Davide was irrevocably different from anyone David had ever known. From the first time he saw him to the last, he commanded David’s attention without even trying. Perhaps predictably, the first time they met was the first day of junior year. David was walking down the hall to the usual spot he and his friends hung out at before the first bell when he saw this stranger leaning on a locker. He had messy black hair hanging in his face, he had that one emo style that covered one of his eyes completely. He had some edgy band t-shirt on, the logo was a bit faded and David was pretty sure he wouldn’t have recognized the album cover anyway. He was wearing black skinny jeans, had a wallet chain hanging from his hip, and seemed distracted listening to his iPod. He had a pretty prominent adam’s apple that bobbed as he swallowed nothing, he licked his lips absently. He looked kinda gay if David was being completely honest, but that was okay, didn’t necessarily make him a bad person. David didn’t recognize the boy. He also knew teachers loved giving pink slips if they even thought you had an electronic on you. David tapped the boy on the shoulder, he figured it was only polite to give the guy a heads-up,
“Hey,”
The boy turned to look at him. He had some light eyeliner on it really highlighted his green eyes- wait no. The left one was a golden hazel, the right a bright lime. Damn, that wasn’t something David saw every day. It was pretty cool actually.
“Hmm?” He pulled the earbuds out of his ears. He had at least six ear piercings from what David could see.
“I haven’t seen you around before,” David said, as he realized he hadn’t actually elaborated on why he had approached this random guy.
“I’m a new student. My name is Davide,” Well, that explained a lot.
“No shit? My name is David, nice to meet you,” David laughed.
Davide held out a hand to him, “Nice to meet you too, almost name twin.”
David shook it, oh huh, Davide had black nail polish on too, damn this guy committed to his looks didn’t he? His hands were delicate, with a few light scars on them. Maybe he had a cat or something.
“I’m going, to be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing here,” Davide said.
“Oh it’s not that bad, new school but the routine is still similar enough I bet, right?”
Davide tucked his bangs behind his ear and looked at the floor shyly, “I uh, I’ve never gone to public school before.”
“Oh shit, you a private school kid?” That would explain why he went so hard with his style if he’d been forced to wear a uniform before.
Davide looked up again and shook his head, “Oh no, I did a combination of online school and my mom tutoring me. We moved around a lot since my dad was in the military so it just felt easier than uh, changing schools all the time,” Davide explained.
David nodded, “Yeah that makes sense. I was heading over to meet up with some of my friends, why don’t you come with me? Maybe we’ll get lucky and you’ll have a class or two with one of us.”
Davide nodded, “Yeah that, that would be nice. Uh, what year are you?”
“I’m a junior.”
Davide sighed in relief, “Oh good, me too.”
“You have your schedule on you?”
Davide pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of his pocket and offered it to David as they walked down the hallway, he skimmed it, damn. It looked like he didn’t have any classes with Davide,
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“Shit, we don’t have anything together, that blows. But hey! You have lunch the same period as Shirley and Marcus, they’re the ones we’re going to meet up with. I’ve known them forever.” He leaned over to Davide to conspiratorially whisper in his ear, “I’m planning on skipping class to crash that sometimes. I’m sure you’ll be fast friends.”
“Thanks, David this is, you’re being really nice to me,” Davide said with a small smile as he took his schedule back.
“Well, why not? You seem like a cool guy seems only natural I’d want to help you get your bearings and all.”
Marcus waved at him from the end of the hallway. David was a bit impressed he was even able to see the other guy. Marcus Winter was a bit on the shorter side, not really someone looked at for very long. He had messy black hair in a bob, was it still a bob if it was on a guy? David didn’t know much about hair. He had dark brown eyes obscured by glasses and espresso-colored freckles littered his pale skin. He was dressed in unassuming clothes, black jeans, and a red t-shirt. Not skinny jeans like Davide though. Next to him was Shirley Davis. Shirley and Marcus had been friends longer than David had known either of them, inseparable since elementary school. David could admit he was a little jealous, even if Shirley super friend-zoned him back in middle school. She was in her usual athletic gear. She was a good five inches taller than Marcus. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. Dark green eyes contrast her medium brown skin she had bags under her eyes but it didn’t detract from her appearance. She was to put it bluntly, a fucking babe.
“There they are,” David said to Davide.
Davide looked a bit nervous. David patted him on the back,
“Hey dude, don’t worry. They’re gonna love ya.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah man, I’m sure.” He squeezed Davi’s lower back and guided the two of them over.
“Shirley, Marcus! This is Davide, he’s new, figured he can hang with us.”
“Davide? That’s gonna get confusing quick,” Shirley said with a chuckle, “I’m Shirley, nice to meet you.”
“And I’m Marcus.” He held out his hand for Davide to shake.
Davide shook his hand, “Hey, nice to meet you two too. Guess me or David is going to have to get a nickname though if we’re in the same spot.”
“We could call you Davi? Since your name is pronounced a bit closer to that than mine is.”
“I was gonna suggest we call you Davey,” Shirley said.
“Why not both? Davi and Davey,” Marcus suggested.
“Sounds like a comedy duo,” Davey snorted.
“Who says we won’t be?” Davi chuckled.
“Fair enough man.” Davey shrugged.
“So Davi, what classes are you in?” Marcus asked as he cleaned his glasses on his shirt.
Davi handed Marcus his schedule,
“Oh, you and I have math together!”
Shirley peeked over Marcus’s shoulder, “Oo we have photography together, last period.”
“Davey said I have lunch with you guys too, is it alright if I sit with you?” Davi asked.
Marcus handed him back his schedule, “Of course, you can man. Let’s just hope we can get a decent spot.”
David and the rest of the group scattered as the warning bell rang,
“Meet me in the parking lot after school okay? You too Davi!” He said to the group.
Marcus gave him a thumbs up, Shirley an overdramatic salute, and Davi blinked in surprise and nodded a bit. David counted that as a win and headed off to class. It was the first day so most of it was just boring “this is the syllabus and class rules please don’t do anything dumb” sort of bullshit. The only class David even said more than his name and two fun facts about his summer in was the advanced computer science course. He hadn’t even wanted to take it but his father insisted, said it would be good for his future and shit. The teacher, Mr. Dunlop, asked the class if anyone had any experience or connection with the tech industry and one of his classmates looked directly at him. David sighed and raised his hand,
“Yes, David?”
“Well I mean, my dad is the CEO of VitaTech,” He shrugged. Sure his dad’s job was cool and all but it didn’t mean he liked talking about it. People always gave him a certain look,
“The security company? Well, that’s certainly something.” Dunlop said, clearly impressed. Yep, that was the look.
“I mean, it’s not just security. They do a lot of other stuff too. They’re doing like, AI shi- stuff and like. Dad said something about some health initiative? Not gonna lie I don’t always uh, pay attention to the stuff he talks about.”
“Well, I hope you are all aware that we will not be doing anything even close to machine learning this year. Maybe by the time you get to college, you could do things like that. But that all sounds very interesting Mr. Caputo.”
Oh god no that’s what shareholders and other suits call his dad, that was not him, “Just uh, David please.”