He had been informed earlier in the week of the exchange student he’d be required to take under his wing for the duration of the exchange program the school had agreed to participate in. Arvo, a boy his age from Russia - who’s English apparently needed some work - was the extremely vague description the school’s staff had given him about who he was paired with, and it left Ben without the slightest idea of who he was really supposed to be looking for.

They’d also seemed to have forgotten to tell Ben exactly what time he could expect this new student to show up. Ben had spent the majority of the morning scanning the hallways in search of any strange faces, but so far, he hadn’t been so lucky to find anybody that he didn’t recognize. It was obvious that the system their school ran on [i]seriously[/i] needed some work, however it was too late now to complain.

It was currently nearing the first bell that signaled the start of classes, and with the assumption that this new student would show up sometime later in the day, Ben had turned his attention to his locker in order to remove the books he’d crammed in there the day before and transfer them to the backpack he held loosely in his arms.

His mind far from anything else, the last thing he expected was the hasty tap he felt prodding his shoulder, and the resulting response had Ben turning around so quickly that his backpack slipped from his hands and fell straight to the floor, its contents of books, paper, and pencils scattering across the tiles as he gave a small yelp of surprise.

❝[i]Shit[/i],❞ he managed to utter, but before he could apologize or pick up anything that he’d dropped, Ben found himself staring down at a very unfamiliar face, who was apparently in the middle of asking him a series of questions.

As his breaths began to even out after the effects of the scare wore off, embarrassment soon stepped in to take its place, though Ben tried his best to play it cool after he figured out that this must be the mysterious exchange student he was supposedly in charge of showing around. Meeting new people wasn’t exactly one of Ben’s strong suits, and it certainly didn’t help matters that on a second glance, this new guy was [i]really[/i] cute.

Wait. [i]Cute[/i]?

❝U-uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m Ben Paul,❞ Ben started, his belongings that still lay on the hallway floor long forgotten now as he searched his brain for something to say.

❝Sorry, the school is kind of crappy with giving out information, they should probably work on that. They didn’t help me much, either, I’ve been looking for you all morning, actually, but I guess you found me first. B-but yeah, I’ll be showing you around - don’t worry though, this school isn’t that confusing, so you should be fine.❞ It was only after Ben stopped in order to actually [i]breathe[/i] was when he realized that was rambling like an idiot, and his somewhat unsteady words were coming so fast that he doubted the Russian would even be able to understand any of them anyway.

Taking another steadying breath, he tried again, resisting the strong urge to either apologize or kick himself for being a flustered moron in front of somebody new. He honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the kid turned and ran the other way.

❝Um... your name is Arvo, right?❞

Well, that was a great first impression.