Solar Flare (bxb)

Chapter Two

"A dog?" he asks quizzically. "My friend, I think that was a wolf."

"No, it wasn't feral," I say, shaking my head. "And it was way too clean. Someone had been taking care of him."

"And... from the looks of it, you wrestled around with him for a bit," he jokes, pointing to some fur on my sweatshirt I hadn't brushed off.

"I petted him," I admit. "He was just too sweet."

"Well, I'm glad someone's making friends," he says, turning back to the group. "Come on, guys. We need to win that chocolate."

The mention of chocolate does indeed reinvigorate our classmates' strides.

"Do you like camping?" he asks when he turns back to me.

I nod. "I love it. You?"

"Hell yeah. Grew up in the woods," he says enthusiastically. He hands the compass back to me and I make a minute correction to our course. "But I'm better with the... flora and fauna, I guess, than compasses and whatnot. My parents were more of the "run where the wind takes you" kind. Who are you rooming with?"

"Luis," I say. "You?"

"Fuckin' Isaac," he complains. "I guess they had to put the class clowns together so we wouldn't torture anyone else, but he's such a dick. Well, I'm glad Luis is with you."

"I don't think he is," I admit. "I didn't think anyone would be cool rooming with me. I thought I'd end up with one of the girls."

He snorts. "Oh, don't worry. He doesn't care that you're gay. Besides, the girls would've spent the entire trip trying to "turn" you. Do you know how many times I've heard them complaining that they can't have you?"

The thought makes me smile. "Some of them have tried. Amanda McLaughlin cornered me at a party in our sophomore year."

"Did you hit it?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

I laugh. "No. I wasn't horny enough to pretend she was a dude."

He gets a good belly laugh out of that. "Don't let Luis scare you. He's really cool, I promise. Just a bit quiet."

"He gets in a lot of fights for someone who's "really cool"," I point out quietly.

He studies me. "You know why he fights, right?"

I shake my head, and he looks surprised. He leans in close before he says the next bit. "Trump's at the helm and you haven't figured out why the only Mexican kid at school gets dunked on all the time?"

I feel like an idiot and my heart goes out to Luis. Josiah nods at my stunned expression. "Yeah. That's also why he hasn't been expelled. Your mom's never talked to you about that?"

"She never talks about stuff like that," I say, shaking my head. "She's good about respecting privacy."

"Yeah. So, I promise, he's really cool. Just get to know him. Oh, tell him about the wolf you saw. He loves animals. He has a cat and a dog. Two of the nicest, chillest animals I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

I smile politely at the information, though I can't imagine I'll ever need to know about Luis Delgado's pets. "Thanks. Give us something to talk about, at least."

Mercifully, just then we see a tree marked by hot pink duct tape. The words "Team Three" are written on the tape.

My mom sure loves duct tape.

"Alright, let's take the best selfie of all time," Josiah says excitedly as everyone rushes to group around the tree. Josiah kneels down and snaps a selfie on his phone, getting both the duct tape and the faces of everyone in the group in the shot.