Chapter Text
Despite his not so friendly demeanor and a resting bitch face, Craig Tucker was pretty popular. But like with everything, he had ‘no fucks to give’ about it. He had his little friend group and a lot of instagram followers, but it’s not like any of that really mattered to him.
He didn’t know what the deal was all about, either. He didn’t think of himself as highly interesting, and maybe he had the looks, but was his face that good? And is that really all people care about?
Sure it is. In a small town like this, rumors spread around like crazy, and on the other hand, if you look nice and act cool, you have already gained yourself the “popular kid” spot.
“Yo, Craig!”
The familiar voice reached his ears from the other side of the hallway, and he turned around, now being face to face with one of his best buddies, Clyde.
“Yo.”
They high-fived each other, and went up to their lockers.
“You have football practice today, don’t you, Clyde?”
“Yup! We won’t be able to hang out today, sorry.”
“No problem. Another time.”
Clyde nodded, taking out his books, and soon enough the boys were on their way to the classroom.
“Soo… Prom this year, huh?”
“Clyde. Stop.”
Craig was so extremely tired of this topic. He couldn’t hear the end of it from anyone, and while yes, it was a pretty big thing, he was just sick of it.
Even though they had a whole year to “prepare” and get a pair, or something of the sort, he got asked about who he’s gonna go with around 10 times by now. And soon his answer will go from ‘I don’t know yet.’ to ‘I’m not going.’ . Seriously, why’d they care so much?
“I’m just sayin’! I was just curious if maybe you finally got your eye on someone.”
“You’re my best friend, yet you act like you don’t know me at all.”
Donovan sighed, and soon they were both seated in the same, small classroom.
—
He didn’t think any teacher in the world could be more boring than Mr. Garrison. His lessons felt like they went on for days, and not just an hour. Therefore he wasn’t usually paying attention, and if he did, it was to make a careless remark or eventually, flip the man off. So, given that, he visited the counselor’s office quite often.
He was sitting just outside the office now, waiting for his turn, when he got a text from Clyde.
‘I should’ve done the same thing as you. This lesson just isn’t ending.’
‘You know you can’t. You get too risky and you lose your spot on the team.’
‘I know, I know! But anything to get out of Garrison’s class.’
‘There’s still time to do so.’
But he knew Clyde won’t. His dumb questions about whatever the man was teaching weren’t enough to get sent out of class. Well, most of the time.
“Next!”
He sighed and came in, the other student quickly scurrying out of the room with a gloomy expression.
“Craig, not again…”
He sat down, his expression not changing even for a second.
“What did I tell you last time, young man? You’ve gotta stop behaving like this if you wanna make it to graduation, mkay?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Now, don’t lie to me, mkay? I know you far too well already. Why do you keep acting like this?”
“...I don’t know.”
“Well, I’m afraid the next time you land here, I’ll have to call your parents. I shouldn’t be letting this slide, but calling them is the last resort. You’re a smart, young boy, I don’t wanna have to do this.”
Mr. Mackey and him have known each other for years now. Sometimes, Craig wondered how old he was when he first started teaching in their elementary school, and how old is he now if he’s able to continue working at a high school. Was he like, immortal or something?
“Sure thing. You won’t have to see me again anytime soon.”
A lie. The most obvious one, at least coming from Craig.
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it, Tucker.”
Sometimes, he felt bad about lying like this. Whoever knew Craig for more than a week knew he’s just like this. He doesn’t go through big, lifetime changes very often, and he definitely doesn’t mask his feelings - the feelings usually being irritation, annoyance, and lack of any care towards anyone that isn’t Clyde, Jimmy or Tolkien. But what could he do about Mr. Mackey being so naive? Or maybe he wasn’t, he just didn’t have enough patience to deal with Craig over and over again. Either way, so far he’s only called his parents twice, so he didn’t really care.
When he was dismissed, he tried getting out of the office as quickly as he could, especially since Mackey already called for the next person to get in, but when he set his foot outside the room, he bumped into someone. Not roughly enough to make him or the other person fall back or anything, but his chest still kinda hurted.
Before he even got to focus his vision and try to recognize the person, he was already getting showered with apologies. Frantic, anxious apologies.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, AH! I didn’t mean to bump into you, oh God! Are you hurt?!”
“Woah. Chill.”
The person in front of him was a slightly shorter blonde boy. The buttons on his shirt were all messed up, his hair looked like it hadn't touched a brush in a week, and he had huge eyebags that weren’t easy to miss.
“I’m fine. Are you?”
Given how everything that just happened was still in Mackey’s office, who was probably looking at them right now, he decided to play nicer than he usually would. Which he wouldn’t. But now he kinda had to.
“Yes, yes, no need to worry about me! AH, excuse me!”
With visibly shaky hands, he widened the door to the office and walked past Craig, sitting down in front of the counselor. Craig shrugged and got out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think he ever saw that guy before.