Etho's Perspective-

Etho and Joel walked to their classes.

They had history first thing in the morning.

"Ah yes, the class when you need brain power first thing in the morning." Etho joked.

"Says the one who actually slept!" Joel said and Etho smirked.

But then he felt something that he hadn't felt since he was with Bdubs.

Wait... do I like Joel?

Etho stared at Joel, feeling the heat rise to his face.

"What's up?" Joel said, catching Etho's eye who shook his head.

They walked up to the classroom door.

"Welcome boys!" The teacher said cheerfully.

"May I have your names please?" She asked, looking at a clipboard with everyone's names.

There were a couple of people already in the classroom and Etho was hoping he could choose to sit next to Joel.

"Etho Labs." Etho said.

"Joel Beans." Joel said.

The teacher nodded, putting a checkmark next to their names, "You may sit where you like, but if there's trouble, I will separate you. I'm Mrs. Robins by the way."

Etho and Joel waved cheerfully at her and walked into the classroom as three girls approached the room.

"Wanna sit next to each other?" Etho asked, wishing he didn't sound so desperate for a friend.

"Course!" Joel smiled.

They sat down in the third row (there were only four) and took out their notebooks.

Etho looked over at Joel who looked nervous.

"Which class do you have after this?" Etho asked.

Joel didn't respond, tears started to form in his eyes.

"Hey Joel, you okay?"

Joel looked at Etho, clearly, he had just snapped back to reality.

"I just asked you a question and you looked like you were on the verge of tears." Etho said in a bit of a mocking tone.

Joel chuckled lightly, "Yeah... this is just a lot, I guess. Leaving all my friends...starting fresh...I guess I just realized that this is happening."

Etho punched him lightly in the shoulder, "I thought I was the one who was getting emotional about my ex-boyfriend and yet here you are."

Joel laughed and punched Etho back, "Shut up. I'm not normally like this. My parents just made me go here to get rid of me."

Etho raised an eyebrow.

"They sent me here since this school has good test scores." Joel mumbled.

Etho nodded and opened his mouth but the teacher, Mrs. Robins, interrupted him by clapping her hands.

"Alright class! Welcome to another year! I am Mrs. Robins, your history teacher, where we will be learning about the old empires of the world." She said, writing all of this down on the whiteboard.

Joel and Etho exchanged disgusted looks.

"Please no." Joel mouthed, making Etho laugh silently.

"But before we begin, I will be calling out everyone's names and I would like to know a bit about you. So please tell me three interesting facts about yourself." Mrs. Robins said, "And then I need to hand out the map of the school and your class schedule."

Everyone nodded as she looked at the attendance list.

-

"Joel Beans."

Some people laughed at his last name.

"Er- I like the colors purple, green, and orange together. My favorite animal is a donkey, and..."

Joel bit his lip, deciding what his third fact would be.

"And, as I've heard from my parents and friends multiple times, I'm very egotistical."

Etho laughed along with some others and the teacher nodded and smiled.

I can see that.

-

"Etho Labs." Mrs. Robins called, causing Etho to flush a bit of pink.

He cleared his throat, "I like moss, I've been wearing a mask for most of my life, and I've only been in one relationship."

Joel looked at Etho, concerned.

"I'm okay." Etho wrote down, "It was the only fact I could think of." He showed the paper to Joel.

Joel read it and then bumped into Etho sympathetically and Etho smiled.

Eventually, it came to the last person.

"Tom Simons."

A boy with blonde hair sat up.

He looked like the class clown.

He wore a white shirt that had red long sleeves and pants.

"I prefer to go by Tommy, my favorite musical is Hamilton, and I am the best at Minecraft."
He bragged.

Some people laughed while others rolled their eyes in disgust.

This is going to be a looooong year.

After class, Joel and Etho split up.

Joel had PE while Etho had science.

"Sucks. I'll see you at lunch though, right?"
Joel checked before they went their separate ways.

"Yep." Etho nodded, leaving.

Etho walked into his chemistry class with no friends.

Great.

He looked around and recognized no one.

He sat down alone, thinking about Joel.

He started blushing and his heart started to flutter.

Wait.

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So fun fact, this story is actually completed; I wrote this chapter months ago, just waiting until I post it. It's like that with most stories. Anyway, when I was reading this, I noticed the ending is like the ending to chapter 12 I think of The Struggle Is Real where Lizzie is thinking about Joel and then it ends in 'wait'

Funny how things work like that. Anyway!! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry I posted it so late