Jay and I snuck back indoors around six am. We had a bulky silver alarm box attached to side of our house like a metal parasite, but it was purely for aesthetic purposes. Before I was born, my mum had had a lean black cat that had a fondness of nightly walks. Of course it constantly set off the alarm, so my dad had the whole system uninstalled. They'd left the box up though, in the hope that it would fend off any would-be burglars in the meantime.

And despite the fact that I knew we'd only get an hour or so of sleep, we flopped back into bed anyway.

I'd been rather sneakily clever on Sunday night, setting an alarm for ten minutes before my mum's so she wouldn't catch Jay and I in our rather compromising sleeping position. It was weird in a sense, but I actually kind of enjoyed sleeping nestled next to Jay. He was a constant source of heat during the cold nights, and there was something nice about having his slender arms wrapped around me...

Um... Ahem... I didn't just say that.

When the shrill metallic ringing of the alarm clock filled the room I had the sudden urge to smash the thing to pieces. The thing had just woken me from probably the shortest night's sleep I'd ever had. For school. I wanted to crush the stupid thing.

"Jay, gonna fix that?" I moaned, rolling over so that I was facing away from said alarm clock. Jay groaned and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Huh?"

"Tell the bloody alarm clock to shut the hell up!" I commanded, pulling the covers over my ears. Jay was still confused in his drowsy state, but made a sluggish movement to halt the incessant beeping.

"Got it."

"Cheers."

I pulled the covers tighter around me. I didn't feel like getting up just yet. Why is it that beds suddenly get so much more comfortable when it's time to get up?

Sighing, I kicked the thick duvet off, exposing Jay's upper body to the morning chills. He whimpered a little, which, for some strange reason, made me smile...

I shook my head, literally trying to shake those thoughts from my mind. I needed something to distract myself. So instead, I thought about school.

It wasn't a much better train of thought, I'll admit it, but it was something. Besides, if I was dreading school this much, I could only imagine the chilling fear Jay must have felt. My family had never moved house. Hell, my family rarely left the neighbourhood. I'd literally only been to three different towns in my entire life. So I had absolutely no idea how it must feel to start a new school.

Jay let out a huge deep yawn, setting me off too. He laughed at my scowl.

"Come on Ash. We've got school."

"Whoop-de-doop," I grumbled. "Forgive me for not positively jumping with joy. Bad back, you know?"

Regardless of his efforts to maintain a straight face, a small laugh bubbled from Jay's lips.

"Uh huh. Seriously though, get up. I, um, don't really fancy turning up to my first day of school alone..."

When he put it like that...

"Fine..." I complained. I made a big show of slowly peeling back the covers, taking as much time as possible to swing my legs over the end of the bed, and just generally wasting time. Midway through my second theatrical yawn Jay decided enough was enough and pushed me off the edge of the mattress.

"Hey! Dude that hurt!"

Other than a slight ache at the bottom of my back, I was absolutely fine. Well, I was tired, cold and grumpy but those particular three ailments were nothing new. Still, it was fun to see Jay's face pale as panic took over.

"Oh shit," he hissed, clambering over the mound of covers to the edge he'd just pushed me off. "Um, are you ok? I didn't mean to push you or anything... Shit."

I suddenly sat up, scaring the life out of Jay I might add, a ridiculously huge grin covering my face.

"Oh Jay!" I scolded with a false posh accent, almost like my aging French teacher's. "Did you just swear? What would my mother think!?"

Jay snorted and threw a pillow at me. I ducked it easily – his 'legendary' athletic skills weren't quite up to par when he was still half-asleep. Still smirking I clocked that little piece of information away for later. Might come in handy in a slagging match...

"What did you pick?" I asked, shrugging on my old shirt from Friday without a second thought. Jay was in the middle of a wrestling match with a pair of terrifyingly tight jeans.

"Eh?"

The extra concentration it took to come up with this reply shattered his focus and he fell to the ground with a satisfying thud. I grinned and pulled on my own jeans, a greyer, baggier pair.

"I said, what did you pick? Subject-wise?"

Jay stood in silence for a moment, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his eyes with his sleeve. "Oh... Um, maths, English and Italian weren't optional at my last school, but other than that I picked geography, physics, biology..." He ticked off each subject on his fingers as he listed them. "Um, chemistry and music. Yeah, that's it."

My jaw dropped. "Are you shitting?"

"Look who's swearing now?" he teased, combing his slender fingers through his hair seeing as we were lacking a brush. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm a grumpy git of a teenage boy. Get used to it."

"Um, yeah..." Jay seemed unsure how to respond to that one. I didn't blame him. "But, um, what's with all the surprise?"

I looked at him quizzically for a moment before realization registered on my face. "Oh! Yeah, uh, me and you picked like all the same subjects... Well, aside from Italian and geography, but still. That's some coincidence."

Jay gave me a small smile. "Yeah. Hey, does this mean I'll be in some of your classes then?"

I shrugged. It was likely, but not guaranteed. Because I'd had to shuffle my subjects around the columns to take three sciences my classes were all rather small, made up of fellow science lovers. And within my high school we were a small group. My chemistry class was the fullest practical I had, with only fifteen students. Considering most other practical classrooms were bursting at the seams, fifteen was really a tiny amount of pupils, just a smattering really.

"Dunno. I mean, I've got really small classes so I'll probably end up stuck with you most of the time..." I kept my tone dull and fed up but I couldn't hide the small grin from slipping onto my face. I was usually a bit of a loner in school and provided Jay wasn't brainwashed by the footballers he might stick with me. I'd never admit it out loud but the prospect of friendship seemed... nice.

"Oh ok. Cool."

I couldn't help but notice the not so discreet grin on Jay's face either.

Breakfast was a quick affair of toast and jam, with Jay and I subtly swapping tea behind my mum's back again like some illicit trade heist. It was kinda amusing, sharing daft glances full of snickers while my mum chatted away, oblivious. As we were just about to head out the door however she pulled out the 'concerned parent' card.

"Ok Jay, are you all set?" she asked for the twelfth time in as many minutes. Jay nodded, a faint pint tinge visible on his cheeks. I didn't miss the 'help me!' look he shot me either.

"Um, yeah. I'm good. Thanks."

I rolled my eyes while my mum totally fell for Jay's little shy guy act. I knew he was shy but this was getting ridiculous. He was going to get eaten alive during introductions.

"Are you sure?" my mum insisted, zipping up his coat like you would a toddler. Jay nodded again and mumbled another thanks, gently pushing her hands away at the same time.

"Yeah I'm fine, Mrs Jamieson. Thanks though."

My mum still didn't look convinced. "Completely positive? Because you don't have to go school yet if you don't want to..."

"Bye mum!" I interjected, grabbing Jay by the sleeve and hauling him out of the front door. I didn't drop my grip once I'd slammed the door shut. He didn't protest.

"Thanks," Jay murmured, pulling his shiny black coat tighter around his body, trying to lock in some warmth before the chill bitter wind bit us. Winter was well and truly on the way. And we hadn't even had Halloween yet.

"Sorry about her," I responded gloomily. "I've never seen her so worried about anything."

Jay laughed. "Um, it's ok. I'm pretty sure she was just the same for you when you were starting school, right?"

A bitter laugh escaped my throat. "Are you kidding? She was more pissed off she had to leave work early to take me to my induction days!"

"Oh... Maybe she was having a bad day?"

And I couldn't help but laugh again, a genuine chuckle this time. Jay was so good compared to me... I had a rather cynical view of the world, disinclined to believe there was good in anybody, yet Jay was the complete opposite. He had an uncanny determination to see the good in everybody, even me.

"Nah, she's always been like that," I explained making a face. "Same with my dad. I'm pretty much just an inconvenience. Unlike you, the perfect fucking son."

And then Jay did something totally unexpected. Instead of giving rolling his eyes in the typical 'what an angsty teen' way, he slipped his cool hand into mine and squeezed my fingers leaving an unsaid note of sympathy hanging in the air.

Confused, I stared at our interlocked fingers for a few moments, trying to figure out where this was going. But after a few moments debate I decided just to keep my hand in his. It was kinda cold out anyway, and I didn't have gloves...

We walked in a comfortable silence for the next ten minutes, my hand tightly clutched in his. Yet as the ominous school building loomed closer I reluctantly dropped Jay's hand. I didn't particular want a ragging about being gay, because I'm not. And it probably wouldn't be a great first impression for Jay either.

Jay and I had left my house early to avoid my mother's treacherous clutches, so the grounds were still fairly empty. We were a small school of only six hundred odd pupils, so Jay would soon be the talk of the year groups. He was intelligent – which would earn approval from the teachers, athletic – which would earn approval from the male students, and downright good looking – which would undoubtedly earn approval from the female student population.

"So basically the school's split into four different buildings," I told him quickly, pointing out each individual block. "You've got all the practicals bar the sciences in the purple, science and maths in the blue block, languages, socials and Religious in the green and the PE block is the yellow one."

Jay frowned. "Practicals in the purple, science and math in the blue, socials, languages and RE in the green and PE in yellow. Um, I think I've got it."

I let out a low whistle. "Holy shit dude, that's fucking impressive. How the hell did you remember that?"

Looking slightly embarrassed, Jay shrugged. "Dunno. I've just got a good memory, I guess."

"Well I'm jealous," I huffed, pushing open the heavy glass doors to the office. No one was there. Mildly irritated I knocked on the glass.

"Um, what are you doing?" Jay enquired, looking slightly alarmed as my banging got heavier and louder.

"Looking for the office women," I replied, slamming my fists against the glass. Eventually a curly haired woman poked her head round the wall and noticing us promptly jumped up and scurried over to answer.

"Hello? How can I help you?"

"He's new," I responded gesturing to Jay, not even bothering to wait for his own reply. He'd probably go all grateful and shy anyway. "We're looking for his timetable."

"What's your name love?" asked the woman, ruffling through a bundle of papers and clipboards. I shot a pointed look in Jay's direction. He cleared his throat quietly.

"Um, Jay McCallion," he said, awkwardly fiddling with a thread on his jeans. I slapped his hand away.

"Dude," I hissed in his ear, "I know I said they'd be relaxed about uniform if you wore jeans, but only if you don't draw attention to it."

"Oh. Sor-" He abruptly stopped speaking when he caught sight of my glare and his face split into a grin. "I mean, ok. Cheers."

Satisfied, I smiled and took his timetable from the woman, not really listening to her babbling about registration. "Meh. That'll do for now."

My eyes skimmed over his classes, recognising most of the periods. "Hey look we're in pretty much all the same classes! I mean obviously I ain't in geography or Italian since I never picked them, and I ain't in your maths or your English or your PE since you're a genius and I'm dumb as fuck, but you know... Other than that."

Jay laughed and plucked the timetable from my fingers, tearing the page slightly. "You're not dumb Ash. You're a B plus student, remember?"

I frowned. "How do you even remember that?"

He shrugged, but grinned nonetheless. "Easy. I pay attention."

Scowling, I grabbed him by the wrist and began dragging him towards to blue building.

"Come on. You've gotta meet SMT before classes start and I don't fancy being late."

And once we turned into the back stairwell safely out of sight from the rest of the faculty Jay surreptitiously slid his hand into mine and wound our fingers together.

And it was kinda... nice.