I wake up to the sound of an alarm ringing. I check the time and it's 7:55. “Dammit, I’m going to be late”, I say to myself. I check my phone and see about a thousand messages from my best friend:
Are you up?
I’m waiting…
Are you seriously still asleep?
Drystan you better be awake!!!
I groan in exhaustion while getting out of bed. I get dressed and walk into the hallway. The director is staring right into my eyes. He says I better make it to school before I get into trouble. I walk out of the orphanage and start heading to school. Oh that’s right… I never introduced myself. My name is Drystan, and as you can tell I’m late for school. I’m 16 and I live in an orphanage because my parents died in an accident when I was little and since no one in my family wanted to take care of me. I haven’t had any contact with them since my parents' funeral but my best friend Theo always stayed by my side. Theo is the person who texted me earlier and we’re like two peas in a pod. ………
That was an awkward way of phrasing that. What I mean is that we never leave each other behind. He isn’t an orphan like me but we’re still the best of friends. I basically grew up with him. Oh, there he is .
Theo is a dirty blonde and is insanely attractive. When he sees me he starts running to me. Once he reaches me he yells, “Don’t you know what time it is?!” I look at my phone and respond, “It’s 8:26…” I say it so nonchalantly that Theo looks at me in disbelief. “Bro, our teachers are going to kill us!!”
As I listen to what he just said, I realize that he could’ve been in school right now at this moment. “Hey, why aren’t you in school? Why did you wait for me? “ He looks at me like I’m stupid. “I would never leave you behind.” He says while looking mockingly emotional. I bet he just didn’t want to go to school. He suddenly grabs me and starts running to school. When we finally reached the gate of the school, the security guard was about to lock it. Theo hollers, “Wait!! We’re right here!!!” The security sees us and lets us in. He warns us that the next time we’re late, he won’t let us in. How lucky.
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Theo runs to his class while I walk to mine. As I walk into my classroom, the teacher scolds me for being late. My classmates start whispering and laughing. Do they think I’m deaf? They’re always making fun of me because I have no parents and only one friend. When I walk to my seat, I feel everyone’s judgmental stares on me.
After the lesson, the teacher leaves for break and everyone goes into their little groups and starts talking to themselves. I don’t have a group of my own so I just stay at my desk and try to get the most sleep I can. Suddenly the door to the class bursts open, and I raise my head and see Theo. Whenever people see Theo, they look like they’ve seen a celebrity. He’s the angel face of the school, while I’m the leftover scraps. Theo has big sentimental eyes, while I have eyes that look like I haven't slept for days. He has a clean complexion and I have dirty freckles. I mean I’m not even that bad looking but when people see me next to Theo, it’s a whole other conversation to them. People always compare us when we’re together, even though Theo is my best friend and all, I just don’t like being compared to him. It might sound harsh but it’s true. I mean would you like to be constantly compared to your best friend just because of your looks?
While Theo is walking up to my desk, my classmates are looking at me like I’m the most hideous person in the world. How annoying. When Theo sits on my desk and starts going on about how the teacher would call him Theodore instead of Theo, I look out the window of the classroom and see two girls laughing. How nice it must be to be happy. I hate it. Suddenly one of the girls looked up at me. She has dark brown eyes and she’s wearing glasses. She smiles at me and my eyes suddenly widen and I put my head down to avoid eye contact. When I look out the window after a few seconds, I see her walking away while laughing.