"Hey, Connor. I'm loving the new hair length. Very school shooter chic."

"Piss off." Connor didn't have time for this. He didn't have time for school, and he sure as hell didn't have the time for Jared fucking Kleinman. 

"Well that wasn't very nice; I was only kidding. It was a joke." Jared put on a fake offended tone. He was having a good day, which was rare, and he wasn't letting Connor Murphy ruin that with his constant gloomy attitude.

"Yeah, no,  it was funny. I'm laughing. Can't you tell Am I not laughing hard enough for you?" The long haired boy was getting really tired of life and Kleinman wasn't helping that. He would rather be wallowing in self pity while smoking a cigarette than being in school, but his mum said that if he didn't get his attendance up she would take away his phone.  

"You're such a freak. See you later Ev." Jared left and that's when Evan made a decision that woud effect the rest of his life. He coughed.

Connor suddenly went stiff. Did Evan Hansen, the kid even less popular than Connor just laugh at him? Really? From what he knew, Evan was a kind person. He was shy, obviously, but Connor just thought that was something to do with mental issues and - suffering with plenty of them himself - he wasn't about to say anything negative about that. In short, Evan Hansen didn't seem like the kind to laugh at anyone, even the school's emo stoner (who didn't even fit in with the emos or the stoners).

"What are you laughing at? Do you find something funny?" Connor muttered shallowly backing the shorter boy into a locker and pushing him on the chest slightly and Evan nearly burst out crying. He had heard bad things about Connor Murphy. Ranging from slighly believable (he one set fire to a junior's house, but Evan was pretty sure that was a kid called Rich) and completely ludicrous (Connor had once drugged his science teacher with weed brownies and gotten them to tell his mum that he was a straight A student, but he was also pretty sure that was  juniour called Enjolras from France). However, Evan wasn't one to make assumptions, so instead of running to the hills like others would, he simply apologised as well as he could.

"I'm s-sorry! Jar-red isn't-t really the best at being kind andIshouldjustshutupnowsorry!" 

Connor just sighed slightly, deciding that being suspended again and losing his phone wasn't worth it, and left Hansen to fall to the floor. Especially with his parents and their constant shouting. He always needed an escape.

God, why couldn't Evan Hansen just be normal for once in his life? Why was he constantly speaking to people without being heard? His life had always been a constant scene of him waving through a window to people and even though glass is see though, nobody ever seems to see him. Like he isn't there at all, and as selfish as it sounds, Evan wanted to be seen. He wanted for once in his life for someone other than Jared or his mum to recognise him for being a human being. 

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"Hey James, nice bag!"

"Ooooohhhh trigonometry, I would offer to help, but I failed that exam so I doubt I'm of any assistance."

"I think someone wrote RIENDS on your backpack, sorry mate..."

"I don't think you're a slut Maria, don't threat."

"Yeah, I know right, Maria is such a slut, I can't believe she fucked Hamilton"

Jared was a maser at fitting in with the crowd, in his own special way. He didn't stick to one group, or make any close friends (except maybe Evan), instead mingling and doing his best to fit in wherever he went. This obviously resulted in a lot of lying and backstabbing. Like personally, he didn't give a fuck about Maria Reynold's whore-ish tendencies and thought that Alexander Hamilton would be better off with his first boyfriend Laurens, but that didn't matter when it came to being on everybody's good sides.

He took a different route to being an outcast than Evan, and a smart one at that. He would talk to everyone, but never let them see him talking to their rivals. It was the easiest way to get through high school life without being completely feared or invisible.

The only person Jared couldn't seem to get along with was Connor Murphy. He had tried everything: sarcasm, jokes, doing his homework, flirting. Nothing worked. It was like Murphy was some kind of stone cold enigma with an emo haircut and nail polish. Yet, there was something quite intriguing about that. 

Humans tend to decrease the value of something they can't understand. Take the universe for example; we don't give it enough credit. We always say that 'aliens can't exist' yet the universe is ginormous and it's still giant. Do we really think that our tiny planet could be the only place capable to hold life? Small minded people will be the death of us. At least, that's what Jared Kleinman thought.

Connor Murphy is the thing people can't understand in this situation, so instead of trying to decipher his weird tendencies and emotional rages, they have labelled him as the emo druggie and left it as that. No questions asked. Jared thought that was dumb. Connor Murphy was more than a stoner and he knew it. The next step was just to find out who Murphy really was. Simple, right?

-----------

Connor decided that it was definitely a good idea to leave Hansen be and keep his phone. Especially when 4th period PE came around.

The teacher had given up on Connor Murphy and his excuses years ago, just letting him sit out unless there was some sort of inspection happening in the school. Even then they would do dance or badminton, the two sports Connor was good at, because it showed the school wasn't sexist or some shit like that.

So, Connor sat on a bench located to the side of the field, a pile of water bottles, inhalers and the teachers' mobile phones to the left of him and some other kid he didn't know the name of to the right. So, like any teenager put in an awkward situation, he listened to music.

Music had always been Connor's escape. Whether that be singing, playing an instrument or listening to a playlist on Spotify, he would constantly have some sort of noise going on in the background of his life to keep him company or to block out the screams of his parents.

His choice in music varied, mainly consisting of The Kooks, Catfish and The Bottlemen, The Beatles and Fall Out Boy, but sometimes with some Dodie Clarke or Troye Sivan mixed in for good measure. He liked to listened to music that represented him or his feelings, so mainly depressing shit, but some more loud and angry songs were also included.

So, Connor sat, letting the soft music fill his ears and the sweet symphony carry him away to a place with less troubles and underlying fears. And he hoped that just for a second, he might be able to leave his cage of a body and fly free.

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So, there was the boys' first meeting and it's aftermath (I told you I'm a shit writer). You can leave now if you want cause it's probably not going to get much better, just maybe a bit more angsty and more fluffy at parts. If there is any slight chance you did enjoy this total piece of garbage, please vote, it would mean the world to me. Once again please leave constructive criticism in the comments or message me on how to improve my writing.

Sincerely, me