“Hell, Al! Nice shot” Patrick said slightly dazed as he rubbed the space in between his eyes where the pebble nailed him as Patrick sat on the bench next to Alfred. 

“How did you do that!” Ronny asked wide-eyed as his eyes shifted from him over to Patrick and then back to him. Ronny was the only freshman that hung out with them and he was Patrick's little minion. Ronny was only 5’5 and he had shaggy dark brown hair that hung in front of his baby face that made him look like he was 12. 

“Just a flick of the wrist I guess, it's just natural for me honestly,” Alfred said as he made the same throwing motion with his wrist. 

“You should do something like that during Matthews class, like with a book or something!” Earl said as he jumped into the conversation. Earl and Randy started hanging out with them last year, Earl and Randy were the same height at 5’8 but Earl had reddish-brown hair and Randy’s hair was blonde. 

“You idiot, how's he supposed to throw a book like a pebble?” Randy said as he pushed Earl over into the grass. 

“And how are we supposed to tolerate you, two dumbasses?” Alfred asked as Patrick laughed. 

“Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumbass at it again.” Patrick laughed as he knocked their heads together. Earl’s face went bright red from embarrassment as he rubbed the side of his head. 

“Randy’s Tweedle Dumbass!” Earl said as Randy punched him in the arm. “

Shut your big mouth already.” Patrick said, shooting a glare at Earl as he leaned back on the bench as Earl shut his mouth. Patrick was very easy to annoy or piss off, you just had to know how to talk to him and you’d be fine. Alfred watched as Ronny tried to mimic Patrick's position from his place on the grass falling over in the process. Ronny looked like a child that was trying to mimic their parent's movements. He had no idea why Ronny looked up to Patrick like he was a god. Patrick had been held back almost two years now and had to keep repeating the grade because he had been suspended so many times. 

“There you guys are! I was starting to wonder where you had gotten off too.” Kelly said as she ran up to the group and kissed Patrick. Kelly was the only girl that hung out with them regularly and that's because she was Patrick's new girlfriend. Kelly looked like a living barbie doll, it was almost creepy. 

“You finally made it,” Patrick said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and set her on his lap, as he planted a kiss on her cheek. Alfred felt his stomach churn at the sight of them making out. It wasn't so much what they were doing but rather what they were doing. Alfred knew Patrick had slept with multiple girls this year before he got together with Kelly and there were probably a few he had hooked up with again while he was dating Kelly. He felt sorry for her, she was just another target for Patrick, Yet she believed it was real no matter what anyone else said. Alfred knew they weren't going to last long together, they had no spark. Alfred himself had had one girlfriend before and they had no connection, yeah they liked each other but there was no electric connection between them that made him feel the relationship was real. Without the spark, it just felt like he was lying to himself and her. He wanted the electric connection kind of love you could only find within the right partner. Alfred sighed as he leaned back on the bench and tried to distract himself. They all talked for a while as Earl and Randy got into another fight during the conversation, Patrick and Kelly periodically made out while Ronny was taking mental notes on everything Patrick did. The bell finally rang across the courtyard signaling them to get too sixth period. 

“Alright crack heads and ones on crack, Matthews class is calling for us, let's get going,” Patrick said as he got up from the bench and helped Kelly up and rewrapped his arm around her waist again. 

“I’ll meet up with you guys in class, I gotta grab a book from my locker real quick,” Alfred said as he started jogging towards the school. 

“Don’t be late, you know how Matthews is about people being tardy.” Randy shouted after him as he jogged into the school. Luckily for him, his locker was close to Matthew's classroom. Alfred quickly grabbed his book from his locker and began to jog off to class; he had a few minutes still before the bell rang. Alfred stopped as he realized someone was crying, it was such a soft quiet cry he had almost missed it. He sourced the hallway looking for whoever was crying, but the hallway was empty except for him. Alfred turned too face the lockers and it registered where the crying was coming from. 

“Oh….” Alfred whispered sadly under his breath as he walked up to the locker in front of him as the crying got louder, whoever was crying was inside the locker. 

“Hey it's alright, I'm gonna get you out of there,” Alfred said, trying to comfort the person inside the locker as he fiddled with the lock. He knew how to pick all kinds of locks, it came in handy for sneaking into places with his friends. Alfred took a step back as the locker sprung open, inside was a boy who looked like he was around Alfred’s age. Alfred knew he had seen this kid somewhere before but where? He immediately recognized him but couldn’t remember who he was or where he remembered him from. The boy was around 5’4 and his messy brownish-black hair found a way to stick up in almost every direction, he had slight Asian features too his face but other than that he looked like every kid who walked around the school. 

“Are you alright?” Alfred asked as he held his hand out for the boy to take. The boy glanced at Alfred's hand for a moment then sunk into the locker more, his brown eyes swimming with uncertainty. The poor kid was probably afraid he was going to shove him back into the locker after he “helped” him. Alfred knew he was intimidating too most people because of who he hung out with and how tall and muscular he was. Reluctantly the boy took his hand and Alfred helped him out of the locker. 

“Thanks” the boy mumbled as he looked at the ground embarrassed. 

“Alfred Reynolds at your service.” Alfred said slightly bowing as the boy smiled for a second then hid it. 

“Rigby O'Connor.” the boy said nodding his head as he tried to avoid eye contact.  

“How'd you get stuffed in there anyway?” Alfred asked as Rigby stiffened and began to tear up a little. 

“Hey it's alright you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I am a stranger after all.” Alfred said as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“You're not a stranger, we have a lot of classes together,” Rigby mumbled as he kept looking at the ground and avoiding eye contact. Alfred felt embarrassed that he hadn't noticed him before, especially since Rigby obviously knew who he was.

“So what class are you heading too now?” Alfred asked, he wanted to make sure Rigby got there ok. It took almost all his willpower not to start cracking jokes, he didn't wanna scare Rigby away. What was he doing anyway? He had never noticed Rigby before and yet now that he had met him all he wanted to do was get to know him better. 

“Uh... I have Matthew’s right now.” Rigby said rubbing his arm, as he made eye contact with Alfred for the first time. 

“Yeah, that's right! You sit next to me, that's why you looked familiar! Come on let's go or we’ll be late.” Alfred said, smiling at Rigby as Rigby’s cheeks turned pink and he looked at him confused. Alfred held back his laughter. It was obvious Rigby didn’t socialize much at all. 

“Well are you coming or are you gonna stand there like a flagpole?” Alfred chuckled as he started walking down the hallway. Rigby blushed with embarrassment as he followed Alfred walking by his side. Maybe it was just his imagination but Alfred could have sworn he had seen Rigby smile as they walked to class.