Chapter Text
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Monday, August 29th, 2005
8:00 AM
…how can they see the love in our eyes…
Morrissey sang melancholically from his walkman as Coy pulled on a knit brown sweater and a pair of loose khakis. A hand-me-down from his older brother, the sweater hung loosely on his bony shoulders, awkwardly oversized. Lanky and pallid, he always looked slightly unwell, something his mother had said he would grow out of in time, a time for which he waited for still in his junior year of high school. Looking in the mirror, he brushed a lock of brown curly hair out of his pale green eyes.
…and still they don’t believe us?
“Sweetie, the bus is almost here!” His mother’s voice echoed from downstairs and he spun, looking around his room for his backpack. Dimly lit dark wooden floors and exposed grain on the walls, his room was filled with small bits of himself, the computer and playstation 2 on the table, boardgames and action figures filling up the shelves, and records decorating the leftover spaces on his wall. Grabbing the bag, he rushed downstairs, ignoring his mother asking about whether he was going to breakfast or not and his younger sister yelling at him that he had stepped on her foot.
As he boarded the bus to Ridgewood High, he made his way to the back through the rank stench of highschoolers who had clearly not discovered deodorant yet. His eyes lit up as he spotted Will Wahony, his best friend. He wore a purple long-sleeved polo and dark blue jeans, his coiled hair falling just short of his honey-brown eyes. He grinned as he saw Coy. He had known Will since freshman year, where they had met in biology, both too awkward to have made friends with anyone else. Will had branched out since then, but Coy was still invisible in the halls, like a nerd in a cliche high school drama. He didn’t really care though, he was content with just himself and Will. They had been there for each other throughout the pains of the last two years.
“Dude, it's over for me today!” Will said as Coy sat down next to him.
“Already? It’s not even nine yet.”
“Yes, I have a test in pre-calc today, I fell asleep yesterday talking to Sammie over the phone and forgot to study.”
“Your fault then,” Coy shrugged. Will sighed.
“It’s not fair, coming from you, you freaking nerd.” Coy rolled his eyes.
“I apologize for being responsible and studying.”
“You AP calculus kids,” he responded, shaking his head. Coy’s retort was cut off as he made eye contact with his crush, Lord Patterson. Patterson always had a slightly empty, confused expression on his face, his eyes were wide and his irises were impossibly dark. He was tall, with short dark brown hair topping an angular fair face. His heart jumped a little, but Patterson mindlessly sat next to somebody else, going on another dramatic tangent about some medieval roleplaying that he was into. Will rolled his eyes at Coy’s expression.
“He’s such a dork, why are you even into him?”
“This is coming from an editor of the school’s newspaper and the vice president of the filmmaking club.” Coy retorted. “Besides, being a dork is part of his charm. He’s… authentic to himself.”
“If you say so…”
1:00 PM
Coy sat in AP Physics, staring at the clock tick by. Looking at the calendar, he remembered that today was the robotics club meeting. Robotics, programming, video games, and anything related to computers was his passion. He had founded the club in his school after it had been shut down multiple times in the past few years in favor of the athletics department. It irritated him at the mere thought of it. The jocks were dumb as hell and had no future in his opinion, and the fact that everybody loved them bugged him more than he liked. He was jolted out of his thoughts as Mr. Kieran slammed a book down next to him.
“Mr. Piso? Are you with us?”
“U-uh yes!” Some girls in the back giggled and his ears turned red. He sighed. There were still so many hours left of class to get through.