Author's Notes:

Hi there! This is my first time to write a story.. I actually wanted to write a long time ago, but I can never get my thoughts organized! Hopefully, this chapter is organized enough.

Standard disclaimers apply: if you aren't of legal age in the city/state/country where you are, then please don't read further! If you are offended by homosexuality, then please leave. This story will contain male-to-male intimacy and sex, although this will be a "slow" story, read: no sex on every chapter! So if that's what you are looking for, then please go look for another story.

This is my original work. This is also fiction; any resemblance to real life people and situations are purely coincidental. Please respect my rights as an author; don't engage in intellectual piracy.

I would love to hear from you! Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Criticism will be accepted as well, but please be nice about it :)

I also love editing stories of other authors! If you are a writer and you need an editor/a second pair of eyes to look over your work, I would love to do it! You can reach me at riley.bolt at gmail dot com.

I hope you enjoy this one!

The Exchange Student - Chapter 1

by Riley

"Faster Luke, I don't wanna be late for our first day!" I shouted out the window of my car.

Luke's head appeared out of his window in the second floor. He was obviously still dressing, as he is shirtless. "Just a minute! Don't be such a nerd!"

I guess I should introduce myself while Luke's still dressing up. My name is Ryan (I know, what a boring name). We're starting our junior year in high school. Lucas, or Luke as I liked to call him, is my best friend. We've known each other since we were little. And since first year, we drove each other to school, alternating every day. When you see us together, you'll probably ask yourself, how the fuck did they become friends? You see, Lucas is in the "jock" high school classification. He played football; not the star or anything high profile, but enough to give him an awesome body. He's 6'1" 180 pounds, brunette cropped hair, and the most defined body you'll ever see. Of course I'm exaggerating. But when you see him in the lockers, you definitely will stare, and probably drool a bit.

I'm not a total nerd by the way. I have an okay body I guess. I'm 5'11" and 160 pounds. I think I'm the next-door type of guy; blond and blue eyes. I have a swimmer's build, although I'm not a swimmer. I go to the gym when I feel like it, which is not a lot, probably once or twice a week. Luke goes there 4 or 5 times a week. I don't play sports in school, and in our world, if you don't play sports, then you're a nerd. It doesn't help that I'm smart as hell. Not that Luke's stupid; he's not a dumb jock, but there are subjects that are hard for him. Lucky for him I'm always there to help him.

We know everything about each other. Our likes, dislikes, what ticks us off, movies, songs, games, etc. Everything. Except one of course. He doesn't know that I'm gay. And yes, I love him. And yes, he doesn't know that too. I can't afford to lose him. It won't work anyway. He's straight, and has a girlfriend, Maria. They've been together since second year. She's pretty okay actually, very pretty and smart. Which makes things harder for me. But I love him, and as long as he's happy, then I'll try to be okay.

Enough of this emo stuff. He's still not ready, what a turtle. As soon as I thought of a turtle with his face on it, his front door opened.

"Sorry Ry, woke up late, hehehe," he said while grinning, and running over to the passenger side.

"What else is new?" I started the car (I turned it off during my monologue) and headed for school. Good thing it's not really a long drive, but I didn't want to be late on our first day.

We really didn't talk much during the drive, as we saw each other just yesterday. We always hang out at the mall on weekends, that is when he didn't have a date with Maria. We were just listening to the radio and bopping our heads to the beat.

"Are you excited for prom?" He suddenly asked.

"That's like months away! And I'm probably not going."

"Come on Ry, just ask Stella." Stella's my other best friend, next to Luke of course. We became friends because we constantly battled for the "smartest" title in our batch.

"Nah that would be weird. Plus we're just friends."

"You always say that. Come on, you know you want to," he said to me, while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, with an evil smile.

"Stop it you prick!" I laughed while playfully punching him with my right hand.

Luckily we arrived at school. We headed to our lockers to drop off some stuff. Stella was waiting for me there.

"Hi Stella!" We said in unison.

"Hi Ryan, Lucas! Ready for our first class, Ryan?" Since Stella and I are smart, we had advanced classes together.

"Yep! Let me just leave some of my books..." Luke was done with his, so he bid farewell. "See you later guys!" he said as he ran to his first class.

I think I stared a bit too long after Luke.

"You okay Ryan?" Stella asked, with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, yeah... Just nervous I guess. I heard Mr. Toole is a hard teacher."

Mr. Toole is our advanced algebra professor.

"I heard that too, but math's our forte. We can do this!" She said too cheerfully for my taste. I just smiled back at her.

When we got to our room, I was stunned. There, in the middle seat of the front row, sat the most breathtaking guy I ever saw.

He was probably my height even though he was sitting... He had short, dirty blond hair that's disheveled, like he didn't comb it, but it looked terribly sexy on him. Even if he was about my size, I can tell that he is much more built than I am, as his shirt was bulging in all the right places.

The wind was literally knocked out of me, as if I saw a ghost. I think I stood still at the doorway for 10 minutes looking him over, but in reality it was only 5 seconds. The guy probably noticed me staring at him, because he looked back and he smiled. At me. I think I blushed. I quickly looked at my feet and went to sit beside Stella at the third row.

"Oh my God who is that guy, what a dreamboat!" Stella whispered at me, obviously pertaining to front row guy. We knew everyone in our batch, so we instantly knew that he's a new kid. Luckily, Mr. Toole came, else I would've said to Stella, "I know right?!?!"

"All right class, before we start, let me introduce you to Sebastian Greenwood. He's a transfer student from England." He beckoned Sebastian to stand up, and he did. He turned around, as if looking for someone, looked at me, and smiled again. I felt myself blush again, so I looked down at my table.

The class started with Mr. Toole's roll call, and immediately with lessons.

I would've taken notes like crazy, except I stared at Sebastian. He was writing. Stella was writing too. It seems like I'm the only one not writing... Different thoughts came into my mind...

He must be smart too, otherwise why would he be in advanced algebra... Oh my God he's so handsome... He's probably around my height...

Then the bell rang. Fuck! I didn't have any notes. How could've the time flown so fast. Guess I'll just copy from Stella... The other students started leaving.

"Mr. Peterson, can you come here for a second?" I looked at the front table, Mr. Toole was looking at me, and Sebastian was there too. I instantly got nervous. I looked at Stella, she sort of gave me a wonder-what's-up-I'll-be-going-to-next-class look, packed her notes and left. I know she'll be waiting for me at the doorway outside though.

I walked to the front row, trying to avoid Sebastian's look. His eyes were smiling at me. Oh fuck I think I'm gonna blush again...

"Sebastian, this is Ryan Peterson. He's in the same advanced classes as you are Ryan, so take him with you on your next class, and maybe show him around our school."

I couldn't speak, so I just nodded my head and tried to smile.

"Hi Ryan, I'm Sebastian," he said, while holding out his hand to shake. I shook his hand, nervous as hell.

"Hi Sebastian. Ready for our next class?"

"Lead the way!"

We walked to the doorway, and as expected, Stella was there waiting for me.

She looked a bit shocked that I was walking with Sebastian.

"Sebastian, this is my friend Stella." He held out his hand again, and Stella shook it enthusiastically. "Hi Sebastian! How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. I don't know anyone though, except for you and Ryan... It's kinda hard being a newbie on your third year..." He said, a bit sad.

He probably is. I probably would be.

"Yeah, it's hard to leave your friends behind..." Stella said.

"Yup, but it's nice to meet new friends as well," Sebastian smiled, then looked at me and smiled. I smiled back.

"We should head to our next class..." I said to them. They both agreed and then we all walked. Stella kept grilling him about life in England. I was barely listening because I felt nervous around him. I felt like he knows my secret just by looking at him...

Nothing special really happened the next class, except that Sebastian now sat at my right side, while Stella was at my left. We didn't chat or anything, but we did exchange glances. This time though I was able to take notes, probably because I can't just stare at him now.

I can see Sebastian looking at me out of the corner of my eye... This made me nervous, and I think I blushed every time. I don't know if he knows that I notice him...

Lunch time came, and Sebastian suddenly looked shy.

"Uhhh.. Is it okay if I sit with you guys?" he asked.

Stella replied, even before I could think of a reply. "Of course! You didn't have to ask!"

Luke was already at our usual table, along with Maria and some of our other friends.

"Hey guys, this is Sebastian. He's an exchange student from England." Stella did the introduction, thank God, because I was still honestly nervous. She then started naming the people in the table.

Luke, ever the outgoing friendly type, stood up and shook his hand. "Hey man, how's it going?"

"Good, thanks. Ryan and Stella have been showing me around a bit."

I sat in front of Luke, with Stella to my left and Sebastian to my right again. They started asking Sebastian the usual questions you would ask when someone comes from another country. I wasn't really paying attention; Sebastian's presence made me uncomfortable, but not really in a bad way.

"Oh by the way Ryan, I have football tryouts today so I won't ride with you on the way home." Luke said.

"Okay."

"Why are you so quiet today?"

I suddenly realized that everyone was looking at me, even Sebastian.

"Uhhh, nothing..."

They didn't interrogate me much because I wasn't chatty anyway.

We headed to our next classes. Our seating arrangements were the same. I was happy and nervous at the same time. Sebastian still kept looking at me during classes, and that didn't help my nervousness at all. I'm not a very social person, but I'm not awkward either. I could usually handle myself when I meet new people. It didn't help that he was really, really good looking.

On our last class, Sebastian turned to me and asked, "What are you doing after school?"

"Uhhh, I usually go home and work on assignments and stuff..."

"Really? On the first day of school?" He said, smirking and laughing a bit.

"Yeah... Why?"

"I was kind of hoping you could show me around town..." There was a hint of shyness and boldness when he said it. Weird combination, I know. It's probably my mind playing tricks on me. However, I didn't expect that, hence I blushed furiously. "Sure I guess... I'll ask Stella." He sort of looked disappointed when I said that. I wanted to take back what I said, but I didn't know how.

"Hey Stella, Sebastian wants to be shown around town, do you want to come? We can take him to the mall or something."

"Aw man, I can't. I promised my mom I'll help her with something... I'll join next time."

If it was possible, I got even more nervous. That would mean that it will just be me and Sebastian...

"Oh okay... I'll show him around then." I turned to him and he had the biggest smile. I blushed again. Damn, I need to control myself around him.

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I hope you liked the first chapter! By the way, I'm not really American, nor do I live in the US, but the setting of the story is in the US, so if there are inconsistencies with how real things go/work, please do inform me and I'll try to change it! Again, I would love to hear from you guys so just send me an email and I will reply!