The days after the full moon had been rough. Mr Winters had been found by a young boy who had been out for a walk with his family. The newspapers had been running amok ever since. ‘Corpse found by young boy’, ‘dismembered body found by child’, ‘slasher kills man (almost unrecognisable)’ were all headlines of the next day's paper. Finn was in the shop and couldn’t help but read them as he passed.

“Horrible, isn’t it?” His mum asked when she caught up to him again, shopping basket in hand.

Finn was startled by the sudden noise and jumped. “Oh. Uh, yeah it’s terrible. Poor guy.”

Mr Lowry shook his head. “Awful. And after the sheep have been dying as well. Wonder if the murderer was practising on the sheep.”

“Michael!” Mrs Lowry scolded. “Not here!” What she really meant was ‘not in front of Finn’ but neither of them said it.

“It’s fine.” He addressed his mum. “Maybe.” Finn nodded to his dad. “That would make some sense I guess.”

It had been a few days since then and now Finn was back in school. He also had an idea. He was going to ask Donna on a date. He was nervous but was very convinced that she liked him back.

“Morning.” He greeted Matthew.

“Morning.” Matthew said back. “How’s it going?”

“Good.” He then leaned in closer to whisper. “I’m going to ask Donna on a date.”

Matthew pulled away and grinned. “Sweet! Good luck man!”

“Thanks!” Finn grinned back.

The school day trudged by not dissimilarly to the pace of a snail or a slug. Finn found himself eagerly waiting for the end of the day so that he could talk to Donna.

They were walking to their last class of the day, Math, when Finn approached her.

“Hey Donna.” He said to get her attention.

“Yeah?” She asked as she turned to look at him.

“Can you wait for me before you go home? I wanna talk about something.” He was nervously fiddling with his hands.

She smiled. “Yeah, of course.”

“Yeah. Alright. Talk then. Bye.” Finn awkwardly rambled as he backed off back to Matthew.

“So?” Matthew asked.

“She said she’d talk.” Finn smiled.

“That’s a good sign.” Matthew nodded knowingly.

“I really hope so.” Finn was shaking with nerves as he watched Donna tell her friends something and them all smiling and talking excitedly.

The class was long and painful. The teacher droned on about something that Finn didn’t know, or care, about. Some algebra thing. Matthew promised to share his notes with Finn later, since Finn was so distracted.

“Hey Finn.” Donna said as she stood by his desk as he finished packing up his bag.

“Hey!” He smiled. “Thanks for waiting.”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” She said flirtatiously.

“I suppose so.” He spoke as normal, trying to disguise his nerves.

“Where did you wanna talk?” She asked.

“Somewhere private.” He answered. He did know that much, he just didn’t know where it would be private enough. “Do you know somewhere?”

“I know just the place.” Donna grinned.

They were both so involved in their own business that neither noticed the way Daniel looked at them talking together. He stood only a few desks away, waiting for the home bell to ring like everyone else.

“Dan?” James noticed how Daniel was picking at the skin around his nails and was staring at something behind him.

“Huh?” He didn’t look away.

“Daniel, you alright?” He reached out his hand to give a gentle shove.

“Hey!” Daniel exclaimed and finally looked to his friend. “What was that for?”

“You were zoning out.” James shrugged. “I wanted to know what you were thinking about.”

“Look over there.” He said simply.

James did as he was told and looked to where Daniel had been staring. He saw Finn talking with Donna. The two seemed happy together, so focused on each other that they didn’t notice him looking at them. And the way Donna looked at Finn was surprising as well, she looked at him as if he was the only boy in the world.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Daniel replied.

“You okay?” James turned back around.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. James could tell by his dejected appearance that he wasn’t.

“How about this, we’ll go out somewhere this weekend, just you and me. We’ll go wherever you want to take your mind off it.” James suggested. He could already predict where Daniel would want to go, the beach. It was November and freezing cold, but Daniel adored the sandy shores and nothing could put him off it.

“Can we go to the beach?” He asked, eyes and face hopeful.

“I knew you’d pick it.” James laughed.

“Glad to be predictable.” Daniel laughed as well, forgetting momentarily what was going on with his ex-girlfriend a few desks away.

When the bell rang, everyone ran out of the doors. Donna led the way to the most private place she knew, the secret bench at the park. Despite being a bench that everyone knew about, no one ever went to it. No one but Donna and Daniel, when they had been dating. Ever since then Donna had claimed it as her own.

“Is this good?” She asked as her eyes twinkled. She could guess what was coming and couldn't wait. It had been a ‘love at first sight’ moment when she first saw Finn. Ever since then she had been eagerly awaiting this moment.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yeah. Um.” He stuttered. “I wanted to ask you something. I, Um.” This was incredibly embarrassing. Donna looked at him, eyes egging him on, but that just made it worse.

“Can I ask something first?” After two minutes of this, Donna decided to put him out of his misery.

“Yeah sure!” He agreed shakily, eager for the extra time.

“Okay.” Donna smiled and took hold of one of Finn’s hands. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

Finn froze. Donna smiled. Finn’s nervousness was adorable to her. He was, in some ways, like a puppy.

“Uh. Yeah! Yeah, of course!” He exclaimed. “That’s what I wanted to ask you!”

“I guessed.” Donna laughed kindly.

“You did?” Finn was surprised. “I thought I was good at keeping secrets.”

“Guess not.” Donna smirked.

“No. Maybe not.” Finn smiled back.

Before either knew it, they were in an embrace.

“So? How’d it go?” Matthew asked as soon as Finn sat down the next day. He looked at his friend's face, the grin, the bright eyes, the blush. He knew the answer but knew that Finn would want to talk. Matthew didn’t really want to talk, preferring silence, but he was a believer that you sometimes do things you don’t want to do for people you care about.

“It went great!” Finn swooned. “Well, not at first.”

“No?”

“Yeah. I got nervous and was gonna chicken out.” Finn admitted.

“Oh no! So then what happened?”

“She asked me to be her boyfriend!” Finn grinned.

“Really?” Matthew asked, feigning surprise.

“Yeah! And then we kissed!” He was incredibly happy.

“That’s incredible man! Congrats!” Matthew clapped a hand on Finn’s back with a smile.

“I know right!” Finn smiled.

Miss Finch began her form class with a cup of coffee in hand.

“No announcements. Unless you’re in choir. If you’re in choir you have to go to the music room for practice at lunch today.” Her voice said in a drawl.

While filtering out Miss Finch's voice, Finn looked over at Donna who was even prettier than she had been yesterday. She had styled her hair up in a ponytail with a hairclip and with a couple of strands framing her face, she had painted her nails with a subtle yet mesmerising colour, and she had worn a little silver bracelet with her initials on a charm. Finn couldn’t stop staring at her in awe as she giggled with Rebecca who sat beside her.

When break time rolled around Finn went over to Donna and her friends. This time Matthew didn’t follow, he instead went to hang out with Doug. Finn was slightly anxious at approaching Donna and her friends without being invited but remembered that he was her boyfriend and that was invitation enough to simply talk to her.

“Hey.” Finn greeted the group of girls.

“Hi, Finn!” Donna smiled and hugged him.

“Hey Donna’s boyfriend!” Rebecca smiled at the couple.

“Yeah hi boyfriend!” The others chorused.

“Oh stop it guys! You’ll just annoy him!” Donna scolded.

“No, it's fine.” Finn smiled. “Hi girls!”

“So… How’s being Donna's boyfriend?” One girl asked.

“Uh. Pretty good?” Finn didn’t know what answer he was supposed to give but thought that that one would suffice.

“Now come on! Just leave that for now!” Donna laughed.

“Oh fine.” Rebecca frowned.

That’s how Finn would spend all of his break and lunchtimes from there on out. He found it weird and wasn’t comfortable with it all the time but understood that the girls didn’t mean harm, it was just how they gossiped. And besides, he shared gossip with Matthew all the time so it wasn’t really all that different, at least to him.

“Hey, Finn.” Daniel called from the doors as Finn tried to walk past him to get to class.

Finn braced himself for another fight. “Yeah?”

“Come with me.” Daniel began to walk off down the hall in the opposite direction from the class.

“Where are we going?” He asked as he followed.

“Skipping class.” Daniel answered calmly.

“Uh, why?” Finn asked, confused.

“Cause I don’t wanna skip alone and James went off to class.” Daniel said as he spoke.

“Why don’t you just go to class?” Finn asked.

“Cause it’s Ollen’s class and he hates my guts.” Daniel complained. “Just shut up and come with me.”

Finn was not okay with the situation at all but decided that he should. Maybe it would be a chance to get on good terms with Daniel. He didn’t really want to fight him again. He still felt slightly bad about the last time.

Daniel walked them right off of school grounds and down to the park.

“Where are we going now?” Finn asked again, breaking the silence.

“This way.” Daniel led the way to the secret bench. Finn tensed briefly as he watched Daniel sit down on it so casually. Daniel watched Finn’s face for a reaction and sighed when he got one. “I know about you and Donna going out.” He admitted.

“You… do?” Finn asked.

“Yeah. That’s why I brought you out here.” Daniel said.

“Not because you wanted to skip Ollens class?” Finn was confused.

“No, that too. But I picked you and I picked here because I wanted to see if it was true. And it is.” Daniel went quiet.

Finn didn’t know what to say or do. It didn’t seem like Daniel wanted to fight, but Finn stayed braced in case he did.

“Congrats man.” Daniel said quietly. He was acting strange, not like the loud, playful, confident guy he normally was. “You got the girl.” He laughed gently.

“I…” Finn tried to speak.

“Nah man it’s fine. She can make her own choices.” Daniel interrupted. “Sit with me here.” He motioned to the empty space beside him on the bench.

Finn sat down but was still slightly nervous.

“Did she tell you she thought I was cheating on her?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah.” Finn nodded. “She said she thought you were, but could never prove it.”

“Of course she did.” Daniel shook his head.

“Why would she say it? Is it true?” Finn was confused.

“No. I don’t know why. I never gave her enough attention I guess. She always thought I was giving it to someone else.” Daniel sighed. “She has some trust issues. Take care of her though, yeah? She’s a pretty cool girl.”

“Yeah. She is.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Sorry for fighting you a while back.” Daniel broke it.

“Sorry for fighting back.” Finn said. “How’s your eye now?”

“Still sore.” Daniel laughed, but not coldly, he actually thought it was funny. “You’re a good fighter man.”

“I guess so. I got into a bunch of fights back home.” Finn laughed too.

“Back home?” Daniel picked up on the way Finn had said it. “You don’t feel like here’s your home yet, huh?”

“Not really.” Finn admitted, not really knowing why he was telling Daniel all this stuff. “I know it’s only been a month and there’s still time… But it’s just like… Everything is different and nothing feels right. And I don’t know if it ever will.”

“Yeah I know what it’s like.” Daniel rested his head on Finn’s shoulder causing Finn to tense, though Daniel pretended he didn't notice. “I moved house when I was little, like seven, and everyone had friends back in the primary already and they all thought I was weird so didn’t want to, like, include me. Everyone apart from James. That’s why he’s still my best friend. Probably my only real friend.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.” Finn said back. He put his arm around Daniel’s shoulder. He seemed like he needed some kind of comfort and he didn’t seem like a threat anymore.

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded.

They were quiet a minute more.

“We should head back. Ollen’s is over now and I don’t wanna get caught.” Daniel said as he stood up. “Let’s go.”

“Alright.” The two walked back off to school and managed to sneak in without getting caught.