Set Me Free

“Alright, fine, you win. I like Drew; is that what you wanted to hear?”

I nearly screamed at him; I was somewhat desperate. I didn’t just want someone to talk to, I’m pretty sure I needed someone to talk to.

“It’s not what I wanted to hear, it’s what you needed to say. Don’t worry; I won’t judge you for it, seeing as you crushing is perfectly natural.”

Perfectly natural? How the hell is that perfectly natural? I like another guy; in my book, that’s not very natural. Just because I know that I’m now gay, or at least bi, doesn’t mean that I fully accept it. I’ve never been a homophobe, but that doesn’t mean that I want to be gay myself.

“Can you just like, not tell anyone? You’re the only person who knows and I’d actually like to keep it that way...if you don’t mind.” I asked, timidly. Gabe might’ve said that he wouldn’t judge me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he won’t be thinking about it.

“Sure, I guess that’s okay. Are we just going to stay here for the hour and a half of lunch, because I don’t really mind, my mother packed me a sandwich.” He smiled, placing his backpack on the ground and pulling out a brown paper bag. “Do you want to share? Its peanut butter, ham, pickles and ketchup...it tastes better than it sounds.”
I took one look at the thing and knew that no, I did not want to taste it. Before I could actually open my mouth to answer though, the door burst open and in came...Echo? What’s she doing here?

She didn’t seem to notice us at first, seeing as she was rocking out to her IPod, but when she turned, her cheeks got became noticeably red, almost as much as her hair. I was surprised she wasn’t with Drew; they barely left each other alone.

“Um...hey guys, I didn’t see you there.”

A person would have to be deaf, blind and stupid not to see how uncomfortable she was. Not so much around me, but seeing that her once best friend was in the room too. Maybe she wasn’t nice after all; she dumped Gabe to hang out with the popular kids.

“Hi Echo, my mom made me a peanut butter, ham, pickles and ketchup sandwich, you want some?” It amazed me how someone could just dump Gabe like that after knowing him for years and he’d still be fine with them. I know if it was me, I’d never talk to her again.

“Uh...n-no thanks, but thank you anyway. Uh...” She shifted from foot to foot, trying not to look too uncomfortable; she failed miserably. “So, how’s it going?”

“Fine.” Gabe smiled, taking a bite out of his sandwich and sighing in pleasure...weirdo.

“How about you Dane, I haven’t spoken to you in a while. Did you know that Drew was your neighbor; I told him that and he seemed really surprised.” She smiled, probably trying to get some positive emotion out of me.

So he pretends that he doesn’t know me? When his own girlfriend went over to his house, he pretended that he didn’t know that I lived next door? Our windows are practically shoved together. Of course, what else was I to expect?

Wait, why the hell does he keep sending me mixed messages? First, he acts like he’s my friend, then he tells me that he ‘cares’ about me, then he avoids me like the plague, just yesterday he started talking to me again and now he pretends as if he never met me? Why am I still attracted to that?

I couldn’t stop the look of pure agony that crossed my face for a fraction of a second, but I was glad that neither Echo nor Gabe were paying attention. In fact, just two seconds later, Echo made some lame excuse to leave...good, I don’t like her anymore.

“I’m guessing you knew Drew, huh?” Gabe asked.

I looked over to see that he was staring admiringly at his sandwich before taking a bite. Is he psychic or something? Cool...I have a psychic friend?

“No, I’m not psychic and you should really stop talking aloud to yourself, thinking that it’s in your head. And you think I’m the weirdo?” He snorted. I really should stop doing that.
“Yes you should.” He answered my thoughts.

Gabe and I spent the whole lunch period in that classroom, just talking about nothing in general. I told him about Drew and me, even though I just started talking to the guy. He said that he’d try to help me get over him, but I doubt that’s possible. He’s weird, like...really weird and way too hyper not to have ADHD. He said the test was negative, but I swear he does; no one should be that happy on a daily basis.

The rest of the day was too boring for me to actually care about, but at least I have a chance at finding another friend. I’m not putting all of my trust into Gabe like I did with Andrew though. I don’t want another repeat. What actually hurt me the most wasn’t the fact that Drew just left, it was that he knew about my life now. I’ve never told anyone about what was going on with mom and dad, not even my own brother knew and I’ve only known Drew for what? A few weeks? My life is slowly falling apart and it’s all because of him. What if he tells someone? Surely if he did, then I’d get taken away from my parents. They’d probably send me to some foster home; I might not like my parents, but that doesn’t mean that I’d be willing to live with someone I don’t know who might abuse me as well. What if my family was the reason he left? Yeah, that was probably it. My dad scared him off...now I know it has nothing to do with me.
I know I’m delusional, it might be because of me, but I need something to reassure myself that people actually want to be around me. I don’t want to grow up old and alone. I’d rather get back together with Jenny than let that happen. Oh shit...I’m supposed to get back together with Jenny anyway. How the hell could I forget something like that? My dad’s going to kill me when I come home without Jenny today. Not only will she probably never get together with me, but she’ll probably make my life a living hell now (not like it wasn’t before.)

If I got kicked out, I don’t think Jorge could take care of me, he has his own life too. At least I have a car...maybe I should start writing my will now.

“Daniel Santon, class is over now, you may go home.” Gabe’s small voice squeaked up beside me, apparently he’s in my last period art class as well.

Being consumed in my thoughts again, I hadn’t realized that the bell had rung and that I was still the only one left sitting. Crap...I didn’t get to talk to Jenny at all today. I should’ve probably gone up to her at lunch, but Keegan would have beaten me senseless if I’d gone up to his ‘girlfriend’ (*cough*fuckbuddy*cough*). And seeing as the bell rang quite some time ago, she probably already left. Goodbye everyone.

“Are you okay Daniel Santon?” Gabe asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Why do you call me that? My name’s Dane. Would you like it if I kept calling you Gabriel...whatever your last name is.” Wow, I’m a crappy friend.

“My last name is Smith and I actually wouldn’t mind if you called me that...it is my name after all.”
Yeah, well, Daniel Santon’s my father’s name and there is no way in hell I will let someone compare me to that man. I wish I could say that.

Seeing as I’m such a nice guy and Gabe didn’t have a car, I told him that I’d give him a ride home. He lived on the other side of town, in the rich areas too.

My town in Beverly Hills is basically split up into three parts. One side, where I live, is the uber rich side, the middle was the poor, broken down side with drugs and gangs and people getting shot every day and the other side was the other rich part, not as rich as mine, but middle class. Let’s just hope that made some sense.

“Thank you for the ride Daniel Santon Jr. I hope you get over Andrew...maybe he’s not really worth it.”

I gave up on the whole, ‘getting Gabe to call me by my name thing’ and just let him do whatever the hell he wanted. He climbed out of my car and skipped all the way into his house, trailing his sweater on the ground behind him. I hoped I really could just forget about Andrew.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Not likely... As soon as I made it to my house that night, Felicity was sitting on my doorstep, waiting for me to hurry up. She wouldn’t stop talking about Hannah Montana or whatever the hell that kid’s name was. I was already getting a migraine and I’ve been home for about ten minutes.

Then she jumped me and blindfolded me while I was trying to get my homework done (O.O) and told me that she was taking me on a little field trip. Knowing that it’d be better (and less time consuming) if I didn’t argue with her, I agreed and let her drag me down the stairs and out the door.

It was no longer a surprise when she opened the door to her house and dragged me in...by then, I was trying my hardest not to freak out. I didn’t want to think about Drew, I wanted to just forget and go on with my life like before, but soon saw that that wasn’t an option.

Pulling me down a flight of stair to her basement, Felicity sat me down in a chair, and then proceeded to tie me to it.
Oh god, I’m going to get raped by a thirteen year old girl; this is not the way I wanted to live my life.

“Alright, now that I have you both here, I want to know what the hell is going on!” She nearly yelled.

Wait...both? Could both be meaning that...?

“Dane? Dude, did she kidnap you too?”

That sweet, treacherous voice. I’m starting to get really annoyed by the power that boy has over me and he doesn’t even realize it. Then again, him not realizing how I feel is a good thing.

“It’s not called kidnapping?” I heard Felicity smack Drew in the face, to which he responded with an ‘ow’ and a ‘damn bitch’. “I just wanted some answers. Every time I ask Drew, he gets angry and pushes me away, then when I asked Dane, he got all emo depressed on me and walked away. I just want to know why you guys aren’t talking to each other anymore.”

Damn you Felicity. Damn you!

“Felicity, untie me right now, or not only will mom and dad hear about this, but I’ll step on your hamster.” Drew threatened, sounding like he actually meant every word he said.

“No, Drew, I won’t.” She screamed, her voice wavering slightly. “Sam’s supposed to come home in just a week and I don’t want this anymore. I want Dane to come over like he used to and I want you guys to keep talking to each other all the time. I don’t like it when friends fight and I know that this is all Drew’s fault.”

“Hey!” Drew shouted.

“Shut up, Drew, you know I’m right.” She snarled right back. “Anyway, I just...I just want things to be normal again, I guess.” Her voice dropped a few octaves to where she was barely audible.

I stayed in my chair, not bothering to talk or fight against my restraints like Drew was. Felicity didn’t even seem to take notice of me anymore; she was too busy yelling at her brother.

I was having an internal battle with myself. I didn’t know whether to be mad at Felicity for doing this, or feel bad that I unintentionally put her in the middle of all of this. She had nothing to do with it and frankly, neither did I, but she still cared enough to know that something was wrong when no one else did. Maybe Felicity wasn’t so bad after all. Sure, she’s annoying as fuck, but what else do you expect of a thirteen year old girl?

“Dane?” Her voice came out in a slightly muffled whisper, as if she was chewing on her sleeve, like the shy girl I thought she was. “I don’t know if you’re willing to tell me or if you hate me right now, but...why isn’t Drew talking to you anymore?” If my ears weren’t deceiving me, it sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Her voice was shaky and small, as if she were afraid to talk louder in case she burst.

I wasn’t paying attention so I don’t know what Drew had said to her, but whatever it was, it got to her.

“Honest to God Felicity...I don’t know.”

And it was true, I didn’t know, well, I wasn’t sure at least. Maybe I was just too weird, or my family was too much, but, I really don’t know why Drew stopped talking to me. It wasn’t like there were signs or anything, he sure looked happy whenever I was around, but maybe he was just faking. Just doing all of those things to seem like a good person and then just...stab me in the back.

“How is that possible? How do you not know. Didn’t you do anything? Say anything that might’ve made him mad?”

I didn’t know where Drew was at the moment. Most likely still tied up, listening to all of this, or she’d untied him and he’d just left. It didn’t matter, I still felt uncomfortable talking about this, especially to Drew’s sister.

But...what did I do wrong? That’s usually the stereotypical question every girl asks herself when her boyfriend breaks up with her, but seriously, what the hell did I ever do to Drew? It’s not like I ever talked about him behind his back, I didn’t hurt him (except for when I punched him in the balls...accidentally). Maybe it was when Jenny ruined his car? He didn’t seem that beat up over it, but it could’ve held some sentimental value to him or something? I don’t know; that couldn’t be enough to ruin a friendship...could it?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Felicity let us go, just twenty minutes later, not getting anything. Drew just stormed out of the room, leaving a crying Felicity behind, but I couldn’t just leave too, so I stayed with her. She just sat there, sobbing at ‘something mean Drew said’, for a good thirty minutes until she finally told me that it was okay for me to leave. Me getting kidnapped by her was pointless, but I learned that Felicity wasn’t that bad of a person. I don’t know how that’s going to help me at all in the future, but it’s nice to know.

After getting home though, I found it nearly impossible to get any homework done. I knew I had to do it, but...what was really the point?

Apparently every time Felicity would ask Drew why he didn’t talk to me, he’d get pissed, pretty much like how he got pissed right now. I should’ve been listening to what they were talking about. I feel so stupid right now! Whatever Drew had said to Felicity had set her off and I wanted to know what it was. The curiosity was just eating away at me, slowly devouring my insides until it physically hurt to even breathe. That was why I didn’t notice my door slowly creaking open or the light footsteps creeping closer to me until the black bag was pulled over my head...