"I like you"
                     - Marc

"Who is it sent to?! Haha, I can't believe it. Tell us who it is sent to now!" Marc was pushed down on the floor and a gigantic foot was on top of him.

"Oh, I heard he liked guys, so it definitely must be a guy," Another person laughed. Marc wasn't in the mood to look up and see who had said it. He wasn't in the mood to do anything at all.

"Gosh, do you think it's Denise?!" Another voice rang out filled with annoyance. "Every girl is always after him. This punk must be after him too."

"I think so, but I really want to be sure on who he wanted to send the love note to."

Marc felt the huge foot slam on his back and he tried not to cry out in pain. Clutching unto his art book, he didn't try to get up. What good was it anyway? The guys were just going to pin him down to the floor and beat him harder.

"I really don't understand why you guys would be so interested in something like this," A new voice spoke. Marc was tempted to look up and see who it was.

"Oi, it's the new boy," One of the boys let out a rough laugh. "You really dare to speak to us that way? Don't you know who we are?!"

"I don't know who you are but I do know what you are. Losers! Pathetic losers!" The new voice sounded challenging, as if he was asking the bullies to fight him. "Why are you guys making fun of a guy just because he's interested in guys?!"

"It's just funny to see him staring dreamily at a guy instead of a girl," Another one of the bullies spoke up with a tiny bit of mockery in his voice.

"You guys clearly don't know what to do with your lives huh?" The new guy exclaimed. "Your life is so boring and full of meaningless things, so you decide to ruin someone else's?"

"Now if you know what's good for you, you would be running away now!"

"Hey! What's going on here?" The voice of the principal yelled out as his eyes turned to Marc, who was slowly getting up.

"Nothing, Miss."

The new boy scoffed and walked up to Marc, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Marc looked up at the new boy. He was finally able to see what he looked like, and damn, was he fine.

The new boy was fairly short with turquoise eyes and messy red orange hair. He had long bangs that were brushed to the left side of his face.

He was wearing a red t-shirt with a black design on the front. Over his shirt, he wore a gray dress jacket with a folded collar, folded sleeves, and side pockets. He wore purple jeans that were rolled up at the bottom, and his shoes were gray with white lace and a white section where his toes would be.

"Those guys are real jerks and pain in the butt, aren't they?" Tomato-Head asked.

"Y-yeah," Marc nodded as he slowly stood up. He wasn't in school on the day the boy became a new student, so he wasn't sure of his name. "Hope I didn't get you in trouble."

"No, it's cool," Tomato-Head brushed it off as it was nothing. He really didn't know what the bullies could do to him. "Hey, want to eat lunch together?"

At first Marc was surprised at the question. Nobody ever asked him such questions, and whoever did already ended up not talking to him anymore because the bullies had gotten to them.

"I.. Okay, but let me just warn you-"

"Those damn bullies won't do anything to me!" And for a minute there, Marc actually believed him. "So, what's your name?"

"I... M-Marc," He splattered out. He had never been so nervous, maybe it was because he made a new awesome friend, or maybe because that new friend was a boy and looked absolutely amazing.

"My name is Nathaniel," Tomato-Head introduced himself as he took out a hand for Marc to shake. "Nice to meet you. I have a really great feeling that we'll hit it off pretty well."

Not trusting his voice, Marc just nodded and started following Nathaniel to the cafeteria.

- 3 months later -

Marc finally finished scribbling on the paper he had on his desk and looked up just in time to see Nathaniel coming inside class.

"Hi," He waved at Marc before taking his seat right beside him. "Guess what? We're getting a new student in class today, and you won't believe who she is!" Nathaniel seemed to cry out happily.

Marc clutched on the folded piece of paper he still had with a small smile. "I don't know. Who is it?"

"Marinette!"

"Oh," Marc was surprised as well, no doubt, but he was way more surprised at how Nathaniel was reacting to this.

"Yeah, she's been my secret crush ever since she made it to the Popularity Board," Nathaniel exclaimed, his eyes glittering.

"Oh really?" Marc looked away. "Amazing. So you're like... Going to go after her and all that...?"

"I... I don't know. Do you think I should? Do you think she'll like me back?!" Nathaniel turned to Marc.

Marc didn't get to answer as the teacher spoke up and the door opened.

A girl who looked about half French and half Chinese walked inside. She was a teenage girl with medium-length black hair with blue reflections that was tied back in two pigtails and bluebell eyes. She also had light freckles on both sides and the bridge of her nose.

Marinette was wearing a dark gray blazer with rolled-up sleeves; the inside of the blazer was lined in white with pink polka dots and it has black trimming. Underneath, she wore a white t-shirt with black stitching and a flower design below the collar. The design itself had pink flowers and black leaves. She wore pink rolled up jeans and pink ballet flats with dark red soles. She was also wearing eyeliner around her eyes and sports black earrings. She had a light pink purse with a thin black strap over her right shoulder.

Marc clenched his fists a little, agreeing that Marinette was pretty, but the way Nathaniel was staring at her with big dreamy eyes, so as the rest of the other boys, got his hopes trashed.

He stood up, tearing the paper he was holding and walked over to recycle it. The paper with the three letter words. The paper he had wanted to give to Nathaniel before school ended.

"I like you"
          - Marc

He shook his head, thinking that maybe it was a good thing he hadn't given it to Nathaniel. After all he wouldn't be able to deal with such a rejection from Nathaniel.

- 2 months later -

"So... Have you made your move on Marinette yet?" The question was hard to splutter out, but Marc had done it. He didn't want to show Nathaniel that he was jealous of all the attention Marinette was receiving from him.

Nathaniel slowly nodded. "Just yesterday. It went... Absolutely horrible. Shouldn't have done it."

Marc fist-bumped the air in his head, clearly happy, but seeing Nathaniel's upset look, he changed his small smile to a small frown. Getting rejected by Marinette didn't mean Nathaniel liked him, so he couldn't celebrate that fast.

"Well... Maybe Marinette isn't for you," He shrugged, telling him the truth.

"Yeah, you're right. She has other guys swooning over her anyway," Nathaniel shrugged.

When he said that, Marc figured he might had lost feelings for Marinette. Opening his drawer in his room, he took out a piece of paper with words that he had written before Nathaniel had come over.

"Besides, a girl confessed to me yesterday today."

Marc stopped in his tracks as he crumbled the paper he was holding. "Oh, what did you say?"

"I said yes!"

Marc looked down. "Hmm..."

"Can you help me though? I'm kinda nervous. It's going to be my first date!" As Nathaniel rambled on about what the girl looked like, why he agreed to go out with her, Marc just kept nodding without saying a word.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Marc brushed it off as he opened his drawer and put the piece of paper back inside of it. "I'm just so...jealous of you. It's hard to find guys that likes you these days..."

"I'm sure you'll find your Prince Charming."

"Yeah..." Marc's voice trialed off. "Anyway, I'm going...to the bathroom." He hurried out of his bedroom and dashed to the bathroom, closing the door gently.

- 5 months later -

"What?! When did you break up with her?" Marc was surprised at the news given to him.

"Actually we broke up a week ago. Figured she only wanted a boyfriend to impress her friends, not because she actually liked me," Nathaniel sighed. "I swear love is so complicated. I give up!"

Marc bit his lip at the words. "I don't think you should give up so quickly. Notice the people right in front of you, maybe."

Nathaniel looked around the class, before he turned back to Marc. "Nah, I don't think anyone is my type here."

"Amazing..." Marc's voice trailed off.

"Oh Tiki, I'm so glad you finally moved in to this school," The girls at the other end of the class raised their voices as they dashed to the door, where a little pretty red-head was standing there. She seemed to be a new student.

Marc was sure Nathaniel was going to take interest in her, but he was glad when he found out that Nathaniel wasn't paying attention to the redhead.

The school bell rang, signalling that it was time to move on to their next classes. Marc stood up, taking his binder and walking out of class with Nathaniel following.

"We have Comic class! The one class I actually enjoy," Nathaniel chuckled. "I'm so glad they decided to make it a class."

Just last year, when they were 14 years old, all they ever did was draw and make comics. One say the principal caught one of their comics and told them it was amazing. Then Nathaniel and Marc had begged the principal to open up a Comic class.

"Hey," Someone suddenly tapped on Nathaniel's shoulder, and Marc's heart stopped for a bit when he saw that it was Tiki herself.

To Marc's surprise, Nathaniel didn't seem to be interested in the redhead, so he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Do you know where Comic class is?" Tiki asked, showing Nathaniel her schedule.

"Ah, we were just heading there. Just follow us," Nathaniel smiled back at her before he turned and continued his way to the class.

For a few classes, Comic class seemed to be actually going great. Marc expected Nathaniel to fall in love with Tiki, but he was wrong.

He shouldn't have spoken so soon.

The next week, Nathaniel walked up to him with a huge smile and dreamy eyes, telling Marc that he had a new crush. "She's perfect," was all he said to describe her.

"What's her name?" Marc kept his fingers crossed, but when Nathaniel told him the name of his crush, he felt his world shatter all over again.

"Tiki!"

"Oh, that's nice." This time Marc walked away from him without saying anything else, a crumbled piece of paper in his hand as he exited the school.

"Why don't you ever notice me?!"
        - Marc

~~~

"Here..." Marc handed his sketchbook over to Nathaniel, who sat across from him. "I finished the drawing of our main character in our comic."

"That's amazing." Nathaniel took the sketchbook, beaming at him.

"Yeah, but it's not as amazing as yours or Tiki's," Marc grumbled. "I'll just stick to writing."

"Marc, don't say that-"

"Don't even try to make me feel better. You know it's the truth," Marc rolled his eyes. He and Nathaniel were sitting in Nathaniel's room, working on their comic. "So why didn't you ask Tiki to come? Are you guys okay?"

"She's busy with her boyfriend," Nathaniel said as he looked down, trying to show that it didn't bother him.

"You still have feelings for her?" Marc asked and Nathaniel slowly nodded. "Does she have feelings for you?"

"No," Nathaniel gave him a bitter smile. "Once again, a girl I can't have!"

"I don't really have anything to say to make you feel better," Marc admitted out loud. "Maybe you shouldn't focus on girls this time..."

"Are you saying that I should focus on boys?" Nathaniel looked surprised. "But... You're the only one who seems to be interested in guys and it doesn't seem like you like me in that sort of way..."

"Yeah, you're right," Marc shook his head. Just last month, Nathaniel had actually spilled the beans to him that he might be interested in guys. He would have had his hopes up, but he already gave up 2 years ago. "You're just a friend to me."

Nathaniel sighed as he looked down again. "I should have given up on love when I said I would. Why did Tiki have to move on to our school that time and catch my attention?!"

"Beats me."

"So what about you? Do you like anyone?"

Marc looked at him, before he looked away. "I used to like this guy, but he was too blind to realize my feelings for him, so I just gave up."

"Ouch. Who was he?"

"The blindest boy in Paris."

"Haha, funny. I meant his name."

Marc looked up again. "I hate talking about it. It just reminds me of all those times he had a crush on girls, but never once on a boy. That time, I thought he liked boys, but I guess I was wrong."

"I'm sorry to hear that..."

"You'd be surprised."

Nathaniel still didn't give up after that. "Can you at least give me a hint? Maybe I'll help you. Is he still around?"

"Yeah, he's still around..."

"What was the first beginning letter in his name? What was the color of his hair? When did you first meet him? Were you guys friends?"

Marc brushed off all the questions, but decided to give one hint. "When I didn't know his name," He spoke, not looking up, "... I called him Tomato-Head!..."

~~~

Word Count: 2416 (excluding this)
- Edited -