No Such Thing as Too Young

And I might be perfect with you,
But no one would know,
So tell me, tell me.
“The Balcony Scene” – Pierce the Veil

“Vic, what’s up?” I whispered. We were in the middle of our ancient history class and Vic was just sitting there with a vacant look on his face, pen limp in his hand.

“Huh?” he said, turning to me and looking confused.

“Dude, the teacher’s talking about Greek mythology or something and you’re not even listening. Are you okay? You’re usually all over this stuff.”

“Oh… yeah! I’m great!” he exclaimed, all the while staring at the pen in his hand.

“O-kay…” I said, trying to read his expression. He was looking vaguely around the room, still not taking any notes. “Dude… are you stoned or something?”

“What? No way! I’m fine. Just… you know.” I didn’t know. I had no idea what was going through his head, but I couldn’t get anything else out of him.

I started writing down the notes without really taking anything in, wondering whether Vic had been drinking today.

“Vic?” I began. “Are you-” I stopped when I realised he was asleep with his head on the desk. “Dude, wake up,” I said, shaking his shoulder. He sat up so abruptly he made me jump.

“Oh shit,” he whispered. “Did I actually fall asleep in class?” He looked panicked.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Crap, did anyone notice? Did the teacher notice?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“No dude, you were out for like two minutes.”

“Okay, well that’s good. Man, I really gotta get my work done.” And at that he started frantically scribbling in his book like he normally did.

That lesson was my first sign that something was up with Vic. He was normal for the rest of the day, if a little vacant-seeming, but the way he was acting that morning really wasn’t like him.

“So Vic, you wanna come to my place and help me study for Friday’s biology test tonight?” I asked as we finished our last lesson for the day. “You can stay for dinner if you like, Mum’s making pumpkin soup.”

“You sure it’s okay with your mum?” he asked.

“It’ll be fine,” I said, waving off his question. “We’ve always got leftovers.”

“Then yeah, sounds good,” he nodded with a smile.

We both walked back to my place like I do every afternoon, chatting about unimportant shit.

“So, what was it like at your old private school?” I asked after a while.

“Um, it was okay. It was a boarding school, which sounds bad but I thought it was alright. I had a few friends, but we haven’t spoken since I left,” he said.

“How come?” I asked, curious.

“We just weren’t real close, I guess none of us felt the need to keep in contact.”

“Would you wanna keep in contact with me if one of us left?” I asked after a pause.

“Yeah, of course. You’re my first best friend, remember?” I smiled at that. I did feel a pang of guilt, though, as I was reminded of Justin. He’d been my best friend for years, but I’d been spending so much time with Vic this past month or so that I felt like we’d drifted apart a bit. I do feel like I have a different sort of relationship with Vic though; I mean, Justin and I got along great, but Vic and I just have this… connection. I’m not sure how to describe it, but we just clicked and became inseparable.

“So… was there a girl at this boarding school?” The question made me kinda nervous.

“No, not really,” he said with a nervous laugh. I couldn’t explain the weird sensation of relief I felt when he said that.

“Mum, I’m home!” I called as I walked in the door when we arrived home. “Is it okay if Vic stays for dinner?”

“Sure, sweetheart! Hi Vic!”

“Hi!” he called back. He’d been to my place a few times since we’d met and he and my mum had taken a liking to each other. It’s always great when Mum approves of my friends, because it’s not all the time that she does. She certainly likes Vic a lot more than Justin. She didn’t dislike Justin, but she thought he was a bit of a troublemaker and was afraid he was a bad influence on me.

“Mmm, what’s that smell?” I asked as we walked into the kitchen and dumped our bags on the floor.

“Cupcakes! I’ve just finished icing them, they’re on the bench!” said Mum, smiling at us. I love my mum, I think she’s awesome. She’s kinda big with long, curly dark hair and smile lines around her mouth and eyes. Call me a mummy’s boy, but I think she’s beautiful.

“Wow, they look awesome, Mum!” The cupcakes were Halloween themed, since it was October. They were covered in red icing that looked like blood and decorated with spooky things like spiders, spider-webs and coffins. I sat down on a stool at the bench, grabbed a cupcake and started to eat, motioning for Vic to do the same.

“Mmm, they’re really good, Ms Bostwick!” said Vic.

“Oh thanks, you boys are so sweet. So, how was school?”

“Good,” we both mumbled through mouthfuls of cupcake. “We’ve got a biology test on Friday, so Vic’s here to help me study for that,” I said.

“That’s real nice of you, Vic. You’re welcome here anytime, especially if you’re helping get Kellin’s grades up! He needs it,” she said, giving me a meaningful look.

I just rolled my eyes. She was always up me about my grades. “Well, we’re going upstairs now,” I said as we finished our cupcakes and grabbed our bags.

“Thanks for the cupcake, Ms Bostwick!” called Vic as we left the kitchen.

“No problem!” she called back.

As we entered my room we dumped our bags on the floor again before I threw myself at my bed while Vic flopped down on my desk chair. My room was painted blue with posters on the walls like Vic’s room had. It was kinda small and cramped with furniture, but it was comfortable and a good place to hang out.

After flopping on the bed I crawled to my bedside table to plug my iPod into my dock station and put it on shuffle.

“Okay, now we’re all set we better get started,” said Vic.

“Uuuuugggghhhh,” I said. Vic rolled his eyes and started pulling school books out of our bags, tossing my biology notebook and textbook to me.

“Go to page 249, that’s where the stuff on cell reproduction is,” he said, flicking through his own textbook.

“Hehe, reproduction…” I chuckled.

“Stop being an idiot and open your book,” Vic said, giving me a fake glare. I stuck my tongue out at him and threw a cushion at his face.

“Hey, what was that for!?” he exclaimed.

“I’m teaching you a lesson,” I laughed.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now,” he chuckled, picking up the cushion and coming towards me.

“Nooo-” SMACK! The cushion hit me in the face, hard. “OW!” I reached up and grabbed the back of Vic’s neck, pulling him down so I could push him onto the bed. When I had him on his back I grabbed a pillow and started hitting him with it as hard as I could.

When he tried to wriggle away I pounced on top of him, pinning him down by his wrists and leaning over him, my hair falling over his face. “Get off me, Kellin,” he laughed, trying to push me off.

“Never!” I cried, moving my arms out from under me so my whole body just fell on top of him, making him laugh and struggle more as I rolled on my back. “I will never get off!”

“You’re an idiot,” he laughed. I finally rolled back over and propped myself up onto my elbows, but when I looked at his face, my stomach did this weird twisty thing and I was suddenly very conscious of how I was lying on top of him with my whole body on his and what a nice shade of brown his eyes were and…

I quickly pushed myself off him and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s get to work so I don’t fail this test, shall we?”