Tyler steps out of the carpool to hell and anxiously looks to hell itself. These hallways are bound to be crowded by ruthless teens rushing through and clogging the hallways, and the small boy's bound to narrowly dodge several teenagers, some of which are bound to snap at him for stepping on the back of their shoe or accidentally bumping into them. It happens every single day, but Tyler only seems to fear these halls more and more rather than get used to it.
He takes a deep breath and makes his way to the entrance.
<><><>
He's finally entering his third block class roughly three hours later. Mr. Lassiter, his math teacher, usually just lets them all talk while he gets his things together for the lessons, but Tyler literally has no friends other than Zack, but he has already graduated from high school years ago.
One of the first things Tyler notices upon entering the room is the new kid from earlier standing by Mr. Lassiter's desk, seemingly having a pleasant conversation (Mr. Lassiter's a huge social butterfly, but he's really cool, so no one really minded).
Tyler looks away from the two to avoid getting caught staring and takes his seat towards the back of the room, where he'd be allowed to watch people without getting caught in the action.
As soon as the late bell rings, Mr. Lassiter waltzes over to the door and throws it shut, effectively slamming the door in a student's face as they attempted to rush inside.
"Awe, come on, Mr. Lassiter!" the boy on the other end of the door whines desperately, but Mr. Lassiter only grins through the mini window in the door.
"You came in late, so I don't want you here. I'm sure the dean will be happy to let you into his office, though!" Mr. Lassiter teases before covering the window again, earning a few snickers from some of the class. Mr. Lassiter moves back to the front of the class and clears his throat to get everyone's attention.
"In case it wasn't obvious enough, we have a new student," he informs us before motioning toward the new kid. "This is Joshua Dun, who goes by 'just Josh'." He turns back to Josh before speaking again.
"There's a few seats open next to Rienna, Tyler, and Jackson," Mr. Lassiter points to the owner of each name as he calls them, and Tyler freezes up when his name is mentioned. The idea of Josh possibly sitting next to him both frightens and excites him, but isn't he justified in feeling this way after what he witnessed earlier that morning?
Josh looks between the three of them a few times before looking back to the teacher.
"Who's the smartest out of the three?"
"Why, so you can cheat on all the work?" Mr. Lassiter teases, and Tyler fucking swears Mr. Lassiter just attempted to discreetly motion towards him. Josh follows his gesture and both boys make eye contact, which Tyler impulsively breaks immediately to watch his hands fidget in his lap instead.
He doesn't look up when he hears Josh slump into the desk next to his.
Mr. Lassiter turns on the promethean board and starts rummaging through his files for a presentation on today's lesson.
"Today, we will be going over..." he trails off before he finally loads a presentation. "Logarithms!"
A chorus of groans from the students makes Mr. Lassiter laugh gleefully.
"It's not hard, I promise you. Somebody pass out the calculators quickly so we can take notes."
Tyler pulls out a sheet of paper and a pencil and titles his notes.
"Hey," Josh says, tapping at the edge of the brunette's desk. Tyler shyly glances over to his left at him, instantly noticing the large bruise starting to darken his jaw. It already looks really painful, and Tyler can feel his own jaw starting to tingle. "Do you have a pencil?"
He nods at him before turning back to his bag, pulling out one of Tyler's spare pencils before handing it to him. Tyler can also feel himself blushing, but he just blames it on his pathetic shyness. Josh thanks the brunette before turning back to the board and jotting down his notes, and Tyler does the same on his own paper, internally cringing from how awkward be made that exchange.