Getting Acquainted

[Alex's POV]

"Where did all these people come from?" Alex thought as he was standing in the middle of a crowd on the first day of school. The number of people per square meter was simply astounding!

Why couldn't the school always be as delightfully peaceful as it had been during the summer break? Alex watched the whirling and swirling sea of people and wished that it would evaporate.

To make matters worse, most of the people standing around him were downright ignoring him. At first he'd apologised every time he bumped into somebody, but he'd grown tired of the "What's up with this guy?"-look people tended to give in return, not to mention bumping into people in a crowd as packed as this one was inevitable. So Alex had given up on that little piece of politeness, even though he hated to do so.

That was what was on his mind when a firm hand grabbed his shoulder. Alex nearly jumped out of his skin as he hadn't expected anyone to approach him, and whipped his attention towards the owner of the hand. He found a lean but muscular boy, a little taller than himself, with light brown hair set to stand messily on end. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Alex, my man! How have you been?" the boy said. Alex frowned at the boy's over-familiar greeting and tried to remember where he'd seen him before, the memory just out of reach.

"Wow, you don't remember me at all, do you?" the boy asked with a chuckle. "The principal introduced us during the summer break."

"That was it!" Alex said as he smacked his fist into the palm of his free hand as if he was a judge smacking his hammer. "I forgot your name thought."

"My name is Jasper Romano," he said as he reached out a hand for Alex to shake. "That's Italian, not like the Russian Romanov. I totally have an Italian ancestor somewhere in my family tree. Not that you'd actually be able to see any of that, since it was generations ago, but it's an enormous advantage with the ladies."

Jasper wiggled his eyebrows as he said the word "ladies". Alex snorted. He wasn't sure what it meant to have Italian-blood, but it was clear Jasper worked out to look as appealing as he could. The self-confidence was simply radiating from him.

"Alex Black. Nice to meet you," Alex said as he took Jasper's hand and shook it.

"Likewise," Jasper said happily, but then seemed to doubt about what to say next.

"Say, this might sound like a strange question," he finally did voice his thoughts, "but why are you standing here alone?"

"Ah," Alex breathed a little taken off guard. "Yeah... My dad and I moved here at the start of the summer vacation. So I don't actually know anyone here."

"No way!" Jasper looked at him incredulously. "You should have said so from the start, man! Come on! I'll introduce you to my friends," he said as he made his way through the sea of people. Alex hurriedly followed.

And just like that, the two month long lonely spell had been broken.

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

[Otto's POV]

Otto felt like she was watching a tennis game.

"I'd chose a vacation with family over a beach-holiday to flirt with strangers any day!" Lindsey shouted.

"Aw, come one, you strange anti-sexual girl! I'll admit that your little brother is cute, but I don't think it is healthy that you don't look at other boys!" Jessy countered.

Meet Jessy and Lindsey. They usually got along just fine, but a simple "Hey! Long time no see! How was your vacation?" was enough to get them going. Well, they were both strong minded after all. Wasn't it only natural that they'd collide sometimes?

"It's better than no boys at all! You better watch out, Lindsey. You might become an old spinster at this rate," Jessy shot another verbal ball at Lindsey, aiming for an ace.

"Just because I take my sweet time doesn't mean that I'll die a virgin, Jessy! You, on the other hand, might end up as a teenage mom," Lindsey hit the ball right back and scored. Otto briefly regretted not keeping the score. How many did this make? Game? Set? She wasn't sure.

"Oh! My! God! Did you call me a slut?!" Jessy yelled clearly offended. It also meant that they had finished playing. Jessy and Lindsey were already glaring at each other, ready for a catfight. Things would spiral out of control quickly from this point onwards.

Time to intervene.

"Oh! For crying out loud! Are the two of you going to argue all morning? Because I'm leaving if you are!" Otto shouted, startling both her friends. Jessy and Lindsey blinked at her stupidly for a few seconds, but the surprise on their faces was quickly replaced by a cheeky grin.

"Did you hear that?" Jessy murmured not-so-secretively to Lindsey. "The topic changed to sex and it suddenly became too much."

"Sweet little Otto. Still so innocent," Lindsey giggled, all arguments between them forgotten.

"Oh no, you didn't! Seriously? You turned on me?!" Otto asked incredulously. "Ok! That's it! I'm leaving! I wonder where Jasper could be?"

Otto turned to leave but didn't get far as Jessy and Lindsey both trapped her in a smothering hug.

"No! Otto, don't leave! I'm sorry!" Jessy wailed.

"No! Not Jasper! Please, not him!" Lindsey begged melodramatically.

Otto couldn't help but laugh at the clear distinction between their reactions. Both were a typical thing for them to say.

It was obvious that Jessy would beg her best friend not to leave, since she didn't mind Jasper's presence. Jessy, Jasper and Otto had all been friends since kindergarten. They knew each other so well, that they didn't even need words anymore to know what the other was thinking.

Lindsey, on the other hand, had been new in their class two years ago. Jessy and Otto had tried to pull her into their little group of friends, but her strong dislike of Jasper and the fact that she still had friends in her previous class, had made her the odd one out. Otto had no idea why she didn't like Jasper. He was full of hot air, but he wouldn't hurt a fly.

The three of them froze at the sound of a hearty chuckle, which Otto instantly recognised as Jasper.

"That looks like fun! Group hug!" he said and instantly Lindsey scurried away for Jasper's heavy weight to replace hers.

"Ah! Good morning Jasper," Otto said as she turned around in his embrace and hugged him back. Jessy didn't greet him but grumbled something along the lines of "You're too close!" under her breath and clung a little harder to Otto.

"Good morning ladies! How are you today?" Jasper said.

"I'm so glad you're finally here! These two have been arguing and bullying me all morning!" Otto complained, well aware that she sounded like a spoiled little child. "Where have you been anyway? You're late!"

"Right? Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you two," Jasper said quietly so only Jessy and Otto would hear. He was smiling his usual shit-eating grin again. He only smiled that way when he knew something she or Jessy didn't know.

Without waiting for either of their reactions, Jasper took a theatrical step aside, his hands making a grand sweeping motion as he revealed someone standing behind him.

Otto instantly panicked as she recognised the boy standing behind Jasper as the boy they'd met during the summer break while they'd been waiting for Jasper to come out of the principal's office. She'd made the mistake of making an enthusiastic comment on the unknown boy's good looks. Sadly enough, she'd only realised that it had been a mistake when she'd seen Jessy grin at her slyly.

Jessy had tried to set Otto up with a boyfriend for years, but the only thing her match-making had resulted in so far was that Otto cringed every time Jessy introduced her to a new boy.

Otto had made Jessy promise not to try and set her up with anyone anymore, and Jessy had (reluctantly) agreed. But Otto hadn't counted on Jasper trying to set her up. That was a first. She had to wonder what Jessy had promised him for doing so.

Otto allowed herself to look the boy up and down. With his shiny, straight, darker-than-black, medium-long hair, which currently looked like it was lazily racked to one side with a hand, sun tanned skin, and slim (but strong) features, he was more than good-looking. That was for sure.

He was acting a little skittish at the moment, as if he was actually nervous about what "Jasper's friends" would think of him. But that couldn't be. Someone as good-looking as him had to be brimming with confidence, right? She dared to bet that it had rotten his personality too.

She watched his eyes flash from one person to the next nervously as he waited for either of them to say something.

His eyes were the most mesmerising bright blue she'd ever seen. They were definitely his best feature.

"Jessy, Otto, Lindsey? This is Alex," Jasper finally said. "Alex? These are Jessy, Otto and Lindsey. Apparently, you've met Jessy and Otto once before?"

"Yes, I think I have. You were the girls I asked for directions, right? We hadn't been introduced yet thought," Alex said and held out his hand to Jessy for her to shake.

"So you do remember us. Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm Jessy," Jessy said enthusiastically while shaking his hand. Alex nodded in acknowledgement and reached his hand out to the next in line, which was Otto herself. She stared at the hand for a moment.

"He isn't the devil," she chided herself mentally. Shaking her hand wouldn't seal some kind of deal. All she had to do was say "Hi" and shake his hand as Jessy had. Polite and spontaneous.

"Hi," she said as she smiled politely and finally grabbed his hand to shake. But she had been wrong. Touching his hand was the worst thing she could have possibly done. Her body reacted to his touch like a junky with withdrawal symptoms to drugs. For a split second, she could imagine herself rubbing her body against his like a cat with an itch. An utterly terrifying thought! She'd clearly underestimated the effect of raging hormones.

She'd managed about half a shake before she let go of his hand with flying haste, subtly swiped her hand at the fabric of her uniform skirt and finally placed them in her sides in a (failed) attempt to hide her awkwardness.

"Don't be so shallow," Otto chided herself in thought once again. She was a firm believer in the principle of "the inside is more important than the outside" and she wasn't going to change that now.

Yet, she did feel ashamed of how she'd reacted to him. She couldn't look at him. She felt so deadly embarrassed. Otto cursed herself. Why was it so hard to just shake his hand politely? How stupid to let her emotions get the better of her.

She noticed Jasper raise a questioning brow at her and Jessy was looking at her with pity.

Alex's hand was hanging aimlessly in between them, not making its way to Lindsey anymore. Otto dared to sneak a glance at him and cringed once more. He looked so confused! Bordering on hurt. And the worst part was that she'd caused him to look like that. It made her heart ache.

She wanted to apologise but didn't know how. What could she say? "Hey? I'm sorry for acting strange. It's not every day that you meet such a good-looking boy as yourself." She wanted to slap herself for even thinking that preposterous combination of words.

Well, at least he wouldn't look at her twice now.

Good.

That way she wouldn't have to worry about accidentally leading him on either.

A familiar clicking noise broke her away from her train of thoughts. Everybody looked up in surprise.

Lindsey was known for her passion for photography. If she wasn't looking through a lens, she was constantly searching for different lightings and settings. Lindsey had been happily snapping pictures of them ever since they became friends. If they went on an excursion, school-related or not, she always brought her large photo camera with adapted zooming lens. On an average day, she had to settle for the camera of her smartphone. Not that it mattered. Lindsey made every photo look great!

Everybody was used to Lindsey taking pictures. Alex however, was new.

"Did she take a picture just now?" he asked, confusion dripping from his voice, as Lindsey snapped another few pictures. Her smartphone made an artificial clicking noise every time she did.

"Yes. Yes she did," Jasper said, clearly wondering if Lindsey's timing could be any worse. "Alex? Meet Lindsey. She's an aspiring photographer."

"Ok. That explains why she's taking pictures," Alex said. Another click. "How many is she going to take?"

"As many as she wants," Jasper shrugged. Click!

"Why? It's not like this is a very memorable moment," Alex said as he started to raise his hands against the camera, clearly feeling uncomfortable. "She doesn't just dump them all on the internet, does she?"

"Not all of them. Only the best make it into her portfolio," Jasper said. "And she makes the most awesome yearbooks!"

Another click.

"Ok, enough," Jessy interrupted the stream of clicking noises. "Lindsey, sweetheart, can't you see that it's making him uncomfortable?"

Only now did Lindsey look up from her smartphone, blushing slightly.

"Sorry," Lindsey said. "I should have asked beforehand. It's just that, when I see a perfect picture, I'll want to capture it and the camera tends to walk away with me."

Alex's eyebrows rose at her explanation and he blinked a few times rapidly as if he had trouble processing the new information. Then he cleared his throat and said: "That's alright. I guess I'm just not used to having my picture taken."

His shy reaction didn't go unnoticed. Otto shared a glance with Jessy. Not used to having his picture taken? That couldn't be right. Had he been ugly, she might have believed him, but not with his looks. Honestly, it surprised Otto that Lindsey had held out as long as she had. It was strange to call a boy beautiful, but he was beautiful in the same way you'd call a diamond beautiful.

Yet she couldn't shake the strange feeling that it was true. After all, he hadn't instantly ducked away at the first sign of a camera like someone who didn't like to have his picture taken. He'd genuinely looked unsure of what to do.

The school bell rang, signalling the start of the first period and simultaneously cutting their awkward conversation short as everyone started moving to the entrance of the building.