Everything is Weirder in High School
Everything is Weirder in High School
Singer/Marshall
Author: me, zombiezoe
rating: pg/pg-13 for mild swearing
Author's notes: this fic was beta'd by the wonderful worldonstringer and approved by ahomegirlslife
Alex Marshall wasn’t well known around the school. He was shy, quiet, and mostly just an introvert. He kept to himself in class and when asked to answer a question, he would mumble the answer quietly and then hunch back over his notebook. Alex Marshall did not have an issue with being invisible. In fact, he preferred being unnoticed.
The day that things changed for Alex Marshall, was the day the new student arrived at his first period homeroom. The late bells had already rung and every student was in their seat and chatting quietly amongst themselves. Alex Marshall was in the far left corner of the class, right next to Alex Johnson, one of his sometimes-less-than-friendly acquaintances. Alex Johnson sat quietly and drummed the desk with his fingers, setting out some sort of beat in his head. Alex Marshall watched his fingers for a moment and then turned back to his notebook. He stared at his page. The only thing written on it was his name and the date in the upper right-hand corner.
The door to the classroom opened and every student looked up to see who was entering the room. A small boy appeared in the doorway. He stood awkwardly, fiddling with the hem of his white shirt. Marshall stared as the boy cautiously walked towards the teacher. He handed the teacher a yellow slip. Mr. Baker studied the note carefully and looked up at the boy.
“Okay, everyone, we have a new student. His name is Alexander DeLeon.” The class was silent. “Okay, Alexander…where can I put you? How about I cluster you with the other two Alexes back there? Boys, raise your hands.” Alex Johnson and Alex Marshall both raised their hands. The only empty seat was the one right in front of Alex Marshall. Alexander walked quietly to his seat. He stopped and smiled weakly at Alex Marshall before sitting down.
Alex Marshall did not know what to think. His thoughts were a combination of “it’s obvious he straightened his hair” and “wow, he’s really cute”. Alex Marshall did not look up the whole class period, in fear that he might stare at the cute Alexander sitting in front of him and that the cute Alexander would catch him staring and Alex Marshall would scare him off. Instead, the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall stared at his notebook and doodled the whole homeroom period.
The cute Alexander from homeroom did not have any classes with Alex Marshall up until lunch. Alex Marshall was slightly happy and slightly disappointed by this. At lunch, Alex Marshall sat by himself on a bench behind the library building. He usually did not eat at lunch so he would sit and read or doodle to pass the time. And of course, as luck would have it, the very cute Alexander walked up to the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall and grinned broadly.
“Hi,” he greeted. Alex Marshall looked up at Alexander and smiled timidly.
“Hi,” he replied softly. Alexander sat next to Alex Marshall.
“So, your name is Alex too, huh?” Alex Marshall nodded but did not look at Alexander. They stayed silent longer than Alex Marshall was comfortable with.
“Where are you from?” Alex Marshall asked quietly.
Alexander looked up at the boy sitting next to him. “I’m from Vegas, I just switched schools.”
“Why?” Alex Marshall asked, confused.
“I was always getting picked on and stuff and my mom got tired of it.” Alexander looked down at his shoes. Alex Marshall knew that meant that Alexander’s guard was up. There was something more to this story than he was telling the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall but he wasn’t going to admit it. At least, not so soon. Alex Marshall decided not to press the issue. “Oh, I see…”
Alexander looked up at him and grinned. The metal in his mouth shone brightly from the sun. It made Alex Marshall smile.
“So, what exactly are you doing over here by yourself?” The cute Alexander asked.
“Oh, nothing. Just reading.”
“Reading what?”
“The Moon Is Down, by John Steinbeck.”
“Oh, what’s it about?”
“Nazi-occupied Norway.”
“That sounds interesting. Tell me more?”
Alex Marshall was taken by surprise. No one was ever interested in him, let alone what he was reading. For the rest of the lunch period, Alex Marshall explained the plot of the story and the to the very cute and very intrigued Alexander.
Over the course of a few months, Alex Marshall and Alexander DeLeon became very good friends. Even the sometimes-less-than-friendly Alex Johnson had warmed up to the very cute and very hyperactive Alexander. They had decided that, to make life easier for the three of them, they would call Alex Marshall just Marshall, Alexander would be called ‘Singer’ for the sheer fact that he could sing like an angel (in Marshall’s opinion, anyway), and Alex Johnson would become just Johnson.
It was the day before Christmas break would officially start and Marshall and Singer sat together in the library, quietly talking to each other while browsing through the books at lunch.
“So, I was thinking that we need to hang out during the break.” Singer stated as he followed Marshall. Marshall smiled.
“Yeah, we do. But what do you want to do?” Marshall stopped and pulled out a book from the shelf to examine.
“I was thinking that maybe tonight or tomorrow night you could like, stay over or something.”
Marshall froze for a second and then smiled at Singer. “Yeah, maybe tonight.”
Singer grinned and continued to follow Marshall up to the checkout counter.
When Marshall got home that afternoon, he asked his mom if he could stay at a friend’s house.
“Sure, what friend?” Mrs. Marshall asked as she folded the towels that had just been pulled out of the drier.
“Alex…DeLeon. He’s the one that switched schools.”
His mom nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I just need you to find out where he lives so I can drop you off, okay?”
Marshall nodded.
He made his way up the stairs, mostly excited but also slightly nervous. Marshall’s crush on Singer had not gone away since the first day they met. On the contrary, it had grown to the point that Marshall could not get Singer off of his mind. Marshall made the effort everyday to not sound like a dumbass or admit something that he might not want to admit in the spew of word vomit that came out of his mouth in every conversation he and Alex DeLeon had.
Marshall appeared at Alex DeLeon’s doorstep about half-an-hour later, a backpack slung over his shoulder. Singer smiled at his friend and let him in.
“Hey, dude. Welcome to my…humble abode.”
Marshall grinned. “Dude, don’t even try the big words with me, we both know you have a C in English.”
Singer grinned and lightly punched Marshall’s shoulder. “’kay, jerk. Let’s go upstairs to my room.”
Marshall rolled his eyes when he saw the condition of Singer’s room. “You know, you always complain about your mom being super picky about stuff like this and yet.”
Singer smiled and flopped onto his bed. “Shut up,” he said and stuck his tongue out.
Marshall smiled. “Where is your mom, anyway?”
“She and my dad went out. They do this date night thing every once in a while. And my brother and sister are staying with our grandma. So we have the house to ourselves until at least eleven or so.” Marshall glanced at the clock. It was only six. He tried to keep his mind off of the things that they could do in those five hours. He turned to Singer who was stretching on his bed. Marshall averted his eyes from the strip of skin showing from where Singer’s shirt had ridden up. “Well, what do you want to do?”
Marshall thought about the many things he wanted to do. “I don’t know.”
Singer sat up on his bed. “We can watch TV downstairs if you want.”
Marshall shrugged and the two boys made their way downstairs.
Two hours later, the two Alexes sat downstairs watching the last fifteen minutes of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. Marshall sat on the couch and Singer was sprawled out on his back on the floor.
“I’m hungry.” Singer announced once the show had ended.
Marshall laughed. “Dude, when are you not?”
Singer shrugged. “Good question. Let’s get food.”
Marshall sat on the counter while he watched Alex DeLeon dig through his fridge for food.
“We have sandwich stuff, takeout, pizza, string cheese, I’m sure we have pizza Hot Pockets in the freezer-”
“Singer, I’m lactose intolerant, bro.”
Singer smiled sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“You make something for yourself and I’ll go look in your pantry.” Marshall hopped off of the counter and opened the pantry to find something edible and lactose-free. Marshall heard the microwave start and felt Singer hook his chin over Marshall’s shoulder.
“Make any decisions?”
“I’ll make a Cup of Noodles thing.” Marshall felt heat creep to his cheeks from Singer’s close proximity to him.
“Okay, as soon as I’m done making my Hot Pocket.” The microwave dinged and Singer made an excited noise and scurried over to his cooked Hot Pocket. Marshall smiled to himself and grabbed a cup of Cup of Noodles.
The two boys ate in Singer’s room while listening to music. It was almost nine and they didn’t know what to do.
“So, why exactly are we listening to Justin Timberlake?” Marshall asked.
Singer rolled over on his side and set his plate on the ground in front of where Marshall sat. “Because Justin Timberlake is fucking awesome.”
Marshall smiled and rolled his eyes. “You would have a crush on him.”
“Shut the fuck up, I don’t have a crush on him.”
Marshall was surprised at how violently Singer had reacted to his statement. “Chill, bro. I was joking.”
Singer looked at him hard. Marshall looked down at the floor.
“I’m sorry, it’s just. Well. It’s complicated.” Singer rolled over onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. The two boys stayed silent and Marshall went back to slurping his noodles quietly.
“…what’s so complicated, exactly?” Marshall asked after a good five minutes of silence.
Singer sighed but didn’t turn his gaze away from the ceiling. “Remember when we first met? And I told you that I switched schools because I was being picked on?”
Marshall nodded even though Singer was not looking at him. “Well, I was bullied at school because…well, a lot of people thought I was gay.”
“Oh,” Marshall didn’t really know what to say.
“Yeah.” More silence followed.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way when I ask but…well, are you? …gay, I mean.” Marshall asked awkwardly.
Singer turned his head but did not meet Marshall’s eyes. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
Marshall picked quietly at the carpet. “Because it’s cool if you are, I mean. I’m. Well, y’know. Not exactly the straightest guy out there.”
Singer giggled softly. “I assumed. I mean, you grew up with how many sisters? And you’re very…clean. Anyone would assume you’re at least metro or something.”
Marshall smiled and met eyes with DeLeon. “Well, have you ever…I don’t know, thought about other guys or been with a guy or?” he asked.
Singer turned his head and looked back at the ceiling. Marshall knew he was putting his guard up again.
Marshall got up onto his knees and made his way to Singer. “Hey, dude,” he said and shook Singer’s leg, “you can talk to me. You can trust me.”
Singer looked at him and saw the complete sincerity in Marshall’s eyes. He sighed and sat up to make room for Marshall to sit next to him on the bed. “I can’t get a grip on this whole sexuality thing. I date girls but most of the time it doesn’t feel right.”
Marshall nodded for him to continue.
“And when I catch myself thinking about a guy’s cute smile or laugh, I freak out.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m not supposed to be thinking about stuff like that but it feels more natural than thinking about girls in general.”
Marshall nodded. He’d gone through this the previous year and it took him almost six months to come to terms with his sexuality. He understood how Singer felt. “You know something?”
“What?” Singer asked.
“The first day you walked into homeroom, I think I had a mini heart attack.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought you were so damn cute. And I refused to let myself look at you the whole period because I didn’t want to do something stupid and scare you off.”
Singer looked at Marshall and grinned. “You thought I was cute?”
“Still do.”
Singer smiled and quickly pressed a small kiss to the corner of Marshall’s mouth. Marshall felt his face heat up and noticed that Singer’s cheeks were slightly pink as well.
“That felt…really, really right.” Singer said quietly. Marshall smiled and touched Singer’s cheek to look at him.
“You know what?” Marshall leaned in and pressed a kiss to Singer’s lips and smiled. Singer blinked and broke out into a huge smile. “It felt right for me too.”
Singer/Marshall
Author: me, zombiezoe
rating: pg/pg-13 for mild swearing
Author's notes: this fic was beta'd by the wonderful worldonstringer and approved by ahomegirlslife
Alex Marshall wasn’t well known around the school. He was shy, quiet, and mostly just an introvert. He kept to himself in class and when asked to answer a question, he would mumble the answer quietly and then hunch back over his notebook. Alex Marshall did not have an issue with being invisible. In fact, he preferred being unnoticed.
The day that things changed for Alex Marshall, was the day the new student arrived at his first period homeroom. The late bells had already rung and every student was in their seat and chatting quietly amongst themselves. Alex Marshall was in the far left corner of the class, right next to Alex Johnson, one of his sometimes-less-than-friendly acquaintances. Alex Johnson sat quietly and drummed the desk with his fingers, setting out some sort of beat in his head. Alex Marshall watched his fingers for a moment and then turned back to his notebook. He stared at his page. The only thing written on it was his name and the date in the upper right-hand corner.
The door to the classroom opened and every student looked up to see who was entering the room. A small boy appeared in the doorway. He stood awkwardly, fiddling with the hem of his white shirt. Marshall stared as the boy cautiously walked towards the teacher. He handed the teacher a yellow slip. Mr. Baker studied the note carefully and looked up at the boy.
“Okay, everyone, we have a new student. His name is Alexander DeLeon.” The class was silent. “Okay, Alexander…where can I put you? How about I cluster you with the other two Alexes back there? Boys, raise your hands.” Alex Johnson and Alex Marshall both raised their hands. The only empty seat was the one right in front of Alex Marshall. Alexander walked quietly to his seat. He stopped and smiled weakly at Alex Marshall before sitting down.
Alex Marshall did not know what to think. His thoughts were a combination of “it’s obvious he straightened his hair” and “wow, he’s really cute”. Alex Marshall did not look up the whole class period, in fear that he might stare at the cute Alexander sitting in front of him and that the cute Alexander would catch him staring and Alex Marshall would scare him off. Instead, the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall stared at his notebook and doodled the whole homeroom period.
The cute Alexander from homeroom did not have any classes with Alex Marshall up until lunch. Alex Marshall was slightly happy and slightly disappointed by this. At lunch, Alex Marshall sat by himself on a bench behind the library building. He usually did not eat at lunch so he would sit and read or doodle to pass the time. And of course, as luck would have it, the very cute Alexander walked up to the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall and grinned broadly.
“Hi,” he greeted. Alex Marshall looked up at Alexander and smiled timidly.
“Hi,” he replied softly. Alexander sat next to Alex Marshall.
“So, your name is Alex too, huh?” Alex Marshall nodded but did not look at Alexander. They stayed silent longer than Alex Marshall was comfortable with.
“Where are you from?” Alex Marshall asked quietly.
Alexander looked up at the boy sitting next to him. “I’m from Vegas, I just switched schools.”
“Why?” Alex Marshall asked, confused.
“I was always getting picked on and stuff and my mom got tired of it.” Alexander looked down at his shoes. Alex Marshall knew that meant that Alexander’s guard was up. There was something more to this story than he was telling the ever-so-awkward Alex Marshall but he wasn’t going to admit it. At least, not so soon. Alex Marshall decided not to press the issue. “Oh, I see…”
Alexander looked up at him and grinned. The metal in his mouth shone brightly from the sun. It made Alex Marshall smile.
“So, what exactly are you doing over here by yourself?” The cute Alexander asked.
“Oh, nothing. Just reading.”
“Reading what?”
“The Moon Is Down, by John Steinbeck.”
“Oh, what’s it about?”
“Nazi-occupied Norway.”
“That sounds interesting. Tell me more?”
Alex Marshall was taken by surprise. No one was ever interested in him, let alone what he was reading. For the rest of the lunch period, Alex Marshall explained the plot of the story and the to the very cute and very intrigued Alexander.
Over the course of a few months, Alex Marshall and Alexander DeLeon became very good friends. Even the sometimes-less-than-friendly Alex Johnson had warmed up to the very cute and very hyperactive Alexander. They had decided that, to make life easier for the three of them, they would call Alex Marshall just Marshall, Alexander would be called ‘Singer’ for the sheer fact that he could sing like an angel (in Marshall’s opinion, anyway), and Alex Johnson would become just Johnson.
It was the day before Christmas break would officially start and Marshall and Singer sat together in the library, quietly talking to each other while browsing through the books at lunch.
“So, I was thinking that we need to hang out during the break.” Singer stated as he followed Marshall. Marshall smiled.
“Yeah, we do. But what do you want to do?” Marshall stopped and pulled out a book from the shelf to examine.
“I was thinking that maybe tonight or tomorrow night you could like, stay over or something.”
Marshall froze for a second and then smiled at Singer. “Yeah, maybe tonight.”
Singer grinned and continued to follow Marshall up to the checkout counter.
When Marshall got home that afternoon, he asked his mom if he could stay at a friend’s house.
“Sure, what friend?” Mrs. Marshall asked as she folded the towels that had just been pulled out of the drier.
“Alex…DeLeon. He’s the one that switched schools.”
His mom nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I just need you to find out where he lives so I can drop you off, okay?”
Marshall nodded.
He made his way up the stairs, mostly excited but also slightly nervous. Marshall’s crush on Singer had not gone away since the first day they met. On the contrary, it had grown to the point that Marshall could not get Singer off of his mind. Marshall made the effort everyday to not sound like a dumbass or admit something that he might not want to admit in the spew of word vomit that came out of his mouth in every conversation he and Alex DeLeon had.
Marshall appeared at Alex DeLeon’s doorstep about half-an-hour later, a backpack slung over his shoulder. Singer smiled at his friend and let him in.
“Hey, dude. Welcome to my…humble abode.”
Marshall grinned. “Dude, don’t even try the big words with me, we both know you have a C in English.”
Singer grinned and lightly punched Marshall’s shoulder. “’kay, jerk. Let’s go upstairs to my room.”
Marshall rolled his eyes when he saw the condition of Singer’s room. “You know, you always complain about your mom being super picky about stuff like this and yet.”
Singer smiled and flopped onto his bed. “Shut up,” he said and stuck his tongue out.
Marshall smiled. “Where is your mom, anyway?”
“She and my dad went out. They do this date night thing every once in a while. And my brother and sister are staying with our grandma. So we have the house to ourselves until at least eleven or so.” Marshall glanced at the clock. It was only six. He tried to keep his mind off of the things that they could do in those five hours. He turned to Singer who was stretching on his bed. Marshall averted his eyes from the strip of skin showing from where Singer’s shirt had ridden up. “Well, what do you want to do?”
Marshall thought about the many things he wanted to do. “I don’t know.”
Singer sat up on his bed. “We can watch TV downstairs if you want.”
Marshall shrugged and the two boys made their way downstairs.
Two hours later, the two Alexes sat downstairs watching the last fifteen minutes of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. Marshall sat on the couch and Singer was sprawled out on his back on the floor.
“I’m hungry.” Singer announced once the show had ended.
Marshall laughed. “Dude, when are you not?”
Singer shrugged. “Good question. Let’s get food.”
Marshall sat on the counter while he watched Alex DeLeon dig through his fridge for food.
“We have sandwich stuff, takeout, pizza, string cheese, I’m sure we have pizza Hot Pockets in the freezer-”
“Singer, I’m lactose intolerant, bro.”
Singer smiled sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“You make something for yourself and I’ll go look in your pantry.” Marshall hopped off of the counter and opened the pantry to find something edible and lactose-free. Marshall heard the microwave start and felt Singer hook his chin over Marshall’s shoulder.
“Make any decisions?”
“I’ll make a Cup of Noodles thing.” Marshall felt heat creep to his cheeks from Singer’s close proximity to him.
“Okay, as soon as I’m done making my Hot Pocket.” The microwave dinged and Singer made an excited noise and scurried over to his cooked Hot Pocket. Marshall smiled to himself and grabbed a cup of Cup of Noodles.
The two boys ate in Singer’s room while listening to music. It was almost nine and they didn’t know what to do.
“So, why exactly are we listening to Justin Timberlake?” Marshall asked.
Singer rolled over on his side and set his plate on the ground in front of where Marshall sat. “Because Justin Timberlake is fucking awesome.”
Marshall smiled and rolled his eyes. “You would have a crush on him.”
“Shut the fuck up, I don’t have a crush on him.”
Marshall was surprised at how violently Singer had reacted to his statement. “Chill, bro. I was joking.”
Singer looked at him hard. Marshall looked down at the floor.
“I’m sorry, it’s just. Well. It’s complicated.” Singer rolled over onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. The two boys stayed silent and Marshall went back to slurping his noodles quietly.
“…what’s so complicated, exactly?” Marshall asked after a good five minutes of silence.
Singer sighed but didn’t turn his gaze away from the ceiling. “Remember when we first met? And I told you that I switched schools because I was being picked on?”
Marshall nodded even though Singer was not looking at him. “Well, I was bullied at school because…well, a lot of people thought I was gay.”
“Oh,” Marshall didn’t really know what to say.
“Yeah.” More silence followed.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way when I ask but…well, are you? …gay, I mean.” Marshall asked awkwardly.
Singer turned his head but did not meet Marshall’s eyes. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
Marshall picked quietly at the carpet. “Because it’s cool if you are, I mean. I’m. Well, y’know. Not exactly the straightest guy out there.”
Singer giggled softly. “I assumed. I mean, you grew up with how many sisters? And you’re very…clean. Anyone would assume you’re at least metro or something.”
Marshall smiled and met eyes with DeLeon. “Well, have you ever…I don’t know, thought about other guys or been with a guy or?” he asked.
Singer turned his head and looked back at the ceiling. Marshall knew he was putting his guard up again.
Marshall got up onto his knees and made his way to Singer. “Hey, dude,” he said and shook Singer’s leg, “you can talk to me. You can trust me.”
Singer looked at him and saw the complete sincerity in Marshall’s eyes. He sighed and sat up to make room for Marshall to sit next to him on the bed. “I can’t get a grip on this whole sexuality thing. I date girls but most of the time it doesn’t feel right.”
Marshall nodded for him to continue.
“And when I catch myself thinking about a guy’s cute smile or laugh, I freak out.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m not supposed to be thinking about stuff like that but it feels more natural than thinking about girls in general.”
Marshall nodded. He’d gone through this the previous year and it took him almost six months to come to terms with his sexuality. He understood how Singer felt. “You know something?”
“What?” Singer asked.
“The first day you walked into homeroom, I think I had a mini heart attack.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought you were so damn cute. And I refused to let myself look at you the whole period because I didn’t want to do something stupid and scare you off.”
Singer looked at Marshall and grinned. “You thought I was cute?”
“Still do.”
Singer smiled and quickly pressed a small kiss to the corner of Marshall’s mouth. Marshall felt his face heat up and noticed that Singer’s cheeks were slightly pink as well.
“That felt…really, really right.” Singer said quietly. Marshall smiled and touched Singer’s cheek to look at him.
“You know what?” Marshall leaned in and pressed a kiss to Singer’s lips and smiled. Singer blinked and broke out into a huge smile. “It felt right for me too.”