Collide With This Guy

“Dude, what the fuck?” Jack greeted me when he saw me in the hallway before school on Monday.
“What now?” I moaned.
“I haven’t heard from you all weekend- but I heard you had time to go to a lame party with your brother and that new kid,” he said, sounding really annoyed. I stopped in my tracks, dropping the book I was trying to take out of my locker .
“What? How do you know that?” I asked, almost defensively.
“Oh, I don’t know, because I was there,” he said, even more agitated. I scrunched my eyebrows together as I looked up at him.
“How were you there?” I wanted to know.
“I had a friend who invited me – Tony Perry’s party? Yeah, I was there,” he said, nodding.
“Why didn’t you say anything to me?” I demanded to know. What did he think he was doing, getting onto me for not saying anything to him, when he didn’t say anything to me, either?
“Because I was . . . um, busy, that’s not the point,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. I wriggled my eyebrows at him knowingly. He was probably hooking up with someone.
“Oh, okay, sir,” I teased as he moaned.
“Shut up,” he said, laughing. “But in all seriousness, I’m a little ticked that you’re ditching me for your new best friend now.”
I bit my lip, really wishing I could just tell Jack the truth. I mean, sure I had told him about my crushes on guys before, but now that I was considering myself in a relationship with Kellin, and that I knew he wanted to keep that relationship a secret, I just felt torn. On top of that, I really had been a bitch to Jack for no good reason.
Sure, Rian and Jaime teased the hell out of us ever since he sided with me when our circle of friends broke apart, but I couldn’t keep avoiding him because of that forever.
“Good morning!” I heard a cheerful voice chirp from behind me. I turned to see Kellin smiling brightly at me. I smiled back at him; it took everything I had to not wrap him in a hug and kiss adorable face. I bit my lip and turned back to Jack, who just looked a little irritated. I felt bad- I didn’t want Jack to hate Kellin.

“Well, okay, I’ll go so you can hang out with your new buddy,” he grumbled.

“Wait, don’t go,” I said, suddenly. I turned back to Kellin quickly and whispered, “Can I at least tell Jack?”
He looked a little surprised by my request, and nervously glanced over to Jack then back at me. He shook his head frantically.
“I trust him like, with my life,” I whispered to Kellin. “I promise you he won’t tell anyone. He’s surprisingly good at keeping secrets.”

He still looked worried about that, but then finally sighed.

“Okay, fine,” he sighed. “But no one else.”

I smiled and thanked him before turning back to Jack. I glanced around to make sure the hallway was empty before leaning into my locker and quickly sending a text to him.

“What are you doing now?” he wanted to know, right before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He gave me a curious look before taking the phone out of his pocket and reading the message. I watched him carefully as he raised his eyebrows and looked back at Kellin and me.

“Really?” he asked. I nodded.

“But don’t fucking tell anyone,” I warned, maybe a little harsh. He put his hands up in defense.
“Oh, no, of course not,” he assured me. “Wow, that’s – wow.”

I just shrugged, not really knowing what to say in response. There really wasn’t much I could say without risking someone overhearing. I looked back to Kellin, whose face was bright red as he stared down at his feet. How cute.

“Anyway, we should probably be getting to class,” Jack said, changing the subject to something completely irrelevant as I closed my locker and we started walking towards our respective classes. When I got to my first period, I sat in my usual seat and took out my pencil and my notebook for notes. Class hadn’t even begun, and I was already distracted and doodling song lyrics over the page that was supposed to be for notes.

I barely heard my teacher making announcements and saying something about handing out flyers. So, I really wasn’t expecting the guy in front of me to turn around and smack me over the head with the pile as he tried to pass them back.

“Pay attention, Victor,” he said, mockingly. I wasn’t even sure what his name was or why he decided to pick on me, but everyone else laughed at it. I glared up at him as I took the stack of papers, set aside one for myself and passed it back to the girl behind me. I was starting to fume, but that energy quickly faded when I saw what the flyer was.

It was an announcement for our school’s winter talent show that was supposed to be taking place after break. I scanned over it quickly, taking mental notes about audition dates and rules. All I could think about right away was the song I had Kellin singing for me, and how Tony was going to help us record it for fun.

But what if it wasn’t just for fun or whatever? What if we actually got to perform it for everyone? Not only would it be an amazing experience to perform with Kellin, but it would also be my chance (hopefully) to make a comeback before graduation. Maybe, just maybe, I could leave the impression that I was actually semi talented, rather than the weird gay kid that people picked on. I tucked the piece of paper safely away in my folder and I couldn’t wait to tell Kellin about it.

---
When it was finally lunch time, I ran into the cafeteria and sat down, pulling the flyer out of my backpack once more and setting it out in front of me. I was so ready to tell Kellin all about this and figure out what he thought about it.

I waited and waited, but he never came, which really bummed me out. It was already twenty minutes into lunch, and he wasn’t even anywhere to be seen. Where was he?

I scanned the room and found Rian and Jaime sitting and talking at their normal table, talking amongst themselves. That didn’t mean anything, though. I put the paper away again and grabbed up my bag. I hurried out of the cafeteria and walked through the hallways to where Kellin’s locker was. He wasn’t there either.

I jumped as my phone vibrated in my pocket. To my relief, it was Kellin texting me.

I’m in the bathroom in the back. I need you.

I cursed under my breath and headed towards the bathroom he was talking about. I had no idea what had happened, or if he was hurt or anything, but I felt angry about it, whatever it was. I guess everything just pissed me off.

“Kellin?” I called when I entered. The bathroom seemed empty.

“I’m in here,” I heard his voice coming from the stall on the end. I went over and pushed the door open, shocked to see that he was soaking wet. He looked sad, and he was sitting on the back of the toilet, going through his backpack, which looked to be full of wet and ripped papers.

“What happened to you?” I asked. He frowned.

“I don’t know if you knew this or not, but Jaime’s in my gym class,” he started to say. I felt my body heat rising as I learned that Jaime had something to do with this. “He thought it would be super funny to turn the shower on while I was in the stall.”

“Why were you in the stall with your backpack and all of your clothes on?” I had to ask. HE shrugged, looking a little bit embarrassed.

“Because . . . I don’t like changing in front of everyone, so I just go in there . . . and . . . anyway, that’s not the point,” he sighed, looking frustrated now. “They snuck up on me and turned the shower on while I was in there, fully clothed. I didn’t know where to go after class, and I know they lock the locker rooms, so I just came here.”

“Poor thing,” I muttered, sympathetically. “Let me take you home so you can change.”

Kellin’s eyes widened at that. “What? I can’t miss school!”

“Why not? I’ll take you home, you can change, and then I’ll bring you back,” I shrugged, not seeing the problem with my plan.

“Because my mom is home,” he said, as if it should have been obvious. “I’m . . . I’m afraid to call her. My school papers are all messed up.”

“That’s not your fault, she shouldn’t get mad for that,” I explained. His mom couldn’t possibly be that awful.

“I know, I just know she’s going to make a big deal out of it,” he said, sadly. “I don’t want her trying to get involved.”

“Well then . . . just put your gym clothes back on,” I suggested.

“I did, but I only had shorts,” he said, pulling at the fabric of the basketball shorts he was wearing. I was surprised I didn’t notice that. “My other shirt got wet, too.”

“Then just take my sweatshirt,” I said, pulling off the hoodie I was wearing and pushing it in his direction. He glanced around nervously before removing his wet shirt and letting it drop to the floor. I bit my lip, trying to suppress any sounds I might have made at the sight of him. Damn, why did he have to be so good looking?

He took the sweatshirt and pulled it on over his head. He smiled at me as he tried to pull some excess water from his black hair, which was curling slightly from the wetness.

“Thank you,” he said, quietly. I held my hand out to him and helped him off of the back of the toilet so he didn’t slip when he came down. I followed him to his locker and helped him lay out his books the best he could in the small space, hoping that they would dry more in there than they would in his backpack.

“Do you need paper or a pen or something?” I offered.
“Uh, probably paper,” he said, pulling a working pen from his bag. He stuffed the rest of his bag in the bottom of the locker and took the notebook I was handing him. He opened it to make sure it had enough empty pages. “You’re the best.”

“I know,” I shrugged. I would have tried to sneak a kiss in, but the bell rang and soon the hall was filling with people. That probably would have been a bad idea.