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School was starting up again, Sophomore year. Ryan was not ready to go back to the monotony of his school life. The monotony of his home life was good enough for him, not that it wasn’t self- imposed.
Ryan was wearing his usual getup. It was hard to look at- not ugly, just hard to focus on- he had a stiff leather jacket, hand-sewn with patches declaring all sorts of opinions, a glaring red t-shirt, skinny jeans, and more belts and chains then was probably reasonable. He expressed his individuality by copying whatever his favorite bands wore. That’s punk,
dude
!
As he got on the bus, he was overwhelmed by the familiar smell of rubber and, well, teenagers. The bus ride to school was boring, middle schoolers being annoying
might
be a universal constant.
The bus pulled into the school and the doors opened, a long line of shuffling students formed. As the fresh air hit his face, Ryan thought that maybe this year could be a fresh start.
Thirty minutes later, he sat in his new English classroom, sneaking quick glances at the seat next to him, thinking what a fool he must have been.
There he was. The wrestler. The one with the long name. The only other wrestler in the county who could compete with Ryan.
But he didn’t go to Clayton High School. He went to Hudson. Did he move? Was this some sort of program?
Would they be on the same team?
Oh god
, Ryan thought,
What was his name again? Started with a “z”, yeah?
His train of thought was cut off by the teacher, “Alright, I’m going to call roll, let me know if I say your name wrong.”
Perfect.
“Ryan Aherne?”
Ryan sent her a lazy salute.
“Zul… Zulficker? Zulficker Amer?”
The wrestler boy, Zulficker, raised his hand, “Zulficker, yeah”
Zulficker!
Ryan watched him closely. They
could
be friends. If they never brought up wrestling. He didn’t know about Zulficker, but Ryan was
very
jealous of him. They were well matched, both having different strengths. They had competed against each other quite a few times in the past, with mixed results.
Zulficker tossed his long black hair behind his shoulders and glanced at Ryan, he grinned and Ryan gave a shy wave.
“Alright, it’s the first day of school so let’s start with something fun!” said the teacher- Ms. Bullara, “Icebreakers!”
Everyone groaned.
“I know, I know, I just want to get y’all to know each other, and I want to get to know you too! So, I’m going to go around the room and I want everyone to go around and say their name and favorite food. Ryan, let’s start with you!”
Curse the “A” last name!
Ryan thought, “Um.. I’m Ryan, my favorite food is probably steak.”
Ms. Bullara continued down the alphabet, “Zulficker, over to you!”
“I’m Zulficker, I like fried rice, I guess.”
“Good!” She continued to read off names.
Ryan looked at Zulficker, he didn’t
look
like a wrestler. He looked pretty skinny in his baggy clothes, but Ryan knew that he could defeat most of the team here at Clayton. He was lean and tall, he had long hair that was usually tied up in his helmet. He had ochre skin and his cheeks were dotted with pimple scars. He turned to catch Ryan looking at him and Ryan looked down at his lap, embarrassed.
“Hey, guy from wrestling,” Zulficker muttered.
“Hey, um. Guy from wrestling.” Ryan cringed.
“Oh, you got me.”
Ryan gave a half-suppressed laugh and turned to Zulficker. He was
staring
at Ryan. It was piercing.
Eye contact fanatic?
Ryan thought. He
hated
eye contact, especially with strangers. This could go horribly wrong.
Zulficker broke the silence, “So, I go here now.”
“Cool. We’re on the same team now, yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re really good, so I’m kinda glad that I’m on your side now.”
Ryan blushed, “You’re also really good. You gonna feel bad pwning your old teammates?”
Zulficker laughed, “Not really, some of them were jerks. And I don't have, like, school spirit or anything.”
“That’s fair.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Ryan wondered how much he’d have to see this guy.
“Hey what’s the rest of your schedule like?” Ryan queried.
Zulficker pulled out a piece of paper and went through his timetable. They had two other classes together, Biology and PE. Ryan advised him on teachers and fastest routes throughout the school. Ryan had Philosophy next. He took it because Dom was taking it, and it sounded pretty interesting. But it was supposed to be pretty hard. Zulficker had Spanish next. Ryan wondered if they could be friends, Zulficker seemed cool but both of them were kind of awkward.
Stop judging the social skills of strangers- especially when yours suck so hard.
Thanks brain, you’re actually helping me be less self conscious!
Was that sarcasm?
You are
literally
me.
Touche.
The bell rang and Ryan headed out. Zulficker gave a small wave goodbye as they walked out of class. He was gone in the crush of people before Ryan could even say anything. Ryan headed to Philosophy. The classroom was small and had no windows. The overhead lights were dimmed and there was a standing lamp in the corner casting a yellow glow on the class.
The teacher was sitting at his desk, “Just take a seat wherever, guys.”
Ryan shrugged and checked his schedule, the teacher’s name was Mr. Morris . He sat down at a small round table with four chairs. Dom walked in and spied Ryan, sitting down next to him.
“Hey, buddy.” He punched Ryan’s shoulder, “Whaddup?”
“Not much, how you doin’?”
“Good, good. Excited for Philosophy?”
Dom made a face, “Not excited, but optimistic.”
Ryan laughed, “That’s deep, you’re gonna ace this, huh?”
It was lunchtime, finally. Ryan had chosen a seat with his friends, Dom and Torchboy (no, Ryan did not know Torchboys real name, but the kid was obsessed with flashlights). Dom had a similar punk style to Ryan, although a little more simple. He wore a dark gray sweatshirt and patched up jeans.
Torchboy was a freshman, and it was obvious he thought the two were some of the coolest people in school. Ryan remembered middle school, where he tagged along with everything they had done, and somewhere in that, they had become good friends.
They were joking around as Dom and Ryan gave TB some high school advice. Ryan felt a tap on his shoulder and he sharply turned his head.
Zulficker looked alarmed at the sudden movement, “Hey.”
“Oh shoot, hey.”
“Could I sit here?”
Ryan glanced at Dom and TB, who shrugged, “Sure.”
Zulficker took a seat, gratefully, “Thanks, I don’t really know anyone, but I remembered you from wrestling.”
Before Ryan could respond, Dom jumped in, “Did you move schools?”
“Yeah, my brothers go to the elementary school and my family thought it would be easier if our schools were closer together.”
“Cool,” said Dom. He gave Ryan an inquisitive look and Ryan just shrugged.
“Uh, guys, this is Zulficker. Zulficker, this is Dom and Torchboy.”
“Torchboy?” Zulficker looked confused.
“I like flashlights, torches, y’know?” TB smiled.
Zulficker conceded, “Fair, fair.”
They sat in silence, all pondering TB’s fascination while TB placidly ate a sandwich.
“So,” said Dom, “Where are you from?”
Zulficker looked up, “Well, Saudi Arabia originally, actually. But my old school was just Hudson High.”
“Oh wow, cool, when did you come to the states?” Ryan asked, he hadn’t known this about Zulficker.
“I was about seven, I think. We just moved for my dad’s work and my grandparents followed us, so we decided to stay.”
“Huh. Cool,” said Dom. “There won’t be any conflicting school spirit though? From Hudson?”
Zulficker laughed and shook his head, “No, I don’t think so.”
Zulficker leaned back in his seat, combing his hair back with his fingers. He spied the logo on the back of Ryan’s jacket, “Motörhead, huh? That’s cool.”
“You like them?”
“I don’t actually listen to them that much, but I like their stuff. You like metal?”
“Love it, who are your favorite bands?”
“Well,” Zulficker was cut off by the class change bell, “Awh, man.”
“Bother, we got history together next. We can talk music on the way.”
Zulficker stood up and slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder, Ryan dapped up Domm and waved to TB, Zulficker walked beside him, “I think my favorite band at the moment is Jethro Tull.”
“Nice,” Ryan said
“Actually- this is embarrassing- I’ve been listening to a lot of the Red Hot Chili Peppers recently.”
“That is embarrassing, but don’t worry, I love the Chilis too.”
“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t,” Zulficker joked.
“Deal. So you like metal, huh? Any other genres?”
“Well metal is definitely number one, especially groove metal, but I occasionally partake in Punk and Classic Rock.”
“Ohh! What punk bands you like?” Ryan loved punk!
“Yknow, big three, Ramones, Clash and Sex Pistols,” Zulficker grinned at Ryan’s excitement.
“Nice, nice. I’m kind of a pop punk guy,” Ryan pointed to the Blink-182 patch on his jacket.
They turned into the classroom and sat next to each other. Zulficker propped up his chin on his hand and tilted his head. Ryan exhaled sharply.
“You’re a cool guy, Ryan,” Zulficker muttered.
Ryan blushed, “Thanks, you too.”
“Mhm, what’s your number?”
“Oh, uh, I’ll type it in.”
Zulficker handed his phone over. As Ryan typed in his number, his brain was screaming,
Cool wrestling guy with pretty hair wants to be friends with me! Best day ever! He must think I’m cool! I’m freaking out!!
Out loud he said, “Send me a quick text so I can save yours.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
His phone buzzed with the text and he saved the number under Zulfickers name.