initiation

                                    

                                          
mood: doing alright - queen
                          
the first two periods dragged on for ben, mostly because he was waiting to see joe and meet his friends. he was incredibly nervous, what if his friends hated him? what if they were weird? he couldn't pay attention in class, not that it mattered anyway. ben was good at school, but he hated it. he hated it less in america, but in england, it was the worst. he was bullied because of the lack of girls he had. throughout his whole high school experience, he had never had a girlfriend, or really taken any interest in any girls. people hated him for it.
                          
what he didn't understand though is why they hated him. what did his love life have to do with anyone else but himself? it wasn't that he didn't want a girlfriend, because he did. but he didn't know wether he actually wanted one, or wether he just wanted the bullying to stop.
                          
first break came and he headed through the c-block to find joe and his friends. butterflies built up a swarm of emotions that were sent throughout his body. he was scared, but he was also overthinking things. so he told himself that he needed to get over it and suck it up. so he did.
                          
he found joe, sitting underneath a tree, some book in his hands and his legs outstretched and crossed in front of him, looking as beautiful as always. he didn't want to disturb his reading, so he went and sat next to him instead. joe didn't look up from his book, instead he hung his left arm around ben's shoulders. ben didn't mind, he didn't mind at all. he took advantage of joe's affection and leant his head on joe's shoulder, closing his eyes, indulging in what he has.
                          
being next to joe made him regret not moving to america sooner. it made him regret ever wanting a girlfriend. it made him regret wanting anyone other than joe. 
                          
'who's this, joe?' two boys and a girl approached the two lovebirds, nestled under the tree. one of them looked very familiar...
                          
'hey, it's ben! hey man!' that's who it was. rami malek, the kid who helped him to reception on his first day.
                          
'hey rami.' ben made an effort to smile, although he was scared shitless. joe broke his silence.
                          
'you two know each other?' joe looked surprised. ben disregarded the people and brought his lips to joe's cheek.
                          
'yeah, we met.' joe chuckled a little, still confused. 
                          
'ah, babe, this is lucy and gwil.' joe introduced ben to the others, gesturing to them respectively. they all smiled at each other, and they sat down in front of the boys.
                          
'ben, you have beautiful eyes.' lucy spoke up, kindly. rami nudged her in the side, clearly annoyed.
                          
'thank you?' ben awkwardly responded, what was he meant to say to that?
                          
'don't go shy on me again love, it's true.' joe gripped ben's chin, leaning in to kiss his lips.
                          
'so are you guys like...?' gwilym interrupted their kiss. joe sighed.
                          
'yes gwil, we are like-' and joe finally kissed ben, finally. it had been mere hours, too long.
                          
'ah ok..' gwil trailed off, he looked kind of sad. ben and his angelic heart hoped he was okay, and that he hadn't done anything to upset him, that was a big fear of his. he didn't want to make people sad.
                          
'it's cute, you guys are cute.' rami added, looking genuinely happy, snaking an arm around lucy's waist, that made sense now.
                          
'thanks rami.' joe stuck a lollipop in his mouth. purple again, the superior flavour.
                          
they all engaged in a pool of small talk, ben making an effort to join in. they all seemed nice, especially lucy, she was sweet, he saw what rami could see in her. he had a feeling they were going to become good friends. after around ten minutes, joe left for the bathroom, leaving the three to socialise, to ben's steadily decreasing disappointment.
                          
joe didn't come back, however that didn't bother ben. he had probably gone to class early. speaking of which, they all went their seperate ways to their lockers to get ready for third period. ben made his way to his locker. he opened it up and found a folded piece of scrap paper on top of his books. it read:

                          
baby,
                          
i'm bored of school, i went home.
                          
be available from six tonight. don't bother dressing up, you'll look beautiful either way.
                          
i'll pick you up.
                          
love,
                          
angel xx
                          
ben's heart skipped a beat, literally. he thought he was dying, but after a few deep breaths, he was ok.
                          
joe made ben feel things. indescribably incredible things. every time he saw him, he found something new to awe over, it was nice, comforting. so ben had to cancel whatever study he was going to, because joe was his number one, from here on out.
                          
he took the note and stuffed it into his back pocket, trying to contain the grin swiped across his face. he practically skipped to his next class. 
                          
the next two periods were.. well, dull. no joe to stare at, to admire. but second break came around, so he headed back to the tree, finding the rest of the group there already.
                          
'hey ben!' lucy called. waving, grinning.
                          
'hey man.' rami shot ben a friendly smirk.
                          
'hi.' gwil mumbled, what was wrong with this kid?
                          
'hey guys.' ben replied with a smile, he was happy he had finally found some friends, it had been a while. 
                          
they chatted for a while, bringing up all kinds of things, weekend plans, school work and sharing common interests with ben. 
                          
'ok ben, we're gonna tell you something super secret.' lucy whispered, leaning in. ben was confused, as usual.
                          
'like so secret, you can't tell anyone.' rami joined in, adding to ben's confusion, but slowly moulding into curiosity.
                          
'genuinely, seriously.' gwil showed some interest in the conversation, which was new.
                          
'we've decided to add you to our group chat.' lucy giggled, along with the boys, calling for ben to join in with them.
                          
'what's your snap bro?' rami asked, handing his phone over.
                          
'benhardy1.' 
                          
'sick, i'll add ya now.' 
                          


                          
snapchat
                          
itsramimalek has added you to 'THE BAND'
                          


                          
ben chuckled at the sight of the notification, the band?
                          
'why the band?' ben asked, amused. 
                          
'we're in a band, it's kind of lame because lucy is our drummer at the moment.' gwil filled in ben, earning a smack from lucy.
                          
'what he means is, i'm stand in. i have no idea how to play the drums, but it's not too hard to hit a cylinder with a stick.'
                          
'hey, it's pretty difficult.' ben chimed in, he'd played drums for a few years, he loved it.
                          
'you play?' rami asked.
                          
'yeah, here and there.' ben admitted, everyone else smiling.
                          
'lucy, babe, you're out. we've got a drummer.' rami teased his girl, lucy turning red in embarrassment.
                          
'fucken finally.' gwilym laughed.
                          
'really?' ben asked, he was really excited. this was gonna be fun.
                          
'yeah, course.' rami gripped him shoulder with comfort, a friendly face.
                          
'what do you all play?'
                          
'piano and voice.' rami spoke.
                          
'guitar.' gwil.
                          
'well, used to be drums..' lucy faked being annoyed, breaking her act with a laugh.
                          
'and joe?'
                          
'bass.' lucy replied.
                          
'hot.' oh my god, did he really just say that out loud? shit.
                          
rami and lucy laughed as ben clapped a hand over his mouth. gwil didn't, he glared.
                          
then the day went on, and six o'clock was getting closer and closer.