Chapter Text
Michael sat in the head master’s office drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair as he looked ahead out the window. If it weren’t for the colorful autumn trees outside he would feel like he was in a black and white movie. Everything in the office was a dark color or completely white and the only sound was the clicking of high heels on the marble floor just behind the office door.
Michael’s parents had dropped him off only 10 minutes prior and all he was left with was a tight hug from his mom with tears running down her face and his father just leaned against the car giving him a nod before they took off. Of course they were upset with him but Michael still expected more than what he got. Maybe a slight talk from his dad telling him to behave himself or his mom telling him that she would miss him but neither of them said a word to him before they drove off and Michael was left all alone to walk up to the 3 story brick building.
He could hear church bells go off in the distance and Michael leaned forward in his chair to see students in black and crimson uniforms crowding out of the chapel. Some of them seemed snotty like Michael was expecting but the others were goofing off and one was even doing a dorky dance as he walked up the steps with a pile of books in his arms. Michael cracked a little smile at the blond boy and wondered if this would be the last time he would smile while he was here. It seemed like a realistic hypothesis judging how depressing the whole setting was.
Michael felt himself tense up when he heard a deep voice on the other side of the door. He closed his eyes and pretended he was just sitting in his living room at home waiting for his favorite TV show to come on and he added that to the list of things he would miss from home.
“-Just fax it to him as soon as possible” The door was now opening behind him and Michael looked forward again trying to focus on other things but it wasn’t working. He heard footsteps behind his chair as he looked down at his shoes and then a dark figure appeared in his peripheral vision “Hello Mr. Clifford. I’m headmaster Monticello” Michael looked up and a tall man in a black suit stood above him.
“Hello sir” it wasn’t like Michael to call anyone sir but he wanted to make sure he was on the good side of the head master. He didn’t want to add any more problems to the ones he knew he would already have. For example he knew making friends would be a problem but he figured he wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone here anyways. Michael watched as the man walked over to look out the window with his hands clasped behind his back as the pine trees swayed back and forth.
“I have been informed that you are here after getting expelled from a public school downstate. Is that right?” now his eyes were pouring into Michael’s and Michael knew damn well that he knew exactly why he was there. He just wanted to hear Michael admit it.
“That’s right sir” Michael swallowed down any negative comments he had about the situation and knew it would just make things worse.
“Now I want you to understand something” Michael looked down to the floor as the head master, for the first time actually, raised his voice as he sat in the chair behind his desk. He paused and Michael quickly looked up realizing that he was waiting for Michael to give him his full attention. “Here at Lincoln Preparatory we do not handle things like you are used to so if you think that pulling a stunt like you did before will get you expelled and free of this school you are sadly mistaken Mr. Clifford” the thought of breaking a rule bad enough to get out of this hell hole had crossed Michael’s mind once or twice but now the hope for that had gone down the drain.
Head master Monticello leaned forward and Michael felt like he was looking into his soul
“And the chances of you escaping the school grounds” Michael cringed at the word “escaping” it made him feel like he was in prison “are even slimmer. We have cameras in every room, hallway and on every light post outside. So what I want to make sure here is: Am I going to regret letting you into my school?” Michael aggressively began to shake his head.
“No. No sir”
“Good” he clapped as he stood up and Michael realized he was way too on edge when he nearly fell out his chair “Now here is your uniform” he handed Michael a black dress coat, a crimson collared shirt and black pants like he had seen earlier and Michael felt so under dressed in his white Van Halen shirt and dark blue jeans.
“You are never to wear this attire” he was pointing to Michael’s shirt “Ever again. Casual Friday’s are not a thing we participate in here at Lincoln Prep. Chapel is at 7:30, except on Friday’s when there is no Chapel, which you have missed, and you will be missing your first hour today as well but it starts at 8:30. I expect that you have received your schedule” Michael frantically pulled out the slip of paper that was in his jean pocket and the man took it like he didn’t want to actually be touching it. Michael tried not to roll his eyes as he only held it by the tips of his fingers as he looked at it over his glasses. “Very well. Our teachers here have just as high standards as I do so you will be expected to keep a B average or there will be consequences” Michael could barely even keep a D average at his old school and the only time he got C’s was when he tried his hardest. He knew that this school would be even tougher and it made him began to shake. He didn’t know how he would last a school year here.
He kept telling himself that his parents would enroll him back at a public school after this school year is over but he wasn’t even sure if that was true. All he could do was hope his parents would show some mercy after one year at this horrid school.
“Lunch is 30 minutes long and you are allowed to go outside by the pond but NO SWIMMING” Michael was about to make a smart ass remark about it being 40 degrees outside but again held his tongue. He was expecting that he would be doing that a lot during his time here. “I am sure that you will be informed on other things as your days here goes by but for now that is all” Michael let out a sigh of relief but cringed hoping the tall man wouldn’t take offense to it. He squinted at Michael then turned back to the window “But don’t think that I won’t be checking up on you from time to time. I’m always watching and I expect that you will stay clear of the….” Michael leaned over a little trying to see his face after the pause “Of the bad eggs, you might say, of the school”
“Bad egg’s sir?” Michael honestly didn’t know what he meant. He just assumed that all the students here behaved themselves 24/7 and that they never made any mistakes. He kind of expected himself to be the new trouble maker of the school, even though he had no intention of acting like he had at his old school. He figured what he did to get himself here would start getting around and soon every student would start judging him for it.
“Yes” he raised his voice but it wasn’t angry “There are few students who you will want to steer clear of. They are ones that continue to test me” Michael felt like he was talking about someone in particular and he wished he knew who it was so he could stay away from him “Well that will be all Mr. Clifford. You have 30 minutes to spare until 2nd period starts.
The Kurtwood dormitory is all the way across campus. I have one of my best students to show you where it is and help you get situated in your room and what not” the headmaster started to push buttons on the phone and leaned down to speak into it
“Ms. Kelly would you please send Mr. Hood in” Michael began to feel better knowing that he was almost done with having to sit in this tight room that he could barely breathe in but he was also scared of what this kid would be like. If he was the headmaster’s best student then Michael knew he was a brownnoser who lived to do well in school. He probably wanted to be a doctor or lawyer. The door began to creak open but Michael didn’t look back “Hello Calum. Michael...” he felt the headmaster glaring at him so Michael stood up and faced the door. “Michael this is Calum” the tan boy was reaching out a hand and Michael took it muttering a “nice to meet you” the boy just smiled wide and looked to the headmaster “Well I will let you two get acquainted” Michael began to walk towards the door just wanting to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Calum walked out first and held the door for Michael. Outside the headmaster’s office the wall’s were now brick and the marble floor couldn’t possibly shine any more.
“So you’re in the Kurtwood Dorm right?” the boys spoke happily as he looked back at Michael and Michael couldn’t understand how anyone here could be anything but miserable. He was already feeling miserable and his time here had barely even started.
“That’s right” They turned down to a wider hallway with a large archway and Michael began looking at all the gold trophies behind the glass case. They were mostly Swimming and Lacrosse ones , which were sports that weren’t even played at his school. He looked to his right to see a balcony overlooking a large pond and he could see from here that it had a thin layer of ice over it which made the headmaster’s rule of no swimming even more ridiculous.
Soon they were outside and Michael began to feel a little more relaxed but looked up and seen cameras moving as he walked and he was on edge again. The cold November air was burning his throat and he turned to look at the school from the outside. There were more windows than he expected and he could even see a teacher in one of the upstairs classrooms.
“I’m guessing that Monticello briefed you on all the rules?”
“Yup” Michael finally couldn’t hold in his sarcastic comments back any longer “I’m surprised were even allowed to breathe” he didn’t mean it to be funny at all but Calum did a laugh way louder than expected as he glanced at Michael.
“Well it can be pretty rough here if you aren’t used to it but just stay on his good side and you’ll be fine” Michael was going to say that the school part of it was scaring him the most but he didn’t want to sound weak. The brown grass seemed to stretch for miles before it stopped at the woods and Michael couldn’t even see a road on the other side of them. He wondered how much of the woods were considered school grounds because it seemed a lot more calm out there and he knew he would have the need to get away from all of this.
“How much of the woods is part of the school grounds?” it was the first time Michael seemed genuinely curious
“None of it” Calum said sternly “We aren’t allowed in there”
“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised” Michael watched Calum slow down a bit and then he was standing right next to him.
“I mean there are students who go in there but nobody that I associate with. They’re the kids you want to stay away from” Michael realized that Calum was on the snobby side after all.
“Yeah I’ve been informed on the ‘bad egg’s’” he cringed when he used the word “informed” and he hoped he wouldn’t start picking up their proper way of speaking. If he did ever get out of here he knew his friends back home would be freaked out and never want to speak to him again. It seemed like an exaggeration but Michael knew if he started picking up on their style of talking then he would pick up on other things too and becoming like the kids here scared him to death.
“Yeah they’re easy to spot” Calum said casually and Michael looked up to see that they were now in front of a wide two story building with a bunch of windows and next to the door read “Kurtwood Dormitory” This would be his new home and it was already creeping him out.
When Calum opened the door he was greeted by the smell of floor cleaner and some kind of fall candle. There was a whole row of doors in front of him and then to the left there was an archway with a large room full of couches but no TV. There were a few wooden bookshelves that matched the rest of the brown colored room and then a kitchen also inside the room.
It wasn’t homey at all and it just seemed like one of those model homes that no one lived in. He looked up to see Calum walking up the stairs so Michael hurried behind him before he seen a kid sat at a desk perched over his book also in the living room. He climbed the long flight of stairs watching his every step and when they got upstairs there was a long hallway on both sides of them full of doors just like the lower floor.
“What’s your door number again?” Michael put his uniform in his left arm as he fumbled the paper out of his pocket.
“Oh um room 40”
“Room 40” Calum almost sang “Well you got lucky”
“Why’s that?” Michael didn’t know how he could possibly be lucky unless his roommate had a TV or something along the lines of that. Calum didn’t answer, instead he just let out a laugh and Michael was scared that he was being sarcastic. He looked into some of the rooms that had their doors open. Most of them were empty but some had kids lying on their beds and they would instantly look up at Michael, mostly giving him judgmental looks.
Calum stopped at the very last door of the hallway and Michael went around the corner a little to see that there were more doors on the left side of the hall and then another big room with couches across the hall. This one had a window that covered the entire back wall, overlooking the woods. Michael realized that he would probably spend a lot of time in there if his roommate turned out to be a total knob head that he couldn’t stand.
“Well here you are” Calum swung the door open and Michael hesitantly walked in. There were two single beds that were divided by two night stands and a bay window with a comfortable looking cushion next to it. The walls were a light brown that matched the thin carpeted floors and Michael sat at bed on the left side that he could tell wasn’t occupied.
The other bed had the covers thrown halfway off of it and there was a coffee cup on the left night stand and also a glasses case. Michael didn’t meant to make the assumption that all people who wore glasses were nerds but he couldn’t help but picture his roommate being one of those people who spent all his free time studying at the desk in the corner of the room as Michael tried to make light conversation with him.
“You’re roommate is actually a friend of mine so you didn’t get stuck with one of the Kurtwood Weirdo’s” the thought of being roomed with one of Calum’s snobby friends made him actually wish that one of the ‘Kurtwood Weirdo’s’ were his roommate instead, even though Michael wasn’t even sure what Calum meant by that.
“Um ‘Kurtwood Weirdo’s’?” Michael tossed his uniform clothes on the pillow and dreaded the moment when he had to put them on. He felt like he would be selling his soul the moment he stepped into those dress pants.
“Well Kurtwood is known for having a few…odd residents you might say. I mean at least none of the troublemakers are in this dorm. They’re all conveniently in the Blitz Dormitory and sadly it’s right next door” Calum pointed out the window at the stone building. It was the only stone building he had seen so far because all the others had been brick. Michael was about to ask about the kids in the Blitz Dorm but he realized he should be more concerned about the kids in his in own dorm.
“But what’s odd about the ones here?” Calum took a seat on the other bed and took a deep breath.
“Well there’s the Frog Man. I swear I’m not making this up but he carries his pet frog around all day in his little fanny pack he has” Michael couldn’t help but laugh at that “So if you see a kid with a fanny pack well…that’s frog man. Then there’s Johnny. He is always in charge of the Saturday night poker games and he will take you for all you’ve got. He lives for poker and he always wins so don’t ever agree to play him unless you want to lose all your money” Michael was nodding even though he had no intention of playing poker.
He suddenly noticed that there was a guy leaning against the doorway smirking at Calum. Michael was a bit smitten if he was being honest. To say the least, the boy was gorgeous. He had sandy colored curly hair that stayed right above his ears and somehow his skin was still darkly tanned by the sun. Although his round glasses still gave him that preppy boy look
“Now luckily both of them are on the first floor but the one I’m about to tell you about is right across the hall” Michael focused back on Calum and had forgotten that he was even talking. Calum looked out the hallway and the door across from them was wide open.
“He’s in the kitchen” the boy at the doorway spoke and he was still smiling. He hadn’t stopped since he appeared and Michael guessed that he was just a smiley guy.
“Okay good. Anyways Lucian is the one you really have to watch out for” Michael already hated his name “because he’s a thief. I can’t even tell you how many things I’ve had stolen by that kid and I’ve talked to Monticello about getting locks on our doors but he’s against it so if you have anything valuable you have to hide it” Michael really didn’t have anything valuable but he still appreciated Calum telling him about this. The kid at the door shook his head a little then he was walking into the room picking random clothes off the floor.
“I’m Ashton by the way” he reached out a hand and Michael shook it.
“Michael” he managed to stutter out.
“Sorry it’s such a mess in here” Ashton giggled. He actually giggled and then it hit him that this was his new roommate. Ashton wasn’t how he pictured at all and felt like they would get along just fine.
“Don’t worry about it” Michael really didn’t think it was messy at all. It was nothing compared to his room back at home.
“Well I’ll get out of here” Calum said standing up and patting Ashton on the shoulder. Ashton gave him a nod then got on his bed and leaned against the headboard with a book on his lap. It seemed like he was going to say something to Michael but then a nervous looking kid appeared in the doorway.
“Hey um Ashton did you-“
“It’s on the desk” Ashton used a very unfriendly voice as he pointed at the desk and the kid walked over there with his head down. He grabbed a piece of paper that had typed words on it then he was taking a 20 out of back pocket.
“Where do you want-“ then Ashton was reaching his hand out and the kid put the money in his hand before Ashton stuffed it into his pocket and went back to reading his book and the kid rushed out of the room. Michael had no idea what had just happened but he didn’t want to ask either.
“So what’s your 2nd period?” thankfully his friendly voice was back and Michael shuffled on the bed.
“It’s History with…Mr. O’Riley” Ashton put the book under his arm before getting up and walking towards the door.
“I’ll walk you there but you better get dressed if we want to get there on time” he shot Michael a smile before getting a kids attention that was walking past him. Michael huffed and slipped out of his clothes before getting into his uniform then putting on the black shoes at the edge of the bed. He was glad that there wasn’t a mirror in his room because he didn’t dare want to see himself dressing like this. He made sure to grab his schedule and them met Ashton outside their door “Now you’re looking like a true Lancer” Ashton reached out to fix Michael’s collar a little then he was leading him down the hallway.
Every student that they passed would acknowledge Ashton in some way and the hallway was a lot more packed than it was before. They all carried a least 3 books each under their arms and Michael actually felt himself getting nervous once they stepped outside. He knew these teachers would automatically hate him like his old ones did and plus he knew the school work would absolutely kill him. He began to think that maybe if he flunked enough classes then he would be kicked out but then he remembered how serious the headmaster was when he was saying how hard it was to get expelled from this school.
Now the sidewalks going from one building to another were filled with passing students and Michael tried not to make too much eye contact with him. Instead he looked back to glance at the Blitz Dorm that Calum had mentioned earlier. There were three boys lounging back on the steps in front of it and they actually looked like the type of kids Michael would hang around with at his old school. They kept laughing with each other and one of them put the other in headlock. Even though Calum tried to tell him that he was lucky for not getting stuck in the Blitz Dorm Michael wished he would have been.
He noticed that Ashton had gone ahead of him quite a bit so Michael caught up with him and they walked back into the main building of the school “Here we are. Room 205” Ashton smiled as they stood just outside the nearly empty classroom. “Can I see your schedule real quick?” Michael nodded since Ashton only seemed to have good intentions and he handed it over. He watched Ashton look it over “Well all your classes are in this building and on this floor so you’re lucky there. Except for your last period which is gym. That’s in the natatorium and I actually have P.E that period too so I’ll see you then” That was a relief that Michael would at least have one class with Ashton but it also meant swimming and that wasn’t exactly his favorite thing to do. A few kids pushed past Michael and now the room was filling up more.
“Well I’ll see ya” Michael said quietly. He didn’t exactly want to go in but Ashton seemed distracted by something behind him.
“You’ll do fine” Ashton patted him on the shoulder before he was gone. He must have sensed that Michael was nervous and Michael took a deep breath before entering the classroom. There was an empty desk way at the back corner by the window and Michael hurried towards it. He felt a few kids giving him weird looks but he continued looking out the window. There was some laughing and quiet conversations going on but everything went dead silent as the teacher walked in. He was a short man, way shorter than Michael but this guy looked very intimidating. Michael had a feeling that all this teachers would be a little bit scary.
“Quiet down!” Michael jumped and furrowed his eyebrows since no one was even talking “Your assignment today will be a 5,000 word essay on a historic person that I assign to you. Handwritten” Michael already felt like he just wanted to jump out the window and the teacher began putting a slip of paper on everyone’s desk but paused and when he got to Michael and looked him up and down “And who might you be?” Michael felt like his dark eyes were burning a hole in his face.
“Michael Clifford” he quickly said and he looked around to see every single student’s eyes locked on him.
“Ah. The new student. Stop by my desk at the end of class for all the assignments you’ve missed” as soon as the teacher had his back turned Michael briefly let his head fall. This was going to be a long day.
*
As the day went by all his teachers seemed to get even more terrifying and more books appeared in his arms. He didn’t understand why they weren’t given either more time to go put their books in their rooms or lockers like every other school had. He also never understood why the teachers wouldn’t let them go to the bathroom during class. Michael actually thought that this rule bordered on child abuse as he crossed his legs in his chair desperately trying not to piss his pants. He ran out of the classroom faster than anyone and didn’t even care what people thought. Luckily there was a bathroom right across the hall and he had to remind himself to not drink so much water during the day.
During lunch he sat on bench away from everyone else that was facing the pond and he didn’t even care if he would be labeled the loner. He didn’t feel like he had any strength in him to try and make friends. Plus the way that Calum had everyone labeled he was afraid that he would choose the wrong crowd or become friends with one of the “Kurtwood Weirdo’s’ and that was the last thing he needed. He slowly ate his turkey sandwich and chugged down his milk but he had to remind himself not to drink too much.
There were a few kids tossing a football back and forth and they had thrown their dress coats to the ground. Michael shivered just thinking about having his off. Next to the main building there were students sitting against the wall and one was laying down looking like he was pointing up to the clouds. Calum and Ashton were nowhere in sight but Michael had no idea if this school had several different lunch periods. He began to actually look forward to gym class because at least he wouldn’t have to sit in a desk or stare at anymore books.
*
When his last period did come around he felt like he had searched all over campus before finding the pool in a high ceiling building next to the woods on the West side of the school grounds. It was away from everything else and for some reason gave off more of a laid back feel. The school flag, the American flag and just a plain white flag, that Michael was sure didn’t have meaning at all, was in front of the building and he knew he was already late so he ran into the doors. He stood in a small breezeway that had windows on all sides of it and opened another set of doors before seeing one of the biggest pools he’s ever seen.
There were four diving boards on the far side of it and half of it was divided by sections like he had only seen in the Olympics. The entire place was covered in ceiling to wall windows and there was a bench that stretched all the way around the wall. The smell of chlorine was actually comforting and he seen a couple boys with their legs in the pool while the others were sitting on the concrete bench and that was when he spotted Ashton. He did a sigh of relief then made his way towards him.
“Am I going to get in huge trouble for being late?” Micahel was slightly kidding but also genuinely worried that he would get detention or worse for not showing up on time. Ashton giggled and put one arm around him.
“Nah you’re golden. Chovenack isn’t even here yet” Michael quickly nodded and realized that everyone else was in their short swim shorts. He cringed picturing himself in them “Oh I left a pair of shorts for you in the locker room and your locker is number 45”
“Alright. Thanks” Michael nodded over his shoulder before seeing an archway next to where he came in and guessed it was the locker room. Luckily it was and he quickly undressed before looking himself in the big mirror and he felt freezing. He didn’t think that he had ever swam during this time of year. It seemed unnatural. He stuffed his other clothes in his locker and dreaded going back out here looking like this.
Ashton looked like some kind of god with his abs and tanned skin and all the others looked pretty much the same. Michael grabbed a towel, throwing it over his shoulder, then made his way back out to the pool area. Ashton was now standing with one other guy near the far wall and Michael felt like a lost puppy always being near him but he just didn’t know anyone else. Ashton greeted him with a smile and it made him feel better.
“You cold kid?” Ashton giggled out and Michael just nodded “Well don’t worry. The water is really warm and since we’re the last period Chovenack always lets us fool around a bit in the pool after class. This class will be a breeze compared to all your other ones”
“Thank god ” he breathed out and Ashton seemed to understand
“It’ll get better. The first day is always the worst”
“Alright. Attendance!” the booming voice echoed throughout the room and Michael turned around to see a bald man with shorts and a white t-shirt on. He looked like the typical gym teacher and that made Michael relax. He seemed to be more down to earth than his other teachers. He began saying off names and Michael sat back on the bench when he seen that Ashton had. “Michael Clifford?” he shouted but also made it more of a question than the others.
“Here!” Michael put his hand up and the teacher finally locked his eyes on him.
“Okay. The new transfer” he muttered then went on with the attendance. Michael was actually glad that he didn’t make some big scene out of it like the others had but kids were still glancing at him and wondering who he was. Michael noticed that the teacher was about to say another name but then he glanced around and looked upset before he said the next name “Irwin!”
“Yeah” Ashton said lazily as he leaned back with his head against the glass of the window. Chovenack didn’t even spare a glance at him and read off more names. When he seemed to be done he put his hands on his hips and took a few looks around at the kids.
“Alright. Where the hell is Hemmings?” Michael seen some students smile and shake their heads but Ashton and the kid next to him were rolling their eyes. Michael realized it was the first time he had heard anyone swear all day and the reason he had kept his mouth clear of curse words was because he thought it wasn’t allowed. It probably wasn’t. The teacher still stood there tapping his foot and looking around “Has anyone seen Hemmings?” everyone was shaking their heads.
“Who cares” Ashton muttered next to him and Michael could see that he really didn’t like this Hemmings guy.
“I hope you guys haven’t started this shindig without me” everyone turned their heads to the voice and in came a tall blonde boy with sunglasses on even though Michael was sure that the sun hadn’t been out all day. Not only was his dress shirt untucked from his pants but it was also entirely unbuttoned so that his pale torso was showing and his coat was thrown over his shoulder. This look would have looked absolutely ridiculous on anyone else but this kid was somehow pulling it off without looking like a douche. His blonde hair was styled perfectly into a slightly erect position and he was still chewing on something in his mouth that was clearly not gum.
“This is the 3rd time this week Hemmings” Chovenack groaned as he watched Luke stroll over to the locker room. The blond turned around and took another bite out of the hotdog in his hand.
“You know three times really isn’t that bad” Michael widened his eyes and couldn’t believe he was sassing the teacher like this “Three is actually a very good number. If I remember right Martin Luther King-“
“It’s only Wednesday” the teacher seemed to be completely unaffected by the boy and he used the same dry tone that he had been using the second this kid walked in.
“You’re right. My tardiness is uncalled for and I should be punished” most of the other kids had stopped looking at him and carried on with their own conversations, which must have meant that this was a regular thing, but Michael still couldn’t tear his eyes away from him.
“Well you know the drill: Report to detention tomorrow at lunch. Now go get dressed” All he did was nod before opening the locker room door “And don’t piss around in there Hemmings!” the blond saluted him before disappearing and a few laughs echoed in the room.
“What a waste of space” Ashton said in an angry tone under his breath again then he was talking to the boy in glasses on the other side of him. Michael still felt himself staring at the locker room door and also wondered why Ashton had such a problem with this Hemmings guy. Sure he seemed to have an ego but Ashton didn’t seem like the type of person to hate people. Yet again, Michael had only known him for a couple of hours. The teacher still stood there looking down at his clipboard and Michael relaxed against the window guessing that they were waiting for Hemmings. There were only 10 kids here all together so it was a rather small class compared to his others who had 30 or more students. The teacher seemed to be getting impatient and he looked up finally.
“Alright! Everyone in the pool. Let’s do some laps” Michael groaned at the word “laps” because it meant exerting energy and also swimming wasn’t exactly his forte. He let a lot of the other kids walk in front of him and get into their own individual section of the pool then Michael took the one of the far end. He knew he would be the slowest of the group so the less people that seen him, the better.
Ashton was right: the water was extremely warm and Michael felt himself relaxing in it and resting his shoulders against the pool wall. Suddenly the whistle was being blown and all the others dived forward and began swimming so Michael did too. After one lap he could feel his arms burning but all the other kids seemed to be in great shape and they swam with absolute ease. Ashton especially looked like he had done a lot of swimming with his expert like form and the way he was ahead of everyone else. Michael had to remind himself that this was a lot better than sitting in a depressing classroom listening to a lecture and his eyes caught something on the right side of him. Hemmings was jumping into the water a few sections down from him but he had no time to actually see what he looked like in his shorts but Michael was sure he looked better in them than he did. Michael’s were a bit lose on him and fit him quite awkwardly.
He tried to swim at a steady pace while also keeping his eyes on the blond boy who was actually going a lot faster than Ashton. He watched him go under water then come up and splash the kid on the left of him and the kid laughed before diving under the rope dividing his and Hemmings sections and bringing the blond underwater. They had some kind of splash fight and then the teacher was blowing his whistle
“Hemmings! Porter! I shouldn’t constantly have to tell you two to stay in your lanes” The blond gave the other one more splash then the other returned to his lane “Alright, take a breather” Michael stopped in the middle of the pool to try and catch his breath and then he slowly swam to the wall to rest against it. Other kids began to get out and sit on the edge so he did too. The air was cold on him but it felt good since he had gotten so overheated. His body just couldn’t settle on a temperature because soon he was shivering and getting back in the water.
He leaned his head back and turned to see the blond and the other boy he was splashing sitting side by side. Michael felt like a little bit of creep but he found himself looking the boys torso up and down as it glowed under the lights as little droplets of water dripped down him. His once before perfect hair was now messy and a thick strand was hanging against his forehead. He must have felt it because he ran his hand through his hair and continued to look out the window in front of them
“How’d you do?” Michael snapped out of it to see Ashton standing above him
“Terrible. I feel like I’m dying” Michael really did feel exhausted but Ashton let out a laugh and sat on the edge so Michael got out once against to join him.
“Swimming not your thing?”
“Not at all. Is it yours?” Michael could already tell that it was but he didn’t want Ashton to know that he had watched him swim for a little while but to be honest he was mostly keeping his eyes on the blond boy.
“Yeah” Ashton rubbed his face “I’m actually on the swim team” that made sense and Michael just nodded before returning his eyes to the blonde merely because he didn’t know where else to look and somehow his eyes kept falling on him. He was now standing up with his arms crossed on his chest as he seemed to be explaining something. “And this class actually ends sooner than the other ones so were about done here”
“Like how soon?” Michael said probably too fast.
“Well the class is only 40 minutes so another 10 minutes or so” Michael was about to say how much he actually loved this class but then the whistle was being blown again.
“Back in the pool” Michael and Ashton jumped in at the same time and waited for further instructions. They really only ended up goofing off for the remainder of the class and Michael was really happy about it. He knew this class would kind of be his safe haven where he could relax and not have to worry about more essays and lengthy lectures and it helped that Ashton was in the class also.
Most of the boys had started changing when Michael got to the locker room and he couldn’t help but feel a little shy about changing in front of these people that he didn’t even know. He slowly took his clothes out of his locker and thought that if he moved slow enough people would start to be done and start leaving the locker room. He heard a few showers going and thought about just taking a shower and then changing behind the curtain. That seemed like a solid idea so Michael made his way towards the shower and quickly rinsed off without even taking his swimming trunks off. He had his other clothes sitting on the dry bench in the shower and dried off with his towel before he slipped his other clothes on.
When he was back in the open area there were only 4 other guys and one of them was the kid that was goofing off with Hemmings earlier. Michael seen that Ashton had already left so he made his way over to the basket to throw his towel and swim trunks in there when he heard a whistle. It was the kind of whistle he would hear guys doing to girls on the street and he turned around to see the blond boy walking out of the shower area completely naked. Michael’s widened eyes looked up and down his body and he knew he was being a creep but it was like he physically couldn’t look away. Now the blonde was confidently walking over to the mirror and Michael let his eyes wonder down to his ass and he felt like the temperature in the room had gone up significantly. The boy started to fix his Hair and stand there casually like he wasn’t even naked in front of 5 other guys. His back muscles were so intoxicating and Michael just wanted to run his hands all over him. He didn’t know why he was having these feelings about a kid he barely even knew, hell he didn’t even know his first name but he was beautiful. That was one thing Michael was sure of.
Michael was letting his eyes drift back up the boy’s body and then it felt like his heart had just jumped up into this throat. He knew his face was beat red as the blond was now looking straight at him in the mirror and his lips moved up slightly like there was a smile not too far behind but then his face went still and he was going back to putting his fingers in his hair and focusing on himself. Michael finally looked away even though he really didn’t want to and shut his locker before exiting the room.