Blaine keeps his head down as the door to the classroom swings open. He’d rather not make eye contact with anyone. He knows people have noticed his black eye. Some of his classmates winced and he noticed his science teacher had to stop herself from touching it.

Blaine’s teacher cleared her throat. “Class this is a new student, Eli,” she said. “Eli joins us from Los Angeles.”

It was only then that Blaine looked up to see a tall and surprisingly good looking boy standing awkwardly at the front of the class. He’s a bit sun-kissed, the way you imagine people from California are and he has a mildly dorky bowl cut. Not that Blaine is one to talk, his hair is a look he likes to think of as “wacky professor-like.”

Eli catches Blaine’s eye and grins. Like a real grin, an actual, “Hey! I see you there!” grin. Blaine can’t help but grin back sheepishly. Blaine felt like he hadn’t smiled in a year, maybe things were looking up. Too soon he remembered about his black eye and decided the new kid was probably just laughing at him.