A/N: New story! I hope you enjoy it! xx
NOTE: This story will be written in third person POV.
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“Are you ready for your first day of junior high?” Luke turned to face his cousin, Ashton. Ashton only shrugged, swinging his backpack on over his shoulder. Today was not only his first day of junior high, but it was his first day at a public school, or any school, really.
Ashton had been homeschool since preschool, but when his family moved in Luke’s area, things changed. Ashton’s mom wanted him to go to school with Luke to see what it was like, and besides, Luke was his age. So he knew he would at least have one person to talk to throughout the course of the year. Although he didn’t want to show it, Ashton was beyond nervous. He was worried he wouldn’t have any classes with Luke and he would be forced to socialize with other people. He’s never had a real friend before, so this was going to be a great change for him.
“Do you boys have any classes together?” Luke’s mom, Liz, asked them.
“I don’t know. Ash, what’s your schedule?” Luke asked, fishing his schedule out of his backpack. Ashton did the same, looking everything over.
“First period I have literature, second I have chemistry, then algebra, gym, SAT prep, lunch…” he paused, nearly losing his place. “Then I have homeroom with Mr. Adams, study hall, history, and then sociology. Do we have any classes together?”
“We have literature, chemistry, the same lunch, and homeroom together.” He told me, flashing me a smile. “But don’t worry, you’ll make some friends in the classes we don’t have together. I think you might share a few classes with my two best friends, too.”
“Who are your friends?”
“Their names are Michael and Calum. They’re really nice guys, you’ll like them.” He promised, taking his lip ring in between his teeth for a few seconds. “I’ve been friends with Calum since elementary, and I became friends with Michael last year.”
“Just so you know, Ashton. Luke has a huge crush on Cal–”
“Mom! Don’t tell him that!” Luke blushed covering his face.
“Oh, does he know you like him?” Ashton asked him, smiling.
“No, and I don’t want him to know. I’ve been obsessed with him for five years now. He’s not gay, though. Michael always teases me about it and tries to get us together in the most subtle ways. Calum probably suspects something about it, but he can’t know.” He sighed. “Please don’t tell him. I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship.”
“I won’t tell him, I promise.” Ashton assured him. “But I didn’t know you were into guys.”
Luke blushed again. “Yeah, I’m gay. I came out to my family a year or so ago, and they were very accepting. My friend Michael is bisexual, but he’s more into guys than he is girls. His parents have accepted him, too.”
“Then I guess it would be appropriate for me to admit that I’m gay, too.” Ashton spoke up.
“Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah, how could you not know that? I’m obsessed with One Direction and I always talk about how hot they are. If I had to choose, I’d say I’m a Zayn guy. I don’t know what it is about him, but he really stands out to me and–”
“Alright, alright I get it. Zayn’s hot…I know.” Luke laughed.
♛
The bus ride to school seemed endless to Ashton, and he was thankful when they finally reached the school. Ashton took a deep breath, walking alongside Luke as he entered the building. Luke grabbed hold of Ashton’s arm, dragging over to where Michael and Calum were standing. Ashton immediately felt shy, glancing at the two strangers in front of him.
“Hi, you must be Ashton. I’m Calum.” The dark haired boy held out his hand, and Ashton hesitantly shook it. “Luke told me your schedule, and we have chemistry, algebra, lunch, homeroom, and SAT prep together.”
“I’m Michael,” the other boy spoke up, waving as he flashed Ashton a smile. “We have algebra, chemistry and sociology together! I’m sorry I’m a little hyper…I had a donut and coffee for breakfast this morning. I’m usually not as annoying as I am right now.”
Ashton giggled. “It’s fine, you’re not annoying.”
“Your laugh is so cute!” Michael told him, and Ashton felt his face heating up.
“T-Thanks, but…I don’t think so.” Ashton nervously shuffled his feet, looking down at the floor for a quick moment. He wasn’t going to lie – he thought Michael was absolutely gorgeous. The boy had lilac hair, an eyebrow piercing, and the brightest smile he’s ever seen. “It was nice meeting you both, I’ll see you around.”
“We’ll see you both second period!” Calum waved goodbye to both Luke and Ashton, who were making their way to literature.
“They seem nice,” Ashton told Luke, and his cousin smiled back at him.
“I told you they would be,” Luke was still grinning. “Michael was really checking you out, yah know.”
Ashton blushed. “No he wasn’t, Luke. Why would he?”
“He was looking you up and down, Ashton! And he told you that you had a cute laugh,” Luke nudged his doubtful cousin with his elbow. “I don’t know why you’re so insecure. I wish I looked like you. Maybe if I was better looking Calum would consider me as more than a friend.”
Ashton slapped Luke’s arm. “You can’t be serious right now.”
“What?”
“You are very good looking,” he told Luke, “trust me; I’m sure Calum likes you back. He’s probably just too shy to do anything about it. I mean, who wouldn’t like you? You’re the best cousin in the world!”
“Thanks Ash,” Luke smiled. “And you’re wrong; you’re the best cousin in the world.”
When they finally got to literature, they discovered that the seating chart was alphabetical. Since their last names began with ‘H’ and ‘I,’ they were seated right next to each other. Their teacher seemed like a really nice lady, but Ashton was most nervous about this class than he was for the other ones. This was the only honors class he was taking, and he thought it was a big risk for someone who’s never gone to an actual school before.
Luke was the one who convinced him to take honors literature, because not only would they have the class together, but Luke knew Ashton was smart enough for it. Ashton loved to read and write, so he knew it wouldn’t be difficult for the boy. Plus, Luke had taken honors lit since elementary, and he always did really well. He thought Ashton was more intelligent than him, so he figured he would definitely get high grades in this class.
“Welcome to eleventh grade,” the teacher said aloud, causing a lot of people to groan. “My name is Mrs. Jones, and this is honors literature/composition. We will be doing a lot of reading this year, so be prepared. You will get a list of twenty new vocabulary words every Monday, and you will be tested on them every Friday. I don’t think you should have a problem, though. We will be reading various novels throughout the course of this school year, but the first one we are going to read will be To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We will begin reading that next week.”
“I’ve already read that book,” Ashton whispered to Luke, “I don’t want to read it all over again.”
“I think you can manage,” Luke chuckled quietly.
“You guys are my smallest class – there are only twelve of you in here. My other classes have around twenty-five people in each class. That being said, we should things done faster in here since I won’t have to talk over any of you.” Mrs. Jones cleared her throat. “Okay well, moving onto the subject of books, have any of you read To Kill A Mockingbird?”
Ashton raised his hand along with a few other people. Mrs. Jones seemed happy to know that some of us were familiar with the book, and she looked over at Ashton in hopes he would say something back to her.
“I read it last year,” Ashton finally spoke up.
“Oh, that’s great! What’s your name?”
“My name’s Ashton.”
“Well, Ashton,” Mrs. Jones went on. “What can you tell me about To Kill A Mockingbird?”
“Well, I remember some of the characters. I remember Scout, Jem, and Atticus pretty well. I also remember them constantly trying to get Boo Radley to come out of his house,” the boy explained. “Oh, and they lived in Maycomb County, Alabama. I also remember the racism in the story.”
“Wow, you have an amazing memory!” Mrs. Jones told him, smiling.
“Thanks.” Ashton shyly smiled back at her.
♛
The next few periods seemed to go on forever – they were just hearing the same rules and regulations in every class. It was finally time for lunch, and Ashton couldn’t have been more thrilled. After all, he had skipped breakfast this morning – as he was too nervous to eat – so he was absolutely starving.
Luke showed Ashton where he, Michael, and Calum usually sat. Ashton sat down by Luke, and Michael was beside Calum. Michael was sitting directly across from Ashton on the right side, and Calum was directly across from Luke on the left side. Luke said he’d rather sit across from Calum than sit beside him, claiming he got a ‘better view’ this way.
Calum had gotten pizza, Doritos, and a soda while Michael had pizza, lemonade, and an ice cream sandwich. Luke got a taco, juice, and an apple while Ashton had a sub, a pretzel, and apple juice. Ashton could feel Michael’s eyes on him as he drank his apple juice, and he was trying his best to not look up at him. Luke and Calum had taken their trays up to dump them, and that left Ashton and Michael alone.
Ashton had finally gotten the courage to look up at Michael, and they met eyes. Michael wasn’t even looking away; he was just staring at Ashton with his head propped up on his hand. He was smiling at him, too. Michael bit his lip, his eyes scanning over every inch of Ashton’s face.
“Why are you staring at me?” Ashton spoke up, feeling awkward.
“Why wouldn’t I stare at you?” Michael replied, dodging his question.
“No, seriously,” Ashton urged him, “why?”
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been zoned out since this lunch period started, or maybe it’s just because I think you’re gorgeous.” Michael replied, licking his lips. Ashton felt his face heating up, but he didn’t want Michael to know he was blushing.
“I’m not gorgeous, Michael.” He simply replied.
“Have you not seen yourself? You are stunning!”
Ashton chuckled. “Oh, so now I’m not gorgeous? I’m just stunning?”
Michael smiled. “Hmm, gorgeous and sassy? You just have everything, don’t you?”
Ashton was still blushing, but he didn’t want to believe that someone’s words could affect him so much. Michael was still smiling at him, and Ashton wasn’t sure if he should feel special or creeped out – needless to say, he felt both. Ashton’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard Michael let out a small chuckle.
“What?”
“Aww look, I made you blush.” Michael smiled.
“I-I’m not blushing. I just have naturally red cheeks.” Ashton stuttered, at a loss for words since such a beautiful guy was calling him gorgeous. Ashton wasn’t one to blush easily, but for some reason Michael always seemed to make him red in the face.
“Nonsense. I’ve been staring at your gorgeous face for a while now, and I think I would’ve noticed if your cheeks were naturally red.” Michael pointed out. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, though. You look cute when you blush.”
Ashton wanted nothing more than to hide his face under a blanket, because his face was practically burning right now. He wasn’t used to getting compliments from anyone, and now that Michael was being so nice to him, he couldn’t keep his blushing under control.
By the time Luke and Calum returned to the table, Ashton was a blushing mess.