Keeping Secrets: Baljeet X Buford

Chapter 4

There was a pause, and then Ferb raised one eyebrow slowly. He spoke, his accent still heavy even after all these years away from England. 'I know.'

With that said, Ferb passed him and proceeded to sit in his chair as if nothing had happened. Feeling dread in his gut, Buford turned in his seat and glared at his friend. He couldn't actually know about the mission, could he? 'What're you talking about?'

Ferb raised one eyebrow in what was clearly a don't-be-fucking-stupid look, just as the teacher entered the room and called for order. Grumbling, Buford reluctantly faced the front, wondering how Ferb could have possibly found out. But then, he was getting ahead of himself. Ferb could have been referring to anything. He could have been referring to Buford's closely guarded secret that he slept with a teddy bear in his arms each night. It could be anything.

Or it could be that he knew Buford was fucking around with Baljeet's heart.

Damn.

The teacher yelled at the class to shut up and start reading. Buford pulled out the assigned book and opened it up, staring blankly at the pages. He knew right then that there was no way he'd be getting any reading done.

An hour later, he was pulled from his thoughts by the teacher speaking. 'All right, that's enough,' he told them. The man glared around the room, his eyes settling on Buford, and the former bully could tell he knew Buford hadn't even read one page. 'I expect you to finish the first two chapters over the weekend and write a brief summary on them. Don't forget they're assigning parts for the play your year is doing for the annual festival on Tuesday. Have a good weekend!'

Buford stood from his seat, grumbling, the mentioning of the play momentarily distracting him from his problems. They were in a relatively small school, and so each year group got to do a different project for their annual festival they held. This year, Buford's year were performing a play.

Joy.

He hoped he'd wind up being in the technical crew, helping set up and all that. He was pretty good at acting, but he hated it. He wouldn't get a choice, though. Names would be drawn out of a hat for each part, and the rest would be divided into support crews, understudies and other such things. That way everyone would get an equal chance at each part. Last year they'd held a concert, and Phineas and Ferb had set up the whole thing, dividing their year into smaller groups and each group performed. It had been pretty good, and Buford had played his guitar.

He walked out the door, slinging his backpack over his back. Phineas, Isabella and Baljeet were waiting for him outside. Ferb appeared at his side, but before he could say anything, Phineas hurried over with a large grin. 'We decided to walk home together as a group!'

Well, at least he wouldn't have to be alone with Baljeet until they'd dropped the rest off. Buford began to agree, but Ferb cleared his throat. 'Actually, Phineas, I have an idea,' he dug into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of scrunched up notes. 'We should go to the park and get some ice-cream, just hang out. Here, take this.'

He placed the notes into Phineas' hand, who smiled brightly at the mention of ice-cream. 'I was just going to get a few things from my locker,' Ferb told him. 'Why don't you meet me at the park? You know what kind of ice-cream I like. Buford, come with me.'

Giving the larger boy no room to argue, Ferb grasped Buford's arm tightly and dragged him away, a tough job considering his bulk. 'Wait!' Baljeet called. Both boys paused, and the Indian rushed up to them. 'I'll see you at the park,' the boy smiled, leaning up to kiss Buford's cheek. He resisted the urge to flinch and stood still until Baljeet pulled away.

'Yeah, see you soon, 'Jeet.'

When he turned back to Ferb, the boy's eyebrows were raised. Scowling, Buford began to walk, muttering 'shut up,' to Ferb. The green-haired teen followed, and they stopped at his locker. He pulled a few books out and shoved them in his bag, before leaning against the lockers and staring at Buford intensely. 'What?' Buford snarled, honestly expecting to be yelled at.