Chapter 4: Shake It Off

Henry's POV

---

 

"Everyone Quiet!" Miss Dorothy shouted at the students and the room instantly became quiet. "This is your new classmate, I know how you all think, don't try to do any funny business on my watch." She said strictly, and moved to the side to give me space to introduce myself.

'What should I tell them?'

"Hello, I--I'm Henry Cooper, 18 years old. And I love reading books." I weakly said, still embarrassed about the situation earlier.

"Huh?! I doubt he's 18, just look at those baby fats on his face." 

My face heated up when I heard someone spoke it out loud. Is there something wrong with my face?

"Yo dude, look at him, he's blushing, you made the new kid blush," I saw the guy who said it, he was big, has black hair and was lean, more like a jock. And he was laughing together with a brunette guy, he's probably the one who said that I look like a baby. 

'Hmph! How mean...'

"Will you two idiots shut up." A beautiful girl reprimanded both of them and slapped both of their heads.

"Ouch! Will you take it easy Sandra, we were just joking." The guy on the left said defensively while holding his head, while the woman just glared at them but immediately smiled at me when she saw me looking at her.

'Well... She seems… nice.'

"Okay that's enough! Henry you go over there and take your seat." She pointed at the chair next to the woman who smiled at me, and I didn't waste any time and started walking with heavy steps, afraid that she might shout at me again.

When I arrived at the spot, I was confused and worried since there were two chairs that's available.

"Umm-"

"You can just sit next to me, the other chair is Kara's, the silly girl that got detention earlier." The nice looking girl uttered with a soft voice, and I did what she said and sat beside her.

"So new student, are you really nineteen? If so, why are you short? Why do you look like a big baby? Why are you--"

"Ow!" the black haired guy took in a large breath as the girl named Sandra pinched his arms. "Lay off the kid, you're scaring him." She snapped, and the guy just shuffled back and checked his arm while his friend comforted him. Both whispering to each other about how cruel Sandra was to them.

However, she only rolled her eyes at their childish actions and moved her eyes to me, "Hi, I'm Sandra, and those two knuckleheads are Drake and Casper, the black haired guy is Drake, while the pouting idiot is Casper." After she finished talking, the guys in front of us turned their heads at the same time and scoffed at her. They were acting really cute, having each other's back in a funny way.

"You know Sandra if you weren't a girl, you'd be full of bruises right now. Good thing my mom raised me right." Drake rumbled while closing his eyes relishing the compliment he gave himself. 

Sandra typically just gave them an unamused look and chose to ignore them.

"Sorry about what I said, I was just joking at that time, the name's Drake." I smiled at him and nodded my head as the other guy also followed his suit.

”And I'm Casper, don't believe what she said about me, she's a liar and a buzzkill." Casper said while blinking his eyes repeatedly at me acting cute.

"Hi...nice to meet you, I... I hope we can all be friends." I replied shyly and gazed at their faces one by one.

"Awww, he's so adorable for his age, look at those pouty lips, don't be shy around us, come give big bro a hug."

[BANG!]

"You there! Stop chattering and pay attention!" Miss Dorothy crumpled a piece of paper and threw it at Casper, there shouldn't have been a problem and the disaster could have been avoided, only that Casper caught the paper out of reflex and threw it back to her.

"He's dead," I heard someone say behind us, and the look on Miss Dorothy's face couldn't be shaped out,

'Oh dear...'

"YOU!" She was about to say something when a student suddenly appeared on the door and asked for her. They talked for a while, and she said that she'll be back while giving all of us a deadly eye.

Well that was kind of fortunate...

"She's so scary," I weakly mumbled, and the three of them turned to look at me nodding.

"Believe it or not baby boy she's the only teacher here with that attitude, the others are... well... at most cases, fine." Casper sighed while talking, and I was perplexed of his endearment.

'Why did he call me baby boy?' I wanted to ask him, but I guess it's fine if that's what he likes to call me. I mean, friends do give each other weird nicknames. Right?

 

"Really?"

 

"Yes, cross my heart, and ooh what happened to your neck? Is it really a hickey?" I was suddenly pulled back by his question, and I shivered not wanting to recall what happened earlier. I don’t want them to think that I’m a freak or anything, plus, it’s quite questionable if I tell them the truth.

I successfully made myself believe that it was all just a BIG misunderstanding.

"It's just a mosquito bite," I lied to them, and thankfully they didn't question me further.

"Are the three of you Kara's friends?"

"Yeah, been friends since we started high school, and we've been stuck all together ever since." Sandra told me and in the corner of my eyes I saw the guys nodding their heads while smiling.

"Is it really okay if I join your group?"

 

"Of course! You're very adorable, and we need someone like that in our group." Casper said while sneering at Sandra.

I smiled at what he said. Grey would be happy to hear that I made new friends. I can't wait to tell him!

"I'm sorry, there was a situation I needed to handle, okay, turn your Chemistry book on page 38." Miss Dorothy's voice resonated in the entire room once again, and we shambled back slowly and paid attention to her lesson.

 

...

 

The bell rang at exactly 11:30, and we talked and agreed to go to this café outside the school.

"I have to go to my brother first, he told me to see him at lunch and I kinda promised him that I would." I said to them.

“It's okay, we still have to fetch Kara anyway, we'll catch you on our way out babe," Drake told me and ruffled my hair. I waved at them as they took the opposite direction.

I quietly walked down the crowded hallway and pressed myself on the walls to avoid the sea of people.

Out of nowhere, just like what I sensed earlier. I felt someone staring at me. Is it just my imagination?

I began to breathe hardly and was cautiously looking at my surroundings creepy things crawling in my mind once again.

'I'll be fine, I'll be fine~' I keep mumbling the words to pacify myself, I thought that I was already out of the zone but it seems like I was just thinking ahead of myself.

And since my mind was in a total mess, I didn’t look properly at where I was going.

"Oof!!!" I puffed, as I collided with a figure that was much sturdier than mine.