Chapter 1

“Hey! I know you – don’t I? Yeah! I do!”

The sound of the high-pitched voice made Alex Adamo jump and spin away from the bathroom mirror. A boy – or at least to Alex what he believed was a boy – who’s hair was a deep red color with black streaks spread out wildly amongst his head, dressed in tight black jeans and what seemed to be an even tighter matching shirt, stood in front of the bathroom door.

“E-excuse me -?” Alex started.

But the boy – a broad grin forming on his lips – interrupted excitedly claiming, “Yeah! You’re. . .Alex. Right? Am I right?”

But Alex could only stand there, one hand gripping the sink, while the other was buried in his blond curls. Who was this guy? How did he know him? Why did he seem so. . .excited to see him? Why was he so energetic?

Still dazed from the hyper boy, Alex managed to choke out, “Y-yeah. I am. . .”

The boy walked over to one of the sinks, his black boots thudding against the bathroom floor, and turned it on. Now that he had a closer version of the boy, Alex noticed that his hair moved with ever small movement of his body and all along one of his ears were many earrings from gold to silver to blue and yellow.

Alex wondered if his piercings had hurt. They must not have, if he could get earrings on practically every inch of his ear. But for someone like Alex, just going to the doctor to get a flimsy shot was not only painful, but scary. The thought of getting all that metal pierced to his ear. . .

“Um,” Alex realized his voice came out as a whisper and cleared his throat. But the boy had heard him, and looked up from washing his hands. The grin had faded, but there was still a beam in his smile – like at any minute he would do something crazy. “Um, can I just ask. . .how exactly do you know my name? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

The boy had turned off the sink and was shaking his hands dry. “Really? You don’t know me? Well, do I feel insulted!”

Although he had meant it as a joke, Alex still began to say, “Oh, I-I’m sorry - !”

But the chuckle from the boy had interrupted him. “Nah, it’s okay. But I guess I’m surprised. After all, I do sit next to you in Mr. Linn’s math class. But I’ve only been here for three days, so. . .”

At hearing that, Alex immediately felt himself grow hot. Of course! This boy, he was Aki. A Japanese transfer student. He remembered how Aki had introduced himself the day before. He remembered his hair was flat against his face, though, covering both ears – making the earrings invisible to see. And he remembered hearing that high voice. The way he spoke, you would have never guessed he was Japanese. He looked it, sure, but he didn’t even seem to have an accent to prove he was from Japan. Neither did the fact that he had the high-stereotype of voice a queer would have. And on the first day he had said so himself, “Well, My name is Aki Saji, and yes, I’m gay – thank you for asking!”

Girls had giggled; guys had made rude comments under their breath or to each other – which ended up getting a high-five or a laugh or two. Alex, however, could only slump down in his seat and be thankful that not only did he not look like some stereotypical queer the way Aki seemed, but that he didn’t admit his own sexuality the way Aki had. After all, who says right off the back when they enter a new school that they’re gay? Wasn’t he worried if the school was filled with homophobes? Wasn’t he worried about the bashes? The name-calling?

Having heard about so many stories of situations people ended up in for revealing their sexuality, Alex didn’t even dare think of the color pink, let alone let the whole math class know that he was some homo.

But standing there face-to-face with Aki Saji – the slogan for the phrase, “I’m here, I’m queer, get used to it" – Alex wasn’t sure if he should praise Aki for admitting it, or tell him what an idiot he had been.

But instead Alex asked, “So, um, how. . .do you like it here and all?”

Aki had turned back to the mirror and was playing with his hair, muttering to himself if he should push the front behind his ears or leave it fallen over his eyes. But he stopped when Alex spoke and the grin came back to stare at Alex in the mirror.

“Oh, well, it’s not too bad. America is pretty sweet and all. I mean, Christ! You guys finally have a black president! How f*****g awesome is that?”

It was then that Alex released his question had not been very specific. Aki had clearly thought he was talking about being in America, while Alex had meant to ask him what he thought of being in the school.

Aki chucked and turned away from the mirror, his eyes never leaving Alex as he faced him in the flesh.

“Nah, I’m just f*****g with you.” He flashed a row of clear white teeth that would make any dentist proud to see. “But, seriously, this school isn’t too bad. I guess I’m not too used to wearing my own clothes, though. In Japan we pretty much always wear uniforms to our schools. It’s f*****g gay, you know?”

No, Alex didn’t know. For one thing, he didn’t know what it was like to have the freedom of not being allowed to wear the clothes you wanted to a place you had to go to for at least twelve years of your life. Nor did he think it was gay. But he was surprised to have heard Aki speak the way he did – being gay himself. Weren’t gays not supposed to classify things like that gay, but stupid?

“Um, well. . .sorry, but I didn’t know it was homosexual to wear uniforms to schools.” Alex joked stupidly. He hadn’t even realized he’d said the joke until he saw the dumbfound look on Aki’s face.

Turning red, Alex looked away, trying to pretend he had not made such a lame joke. Then the laughter started and Alex looked back at Aki to see him bending over, holding his stomach, laughing his head off.

It wasn’t even funny, yet he’s still laughing, Alex thought self-consciously. Unless. . .he’s laughing at me?

Aki’s shoulders shook hard as stayed bet over laughing. To Alex, his laughter sounded as bad as chalk that squeaks against the blackboard.

Aki’s laughter finally seemed to narrow down to mere chuckles. He let go of his stomach and stood straight up, then went to Alex's side and dropped a heavy arm around his shoulders, like they were good old pals.

“Ah, Alex Alex Alex,” Aki shook his head humorously. “You killed me with that one.”

“Ah. . .thank you?”

Aki’s arm tightened around Alex’s shoulders and, winking at the curly blonde boy, led them both out of the bathroom and into the silence of Grove Hill High’s hallway.

“So, Alex, what were you doing in the bathroom?” Aki asked as they turned a corner.

Alex nearly sighed with relief of how there wasn’t a single soul in the hallway. What would happen if they were caught by any single one of the students? Rumors would surely go down that there was some sort of thing going on between shy and quiet Alex and loud and proud Aki. And as far as Alex knew, Grove Hill wasn’t filled with a bunch of homophobes, but wasn’t filled with a bunch of Aki’s either. Aki was the first stereotypical gay student to ever enter through the doors of Grove Hill.

Though Alex was a bit caught off guard by Aki’s question, remembering to be nice he answered, “Oh, well, I had lunch and –”

Aki’s long legs stopped walking, making a surprised Alex nearly topple forward from Aki’s sudden stop if it hadn’t been for his arm.

His bright green eyes seemed to sparkle as he cheered, “Hey, no way! I just came from lunch.” His arm tightened around Alex’s shoulders, practically causing Alex’s head to go under Aki’s armpit. “How come you weren’t there and in the bathroom?”

Alex felt himself wanting to be truthful with Aki on why he skipped lunch not only that day, but for as long as he could remember. How could he tell this. . .strange guy that he hated the eyes that fell upon him with sympathy for the Boy-Who-Eats-By-Himself? Or tell him about the whispers and snickers that probably rung out through the cafeteria about The-Boy-Who’s-Number-One-In-Math-At-Grove-Hill-High-But-Eats-Alone-Like-the-Loser-He-Is?

The last thing Alex wanted was sympathy from Aki.

“Well, I. . .sort of had a stomachache,” Alex lied, lowering his eyes to his sneakers. As someone who didn’t lie much, Alex wasn’t so sure if he could pull it off or if he was as easy to figure out as a page of first grade math problems.

“Aww, poor Alex,” Aki sympathized and gave him a quick hug, to which Alex couldn’t help but smile at. “Well, tomorrow, your stomach better be feeling better and your a*s better be in that lunch room at the table with us.”

“Us?”

“Oh, just a couple other people I met. Maybe you know them. I sure as hell have forgotten their names now.” Aki opened his mouth in a shrill but short laugh, yet Alex was surprised none of the classroom doors opened and a teacher would out demanding what the noise was.

He doesn’t seem half bad when you really think about it. Alex thought. Sure, Aki was loud and loud and loud, but behind that he was funny and seemed to have a sense of humor. Someone, I guess, I could be friends with.

Alex gasped when the loud beep of the school bell echoed throughout the school.

“I-I-I have to go!” Alex sputtered, his eyes gazing wildly around the classroom doors, almost praying to himself that they wouldn’t open while he was standing there with Aki’s arm still around him.

Before Aki could protest, Alex broke free of his arm and took off down the hallway, just as a few class doors were opening.                                             

Author's Note

What do you think of just everything about the story? Characters, dialog, the flow, just everything.

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

To answer your question, in order:
1) The characters are pretty interesting and seem as though they'll have a good back story to them.
2) The dialogue is great and (mixing with number 3 lol) mixes well with the actions which helps the story flow well, so good job ^_^
Overall, it was good. Update soon, please?

[Light fairy]

The characters were interesting, the plot is good update soon please

[Sseoni]

Oo, I really like your story so far! It's very, very interesting! The characters are awesome! I love their names, personalities, and descriptions. The dialog is awesome! It has some words in there... that are totally cool! The flow of the story is perfect! You should keep going! Full support from me all the way! :D