Chapter 1: Tim

I looked out of the classroom window and sighed as loudly and heavily as I could. This day couldn’t get any worse; to start things off, I dropped my toast on the floor - butter side down - and then spilled coffee down my front, which was cold anyway because it took me so long to get ready for school. I sighed again, louder this time. The wind was hurling large droplets of water hard against the window, close to my head, making it harder to concentrate than it already was, with my unusually short attention span. The teacher was late, again. I don’t think she cared about us really but, considering our ages, didn’t trust us enough to leave for a whole lesson. Just as I let out my loudest sigh of the day (so far), she entered the room.

“Cut the noise, Timothy,” she snapped, not even glancing in my direction. I quickly turned my sigh into a yawn, making a theatrical display of stretching and covering my mouth. She stalked up to my desk suspiciously.

“Where’s Mr Lindt?” she asked, her abnormally pointy nose nearly poking me in the eye, as she leaned closer to my face. She was referring to my best friend Victor, who was normally very punctual; more punctual than me anyway. She brushed off my shrug like an annoying fly and continued to stare at me closely.

“I don’t know where he is, Mrs Henley,” I said, as politely as I could without sounding sarcastic. She sniffed, turned abruptly, marched over to the board and quickly scratched something onto it in white chalk.

“We have a new student joining us today,” she said, stepping away, so we could see what she had written. I could just make out what it said from where I was at the back of the room; Lou Stevens. “Try to be nice, as hard for you delinquents as that may be,” she continued. There was a light rap on the door. “Ah, that must be him now. Come in!”
I watched, lazily, as the ugly, painted handle turned slowly and the door opened. A few of the girls in the class giggled stupidly, as he entered the room.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said quietly, looking at the floor. I blinked slowly, as I looked at him. I felt sorry for him. I knew what the children were like in this school and, because of the way he looked and was dressed, I was sure he would attract some unwanted attention. His hair was short and spiky, gelled up around his head in points, except his fringe. His fringe was covering his eyes and stood out from the rest of his black hair because it was, well, pink. He had a sliver ring through the middle of his lower lip and a tiny stud under his nose, on the left.
There was a long, painful silence as the rest of the class stared at him. Suddenly, Mrs Henley clapped her hands together loudly, making many of the other students jump, as if coming out of a trance.

“Sit wherever you like, Lou,” she said with fake sweetness. He looked around the classroom, slowly. At least I thought he did; I couldn’t see his eyes so it was hard to tell. There was a spare seat next to me, where Victor normally sat. My heart ached for him, it really did, but I couldn’t just give up Victor’s seat like that.
“Sit next to Timothy. He’ll look after you for the rest of the day.” Damn.
For the rest of that lesson, I silently cursed her. I glanced sideways at the newcomer. He was sitting stiffly and I could tell there was something bothering him.

“A...are you ok?” I asked quietly, not able to ignore his obvious discomfort, now that I had been nominated as his ‘buddy’. He turned to face me.
“I’m fine thank you,” He smiled. For some reason my heart began to beat a little faster as he smiled at me. It was a truly happy smile, a smile that made me feel special and, for a second, it felt like we were the only two people in the room. He turned back to his work but I didn’t move, slightly taken aback by how relaxed I suddenly felt around him. He was no longer a stranger; all it had taken was a smile.