Kindred Souls
Part One
“Please, no!” said William uselessly, knowing that no matter what he said, he would end up in pain.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” sneered one of the boys.
“At least for us,” snickered another.
“Ya little fruit, playing it up to the girls. Think you can come here with your accent and charm all the girls,” said the leader. “Got to make ya learn who’s boss.”
Xander listened to the football players beating up on the new student. He was both glad and unhappy about this; glad because they weren’t shoving HIS head down the toilet this time and unhappy because the new kid seemed very nice and he hated to see others in pain. Better they were hurting him and not someone else. At least he was used to being abused.
He hung in the shadows until the others left, then tentatively crept into the restroom. “Hey,” Xander said softly to the boy curled up in the corner. “Are you alright?”
“Leave me alone,” said the boy shakily. “I don’t need your bloody pity.”
Xander looked at the boy, he was beautiful, long honey-brown hair, now mussed, pulled back to show sharp cheekbones and defined facial features, and cerulean blue eyes. “It’s not pity,” he smiled a little. “I’m usually the one in your place.”
Williiam glanced up, taking in chocolate puppy-dog eyes almost obscured by brown hair so dark that it was almost black. “S’not so bad,” he scoffed, trying to shake it off. “Had worse.”
“Yeah, me too.” Xander extended a hand to the boy.
William looked at it a minute before taking it and letting the other boy pull him to his feet.
“I’m Xander.”
“Iam,” said William, noting the boy was a couple inches taller than himself.
“Cool,” said Xander. He realized he was still holding Iam’s hand and let go, blushing. “So,” he said, trying not to sound awkward, “you’re from England?”
“Yeah, London,” said Iam. “Da wanted a change, so we came here. Um, what year are you?”
“Sophomore, you?”
“Same here,” Iam sound relieved.
“Wanna go somewhere else? They, uh, they might come back,” said Xander a bit nervously.
“Where do you suggest?” asked Iam.
Xander thought for a minute, then grinned, “I know this place. I found it with a… friend.”
“Sounds good.”
* * * * *
Xander pushed the bushes to the side and gestured for Iam to follow him.
“What is this place?” asked Iam, looking around the small clearing he suddenly found himself in.
Xander smiled at the blonde, “No one else knows about this place, just me and Jesse, and now you. We come here when we need to… be alone.”
Iam heard the pause and suspected there was something more. “So, Jesse’s your girlfriend?”
“No,” Xander laughed. “He’s my best friend. Aside from Willow. We all grew up together.”
“Oh,” Iam said. “But, you and Jesse…”
“Hey!” Another boy stepped into the clearing. “Xan, I thought we weren’t gonna share.”
“Sorry, Jesse. It was an emergency,” said Xander, turning puppy-dog eyes on the other boy.
Jesse sighed, then caved, “Run in with ‘the guys’?”
“What else?” asked Xander. “This is Iam. He’s new.”
Iam, who had been watching the two boys with interest, jumped when Jesse held out his hand. “Dude, I’m Jesse. You’ve got a cool name.”
“Thanks,” said Iam, shaking Jesse’s hand a bit warily. “It’s short for William.”
Xander smiled even wider, “Mine’s short for Alexander. And Jesse…”
Jesse snickered, “Has got you both beat.”
Iam looked at Jesse expectantly. “Well?”
“My full name is Jesselonis.”
Iam’s jaw dropped, “You’re not serious, are you?”
“Nope, I’ve seen his birth certificate,” said Xander.
“Why in God’s name would your parents do that to you?”
“My mom wanted me to have a unique name. What can I say?” Jesse shrugged.
“Yeah, what you mean to say is: your mom was on crack when she picked names,” said Xander, smacking Jesse lightly on the arm. A mock battle quickly followed.
Iam watched the two boys bat at each other playfully. He cleared his throat and the two boys turned back toward him. “So, are you two, uh, together?” asked Iam, turning red.
The two boys looked at Iam and then at each other, stunned.
tbc...