Chapter Text
Colby groaned and ran a hand through his dark hair, slamming the obnoxiously blue front door behind him. He could hear his parents still yelling at each other as he strolled away. So much for 'marriage is the best thing that'll ever happen to you, son' then huh. He rolled his eyes for about the seventh time that day, straightened out his shirt colar, and marched away from his large, white, house. As he got farther away, he could no longer hear the shouts of his parents, and the fuzz in his brain calmed down just a little.
It was a fine day, the sun shone brightly down on the town, casting a warm light over each perfect little cottage house Colby passed by on his way to the school house. He tilted his chin slightly towards the sky, savouring the last remnants of warmth before August turned to September and summer turned to autumn. Avon-Lee's autumns were always chilly, but they had nothing on the fierce Canadian winters that threw a layer of white powder over the little town each year. It would look harmless, even picturesque, but the winters were always hard and tough for everyone involved.
Leaving the houses behind him, Colby ambled onto the little path into the forest. The leaves of the trees were already changing colour and meeting with the floor, not yet crunching under his boots, but still under them, nonetheless. He breathed in the crisp air and felt almost content for a moment- then he heard the loud and on-the-cusp-of-shrill voice of Winnifred Butterworth a little while behind him. With out a second more to think like a smart and mature man, Colby leapt to the nearest sturdy branch and scrambled up a tall-standing oak tree. The branches were strong and held him up easily. He let out a shameful sigh as Winnifred passed right by the tree without even glancing up at him once. Close. Colby would have taken a moment to scold himself for this terrible behaviour, but he was too busy ogling the boy who had appeared from the trees’ midst alongside Winnifred.
He had never seen this boy before, but he looked to be about his and Winnie's age, and about as bored as Colby got whenever Winnie would talk his ear off also. The boy had a sharp jawline with piercing blue eyes and pale skin. A few moles dotted his neck and he was a well-built young man, however, the thing that caught Colby's eye was his hair. It was the colour of the vanilla ice cream sold by Miss Partridge at the sweet shop. Colby had never seen a boy with blonde hair before. He thought it looked quite handsome. Good for him- who is he though?
Colby snapped out of his small trance to try and catch what Winnifred was saying to the boy.
"...and you must refer to me as Winnifred at all times, if anyone hears you call me that silly nickname of yours, they will surely think that you are trying to pursue me. That would be simply unacceptable. It will not happen, understand?"
The boy didn't speak, the same bored expression on his face.
"Samuel? Hello?"
So that was his name. How proper. Colby thought.
"Yes Pooh, no interactions at all!"
"Oh will you stop calling me that wretched name!"
"Sorry Po- Winnifred! Winnifred. Wiiinnniiefreee-"
"Alright that is quite enough! You really should learn some manners, boy."
"Don't call me boy, I'm older than you!"
"Oh hush. Now I'm going to start walking. You'd better stay here and count to 100 before walking, otherwise-"
"Everyone will think that I'm trying to pursue you, and you can't have that because of your BeLoVeD. I know. I'll wait."
"Good. I'll see you at school. Don't talk to me!"
"Bye Pooh!"
"Hush!"
Winnifred hurried on towards the school house, the bo- Samuel- mock-counting loudly behind her. Maybe he's not so proper after all then.
Colby was just pondering why on Earth Winnifred was walking to school with this odd new boy, who she didn't want to be seen with? Who is he? Why is he in Avo-
"You don't have to wait for me to leave, I can see you."
Colby startled from his thoughts immediately, almost falling from the tree in his scramble to collect himself.
"Why are you up a tree anyways?"
Colby's mind went entirely blank. He shrugged and slowly climbed down from the oak.
"Eavesdropping?" Samuel smirked at him with perfect white teeth.
"No!" Colby replied, horrified at the mere prospect of such a thing. "I was just- uh-"
"Got a bit lost?"
Colby muttered a low 'yeah' and looked awkwardly at his feet.
Samuel laughed and stuck out his hand, "M'names Sam, but posh-o's call me Samuel."
Colby frowned, but took Sam's hand and shook it. "Mine is Cole, but I'd prefer Colby, if you don't mind."
Sam faltered slightly when Colby said his name, "Cole Brock?"
"Yes how did you-"
"I'm the Butterworth's new boy."
"Ah."
The two boys started to walk towards the school house together. Sam seemed to already know everything about Colby, which weirded him out just a little, as Sam had only known Winnie for two days and she had already spilled everything about him.
"So, is it true that you're going to propose then? Bit early is it not? You're only 15, lad."
"And you're how much older?"
"Just a year."
"Well it's never too early apparently. I suppose it's inevitable anyway." At his own words, Colby let out a small sigh.
Sam frowned for a second before grinning madly, "You were up that tree to avoid dear Poohs weren't you?! Ha! I don't blame you!" The blonde laughed loudly, throwing his head back to face the sky.
Colby looked to his feet, his ears turning bright red from the embarrassment of it all.
"Don't worry," Sam said solemnly. "Your secret is safe with me." He put a hand over his heart seriously and stuck out his pinkie.
Colby frowned at the outstretched finger in front of him, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"My god, don't tell me you've never pinkie-sworn before?"
"Don't swear, it's quite a rotten habit!"
Sam laughed that charming laugh again and smiled at Colby. "A pinkie swear is were you link fingers in a way to make a promise more MaGiCaL."
Colby took in this information seriously and put out his own finger. Sam intertwined them and they shook on it.
"Thank you."
"No problemo! Ah, this must be the school house then?"
"No it's a bathing machine."
Sam looked taken aback by the sudden sarcastic joke from the proper boy next to him for a second, and Colby was about to take it back and apologise when Sam laughed again, the bright smile the laugh formed reaching right to the twinkle in his eyes. It was quite contagious, and Colby was joining his mad laughter within seconds.
"Boys! Inside right away, there is no time to dawdle!" Mr Phillips hollered from the doorway of the quaint little building.
"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" Colby spoke back. For some reason this made Sam laugh even more, but Colby had no time to ponder it as he was too busy dragging the blonde inside before they got themselves in trouble for being anymore late than they already were.
When they entered the classroom, Winnifred looked up in shock-horror when she saw Sam walking with Colby. She glared at Sam before blowing her usual air-kiss to Colby. Sam snorted and rolled his eyes, plonking himself down in a random seat. The random seat happened to be the one next to Colby that was always empty. The blonde smiled to himself a little when Colby sat down next to him.
Upon the new boy's arrival, whispers broke out furiously amongst the girls, whilst the boys side of the room just gave him looks or pats on the back.
"That is quite enough of that! Turn to page 47 at once, children!"
Everyone groaned lowly and followed instructions.
As the day went by, many rumours had gone around the little class of who Sam was and why he'd turned up right at the end of the school year. The most popular one was that he was a French prince who was exiled by his own father because he wanted to marry a poor girl. Of course. A few others were that he was a spy from a far away country, an undercover detective, or a murderer who had fled from his previous village after escaping an angry mob. The last one was actually very extreme and was ignored by most. Now obviously none of these were true, Sam was just an orphan bought into a rich girl's family to help on their farm (through the winters especially). No one knew this though, as Winnie had forbade Sam from telling a soul that she even knew him before he walked into the classroom. Colby felt very cool that he knew the great secret that was troubling his entire class, and quietly smirked to himself whenever someone asked Sam about himself, and the boy simply brushed them off. Sam caught him smirking at one point and raised an eyebrow jokingly, causing Colby's ears to light up again. Sam giggled- giggled quietly after that, making Johnny in front of them furrow his brow at them and shake his head.
By the end of the day, Sam was viewed as a handsome, mysterious and 'tragically lonesome' boy. Winnifred was not particularly happy about this fact, nor that Sam had managed to befriend her BeLoVeD, but she concluded it was better than being associated with an orphan.