Chapter Text
Butterfingers.
That would now be his nickname. Though it would be far more pleasant than the names the school body would no doubt come up on Monday morning as he made his way down the halls. How did he make that fumble, more importantly how did that mighty asshat on defense even get there so fast. No one really cared to answer his question as they scorned him out of the locker room. He had a feeling that his locker items would be mysteriously hung on the flagpole later tonight.
Wes, Laurel (school news reporter) and even Asher had all been awkwardly comforting after the game but from their weary facial expressions they were probably scared of being seen with the school’s public enemy no. 1 at the moment.
Feeling more and more anxious he attempted to calm his breathing repeatedly running his hand through his thick dark hair disheveling it even more so.. He was walking unsteadily before it turned into a mad dash toward his hand-me-down, 'dinged in the oddest places' Honda Civic his sister had used in high school and first year of college. It had tons of miles on it but it sure was handy as a quick get away from this glorified prison hole some called school.
Connor finally released the breath he’d been holding as he’d run across the school campus into the parking lot.
Why did I get distracted?Why!?
One second he’d had the ball tight in his hands the next from the corner of his eyes he’d seen the famous school mascot Husky suddenly stumble about as he landed awkwardly on his paws before bumping into one of the cheerleaders who’d been supporting the cheerleader pyramid. Needless to say they came tumbling down hard. The spectators had laughed and pointed as they fell out of formation. Apparently almost breaking your neck was a laughing matter to these folk.
Who knew?
What caused even more of an uproar was the frazzled looking Prom Queen/ Smarty Pants Michaela Pratt and her manicured finger being waved maliciously at the guy in the dog suit. Herr icy glare of hers had no doubt scared off the poor guy in the mascot suit as he ran out.
The last thought that went through Connor’s head was, “Man that was embarrassing the entire school just saw this loser completely screw-”
That was precisely the moment he screwed up himself and tripped over his feet. He shut his eyes in shame at the low grumbling of groans coming from their side of the bleachers and the roaring cheers on the opposing side as they managed to win a close game. A very close game.
He had to get out of here. Now. Since beginning high school his anxiety had been getting worse and worse. This would probably be enough to send him in a full out panic attack. Using those breathing exercises his coach would teach his more aggressive players he calmed himself enough to drive out of the parking lot and kept driving. He needed to go to a place where no one he knew even remotely would recognize him and his face of shame. Perhaps he was being melodramatic but in a small town like his, news traveled fast and stayed in the headlines until some other exciting bit got attention.
Connor huffed annoyed at the vibrating coming from his Letterman jacket. Like he really needed to see the texts and calls coming in from God knows who.
An hour and a half passed by and he found himself in front of a brightly lit 7 Eleven. Time to fuel on junk food. That seemed to make his sister happier after a long day at her part-time job in foods. The teen eyed the suspicious looking bunch of fellow teenagers smoking and laughing at the darkest corner of the parking lot before deciding to park in the only patch of light coming from a working streetlamp. He squinted and leaned over the steering wheel to make sure what he was seeing was real.
There was in fact a strange looking character sitting on the hood of its car slurping at the straw of a large cup of what looked like an ‘Icee’.
Curiosity got the better of him. He clambered out of his car, pocketing his keys as Connor approached the strange scene. He tilted his head slightly as he finally got a clearer view, it was a boy around his age sitting in half of what looked like a dog costume with his school’s name written across its front and beside the boy was the head of the costume. If he was high as those kids in the corner were at the moment, this would be a trippy sight to behold.
The crunching sound his footsteps made finally alerted the oblivious boy. Glasses with big round frames reflected the light coming from the street lamp. Connor recognized those geeky glasses he’d rescued them himself from being broken by a fellow teammate . A teammate who’d coincidentally been suspended the next day for bullying.
Connor with a fake expression of astonishment slapped his hands to the sides of his face:
“Oh no the illusion is shattered!"
The person in the half suit turned to fully face a suddenly stunned Connor. The football player never knew a pretty boy could be hidden underneath all that furry, silly mascot suit.
A slight squeaking sound came from the straw as the boy with a frowning face released it from his bright red lips.“Yeah, yeah, yeah laugh all you want. I really don't care."
Connor grimaced at the harsh tone in this attractive boy’s voice. He thought,’I guess I’m not the only one having a tough day.’
The teen took a few more steps, going around the boy’s car to stand in front of the angry looking boy. The jock remembered seeing him in his math class. He would walk right past the quiet student as he made his way to the back where the “cool crowd” spent their time gossiping or taking a nap. It wasn’t hard to see that the kid was an obvious math whiz when called on and a bit of a teacher's pet.
What else were you suppose to call the person who reminded the teacher at the last minute about collecting the homework from the previous night right before the bell rang?
‘What was his name Octavius, Omar....’
"Ollie, Oliver right?"
The boy stopped sucking on his neon green straw to lift his eyebrows at Connor. Clearly surprised that one of the most handsome boys in their class remembered his name.
"Wha-uh yea! Yes! Tha- that’s me. And you're Connor right? One of the football jocks." And the boy I’ve had a crush on since Freshmen Year.