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It was about five in the afternoon when Aaron left and my mom came home. True to his word, he did hide from her for the incident of the pop-tarts. My dad would not get home until eight and Justin probably chilled with some "friends". It must feel nice to be popular but at the same time the pressure of living up to your status kind of sucked. I know for sure that even though Justin has plenty of friends, he sometimes feels alone and that's why he hangs with Aaron and I because our friendship is something he wishes he had.

I know that dinner won't be ready for at least two more hours so I exit out of Netflix and play on my PS4. My team online were cool guys and they always had my back whenever we played. You see? That's the way it should be.

-

My mom called me for dinner and I told her I'd eat up stairs. She was going to complain on why we never spend quality time together but then Justin came through the front door and focused her attention on him, as usual. I took my meal upstairs and ate quietly as I stared at my paused game. Welcome to my life.

-

The next day was slightly better. No one bothered me and I was thankful. I never really experienced bullying before but I'm assuming that this is bullying, and it's not like I would speak up for myself because this is high school, and Aaron wouldn't either because then he would be a target, and he already has a bad home life.

During lunch, I took Aaron's phone to check my Twitter. I haven't received the WiFi password so my iPod was useless.

"Your brother isn't giving us a ride back right?" Aaron asks as I'm logging into my account.

"He's only willing to drive us to school, not back." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Typical."

I noticed my notifications blew up. Ten people followed me and kept retweeting the tweets to Austin. I laughed to myself, completely forgetting I had done that. I look at my new followers and stopped at one particular name.

andyc_

Oh my God, a cute guy just followed me. I decide to creep on his account, obviously following him back instantly. He had five thousand followers and I'm not surprised because he's hot as fuck. He was a God. No, I'm kidding. His icon is a black and white picture of himself. I'm assuming, from his surroundings, he took it in front of his house. His hair was swooped across his forehead, reaching slightly over his right stretched ear, but leaving his left ear exposed, and from the corner of his lips, you could see him smirking just a little. He wore a black tank that showed a sneak preview of his chest tattoos, and on his right arm, from the looks of it, was a finished sleeve.

Andrew Conners. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for this guy.

-

It was finally Friday and I dreaded it. It being Friday meant Freshy Friday where if you didn’t know, upper class-men take the chance and throw pennies, quarters, dimes, or batteries at you and you couldn't do shit. The school had a tradition so they wouldn’t dare break it now, and especially not for me. Luckily for Aaron he had an early dismissal due to his doctor appointment, leaving me to walk alone and try not to get murdered on my way to each class.

I managed to survive somehow throughout the day or at least that’s what I thought...

I tripped over someone's foot after eight period in the middle of the hallway and I fall face flat on the floor. Everyone starts to laugh and decides to point at me with their index fingers. Some idiot jock yells out, "Freshy!" and begins to throw pennies in my direction and I wanted to cry. You know what’s sad? The fact that Justin did not bother to help me out, instead, he stood there quietly, just watching me with his so called “friends”.

"Stop please!" I yell out, covering my face, wincing in pain because fuck, they sure learned how to aim good.

"Hmm...no!" They all laugh, throwing more loose change and I try crawling away when a jock pushed me back down with his foot, and I cried out in pain.

"Okay that's enough!" Justin finally steps in.

"Yeah yeah you're right." A jock begins to say. Oh thank God. I don’t think I can handle anything else or any more embarrassment actually. "Fucking Freshy.” Wait, what? And of course...before I know it, my hands are all covered in saliva.

Are you fucking kidding me? The only bright side is the fact that I covered my face just in time.

They soon leave and I uncover my face to reveal tears running down my face. I wipe my hands off on my jeans, trying to get rid of the disgusting saliva. I look up to see Justin walking away with his group. Wow, thanks for nothing.

-

When I got home immediately hid underneath my covers and I cried for who knows how long. I hated this. I thought high school would be fun. I thought it would be better than middle school because there’s no immature people. I thought wrong. After I’m done sobbing, I take out my iPod, deciding to tweet my feelings out.

@alanashby: my brother cares more about his popularity than helping a brother out when he’s getting bullied ha

@alanashby: i dont even know what i did to deserve this am i bad person? that must be it

@alanashby: i hate myself

I lock my iPod afterwards, placing it on my chest and I closed my eyes. I wish Aaron was here but even if he was home he would be busy. I heard a 'ding' coming from my iPod and I unlock it quickly.

NEW MESSAGE FROM

andyc_: Hey, saw your tweets man. Just know you're not alone. I'm here.

I couldn’t help but to smile a little.

alanashby: thanks...it means a lot :)

andyc_: No prob. I never got bullied but people always believed I was one cause of my appearance.

alanashby: oh sorry to hear that

andyc_:No, it’s okay. I’m Andrew, nice to meet you!

alanashby: im alan

andyc_: Haha I know. I saw you tweet Austin.

I rolled my eyes. I should have seen that coming. He’s probably a huge fan of Of Mice & Men and now he’s probably going to tell me off.

alanashby: lol yeah i hate him

andyc_: I see.

...and this is where our conversation ends, I can feel it.

I sighed, ready to turn off my iPod when I received another DM.

andyc_: It’s okay if you do. I want to be friends.

Um...I’m not dreaming, right?

andyc_: That’s if you want to. :)

You bet your ass I do.

alanashby: yeah that’ll be great

Notes

well justin sucks and hi andrew