1.
Luke sat at his desk, copying down the notes the teacher was drawing on the whiteboard. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose for the tenth time. He got them over the summer and the black frames were too big for his face so he was always having to push them back into place.
The door opened but he didn't bother looking since he was furiously copying everything the teacher wrote down. He already knew how to do all of the work but followed along anyway. Just in case.
"Move."
Luke jumped at the abrupt demand, immediately grabbing his notebook to get up until he realized that the voice was directed at the student next to him. The chair was pulled out with a screech before the person sat down, making Luke nervously glance at them. He figured it was another kid who just wanted to copy off of his work. He was too awkward and shy to say no so it happened constantly.
But it wasn't. It was Gavin.
"Hey," he greeted casually, shrugging off his backpack.
"Uh, hi," Luke responded, confused why Gavin was in the same class as him. Wasn't he a senior? Luke was only a sophomore.
"I never passed this class so they're making me take it again," he answered Luke's silent question. "I doubt I'll do much better this time, but I'll just cheat instead," he whispered the last part so that the teacher wouldn't hear.
"Cheat?" Luke repeated with wide eyes. "Won't you get in trouble?"
Gavin grinned fondly at him, finding his innocent reaction endearing. What high schooler had never cheated before? Well, he was guessing someone as intelligent as Luke wouldn't have to. He'd always been naturally smart.
"Only if I get caught," Gavin said cheekily and unzipped his backpack, digging through it for a pencil.
Luke cringed seeing how messy it was inside. It was the first day of school, how did he manage to mess up already? There was barely anything in it but pieces of stray, crumbled up pieces of paper filled the otherwise empty space.
"Be careful. The integrity policy is really strict," Luke told him worriedly. Just the mere thought of Gavin getting in trouble for cheating made him anxious as he squirmed a little in his seat.
Gavin snorted. "The integrity policy? Everybody says that. They're required to but it doesn't actually mean anything."
Luke strongly disagreed with that but didn't say anything, watching Gavin flatten a balled up piece of paper on his desk and a pencil that only had half of the wood left.
"Here." Luke handed Gavin one of his expensive mechanical pencils. "You can keep it," he added.
"Thanks." Gavin bit his bottom lip to stop himself from grinning.
"Do you want paper too? Actually, I have some extra notebooks, you can take some of those. And I have way more pencils if you need any," he rambled as he searched through his perfectly organized backpack.
Gavin laughed. "It's chill. I probably wouldn't use them anyway."
Luke blushed, opening his mouth to respond but the teacher interrupted them.
"Is my class boring you?" she snapped. "Oh lord, Gavin, is that you?"
Her heart dropped into her stomach. Gavin and Owen brought her average percentage down a whole letter grade back when they were sophomores. She blinked at the sight of him, praying to god that she was only seeing things.
"Hey Mrs Riley! Did you miss me?" He smiled widely.
She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it was just a nightmare. Gavin was a troublemaker that went down in history at their school. He was a class clown kind of guy that constantly distracted the class.
"Shouldn't you have graduated already?" she asked him confusedly before realizing he didn't pass, which didn't surprise her at all.
"I should've," he huffed. "I feel the exact same way. Maybe you can put in a world with the principal to see if she'll let me get out of this shit hole sooner," he eagerly suggested.
Luke's eyes widened in horror when Gavin swore. He looked at Mrs Riley, expecting her to punish him, but she didn't even bat an eye. "I just might take you up on that," she said weakly.
"Fuck yeah," he cheered to himself, glancing back at Luke who looked mortified.
"Oh, please don't distract poor Luke. He's one of the best students in the whole school," she sighed, proud and worried at the same time. She didn't want Gavin to ruin him with his childish antics.
The entire classes's attention on them. Gavin barely even noticed but Luke was hyperaware of all the eyes on him. He started to sweat, blushing hard as he fumbled with his sleeves.
"Have some more faith in me! I'm your favorite student after all," Gavin joked. Now he was just stalling her to waste class time so that he could leave faster. He also wanted to distract her from the topic of the two boys sitting together.
Sophomore year, Gavin and Owen sat next to each other for a total of ten minutes before they got separated to opposite sides of the room for the remainder of the year. Of course that didn't stop them from messing around though. That entire period was a mess because of them.
The bell rang and Gavin excitedly leaped out of his seat. "See ya later, little guy," he said to Luke as he ruffled his blonde hair.
Luke watched him leave the room as fast as humanly possible. His glasses were now crooked and his locks were a mess. He shook his head, dismissing Gavin's inappropriate school behavior while he packed up his belongings.
"Luke?" Mrs Riley called from her desk. "I'd like to have a word with you."
His mouth went dry, his hands shaky. Was he in trouble for talking during class? Surely he wouldn't get detention for that, right? She knew he was a good student and Gavin didn't receive any consequences at all. His brain was running a mile a minute as his wobbly legs carried himself to the teacher's desk.
"Hello," he mumbled awkwardly, holding his wrist behind his back since he didn't know what to do with his hands.
"You're not in any trouble, dear. Don't look so tense," she laughed and he eased up instantly. "I wanted to make sure Gavin isn't bothering you."
"Bothering me?" he mimicked with his thin brows scrunched together.
"That he isn't bullying you or trying to copy your work," she clarified. "You two were talking during the lesson. Is something wrong?"
Luke's eyes fell to the ground, understanding what she was getting at. How someone like Gavin wouldn't be associated with someone like him unless he was getting something out of it.
He didn't think Gavin was like that. At least he hoped he wasn't. Ever since he was a little kid, whenever the older boy came over to hang out with Owen, Gavin was always nice to him. Sometimes he'd even convince Owen into letting Luke play video games with them.
"He's not bullying me or using me, ma'am. We're friends," he replied meekly, thoroughly embarrassed.
"Oh sweetie," Mrs Riley placed a hand on his shoulder as an attempt to be comforting. "Just be careful, alright? Boys like him belong nowhere near boys like you. Stay as far away as you can from him."
Luke desperately wanted to stick up for Gavin but he didn't want to disrespect his elders. He was terrified to disrespect anyone at all.
So he nodded, wishing he had the balls Owen did so that he could say whatever he wanted without caring. He admired that quality of his older brother. He was exhausted from being so polite all the time.
"Thank you for your concern, I appreciate it," he responded quietly.
"Aw, don't look so sad." She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I'm sure you'll find a lovely boy to be with one day."
Luke spluttered, choking on his own spit. "What?"
He had come out to his family a long time ago but not at school, other than his close friends. It wasn't anyone's business and he didn't want to get made fun of more than he already was. So how on earth did she know about his sexuality?
"Oh, are you not..." she trailed off. "I apologize, I just assumed-"
Luke was blushing so hard that it trailed down his neck and to the tips of his ears. He couldn't even hear Mrs Riley apologizing over how utterly humiliated he felt. Was it that obvious?
He considered it as he looked down at his outfit. A button up shirt with dress pants. Then there was his smaller than average frame, shyness and intelligence. His new glasses weren't helping much either he supposed. He perfectly fit the nerdy, closeted gay guy stereotype.
He made a mental note to get a new wardrobe immediately.
The bell rang again and Mrs Riley wrote him a late pass before he scrambled out of the room with his backpack. He would've gotten a schedule change just so he never had to go through an interaction like that again, but then he wouldn't be with Gavin anymore.
He lingered in the empty hallway, pondering the idea for a moment before deciding to stay. Obviously his decision had nothing to do with his crush. Gavin had no influence on the situation whatsoever. Of course not.
"I'm so screwed," he muttered to himself.