I'll Be the Only Light

It had been hours since Jeremy told him about his horrid vision of Alex and a dead baby, but Vic couldn’t get it off his mind. Worry seeped in through his mind, leaving him in a state of fear he’s never been in before. Even his trigonometry homework couldn’t separate him from his worries. What if something bad happened to Alex?

Kellin, he thought. If Kellin did anything to hurt him, I’d never forgive that bastard. But of course, he’s so gorgeous. I can’t not love him.

He picked up the phone, dialing Alex’s number, unsure of what to say. He just had to hear his light, raspy voice. He had to make sure he was okay.

“Hi, Lex,” Vic mumbled.

“Hey, Vic. What’s up?”

“Uh…” Vic scratched his head. “Are you…uh…are you okay? I mean, after what happened today—“

“Yeah. Kellin took me to the nurse. I’m okay now.” As much as he knew how caring Vic was, it still bugged Alex that he called him out of nowhere. Why the fuck is he suddenly asking me if I’m okay? thought the caramel haired boy. “Why?”

“I…I don’t know, I’m just…worried. Heheh,” Vic let out a nervous chuckle. “Worried that something might’ve gone wrong…”

“What could possibly go wrong?” laughed Alex, faking a British accent. “See you at school.”

“See you at school,” Vic hung up as he heard footsteps down the hall. He turned his back to see Mike and Jaime at the door. “Oh, hi guys. How was the rap contest?”

“Some dude named Matt Healy won,” said Mike. “He rapped about fucking some girl who’s got a boyfriend. How real is that shit?”

“Don’t worry, bro. You’ll win next time.”

“Always the optimist, eh? What’s that you’re working on? A design or some shit?”

“Nah, trigono,” sighed Vic.

“Aren’t you supposed to be good at that, honors roll student?” teased Jaime, pulling a snapback out of his backpack. “Oh, and by the way, we met Kellin there and he told us to give you this. You left it in chem lab.”

Vic looked at his favorite snapback once again before landing his eyes on a writing he had never seen on it before. “Tacos Nachos Burritos Mexicos Bitch?” he squinted his eyes on the writing. “What?”

Mike shrugged. “He’s probably just joking around. Hella racist, though.”

“What the fuck is his problem?” Jaime sighed.

“Well…you know, it’s Kellin Quinn.”

*

Jack came to the gang’s lunch table with a grumpy face the next day. Something Vic didn’t usually see. Jack was the most cheerful of the bunch. He’d never seen Jack so angry before—not even at parties. What could go wrong this time?

“Friendzoned?” Rian chirped.

“Worse,” Jack grumbled. “I’d be okay if I got friendzoned but the asshole called me a faggot.”

“Who called you a faggot?” Alex raised his voice.

Jack sighed. “Quinn.”

“Quinn from Glee?” Tony grinned absent-mindedly.

“No, dumbass, Kellin Quinn!” Jeremy laughed. “What happened?”

“You’re a psychic, you should know. Well, anyway, I asked him out and he turned me down and he said,” Jack said, imitating Kellin’s voice. “‘You know why? ‘Cause you’re a faggot who can’t get a C on his math test anyway. Smarten up and maybe I’ll consider sucking your dick. Oh, and by the way, your friend’s cute. What’s his name again? Oh, yeah, Gaskarth!’”

“What the fuck? He doesn’t sound like that,” Alex complained.

“He does. You know what? I’m gonna break that asshole’s heart. If he even has one.”

Alex shook his head. “No, Jack. Remember when Oli led you on and turned you down and you replaced every picture on his phone with a picture of Shrek as a revenge?”

“Oh, yeah. Oli Sykes. Poor guy.”

“His friends got you drunk and left you alone in the woods naked.”

“See, that’s why I don’t drink,” Jeremy smirked.

Jack cringed. “Can we not talk about that?”

“Hey, guys,” a familiar, high-pitched voice chimed in. Kellin, thought Vic without looking away from Jack.

“Hi, Kells,” he said with a friendly voice.

“Hi, Lex,” Kellin proceeded to ignore Vic and wrapped his arm around Alex. “How’s it going?”

Rude much? Vic thought, turning away with disgust as a group of girls gathered around Kellin, giggling thirstily. “Hi, bitches,” Kellin grinned.

“Hi, Kellin!”

“Ready for the party tonight?” the blue-eyed boy said, shoving Vic out of his way. “I’ll pick you girls up at seven.”

With his blue eyes still on Alex, he took the taller boy’s hand and steered him away from the crowd, waving at every good-looking girl in his sight. Vic felt nothing but sheer disgust—and that lovey dovey feeling in his heart, again, as Kellin stopped to look at him. The butterflies flied sickeningly in his stomach. Goddamn it!

“Oh, and Fuentes?” he smirked. “Eight o’clock, my place. Bring your own bottle. Be there or be square.”

Be there…or be square, Vic thought, smiling to himself as Kellin walked away, leaving him a spark inside his heart. The guy might be a douchebag, but he sure as hell is irresistible.

"To be honest, I don’t feel like going,” Jeremy muttered.

“You’re not even invited,” Jack laughed.

“Well, are you?”

“Uh…”

Jeremy smiled victoriously. “Thought so.”

“Whatever, I’m going anyway,” grumbled Jack. “Let’s go to class, guys.”

*

“Let us welcome the newest member of our class…Kellin Quinn-Bostwick.”

Kellin stood in front of the white board, with his blue eyes gleaming and a fake smile polished on his face. Every girl in the room looked like they were about to swoon. Every girl but Jenna.

“What instrument do you play, Kellin?” asked Mr. Iero—or as his students loved to call him, Frankie.

“I sing,” said Kellin. “I used to sing lead in a choir. I have a tenor leggiero voice and my range goes from C3 to G5.”

“Perfect!” smiled Mr. Iero. “We’ve been dying to have another high tenor in this class, is that right, Mr. McKinnon?”

Jeremy nodded. “Um, yeah.”

“Can you sing something for us?” asked Mr. Iero.

The whole session instantly became The Kellin Quinn Show as Kellin started to sing a variety of songs Vic knew so well. Even Jack was amazed—or he just seemed amazed. Alex couldn’t stop staring at the blue-eyed boy’s ass even if he tried. At that moment, all he wanted in the world was Kellin’s touch. He knew he was damn lucky to have Kellin’s eyes on him.

By the end of Kellin’s little show, Mr. Iero smiled a grin. “Thank you, Kellin! Well, guys, what do you think? Fucking awesome, am I right?”

“Guys! Mr. Iero just swore,” Jeremy laughed immaturely as he stopped drawing on his notebook.

“Stop drawing hentai, Jeremy!” hissed Mr. Iero, writing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on the whiteboard. “Anyway, as I’ve said before we’re having a special end-of-the-year performance in a few months and we will be performing…Bohemian Rhapsody. Now, you guys need to choose who’s going to be our lead singer. Volunteers?”

Jeremy raised his hand. “Me.”

“Okay, any more volunteers?” Mr. Iero asked as he wrote Jeremy’s name on the white board. “Alex?”

“Sure,” said Alex.

“Vic could do it too,” said a kid at the back of the classroom.

“Alright, Vic too. One more person, please.”

“Me,” Kellin smiled.

Shit, Vic thought.

“Who chooses Jeremy McKinnon for lead?” asked Mr. Iero, counting the number of hands raised in the air and writing it down next to his name.

“Alex Gaskarth?”

That’s not even half of the class, thought Vic. What if I get to sing lead? I’ll fuck up. God, no, please…don’t let it be me…

“Kellin Quinn?”

More than half of the class…good. Please, let it be Kellin.

“Vic Fuentes?”

Shit! The same number as Kellin!

“Since both Vic and Kellin are good singers…” Mr. Iero said. “I’m making both of them our lead singers.”

Dammit.

*

By the time Vic arrived at Kellin’s party that night, he had seen more than twenty cars parked on the side of the road. Kellin may be new, but he had gathered a cult dedicated to him. All Vic saw was plastic cups filled with vodka everywhere and cigarette smoke filling the front yard (although Kellin had said over and over again that he didn’t smoke, but his parents did and it annoyed him)—he knew it would be that wild. Alex was nowhere to be found and so was Kellin.

“Beer?” Rian handed Vic a plastic red cup.

“Sure,” Vic said, taking the drink from Rian’s hand.

“Where’s Mike?”

“At home, practicing for his next rap battle.”

Rian sighed. “That fucker.”

“Are you sure he’s not jacking off to a burrito right now?” Jack chuckled.

Vic cringed. “That’s sick! Who does that?”

“I do,” Jack sipped more wine as he walked away. “See you around, guys.”

“He’s gonna throw up everywhere. You know how Jack is when he’s drunk,” laughed Rian.

“Yeah, man,” Vic replied. “Where’s Jeremy, though?”

“I saw him third wheeling with Jenna and Jaime but…I don’t know, he disappeared on us. He’s probably just watching people get drunk.”

“Typical Jeremy,” Vic chugged more beer, remembering that Jeremy was the cleanest of them all. “I’m gonna go look for him. Catch ya later.”

The search had begun. Vic moved in through the crowd, trying to find his friend in the sea of boys and girls dancing and drinking to the beat. But there was no sign of Jeremy anywhere, not even in the swimming pool. Vic knew Jeremy loved to swim—every time he went to a party, the pool was the first place he’d check if he was looking for Jeremy.

But, instead of Jeremy, he found Jenna and Jaime making out in their swimsuits with Jack laughing in the middle of the pool, half-naked and drunk out of his mind. Where could the bearded boy be? Vic walked into the crowd again. Still, Jeremy was nowhere to be found. Jesus fucking Christ. Where the hell is he?

Vic walked down the hall, passing everyone there and finally finding an unlocked door. As he pushed the door he could hear Alex’s voice floating through the silence.

“You’re so goddamn good at this…let’s do it again.”

He saw their lips touch, their fingers on each other’s backs and Alex’s nails buried into Kellin’s back. Both the boys had their eyes closed and their breaths uneven, holding each other passionately as their lips devoured each other. Kellin slowly opened his eyes and moved his hand to Alex’s head, caressing his fluffy-looking brown hair with his fingers. Without having second thoughts, Vic ran down the hall. Don’t look back, Victor Vincent Fuentes. Don’t you fucking dare.

Just as he was about to run into Kellin’s superficial friends, he heard a voice calling out his name. He stopped to look around and found Jeremy and Tony in the crowd, Jeremy as sober as he could be. “Jeremy?”

“Vic,” Jeremy said. “Dude, you okay?”

“Yeah,” said Vic, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I just…I need to go home. Like, now.”

“Yeah, me too. This is getting too much for me to handle,” Jeremy chuckled, leading the two boys to his car.

Jeremy started the engine as Metallica blasted from his stereo, driving away with his friends at the backseat, Tony smiling drunkenly and Vic still trying not to cry. “So, what happened?”

“I saw Alex and Kellin making out,” sobbed Vic. “It was so…frontal. I didn’t know how to react…I just ran away.”

“Someone’s a little jealous,” Tony giggled.

“Shut up, Tony,” Jeremy murmured. “You like Kellin, don’t you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Vic shrugged. “He’s such a douchebag but I just…I can’t resist him. I think he’s a nice guy, like, deep down inside.”

“Ah, yes, Kellin Quinn, how irresistible,” Jeremy chuckled sarcastically. “He called Jack some homophobic slur, told me I couldn’t sing for shit, pretended to flirt with me, and put some drug in Jack’s drink and tried to get Jack and me to drink it. What a nice guy!”

“Drug who?” Vic raised an eyebrow. “He…tried to drug you so he could do ‘things’ to you? What the fuck?”

Jeremy sighed. “Good thing I didn’t drink it. I knew something’s wrong with that guy. I’ve had bad visions about him for the past few days.”

Still, Tony couldn’t stop giggling. The boys looked at their friend in dismay. Why wouldn’t he stop laughing?

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Jeremy.

“I don’t know, he just can’t stop laughing for no reason,” said Vic. “Ton? Tony, answer us?”

“Hahahaha, you fools!”

“What?” Jeremy gasped. “Tony, this isn’t funny.”

“You’re nothing but a fool, Jeremy. You too, Vic. You’re all fools and your friends will die,” Tony smiled, still cackling, opening the door and walking out of the car, leaving the other boys in confusion.

“Tony! Tony, wait!” yelled Jeremy.

“Where are you going? Tony!” Vic called out.

Before they knew it, Tony had disappeared into the darkness. He had vanished into thin air—with no sound. But Vic could swear he still heard his laughter in his head. An unnatural, almost evil-sounding laugh Vic had never heard from Tony before.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Jeremy hissed.

Vic gave him a shrug. “He’s losing his mind. Probably. Or maybe Kellin put something in his drink too.”

“He seemed…possessed,” said Jeremy.

“And you watch too much horror anime. Come on, dude, let’s get going.”