Gavin had been sitting at the back of his class, doodling on his paper instead of working. He already knew all these. Why was he even in this class? He had been told his intelligence was college level, yet they wouldn't let him skip this grade. Gavin noticed one other person who wasn't writing, and was leaning back on his chair, playing on a hand held game.
"Mr. Jones, would you please answer number thirty six?" Expecting the kid to not know the answer since he hadn't been listening, Gavin smirked.
"The answer is three hundred and seventy two." The teacher turned, checking his textbook, and Gavin saw a look of defeat, which meant he had been right.
"Mr. Jones, why are you even here?" The teacher asked as 'Mr. Jones' let his chair drop to the floor with a clank.
"I dunno, I've asked to skip another grade, but they won't let me." He replied curtly, nodding his head. The teacher scowled again, and sent him out of class, then started walking around the room, looking at everyone's work. Gavin panicked, realizing that he hadn't copied any of the answers down because he hadn't realized they moved ahead, and started to scribble down the answers, before seeing that he had already done it. Sighing, he put the pencil down again.
"Mr. Free, will you see me in the hall as well?" The teacher suddenly said from Gavin's side, causing him to jump.
"Er, y-yes sir." Gavin stumbled out, then quickly gathered his stuff, and raced from the room. He knew everyone was staring at him, which made it worse. He probably was going to get in trouble for not copying down the work, even if he had been finished, or something. He found the other kid already waiting, leaning against the wall. Gavin quickly looked towards the ground, and stood on the other side of the hallway, waiting for the teacher to come out and talk to them. Another student who Gavin recognized came out of the room, grinning at Michael, who smiled too in response. Eventually, the teacher came outside, and gestured Michael to where the other had been standing.
"I've noticed that you three boys are not paying as much attention in class at all, but have surprisingly high test marks. When I looked at your work, it was completely finished even though we're only a quarter of the way through. So, I've called the office, and they're sending you new textbooks. You're being allowed to go home today, but you're being transferred to a special class tomorrow. In this class there is just the three of you, so I suggest you get to know each other." At this, Gavin immediately didn't like this. The other two had the same look on their face. 'Who even was this guy?' or 'How are we supposed to get to know him?'. But when the teacher looked at him for his conformation, he nodded. He had to admit, he was getting tired of learning things he already knew, so maybe this would be good for him. Especially after transferring from England that year, he hadn't been able to make friends, so he had more time to work. Maybe this would be the same.
"Alright, have a nice rest of the year." The teacher said, then walked back to the classroom. Gavin shifted his things into his back, putting it on his back before a hand was held in front of his face. Glancing up, he noticed that it was 'Mr. Jones'.
"My names Michael, and this is Ray." He said as Gavin shook his hand.
"Gavin..." Gavin replied quietly, then turned away, knowing that they wouldn't want to talk to him much.
"Hey wait! We were wondering if you wanted to come hang out at Rays house? If we're going to be working with each other, we might as well get to know each other, right?" Gavin could physically hear the smirk in Michaels voice, but he seemed like he honestly wanted to get to know Gavin.
"I-If you want to, I don't want to intrude or anything, you don't have to get to know me or anything, really." Michael laughed at his response, shaking his head.
"But we want you to come hang out with us! You seem pretty chill!" Ray said quickly, patting Gavin on the back harder then he would have liked, causing him to cough silently.
"Well, sure then."
"Great! Do you need to stop at your locker for anything?" Ray continued, starting to walk towards the door. Gavin quickly told them he didn't, and followed, not saying a word as Ray and Michael started talking excitedly about being transferred. It wasn't that special, thought Gavin, who had already transferred plenty of times.
"What about you Gavin? Do you think it's going to be difficult?" Michael asked, looking back towards the younger boy, who seemed surprised that he was talking to him at all.
"Well, it probably won't be that hard..." Gavin honestly wasn't sure what to say other then that, so he just left it. This seemed to make sense to Michael though, as he slowed his pace to he and Ray were flanking Gavin.
"So, Gavin, you play Halo?"
"Who doesn't?" Gavin replied to Rays question, shifting his bag nervously. This caused Michael to laugh quietly, glancing at Ray.
"It's hard to think that you're a year older then us. You seem pretty cool!" Michael said, and Gavin felt like grinning. He had never heard anyone say that to him, it had always been that he was too calm for his age, and should try and stop being so nerdy and get some friends.
"Thanks Michael. You two are pretty cool for being a year younger." Gavin was pleased that he was able to formulate a good response, as they exited the front doors. They received a few strange look from the seniors, who were on lunch, as they approached Ray's car.
"You don't have your American license, do you?" Michael asked suddenly as Ray opened the trunk for their bags. Gavin shook his head, his face burning from all the people staring at him. He hated all the attention.
"No, I have mine in the U.K, but my parents wanted me to be cultured, so they send me here for schooling, and I go home in the summer, which means that there isn't much of a reason. I get enough from my job for bus fairs and lunches." Gavin knew he shouldn't have gone that far into detail, but couldn't stop himself. Thankfully, Ray and Michael both looked interested.
"What's it like in the UK? I've never been, but I was thinking of going sometime in the future. It seems like a cool place!"
"It's defiantly cold, that's for sure." Gavin joked, wanting almost immediately to take it back, but Ray laughed lightly, starting the car.
"Yeah, probably not as nice as Austen, huh?" Gavin nodded, and continued to explain.
"It's quite a bit different, in the UK, we drive on the other side of the road!" Michael nodded from the passenger seat, fiddling on his phone.
"And you have to pay for a TV license. Wish I could bunce whoever made that a law..."
"Bunce? What's that mean?" Michael asked, and Gavin's face heated. He knew that he should work on his slang, but that's what he would use with his friend Dan back in the UK. He hadn't been able to shake the habit yet.
"Er, it means to punch something..." Michael and Ray seemed amused like this, and with horrible accents, started joking around about 'buncing' different things.
"There's plenty of other slang terms that my friend Dan and I made up, like gubbins." This one made Michael roar with laughter, demanding to know what it meant.
"Stuff, basically." Michael laughed harder at this, and went back to joking about buncing some gubbins. Gavin grinned at this. Usually, if people were laughing around him, they were teasing him. But this time, it was joking with him, something that didn't happen often.
They arrived at Ray's house a few minutes later. It was a cosy place, with a basement that was basically a gamers heaven. There was different poster on every wall, shelves of games of every genre. Gavin looked around, grinning. He would give anything to live here. Not that he wasn't happy with his own life. He had two loving parents with enough money to live without struggle. Ray had gone upstairs for snacks, leaving Michael and Gavin alone in the basement. Gavin was silent, standing awkwardly near the door.
"You going to sit down?" Michael asked, an amused tone in his voice. Gavin quickly sat on the large sofa by the tv, feeling silly. Why was he so nervous around a bunch of kids a year younger then him.
"So... Favourite game?" Michael said suddenly, causing Gavin to jump.
"Er... I don't know, I have a few. You?" He replied, turning to look at the younger boy, who shrugged.
"Pretty much the same. There are plenty of games out there." Gavin nodded, Ray coming down the stairs with a bowl of chips and a couple bottles of water.
"So, you two getting to know each other?" Ray laughed, setting the bowl on the coffee table, plopping on the couch next to Gavin.
"Yeah, totally." Michael replied, sarcasm thick in his voice. "It's like talking to a butterfly! Honestly dude, you need to learn to talk to people!" Gavin smirked, shrugging.
"Sorry." He said quickly, causing Ray to laugh.
"You don't have to say sorry for that dude, it's just a joke. If you're going to be hanging around us, you're going to have to learn to, one, talk more, and two, you're going to have to learn when we're joking, and when we're not. M'kay?" He said, throwing a controller at Gavin and Michael, before getting up and popping the disc in the Xbox. They were playing for hours before Michael had to go home. Gavin had gotten used to talking with the two of them, and could even say that he wasn't feeling that awkward anymore. Maybe he could even consider them friends. Gavin left at the same time, as it was getting late. On the walk home, once he figured out where he was, he thought about the evening, and decided that he was actually excited for tomorrow, and working with two people he actually could talk to. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, glancing at the text.
"Hey, it's Michael." Gavin glanced around, confused. Then, he felt silly, since obviously Michael wasn't around, and quickly started to type back.
"How did u get this number?"
"I kind of stole your phone and copied down the number." Gavin shook his head, opening the front door to his house.
"Why would u do that, and when!?"
"U seemed pretty focused on the game, and I decided to grab ur phone so I could txt u later when I was bored."
"Uh, ok? Anyway, what's up?" Gavin put his phone on the counter, grabbing a package of noodles from the cupboard, starting to make noodles. He heard his phone go off a couple times, and tilting his head, went to check. Another unknown number had texted him, and he had a few texts from Michael.
"Nothing much, just waiting for dinner, you?"
"You there?"
"Text you back later, dinner."
"Hey, Michael gave me your number, don't know how he got it, but it's Ray. What's up?" Gavin quickly replied to Michaels messages, telling him that he had been cooking, then opened Ray's, still confused why the two seemed so interested in talking to him.
"Uh, nothing really, making dinner, how about you?"
"Just finished eating. Since we don't have homework, I was going to play something. You got Xbox live?" Gavin grabbed his noodles from the counter, bringing them out to the living room, putting them on the table, then turning on his TV. He didn't need to turn on his Xbox, since it was already on.
"Yeah, it's GavinoFree. You?"
"Brownman, I'll add you." Gavin grabbed his controller, accepting the invite that came in, then an invite for a three player halo game.
"Just going to wait for Michael to get back from dinner, that okay?" Was the next text he received, and Gavin sighed before typing back.
"It would be a lot easier if we were talking on Skype or something. Wouldn't have to type."
"Yeah, you got Skype?"
"Of course, you? And Michael?"
"Yeah, I'll add you, what's the name?" Gavin bolted upstairs, grabbing his laptop, before answering, after which he got a contact request from Ray, and once he accepted, a call request, which he accepted too.
"Hey, I'll add Michael once he comes back on. Just a word of warning though, he yells a lot when he's alone and gaming, sometimes he forgets that other people are in the call. And if he calls you something rude or whatever, don't take him seriously." Ray said once he answered, causing Gavin to laugh, before agreeing not to take offence at anything either of them say.
"So Gavin, I was wondering. Do you have a roommate or something, or just an entire house to yourself?"
"No, I have a roommate named Geoff, but he's in a different class then us. My dad was friends with his dad, so." Gavin shrugged, and walked out of his room, back downstairs, sitting on the couch.
"Hey, what's up?" Gavin heard Michael say suddenly, the call being picked up.
"Just waiting for you to get your ass on live, we're going to play some more Halo or something." Gavin chuckled, sipping some of the noodles that were starting to go cold.
"So what do you guys-"
"Holy fuck, is that Gavin? You work fast Ray, fucking shit." Michael cut him off, him and Ray laughing. Gavin grinned, putting his bowl down.
"Yeah, he asked what my live was, then I asked what his Skype was. Figured that would be easier to talk with while playing instead of texting." He explained, fiddling around with his controller. This answer seemed to satisfy Michael, who moved on
"So, Halo?"
"Well, if everybody's got it, we could play some minecraft?" Ray suggested, and Gavin shrugged.
"Sure, why not? You got it Gavin?"
"Yeah." Ray sent the invites to both him and Michael, making a new world. They spawned in a jungle, and quickly set to work, finding an empty space, and started to build a house. Night fell before long, and Geoff arrived back at the house, glancing at Gavin and his cold bowl of noodles, laptop close to dead.
"Uh, Gav? I was waiting for you in the parking lot? Why are you home so early? You didn't get kicked out, did you?" He questioned, and Gavin froze, thankful that Michael and Ray had gone silent. He felt like he had been caught doing something wrong by his mum.
"Sorry for not texting, and no, I didn't get kicked out. They're putting me into the smart kids program with these two other guys from my grade. I went to one of their houses once they let us go early, and I'm actually talking to them right now." Gavin glanced up at the TV, where his character was being beaten by a zombie, and quickly moved him into a hole in the ground, covering it with dirt. Geoff nodded, and walked to the kitchen, starting to make his own dinner. He came out to the living room a half hour later, two plates in his hands, with a burger and a salad on each. He set one in front of Gavin, and took the noodles back to the kitchen.
"Honestly Gav, you need to start taking care of yourself and eating more." He nagged, sitting beside him, eating his burger.
"Sorry, and I gotta go for a bit guys, I have to grab my charger, and eat some food. I'll text you when I'm done!" Ray and Michael bid him goodbye, and he hung up, closing his laptop, and setting in to eat, telling Geoff about his day excitedly.
Gavin arrived at school the next day with Geoff, and was immediately ushered into the office where Michael and Ray were already waiting.
"Hey dude, what took you so long?" Michael greeted, as Ray nodded in his direction. Gavin waved at them both, and stood waiting by the door. One of the senior teachers came out of the office, three text books in hand.
"Hello boys!" He said, dropping the pile of text books on the counter, sliding each towards a different one of them. "I'm going to be your new teacher for the rest of the year. The deal is, you keep your marks up, and we let you work where you want." The teacher seemed quite calm, and seemed like he wanted to be friendly with the students, but not have them think of him as a friend. Gavin saw Michael lean over to Ray, whispering something in his ear, causing him to chuckle under his breath. The teacher seemed to think they were whispering about Gavin, and honestly, Gavin thought so himself until the teacher asked the other two to share what was being said.
"Well, first off, I said that this year was going be good, cause we're going at my house, right Gav?" Michael grinned at Gavin, who broke into a smile as well.
"If you want to, I don't want to intrude." The teacher seemed pleased with this, and went on explaining, while Gavin's eyes started wandering around the office. He hadn't been in this office much, as he tended to stay out of fights, and just generally not sign up for anything either, because last time he did, the club didn't go far, everyone quit.
"Alright, so ready to get to work?" Gavin nodded, glancing at Ray and Michael, who both nodded also. The teacher handed them their books, telling them the pages they needed to do, and sent them to one of the unused classrooms. They needed to stay in school for first few weeks, to make sure they could all work well together, and still excel at their work. Gavin led the small group of three to the classroom, and sat at one of the random tables, opening his textbook silently. Ray and Michael chattered on, still talking about things Gavin didn't know about. Ray turned to Gavin, and started asking him about different things about his life. Gavin answered the questions curtly, still working. He finished it about a half hour later, glancing over at Ray and Michael, who were also almost finished.
"Maybe we still need harder things..." Gavin mumbled to himself, pulling his phone out, playing a random game. Ray nodded absentmindedly, focusing on his work now. Gavin yawned, rubbing his eyes. Maybe he had stayed up too late last night. But it was because, maybe, he was actually getting friends here, which; besides Geoff; didn't happen much. Gavin grinned, quickly hiding his face from the others, burying his face in the book.
"Hey Gav, Ray and I were going to hang out at my house after school, get a study room set up, and place some video games. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come hang out?" Gavin glanced up, smiling.
"Sure, if you want!"
"Of course! We're friends now, right?" Gavin broke into another smile.
"Of course."