"Collier fucking Jacobson, get your fucking ass in here," was yelled almost the immediate second he set foot in the school. It was shouted by his best friend, Sarah Olsen, and before he could ask where in here was, she showed him but enveloping him in her arms and squeezing him tight. "I've missed you so much".

"I've missed you to, Sarah," he muttered into her ear, never meaning it more in his life.

She was his best friend, his other half, his person. Without her, Collier would be lost, and he had been during his three months away.

Hugging Sarah right then was the first time he felt grounded since he returned home.

"You need to tell me everything, Cole. I tried calling you Saturday night but your dad said you were busy," she said as she pulled away from him and pried his paper schedule out of his hands to look it over. "Your locker is right by mine. Come on, let's go".

Her hand grasped his and she began to pull him through the hall. As he trailed behind her, he thought about how to tell her about his parents. Should he just come out and say it, right here and now, or was that too public? Cole preferred to to it somewhere when it was just the two of them, but he understood that she may not have time to with her new boyfriend and everything, but he'd at least like to try.

"Hey," Cole said, tugging on her arm to get his attention, "are you going to tell me who you're dating yet?"

He knew that he was familiar with whomever it was since Sarah specifically wouldn't tell him that name of her boy. The few times they had texted that summer, she had called him either Hottie McAwesomeness, or, the boy. Unsurprisingly, Cole was unable to guess who her mystery man was based off of these two cryptic clues.

"You'll learn soon enough," Sarah said, smiling at him, and then her blue eyes shifted down to his arms and she rolled her eyes. "Cole, you are covered in paint".

"Sarah, we've been friends since we were itty bitty people. How are you surprised by this?" He demanded and she smiled softly at him before looking away and continuing to pull him forward.

The paint that stained his arms was navy, like the walls of his dad's new living room. While he had taken a quick shower the night before, he had been exhausted about didn't feel like taking the time to scrub his arms until his skin was red rather than blue.

"Of course I'm not surprised, I'm sentimental. I've missed seeing you all covered in paint and sometimes even blood because you fell over," she declared and he laughed easily.

That was something he could do better with Sarah than most. Laugh. She and him were just so in sync with one another, their senses of humor nearly identical. Sometimes, Cole didn't know what he had done to deserve such an amazing best friend.

He decided to immediately tell her about his parents, because if something this big had happened in her family, he knew he would have received a call the night she found out about it. She deserved to know.

But the second he opened his mouth to speak, she was stopping at at locker and thrusting the schedule back into his hands. "There we go. I'm just down the hall from you".

"Oh," Cole said, looking at his locker for a second before turning back to Sarah. "Hey, I need to tell you something-"

She was no longer listening, distracted by whatever it was she saw down the hall. "Alright Cole, we can catch up at lunch, yeah? I need to go right now, sorry," and then she was hurrying off down the hall and Cole was looking after her.

***

"You're in my painting course this year, Mr. Jacobson?" Mr. Moore asked, smiling at him as he entered the room. Collier returned the grin as he dropped his beat up gray backpack onto the floor by his usual easel next to the window and approached the teacher at the front of the room. "I figured you'd be in drawing. Did it not fit into your schedule?"

Scheduling was a big issue for many kids at Valley Falls. Ever since they had switched to block schedule, many of the extracurriculars had been cut, leaving only four available classes for kids who wanted to explore more than their core subjects. While this was a great opportunity, only some students got the luxury of taking these classes since the school board was looking for reasons to cut the programs completely and scheduled them at the most inconvenient times a day.

But Collier had taken summer school classes years previously to catch up on his credits.

"I'm in both, actually," he explained, taking the wooden chair in front of Mr. Moore's desk as the man raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That's very unusual, isn't it?" He observed and Collier just nodded his head.

"What can I say, I worked hard". Moore hummed in agreement. "How many students do we have this year?"

"Seven in painting," Moore said immediately, looking to be distressed and Cole didn't understand why.

"That's more than last year," he pointed out and Mr. Moore nodded his head.

"Yes, but six out of my seven students are seniors, and we need at least five students to run the class next year," Moore explained, chewing his lip.

"Don't worry about it. I'll promote the hell out of your program to all the freshman who don't know how lame I am yet," Collier offered and his teacher looked caught between a smile and a grimace. "Who are the five other seniors?"

"Taylor Smith, Becca Redwood, Jacob Oliver, Harley Smits, and Victor Bauer," Moore said after shuffling around in his desk for a minute, looking for his roster.

Collier recognized all of the names except one. "Jacob Oliver? Who is-"

"I go by Jake," a voice said from behind him, starling Collier into jumping about a foot in the air.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, turning to face the boy who was flushed red now.

"I'm sorry," Jake apologized, smiling at him sheepishly before extending a hand out to Cole. "Its nice to meet you though".

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Cole shook his hand.

Jake was pleasant to look at, with light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a perfect jawline. Cole swallowed.

"This is about the point in the conversation where you give me your name," Jake said to him and Collier blinked before letting out an awakened cough.

"Oh sorry," he said, his voice low. "I was still a bit startled, that's all". You tell yourself that. "I'm Cole".

"Cole," Jake repeated and he just nodded at the sound of his name. "That's not too hard to remember".

"Neither is Jake". The other boy laughed as if this was a joke and Collier's eyebrows raised. He was... cute.

"Mr. Jacobson," Mr. Moore cut into their conversation and Collier spun on his heel to face his art teacher, who looked mildly amused with what he had just witnessed. "Mr. Oliver is a new student at Valley this year. Since you're the most advanced in this class, I figured that he could take the easel next to you and you could show him where things are as he needs them".

"I-" Cole said, a bit distracted by the fact his teacher just called him the most advanced in the class, "of course".

He turned and smiled at Jake then. "My stuff is over-" and then cut himself off, realizing he had nothing more to say to Mr. Moore at the moment, and could simply show the attractive boy. "Over here".

Cole walked back to his spot and stood in front of his easel, very aware of Jake's footsteps behind him.

"Ahh," Jake mused, placing his backpack down on the floor and sitting in the stool next to Collier's, turning to face him then. "Since it seems like we're going to be seeing each other every day now, I think we should get to know each other". Collier must have made a face because Jake's eyebrows raised. "Are you opposed? I'm totally cool with sitting here in sile-"

"No," Cole cut in, "I'm just not very good a conversation-ing or whatever".

Jake grinned. "I happen to be great at small talk," he said, and Collier glanced over to the door as it opened and Taylor Smith entered, looking much tanner than she had when he had seen her last.

"Go ahead then," Cole prompted, sitting in his stool so he mirrored Jake, facing him, "give it your best shot".

"Alright," Jake said, accepting the challenge without a pause. "What other classes are you taking this semester?"

"That's so cheap," Cole claimed and Jake laughed. "What other classes am I taking?"

"It's a classic for the first day of school," Jake claimed and Cole just risked and shook his head.

He actually really liked this kid and was looking forward to getting to spend more time with him— and it totally wasn't because he would get opportunities to check out his amazing jawline.

"Alright, I'll bite," Cole said, turning to his empty easel with a small smile. "I'm in painting-"

"Obviously," Jake commented, but he was ignored.

"Drawing, language arts, world history, and lunch".

Jake whistled as if any of this was impressive. "What do you have against math and science?" He questioned and Collier shook his head.

"Nothing. I knew I wanted to take two art courses. I don't even know why I chose to take language arts and social studies," Cole explained and Jake nodded at him as if this was interesting. It really wasn't, but the gesture was appreciated.

"What if you made the wrong choice?" Jake asked him, voice thick with teasing and eyes wide in mock concern, "it could ruin your whole senior year".

***

Collier had definitely not made the wrong choice, and that became extremely clear the second he laid eyes on his student teacher.

He was tall, most likely over six feet, and he had brown hair, stunning ocean colored eyes, and freckles.

But of course it didn't end there. The list of amazing things about this man grew a second later when he caught Cole's eye and smiled at him knowingly. Dimples.

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming," Ian moaned from beside him and Cole just made a soft sound of agreement as he watched the God at the front of the class write, Mr. Drake, on the chalkboard.

Then, unexpectedly, their student teacher turned and began walking down the aisle that separated Collier and Ian's desk. The two boys shared an alarmed look before nervously eyeing their teacher who came to a stop between their desks.

But he wasn't there to talk to them.

"Ezra Drake," the familiar voice of Emerson Kane said, and Collier's back straightened at the sound. He had failed to realize the athlete coming into the room, much less taking the seat behind Ian.

"I remember you," Mr. Drake said to him, and Collier glanced up to see the beautiful man smiling charmingly, "I just don't remember your names".

This made Cole want to laugh. Emerson Kane was a rather impressionable young man, who was very hard to forget about. Cole was sure it wasn't every day that someone forgot his name.

"Emerson," the boy in question explained, and then a second later added, "and this is Henry".

Not noticing Emerson entering the room was surprising to him, but not noticing Henry— Henry Stone— that was nearly impossible to believe.

For whatever reason, Collier had always been hyper aware of the glaring boy, even when they were in elementary. There was just something about him, a certain beauty that he didn't quite understand. He was attractive, sure, with dark brown hair that was just long enough to curl and eyes that were always narrowed into a fierce look. Despite his constant pissed off expression, Henry Stone had very soft features. The slight curve of his nose and his delicate jawline. Smooth cheap bones and the gentle slope of his chin.

He was the most beautiful living contradiction Collier had ever had the pleasure to happen across, and a part of him was fooled into thinking— folded my himself of course— that if he continued to observe Henry for long enough, he actually had a chance of understanding him.

"Emerson and Henry," Ezra repeated, and based on how his green eyes shifted, Cole deduced that Henry was in the seat directly behind him. "Right. How's Sullivan doing?"

Sullivan... as in Jordan? Collier wondered for a moment before realizing that of course he would be talking about Jordan Sullivan. He was, after all, talking to two of Jordan's best friends.

"Good," Emerson answered, sounding a bit disinterested. "He's in Georgia now. Carter's practically throwing a fit".

Carter Vanroy. He had graduated last year, along with his boyfriend, Jordan Sullivan, and unlike many of last year's seniors, he had done so while actually having a clue as to Collier was. This was only because he had caught Cole stealing marshmallows for Sarah at a party the year before, but still, at least he knew he existed.

"Carter," Ezra said slowly, and then asked, "that was his best friend right? They actually got together?" There was no response, so Collier assumed Emerson answered in a nod. "That's good. Carmen was really hoping they would".

Collier wondered how the hell his English teacher knew who all of these people were. Carmen Huego had also graduated the year before, but not from Valley, though he had attended school there for his first three years of high school.

"How is Carmen doing?" This was once again Emerson, but Collier wasn't surprised. Henry had never been much of a talker.

"He's good," Ezra said with a small shrug. "Him and Osmond moved out to New York a few weeks go so I haven't been hearing much about the-" the minute bell rang, cutting the handsome man off, and Cole quickly dropped his eyes, not wanting to get caught staring. "That's my cue".

When Mr. Drake moved from his place between Ian and Cole, they immediately looked at one another again, their eyebrows raised. "Oh my god," Ian mouthed before spinning in his chair to face Emerson.

Cole took that as a sign that he had the right to look back at the popular boys as well, so he turned, his eyes immediately falling to Henry.

"How do you know him?" Ian was asking Emerson, who happened to be a close friend of Ian's boyfriend, Ryan.

Cole tuned them out, not really caring about the answer. Him turning had more to do with the boy in the seat behind him than the student teacher.

Henry Stone was drawing, absently, on the corner of his notebook paper, either unaware or unconcerned that he was being watched. Curious as to what he was drawing, Collier leaned a bit closer, and then smiled.

As a long time watcher of his favorite anime, he immediately recognized the sketching of his favorite character, which actually wasn't that bad. With a bout of confidence that would later shock him, Cole picked up the other pencil on Henry's desk and began to quickly doodle in the other corner, a detailed sketch of the same character. 

Henry had noticed him now, and Cole felt his eyes on his face, but he simply ignored it until finishing his drawing. Only when he set his pencil down did he meet Henry's eyes.

Neither said anything. Cole, realizing the embarrassing thing he had just done, flushed and turned around in his seat quickly.

It was only the first day of senior year and he had already made a fool out of himself in front one of the most popular— and possibly the most terrifying— boys in the whole school.