the wall. The food was to die for, utterly, b-utterly delicious.

"Uh, hey guys?"

A boy with dark hair and the sharpest bone structure stands before them, looking extremely uncomfortable as he smiles sheepishly.

"Would you mind?" he asks, gesturing towards the empty seat next to Elijah, and sits next to him after he moves.

He was the kind of boy people wrote books about.
Tall, unearthly handsome looks, a neck tattoo and a leather jacket. He fit the "badboy" stereotype pretty well, but only in appearance, Elijah concluded. Because you know, he had approached them all by himself.

"Uh, Elijah. And this is Ryder." Elijah says, introducing themselves.

"I'm Jacob, call me Jake." The new boy quipped.
The rest of their meal progressed in silence until Ryder asked him what got him landed in this secluded place.

"Overdosed on weed. My uncle found me in the basement, out cold and barely breathing. I almost- yeah, yeah." He says, cool demeanour slipping slightly as he covers it up with a laugh.

He was slightly ashen-faced and looked nauseous. Ryder and Elijah figured that he wasn't comfortable telling them the rest of the story. Elijah patted his back and smiled at him.

"Hey man, there's no need. It's alright, we're not pushing." Jake sighed in relief and mumbled a thank you.

The three of them headed back to the dorms together, sipping on the hot chocolate and parted ways on reaching Jake's room, no. 202.

"See y'all in the morning, classes start at 10:00am." said Jake, giving them a two fingered salute and disappearing behind the door, allowing it to slam shut.

Elijah mentally noted that Jake looked like he'd been through hell and back; he looked so tired and disgusted while talking about his addiction, even though it was hardly a few seconds. Needless to say, he was impressed. He wouldn't exactly expect people to talk about things like that outright.
He wondered if he still did drugs. He wondered if he'd been to a rehabilitation center.

Ryder and Elijah stepped into their room and found their schedules on the lampstand.

"Do we have any classes together?" Elijah asked, peering over Ryder's shoulder.
They compared their schedules and found that they had Advanced English, Math-I and Advanced Physics together. After packing their backpacks for tomorrow, Ryder goes to sleep under her comforter that had tiny astronauts sipping beer from a straw all over it.

What the fuck?

Elijah brushed his teeth while checking his phone and replying to Abby's messages. He turned off the lamp and tucked himself into his bed, loving the feel of the soft mattress beneath him. He missed home, but this wasn't bad so far. He hadn't gotten into trouble yet, all he had to do was keep to himself.

He thought about the boy with the grey eyes.
He wondered why he couldn't breathe all of a sudden during the assembly.
Were his past actions finally catching up to him? Did he have asthma?

Ah it must've been the crowd around him, so many teenagers in one place? It was bound to happen.
How would he explain the hollow feeling in his stomach then?

Who was that boy anyway?

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A/N

Alright guys, so far the chapters have been short. The coming chapters will be longer and in more detail.
I hope y'all come to like Ryder and Jake. This was a small bit to introduce them into the story. If y'all like what you read, do vote and comment.
Much love XD. Thank you!