Keeping Secrets: Baljeet X Buford

Chapter 6

Maybe the reason Ferb didn't talk much was because he couldn't actually hear anything that was said to him.

It was just a theory, of course, but Buford wasn't even standing too close to the guy and he could hear the music coming from his headphones perfectly. It was almost as if he were the one listening to it. It seemed unlikely that Ferb could listen to music at that volume and not damage his hearing.

Buford shook his head and sighed, staring down at his feet as he plodded along obediently after Ferb, Baljeet and Phineas towards their school. It was a bright Tuesday morning, and he felt anything but cheerful. He and Ferb were a few steps behind the other two, and he could hear them (over the tinny noise of Ferb's headphones) discussing Baljeet and Buford's "date" in great detail.

At one point, Phineas glanced back at Buford with a huge grin and asked, 'so, did you like the bunny rabbit?'

Buford glared at him silently, refusing to answer. After a few awkward beats, Phineas scoffed, rolled his eyes and quickened his pace. Baljeet followed. Ferb, who had turned his music off as they were approaching the school gates, glanced over at him. Buford grumbled under his breath before snarling, 'remind me why you like him again?'

Ferb's eyes widened just the slightest, and this huge reaction caused Buford great satisfaction. He'd been noticing the green haired teen's behavior towards his so called brother lately, and he'd had his theories confirmed by the reaction. Ferb's eyes stayed wide in question, and Buford let out a somewhat snide snicker. 'Oh please, I know you. To me, it's obvious.'

Ferb's eyes narrowed dangerously, and without warning he punched Buford in the shoulder and stormed off. Rubbing his dead arm (that kid packed a punch), Buford glanced around as he got inside the school, but Ferb was already lost in the crowd and he couldn't see anyone he knew. He frowned. A few moments later he felt weight crash down on his back, and two arms encircled his throat, crushing his windpipe. Raw panic fought it's way to the surface, but it was calmed somewhat when he heard, 'Hey Buford! What'cha doin'?'

'Being choked to death,' he managed to grunt out, and the weight and arms disappeared. Isabella appeared in front of him, grinning widely.

'Sorry, was I a bit rough? You'd think the toughest guy in school would be able to handle a little girl like me.'

'Little?' Buford scoffed. 'You weigh a tonne!'

'Hey!' Isabella punched him in the same spot Ferb had, and his arm went dead again. The girl huffed at him and flipped her raven hair over her shoulder. 'You're such a bully, Buford. Anyway, have you seen Phineas?'

'Yeah, he ran off with my boyfriend.' Buford was becoming used to calling Baljeet that, and deep down, he was starting to not mind it as much. 'Hey, what do I have first period?' he had a habit of forgetting his timetable, but luckily for him, he shared at least one class with at least one of his friends, so by asking around he could always figure it out.

'We don't have first period, remember?' Isabella raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. 'We have an assembly.' At Buford's blank look she sighed and shook her head. 'For the play?'

'Oh!' the memory clicked into his mind, and he abruptly remembered they were being assigned their parts that day, with rehearsals commencing after school that same day. Isabella linked her arm through his, as she did with all the guys in their little group (so it wasn't like it meant anything, and even if it did, she really wasn't his type), and they began to walk together to the hall. He hoped he'd get a maintenance job. Building the set sounded pretty decent, he'd had enough experience helping Phineas and Ferb build their inventions. But even as he thought this, somewhere inside he knew he was in trouble. Call it karma or whatever, but after all the horrible shit he'd done, he knew there was no way he'd be getting was he wanted.