Name: Emir Bell
Age: 18
Personality: sassy, stubborn, a bit selfish, easily annoyed, a tease
Background: Having never been the most popular at school or at home, Emir got used to keeping to himself for the most part, although that never stopped him from being a loud and obnoxious brat. Even though he doesn't like getting close to people, he also doesn't go out of his wide to hide who he is, which often gets him a lot of flak from his classmates. He's got an older sister who is married, and doesn't get along great with his parents.

((I haven't been able to find a good picture for him; I hope that's all right. I'll keep looking, though. Do you want to make the first post, or should I?))

((It doesn't matter to me. I'm having trouble making a profile. Is a problem with you if I just describe my character as we go? I don't know my character very well yet. >.<))

((It's not a problem with me at all. In fact, that's what I did the first time I used this character. However, that means you have to make the first post. XD))

((Thanks))

Braydon Benton yawned sleepily. He got up to go to class. He hated school... but it was better than what was at home. He did kind of want to graduate. He wanted to turn out better than his father. He sighed. The door to his father's room was open and he could see his father with his stupid girlfriend cuddled up next to him. He hated that woman. His mother had only been dead for less than six months and his father had already "moved on."

Braydon pulled on tight black jeans and a t-shirt before going downstairs and out the door to catch the bus.

Hearing one of his parents shouting at him from all the way down the stairs to get up already, Emir finally rolled over in bed with a groan, and flung his covers off. Shivering as he felt the cold morning air rush in, he remembered why he hated school so much; it was a pain to get up in the mornings. Yawning and rustling his hair a bit, Emir got to his feet and stretched, taking his time to go through his clothing drawers and pick something out for the day. Emir always made sure that his outfits were both stylish and comfortable, even though no one every really cared what he wore.

Finally making his way downstairs after ensuring that his hair was perfect, Emir walked past his complaining father and took a piece of toast from the toaster. Spreading strawberry jam all over it, he grabbed his backpack and walked out the door, even though his father was still busy scolding him about being late. Just as he left his house, the bus for school pulled up to the corner, and he waltzed right on as if it were any other morning. Which, for him, it was.

Sitting in his usual seat, he saw one of his classmates working furiously on unfinished homework, another listening to an MP3 player, yet another taking a nap, and a forth leisurely reading a book. It was so striking how different they all were, even though they were all riding off to the same destination every morning for four years of their lives. Some of them had never even spoken to each other. Looking around, Emir saw that he was one of the few seniors who actually rode the bus. It wasn't unusual considering that most other seniors drove to school, but it made him a tad embarrassed that he didn't actually have a car of his own.

Braydon jumped onto the bus when it stopped in front of his house. He walked to the back of the bus to take his seat. As a senior student, no one was going to tell him he couldn't sit in the back, and given his history of breaking into fights didn't hurt either. The boy ran his fingers through his unruly brown hair and slouched down into his seat. He hated his bus ride. It was long and annoying but his father's annoying girlfriend had wrecked his car last week so he was stuck until he could buy a new one.

Braydon looked at Emir. They were neighbors so he at least "kind of" new him. He never really spoke with the boy though. Of course Braydon didn't speak with most people unless he was yelling at them. He wasn't exactly liked. He had been wonderfully popular and a very sweet boy last year, but his mother's death had brought about a lot of changes in him.

As he was looking around at the other students, Emir caught sight of Braydon out of the corner of his eye. They had lived in the same neighborhood for a while, but they had never really gotten to know each other, even though they were the same age and went to the same school. Perhaps it was just because of how different their personalities were. For some reason, Braydon had always struck Emir as being a gentle person, but it seemed as though his reputation at school had recently jumped straight into the public toilet. He was one of the toughest guys at school and no one ever really talked to him anymore. Not wanting to get involved, Emir had done his best to keep some distance between them, knowing that anything that happened at school could easily spill over to their home lives.

Trying not to stare too long, Emir switched targets and began looking at the other students again, pretending to just be searching for someone in the crowd. In truth, he didn't really have any friends at school to speak of, and it was pretty much the same case at home. In school the only time he spoke was when a teacher asked a question he actually knew the answer to, or when someone was giving him grief and he actually decided to talk back, even though that was rare. It wasn't that Emir was a pushover; he just didn't feel like putting in the effort most of the time to stand up for himself. It was a bother, especially when it only made the other students make fun of him all of more for it.

Sighing to himself as he realized that he had to be one of the most unpopular students in school, Emir took his attention off of his classmates and took a book out of his backpack instead. It wasn't anything special. Just a novel with a brown paper bag taped over the cover to protect it from damage. Since teachers always required that school books be covered in some way, Emir had gotten the idea to cover some of his personal books as well. While to most it may have just seemed like an obsession with keeping his books clean, Emir actually used it as a way to read ero-novels in school without anybody knowing. If he hadn't covered up the front and back of his books, not only would he be teased even more, but he would probably get into some serious trouble for it. So having figured out a way to be discreet with it was certainly helpful to him. Being able to read gave him an escape from the normal world, even when everything around him seemed to be going downhill.

((Oh Lordy! I'm awfully sorry! I could have sworn I replied to this. >.< I'm not going to reply right now because it'll suck, majorly because I'm sick with the flu. T.T))

((lol. Not a problem, take your time. I'm often busy with stuff here at college anyway, and I've been a bit under the weather myself lately, so it's nothing big. You just concentrate on getting better. <3))

((Thanks. n_n My fever's gone down, but now I feel like I'm going to hack up my lungs. >.<))

Braydon really didn't want to go to school today. If he could get his dad to sign the papers he'd just quit school altogether. He was sick of it. His grades were plummeting, his social-life... was going south. Some jerk who had a serious problem with decided it would be "funny" to sit beside Braydon. Braydon shook his head. He was not putting up with this. It was way too early. Maybe he'd punch the guy in the mouth on the ride home, but right now, he wasn't dealing with it. He moved towards the front of the bus. "Move over," he told Emir and sat down beside him, placing his bookbag on his lap and huffing moodily.

"Unn," was Emir's initial response to Braydon invading his seat, but he made room anyway. "What was wrong with your other seat?" he asked, only a bit annoyed. It wasn't that he disliked Braydon, but he didn't want his social reputation to suffer anymore than it already was. Plus, he liked sitting alone in the mornings, which he usually got to do. Whenever he was having a bad morning he wanted nothing to do with anyone; not his classmates, not his teachers, and certainly not his parents. However, he had the feeling that Braydon wasn't going to move no matter what he said, so Emir decided to just let it go.

Leaning back into the seat he went back to reading his novel. The bookmark was stuck in an earlier page than the one he was on, a the blue tassel at the top swung back and forth whenever the bus stopped or began picking up speed again. As his eyes moved diligently own the page, Emir could feel his own body temperature rise. That always happened when he was reading novels like that. It wasn't bad, though; it felt nice and the warmth was welcome on a cold morning, especially in the weeks before the driver actually bothered to turn on the heater.

((I've had both bronchitis and laryngitis before, so I totally know what that's like.))

Braydon shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to sit with you," he teased lightly. Maybe he did... There were other seats he could have grabbed, with people who probably wouldn't have protested. Why had he chosen the seat with his neighbor in it? Emir wasn't a bad-looking boy. He really should have gotten to know him better when they were kids. He felt a little bad about it now.

Braydon peered a little closer. "Hey Emir... you're blushing... what is it that your reading?" he asked, leaning in a little more. He attempted to snatch the book away to take a look, a devious smirk on his lips.

If he hadn't been blushing already from reading his book, Emir certainly would have blushed at what Braydon said to him. He had so few friends that few people actually wanted to sit with him. Besides that, Braydon was a pretty handsome guy. Most of the girls in their school probably thought so too, but they were probably also fooled by his tough-guy act. Emir could tell that he wasn't really such a bad person. However, they weren't close at all, so he wasn't sure what had caused such an odd change in his attitude.

"Ugh!" Emir pulled his book away as fast as he could, trying to keep it out of Braydon's reach. The last thing in the world that he wanted was for one of the scariest guys in school to get ahold of one of his darkest secrets; that he brought inappropriate romance novels to school everyday. "I'm reading a novel, what does it look like?" he asked, trying to pretend that it was nothing unusual. "Haven't you ever read a book before?"

"Of course I know you're reading a book," Braydon said, "But what's it about?" Braydon was still leaning in, still trying to get the book. He eventually stopped. "Oh fine, keep your damn book," he said. Braydon stretched sleepily just as the bus pulled up to the school. The teens started to get off of the bus but Braydon lingered, preventing Emir from getting off as well.

When everyone had exited the bus Braydon leaned over and kissed Emir's cheek before he got up to get off the bus.

Glad that Braydon had let off a bit, Emir said, "Its none of your business. Why the sudden interest, anyway?" However, he didn't quite get an answer. Instead, Braydon blocked his way off the bus when they finally arrived at school. "Hey, get the lead out, I don't want to be late to homeroom. I've already got two demerits," he complained, trying to get Braydon out of his way.

"Ugh!" Groaning loudly as he felt Braydon's lips hit his cheek, Emir recoiled and smacked the other boy on the arm. "You idiot! Get out of here!" Pushing past and hurrying off of the bus, Emir hustled into school and to his locker. Pressing his head against his locker door, Emir whined quietly, wondering why Braydon had to go and do something stupid like that. "What an idiot," he mumbled before opening the locker and getting his books in place for the day.

Braydon didn't rush nearly as much as Emir did. He walked calmly off the bus and to his locker before going into home room. He wasn't upset by the reaction he had received, it was what he had expected. Inwardly he was hurt, but outwardly it was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The bell rang and announcements came over the intercom. Braydon only listened to hear what they were having for lunch then he laid his head down on his desk to catch a couple more minutes of sleep before first period.

Walking to homeroom with a dark cloud hanging over his head, Emir tried to figure out why Braydon had given him that peck on the bus. Either he was trying to mess with his head, or he had a bet going with someone. Those were the only two explanations that Emir could come up with that made any sense to him. However, since he didn't really talk much to Braydon on a normal day, it didn't seem like he would be getting an answer any time soon. He wouldn't have been that hard to track down had Emir actually wanted an explanation that badly, but he wasn't entirely certain that he wanted an answer. Emir liked to think that Braydon wasn't such a bad guy, so if that was really the case he didn't want to know about it.

Dragging his feet into homeroom, Emir sat down and went through his books and papers, making sure he had all of his homework together for the day. In the past he wouldn't have cared so much, but he was trying to improve his grades so that he could get into a good college when the time came. He didn't want to be stuck in that town for the rest of his life. He had always dreamed of moving away from there and going some place where people would actually accept him. Although he wasn't sure where that would be quite yet, he knew that it would happen some day, so long as he worked hard for it.

The bell rang, waking the sleeping boy up. Braydon could really fall asleep at the drop of a hat; any time, anywhere. He always slept the fifteen minutes that he could during homeroom, and usually caught small naps towards the beginning and end of most classes. He was a horrible insomniac so he needed the extra sleep whenever he could get it. As he walked out of homeroom he leaned against the wall and decided to wait for Emir to pass him. Normally he'd be at class before the other boy even got out of his homeroom, but today, he decided to wait.

Hearing the bell ring, Emir got his things together and left, making sure he knew which class he was going to. He hadn't quite gotten used to the rotating schedule, and there had been some times when he had ended up in the wrong room because of it. Today, however, he had his schedule down pat, and was determined not to make a fool of himself again. After what had happened on the bus that morning, he really didn't want to have to deal with any other drama for the remainder of the day.

Thinking back to the bus as he walked, Emir wondered what had made Braydon give him that peck on the cheek. It was probably just a joke, like how the boy had tried snatching his book away from him, but at the same time it was a rather odd choice for the joke. Emir didn't know if Braydon knew he was gay, but he was sure that Braydon wasn't. Even if he was, they were so different from each other, and they rarely talked. Trying to sort things out in his mind as he walked to class, he didn't even noticed when he passed right by Braydon in the hall.

Braydon saw that Emir was obviously exceedingly distracted. "Hey... hey Emir," he said, walking after him. He gently tapped his shoulder. "Hey, I wanted to tell you... I'm sorry about on the bus... I didn't think... that ... you'd take it that way... I thought.... maybe... well... anyway...I'm sorry.. I'll see you around." He sighed and started heading to his own class.

Not used to having people stop him in the hallway, Emir was rather surprised when Braydon came up to him to talk. Listening to the guy's explanation with more confusion than comprehension, Emir watched him walk away, wondering what he had really meant to say. How the heck was I supposed to take it any other way? he thought,pouting a bit at Braydon's selfishness. He hadn't really thought it through at all; just acted on an impulse.

Deciding that it was fine since Braydon probably hadn't meant to be rude or insulting. Emir figured that it must have been meant as a joke. Brushing it off, he continued on his way to class so that he wouldn't be late, although he couldn't help thinking of Braydon every now and then. I'll talk to him during lunch, Emir finally decided, thinking that he would be able to catch Braydon alone at a time like that.