Love and Other Diseases (bxb)

Chapter Twenty-Five

I pouted. I was wearing a shirt with black and white light sabors lined up on the bottom, each shooting a different color of the pride flag. Blake was in a shirt that had a glass of white wine and a glass of red, with text that said "I'm into both."

He'd already been spoken to by two teachers about not wearing alcohol-related paraphernalia.

They were very stupid people.

Ben was break dancing in the middle of a circle. He was that kid at school.

Gabe and Kevin were standing face-to-face, keeping their feet planted and bouncing their knees. I glared at them to exert my dominance as the better gay couple at school. Blake tugged me away and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Don't glare at them," he scolded. "Let them live their lives."

I let my hands drop to Blake's waist and we swayed back and forth a little, even though the music was quick and electronic. "Are we practicing for prom?"

Blake's smile made my heart skip a beat. "Yeah. And at prom, we're gonna be the best couple there."

"So you admit that it's a competition?"

"Okay, I'm done talking. Sway romantically or else."

I let my fingers run through his curly brown mop of hair, affectionately tugging a little bit. I didn't even realize that I was smiling at him until Blake was smiling back, practically radiating sunshine and happiness.

I was falling in love with him.

I was almost certain that was the truth. I hung on Blake's every word, constantly wanted to be with him, and needed to be as close to him as possible.

I opened my mouth to share my secret, when—

"Jaaaake!" Ben yelled, grabbing my arm. "Can you believe that I helped get you guys together? I love you both so much!"

Ben apparently also loved beating me to declarations of love.

"Ben," I growled. "Yes, I love you too. I have something I think I need to say to Blake, though, and you'd gladly support—"

"No, not yet!" Ben yelped. "Kay and Christi and I need you for a slight minute. Some drama llama is happening."

I tried not to roll my eyes and grimaced at the boy I loved. "I'll be right back. Don't go too far!"

Blake was laughing, though, so all hope wasn't lost.

I let Ben tug me away, feeling lightheaded and elated. I loved Blake. I needed to tell him! I was going to tell him, and maybe even he would love me back.

I looked back, for once last glance of my boyfriend, only to find him standing next to Alana, frowning.

I put on the brakes. "Ben! Wait!"

Ben tugged, and shit he was strong for a short kid. "No time for waiting, hunk! There's shit happening right now, I just got some juicy texts."

Yeah, the shit happening was the fact that Alana was probably about to drug my boyfriend and kidnap him.

I turned back to Ben, all elation gone. I had to trust Blake to stay away from the conniving jerk face. That was the whole point of being in love, or in a relationship. Trust. Problem-solving. Good communication. Blake and I had practiced those things!

"What's going on?" I asked Ben, hoping to get this over as quickly as possible.

"Some guys from Richmond are here," Ben whispered, as if I was supposed to know what that meant. At my blank stare, he rolled his eyes. "You know how our high school is filled with dweebs and nerds and happy people? Richmond is filled with assholes who like to kick ass. Christi's cousin is one of them and she's not happy."

A little concerned for Christi's safety now, I caught up with Ben and we went to the front of the school. Most of the teachers were gone at this point, off fucking each other or taking shots in the bathroom or something.

Christi was screaming in the face of a jacked guy, almost as big as me. "—and you have no right to come here and ruin everything!" she finished.

"Okay, you're big and scary," Ben explained, giving me a little shove. "Make them leave."

I approached Christi and she looked relieved to see me. "Jake! This asshole is Ross. He's my cousin. His friends shouldn't be here, they're only here to start trouble and I know it. A few of them went down the hall."

I crossed my arms and stepped in front of Christi. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I growled at Ross.

Ross was kind of scrubby and gross, with greasy black facial hair and sunken brown eyes. He kind of looked like he rolled out of a garbage can recently. "I'm here for a friend," he said, voice not nearly as intimidating as I was expecting. "Not to start trouble."

Christi snorted. "Fuck yourself. Jake, he's an asshole. He told my whole family about my sexuality without my permission. He hasn't said a nice thing to me since. I don't want him here."

There were a group of people from my school gathered around, looking curious about the commotion. I wasn't sure why Christi's experience with her cousin made him a bad person who was here to start trouble, rather than a bad person who just wanted to come to a dance.

But, ya know, I trusted her judgment.

I took a step forward, allowing my muscles to flex. "You're going to have to get the hell out of here, or we'll have trouble."

Usually people backed off without bothering to figure out if there was any bite behind my bark. Not Ross. His gaze darted down, and then he smirked. "Have you looked in the fucking mirror to see what you're wearing? I'm really not scared of a faggot."

I grinned. "Oh, you really should be."

I grabbed the front of Ross' shirt and shoved him backwards so far he landed on his tailbone. He gritted his teeth and shot up from the ground, only to swing at me. I stepped back and laughed a little when he punched the air in front of me. His face reddened in rage.

"What the fuck ever," he spat. "Jaron is taking care of Alana's shit anyway."

Alana?

The name shocked me still and Ross took advantage, swinging his fist again and grazing my jaw. I stumbled back and turned around, looking down the hallway that Christi had gestured towards.

"Christi..." I mumbled. "There's more of them?"

Ben jumped in front of me and faced off with Ross. "I'll stop him! If you think they're pulling some dumb shit, go after them!"

Which would have been very sweet, except Ross doubled over laughing. "Your Oompa Loompa ass is going to stop me?"

I grimaced. Ben did not like being called short.

Ben's face twisted in anger. "Excuse me?" he swung his leg and kicked Ross in the balls, causing Ross to drop like a ton of bricks.

I paused to snicker, then remembered the situation. "Thanks, Ben!" I ran down the hallway.

What the hell was Alana up to?