The Lies That We Tell

𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

Theo saw her rolling eyes not so secretly before turning back to some nerdy-looking boy who actually looked somehow angry that Theo distracted his time to learn more about math.

"What a lovely person," he heard Quentin saying next to him. Theo was more than surprised that he was talking to him, he had just assumed that they would ignore each other for the rest of the semester, but he didn't think that one conversation wouldn't do any harm.

"She is probably one of those old women who have no real life besides her job and has fifty cats in her home," he smirked back at the boy who chuckled loudly, blue eyes shining with amusement and humor.

Theo couldn't help but look at Quentin and wait for him to say something else, keep talking. But as the silence continued, he realized that the conversation had ended as quickly as it was started. It was a shame because as annoying Quentin was, he was the best entertainment he had during this class. And after spending the whole two days with him, he had learned to tolerate him.

"Why did you give me your only pencil? You got into trouble," Quentin said without looking at him. Instead, he kept writing numbers to his notebook.

"You know that I don't need it. If you want, you can have it for the rest of the day," he said and got a smile back as the answer.

That was everything they talked about but that was okay. It seemed that Quentin was, after all, a pretty decent guy. Not that Theo would ever tell him that because he would never shut up about it.

🍁🍁🍁

Nothing special or worth mentioning happened until lunch. He was eating his food when he heard shouting. And then punching voices that could only mean one thing. Fight.

Most of the students stood up from their seats and went to look who was fighting this time and some even took photos and videos as if this was the first time they had seen a fight.

Theo had had his share of fights even in this school but he wasn't interested in those if he wasn't there fighting. If two strangers wanted to spend their lunch to fight, they could do it but he didn't want any blood in his clothes.

That was why he stayed in his seat with a couple of his friends, or actually teammates as he didn't really know any of them well enough to call them friends. As he looked around, he was right when he assumed that it would be almost empty.

"Why would people stop eating just to see two people punching each other? That's stupid, I would never sacrifice my food," he joked just to break the silence but it was pointless.

Everyone watched some Youtube videos or took Snapchat pictures or something else he wasn't interested to know. He hated these situations where people would rather be on the phone than talk to people that were sitting next to them.

"You never know who was fighting!" a boy spoke. His name was probably Ryan but Theo wasn't sure since he wasn't on the basketball team or any of his classes and they have never really talked. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure who he was exactly.

"It was Hunter and that f*ggot! Kyle texted me and said that Hunter had said something to him, you know, the usual, nothing serious. And he said something and Hunter said something back and then he punched him in the face. And that's where the fight started."

"What were they talking about?" asked Matt, one of the soccer players.

"Kyle didn't hear but it must be something big if the little Queen there punched him for the first time. The teacher just got there but I gotta say, it doesn't look good."

"Hunter and his big mouth. I mean, we say stuff too but we know when to stop. I mean, almost every time."

"The little f*ggot actually punched him? I never knew he had it in him!"

"Is he alright?" Theo spoke for the first time since hearing who was fighting. He wasn't sure why but the fact that Quentin got hurt and actually used violence made him frown. It was so...unlike Quentin.

"Yeah, Hunter's fine like always. Your cousin came to help so it was an almost fair fight. You know Hunter had fought for years so I'm just surprised that he isn't in the hospital now."

Theo meant Quentin but alright, it was nice to know Hunter was alright too even though he couldn't stand the guy. He was always telling people how many fights he had won and other bullshit that made him look like the most arrogant person Theo had ever seen and he had met many assholes over the years.

He was silent for the rest of the lunch and was unable to focus on what the others were talking about. Before the next class started, he called Isaac to know if he and Quentin were alright.

Obviously, he couldn't just ask that because that would give a message that he was actually worried about them. He wasn't, he was just curious. Hell, Isaac was the cousin who was still as good as a stranger because of their lack of communication and Quentin was a just very strange boy, nothing else.

"I heard you fought with Hunter at the lunch. You good?" he went straight to the point. He heard Isaac sighing on the other side before talking.

"It was Queenie and I just helped. That asshole just said some things and Q finally lost it. He's alright, don't worry."
Theo frowned at the last words. He didn't worry, why would Isaac assume such a thing?

He put the phone down and decided that from now on, he wouldn't talk to him anymore. If his own cousin thought he was worried about the school's freak, what would others think? Soon he would be an outsider like Quentin but it wouldn't happen if he had anything to say about it.