I'm Trying But They're Hot

A Chapter by Izzy

Lochlann

“Rise and shine b*****s!” Ezra shouts, beating my head with a pillow.

“Oh my God what is your problem?” I ask, half asleep.

“Do you mean today or just in general?” He questions.

“Just shut up and stop beating the s**t out of me with that pillow,” I groan.

“What’s the matter Mr. Grumpy Pants? Stay up late and dream about Synder?” He taunts. I stare at Ezra wide-eyed. “That’s right, I saw you staring last night,” He says with a smirk.

“Shut up! He might hear you!” I whisper yell.

“Huh?” James asks, confused.

“Nothing!” Ezra and I declare. James shrugs and goes back to putting on his outfit. He had put on a fresh pair of khakis and a white, long-sleeved button up. He pulls a dark green jumper over it and rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt to meet the sleeves of the jumper. He walks over to the vanity and brushes through his curly, dark brown hair. His brown eyes light up and he rushes over to his trunk and pulls out a small glass jar.

“Can I have a lighter?” He asks.

“It’s very rude of you to just assume at least one of us smokes,” Ezra comments.

“Hand it over Browne,” James says, holding out his hand. Ezra rolls his eyes and pulls a lighter disguised as a pack of Juicy Fruit gum out of his pant pocket.

“How’d you know?” Ezra asks him.

“You smell like cigarette smoke and you wear a lot of cologne to try to cover it up,” James says before turning around, lighting a candle.

“A candle? Now I’m convinced you’re fruity,” I tell him.

“A brilliant observation Lochlann. Now why are you so set on me liking guys? Do you wanna date me perhaps?” He teases. I laugh.

“Are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Uh no,” He mumble, putting on his trainers and avoiding eye contact. I chuckle. “You’re annoying as f**k,” He grumbles.

“Thanks sunshine,” I remark, slipping on a army green and black button-up flannel. He rolls his eyes and spritzes some cologne on his collar. Ollie sniffs the air.

“Why does that candle smell like Fireball?” He asks.

“Us non-alcoholics like to call that cinnamon Oliver.” James replies. Ollie leaves and I snicker, putting on a black, knitted sweater vest.

“I’m glad you find me so funny,” James says, putting on his watch.

“Oh my God you could slice the sexual tension with a plastic knife,” Ezra whispers to me.

“Hmm?” James questions.

“It’s nothin’ James,” Ezra assures him. Ollie runs into the room excitedly.

“GUYS. They have Poptarts today.”

“What are you twelve?” Lochlann asks.

“Yeah on a scale of one to ten b***h,” He says, leaving again. James giggles and follows him out.

“Well we better get to breakfast,” Ezra says, following suit. I tag along to the dining hall. It hadn’t changed at all since the day I arrived. There were four long oak tables for all the students to sit at, with another at the front end of the hall, holding a million varieties of foods. Ginormous windows lined the walls, with five on each side, and a stained glass one at the far end. The stained glass aperture was simple, with a single rose in the middle and different textures and styles of glass surrounding it. On each side of the windows were navy and burgundy drapes, matching the school colors.

“Earth to Lochlann! We’re discussing our schedules,” Joshua informs me, snapping me back to reality. I nod, pulling my schedule out of my pant pocket. “Ok let’s try to figure out our mutual classes.” Joss tells us. He glances over at my schedule. “Looks like we all have English with Cyrus. Thank God. All the other English professors are awful.” Ollie nods in agreement. “Oh nice we have Music together Locs.”

“Oh my fecking God.” Ezra gasps.

“What?” I question.

“Jamie here has three writing classes.” He replies.

“Holy s**t dude, why would you want to torture yourself that way?” Ollie asks.

“I enjoy writing,” He answers, returning to the book he brought to breakfast. I swear he’s always either writing or reading. It’s kind of attractive to be honest.

“What’re you reading Jamie?” I ask.

“I’m just finishing up Death on The Nile. Didn’t get it done last night so thought I’d finish it before class today.” He answers.

“Didn’t you just start it last night?” I question.

“Yes?” I tells me in a confused tone.

“Impressive.” I comment.

“Thank you?” He says, still confused. I laugh. “What?” He inquires.

“Nothing I was just complimenting you,” I explain.

“Oh I can read big whoop. We better get to history,” He suggests. I nod in agreement.

“You read my schedule?” I ask.

“I may have glanced at it while it was on the table,” He says with a slight smirk. “Now c’mon let’s get going Davis.”

“Alright alright. See you guys in English,” I say, getting up and exiting the dining hall with James.

“So where exactly is our history class?” James asks.

“It’s Popplewell’s class right?” I ask. He nods. “It’s this way.” I inform him taking a left to the East Wing of the school. We walk for a little bit in silence before James remarks,

“This school is ginormous.”

“Well the people who built this place were very wealthy.” I reply.

“The Naesburys right?” He asks.

“How’d you know that?” I question.

“Joss told me,” He explains. I chuckle.

“Of course he did.”

“He’s kind of a nerd to be honest,” He tells me.

“Yeah he is. But so are you,” I rejoin.

“Am not,” He argues.

“Are too. You geek a*s nerd,” I say, ruffling his hair.

“Watch the hair!” He whines, swatting my hand away.

“No,” I reply, smirking. I mess up his hair again and he swats my hand away.

“Stop,” he grumbles. I snicker. “It’s not funny Lochlann.”

“Yes it is,” I insist.

“You’re annoying.” He whines.

“You think I’m hot though,” I comment.

“Doesn’t make you any less annoying,” He shoots back.

“You didn’t deny it?” I question with a smirk

“Uh..”

“Hey! No! You agreed! No take backs!” I argue.

“I wasn’t gonna deny it,” He mumbles. “Oh look here we are.” He says, walking into the classroom. He finds a seat in the back of the class and lucky for me there’s an empty seat next to him. I sit next to him and say with a smirk,

“Hey there sunshine.”

“Oh f**k off,” He whispers, opening his history book.

“No,” I argue, winking at him.

“Stop flirting with me.” He grumbles.

“I’m not flirting with you.” I say innocently.

“Sure you’re not,” He replies, rolling his eyes.

“One day those pretty brown eyes of yours are gonna roll right out of your head Jamie.” I tease.

“Could you like shut up?” He asks.

“No,” I smile.

“Oh go to hell,” He groans.

“Oh hun where do you think I came from?” I joke. He smiles a bit. “Did I perhaps see a smile?” I tease.

“Uh no,” He says, avoiding eye contact.

“Of course sunshine. I didn’t see a thing.”

“Stop calling me that,” He snaps.

“Anything for you sweetheart.” I say with a smirk. He groans, apparently annoyed. “Something wrong?”

“Welcome to history. Now turn to chapter one,” A shriveled old man drones, who I recognize as Mr. Popplewell.

“Is that Popplewell?” James whispers. I nod. “How old is he?” He asks quietly.

“Probably older than Dumbledore,” I joke. James sniggers.

“Quiet please!” Popplewell grunts. “Now. Onto our first project for the semester. It will be a group project. Now since there are 18 in this class, I want you to divide into groups of three. Find your partners.” He orders.

“Wanna be partners?” James asks. I nod. I tap on the shoulder of the guy in front of me. He turns his jet-black, curly head around.

“Yes?” He questions.

“You wanna be in our group?” I ask him. He shrugs. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’m Lochlann this is James.”

“I’m Louis.” He replies.

“Are you roomates with Ezra and Joss?” James asks. He nods.

After class ends, I ask James,

“What’s your next class?”

“Forensics.”

“Do you think you can find it by yourself?” I ask.

“Yeah I think I’ll find it okay. Thanks.” He says.

“Alright then. See you in English,” I say.

“See you,” He replies, walking down the hall.

A few hours later as I’m walking to English, I run into Ezra.

“Hey Locs. Where’s your boyfriend?” He teases.

“Oh piss off,” I say, shoving him lightly. He laughs. We walk into our English classroom to see Joss, Ollie, and James already sitting together. Joss motions for us to sit with them. I slide into the seat behind James.

“Where is Cyrus?” I ask. They shrug. Five more minutes go by, still no sign of Cyrus. Finally the door busts open.

“Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come,” He says, placing his coffee on his desk.

“Mood,” Ollie comments. Cyrus looks at the whiteboard which was covered in algebraic equations from the previous class.

“What the f**k is this? Someone get me an eraser before I pass out.” He says. Joss grabs a whiteboard eraser from the back and tosses it to him. “Thank you Mr. Amherst.” Joss nods in reply. “Sorry about that lads. Welcome to Year 11 English. Before we get started, I want to ask you all a question. Why was language invented?” He asks, writing the question on the board. James raises his hand. “Yes? Mr. Synder!”

“To communicate?” James asks.

“Very good! Now what do we do when we write?” Cyrus asks.

“We communicate to our audience.” Joss replies.

“Well done. In this class, we’re all going to learn to be better communicators on paper. We’re going to instead of using flowery, overly descriptive language just to meet the word count, we are going to use clear, and concise language to not only get our point across, but to educate those reading our works. Instead of re-teaching the “writing method,” he air quotes, “I’m going to help you develop your own writing processes to be able to produce better essays. Now who can tell me the most fool proof method to writing an essay?” He asks.

“Brainstorm, outline, rough draft, edit, and write the final draft.” James answers.

“Mr. Synder here knows his stuff. Well done. Now take all of your knowledge of that and throw it in the rubbish bin.” Cyrus says, passing out papers to the class. He turns on the projector, opening a slideshow entitled: ‘How to Write an Essay by: Me’ and below that it read, ‘I’m about to save your lives fuckers.’ “Take out your pencils, pens, and quills ladies and get ready to learn something for once in this damn school.” He says with a smile. James turns to me.

“I think I’m going to like this class.” Before I knew it, almost an hour had passed.

“Alright, since it is the first day I am going to let you out early. And remember, I expect a narrative essay on my desk by next Monday. And if you make me read more than three pages I will shoot you. Now get out of here,” Cyrus says, smiling. We all walk out of English together.

“We all have French together last period right?” Ezra asks.

“I think so.” James replies, looking at his schedule.

“Should we take him to Somerbury tonight?” Ollie asks the group.

“Oh yeah that would be fun,” Joss replies.

“What’s Somerbury?” James asks.

“We’ll tell you later sunshine. See you in French.” I say, winking and walking down the hall to my maths class. The rest of the day went at snail pace. I was so looking forward to Somerbury tonight. Somerbury was the little hangout place the guys and I went to every week or so to tell each other of the weeks events while we drink from our well-stocked alcohol stash. The bell finally rings, signalling the last period of the day. Thank God Almighty. I gather up my belongings and walk to French class. I sit beside James. “Where is everyone?” I whisper to him. He shrugs, looking as lost as I am. Joss and Ezra run into the classroom and plop down behind James and I, out of breath.

“I’m not even gonna ask.” James says, rolling his eyes. Our French teacher, Mr. Riegle, was up front, writing a bunch of gibberish on the board. Probably French I suppose. Ollie opens the door dramatically.

“Bonjour m***********s!” He says, flashing finger guns.

“Sit down Mr. Daniels,” Mr. Riegle scolds. Ollie rolls his eyes and slides into his seat beside James. “Bonjour la classe. Today we’re going to discuss greetings. Bring out your textbooks and turn to page treize. Turn to the person beside you and practice these greetings for five minutes.” Ollie turns to James before I could. I turn to the guy beside me.

“Hey I’m Lochlann.” I say to him. The chesnut-haired boy turns to me. His blue eyes were startling, contrasting his tan features.

“Paulie.” He says with a slightly nervous smile.

“I guess we better get to work then.” I say, looking over the book. He nods. After we practice the greetings, he and I discussed our classes and our activities. “Are you doing anything tonight?” I ask.

“Not really why?” He questions.

“Well my friends and I are going to Somerbury tonight. You want to join?” I ask.

“Sure,” He replies.

“Great just meet us at Room 115 after dinner.” I tell him. The bell rings. “See you tonight.” I smile. We leave the classroom as a group and before Ollie leaves closes the door he goes,

“Adios bitchachos!”

“That’s Spanish dumbass.” James informs him.

prev chapter

next chapter

© 2023 Izzy

My Review

Would you like to review this Chapter?
Login | Register

Featured Review

Aura

I like the gradual introduction of each character. In this chapter you've introduced Paulie and Louis, who are developed more in the third chapter as they are the ones who open chapter 3 with dialogue. I love how you write the teasing and taunts, they are so sharp and witty! You also incorporate modern slang like "mood" and the English Professor, Cyrus, now I picture him wearing a leather jacket with chains. He sounds cool, the way he speaks ( or how you wrote his dialogue) is very modern and I like that, not a old boring English professor but someone hip and relatable. Now I understand why Paulie is so nervous in the third chapter, its the beginning of the school year and he barely knows these guys. Ah makes so much more sense! I enjoyed reading!