Growing up in Lafayette Pt. 1

Axl made his way to school quietly, clutching his backpack and making sure his brother and sister were safe. His little brother Stuart, and his little sister Amy where both still in grade school. Today was Axl's first day in middle school. He dropped them off at the gates of their school and hugged them both before telling them to meet him back there once school had finished.  

He gazed at the familiar playground and the smiling, happy faces. His old Piano teacher was helping a little kid who'd fallen over, and Axl couldn't help but feel nostalgic. He'd been that little kid before he graduated. The one who'd fall and hurt their knee or get picked on for being scrawny. He watched his little brother and sister race each other to the front steps of the school, and felt a protective warmth rise in his chest. He'd miss being at school with them.

After making sure they got to school safely, Axl turned around and started to jog. He'd be late if he didn't hurry, and he didn't want to get into trouble on his first day.

It was a good ten minute walk to his sibling's school, but his school was only around corner from theirs. He arrived relatively early, and easily noted the small differences between middle school and grade school. There was no playground. There were no teachers watching to make sure you didn't get bullied. There were bigger kids, much bigger than him. There was nowhere to hide.

Axl carefully scoped out the school's courtyard and prayed that he'd be left alone. With great ease, he tip-toed past the buildings and darted around the corners, not daring to check his school map for the room he was looking for. He knew if he held it out, the older kids would realise he was new. That was never a good thing.

Instead, he circuited the school and soon found where he was supposed to be. Room number nine. The school had sent out timetables and information packs during the summer. His one said that his teacher was Mr. Bentley.

Surprisingly, Axl was the first person to arrive. His teacher had spotted him through the window and was beckoning him inside. "Come in, come in, you must be one of the new arrivals. Bit early, aren't you?"

Axl fidgeted nervously and carefully stepped through the door and into the classroom. "Uh, I had to drop my brother and sister off at their grade school."

The teacher either didn't notice or didn't seem to care, because he simply sat down and picked up his newspaper, without replying.

Axl was at a loss for what he could do. He was at least fifteen minutes early, and no one else was there. He quietly removed his backpack and unzipped it slowly, making sure it didn't make any noise. Once it was open, he reached in silently and pulled out a little note-book and a pen.

Dear Journal,
Well, I'm here. I'm at middle school. What can I say? I've been left alone so far, but I don't know how long that will last, to be honest. I'm the only one in the classroom, besides the teacher of course, no one else has showed up yet. I wonder what Stu and Amy are doing? Probably in art, or music. I wish they were here. I wish I was with them.

Axl lifted his pen from his notebook and stuck it in his mouth before chewing on the end. Little did he know, someone was reading it from over his shoulder.

"Who are Amy and Stu?" A boy with longish brown hair and big brown eyes looked down at Axl. He was wearing black pants, a white dress shirt and had a bag slung over his shoulder. He was really skinny, and his skin was pale. He looked very different from anyone Axl had ever met before.

Axl felt heat rise in his cheeks and was almost sure he was blushing. "None of your business" he mumbled to no one in particular, before facing the other way.

The boy simply brushed it off and perched himself on Axl's desk, before snatching away Axl's bag and digging through it. Axl just sat there, completely shocked, as this boy ripped open the zips and dumped his bag upside down. The contents of Axl's bag now lay in the lap of the strange boy.

The boy gracefully and eloquently picked up each item with interest and carefully placed it back into the bag, one by one, taking note of everything Axl had on him.
Axl just sat there, terrified. Who was this boy? Why was he touching his things? Why was he sitting on his desk?

The boy zipped up the bag and placed it underneath the desk, right by Axl's feet. Crossing his legs, he turned to face Axl, leaning down so that their noses where nearly touching.

"Hey, I'm Jeff Isbell, but you can call me Izzy." The boy offered him his hand.

Axl just blinked and nodded and shook Izzy's hand. "I-I'm William."

Axl cursed himself for stuttering. He probably sounded so stupid. He couldn't help it though, whenever he got scared or nervous his words would come out wrong. He blushed a little bit and looked away from the boy.

The other boy just nodded, but didn't get off of Axl's desk. Instead, he wriggled his way around until he was facing the blackboard. By now, most of the class had arrived, and most of them were staring at Axl and Izzy. Axl was trying to hide behind his hair; he was so unused to having everyone watching him.

The bell rang, and Mr. Bentley took the roll, not caring that Izzy was still sitting on the desk. "Alright class, that's about it, you should all have your timetables and a map of the school. If you have any troubles finding your first class, go see the people at the office, they'll help you find your way."

Everyone got up and made their way for the doors. Even Izzy got up off of Axl's desk, though he stayed back and waited for Axl to gather his things. Izzy peered down at Axl's timetable and looked back up at Axl.

"Hey, we've both got English together with Mr. Hopkins."

Axl was beyond confused but he nodded and made out like he knew what he was doing. In reality, he had no idea how to read his timetable, who Mr Hopkins was or where they were supposed to be. Rather than try to get away from the strange boy, Izzy or whatever his name was, Axl opted out to follow him. Maybe he knew where to go.

But instead of letting Axl follow him, Izzy grabbed onto his hand and began dragging him in the opposite direction of their classmates. Axl turned a shade of deep red and tried to yank his hand away, but Izzy just pulled him along down towards the bleachers.

"Wait, where are we going? Isn't English that way?" A very confused Axl called out, hoping Izzy wasn't going to pick on him or take his stuff.

Izzy just stopped in his tracks and blinked at Axl. "We're not going to class. Duh"