Oliver Burns

Making friends

“Why must we start with math of all subjects?” Oliver groaned as he dragged himself out of his bed with only fifteen minutes until his class.

“Because God hates us,” Ethan responded, already dressed and putting on earrings.

“I see no reason as to why God would dislike me. I’m the best,” Oliver said and smiled as Ethan burst out laughing.

“Indeed you are, but God’s a b***h,” Ethan said through giggles.

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Oliver snarked. The moment the words left his mouth he wanted to take it back, as Ethan’s face fell and he suddenly stopped laughing, seemingly closing off.

“I’m sorry-” Oliver rushed to say, but Ethan just shook his head and gave Oliver a tight smile.

“I’m gonna head to math. See you there Ollie,” Ethan said, shrugging his backpack on and walking out.

Oliver didn’t know what had just happened, but he didn’t have time to worry, still needing to pack his bag for school and rush to math class.

He was still doing his tie when the bell rang, causing him to abandon the tie and grab his still-open bag from the floor, running to math class. In his hurry, however, he crashed headfirst into someone, causing them both to fall over and the contents of his bag to spill out.

“I am so sorry! Are you okay?” a soft, almost musical voice said in concern, and Oliver looked up to see a girl with coffee-like skin, dark and curly hair, and deep brown eyes. She was wearing her school uniform, which unlike his was tucked in and pristine. The girl was already back on the ground to pick up the books that fell out of his bag when Oliver’s brain finally started to function and he grabbed the pens strone about on the floor.

“I’m fine. Are you okay though?” Oliver asked once they finished gathering all his belongings.

“I’m fine, but I’m running late to math class,” the girl said, straightening out her already perfect skirt.

“Me too. I actually have no idea where math class is,” the laugh that the girl let out at his comment rang out like a soft bell. Oliver liked her laugh.

“I’ll take you there,” the girl said, handing Oliver a stack of books that he quickly put back in his bag. As they walked down the hall, Emily told Oliver all about the history of the castle-like building. She went into excessive detail on the agriculture of the school, and Oliver guessed that she was an earth elemental.

The math teacher wasn’t pleased with them when the two walked into her class five minutes late.

“Miss Green, Mr. Burns, could you two explain why you are late?” the teacher said in a stern and cold tone, which sent shivers down Oliver’s spine.

Before Oliver could respond, the girl explained that he didn’t know where the class was and that she was ‘so sorry for the delay.’ The teacher glared at her, but eventually sighed and told them to take a seat.

“Thanks,” Oliver whispered to the girl as he sat down behind her and next to Ethan.

“Don’t worry about it,” she flashed him a smile and then turned about to take notes.

Ethan poked Oliver with a pen. “Since when were you friends with Emily?’

“Since she helped me find class. Are you okay? You sorta rushed out of our room this morning.” A light blush spread into Ethan’s cheeks, and he nodded.

“Just tired I guess,” he muttered. Oliver didn’t believe him, but he decided to not say anything. Instead, he pretended to focus on class, passing Ethan a note reading ‘Is there a football team?’

Ethan chuckled at the note and quickly responded.

‘You want to join the football team? Gross.’

‘f**k you.’

‘There’s tryouts today. I was going to go make fun of them but I suppose I can cheer you on instead.’

Oliver looked over Ethan’s sentence and then smirked to himself.

‘Just for that, you’re trying out with me.’

Ethan seemed to be fixated on the words at the bottom of the page as if he was hoping they weren’t there. Finally, he picked up his pen.

‘No.’

“Yes,” Oliver whispered, just as the bell rang. “And since we don’t have a class for the next hour, we’re going to practice.”

“I. Hate. You,” Ethan growled, his voice dripping with venom, but Oliver could see that Ethan was trying to suppress a smile.

Oliver rolled his eyes dramatically and dragged Ethan from the desk, pulling the shorter boy after him until he found the football court, which seemed deserted.

“So, how much do you know about football?” Oliver asked, kicking the ball on the ground into the air and bouncing it on his knees.

“That it sucks?” Ethan said, crossing his arms. Oliver kicked the ball at him, causing Ethan to bring his arms to his face, as if on instinct. The ball hit his knees.

“You’re supposed to kick it,” Oliver said, walking closer to Ethan as his hands fell to his sides, and his face flushed red. Ethan stared at Oliver, seemingly in shock. Oliver made a kicking motion, and Ethan’s eyes widened in understanding. He kicked the ball, which slowly rolled to Oliver, who caught it and smiled.

They kicked the ball between each other, Ethan getting more confident as the game went on, his kicks gaining strength. The back and forth quickly turned into a proper one-on-one game of football. Oliver won, but Ethan got a few goals in, and within half an hour he was laughing and fully invested. When the bell rang, both of them were upset to end the game. They were still on an adrenaline high while they walked to their next class.

“Okay, I admit that was fun,” Ethan said, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Oliver threw his arm around Ethan’s shoulders. “You were pretty good Roberts. Maybe you should join the team.”

“It wasn’t that fun,” Ethan said, and Oliver just rolled his eyes.

“Sure, whatever you say.”