Dan was trying his hardest to focus on the words in his textbook, studying for a quiz, but the the couple next to him were distracting him greatly with their locked lips and fierce noise-making. It was quite disgusting, the way they so publically displayed themselves, and Dan was struggling not to vomit.

  "I love you." The girl said, having finally pulled away from her boyfriend. When Dan heard her say this, he snorted loudly, and the pair glared at him. He looked away, deciding to gather his stuff and just move. He didn't feel like going through any drama with lovesick chicks today.

  There was no such thing as love, at least in Dan's point of view. Sure, there was deep affection and even mild obssession, but calling it 'love' is just trying to sugarcoat it and give it a deeper meaning than neccessary. It was played out, and frankly, it was starting to piss Dan off. Because in high school, the idea of being in love was strong in all the hearts of girls, practically suffocating the halls and classrooms.

  He was walking these same halls, twenty minutes before class, once again awed by his peers ignorance. Why were they so easily convinced by society that everyone had a 'soul mate', someone entailed perfectly to their needs and wants? It was a question that haunted him everyday, and never failed to keep him occupied.

  The bell finally rang, as he put his things in his locker, and Dan headed off to his first class.

  Usually, English class was his favorite class, because Dan was a huge fan of reading and enjoyed the book projects they got. But as the teacher started lecturing about their new lesson plan, Dan knew that this was going to be the one lesson he hated.

  "Love." Was the first thing the teacher said, facing his class. "One of the most powerful feelings that man can possess, but also the most rare. There are countless books written about it, millions of songs portraying it. There's even an entire holiday about it, although not just on the basis of 'love', entirely."

  All the girls were on the edge of their seats, listening to every word the teacher said, and even some of the boys were interested. Dan was glaring at the ceiling, wishing to anything above him that he could be anywhere else right now. This was a whole new torture for him.

  "Mr. Howell." Dan snapped his head to the front. "You alright there?"

  Dan flushed, as all the students turned to look at him, but nodded as he turned his gaze to his desktop.

  "Have you ever been in love, Mr. Howell? Even if it was some blind kind of love, or petty crush at the time."

  Usually, Dan didn't like to start and contreversy in class, preffering to keep his thoughts to himself, but he didn't want to just go along with this bullshit.

  "I don't believe in love, sir." He said, ignoring the glares that the girls threw at him. His teacher looked a bit surprised at this, but then laughed.

  "Not even a smidge? Most teenagers are head over heels for at least one person."

  "Not me. I think its a bit overrated, just teen hormones going haywire."

  "But what about older people? They seem to believe in love as well, can't be teen hormones for them."

  Dan had actually pondered that possibility before, but had nonetheless, come up with an argument.

  "I think that, as teens, people let these hormones convince them that love is a real thing, and when they get older, the idea just never goes away, and they can't stop believing in it. Like an addiction, I suppose. They become starved for attention, for love, and never let the idea go that someone will surely come along and sweep them away. Just a head case, really."

  His teacher looked a bit surprised at his outburst, but shook his head, still smiling. "Well, to each their own, I guess. But, continuing with this love idea........Romeo and Juliet. Anyone familiar with it?"

  Almost everyone raised their hand, but Dan doubted that even half of them had read the damn thing. But Dan didn't really care about his class at the moment, he had other things to worry about.

  Because it was at that moment, that Dan's life took a complete U-turn, whether that was a good or bad thing. Just as their teacher was continuing on with his lecture, the door opened and in walked a new kid. Everyone knew that he was knew, because they'd never seen him before. And everyone knew everyone at this school.

  He was a stand out amongst the other kids, but not really in a bad way. While most people here had more tan to their skin, this boy was extremely pale, almost like a ghost, and his black, black hair contrasted greatly with the blondes and brunettes.

  He ignored the other kids stares and whispers, heading over to the teacher and handing him a slip of paper.  The teacher smiled at him, then faced the class again.

  "Everyone, this is Phillip, or Phil, Lester. He's new here, so try not to be too suffocating on him. Phil, there's an empty seat next to Dan back there, you can sit there."

  Really? Dan thought, groaning as the kid headed over and sat in the desk next to him. He hated having to talk to people, especially new people, and his nerves were already a bit strung from earlier.

  He focused on the teachers words, trying to seem distracted so that Phil wouldn't want to start a conversation.

  "Now, back to R&J. I know its an older form of literature, and it may seem 'boring' to you guys, but its actually quite captivating if you give it a chance. We're going to read it, and do a project on it, due the end of this term. You have to work in pairs, no trios and no loners. We have enough students for that now." He said, gesturing towards Phil.

  "You can pick your own partners, but please try and choose someone you can actually work with and not be constantly distracted by. I'm talking to you two, Chris and PJ."

  The classroom became a death zone, as kids rushed around, pushing and shoving trying to find a suitable partner and get stuck with the leftovers. Dan stayed in his seat, waiting until the madness was over to try and find someone to work with.

  "Hey, Phil" Dan heard someone say quietly, and looked over to see one of the girls in his class, blushing and twirling her hair nervously at the new kid. "Would you, maybe....um, wanna partner with me? You seem like you don't know too many people yet, so....yeah?"

  It was painfully obvious that the girl was only talking to Phil to try and get his attention, and Dan watched them silently, interested in how the new kid would respond.

  "Oh, I totally would." He said, and Dan was actually surprised at how deep his voice was. He was expecting it to be a bit higher. "But Dan and I have already decided to work together."

  "What?" Dan said, shocked at this kids nerve. "We never-"

  "We did." Phil interrupted him. He was looking at him pleadingly, as if saying 'please go along with it, I don't want to work with her.'.

  "Uh...." He stuttered. He wasn't really used to being put in the spotlight, definately not by strangers. But he found himself nodding his head agreeing with Phil. "Y-yeah. We're gonna be partners, I guess." Phil smiled at him, and turned to the girl again, who looked a bit disapointed, but not too miffed as she hurried over to the next cutest guy.

  "You can't just up and decide that we're going to be partners without my permission, new kid." Dan said, glaring into Phil's shockingly blue eyes.

  "Sorry, I just....really didn't want to work with her." He replied.

  "Well, why not? She seemed nice enough"

  "Yeah, but you look a whole lot more interesting." He winked, and Dan was surprised to feel his face heating up. This guy was definately something else.

  Dan had never classified himself under any sexual orientation. He felt that he would like whoever he did, rather they be male or female. If girls liked him, sure that was okay. Guys, bring it on. He really didn't care. One thing for sure though, he'd never blushed in front of someone, just because they showed a bit of outward affection to him.

  "I guess, okay." Dan said, still a bit weirded out by the sudden events. "Um...yeah. Alright."

  They didn't say anything else to each other, and Dan almost choked an the awkwardness in the air. He was glad when the teacher finally called everyone to attention.

  "Okay, I presume everyone has a partner? Good. We don't have much time left, so next class will be an explanation of this project we'll be doing. Make sure to grab a copy of Romeo and Juliet on your way out, have a nice day everyone!"

  There was rustling and slamming all around, as everyone grabbed their things and proceeded to leave the room. Dan was shoving his binder into his bag, when Phil touched his shoulder lightly.

  "Hey, you think we should exchange numbers, so we can get in touch?" He asked. Dan nodded, pulling out his phone and handing it to Phil, while he typed his number into Phil's contacts. They switched back, and Dan continued shoving things into his bag.

  "I'll see you around?" He heard Phil say, and was turning to respond when he felt Phil press his lips, gently and quickly, against Dan's cheek. And then he was gone, walking out of the classroom as Dan stared after him in shock.

  No one had ever been so openly....physical with him, and definately not people he'd just met twenty minutes ago. It was unnerving, but at the same time, he couldn't deny the weird pull he felt, in his stomach, that made him want to get to know Phil.

  He shook his head violently, trying to shake the weird thoughts from his head. He finished gathering his things, leaving the classroom and heading off to maths class.

  The rest of the day was pretty dull, compared to his first class, and he was even a bit sad that none of his other classes had Phil in them, not even lunch.

  Dan didn't know exactly what his thoughts were entirely of this new boy, but he didn't dislike him as he thought he first would. He was eccentric, and kind of crazy, but it was apart of his personality, most likely.

  Jesus, he'd just met this boy today, and he was already contemplating the deeper meaning of his actions.

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a/n: I KNOW, I'm already in the middle of writing another story, but I couldn't stop myself from writing this. Its a bit shit, cause I wrote it in like three hours, but is it okay? Would you read more? Let me know, please.