Noah's POV
My eyes fluttered open from a deep sleep. My alarm was going on and on informing me it was time to wake up for school. Can I just go back to bed for like... 6 more hours?
“NOAH!” My Aunt called to me from outside my room. “It's time for school.”
“I'm getting up.” I groaned as I rolled over. “School gaaah.” I took my sweet time getting ready in the morning. Like any tired teenager would do. Luckily I wake up at 7, and school starts at 9.
Ever had that feeling like even though everyone knows you, you feel alone? I have spent the last three years of high school hanging out with Aidyn, and now I kind of feel silly walking around with no one else.
I mean I could hang out with my friends, but it seems like a dick move. 'I stopped hanging out with you cause of Aidyn, but now I'm back.' Stopped is a little excessive but ya. I hung out with them still, but not nearly as much.
“Noah!” A familiar voice called out from down the hall. Tiz, one of my friends, was walking down the hallway with his sister Edea. They are twins, and neither one of them lets anyone know who is older. Even their parents are sworn to secrecy.
As twins are usually, they look the same. They both have blonde hair though Tiz has blue eyes, and Edea has amber. Tiz has shorter hair and is a dude of course. Edea has hair down to her mid-back and is a girl. She is kind of tom-boyish, and Tiz is kind of feminine, but they are both straight.
“Hey Tiz, Edea. What's up?”
“Just seeing how you're doing, Since Aidyn is off to school and all.” Aww Tiz is so adorable when he does this. The best part about the twins is they care about other people. Sometimes more than themselves. “How’s Noah doing?”
“I'm good, wish Aidyn wasn't off at school but good.” Tiz placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “How are the twins today?”
“If Tiz stopped being so loud in the morning, I would be fine, and with that in mind, I am very tired.” Edea smacked her brother on the shoulder. Tiz has always been into playing everything loud. He has... or had good ears, but still plays everything loud. “I guess we'll be seeing more of you now?”
I lowered my head. “Ya... I feel bad that I ditched you guys for Aidyn.”
Tiz shook his head. “You didn't ditch us; you just wanted to spend time with your boyfriend. Kind of like Edea with Isaiah.” He gave his sister a shit eating grin.
“Oh shut it, Tiz.” She gave him a smack on the head. “Anyways, I hope to see you more often now Noah.”
“Ya... me too.”
“See ya,” they spoke together as they left. Those two provided many fun times for me when I was younger. They were the first friends I made when I moved here. Tiz was always trying to include me with their friend group. Edea always spoke to me more than anyone else, even Isaiah at times.
Isaiah and Edea have been a thing pretty much since I got here. Isaiah has always been one for styling hair and not caring what he uses to do it. There are times when he uses hair clips to do it. He used to be made fun of until Edea kicked their asses. Since then Isaiah has been behind all of Edea's hair styles.
Isaiah himself, he's awesome. He's a little shorter than me, but his black hair is silky as all hell. His green eyes are always making him stand out in the crowd. You'll usually find him in business casual attire, but that's fine. That kid is going to be a fashion icon when he's older.
My thoughts were interrupted by the announcement made over the PDA. “Could Noah Wesley please come to the office? Thank you.” A couple of kids around me took a glance at me. I just let it slide and made my way to the office.
Mrs. Scott was standing there, beside her Cairo and what looks like his parents. “Hello Mrs. Scott, I assume you are the reason I'm here?”
“Yes Noah, I am. I was overhearing Mr. And Mrs. Craven talking about how Cairo needs some extra help with Math and Science. Since you managed to help Aidyn up his marks in those classes, I thought you could help Cairo out as well. If you're okay with that of course.” Mrs. Scott means well. I bet she's just thinking about how I can get my mind off Aidyn though.
“I might be able to sort something out. When are your Math and Science classes?”
Mr. Craven spoke up, stopping Cairo from speaking. “He has Science this semester and Math next. You'd be needed all year long. Of course, we're offering to pay you for your service.”
“It would be a great help to Cairo who normally spends hours after school working on those subject.” Mrs. Craven added in.
Just looking at Cairo you could tell he was uncomfortable about something. Not asking for help, though, he's always okay with that. It was the adults around him that got him feeling this way? I couldn't quite put my finger one what, but something felt off about Cairo in this situation.
I gave Cairo a once over, looking at him from head to toe. “Ya, I can help him out. Can we figure out the details another time, I have to get to a Student Council executive meeting.”
“Of course.” Mrs. Craven spoke.
Mrs. Scott walked out of the office with me. “Thank you, Noah. Cairo is going through a tough time, and a friend, mentor, and tutor might be just what he needs. I hope the meeting goes well.”
“So do I! Have a good day!” Okay, time for a meeting. What am I getting myself into this time?
Aidyn's POV
Oh shit, oh shit. I'm running a little bit behind schedule, and it's only a few days into school! How does this happen? Answer I have no parents to make sure I get up on time. This whole 'being an adult' thing kind of blows.
Nathan came out of the bathroom just as I was stuffing my face with food. “Running behind already? Man, you have got to wake up earlier.”
I swallowed the mouthful I had before speaking. “I don't do mornings.”
“Clearly. Try having a dad who likes going fishing in the early morning and making it a 'father-son trip' every time.” Nathan grabbed his headphones and plugged his iPod back into them. “Luckily it always turned into something better than fishing. Anyways, don't be late, get going!”
“See you later Nathan!” I quickly got out of the room and made my way out of the dorm building.
I was heading to a theater course first thing this morning. We're in charge of all the techie things. So lights, sound, backstage all that kind of stuff. Since I am majoring in set design, I am mostly doing that, but I do have to help out in other ways. When you don't know what you're working on it's hard to build a set for it.
Luckily the theater building is the closest to my dorm. So it was only a 5-minute jog. I got there just in time for class to start. After a long boring lecture about the class, we got to work. The actors started doing some games on stage while us techs started on our basics.
Getting to know the theater. So we got a tour of the entire facility. From the house to the FOH to the grid way above the stage. We saw the dressing rooms and workshop where I will be helping build the set. Every inch of the place was shown to us, and its super dope!
Right when we had been handed a package to complete before our next class I heard a click of a camera. When a flash appeared from my side, I knew my picture was just taken. “Woah! The hell was that?”
“Who was that is more like it!” the photographer replied. “My name is Joshua, but you may call me Josh. I am a member of the newspaper team, and I am a major in reporting the news to the public.”
“My name is Aidyn.” When I saw the kid, I expected more. Like literally. The kid was like three-quarters of my height. He was tiny compared to many of the others around him. “That's with a 'Y' before the 'N.'”
“So that's A-I-D-Y-N?”
“Yep!”
“Awesome. I was looking for pictures of the cast and crew for the theater class this year. The class always puts on stunning shows, and I wanted to be here for the beginning.” Josh spoke so crisp and smooth. You could understand everything that came from his mouth. “If you don't mind me saying, you are very attractive looking.”
That threw me off guard, though. “Thanks, Josh, but I have someone back home.”
His face went into a deep red instantly. “I'm sorry. I can be really blunt sometimes, but I don't want to make a bad first impression. I'm bisexual and just found you really... something to look at.” He rambled trying to make the situation better.
“How about we just stop for a second?” Josh nodded and sighed. “I am fine with you thinking I'm attractive. I have a boyfriend back home, and I am happy with him. If you want to start out fresh, why don't we just be friends?”
“Yes, let's do that!” Josh turned his camera towards the stage before catching another shot. “I'm here to get some pictures for my article in this week's paper. I've been tasked with the Drama department!”
This kid gets way to much entertainment from that kind of stuff. But I guess when you're doing what you love you'd get that feeling. I do when I start looking at the stage and thinking about how the set will look and work.
Josh went on his spree of picture taking while I went to work on my booklet of work. It got me to walk over the entire theater again and find specific points of interest. I was happy; I got to spend as much time as I needed in areas.
Just after getting my work back to the Technical director I could hear Josh talking to someone. “I got lots of pictures and a few statements! I even have Mr. Taylor's word that I will be the first to know what play they're doing!”
I walked out of the booth to see Josh talking to Brailyn, my old soccer captain. “Oh hey, Aidyn!”
Josh turned around and glanced at me. His gaze went back and forth for a moment before halting on me. “You two know each other?”
I laughed. “Ya, he was my team captain on the high school soccer team.” Brailyn and I did that firm hand grab and pulled each other into a hug. You know what I'm talking about. “How do you two know each other?”
Josh blushed, and Brailyn got all proud. “Well, you see...” Brailyn looked down at Josh. “This little guy decided to call me cute, and then one thing led to another, and we woke up naked next to each other.”
“Wait really?” Brailyn has never seemed like the kind of guy to do that. He's had girlfriend after girlfriend. Never once have I got any gaydar vibes from him.
Josh shook his head. “Ya.. It was pure luck to be honest. He was horned out and hadn't had any fun for a while.” A shy grin appeared on Josh's face. “And now you can find Brailyn on grindr every once in a while.”
“Grindr?”
Josh's eyes went huge. “You're gay and haven't heard of Grindr?” I shook my head. “It's an online dating slash meeting app for gay men. It's like the easiest way to find other gay guys in your area. Most of the time though it's just horny guys looking for cock.” We're lucky this conversation is happening outside of the range of ears.
“You're seriously on that Brailyn?”
He nodded. “I'm not gay, and I make that clear on the app, just sometimes it's the easiest way to get off. I'm not using the guys; I get them off too, but it's just a release for me if it takes to long between girls.” I guess that's acceptable...
“Anyways, fellas I gotta get going! News articles don't write themselves!” And like that Josh bolted off. Damn that kid has the energy of a toddler.
When I turned to Brailyn and he was just shaking his head. “You seriously fucked that?”
He rolled his eyes. “It was going to be a one-time thing, but he kinda got attached. And I started enjoying the experience. I'm in college, not tied down; I can explore if I want to.”
“Ya, whatever Brailyn. Anyways, we should hang out sometime.”
Brailyn started walking off. “Sounds good to me, still got my number in your phone?”
“Should, if I don't I'll message you on Facebook!” He gave me a wave as he walked away and out of sight. Got to say, having Brailyn around will make college a little more fun.
Greyson's POV
Skylar and I were hanging out at my place. We were getting the last couple of swims in before it got too cold out for the pool. We were just splashing and enjoying ourselves like we always do. Well, we were now just hanging out in the shallow end.
“So how are your new neighbors?” Skylar splashed his hands in the water as he asked.
I shrugged. “They are okay. When mom got showed around the house, they spoke about each individual picture of Jesus. It was super lame to hear about how each one looks.” I rolled my eyes. “The kids seem nice, though. I don't know how devoted to the faith they are, though.”
“Well, maybe we should invite them over? Get to know them at the least. We haven't seen or heard them at school have we?” Thinking about it now... no, we haven't. I know Abel is the middle of three siblings and just moved in.
“You're right Skylar.” I hate saying that.
I may not be able to see his face, but he has a shit-eating grin. “I'm always right!” He's sometimes right. Just look at his math tests. “Let's go see if any of them want to hang out.
Skylar hopped out of the pool and passed me my sandals. We grabbed our towels, dried off a little bit and grabbed a hoodie and threw it on. Skylar grabbed my hand and led me towards the Yeager household.
Sky rang the doorbell. From inside you could hear Jude and Abel arguing. Two boys, both not wanting to get up from whatever they are doing. Eventually, footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door.
The door opened, “Hey...” Abel.
“Hey Abel, what's up?” I asked him.
He didn't reply right away. “You can tell who I am?”
I offered him a smile. “You're voice is very distinct between you and your other family members.” Sky scratched my hand; he was blushing at my comment. “Anyways, Skylar and I were wondering if you wanted to come over and play in my pool for a bit. There won't be many more days like this.”
“Ummm... I don't... Are you two holding hands?”
I looked down at the hand Sky was holding. Sky chuckled nervously. “It's just so that he could get over here. I guess we forgot to let go.” On cue Sky and I let go of each other’s hands. Not mentioning that we're together is probably the best idea right now.
“Who's at the door, Abel?”
I hear Abel jump from his brother's yelling. “It's Greyson and his friend Skylar. They are wondering if I want to go over for a swim.”
“Are your shorts unpacked yet?”
“No...” Abel seemed extremely disappointed once he realized this. “I guess I got to say no today. The two of you look too big for me to fit into any of your shorts. Sorry Greyson.”
“It's okay Abel. We can hang out some other time then.”
“Ya... I'll see you later I guess.”
“See ya.” Greyson and I said together. That was when the door closed leaving us outside his front door.
“Greyson, that kid is adorable!” Skylar squealed. “When you invited him he had just the slightest smile on his face. You made his freaking day, even if he can't come over.” Awww little Abel, he sounds, just as Sky says, adorable.
I started heading back towards my house. Sky was walking right beside me. “Well, we will have to try again some other day. Abel seems really nice. Also, thanks for covering up the whole hands thing.”
“I figured it would be the safest bet. Don't want him not able to hang out with us.” Oh Skylar, you're so silly. “How about we go back and put on a movie?”
“OH! Star Wars! Got to get through them all!” Even if Abel isn't joining us, this afternoon got a lot better. STAR WARS TIME!! I may not be able to see the lightsaber fights, but they sound sweet!
??? POV
“Wake up, you can't sleep here...”
“Sorry kid got to find somewhere else.”
“You can stay here for just a couple nights, sorry.”
“Who the hell do you think you are!? Get out of my shop's entryway! You worthless trash!”
Trying to find a place to sleep can be tough when you're homeless. Sure there are homeless shelters, but they either don't offer enough space for everyone or only operate in extreme weather conditions. Usually, you'll find me curled up in a winter jacket big enough to hold me.
It's a nice jacket that I took from a lost and found. It looks expensive; I hope whoever it belongs to hasn't gone where I found it to look for it. It made the nights, right now, nice and warm. But winter hasn't hit yet... I don't want it to hit.
“Where's your mother?”
“What happened? Where are your parents?”
“Your mother must be worried sick about you. Why don't you go home?”
I get people try to help, but they don't know my story. Nobody knows my full story. I'm sure if they pooled it together they could figure it all out, but the odds of that happening is zero. I would go home; my mother would be worried... If she wasn't the one who KICKED me out of my house.
“Poor kid.”
“I wonder what happened...”
“Here, get some breakfast with this.”
I do have breaking points. I've only done it a few times. I linger around a mall, looking for someone to lose track of their phone. When they do, I snatch it. If it has a password, I bring it to the security guards, if it doesn't, it's free games.
The first step, download grindr. The second step find a guy who can host me for a few days. So far they haven't been too old, but they all want sex. A warm home, in exchange for sex... It could be worse.
“What would your family think of you!?”
“There must be someone who's worried about me...”
“What would my brother think?”
Thoughts I keep to myself. There are a few select people who do care, but I can't get to them. They are too far away, too busy with something. None of them have enough time to help me. I guess I have to help myself and sometimes... it costs you some dignity.
Chapter End.
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