This Love is Dangerous

I woke up that morning with Mom gently knocking on my door. I quickly arose from my warm blanket and knocked back letting her know I was up. I walked over to the window and pulled the blinds. It was still dark and looked chilly. The trees were blowing back and forth, making even more leaves fall off.

I grabbed my clothes for the day and got dressed. Today's outfit consisted: plain blue jeans, Mom did not approve of jeans with holes, a white v-neck, a tan cardigan, and boat shoes. I did not want to stand out.

Downstairs, David and Mom were at the table eating breakfast. I joined them and we made small talk over today. It was Mom's first day at work, morning service. David's first day at an American middle school and my first day of junior year in America. I was terrified. I was trying to stay calm but I've seen mean girls. Is that really how it is? Everyone having cliques and bullying other groups? I really hope it's not like that, if it is I'm screwed.

Before I knew it, Mom took pictures of David and I. Even though I could drive, Mom wanted to drive the first day. She wanted to make sure she knew where everything was. We pulled up to David's school first. It was connected to the school I was going to but they had two separate entrances.

Mom got out of the car and hugged him before he pushed her off mumbling how she was embarrassing. I just laughed and gave him a fist bump telling him to text me if he needs anything. Mom then drove to the high school entrance even though I could walk there. She was about to get out of the car to say goodbye to me but I stopped her.

"You don't want to be late, it's already eight!" I said pointing to the time on the car dash.
"Oh my Heavens! You're right, I must get going. Have a great day sweet heart! I'll be here at three."

She kissed my cheek but then drove off. I let out a shaky breath and realized I had no clue where I was going. I clutched my backpack strap and slowly approached the doors. There were tons of kids going in and out of the school. A couple were smoking on the sidewalk, others were chatting with friends by their cars.

I went inside and turned to the right. I saw a door that said office and opened it. There were a few other kids in there and they all looked at me like I had three heads. I walked up to the secretary and waited to be noticed.

"Good morning, what can I do for you?" She smiled with an overly cheery voice.
"Um, I'm new," I choked out.
"Oh, what is your name?" She asked and started clicking around on the computer.
"Alex Gaskarth," I mumbled.
"The new British student?" I fought the urge to roll my eyes but smiled instead and nodded.
"Lovely," she smiled handing me my courses and a map. "These are your courses and this is a map of the school."

I looked down at the map and then at my courses. I thanked the lady and went back out into the hallway. I probably looked like an idiot but I had no idea where I was going. My first period was English, room F204. Where was that?

I looked around hoping to see someone who wanted to help the new guy. There was no one. I looked back down at the map and back up at the hall. I guess I would just walk until I found it.

It took me another ten minutes to find the room. I was already five minutes late to first period. I knocked on the English door and a man that looked to be about 40 opened the door.

"May I help you?" He asked. He looked a little annoyed but he seemed nice.
"I-I-I'm new. I couldn't find the class right away. I'm sorry for interrupting," I said. A cheery smile spread across his face and he straightened his tie. "Not a problem! You must be Alexander?" I nodded, correcting him that my name was just Alex. He brought me into the classroom and everyone was staring, absolutely everyone.

"Alex, I'm Mr. Barakat. You can go sit down in that empty seat over there," He said. I nodded again and walked to the seat. It was a seat at the end of the row next to a guy who was very muscular.

Mr. Barakat was handing out some papers so people decided to start talking to their neighbor. I sat there awkwardly until the buff guy turned to me.

"Hard, isn't it?" He said.
"What?" I questioned.
"Being the new kid," He finished.
"Oh," I laughed. "Yeah, it's definitely weird."
"I was the new kid last year," He laughed, reminiscing. "It sucked, I didn't have any friends or any place to sit at lunch. So, I'm offering you to come sit with my friends and I."

My eyes widened a bit. Why was he being so nice to me? "Are you sure? You don't even know me."

"I know but I can get to know you. My name is Zack," He said, offering his hand. I shook it and said, "My name's Alex."

"I like your accent," He smiled.
"Thanks man, just don't make me say a bunch of different words." I laughed.
"Don't worry, I won't."

Zack and I talked all period. I got to learn some things about him. He went to a different school his freshman year, he played bass and his best friend was a girl named Hayley. He told me about the girl. Apparently, she was really tiny and cute. He said I would meet her at lunch. I was surprised of how nice he was.

Nothing too interesting happened after that. After English, I had French and then I had lunch. No one tired talking to me in French but it wasn't a big deal. I didn't really understand anything they were saying anyways. I was now walking to the cafeteria. A bunch of kids were running to get seat but I knew Zack saved a seat for me.

When I entered the room, I was met with the smell of chicken and greasy fries. I saw Zack waving over to me, I waved back and saw a small girl with pink and orange hair next to him. There were also two other people.

I slowly approached and sat down next to Zack. There was a guy next to me that I didn't know, he had a buzz cut and a bright smile. There also was guy with black and blonde hair across from me who gave me tiny smile. He wasn't that bad looking. Alex, stop!

"Alex," Zack began. "These are my friends Hayley, Rian, and Jack." I smiled at them all and awkwardly looked around.
"So you're new?" Hayley chirped, I knew she was just trying to make conversation.
"Yeah, I am," I said. "I just moved here from England."
"Oh my God!" The kid with black and blonde hair screamed. I jumped and looked at him with a look of fright.
"Jack, you scared the kid! Clam the fuck down!" Rian yelled across the table. I gulped, maybe I shouldn't be hanging out with these kids...

"You're British!" That Jack kid yelled. I awkwardly nodded and said, "Yeah, just don't make a big deal about it, okay mate?"
"You just said mate!" Jack gushed. "That's such a British term. Like here in America, mate means your lover, fuck buddy, romantic partner but in England that means friend. Am I right?"

I blushed a little bit when he said what 'mate' meant in American slang. If Mom heard that I would be dead.

"I did not mean it like t-that! I'm not like that!" I quickly defended. The whole table started laughing. "Wh-why are you g-guys laughing?"
"Because man," Rian sighed. "Jack was just joking, that's just how he is. Jack's a raging homo anyways so it isn't a big deal."

I froze, he's a homosexual?

"Alex?" I blinked my eyes and saw Zack waving his hand in front of me. I looked around and saw everyone at the table staring at me.
"What, sorry?" I apologized, rubbing my eyes.
"You blanked out, we were talking to you," Zack said. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah, um," I mumbled and stood up. "Thank you for letting me sit with you guys but I'm going to find my other classes so I'm not late. It was nice meeting you all. See you tomorrow."

I quickly walked out of the lunch room and into the halls to find my classes. I can't be having thoughts about that kind of stuff again and being around someone who is gay is not going to help that. No matter how pretty he was.

Third period went by rather slowly. I hated math, always have and always will. I strolled on to my next and final class which was music. I was excited about that. I had a little trouble finding the room but I managed to show up on time. There were chairs littered around the room with music stands and instruments in the corners. I sat in a chair that was closer to the back and waited for class to start.

"Well, well," I heard someone say. I jumped slightly and looked behind me. It was the kid from lunch, Jack. He sat down next to me and smiled. "I never had a chance to properly introduce myself to the dashing Brit."
"I'm sorry I ran out of lunch like that. I'm Alex," I said and shook his hand.
"I'm Jack Barakat." He smiled.
"Wait, Barakat?" He nodded. "My English teacher is Mr. Barakat."

Jack laughed and said, "That's my dad! He's pretty chill."
"Oh, cool."

After that, our conversation died. The teacher was instructing the entire time, saying his exceptions for the semester. I was trying to pay attention and take notes of his rules but it was hard when the boy next to me kept staring. When I would catch him looking, he wouldn't even care that he got caught. He would smile and occasionally wink at me which made me look away instantly.

I can't do this again.

When the final bell rang, I grabbed my bag and ran out the door. I ran out of the school and stood outside waiting for Mom's car. Within two minutes, she pulled up with David. I hopped in the car and right as I sat down she pestered us with questions about our day. David went into detail about his day while I just answered with simple yes, no, or good.

When we got home, I ran up to my room and laid down on my bed. I was going to do my homework to get those thoughts out of my head but instead I took a nap. Naps are great for the soul.

An hour later, Ruth woke me up saying it was time for dinner. All us kids went down stairs and sat at the table. We were about to say grace when someone knocked on the door.

"Are you expecting anyone? Dad asked Mom. She shook her head with confusion. They both got up and walked to the door. Us kids just stayed at the table but watched them going into the family room.

Dad opened the door and smiled. "Yes?"
"Hi!" A man said. "Sorry we didn't stop sooner but we wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. We're your neighbors from across the street."
"Oh, well it's nice to meet you!" Dad smiled shaking the man's hand. "Kids!"

We all walked to the door and saw a bunch of people. There were two grown men and five kids including Jack Barakat and my teacher. Jack noticed me right away and his depressing position straightened right up. Why did he do that?

"Alex, Ruth, David," Dad said. "These are our new neighbors."
"Hi, everyone! My name is Robert Barakat and that is Eli Barakat." The man said pointing to my teacher. My teacher's name must be Eli, this is all too weird. "And these are our lovely children."

"It's very nice to meet you all!" Dad cheered, he has always been so nice to everyone. "This is my wife Stacy."
"Wait," Mom interrupted. "Are you two brothers?

Mr. Barakat and Robert looked at each other and then back at Mom who looked like she was about to faint. "Um, no, we're married. These are our children."
"Oh, God." She cried. "I'm sorry but I must leave."

"Mom?" I called out once she started running upstairs.
"Just leave her," Dad said rolling his eyes. "I'm so sorry about her. She isn't very open minded."
"It's okay, we understand." Mr. Barakat said.

All of their kids were standing there bored out of their minds but Jack was staring at me. I started to turn red a little. He made me nervous.

"I actually have Alex in my English class!" Eli said to Dad.
"Oh, really? I hope he is well behaved!"

The men continued to make small talk as their kids walked back over to their house. Everyone except for Jack.

Notes

Here is chapter 1! I hope everyone enjoys it :)

Please comment, rate, and subscribe!

*I know everyone who is catholic does not feel that way about gay people but in my story Alex's mom is very judgmental.*