New class, new start.

He only had one hour until lunch. He could make it, he swore. But until then, until their teacher started doing his job and taught them something, Evan made it a point to organize.

His pencil pouch coughed up several of his best writing pens when he turned it over. He placed each pen in order. The bigger ones first. The middle ones in, well, the middle. The smaller ones last. Then he took out his three erasers and did the same, all of them parallel to the edge of the desk.

Jade burst into the classroom. “Hey, guys! Sorry I’m late, but what a crazy morning it’s been, huh?”

The door slamming behind him caused some of Evan’s pens to shift slightly. Evan poked them gently back into place.

And then, of course, the room buzzed with talk when Jade mentioned the ‘excitement’ of the day.

Evan smoothed out the day’s events in his mind, as if smoothing out a crumpled piece of paper. P.E. ended with a sore abdomen. Second period, math, ended with a supply list of things he has at home but didn’t think to bring with him (why would he need a compass on the first day?). Third period, chemistry, ended with a too long lecture about ‘keeping our hands to ourselves’ that he didn’t care much about, until he found out how that topic arose.

Apparently, between second and third period, a fight started because one person got too touchy in their English class.

Then, between third and fourth, sexual misconduct appeared. Evan didn’t even want to hear what event sparked that conversation, but he was sure it wasn’t good.

Jade interrupted his thoughts. “Evan my buddy! How you doing? You heard all the drama, right? I’m sure you have!”

Jade’s appearance next to him moved Evan’s table, thus causing his pens to roll way off their course. Evan frowned irritably.

“You talk so loud, Jade. I wish you could speak at a level lower than fifty decibels, for once.”

“Oh, don’t be so mean to me, Evan! I only wish to educate you in the ways of social life, and the wild stories of summer! Also, you need to stop being such a loner in every class.” He pointed to him despairingly.

“How do you know I’m acting like a loner?”

“Because I’m in every period with you, except fifth and sixth. And you’re always a lone wolf. From eighth grade to now I’m surprised you haven’t physically disappeared from how silent you are! I didn’t expect you to change in three months, either!”

Jade ruffled his hair, laughing loudly, and shouting out a few more teasing comments about his hair, about his mannerisms, about his organizing, about himself, until Evan felt a mild headache forming. Evan tried to protest, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. He could see some girls in the corner laughing at them both, making heart symbols on them both, ‘shipping’ them together.

Is he deaf? He wanted to scream in Jade’s ear to shut up, but he was sure at his point it wouldn’t do any good.

Luckily, one of the girls from the group in the corner called out to Jade, giggling. Jade ruffled his hair one last time before running to them like a sailor running to a group of sirens.

Jade, of course, didn’t stop running his mouth, even when he moved to the corner. “He’s a weird kid, but he’s pretty harmless. And small too, might I add. Plus, I used to copy homework off him all the time. He’s like a mini Einstein, or something similar. I swear, he just pulls answers out of thin air, I don’t know how he does it –”

Evan rolled his eyes listening to Jade. He really doesn’t know when to be quiet.

“So! Did you hear about Charlie’s grandma dying? Pretty fucked right? I swear –”

He’s emotionally tone deaf as well, to make it worse. Evan put his head in his hands. Unluckily for him, this was the first day of history, and this teacher did not start lecturing until the second half of class. Meaning, for him, he got to sit through noise and more noise of people talking, gossiping, interacting, sharing their summer stories, introducing themselves –

Evan slapped his wrist, hard. It left a red mark this time. He could feel his mind careening, spiraling out of control a bit, so he breathed in five times, exactly, and calmed himself by putting his pens back in place.