Will's first day at school started off badly, but he had to admit that after meeting Taylor and his friend, he saw a glimpse of hope. He allowed himself to believe that the move might not be that bad after all.
As Morgan said, most of their classes overlapped, so he didn’t feel so alone.
At lunch, Taylor and Morgan invited Will to sit with them.
Will took out his phone and updated his best friend about everything that had happened so far that day.

Angel: NO WAY! NO WAY!

His friend's reaction to the news.

You: I can't write that better myself.

Angel: I wish I was a fly on the wall just to see your face >o<

Will laughed to himself. Man, I miss him.

Another ding — a message popped up in one of his group chats.
AnnaBanana: What is this I hear about you? Did I not raise you better?
Tangled: Shame on you!! Going after a pretty face?
Tangled: What if he was a serial killer?!
Angel: Yeah… William, what would your parents say?
You: You nark!
You: You all needed to be there!
Tangled: Umm… keep telling yourself that.

A few more messages filled with "LOL" followed, and Will smiled to himself.

"What is so funny?" Morgan asked.
They were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, and Morgan was clearly determined to include Will in every possible way — you could even say Morgan was shipping Will and Taylor.

Will lifted his head from his phone, shaking it lightly.
"Nothing," he replied, slipping the phone into his pocket, even though he could feel the group chat conversation still going strong.
Morgan did not push it and continued eating.
Will and Taylor exchanged glances — Taylor blushed, which only made Will smile a smug smile.
"What is your next class?" Taylor asked.
"I think Literature with Miss Vera."
"Ooo…" both Morgan and Taylor said in unison.
"What? Should I be worried?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm… no… it depends…" Morgan said vaguely.
"On what?"
"Well... Miss Vera has a controversial approach…" Taylor tried to explain, but it did not go anywhere.
Will looked at Morgan for more details, but he just shrugged.
"Now I am really starting to freak out."
"I guess you will have to see for yourself," Taylor said, half teasing.
After they finished eating, Meagan came and took Morgan with her, which made it the first time the two of them were alone.
"So…" Will said and looked up at Taylor, who was blushing.
"Why do I not show you around?" Taylor said, still avoiding eye contact.
They walked through the school as Taylor pointed out the places he knew well—the chemistry lab, the gym, the basketball court, a few shortcuts from the classrooms to the bathrooms, the locker room, and the running track.
Now sitting on the benches across from the track, Will looked at the rest of the teens during their break.
"Will, what did you mean about Morgan?" Taylor asked, his eyes full of questions.
Will turned to look at him. "Now you want to know? Funny. You both are funny dudes. You're lying to him, and he's lying to himself."
"Why do I get the feeling you enjoy that a little more than you should?" Taylor said.
Will shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
"Maybe I am. Cut me some slack," he said after seeing the expression on Taylor's face. "Hi, I am the new kid. I did not know I had to give the performance of my life on the first day."
"I am sorry," Taylor said sincerely. "I know that what I asked you is a little unconventional." Will snorted at that, and Taylor continued, "I never imagined we would meet here."
"Tell me about it," Will replied. "I really thought you all were college students."
"How come?" Taylor asked, clearly curious.
"That’s one of the reasons I think you should tell him."
"Yeah, because you have a great radar," Taylor said, and a big smile spread across Will's face.
"People may say I have the best," Will replied with a chuckle.
Taylor sighed and said, "What a mess! I'm sorry I put you in this situation," with sincerity in his eyes.
"Don’t worry about that, what is life without mess? It's the fuel that keeps us moving forward," Will said with a shrug.
"Nice words," Taylor replied, his tone filled with sarcasm.
"Thanks. I’m full of wisdom," Will said, raising his eyebrows in a joking gesture.
Taylor laughed out loud. It was perhaps the first time in a long while that he allowed himself to feel relaxed in front of another person, apart from his family or Morgan. But around Will, somehow, he felt calm.
All his anxiety seemed to calm down. Not everyone knew, but Taylor had suffered from bullying in his middle school so badly that his entire family had to relocate.
It didn’t only leave a mark on him but on his whole family. His parents became super sensitive about him and his sister, and his sister grew too cynical for her age. In his short life, Taylor felt both lucky and sad at the same time, only two times. The first was after the move and meeting Morgan, and the second now—lying to his best friend and the bizarre way he met Will.
The rest of the break, Will spent with Taylor, coming up with theories about Miss Vera's class. Taylor laughed out loud at Will's ideas.

In the evening, when Will was already home, he told his friend what had happened in Miss Vera's class.

"I'm telling you, Angel, it has been a long time since I blushed like that," Will said into his phone.
The other line chuckled. "Yeah, my mum's books have that effect on people."
Now both of them laughed.
"They warned me, and I still was not prepared for it," Will said with a sarcastic tone.
It was 10 o'clock at night. After school, Will had come home, and he and his mother had managed to finish unpacking all the boxes. According to her, “Now it feels like home.”
Will was sitting cross-legged on his bed, phone pressed to his ear, as he and his friend filled each other in on how their day had gone.
"I cannot believe the school allows that kind of book," Daniel clicked his tongue. "Mum will freak out when she hears about it. You still remember she made us swear never to read those books."
Will nodded, even though Daniel could not see him. "You do not understand. Hearing that storyline was like… like accidentally walking in on your parents…" He swallowed hard, the next words sticking in his throat and sending a chill down both their spines. "…in private."
Will shook himself, and Daniel covered his mouth.
"Ho God, do not say that out loud! It makes it real," Daniel said, visibly disturbed, which only made Will laugh.
"Where do you think you came from?" Will teased, a wide grin spreading across his face. He knew exactly how uncomfortable these conversations made Daniel, and he loved testing his limits. He could see it clearly in his mind — Daniel blushing. Well, not really blushing. Daniel did not actually turn red; mostly, his ears would turn red and his eyes would twinkle.
"I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW. Where you came from??" Daniel shot back. Will laughed. "I think everyone at my ninth birthday knew where I came from." Both of them laughed hard at the memory.
At Will's ninth birthday, after all the snacks, jumping, and running around, the adults thought it was a good idea to finish the day with a movie and a slice of cake. But no one really checked the tape, and by the time someone noticed that the innocent cartoon had been accidentally replaced with a childbirth video — full of blood, a head, and everything — it had already been playing for a while.
All the kids were shocked. It took them a few days, some even a few weeks, but eventually, they managed to suppress the images. Sure, he and his friend can laugh about it now. But Will was forever forbidden from choosing movies.
"And yet that is not the worst party we’ve been to.
That party doesn’t even make it to the top three," Daniel said, reminding him. One of the top three was a birthday party for one of his classmates, either the 12th or 11th one. Let's say it was a hotdog birthday party at a park—sounds nice, right? But no one took into account the dog park nearby. In the first hour, the grill opened, and the smell of hotdogs filled the park. Half a dozen energetic dogs ran toward the partygoers, jumping on kids and tables, snatching food from their hands and plates, flipping the grill, and God knows how they managed to light up the bouncy house.
Thank God no kid or dog got injured.The firefighters managed to control the fire in a few minutes, putting an end to the party.
"I’m still disappointed I never got to use the siren," Daniel said after laughing and taking a breath.
"Don’t worry, I remember all three months of whining."
"I love how you know me so well," Daniel said, half joking, half serious. A silence spread between them. Daniel laughed again and said, "Do you want my mum to write you a note for class?" Tears flowed from laughter, just the thought of the teacher's reaction when the author of the book brought him a free pass.
"I think I will only excite her more," again, both of them laughed. "Yeah… my mum has that kind of effect on people." Will rolled his eyes. "I think all your family has it." "And I think all your family were ninjas in a previous life," Daniel said. "Probably." Will agreed.
Will stretched his legs, lying on his back and looking at the ceiling. Before he moved, his friend Eden had given him glow-in-the-dark star stickers. He had let his little sister and brother help decorate, and now his ceiling shined with more than a hundred stickers. In Eden's words, "There is no such thing as too many stickers."
Will sighed. "How did life become so complicated? Remember when all our troubles were making sure the football team didn’t notice we were watching them?" he said in a nostalgic tone.
"Yeah," Daniel sighed. "Life used to be so much simpler. Remember how we used to just walk up to a guy and ask, 'Wanna make out?' and he would say yes?"
Will laughed at the memory of their old pickup line from two years ago. "I still cannot believe that actually worked for us."
A quiet knock on the door, and Oliver's head peeked out from behind the door, big brown eyes with a twinkle.
He saw that Will was still awake and rushed toward his bed, slipped under the covers, and stared at Will.
Will gave him an amused look.
"Who are you talking to?" Oliver asked and pointed at the phone.
"Daniel." 
Excitement spread all over Oliver. "Tell him I love him and have sweet dreams!"
Daniel, who heard it all, felt like he was on cloud nine. A long "aww" was heard over the phone.
Will put his phone on speaker and let them chat before ending the call and going to sleep.