None the Worse ✓

39) 'Don't Sit Down' And Other Advice That Seems Kind Of Stupid Until You...

And that was it.

It would've been great if he's actually begun executing his plan of becoming a better boyfriend, but life wasn't that easy. Holidays made it easier to pretend you were actually going to change, though. Kind of like Christmas, where he had said he'd go on a diet (he'd certainly been doing more exercise than usual).

As of now, he went to school with a swollen face and an ice pack. Martin had been harassing him all night on the phone, and now he waited at the school entrance. When Benjamin walked up to him, he winced. "Yes," said Benjamin.

"What happened?" asked Martin.

"You don't want to know."

"I don't give a fuck, actually, but common courtesy. Anyway, I need to talk to you. In private."

Thijmen was more than glad to leave them alone.

More than snow, he noticed, it was that annoying sleet but not quite, slippery slimy ground. Since Thijmen was gone, he had to use Martin as support. It was spooky. He'd been so thin he could've gouged someone's eye out with his shoulders a few months ago and now Benjamin actually felt muscle. He guessed Martin had also been doing more exercise. Once they'd reached what Benjamin assumed was meant to be a private spot at the yard, Benjamin said, "The bell is going to ring."

Martin shrugged.

"We're gonna be late to class."

"Sacrifices must be made."

"Let's go."

"We just got here. Listen. You and I are different. Different from the rest." Benjamin tried to walk away, but Martin seized him. "No, you shit. You're gonna do something with Thijmen, right? For Valentine's. Or for him. Whatever. I figured that—"

"No double date."

"Why not?"

"No. Ew. Let me go, you gay shit."

Martin ignored him. "Or we could, uh..."

The bell rang.

"Oh, shit."

"Yes."

"We're gonna be late."

"I told you."

"I wanted to do this without the losers who'll spend Valentine's Day alone."

Give a loser a date and he'll think he's not a loser anymore, said a wise man once (Thijmen). Now Benjamin saw why. Then again, when it came to Martin, this behavior was normal, if anything. Had his boyfriend been a math geek instead of a jock and Martin would've suddenly become a math enthusiast. Some people were like that, chameleons.

They weren't late to class.

"What happened to your face?" asked Heston.

"You don't want to know," replied Benjamin. The teacher walked inside. They didn't budge. A bunch of seniors walked inside to sell chocolates for some activity anyway. Benjamin felt like buying some for Thijmen, but that would be gay.

"Was it Thijmen?" asked Heston.

Benjamin hardly glared. Hardly and not never because of exceptions like these. Messiah facepalmed and Pi pretended to be too busy playing on his DS to listen. Martin guffawed. "No," he spat, "he's not a criminal."

"Knife."

"Stop."

"Then what happened?"

"I slipped on ice."