In Between Codes

Chapter 5

Once outside, he found himself standing there, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to run; that would be too exhausting, and he wasn't in the mood for it. 

Then, as if from nowhere, a thought struck him. The cheerleading routine. Maybe practicing it again would clear his mind.

Tomy took a deep breath and started moving, following the steps he had drilled into his head earlier that day. As he practiced, he made sure to follow Laura's advice. He did a great effort to smile, move fluidly, with grace, almost... feminine. 

Through the kitchen window, Tomy's mom caught sight of him. She paused, wiping her hands on a dish towel, her gaze lingering on him, admiring his movements. A small, smile tugged at her lips before she shook herself out of her thoughts. She called through the window, "Sweetie, dinner's ready!"

Tomy paused mid-step, then slowly turned and walked back inside.

After dinner, Tomy took a quick shower, and finally, made his way to his room. As he closed the door behind him, he leaned against it. A second later, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn't even glance at it. He knew it was Samantha. He ignored the constant buzzing of notifications, and resorted to put his phone next to the PC and went to lie down in bed.

The soft hum of his computer signaled that it had powered up, the screen flickering to life. A message appeared on the screen, then another, then another. The familiar notification tone that Samantha had set for herself rang out, over and over again.

Tomy didn't move to check it. Instead, he pulled a manga from the shelf, his fingers tracing over his collection until he found what he was looking for: Koi wa Kagakushiki no Naka ni. He wanted to catch up with Zoe and Angela. He opened to the page he left off on and started reading.

But then, Samantha's voice broke through the quiet. It was sweet, feminine, and unmistakable, filling the room from the speakers of his PC.

"Hey, Tamy! How was your day?"

Tomy froze, the manga pages stilling in his hands. His heart sank.

"Seriously?" he muttered to himself, but his fingers remained still on the book. He didn't want to look at the screen. He didn't want to hear her voice right now.

Her voice chimed again, persistent. "Tamy? Come on, you know you can't ignore me forever."

Tomy's grip tightened on the manga, the words on the pages starting to blur. He didn't want to talk to her. 

Still, she wouldn't stop.

He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply to try to calm himself. Tomy's jaw clenched. She was right. He couldn't avoiding her forever. With a sharp exhale, he placed the manga down on the desk and finally looked at the screen. There was message flashing: "Tamy? You're good girl?"

The words hit him harder than he expected. He stared at the blinking cursor for a moment, caught in that awful space between wanting to vent and not wanting to share what he'd been bottling up.

But the words came out, heavy and sharp, before he could stop them.

"You! You did this! Me being called Tamy, being put in the girls' team. It was all your fault."

There was a brief pause, as if Samantha hadn't fully processed what he said. Then her voice, smooth and feminine, responded: "I don't know what you mean. What are you talking about?"

Tomy's fists tightened. "Don't play dumb with me. Because of you, everything I've worked for with the guys is completely destroyed. I spent the whole year building my reputation, and now it's all gone."