Opposites Attract

"Come on, meat head! We're gonna be late!"

I groaned and rolled over in my bed. Cory comes over every morning to make sure I actually wake up for school. I don't know why he calls me from downstairs, knowing fully well that he'll just have to trudge up the stairs and drag me out of bed.

Sure enough, I hear his footsteps. I count each step, frowning as it gets louder. My head is pounding - I am not a morning person.

He is the exact opposite.

"Wake up, maggot! Rise and shine! You got exactly ten seconds to get out of bed before I go in there and get you!"

I'd be happy if you came in here. Go ahead, climb into to bed, get comfortable under the covers. I wouldn't mind having you close to me. Not at all.

"...Five, four, three, two... don't make me count to one."

He knows he's gonna say one. In three, two...

"One! That's it! I'm going in!"

He dives into bed with me and starts tickling me. I hate when he does that, even more than the fact that I'm ticklish. I press my lips together to stop the laughter from sneaking out. After a few minutes, he stops and gets out of bed. But he isn't done yet. He grabs my ankles and pulls while I grab onto the headboard. Just like from that movie 'Freaky Friday', he tugs and I don't let go. Can I help it if I'm a stubborn teenager who would rather stay in bed than go to school?

"Ugh. Seanie, we're gonna be late. And we have a new teacher today. I don't want to be late for that, they'll think we're bad students."

"Dude, the new teacher doesn't come until fifth period, so that's a bad argument. Besides, you know that you won't be late. You're incapable of being late to school, even if I do move at the speed of turtle."

I see him grin as I sit up. I scratch my head and then swing my feet over the side of the bed.

"One of these days, Cory, one of these days. Bam, boom, straight to the moon." I shake my fist at him while I get out of bed. He just laughs at my threat. I laugh too, because I know I couldn't punch him anyway.

He throws a pair of jeans in my direction. I shrug and pull them on - I was only wearing boxers anyway. I catch him staring at me while he's holding a shirt. I raise my eyebrow, but ignore it. He stares at me a lot, but it's not an attracted stare. It's a... a mother stare.

Somehow, Cory has assumed the role of my mother. Well, not really, because it would be really creepy if I had a crush on my mom... anyway, I mean he just has this mother instinct. He makes sure I get to school everyday, he tries keeping me out of trouble (unsuccessfully), he tells me to clean my room (like that'll ever happen). He looks out for me, I guess.

Maybe because he feels he has to. That's why I don't want to show any weakness around Cory. He'll just feel like I can't take care of myself.

I reach out my arm to him. He blinks and shakes his head, then hands me the shirt. I pull it over my head, and I catch him staring again. But this time... I'm not sure if it was a mother stare.

"Sean!" We both jump at my dad calling my name.

"Yeah dad?"

"You're coming straight home after school today. I'm gonna need your help with work."
"Alright." I yell back.

My dad does whatever odd jobs he can get. This week it's garbage man. He's pretty good at it - he might be able to keep this one.

I slip on some socks and shoes then grab my bag. Cory's looking at messy room again. Here it comes...

"When are you gonna pick up all this crap?"
"When you stop nagging me about it, baby."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to be in a clean room when I come over. I don't want to look at your dirty underwear while we're making out, babe."

My heart beats faster when he says babe. It means nothing, though. It's just something we do sometimes. I used to tease him by calling him mom, but that just brought up too many memories.

I grin. His eyes widen in fear. He knows what's coming. I jump up and grab him in a headlock, then give him a noogie.

"Damn it, Sean! Get off me!"
"What's the magic word?"
"Please?"
"Nope." I pop the 'P' and keep messing up his hair.
"Boobs?"
I snorted, but tried to stop myself from busting out laughing. That will never be the answer.
"Try again."
"Ugh... Seanie!"
"Why yes, that is the magic word. Took you long enough."

He groaned as I let go of his neck.

"One day I'm gonna get strong, and when I have enough muscles, I'll be able to take you."
"Fat chance. You're a twig, and you always will be a twig."
He pouts. "I will not be!"
"Fine, you will get some muscle. Maybe a little one... in your pinkie." He frowns. "I'm kidding, Cory. You'll get muscles one day. I'll help you work out. But I really don't see why you'd want to. You're a cute little twig."

I swallowed the lump in my throat after I said that, hoping it sounded more like a tease than a compliment.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag.

"Come on, we're gonna be late." He walked out of the room.

I let out a huge breath.

***

"Okay, so the new teacher is said to be a total babe. It's a guy though, so it shouldn't really matter to you guys. But he's got a great record. He's taught at some really good schools, and I hear he's met a lot of celebrities. Like the president, and Justin Timberlake!"

Kill. Me. Now.

Zephrinity was babbling again. Have you ever heard a more bizarre name than Zephrinity? Honestly, I wasn't a fan of hers. And she knew it. The only reason we got along as well as we did was because of Cory.

"Zity, no one cares about the new teacher." I propped my head up with my arm.
"First of all, don't call me that. Second of all, lots of people care. Every girl in our grade cares. Hot teachers are a once in a lifetime thing. And some of the guys care because they want to know whether he's a hard-ass or not. So far, I've heard he's a really fun guy."
"Oh great. I just love fun guys. Maybe we can invite him out for pizza later." Cory laughs at my sarcasm, while Zephrinty glares at us.
"I don't know why I hang out with you two."
"I've been wondering that since the day we met."
"Shove it, McClean."
"Gladly, Denver, right up your-"

"Sorry I'm late. This school is huge."

Some tall skinny guy comes rushing into the room. He looks really flustered as he sets his backpack on the desk. He lets out a deep breath and takes off his jacket. The guy had some muscles on him, but it didn't look like anything special. He was tanned and sweating, probably from running around trying to find the class. He wiped his forehead, brushing his brown hair out of his face. His eyes scanned the room before he smiled at us and leaned back against his desk.

"Alright, so I'm Mr. Sinclair, and I'm gonna be your new history teacher for the year. How's about we just get role call out of the way so you all can get started?" He opened his backpack and pulled out the attendance sheet. The guy couldn't have been in his 30s yet. "Okay... Allison?"

He went through a few of the names, but when it came to Cory, there wasn't an answer. I looked over at him and saw him staring at Mr. Sinclair, but he obviously wasn't listening. He was spacing out, like he was in a trance.

"Barnes? Cory Barnes?"
I nudged him. "Cory, he's calling you."
"Huh?"
"The teacher is calling you."
"Oh... present." He lowered his head.
Mr. Sinclair smiled and looked back down at the sheet.
"Cory, what was that all about?" I whispered to him.
"N-N-Nothing, Sean. I was just day-dreaming, that's all."

My best friend just so happens to be the worst liar in the world.

"Cory, come on. You can tell me."
He met my gaze for a moment, then looked away.
"I-I-It's nothing."
"Cory, I've known you for years. I know when you're lying. But you don't have to keep secrets from me. We're best friends." I frowned at my own hypocrisy.
He looked at me, then bit his lip. "I-"
"Okay, seeing as I have absolutely no lesson plan for today, you all are free to talk amongst yourselves." We all stared at the teacher. "No really, I forgot my lesson plan for today, and to be honest, I'm not in the mood to teach today. I've been sitting in the principal's office getting an hour lecture on hall passes, then it takes me ten minutes just to figure out where my class is for first period. Then I find out that my fifth period class is in a whole other classroom, which is on the other side of the school. Seriously, how do you kids do it?"
"Simple. Run or get detention. I seem to get more of the latter." I say.
"I see. And you are?"
"Sean McClean, at your service."
"Ah, Sean. You don't look like a demon delinquent to me."
"So you've been talking to my other teachers?"
"Just briefly. But I doubt you're as bad as they say."
"Wanna bet?"
"Nope. Betting is against school rules, apparently."
"How old are you?"
"27. And you?"
"Old enough."
"Alright then. And your friends?" He gestures to Zephrinity and Cory.
"Well the swamp thing that you might call a girl is Zephrinity, but I like to call her Zity." She kicks me in the back of the leg. I growl and rub my leg. "And they say I'm the demon. This is Cory." I mess up his hair. He frowns and shakes his head.

The rest of the class was off in their own conversations. I turned to Cory and Zephy.

"I can't believe how big of an ass you are, Sean." Zephy glared at me.

I was about to speak when Mr. Sinclair sat down between me and Cory. We all stared at him.

"Okay, so I know you probably don't want me here to bother you, but I've got nothing to do right now."
"You could create some assignments or read a book or something." I said.
"But that's so boring."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you're a teacher?"
"Yep, I'm certified."
"Well you don't act like one." Cory said.
"Isn't that a good thing? I hate the traditional teachers. All work and no play makes students not want to learn."
"Where did you get your teaching degree?" I eyed him.
He laughed. "I'm legit, I promise. I just don't believe that you have to grow up completely once you go to college."
"Right. Well anyway, I still don't get why you chose us to talk to though."
"Because you were the first to talk to me."
"Me and my big mouth."

He laughed. Zephy leaned over and started flirting with him, which almost made me gag. If he noticed that she was flirting, he didn't seem to care. He was as nice to her as he was to me. I noticed Cory was staring at him again, and he still hadn't said anything. Mr. Sinclair smiled at him, and I think I saw Cory blush. I felt a wave of anger. I was definitely the jealous type.

"Cory. Hallway. Now." I snarled.

He jumped and looked at me, then got up. He followed me out of the classroom. I noticed Mr. Sinclair staring at us with a confused look on his face.

"Cory, what's going on with?"
"Nothing, Sean. I'm f-f-fine."
"You're stuttering again."
"Oh am I? I hadn't noticed."
I sighed and walked over to him. "Don't act like this, Cory. When have you ever felt the need to keep a secret from me?"
"Plenty of times. I just suck at it."
"And that's a good thing, because then I don't have to work as hard to get it out of you." He frowned. "Come on, you know you can count on me, Cory. I won't tell a single soul. Do you trust me?"
He stared at me, then sighed. "It's not whether I trust you, Sean. It's whether you'll be able to handle it."
"And who says I won't?"
"Nothing, it's just... I know you don't like surprises."
"Surprises? Cory, what are you talking about?"
"It's nothing, Sean. Can we please stop talking about this?"
I stared at him. "For you, of course. You don't have to tell me anything."

He nodded. We hugged, and of course I didn't want to let go, but I had to eventually. He turned to go back in the classroom.

"Hey, Cory?"
"Yeah?" He stopped.
"We can tell each other anything and it won't change things, right?"
He blinked, then smiled at me. "Right."
"Good."
He grinned then went back in the classroom.

I leaned against the lockers and brought my head back, causing it to bang against the door.

This is too much.

I'm getting jealous of a 27-year old man because he smiled at my best friend who I have a major crush on but isn't gay.

How the hell is this gonna work out?