Jonas's POV

The first few days of school went... well, I suppose. The teachers were really nice to me. The classes were exceptionally challenging. Cole was in most of my classes, so that was good. I sat down on the edge of my bed and texted him.

J: Hey Cole. You up?

C: Its 2 AM Jonas wut r u doing up

I looked at my clock. Oh, jeez, it was 2 AM.

J: Sorry, can't sleep

C: Not my problem

J: Cmon

J: help meee

J: pleeeeeaaaase

J: Cooooooooole

C: FINE

J: tell me about yourself

C: Um... my brother's visiting and we're gonna go swimming Saturday. He said I could bring a friend, so if you want to come with us...

J: No

C: what

J: I don't swim

C: Fine. suit yourself

J: what else

C: uh

J: ?

C: I.. may have... the slightest...

J: what

C: crush

J: ON WHO

C: ..

C: a dude...

J: Well, duh, but who

C: It doesn't matter. he's into girls anyway

I froze. I didn't know why I thought he liked me. I didn't want him to. He was just... a good friend. I'd only even known him for a few days, I couldn't like him!

C: Jonas? U dead?

J: yeah, lying in a rainbow coffin

C: take me with you

J: gladly

C: thanks

I laughed at myself. I decided that I should probably go to bed so my older sister wouldn't scold me in the morning.

J: hey, i'm gonna try to sleep now

C: Good. If you're acting like the walking dead at school, I'll personally point out your failure

J: what a good friend

C: I am, aren't I

J: whatever

J: night

C: G'night!

I turned my phone off and set it on the table. I hugged my pillows and listened to my "sleep music" playlist before eventually drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

-next morning-

My morning was pretty uneventful. I took a cold shower, dressed in all black, and went downstairs to eat breakfast and wait for Kayla to drive me to school. I could legally drive myself if I had a licence, but Kayla said that she didn't want me to get into a car accident if I was the one driving. Protective sisters. Fun. The most exciting that happened today was me almost forgetting gym clothes.

As soon as I walked into the building, I was greeted by some random dude. He had messy curled blond hair, green eyes, and was seriously pale. I recognized him, but didn't know his name. "Hey there!" he said. I raised my eyebrow, not speaking. "My name's Sunny! You've probably seen me around, but I'd really like to get to know you. I know everyone in the school except you!" he exclaimed, trying to put his arm around me. I pushed his arm off. "Name's Jonas," I said simply. "Wow, cool name. See you around, Jonas," he said my name almost flirtatiously. I shuddered and tried to find Cole.

I found Cole sitting by the cafeteria window. He was looking through it at the park behind the school. "Hey," I said quietly. My voice echoed across the empty cafeteria and he turned towards me. "Oh, hey Jonas," he smiled. He walked up to me. "So..." I said. "So?"

"We're not going to talk about our conversation last night?"

"What about it?"

"Who do you like, Cole??"

"Oh, that..." his face reddened as he spoke. "U-Uh..." "C'mon, you can tell me!" I said excitedly. "I like-" he was cut off by the bell ringing for us to go to class. "Tell me later, okay?" I asked. "Yeah, yeah, I will," he said, grabbed his stuff, and walked past me.

Cole's POV

Saved by the bell. I really didn't Jonas to find out I liked one of the most pompous jerks in the school, Sunny. His family was rich, he was a total dirtbag, but he was still really cute and charming. I was almost 100% certain he knew I was gay, and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing for sure.

Speak of the devil, I had my fourth period with him. Gym. I was always conflicted at the beginning of class in the locker room. I would always glance at him changing for a couple of seconds. If I was lucky, they would try grabbing everyone's attention and I'd get to stare for a while. But now that Jonas was in my gym class with me, I had a bigger chance of getting caught staring.

Once the bell rang for us to go into the locker rooms, Jonas was already in there when I got in. I sat down next to him on the bench (do other schools have benches in their locker rooms? Mine does but idk about others). "So..." he whispered, while the other boys yelled at each other. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye. I saw Sunny talking to one of his friends, shirtless. I didn't realize I was staring until Jonas snapped his fingers in my face. "Hey! Earth to Cole!" I blinked back at him. Jonas had followed my gaze and now looked back at me. He seemed to get the message. "Dude, you like him? He's a jerk!" he whisper-yelled. "I know..." I whispered back.

Outside of the locker rooms, Sunny was pointing to a group of girls warming up in the corner and talking to his friends about them. One of the girls, Fauna, looked over at him and waved. He winked and waved back flirtatiously. She giggled and continued to stretch, over-exaggerating and looking back to see if Sunny was watching, which he of course was.

I walked over to my friend Slayer. "Hey," I said. She smiled. "Ey, Cole. Jonas," she nodded over to Jonas who waved. She looked over at the other group with interest. She was staring at Fauna with a grin on her face. "Someone have a crush~?" I teased. "Shut up. I know you like her boyfriend. Either way, neither of us are getting what we want," she responded, red-faced. (Fauna12356 and I are not a thing I just used her character for my character's love interest kbye)

"Lesbian or bi? Pan? Poly? Somethin' else?" Jonas asked. I remembered Slayer hadn't told him her sexuality. She smiled and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Bi," she answered. "Ah. Cool," Jonas answered.

---

I wasn't ready to go home. Coming home always tore me up in a way. But it also made me happy. The memories that broke me were nothing compared to the new ones I was making. I took a deep breath and walked into the orphanage.