Andrew, The New Kid

“What’s up, loser?”

I slammed my locker shut, seeing Ashley Purdy standing there yet again thinking he was cooler than everyone. “I dunno, what’s it look like?” I muttered.

“And the Queen of the Damned is prissy again!” Ashley chuckled. “You really need to learn that I’m top dog and-”

“And you need to learn to stop wanking to my fucking Tumblr, dude”, I retorted. Since my freshman year, Ashley had made it a vicious point to target me after I told him I wasn’t going to homecoming with him. I guess as one of the only girls in school who looked remotely like him and his friends, we were “supposed” to go out or something. No, Ashley was a stuck up pig I had no interest in. Technically speaking, he was a bully. I hated that word because that implied that I either didn’t or couldn’t fight back and we both knew better than that. “There’s supposed to be a new kid this year, why don’t you go pick on him?” I suggested.

Ashley grabbed my shoulder before I could walk away. “But we have so much chemistry, don’t you think?” he laughed. “Felix and Ashley. It sounds nice doesn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t breed with you if my fucking ovaries depended on it.”

He huffed and smashed his fist into a locker. I wasn’t scared. It was all for show. “Good, I didn’t want to be seen with a Pagan slut anyway.”

I laughed and slipped out of his grip. “Slut! So original, Purdy!” I called. “Maybe next week, you’ll expand your vocab and call me a whore!” I lost his glaring face in a sea of students as I walked to my first class. Luckily, it was creative writing with my best friend, Oliver. Oli had been here since late sophomore year and we’d formed a pretty quick bond. Of course, that upset a lot of the preps since the cute British guy was supposed to be theirs, right? Not when he was a stoned atheist with a penchant for designing clothes.

“Felix!” Oliver beamed. As usual, he’d saved me the desk next to his with a camo messenger bag. “I was starting to wonder if Ashley had been holding you up.”

“Not anymore than usual”, I shrugged. “You’d think he would find a real hobby.”

Oliver giggled a little. “He wasn’t aggressive was he?”

“What?” I laughed. “No, of course not.”

“Well, don’t provoke him”, Oliver whispered. “One day, you might just do or say the wrong thing and piss him off. I don’t rightly want that to happen.”

“Oli.” I gripped his hands and looked him dead in the face. “I’m fine bro.”

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise.” We had barely untangled our hands to face the board when Mr. Thomas came in with a tall, skinny, black haired guy. He was chewing on a lip ring as he stared at the class with big, shockingly blue eyes. “Heh, he almost looks as weird as us”, I whispered to Oliver. Oliver nudged my arm as Mr. Thomas introduced him.

“Class, this is Andrew Biersack. He’s just moved here from Westchester.”

“Oh, a rich kid”, I murmured to Oliver. “He’ll have fun here.”

“Felix, Oliver, I’m excusing you two from class this morning to show him the school.”

“Another desperate ploy to get us to be social”, Oliver muttered while I stood. We got our things and headed for the door with Andrew, who looked about as lost as a deer in the headlights. Once we were outside, he spoke.

“You guys can call me Andy”, he said quickly with a voice so low I wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t possessed. “And um, thanks for doing this. This place is way bigger than my old school.”

“Well, let’s get to this”, Oliver sighed.

“I’m Felix. That’s Oliver. Obviously”, I informed, following Oliver as he picked our starting direction. “Sooo...why’d you move?”

Andy turned pink. “Dad got a new job”, he answered awkwardly. Lies. Did he really think we were too stupid to know that? I brushed it off. He was new and it was unlikely he’d befriend me and Oliver so it’s not like we’d have to deal with him. We made small talk as we walked through the halls until Oliver and I saw Purdy.

“What’s he doing out of class?” I hissed.

“Fucked if I know”, Oliver whispered.

“Who?” Andy questioned. Before we had time to turn Andy down a different corridor, Ashley spotted us and strutted over.

“Babe, who’s your friend?” Ashley purred, attempting to throw an arm over me.

“This is Andy”, I said sternly, hiding behind Oliver. “He’s new.”

Ashley stared Andy up and down before smiling. “The Misfits, huh?” He mused, vaguely gesturing to a patch on Andy’s jacket. “Good band.”


Andy lit up like a light bulb. “You know them?!” He gasped.

“Know them?” Ashley grinned. “I love them! Who doesn’t?”

“This kid”, I whispered to Oliver. Ashley’s eyes snapped onto us.

“Get off my girlfriend, Sykes”, Ashley snarled.



“Go and get a girlfriend first before you say that”, I quipped.

“Babe”, Ashley whined. “Don’t do me like that!”

“I’m not doing you at all”, I snapped. “Oli, Andy, let’s go.” It was all we could do to pull Andy away but eventually he dumped Ashley to follow us.

“So...you and Ashley?”

“Are absolutely not together”, Oliver said quickly. “I don’t know what that little stunt was but he’s a liar and you’d do good to stay away from him.”

“Oli, chill”, I giggled, grabbing his hand. “But no, dude. I’d never date that scuzball.”

Andy shifted awkwardly. “He seemed kind of cool”, he mumbled.

I stared at Andy as Oliver tried holding back an argument. “Whatever”, I shrugged. “We can’t keep you from being friends with someone. Go hang out with him-”

“I’m sorry!” Andy froze with wide eyes. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you”, he stammered.

My eyebrows knitted themselves together. “Like she said, we can’t keep you from hanging out with him”, Oliver shrugged. “If you wanna hang out with a douche, that’s on you, man.”

Andy pouted and I felt bad for making him feel guilty. “Dude, just because we don’t like him doesn’t mean you can’t”, I sighed, touching his shoulder. “Oliver and I just have our reasons. If you wanna hang out with us AND Ashley, that’s your right.”

“You’re not mad?” Andy asked.

Oliver and I exchanged glances. “Nope”, I answered. “Just don’t expect us to like him when he comes around.”

His lips twitched into something like a smile while I thought I heard a low growl come out of Oliver. “You guys are cool!” Andy beamed. “Can I sit with you at lunch?”

“If you have the same lunch period”, I shrugged, pulling out my phone. When Andy wasn’t looking I texted Oliver.


ME: don’t trip bro. It’s not like he’ll be here a week from now :)


OLI <3: i hate it when you’re right lol


ME: I’m always right ;)


With that, Oliver and I finished giving Andy his tour of the school.

Notes