Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

In no way did his first day of school spark the least bit of excitement in Alex. He spent the entire night before pacing around his now completed room, worrying about what he would wear, who he would meet, if he would know where to go, if his classes would be too hard, and generally anything else that popped into his head. If anything, he almost regretted letting his parents convince him into moving so easily. Alex already felt like an outsider, and he had not even entered his new school yet. Everything had been so easy before, and he let it all go. Now, he was forced to deal with what entering school as a young boy felt like all over again, in an even stranger environment.

When Alex did step into the building of his new high school for the first time, it was with bleary eyes and squeaky feet. He had not slept much, and then he had gotten up quite early to get ready. His outfit did not take long to put together, just his usual jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie, but it took him a while to put it all on, considering how distracted he was by trying to will away the inevitable. His sneakers were the source of the squeaking as he loomed through the halls, since it had been raining the night before. He had walked through the field he had discovered several days before, resulting in an annoying damp feeling in his shoes. Alex had made sure that he had his schedule and a map of the school before the first day, so he could avoid the whole new-kid-at-the-front-office situation.

Reaching his destination at a respectable time, Alex lowered his hood as he entered his first class. The blond strands atop his head struggled to put themselves back in order as he ran a hand through them, opting for a seat in the back.

His first class was history, which went over pretty well. Alex had no problem with the subject, and enjoyed how the first day was all about getting to know one another. Most kids got tired of it, but Alex was just glad to not be doing any work. At one point during the lesson, every other student had to turn around to the person behind them to complete an activity. Since Alex was seated in the last row, the girl in front of him was his designated partner. She and Alex finished the assignment quite quickly, with time left over to chat.

"So," the girl, Marissa, asked, "You're new, right?" She was a curly haired brunette, built a bit bigger than other girls, although she would be just as pretty either way.

"Yeah," Alex responded, "I am." He quite liked Marissa. He thought it was interesting how she was so eager to get to know him right away, but not in a rude, nosey kind of way. She was polite, and gave off an overall welcoming vibe.

"I thought so. The untouched accent gave it away, but you can never be too sure, right?" Marissa laughed, giving Alex a small wave as their teacher directed them to face the front of the room once more. After class, Marissa had invited Alex to sit with her at lunch, after the next period. She had told him where to meet her, and although the thought of the situation gave Alex more nerves than he already had, he agreed. Marissa's big, toothy smile made it hard to say no to her.

Alex ignored his way through math class rather swiftly, and lunch was soon upon him. He shuffled through the hallways and into the cafeteria where Marissa had told him to meet her, his food from home at the bottom of the bag on his back. Since Alex carried his backpack around all day anyway, he decided he would just carry his food around with him. He would see what everyone else did, eat at lunch if he wanted to, and if not, eat at breaks. He was always ready to deal with inconveniences, so although it seemed quite complicated and unnecessary, it was his usual operation.

"Alex!" Marissa called from across the room when she spotted the blond boy, waving her hand at him. Alex made his way over to the table she was seated at, noticing the girl was not alone. To the left side of the table, sat a tall, Middle Eastern-looking girl with sleek black hair, and to the other side, sat a leaner looking blonde with her hair up in a pony tail. When Alex was close enough to their table, Marissa motioned him to sit down.

"Guys, this is Alex... Uh," Marissa started, looking at Alex for help.

"Gaskarth," Alex filled in, offering a small smile to the two new strangers.

"Right," Marissa continued, "And this is Natasha Haddad," She said, motioning to the girl on Alex's left, "And Sam Joe," motioning to the other."

"It's nice to meet you," Natasha greeted Alex, and he was surprised when she offered him a hand to shake.

"Yeah, it's great," Sam interjected, "Are you from England?"

Alex nodded his head with a grin, glad that Marissa's friends seemed kind enough. Natasha seemed the most reserved of the three, while Sam was definitely quite out there.

"Sam, don't make him say words. Please," Marissa begged, catching Alex's eyes and giving him an apologetic look. He simply shrugged his shoulders in reply, chuckling along with the rest of the group.

"Aren't you hungry?" Natasha asked, and Alex looked around to notice that all three of the girls had trays from the cafeteria.

"Um, not really." Alex responded, shrugging his shoulders for the dozenth time.

"You sure?" Sam asked, motioning to her fries.

Alex shook his head yes, saying, "Yeah, I'm just not feeling it right now. Don't worry about me."

Their conversation soon moved to Marissa, Natasha, and Sam giving Alex all of the info he needed to know on the majority of their other classmates. They scanned the cafeteria together, each girl pointing out specific groups of people.

"It would take us years to actually describe every single person in this room," Marissa explained, "But for the sake of time, let's generalize the hell out of this school."

"Over there are where all the people no one cares about sit," Sam said without a problem, only whispering an apology when Natasha threw a fry at her from across the table, claiming that she knew some of those people.

"And over there are all of the girls that you don't want to get involved with," Marissa added.

"Not because of anything stupid and sexist," Natasha clarified, "They're just mean. The male equivalents are over there," Alex peered at the other table, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Both groups of people seemed normal enough, but Alex was just glad he found the right set from the start.

"Moving on, there are all of the sports teams. Football, basketball, and soccer." Sam motioned to the tables behind her, where Alex could see tons of athletic looking guys and girls laughing and chatting away as their small group looked on.

"And that's basically it," Marissa concluded, "In between, you got all of us normal kids. No one cares, but no one doesn't care."

Alex nodded with understanding, but upon scanning the room once again, he noticed one table that did not fit into the mix. There were only three boys seated, but people came and went from their table, talking to the trio and creating a genera buzz in the area.

"Who are they?" Alex asked, nodding to the three guys. A couple of them looked familiar, and Alex could not help but to wonder who they were.

"Oh," Sam responded, "Those are the captains of the three teams. They've been best friends since they were little. They never sit with their teams, but it doesn't really matter, since everyone comes up to them, anyway."

"The muscled, light haired one is Zack, and he's captain of the football team," Marissa helped, "The slightly less muscley one with the buzz cut is Rian, the caption of the basketball team, and the lanky one with the black hair is Jack, soccer."

Alex nodded along as his new friends explained everything to him, soon moving on to different tables, and eventually, different subjects. Eventually, lunch was over, and it was time for him to go to English. Sam was in his English class, and they sat together, so it was more than bearable. Alex has PE for last period, and both Natasha and Marissa were in his class, which was even more relieving for Alex. If only he had a friend in his math class.

Arriving home that afternoon to an empty house, Alex sighed gratefully as he finally pulled out the lunch that he had never gotten a chance to eat. His day had turned out better than expected, and he was all for hoping that it only got better from here on.

Notes

yooooo look at me actually keeping to a weekly schedule

i just wanted to say for anyone that read the first chapter before i updated the author's note, the NC-17 rating on this story is only for possible smut in the future. nothing triggering will appear, and anything that seems like it will eventually be explained :^)

maybe i'll make the chapter titles less boring one day also, who knows

that's all i have to say, but if you guys could please please please leave a comment letting me know what you thought, it would so wonderful! thanks for reading, and check out my other fics if you get a chance