Chapter Text
It was a peaceful day at Royal Woods Middle school. Lincoln had just entered his 7th class period with a smile plastered on his face, this was the one time of the school day in which Lincoln actually shared a class with his friends. With clear excitement, he quickly ran over to the friendly group of faces he recognised. When he made it to them, Lincoln heard that Clyde was conversing amongst his other friends; it seemed important.
“Hey guys, what are you talking about?” Lincoln asked curiously as he stopped his stride.
“Oh, hi Lincoln, we were just talking about the new students that are coming today”, Clyde said with a smile as he turned towards him.
Lincoln’s interest was immediately piqued. New students, plural? He hadn’t heard about them, probably because the classroom is separated from the rest of the school.
“Yeah! I heard that they’re twins, one boy and one girl. I hope the girl is cute” Rusty exclaimed as he made a sly look towards the group.
“Oh my gosh, can you be normal about this?” Stella demanded. “Not every new girl you come across you have to be head over heels for”
“But what if we actually like her? Zach questioned as Stella fumed slightly.
“I- just don’t be weird, okay? Especially around Peyton, remember what happened last time?” Stella asked.
Assuming Peyton was the name of the new girl, Lincoln giggled to himself. He remembered the one time all his guy friends had a massive crush on Stella back when she was the new kid. He didn’t understand it, truly he just wanted to be her friend at the time. But he felt left out because he was the only one who didn’t seem to “like” her. And so he only pretended to actually see her that way. In retrospect, it was kind of stupid and funny. At least they were all just friends with Stella now and that they got over their illogical obsession.
After Lincoln’s thought process, he spoke up with a question that popped into mind.
“Do you guys know when they’ll come?”
“Well, the first half of today they had orientation stuff to take care of this morning. They actually should be coming to our class now,” Clyde explained
“Does anyone know what they look like?” Zach questioned.
“Not really, but before you even say anything, no. They are not aliens from another dimension,” Stella told Zach with a deadpanned expression.
Zach grunted to himself and looked away from the rest of the group as Stella rolled her eyes.
“You know… I don’t really get the whole ‘we must date every girl we see’ mentality, why can’t they just… potentially be our friends?” Lincoln asked.
Lincoln throughout his years in school never really was interested in dating. There was this one time where a girl was bullying him and his sisters assumed she liked him. So he took their advice and unfortunately it ended with a black eye. Lincoln didn’t know why he followed through with their suggestions. So much as even kissing her. He never felt that way for this girl, let alone any girl. His sisters tried constantly to help him find a girl he liked, but it never came to him easily like it did for his friends. Lincoln was already under the assumption that… maybe something wasn’t “right” with him. He knew there wasn’t but… his sisters meddling in his life really changed his output on “crushes” or “dating” or who knows what.
He doesn’t really even know what a crush feels like, but he knew he never felt any feelings for girls. And internally, because of everyone’s assumptions, that he couldn’t possibly love or be attracted to anyone.
“Yeah right? You guys are ridiculous!” Stella laughed. “Especially you Rusty, you’re basically a borderline creep at this point”
“Whatever Stel’, you’re just jealous that you can’t rizz ‘em up like I can,” Rusty said with a mischievous grin.
“Ewwww omg Rusty what the heck?”
“Just so everyone knows, I am not associated with this person!” Zach shouted loudly on purpose.
“What is actually wrong with you?”
Lincoln just stared at Rusty with an absolutely disgusted look on his face.
“Okay okay- I’m sorry guys that was too far”
“Damn right it was, I would not be surprised if the new kids didn’t come anywhere near you within a 10 mile radius-”
Just then, before anything else could be said, the friend group quickly quieted down as they heard the gym doors open quickly with what seemed to be two pairs of footsteps entering. Everyone looked up to see two friendly faces they had never recognised before. Coming to the same conclusion, the group’s faces immediately lit up in unison.
“Guys, look! I think it’s them!” Clyde explained excitedly.
Lincoln looked up, and he first caught sight of a boy with light brown skin, freckles, and a blue hoodie. He had brown hair that reflected off the gym light. He could barely even hear Clyde ask if he was okay. Lincoln was just… silent… and staring. When said boy made his stroll to the teacher, he gave off a sort of shy but sweet demeanor. There was a girl with him, assuming to be his sister, and she did all the talking. However Lincoln barely even noticed her. This boy’s skin seemed so glowy and his eyes seemed to glimmer and sparkle… His hair seemed to be kept in such a graceful manner.
He seemed so… pretty-
Wait… what?
That was just then Lincoln started to have a really… strange new feeling inside his stomach as he kept silently staring at the new boy; he could feel his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.
“Uh- Ms. Keck I-I have to go to the bathroom!” he exclaimed nervously.
“Oh Lincoln are you o-” Clyde began to say before Lincoln rushed off to the bathroom, completely ignoring his question.
“Huh, What’s his deal?” Zach questioned.
“He probably got sick from Rusty’s absolutely disgusting comment to me earlier”
“Mmmm maybe he caught wind of that girl that just walked through the door-”
“Okay, I am going to stop you right there,” Stella intervened whilst she huffed. “Can you just shut the hell up Rusty!?”
“What???”
But Stella ignored his incessant questioning and turned to Clyde.
“Anyway Clyde, make sure Lincoln’s okay alright?
Clyde nodded and was off.
Meanwhile, Lincoln bursted through the bathroom door and quickly rushed over to one of the bathroom sinks. When he looked into the mirror in front of him he realised how flushed his cheeks were. His eyes were quivering back and forth with his heart beating out of his chest.
“What is happening to me?” Lincoln asked himself.
He wasn't sure what he was feeling. Maybe he was sick since it was the flu season. That’s why their friend Liam wasn’t at school that day, it wouldn’t be that surprising if he happened to catch it as well.
When he kept trying to rationalise this feeling, his breathing quickened, and sweat started to form on his forehead. It was as if he was having a panic attack for some reason he couldn’t quite come to.
Lincoln splashed his face with water and breathed in, the strange feeling quickly died down. Though admittedly he still felt extremely nervous.
The last thing he saw before his mind short circuited was the new boy. Lincoln barely even saw what the girl next to him looked like.
What the hell was this feeling? Why had he never felt it before until now?
Before Lincoln got a chance to completely gather his thoughts, he heard footsteps approaching followed by the noise of someone slowly opening the door.
“Hey Lincoln, are you here?” It was Clyde, and he slowly entered with the door closing behind him.
Lincoln looked directly into Clyde’s eyes as he shut the sink off.
“Yeah, yeah I just had to… um I didn’t feel well too for a second,” he stammered, making Clyde contort his expression into that of a confused look. “Must’ve… uh ate something?”
“Oh- Are… are you okay?” Clyde asked nervously, knowing something was off with him.
“Y-yep! Turns out it was a false alarm. Sorry for making you worry, buddy” Lincoln said.
“Well- maybe you should see the nurse if you aren't feeling well.” Clyde suggested.
“No, I'm good really, let's just get back to class, okay?” Lincoln said, trying to change the subject.
He didn’t even know how to describe what happened, or why it happened, how could he even say the truth?
“You’re right we should definitely head back now. Let’s come meet the new students!” Clyde said happily as they both began to walk back to the gym.
Lincoln was silent for a brief moment before ruffling his hair slightly and looking back at Clyde.
“Uh- What are their names anyway?” Lincoln asked curiously. “I think I overheard that the girl was named Peyton
“I don’t know for sure… I think you’re right, I think on my way to the bathroom I overheard people say that the boy with the blue hoodie is named Clayton” Clyde said before entering the gym with Lincoln.
“Clayton…” Lincoln repeated back to himself. “That’s a nice name”
“Yeah I agree! I like how their names rhyme”
Lincoln then quickly looked around the room to actually try and get a look at the new students, without having an unexpected “freakout” like he did a minute ago. He eventually saw the new girl Peyton talking with a group of people (or who he assumed was Peyton, since he didn’t immediately recognise her). Clayton was quietly reading some book by the bleachers by himself. Though for the latter Lincoln tried not to look toward his general direction.
Eventually he and Clyde quickly went back to their friends in a fast paced manner.
“Lincoln! You're back! We were waiting for you.” Stella exclaimed.
“Sorry guys, I had a bathroom emergency. Anyway, did any of you talk to the new kids?”
“Nah, not yet, we wanted to wait for you. But we should definitely talk to Peyton soon because she's definitely a looker.” Rusty exclaimed with a cunning expression on his face.
This time everyone ignored Rusty’s outlandish comment and all focused on the fact that Peyton was actually walking towards them.
“Oh hot diggity dog! Stay cool guys stay coooool~” Rusty was immediately interrupted because Stella shoved him away so hard he fell while sliding across the gym floor.
Just then, there was a new face.
“Hey, uh- my name is Peyton! Um, is everything okay over here?” Peyton said glancing at Rusty.
“He 's fine, ignore him” Stella quickly said. “Anyway, Welcome to Royal Woods Middle!”
“Oh thanks! I was really excited to come to this school, everyone seems to nice”
“Maybe some people,” Zach emphasised as he also glanced towards Rusty who was still lying across the gym floor.
“So, Peyton, what do you like to do?” Clyde asked curiously.
“Oh! I really like to play volleyball in my freetime, I also just really like talking to people. Um- sorry for coming suddenly I- I like to get to know everyone!” Peyton shouted enthusiastically.
As Peyton continued to excitedly talk to everyone, with everyone happily matching her energy, Lincoln can't help but to look over back at Clayton. Peyton so far seemed to be really outgoing and charismatic, definitely not like her brother. Who was completely by himself not interacting with anyone. He seemed to be a bit timid. Lincoln then looked down at the book he was reading. And he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the cover of a David Steele book.
No way! The new kid likes David Steele too? Lincoln’s favourite series of all time?
Peyton then eventually noticed that Lincoln was looking toward brother. When she questioned, Lincoln was too distracted to answer, and so someone else mentioned that he’s probably admiring the book he was reading, mentioning Lincoln was obsessed with that series.
“Hey! Lincoln is it? Let me introduce you to my brother!” Peyton said joyfully. “He loves David Steele too!”
“Huh? Wait- I dont know if thats a good id-” Lincoln finally snapped out of his daze and was unable to finish his sentence before Peyton excitedly began to bring him over to Clayton.
“Sure it is! Clayton is generally really shy. You seem like a good person for him to get to know!”
“Wait-”
“Hey! Clayton! I brought you a new friend!”
The boy glanced up from the comic he was reading and looked directly into Peyton’s eyes with a deadpanned but slightly startled look.
“Peyton? What did I tell you about trying to make random people talk to me?
“Sorry, but I really think you should talk to him. He was looking at you-”
Lincoln blushed ever so slightly and he looked in the opposite direction.
“W-What?” Clayton stammered, seeming to be slightly appalled. “That’s kind of creepy-”
“She didn’t mean it like that uh- I-I just saw you reading that comic. I'm also a David Steele fan, you know? I think it’s really cool you’re reading, what is it… issue 37?” Lincoln stated somewhat nervously.
“Uh yeah, it’s my favourite… sorry what’s your name?” Clayton asked.
“My name is-”
“Lincoln!” Peyton interrupted. “Your new friend is Lincoln-”
“New friend? Wait Peyton I hardly- You’re probably bothering him”
“Oh, don’t worry… it’s all good, I would… I would like to get to know you”
A realisation had slowly begun to set in, but Lincoln didn’t come to any conclusions yet.