First day at a new school... Yikes, chief.

I sighed and pulled on something nice, but casual (). First impressions are important, so I also fixed my bedhead and double checked everything in the mirror before I was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Who could it be this early in the morning...?

I quickly opened the door to the apartment my mom and I shared. To my surprise, it was not a creepy neighbor, nor an inappropriately bubbly senior coming to deliver the new neighbors cookies. Instead, I looked up to see some tall, lanky guy, probably around my age. He smelled faintly of mint and cigarettes, and had dark circles under his eyes. His most noticeable feature was his gorgeous, long brown hair. He was kinda good-looking...

"Uh hey, your mom asked me to walk you to school, since it's your first day," he pushed a few strands of his hair out of his face.

"Alright, I'll grab my bag and we can head out. Oh, and I'm Y/n, by the way," I said cheerfully, mustering up the best smile I could. I'm already exhausted.

"Cool, I'm Larry. Hey, you don't mind if my friend Sal comes along, do you? Don't worry, he's harmless, heh," Larry chuckled awkwardly.

"Not at all," I gave him another bright smile and shut the apartment door behind me.

"Oh, here he is!"

"Hey dude, who's this?" a slightly muffled, deep voice came from behind me, startling me a bit.

"Heh. Hey, Sally Face. This is Y/n. They just moved in, so I was gonna walk them to school. Sound good?" Larry gave the kid behind me a lazy grin.

Sal was now in front of me, standing beside Larry with his backpack slung over one shoulder and his head slightly tilted to one side, giving the taller boy a thumbs up. I noticed he was wearing what seemed like a mask, but also could have been a prosthetic. I didn't want to be rude, though, so I didn't make a comment and held my hand out for him to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Y/n," his voice was sort of mesmerizing in a way. I felt as if I could both fall asleep and listen to him talk all day.

"Nice to meet you too, Sally Face."

"Okay, ready?" Larry asked.

Sal and I nodded and we were on our way.

On the way to school, we compared our schedules after Larry explained the weird stuff about the Addison Apartments and the even weirder people living there. Turns out, I have all of my classes with Sal, and most with Larry (fanfic logic ofc). It's good to know I have at least two people who I know won't immediately throw me to the wolves in this prison of cinder blocks and dusty books.

Quick time-skip ~

Sal, Larry, and I slid into our seats trying to muffle our giggles right as the bell rang. Surprisingly, Sal had an awesome sense of humor, and was quite friendly, the opposite of the quiet-kid vibes I was getting from him at first. And of course, Larry is cool as well. But what I failed to notice was the girl who was setting her stuff down at the last empty seat at our table of four.

"Hey guys, what's up?" she smiled sweetly.

"Nothin' much, found a new friend in the apartments this morning, though. Their name is Y/n," Larry grinned and motioned toward me.

"Hi, what's your name?" I asked with a polite smile.

"Ashley, but my friends call me Ash. You're new here, right?" I sensed a hint of irritation in her tone.

"Yep, I just moved here from-"

"I asked if you were new, not for your life story," Ashley muttered, low enough so only our table could hear.

"Right... Sorry," I mumbled. Just because you meet a few nice people doesn't mean everyone isn't a douche. The rest of the class continued in an awkward silence.

As the day dragged on, Sal and Larry ended up offering their numbers, which I gladly accepted. When I asked Ash if she'd like mine, all I received was a scoff. Whoopee. But hey, at least I had scary dog privileges now! That's exciting, especially when it's your first day, and some blonde creep has been eyeing you from a distance all afternoon...

"Hey, do you guys wanna come over my house?" Ash questioned as we were exiting the school. The three of them were walking side-by-side in front of me, and I was feeling a bit left out now. Whatever, they already established a friend group, nobody knows you that well, and four people won't fit on the sidewalk at once. No biggie.

As I put on my headphones to tune their conversation out in an effort to keep my emotions under control, Sal slowed his pace a bit and picked up my hand.

"Sorry, what's going on?" I put my headphones around my neck, a bit embarrassed.

"We're all going to Ash's place tonight. Wanna come?" Sal asked, still holding my hand. I could tell he was smiling softly by the way his mask shifted.

"Oh... I just meant..." Ash started.

"No, I have unpacking to do. Thanks, though, Sal." I smiled weakly, feeling bit insulted and incredibly drained. I started walking a little faster to pass the group of three friends and brushed off Sal's hand before putting my headphones back on. God, my face is so red...

It didn't last long, though. Thirty seconds later, the blue haired boy was walking beside me.

"Hey. Why aren't you with them?" I looked up at him, though he wasn't much taller than me.

Instead of responding, he took my headphones way from me and placed them on his own head.

"Heh, you like SF too?" I knew he was smiling by the way his ears moved, but I wasn't letting go of him completely ignoring my question.

"Yeah... But why-"

"Cause Ash has been glaring at you all day, and I don't like it. I'm not gonna ditch you for someone who's gonna be an ass to my new friend- especially on their first day," he stated simply, cutting me off. "I told them I had chores I forgot about."

"...Oh. But you just met me today, though. I can walk home by myself," I frowned, guilty for making him leave his clique.

Sal stopped walking to put my headphones in my backpack. "You looked miserable back there, and I wasn't gonna let Ash just make plans in front of your face and not invite you without a reason. I remember my first day here." He seemed a little upset now- not necessarily at me, though.

I sighed shakily and nodded as I swallowed my tears. A few minutes later, he gently took my wrist to lead me to a swingset. I pouted purely out of spite. We set our backpacks down on the woodchips before I took my place on a swing and Sal took his behind me.

Instead of pushing me/pushing me off, though, he hugged me tightly from behind. I took in his scent of pine needles and vanilla. I didn't realize he was so touchy, not that I'm complaining... Unbeknownst to me, I ended up slowly drifting asleep in his arms.