Keeping Secrets: Baljeet X Buford

Chapter 4

Buford was actually early for his English class.

Granted, it was only because he wanted to get away from Baljeet at lunch and his annoying habit of complimenting and insulting him at the same time ('You're in Ferb's English class? You must be smarter than I thought!'). But it still felt weird when he sat down in his assigned seat, set his bag on the desk and looked around. There were a few other students in the class, and most of them were reading or writing. All of them, however, looked at Buford as if he didn't belong there.

Well, he probably didn't. Not early, at least.

It was Friday. One week since he'd agreed to date his best friend/nerd/enemy. One week since he'd agreed to do something that would ultimately break the kid's heart. English was his last class for the day, and he was relieved that all they would be doing was silent reading. That way, he could just keep to himself and not have to do anything until the bell went and he could escape.

But then, of course, he'd have to walk home with his boyfriend.

It was extremely weird for him to call Baljeet that. He was pretty sure the whole school knew they were dating, and to his surprise, he'd found out that pretty much every one had expected it. Some people had even put bets on when it would happen, and Phineas lost a fair amount of cash to Isabella. The thought that everyone expected it disturbed him. They actually thought that he, Buford Van Stomm, would fall in love with Baljeet Rai. For real love, not this fake courtship he was currently involved in.

The fact that Isabella had 'seen the chemistry from the start' made him uncomfortable. Sure, Baljeet liked him. Didn't mean he liked him back. Why was everyone so okay with them dating? Was no one surprised?

His friends' reactions had been as predicted. Isabella had squealed and demanded to know the juicy details, and then proceeded to tell the rest of the student body. Phineas had looked devastated, and he'd pulled out his wallet to hand over a wad of cash to Isabella. The redhead had stared at Buford sullenly, muttering, 'couldn't you have waited another week?'

Ferb's reaction was the one Buford had worried about the most. Aside from Baljeet, Ferb was the one he was closest to out of their little group of friends. Over the years, he and the green-haired teen had somehow formed a strong friendship. They were, after all, the ones who'd changed the most in their group. Buford had stopped bullying, lost his baby fat, grew taller, joined the football team, and began to try a little harder at school. Ferb had started to talk more, broadened out slightly, his face finally grew into his nose, and he began to take more of an interest in his social life, rather than have his entire focus solely on school (and his projects with Phin). Phineas was still the same oblivious, talkative redhead who liked to invent things in his spare time. Isabella was still confident and sassy, leader of her little troop of girls and completely in love with Phineas. Baljeet was still small, skinny and obsessed with his grades.

When Ferb had been informed by a squealing Isabella, the teen had blinked a few times, glanced between Buford and Baljeet, and then shrugged as if it were nothing big. The reaction was a huge relief, but over the past week, he'd caught the teen staring at him intently every time he was with Baljeet. He was growing more and more stressed, knowing if he slipped up and dropped his in-love-with-his-boyfriend facade for one second, Ferb would pick up on it. At one point, someone (probably Isabella) had taken a video of Buford just as Baljeet had leaned up to kiss him. When he'd seen the video, he realized that a millisecond before their lips touched, his face would screw up in disgust. Barely noticeable, but Ferb's eyes had narrowed dangerously when he watched it.

Speaking of the British teen, Ferb entered the classroom and jarred Buford from his train of thought. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he saw it was exactly time for the lesson to start. Ferb began to walk past him to get to his seat which was right behind Buford's, but he stopped and stared at the large teen for a few seconds. Figuring he was waiting for Buford to greet him, the bully nodded slightly. 'Hey.'