Jacks pov

I walk in through the front door and I'm already tired of all the noise. Tons of people talking and walking, loud barely illegible voice blaring over speakers, and lockers slamming left and right.

I sigh and put my earbuds in, scrolling through my phone and clicking my favorite playlist, smooth slow rock.

I mostly used it when I smoked, but it helps calm me down too. I start walking through the halls and catch some people staring at me, not surprised..I'm a new person in such a small town.

I slip my bag off my shoulders and rummage through it, finding and pulling out my schedule they mailed to me. First class is history with Mrs. Williams.

And no room number...great.

The halls are slowly empyting as people head to their classrooms. I see who I assume is a teacher waving to people and greeting them as they walk in..maybe she'll know.

I take out my ear buds and approach the woman, she turns to me and smiles. "Hello sweetie. Don't recognize you. Ya knew?" She asks, her thick Jamaican accent quite pleasant.

"Yeah im new.  I'm looking for Mrs. Williams class?" I say as I stuff my earbuds and schedule back into my bag.

"Ya found her! I'm Mrs. Williams sweetheart. And you are?" She says gestering to me. "Names Jack. You're my first class."

Mrs. Williams is a dark skinned short woman. She has big curly poofy hair and a big bright smile to match. Her fingers and arms were lined with gold rings and bracelets.

"Well class is just about to start! Why dont ya head in and find a seat. Don't have assigned seats as long as students behave. Most are taken, how aboout" she taps her chin with her bright red nails as she scans the classroom with her eyes. "Why don't ya go sit next to Mark sweetheart? He's a shy kid but once he opens up he's as sweet as candy." I recognise the name Mark and look over at him, sitting at the two people table. He looks..upset

"Sure thing." She pats my back as I walk in and continues greeting students happily. I take a quick look around her room. Maybe of the stereotypical teacher and history posters.

I look at the desk in the front corner of the room and see two flags. A gay and straight alliance flag, and a black lives matter flag. I smile at the two flags. "I'm gonna like this teacher." I think to myself.

I head over to Mark, he doesn't even looks up at me, he's just staring down at the table. I shrug and put my bag next to the table and slide into the chair.

"Hey. I'm jack." I say, Mark jumps as I speak up, was he so lost in thought he didn't even see me sit down? "Oh..s-sorry my names Mark." He says and looks back at the desk.

Mrs. Williams wasn't lying about him being shy. I reach into my bag. "Hey is this by chance yours?" I ask as I pull out the now dry sketchbook.

Mark looks over at it and his eyes widen slightly. "Y-you found it!" I hand it to him and he starts flipping through the pages. A smile forming on his face as he sees most of the drawings are untouched, just a little wrinkled and damp.

I smile back. "Found it in the field..I'm guessing you weren't the one who crushed it like that."

Mark looks at me and sighs, shaking his head as he starts drying it with his sleeve. "No..wasn't me.." I can easily tell what probaly happened. I could smell the meathead jocks from the parking lot.

But..I dont want to pry. "Well. Now you have it back and you can keep filling it. Your drawsigs are amazing by the way." I say just as the bell rings.

Mark looks over at me and his cheeks redeem slightly. "T-thank you." He says as Mrs. Williams shuts her classroom door and starts writing different subjects on the board.

Mark sits back and I noticed him wince as he let out a soft whimper. "You ok?" I ask, concerned but trying not to show it.

"Yeah..slept on it wrong." He says and moves his back away from the chair. I don't really believe that. But don't pry Jack, You just met him.

"Alright quiet down everybody! Its time to begin." Mrs. Williams says with her bright smile. "Today we're continuing our discussion of the civil war we began on Friday. But first..we have a new student."

Fuck..was hoping she wouldn't do that.

She gestures to me and everybody looks over at me with a range or reactions. Some people give me a friendly smile, some just kinda look me over, and the meathead jocks I caught giving me dirty looks in the hall smirk at me..probaly trying to scare me.

I lazily stick up my hand and wave. "New to this town yes Jack?" Mrs. Williams asks me. I sigh and nod my head. "Yeah im orginally from Ireland.  We moved to this area for my dads job. Kinda just been moving town to town since." I say.

Mrs. Williams smiles brightly at me. "I love Ireland such a beautiful place. You must miss it." She says, her voice laced with sympathy. I sigh and nod "yeah..I miss it."

She gives me another kind smile and walks back to the chalk board and begins writing. "Ok. Lets begin."

Aaand class begins...time to zone out. I rest my chin on my hand and sigh.

Time skip

The bell rings after what literally felt two days. I was at least able to take SOME notes. Not bad for me..especially since I'm stoned.

I look at my 5 small paragraphs and shrug. I'm about to close it when I feel a small tap on my shoulder. I look over and see mark looking down. "I saw you didn't get many notes..y-you can copy mine." He says in a small voice.

I smile with a small chuckle. "Well thanks Mark. Appreicate it." I stand up and stuff my things into my backpack, after pulling out my schedule. "What class do you have next." Mark says as he swings his bookbag onto his back..wincing once again. Did he get punched or something?

I look at the list and see next is art class. At least this one should be fun. "Art." I say as I put it back in my bag. "O-oh! Me too! I can show you the way if you want." Mark says rubbing his arm. "I'd appreciate that."

Marks cheeks are still slightly red and he smiles, exiting the classroom with me following.

We walk down the hall next to eachother. "So..I really liked your drawings. Lotta cool characters in there." Mark smiles at me before looking at the floor again.

"Thank you. Mostly oc's for fantasy situations and some dragons. Oh and space. One of my main inspirations." He chuckles.

"And naked guys." I say with a smirk. Marks shoulders fence slightly and he coughs. "Y-yeah. Those too." I can see the fear on his face.

"Dude calm down." I lift the strap of my bookbag to show my round bisexual pin.

"O-oh!" He giggles and seems to relax a little. I'm guessing there's not alot of gay people in this place. Saw alot of churches and people who I could just smell the bigotry on.

"Yoou really couldn't tell?" I gesture to myself. Reffering to my band tee and many piercings, not to mention my bright ass green hair covered by a beanie. Not to be a stereotype, but I look like I like guys.

Mark giggles. "Welll I don't like to judge books by their covers. And theres not many gay people here. Most of them hide it so can't really tell how many."

"Guessing their the reason." I say motioning to a group of jocks, laughing and pushing each other around. Mark tenses and moves closer. "Y-yeah.."

I'm starting to piece things together. I see the art room right across from them. "Come on." I say and start leading mark to the room quickly.

One of the jocks smirk at mark and starts walking over. "Hey Mark! The new kid your boyfriend or something?" He looks me up and down and chuckles. "Great. Another fag to drool over us."

I roll my eyes. "Sorry meathead. You're not my type." I say as I look him up and down with a disgusted look on my face.

His facial expression changes from smug to pissed. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Even mark looks surprised. Clearly this dickhead doesn't get told off enough.

"I said. You're not my type. I'm into nice gentle smart guys, with more of a personality than just throwing a damn ball." The guy seems stunned as I gently grab marks ark and pull him into the art room.

Most of the students are already in and ww head over to an empty table. "That..was so cool!" Mark says as his face turns from shocked to a bright grin. "That? Oh that was nothing. The only way to get dicks like those to back off is to tell em off. They never expect people like us to stand up to them."

Mark smiles and looks down at his hands. "People like us." He says with a hopeful surprised voice.  I smile back. I know what its like to he different in a small place like this.

Seems I already made one friend and haven't fought anyone..yet. First day is going pretty good. 

Thanks so much for reading! ❤