A Tantalizing Kiss

It felt strange not to head towards Rose’s house the next morning.

I drove to school with the music blaring songs I didn’t normally listen to. I didn’t know the words to them, but the beat felt right for the moment.

The day seemed to move by slowly.

I went through morning practices with Mr. Wilson normally. He commented on how I seemed to be less focused today than normal.

I shrugged, “I don’t feel any different. Sorry”

“Whatever it is, it needs to stop soon.” He mumbled, ruffling through the papers on his desk. “Sing the second verse again will you?”
I nodded, opening my mouth to continue with the lesson.

Rodger met me at my locker once the practice had finished at the start of school. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted to confront me about the play, but once Leah joined, he kept his mouth shut.

I shot him a grateful look when she finally turned her back.

“We’ll talk in Math.” He mumbled.

“Sure.” I muttered, grateful that he wasn’t going to let it slip yet.

We bumped fists and continued our conversation with Leah and Delran as if nothing happened. As the morning progressed, I found myself growing angrier and angrier. Leah and Delran were disgusting me with how much they loved each other.

Small snide comments started to come out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Leah was beginning to get fed up with me. Delran didn’t know what to make of it. I wasn’t usually as rude as I was being today.

“What’s shoved up your ass?” Leah hissed as we made our way to first period.

“Nothing.” I grumbled.

“Something is, Mason. You’re being a dick today.” She snapped, “You need to stop it soon, because it’s not attractive.”

“Whatever.” I grumbled, walking into my first period class.

I wasn’t looking forward to Drama class. I was thankful I had Rodger in that class, but he would suspect something as soon as I didn’t sit next to Rose.

I had no intention of sitting next to her. Or looking at her. Or talking to her. Or acknowledging her presence as long as she talked to Pierce.

I wasn’t ashamed to have lost her to someone else. She had rejected me plenty of times. It wasn’t surprising. It was to whom I lost her to. Of anyone in the entire school, it had to be Pierce. He was the most obnoxious acting freak I had ever met.

He redefined the word loser.

To hear from him that Rose had agreed to go on a date with him over me…I swallowed painfully, pushing her out of my mind. It was a stupid little crush I had on her. Nothing more. It would fade eventually.

The bell rang, dismissing us from class.

I slipped into the hallways grudgingly, not wanting to go to class. Rodger found me in the hallways before hand, falling into step with me.

“What’s up, bro?” He asked.

I shrugged, “Nothing.”

“Did Leah do something to you? Cause you were a total jackass to her earlier.”

I felt my cheeks heat up, “She didn’t do anything. I don’t know why I was being a jackass earlier. I should apologize, shouldn’t I?”

“She’s not going to like you until you do…” He trailed off casually.

“I will at lunch.” I mumbled.

“So if she didn’t do anything, who did?”

“No one. No one did anything. I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, is all.” I stared forward so as not to look him in the eye.

“Bullshit. Mason, you would never admit to just ‘waking up on the wrong side of bed’. I know you,”

“Maybe I did!”
“You didn’t. Tell me what happened.”

“No.”

“I’ll tell Leah about your little drama club. She’ll love to hear the details on that. And you know Leah, she can’t keep her mouth closed long enough to wipe the cum from her lips.”

I hesitated. “You wouldn’t, would you?”

“You know me well enough, man.”

I sighed, leaning against the wall next to the door, “You can’t tell anyone, alright? I swear Rodger, I’ll kick your ass if you do.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” He rolled his eyes.

I bit my lip, staring at the floor, “Pierce told me that he’s going on a date with Rose.”

“Pierce who? And the blonde chick you’ve been hanging around with a lot? That Rose?” Rodger asked.

“Pierce Rivers.”

Rodger cringed, “Oh, the little faggot who sings?”

“Yeah.”

“Ouch, dude.” Rodger laughed, patting me on the back, “That’s got to hurt.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He shut up, putting a hand on the handle of the door. Rodger turned it, but left the door closed.

“Come on, just sit where you used to sit for today.” He opened the door and walked inside. I sighed, hesitating before following after him.

The bell rang shortly after.

I took a seat in the same chair I had been sitting in for most of the year. I kept my eyes trained on the black board in front of the room, refusing to look around. A few people raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of seats, but no one commented.

Rodger acted as if this was a normal thing. He rested his feet on the back of my chair, hitting my lower back uncomfortably like he had all year. I reached an arm back, pulling on the short leg hairs. He hissed slightly, pulling his feet away.

I chuckled to myself, feeling like I hadn’t left this spot at all.

“Alright, class.” Stein said, walking to the front of the room. I settled back in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest, “Please pass forward the homework you had from last night. And please remember to put your name on it—you’re in high school for crying out loud.”

I reached into my backpack, pulling out the yellow sheet of paper we had to fill out. I was confident I had all the answers correct considering this had been the masquerade scene, which I was an expert at.

Rodger leaned forward, panic in his voice, “We had homework last night?”

I nodded, “Yeah, she gave us the last part of the period to finish it, dude.”

“I threw that shit out!”

I laughed, shaking my head, “Sorry, man. Looks like you’ve been screwed over.”

He cussed under his breath, leaning back in his desk, “I’m going to fail this class. I can’t fail this class. Bullshit.”

“You should’ve joined drama club.” I mumbled under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

Rodger snorted, “I’ll save the pussy-act to you.”

I ignored him, handing my paper to the kid in front of me. He passed them forward to the front of the row where Stein stood, ready to collect them.

She fingered through the collection of papers, her face unchanging as she looked up at Rodger, “No homework, Rodger?”

He shrugged, “Sorry, I forgot.”

“I need to talk to you after class.”

He groaned, leaning his head back slightly. I chuckled darkly under my breath, casually scratching my nose so she didn’t see the smirk.

She set the collected papers on her desk, walking back to the front of the room, “Today we’re going to be acting out a scene from the play.”

A few groans filled the classroom. Her eyes narrowed.

“Be quiet. I’m not making any of you sing, so stop your whining. I need some volunteers to act this out.”

No hands went up.

“I’m offering up three points extra credit to anyone who correctly acts this out. One point if you willingly do it.”

A few hands shot up now.

Mine remained down.

She seemed fine with the selection that volunteered for the period. I spent the rest of the time watching others act out the lines I had struggled to perfect. Every now and then I noticed Stein watching me curiously. I kept my eyes forward, not daring to look to the side where I knew Rose sat. There was no way she was feeling the temptation to look like I was.

She had Pierce to look at.

The period seemed to go by quickly for a change. Rodger and I muttered rude perverted comments to each other as the classmates poorly acted out the scenes. I felt myself waiting to see Stein call Rose up to act out the scenes, but she seemed content with watching.

Finally, the minute hand moved just enough for Stein to realize how close to the end of the period it was. She stood up; interrupting the scene the third group of volunteers had been working on, sending them back to their seats.

“I want a five paragraph essay on your thoughts of the scene. It’s due this Friday. The rubric will be on my desk at the end of the day, for those of you that are interested in getting it.” She said, before moving behind her desk and sitting down, “The rest of the period is yours.”

I shrugged, turning around in my desk to face Rodger, “This worked out pretty well.”

“Want to write my essay?” He asked

“Why the hell would I want to write two essays on a prompt I don’t like?” I frowned, “Hell, I don’t even know if I’m writing my own.”

“Well… I figured since you know this shit like the back of your hand…” He shrugged casually, leaning back in his seat.

My eyes hardened, “Shut the hell up.”

“Just saying.”

“I’m not writing your essay.”

“Come on, I’ll pay you!”

“How much?”

“Twenty?”

“Thirty.”

Rodger frowned, “I’m not rich enough for this!”

I shrugged, “Guess you’ll be writing your own essay then. And you know I can’t guarantee anything better than a B.”

“A B is better than the D I’ll be getting…”

I shrugged.

Rodger’s eyes flickered past me for a moment before widening, “Bitch at twelve o’clock. Heading this way.”

“Is it Stein?” I asked.

Rodger shook his head slightly.

“Mason?” A soft voice asked.

I tensed, inhaling deeply. I exhaled slowly before turning around to face the blonde traitor standing next to me.

“How can I help you?” I asked with malice evident in my voice. Rose cringed slightly, running a hand through her hair. She chewed her bottom lip nervously.

“I uh… I’d like to speak with you.”

I crossed my arms, waiting. “Go ahead.”

“Privately.”

“Not going to happen.” I turned back to Rodger.

“Mason…” She pleaded.

“Talk to me now because that’s all I want to do.”

“Please don’t be like this.” She said softly, “I’m really sorry I snapped at you yesterday. I just want a minute to explain myself.”

I rolled my eyes. She thought I was angry that she snapped at me? Sure that hadn’t helped, but I’d grown accustomed to her bi-polar tendencies. It wasn’t the first time she’d done this to me, and I doubted it would be the last.

“Please.” She whispered.

The bell chose that moment to rang, saving me from tolerating her any longer. I stood up sharply, my body dangerously close to hers. She froze, her eyes on mine. I didn’t say anything as I slipped my backpack over my shoulder. I pushed past her sharply, leaving the room as quick as I could manage.

“Damn.” Rodger said, surprised.

I didn’t comment.

“I didn’t realize you were this angry with her.”

I kept my lips shut.

“What did she mean that she ‘snapped at you’?”

“Forget it.” I growled, “I don’t want to talk about it. Just… drop it.”

“You should give her a chance to hear it out.”

“Who the fuck are you? My mother? No. So shut the hell up, Rodger. I don’t want to talk about it.” I snapped

He held up his hands innocently, “I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, well you’re just saying too much.”

Rodger’s eyes hardened, “You know what? I don’t care what she did to you. It’s not like she cheated on you or anything. So why don’t you lay off?”

“You don’t understand.”
“You’re right. I don’t. And you know what else? I don’t care to.” Rodger said, “But I’d appreciate it if you remembered who you’re mad at.”

“It’s about to be you if you don’t shut up.”

“Forget it. You’re hopeless.”

I didn’t say anything.

Rodger turned to open the door to study hall. He looked over his shoulder, meeting my eyes, “Stop acting like a drama queen. It’s one girl. Get over her. It’s not like you actually had a chance with her. You’re being a pussy.”

My fingers curled into fists.

It took all my energy not to slam him in the face.

Rodger opened the door, walking in.

I followed in suit with a scowl on my face.

I wasn’t sure where to sit. There was no way Rodger would be ok with me sitting near him after our argument two minutes ago. And there was no way I was sitting next to Rose. I didn’t know too many other people I could sit with. My eyes scanned the seats, searching for anyone.

They finally rested on a boy from Drama club.

I hadn’t talked to him often,—he was stage crew—but he seemed to be pretty cool. I played him off as the shy guy that still managed to get girls.

“Hey.” I said, forcing a smile on my face and pushing past my emotions.

I needed to appear friendly. First impressions mattered.

“Hey.” He mumbled, looking up curiously.

“Is anyone sitting here?” I pointed to the desk next to him.

He shook his head softly.

“Awesome.” I dropped my back on top, taking a seat. I stuck out my hand, “I’m Mason Johnson, by the way.”

“Andrew Taylor.” He gripped my hand back, giving me a surprisingly firm hand shake. “You’re the understudy for Phantom right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded “Stage crew, correct?”

He nodded.

“You guys are doing pretty well. I’ve never actually seen what goes on back there until I started doing this.” My voice was soft so as not to attract attention.

Andrew’s voice mimicked mine.

He shrugged casually, “Yeah, it’s a lot more than people expect.”

“I’ll say.”

He smiled weakly.

“Let me ask you something.” I said before I could think it through.

Andrew waited patiently for me to continue.

“What do you think of Pierce Rivers?”

The scowl on his face was enough for me, “He’s… not someone I personally like to interact with at all.”

I chuckled, “Good. I was just curious as to how many other people didn’t like him either.”

Andrew laughed gently before we were told to shut up.

I rolled my eyes discreetly so that Andrew was the only one to see. He smiled gently before pulling out a notebook and a few loose papers. He grabbed a pen and began to scribble into the notebook furiously.

I grabbed my own work, settling for the math homework I had procrastinated until today to finish.

The class was rather quiet today. Usually there was a faint murmur going through the room, but today there seemed to be nothing. The sound of pencils scratching the paper was the only thing that filled the silence.

Andrew leaned across the aisle, setting a note on my desk.

I looked up in confusion.

He shrugged.

I opened it up, already knowing who it was from.

‘Mason-

Please give me a chance to explain. I feel horrible. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I just want to talk to you in person because I feel like an idiot writing this on a piece of paper. Please?

-Rose’

I sighed, folding it back up. I looked up, catching Rose’s eyes.

‘Fine.’ I mouthed.