Ratbags and Scallywags [bxb]

Chapter 1

We were loud, but we were excited. Since we were already nearing the end of our final term, our senior year was coming at us hard and at full swing. Mr. Hardy, bless his heart, tried numerous times to quieten us, but the bell hadn't rung yet. He was early, we were early, and ten minutes to spare was fair game. He gave in, as usual, receding to his desk and pulling out a book to pass the next ten minutes before class started. So here we all were, standing or sitting at ours or somebody else's desk, chatting and bustling with excitement.

"Oi, Rascal," Goose said, and I felt a crumpled piece of paper hit the back of my head. I shot around to glare at him before swinging my chair around, so we were sitting face to face.

"What?" I asked as I leaned forward, resting my elbow on his desk.

I looked at him with keen interest, knowing this kind of attention made him get all weird. He was a bigger guy, the awkward type. One who liked gaming and eating and yet somehow had a super attractive girlfriend. He was the only one out of our friend group to have a girlfriend. Ben was trying though. 

Goose looked uncomfortable under my stare, turning away as a bright, blotchy red blush spread across his cheeks. He stammered, "D-did you think of a way we can help Ben with his girl troubles yet?"

Ben destroyed any chance with his crush, Ikeisha, since the moment he first laid eyes on her. Not the brightest of cookies, he'd lost favour from her brother from the very beginning. Trey Hansen was from the popular crowd and didn't take kindly to Ben at all. But that was all on Ben; he'd nipped himself in the bud back then, and there really was no coming back from that.

Really, the poor sod had no hope.

Note to self: Racist humor was reprehensively, deplorably destructive towards any person of affection. Calling your half African-American, half Korean crush Blacky Chan didn't score you any favors. Sadly, Ben learned the hard way.

"You think there's any helping that miserable sod?" I asked with a scoff.

Another crumpled piece of paper hit me, at the side of my head this time. I turned to Ben, who sat glaring at me. "Coming from you," he said.

"Exactly!" I replied, twisting in my seat a little to face him. "Don't you think it makes it all the sadder if you hear it from me?"

Ben grumbled and, with a roll of his eyes, turned back to face the teacher.

He masked himself pretty well at school, especially since the Ikeisha incident, but he was pretty autistic. Crappy social skills, taking jokes way too literally, not understanding social cues, and couldn't even swallow fruit pieces in yoghurt! He really was a special sort, but he was my best friend. And maybe he was my best friend because I could be point-blank with him without getting offended at everything. A lot of these traits might've come from his dad who was like him, but times one-hundred. It just sucked that neither of them would get diagnosed.

"He's right you know," Jude said.

I turned back to see him leaning over my desk, grinning past me at Goose. His shaggy brown curls draped down his shoulders, a strange contrast to his tiny, petite size. His lashes were unusually dark and long, making it look like he wore eyeliner or mascara or something. The girls in our class often joked and called him a bottom, and while I never spoke up or said anything, looking at him next to Liam all the time made me inclined to agree.

"Hold on," I said, turning to look back at Goose, then at Jude again with disbelief. "You should be calling me a dickhead or something. Why are you agreeing? Are you egging me on?"

Jude shrugged when Liam appeared, leaning over the desk beside him. His green eyes goaded me with unparalleled intensity, making me want to flick his fat forehead.