Don't Hold Your Breath

The second the bell rang and class was over, Saporta shot out of that classroom like a bomb was about to go off. What's his deal?

I poked Kaela again who had her head down on the desk and was sleeping again. How is she in advanced math again? 

We exchanged good byes and she set off to art class while I made my way to history class. 

Kaela wasn't in my history class, so I was alone. With the exception of that Trevor dude and his semi cute friend that slightly resembled Brendon. 

I sighed. 

Brendon. 

God I miss that kid. I wonder what he's doing now? Missing me? Probably. Hopefully. Hope he hasn't forgotten me. Who am I kidding? It's only been a week. 

The longest fucking week of my life. 

Maybe I can just pretend that he's here next to me. His big brown eyes, slightly over sized but totally cute nose, his sweet smile and his big round lips. 

The smile vanished from my face when I spotted blondie and friend headed towards me. 

Great. What did they want now?

"What do you want Trevor?" I asked when he reached my table. 

"Its Taylor." he corrected me. The fake smile on his face faltering for just a second. 

"Whatever." I mumbled. "What do you want?" 

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for insulting you and your friend." he setting himself up on the table. 

How stupid did he think I was?

"Yeah, and I'm Chuck Norris."I replied sarcastically not taking my eyes off my doodles.

I sighed. "Seriously. How stupid do you think I am? You and your homophobic friends aren't going to trick me into whatever it is you want me to do. So move along now." I said waving them off. 

Neither of them said anything. They just shot me a couple glares then went back to his friends.

I wanted to slip back into my fantasies, but then Saporta walked in distracting me. He looked uneasy. What was with him? Why wasn't he off making idiot friends and making my life miserable? Well he didn't exactly fit in. So I guess that would be difficult. But I'm not going to pitty him just because his parents forces him to move here or whatever reason he's here for. So he can just deal. 

Although I hated him with all my heart part of me wondered why he was here. How did we end up in the same small school in a tiny town two thousand miles away from Las Vegas?

But I wasn't going to ask him. I didn't care that much. What I did care about was the fact that he stood there and watched while his so called "best friend" went at it beating up my boyfriend. He was Pete's clone. He wasn't getting my sympathy.    

Woah. Now I understand why Spencer hated me so much. 

Luckily Gabe sat as far away from me as he could so I didn't have to deal with his presence. Was he avoiding me as well? 

~*~

I made it though another two classes in one piece. It was lunch now, and Kaela and I went to find a table. She brought her lunch and I wasn't to hungry. I've never liked cafeteria food. We were on our way to a table when we saw "Taylor" trip Gabe causing him to spill his food all down his shirt. I held back laughter, but Kaela didn't think it was too funny. She handed me her lunch and went to go help him. 

"Are you alright?" She asked helping him up off the floor. 

"Um, yeah. Thanks." He mumbled obviously forcing a smile at her. 

"Come, why don't you sit with us?" she offered. No. No way. He is not sitting with us. Not in a million years. I was already sitting at the table watching this whole thing. When Kaela led him to the table he stopped before sitting down. He saw me and was hesitant. Seriously, what the hell? Why is he acting so weird? Why isn't he insulting me, calling me names, or shoving me around? Is he seriously this lost without his little Pete leader?

"Come on now, sit." Kaela demanded motioning towards a place on the other side of the table across from her. 

He was still hesitant, but sat nonetheless, taking his eyes off me. He removed his ketchup stained hoodie and set it next to him. He seemed quiet and awkward not eating, having spilled his lunch all over the front of his shirt. 

"I'm Kaela by the way. And this is Ryan." she said gesturing towards me. 

I shot him a glare and he sighed. "I guess I deserved that." he mumbled. My glare turned into a look of confusion. 

"Wait. You two know each other?" Kaela questioned, no doubt taking notice to our little "greeting."

"Its a long story. I'll explain later." I whispered. She just nodded and began eating her lunch. 

"What are you doing here Gabe?" I sighed. Since he's here I might as well ask him. 

"Its a long story." he mumbled. 

"We have all lunch. Now answer my question." I demanded. 

He was still looking down at his hands.

"Ryan, let me start by saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the shirt both me and Pete put you through. I'm such a hypocrite. A hypocrite and a dick." I raised my eyebrow. Was he seriously apologizing? What brought this on? I was about to question, but he continued and I didn't interrupt him. 

"You see, it all kinda happened after you left. The group kinda split. Pete had been getting worse and worse. Especially to Brendon and his friends...." Damn it Pete! And I wasn't even there to protect him! "I think it was Patrick that stepped out first, defending them. Then it was Will. Leaving me, Pete, Elizabeth, who's all over Pete now, Nate, and Andy. And here's where it gets complicated. Well um, I...." he paused. Whatever he was about to say was obviously difficult for him. "Ive been in love with William for years. And when I had to choose sides.... I didn't want to loose will as a friend. But I was expected to side with Pete.  So I shocked everyone when I stepped up defending them. Pete was furious. Made my life a living hell. I guess you could say he chased me out of the school. When my dad offered to let me live with him in Alabama, I jumped at the chance like the coward I am. Little did I know it would be just as bad here."

This left me in shock. All this happened in the short time I was gone?  I had so many questions knowing this. Did Pete find out about Gabe's feelings? How did he chase him out of the school? Did Pete really just chase him out of the school because he didn't side with him? There's gotta be something he's not telling me.