Dan Howell took a deep breath as he walked up to the classroom door on a Monday morning.

It was second class of the day, and he was 10 minutes late because he was talking to the principal. The principal had been talking to Dan about how the school worked and all that jazz. Dan was the new kid in school. It was his first day and he was terrified. It didn't make things better that he had missed his first class so now he was going to have to walk in late.

"You can do this Dan, no big deal," Dan whispered to himself. He took a deep breath.

Dan had switched schools because he was bullied at his old school. He was bullied for being different. For being gay. He had gotten beat up almost every day, had been called the worst of the worst names and much more. Dan was hoping that coming to a new school would help him get a fresh, new start. He wasn't going to tell a single soul that he was gay, not after what he went through at his old school. He already had enough bruises and scars on his body and he really didn't need anymore. He was crossing his fingers and he hoped that the kids would be nicer. But he wasn't going to get his hopes up too high.

Dan finally opened the door and walked into the classroom. He walked over to the teacher's desk. Luckily, the students were too busy talking to each other to even notice him, which was good because Dan hated it when people stared at him. Dan easily got nervous in front of people and then that would lead to him having a panic attack which was never good.

"Ah, you must be Daniel Howell." The teacher said when Dan walked in.

"I um… yeah, that's me. But… It's-It's actually Dan," Dan said quickly.

The teacher nodded. "I see, hm. Well, Dan, it's very nice to meet you. My name is Mr. James and it seems you've come in just in time. We're starting a new project today and you'll have a partner. You'll be paired with Phil Lester," he explained calmly.

"And who's that?" Dan asked curiously as he looked around.

Mr. James looked at him. "Over there," he said as he pointed to a boy in the back.

Dan nervously looked over and took a deep breath when he saw the black haired boy with rather pale skin and bright blue eyes sitting by himself. Dan thought he was actually rather beautiful. Dan just hoped that he would be nice as well.

"You can head over there now." Mr. James said, immediately shaking Dan out of his thoughts. "I'm very sure Phil will be happy to explain the project to you. If you need any help, just ask."

"Thank you," Dan mumbled. He took another deep breath and then he finally made his way towards Phil. "Um, excuse me?" Dan asked quietly as he walked up to Phil's table.

Phil looked up from his paper and blinked a few times when he saw Dan. "Can I help you?"

Dan bit his lip nervously. "Mr. James said that I was going to be your partner for this project we're doing," Dan told him. "Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself. Today's my first day here. I'm Dan aka the new kid." Dan said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, so you're that new kid that we've been waiting for," Phil said.

Dan raised his eyebrows as he stared at Phil. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Oh… we've heard for days that we're getting a new kid the past week and no one's shut up about it. It's been the talk of the week, pretty much..." Phil explained.

Dan sighed. "Sorry if you're disappointed," he mumbled.

Phil chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Don't be silly," he said. He looked up at Dan. "You don't have to stand, you know? You can sit down." He said.

Dan nervously sat his bag on the table and then he sat down. "So, um, what's this project we're doing?" He asked curiously. "Mr. James didn't tell me anything about it."

"Well… it's just a research paper… for an upcoming test we're having,"

Dan groaned. "Oh great. I came at the wrong time," he said.

"Yeah, actually… you kind of did but it's a good thing this class is super easy just as long as you pay attention," Phil said as he looked over at Dan. Dan blushed and looked down at his hands, hoping that Phil didn't see him blush. "So, if you want to, you can come over to my house later and we can talk about the project. I mean… you don't have to but… it would just seem easier if you did," Phil told him, ignoring the fact that Dan was blushing.

Dan looked back up at him and slowly nodded. "No, I'm totally cool with that. I'll just have to ask my mum first and see if she's okay with it," he replied.

"Okay. Sounds good to me, just let me know what she says later," Phil said. He went back to writing on the paper he had in front of him. Dan watched him.

Dan bit his lip nervously as he looked around for Phil. He was surprisingly one of the first ones out of school. Thankfully, his mum said that it was okay for him to go to Phil's house today. The only problem was he had no idea where Phil's house was and Dan didn't even have Phil's number yet either so he had no idea what he was going to do.

"Phil!" Dan yelled when he saw Phil walk out of school.

Phil blinked a few times and looked up when he heard someone shout his name. He bit his lip when he saw Dan and nervously walked over to him. "My mum said it was okay for me to go to yours, I told her that it was for the project and she said it was okay..." Dan told him.

"Oh, great. Do you want to just ride with me?" Phil asked.

Dan blinked a few times. "You drive already?" He asked with shock.

Phil chuckled and shook his head. "Not exactly, I wish... but my friend PJ does and he drops me off at my house every day after school," he said. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh," Dan said nervously. "Oh… okay, yeah," he said, nodding.

"Don't be so nervous, Dan… you honestly have nothing to be nervous about. I actually think you'll like PJ. He's really nice. One of the few nice kids in this school," Phil said.

"Well that makes me feel loads better," Dan said jokingly.

Phil smiled slightly and started to lead the way to PJ's car. Phil looked up and sighed when he saw PJ's car and saw that PJ also wasn't alone as he was making out with another boy in the car. But, Phil already knew that PJ had a boyfriend and he was totally okay with it because he was also gay. Everybody at school already knew that the three of them were gay.

"Looks like he's with his boyfriend," Phil said.

"Boyfriend?" Dan asked with shock as he looked over at Phil.

Phil stopped walking dead in his tracks, and he immediately looked at Dan. He bit his lip and waited a few seconds before he finally spoke again. "Yeah. PJ and Chris. They're both gay and they're also dating each other. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" He asked.

Dan was actually pleased to hear that there were other gay kids at this school, which meant that maybe he didn't have to hide who he was. Maybe he wouldn't get beat up for being gay like he did at his old school. This was definitely good news for Dan.

"No! God, no!" Dan yelled. He shook his head, "In f-fact… I'm actually gay myself," he said.

Phil smiled. "Oh… wow. I wasn't expecting that. Welcome to the club then," he joked.

Dan laughed. "Well, thanks. I actually wasn't going to tell anybody that I was gay because of certain reasons, but it's nice to know there are other gays in this school,"

"People in this school already know that Chris and PJ are dating. Not a lot of people are pleased but they leave them alone, you shouldn't have to hide,"

Dan nodded. "I know I shouldn't hide. It's just that..." He took a deep breath, "I went through some bad experiences at my old school and I just…" He started to say.

"It's okay, Dan," Phil said, quickly cutting him off before he could finish. "You don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to," he assured him.

Dan sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, Phil," he said.

Phil smiled and nodded. "Come on, let's go, mum doens't like it when I'm late" he said. They walked over to PJ's car. Phil knocked on the window once they were there. Chris and PJ immediately pulled apart from each other when they heard the knock. PJ looked up and smiled when he saw Phil. He reached over and unlocked the car. Phil opened the door.

Phil got into the car. "Hey. I brought a new friend with me today. Hope you don't mind,"

PJ shook his head. "Of course I don't mind," he assured him.

Phil looked up at Dan and raised his eyebrows when he saw that Dan was staring at him. "Get in," Phil commanded gently. Dan bit his lip before he finally got in the car and shut the door. He nervously looked up. PJ looked over at him and gave him a friendly smile, which made Dan feel less nervous. Maybe this school wouldn't be as bad as Dan thought it would be. Maybe Dan would be able to get the fresh start that he wanted to get. He just needed to trust a few people and not get into any trouble and he would be fine, or so he hoped.

"You were right about PJ being nice," Dan said as he followed Phil into his house. "Chris is nice too, and he was funny as well. I really liked them." He said.

"Yeah, they are nice. They're my best friends. I've been friends with PJ since we were like babies," Phil said. He smiled and looked over at Dan, "do you want anything to drink?"

Dan shook his head. "No, I'm fine, thanks," he said. Phil nodded.

"Philip? Is that you?" Phil groaned when he heard mum's voice.

"Yes, mum." Phil answered. Phil's mum walked into the living room. Dan bit his lip.

"Who's this?" His mum asked when she saw Dan.

"Um, this is Dan. He's the new student at school and he's also my partner for a school project. I hope it's okay that he's over. I know that I should have called first but it was kind of a last minute thing," Phil said. He bit his lip slightly as he stared at his mom.

"Yes... you should have but it's okay, you don't need to worry," she said. She turned and looked at Dan. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Dan." She said as she shook Dan's hand. Dan nodded but stayed silent. "Oh and dinner will be ready in about two hours. I'll leave you boys to it," She turned around and then she walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry about that. She does this every time I bring someone over," Phil said.

"It's fine. My mum is the same way," Dan said. It was silent for a few seconds.

Phil looked over at Dan. "So, where do you want to start?" He asked, breaking the silence.

Dan blinked a few times and then he looked back at Phil. "Um, it doesn't really matter. You can pick. You know what's actually happening in class," he said. He smiled slightly. They both sat down. Dan looked at him, just as Phil looked back at him.

Dan had never been put in such an awkward situation like this before.

Dan actually liked Phil and he really wanted to get to know Phil as a person… hopefully things would work out between them. The only thing that Dan was worried about was saying something really stupid or doing something stupid and ruining his chances of starting a friendship with Phil. Dan wanted a friend. He needed friends.