Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 05:29:07 +0100
From: Matt Brown <darthkitty22@gmail.com>
Subject: My New Friend from America: Chapter 2

Hi! This is my first attempt at a story for Nifty, so any feedback and
comments are appreciated! You can send me an email at
darthkitty22@gmail.com

Also, please donate to Nifty if you can; The site may be free for all of us
users, but is certainly not free to run!

I apologise for the long wait for chapter 2, I ended up being on holiday
for all of summer!

Hope you enjoy the story :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That afternoon with Charlie was very enjoyable! (When I finally arrived
haha). It went exactly as planned: we played video games (mainly Minecraft
and some racing games on his PlayStation 3 console), had snacks (his mum
and little sister had baked cookies) and talked about general stuff boys
talk about. I think Charlie noticed something was on my mind, but he let it
drop for now.

He wasn't wrong though! I have known I am into boys for quite a while, like
I already told you. I have therefore inevitably had crushes on boys,
checked out boys at school and of course browsed the internet...  But I
never felt this way about another boy before. Tyler had made me blush just
looking at him, and, well, maybe I was over reacting or reading too much
into his "hopefully I'll see you before school" remarks, but I definitely
felt some kind of spark between us when I met him, and I really hoped he
felt something too...

Over the next few days I rode my bike past Tyler's house a few times, but
never saw him outside again. I guess he was busy helping with moving and
settling into the new house. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't see
him though... But luckily it wasn't too long before I did! It happened on
Saturday afternoon, just three days before we were going back to school (we
went back on a Tuesday this year, for some reason...). Me and Charlie had
been hanging out in the park, having biked there earlier in the day and we
decided to take a trip to the local high street corner shop, to get some
cool drinks since it was a pretty hot day. Just as we were deciding on
drinks I happened to look behind me, and saw Tyler standing just at the end
of the aisle sporting a white t-shirt and rather short light blue shorts,
and he was looking right at me! Evidently he had just spotted me too... I
was of course too nervous to say anything first, but he smiled that heart
melting smile at me and called "Hi Eric!" as he walked over.

He remembered my name...

"Umm hi Tyler!" Charlie had turned around by now, and I noticed he was
looking politely confused at the fact that me and this new stranger knew
each other, so I felt I should explain

"Tyler this is my best friend Charlie! And Charlie this is Tyler, he moved
in to the neighbourhood at the start of this week, in that house at the end
of my street that's been empty for ages. And we... uhh... met, before I
came to your house" I explained to Charlie

"Ohhh... that's why you took so long to come, eh?" Charlie joked with a
wink.

I blushed, of course

Tyler, quick as ever to say something funny, decided to chip in with "Yeah,
well he just couldn't take his eyes off me! But once I convinced him a
photo would last longer..."

Charlie and Tyler laughed, bonding quickly; they both enjoyed a similar
sense of humour! I, on the other hand, turned even redder

"Heeeyyy... I... uhhh..." and did my `trademark' pout (which girls
apparently find cute)

"We're just messing buddy!" said Tyler and smiled at me again. "So what are
you guys up to?"

"Well you know, we just thought we'd hang around in the shop. Maybe hunt
for a few animals or something haha... Duh, we're shopping of course!"
replied Charlie with a grin, which had me and Tyler laughing. Charlie loves
sarcasm

"No shit!" answered Tyler, in between chuckles.

Charlie asked about Tyler's accent, and Tyler confirmed he had indeed moved
here with his mum from America, but didn't look like he was going to give
us any more details. He then explained he came to the shop partly to check
it out (for future reference) but also because he was getting a few
supplies for the house, like milk and bread.

I was letting Charlie do all the talking, and just kinda gazing at
Tyler. Charlie explained how we were chilling in the park and we popped in
to get some cold drinks. "I'm getting an energy drink, but little Eric here
is getting his usual chocolate milkshake. You know, when he comes back down
to Earth..."

I zoned in at this point, realised I must have been staring, and turned red
yet again.

"Uhh... I'm sorry... ummm... I'll just take the drinks to the counter!" I
stammered, and rushed off to the counter with our drinks.

--------

Tyler asked Charlie "Does he always act like that?"

"Only this bad when he's super nervous about something, but he is usually
very shy yeah. He's not really a people person..."

"Awww..." replied Tyler and smiled over to where Eric was paying for the
drinks

"Hey, you want to come and hang out with us in the park? We have our bikes
with us but we can slow down to walk with you. Unless you have a bike? We
could go with you to your house so you can get it?" Charlie asked

"Hmmm... I'd love to, but not today I think! Got a lot of stuff to help my
mum with in the house. Which reminds me, I should get going back really,
before my mum calls for a search party haha!"

--------

Charlie and Tyler had been waiting by the door for me while I paid, and I
just got back for this bit of the conversation

"Ah okay. Well, see you around Tyler!" exclaimed Charlie and gave him the
customary fist bump.

"See ya Charlie! And you Eric!" Tyler replied, turning to me with that
amazing smile again and reached out his fist for a bump. In a moment of
daydreaming about him, I somehow took his arm stretching out to be some
kind of hug, a one armed thing like some people do, so I hugged him. Very
briefly. Then I realised, and stepped back, furiously red...

Tyler looked kind of surprised, and then recovered quickly, smiled at me
again, and waved as we left the shop (which was, in my case very quickly)

Charlie was quick to catch up with me and wanted to talk. He could see I
was completely freaking out

"Dude slow down! You okay?" He asked

"I guess... It's just... I hugged him? Why did I do that..." I groaned

"So... You first met him on Monday just before you came to my house, and
you were a bit late and seemed to be rather distracted when you got
there. And then all of that stuff in the shop there... Dude, do you have a
crush on the new kid from America?" Charlie asked me, with a genuine grin.

I was blushing even harder now

"I... uhhhh... well... I guess so! He's so awesome... it might even be more
than a crush, I really really like him..." I admitted, sighing in defeat. I
kinda felt good for admitting it, as well as being very embarrassed. But I
knew I could tell Charlie anything, and he had already guessed

"Awwww! Yeah, I can really tell you like him. Did you get his number or
anything?" I shook my head, nope

"Ah well... we'll have to go to his house at some point! I asked him if he
wants to hang out with us some time, and he said he would love to"

"Cool!" I exclaimed.

After that, Charlie could see I was still a bit embarrassed so he steered
the conversation in a new direction as we headed back to the park. We
decided just to walk with our bikes, instead of getting hotter by riding
there...

---------------------

It got to Tuesday, and I was both nervous and excited to be going to school
today. I quite like school, especially my music, PE, drama art and history
lessons, so I'm often excited about going back to school after long
breaks. However the main reason I was excited about school today was of
course that it would be Tyler's first day there! I would get to see him
around the place all day... that made me smile as I got to school.

Me and Charlie nearly always walk or bike to school. Both our mums offer us
a lift, but we prefer to walk. It's nice to have a nice stroll there,
taking in the great scenery and nature we have around our little town. Plus
it wakes you up at bit before school starts, and we have time to talk about
all sorts of things.

When we arrived at school we didn't go straight to our usual spot, instead
deciding to wait by the main entrance for Tyler. I suggested this, because
I knew that Tyler would probably be nervous, and wouldn't really know where
to go. When he arrived not long after he saw us and walked straight over

"Hi Tyler! Eric suggested we wait for you, so we could show you around a
little bit on your first morning!" Charlie said, while shooting me a
sideways smile

"Aww thanks guys! So where to first?"

"Well, we'll go to our usual hanging out spot to meet up with our other
friend first, we haven't seen her for a while because she was on holiday
for most of the summer break!" I replied

That was cool with Tyler, and on the way to our spot we pointed things out
to him like classrooms, the medical room, the main office and stuff like
that. Our little spot is a nice little spot close to the school field. It's
basically a couple of picnic benches surrounded by a hedge near the trees,
and we think of it as ours because it's where we hang out mostly and nobody
else ever really comes here. When we arrived, we found Phoebe waiting for
us, and she smiled when she saw us (and looked inquisitively at the "new
guy")

"Hi Phoebe! Nice tan!" said Charlie

"Hey! And thanks, haha"

I also said hi, and introduced Tyler. I ended my introduction with "he's
from America!" and then realised I had introduced him like he was some kind
of new toy I got from America. And even worse, I was holding his wrist. I
let go and turned very red again, and none of this went unnoticed by Phoebe
and Charlie haha...

"Hi Tyler, nice to meet you! You're from America? That's so cool... You're
welcome to hang around with us whenever you like!" said Phoebe, and was
thanked warmly by Tyler who kept looking at me with an odd expression every
so often.

We all talked for a little longer (mainly Charlie and Phoebe talking to
Tyler about stuff that he likes, and me being shy in the background) and
then the school bell rang, signalling it was time for registration (which
we do every day before main classes start). Luckily Charlie, Phoebe and I
were all in the same registration class (the year was split into letters
from the alphabet, so there were registration classes all the way up to the
letter J, and there were between 20-30 people in each class) so we all
could walk together. Then Charlie asked Tyler what registration class he
was in, if he had found out yet. He said he thinks the letter said he was
in 9B (which is our registration class!) but couldn't really remember now
he was feeling nervous, but we were all supportive and showed him the way
to come with us anyway.

When we arrived we all took our usual seats at the back while Tyler stayed
at the front to talk to our teacher, Mr Jones. Mr Jones, is pretty awesome!
He is funny and laid back, and all the kids like him. I had the very back
desk to myself, while Charlie and Phoebe shared the desk directly ahead. As
I was sat down and daydreaming a little about Tyler, a boy came to his desk
which was next to mine and sat down. Then he said "Hi Eric! Did you have a
good summer?"

I came back to Earth, albeit reluctantly, and noticed who asked. It was a
kid called Ryan. I will admit, I always found him pretty cute with his
blond hair in a kind of surfer style, and he's a little taller than me
(like most people). I quite like him, but never really talk to him outside
of registration as we don't share many classes, and he hangs around with
other people.

"Hi Ryan! Yeah my summer was pretty good thanks! How about you?"

"Cool, yeah mine wasn't bad! We went on holiday skiing in Austria, which
was really cool!" he said grinning

"Nice dude! I bet it was fun" I replied with a smile.

Just at that moment, Mr Jones raised his voice "Now then everyone, hello
and welcome back after your break! I hope you all had very enjoyable
summers and I'm looking forward to hearing about all your holidays! But
before that, I would like to you to all give a very warm welcome to
somebody new who will be joining us from this year!"

At this point, everybody who had not noticed Tyler talking to Mr Jones at
the front, which was a surprising amount of people, all perked up and had a
good look at Tyler

"This is Tyler Gold, he's joined us all the way from America!"

His last name is Gold? That's just perfect...

Everybody kinda yelled stuff like "Hi Tyler" and somebody even yelled
"howdy partner!" in a rather poor attempt at a southern American
accent. This got a groan from most of the class, and an audible "oh dear"
from Mr Jones.

"So Tyler, tell us a little bit about you!"

"Oh well, hmmm... Well I moved here from California a couple of weeks ago,
and ummm I like surfing (which got a few "oooh"'s from people) and
skateboarding, and some gymnastics, and I play guitar..."

"Very nice! What about your parents, do they do anything exciting?"

"Well back in the USA my mum owned a beauty salon business, which had a
hair dressing room, a nail salon, tanning room and stuff like that. So
she's starting up something like that here. And my Dad lives in America, I
don't see him..." An odd look briefly lit up his face, but then it was gone
as quickly as I noticed.

"That's pretty cool! Thanks for your introduction there! Now then Tyler, to
find you a seat. Hmm, obviously you won't know anybody here..."

Tyler piped up "Actually sir, I know Eric and Charlie and Phoebe! I met
Eric in the summer because I moved to a house very close to him, and I met
his friends very recently"

"Oh well then! There's a seat next to Eric which I'm positive he won't mind
you taking! Eric, do you think you'll be able to show Tyler around for a
few days while he gets used to the school and the routine? I know you won't
have all the same lessons together, but I will write a note for your
teachers to explain you being a little late because of taking Tyler to his
lessons..."

"Ummm... Yeah, that will be okay!" I said nervously, as Tyler was walking
towards my desk. Charlie turned around and gave me a thumbs up and a wink,
which made me blush

"Perfect!" Exclaimed Mr Jones. He started to read out announcements for the
new school year, but I zoned out at that point, trying not to stare at
Tyler as he put his school bag under the desk and sat down next to me.

"Well hi again Eric!" he said with that smile of his, and then he stuck his
tongue out at me a little.

"Umm... Hey Tyler!" I responded quietly, feeling nervous but excited. I get
to sit next to him every day in registration, and he will be in at least
some of my lessons, and I get to show him around aaalllll week... This will
be the best first week of school ever!