Finding Mr. Perfect's Flaws
[One]
A/N: The school project. How stupid can I get? (: It all makes sense in the end, though. And it only comes up in about three chapters in the whole book. It's not going to be cliche, people. So give it a chance? <3
"I'm gay."
I half expected the ceiling fan to fall in shock after my announcement. My hands flew up to cover my face, but the expected impact never came. I waited a few moments before sighing dramatically. My hands fell down to my stomach, and I laced my fingers together. I tried another time.
"I'm straight."
The fan continued to rotate slowly, filling my barricaded room with a light breeze. A loud buzzing sound echoed off of it, annoying me but also comforting me. I looked up at the fan, waiting for a reaction. Anything. But nothing happened. No ghost or odd force of nature shoved my fan off the wall. I was lying on my bed, seeing what it thought of my sexual preferences. As if I knew them myself. My ankles crossed at the end of my bed, and I sighed again. Why couldn't someone just tell me? I wasn't gay, I couldn't be. But what if I was?
No, Zachary. Don't be stupid. You can't be gay. That would be disgusting... right? Yes. Of course. I turned my head to my right, looked at my clock, and repeated the two things that I had told my fan. If I expected something to pop up and tell me, I was wrong.
That's how it's been for a while. I would announce my possible gayness to inanimate objects. Being my stupid self, I would wait for a reaction. I never got one. So as I lay here, waiting for my dad to come home, I also questioned my sanity. I glanced over at the clock again. It read 2:00 AM. I sighed loudly, and looked back up at my fan.
He was always like this. My dad was never home. And even if he was home, he'd act like he wasn't. He hated me, and I knew it without him reminding me all the time. My father wasn't a nice man, and I doubt he ever was. I'm pretty sure that's why my mother left us when I was thirteen, but my dad kept on telling me it was my fault.
Even though my dad was a complete jerk, I still waited up for him every night he wasn't here. I would wait for hours, and sometimes he still wouldn't come home. Once he went a week without showing himself. That week I never slept a second. When he finally did come home, I almost passed out. When I woke up, he was gone again. It was always like this.
I was used to everyone leaving me.
Two girls sitting next to me in history class were having an interesting debate about whose sex life was better. They both supposedly had sex with Collin Lucas, and they were both bragging about it. At any second, they were bound to get up yelling. I bet the whole class could hear them. My father hadn't come home last night, so I hadn't slept. Even though I was ready to pass out, their talk was more interesting then the history lesson, so I tuned in on them.
"He loves his car. You know how romantic that would be? He had sex with me in his beloved car. I must mean something to him if he let me do that," The red head snarled at the black haired girl sitting next to her. I was also sitting next to the black haired girl, Sophia, so I could see her back tense. She was facing the red head, Kim.
"But I was in my cheer uniform. You know I look hot in that thing."
"With your flabby thighs? No thanks."
"Now, the project," Ms. Cambell said in front of her desk, pacing in front of the old wooden desk. She was trying very hard to ignore the two girls. She was tired of her job, but even more tired of the students. "It is very important to know other heritages and religions. The whole purpose of this project is to get to know more than what you think you know already. And as teenagers, you seem to already think you know everything." No one laughed. She sighed loudly. History class is stupid already in my opinion. Why make it stupider with her? Too bad the kids are even worse. We seniors are terrible.
As if on queue, the two girls sitting close to me started to argue louder. Everyone jumped at the sudden outburst.
"You slut! He did not have sex with you in his car!"
I quickly covered my smirk up with my hand as Ms. Cambell glanced over. I looked back at the Collin that they were referring to. He was pretending not to listen, his pen lightly tapping the table top. He had his attractive head held up with one hand, looking at the board.
Wait, rewind. He had his head held up with one hand. Not attractive. I'm not supposed to think like that anymore.
"Now, let's talk partners," Ms. Cambell said loudly, knowing that would get our attention. Sluts snickered and looked at their other slut friends or their boyfriends, planning to do "work". Smart people glanced at each other, thinking the same thing as all the other nerds in the world. Easy A. I moaned, having no one to look at. I was an outcast.
"Assigned partners," Ms. Cambell added. It wasn't any different to me, but it was everyone else's turn to moan this time. She smirked around her blonde hair, and gave us all a look. "Oh, come on people. It's a school project, not a party." Sure. Maybe for you. She started to read off the names off a clip board that had somehow magically appeared in her hand. Or I had blanked out again, like I always do. She partnered up people who would do well together or people who actually liked each other. I started to have high hopes. Before I knew it, she was calling my name.
"Zachary Slateford and Collin Lucas."
I stared at her, my mouth open in horror. I started gaping, my mouth flapping around like a fish out of water. What?! High hopes crushed. Collin? Collin?! The star quarterback on the football team? The man whore of the school? The filthy rich jock?! The Collin that the two sluts that had been sitting next to me were arguing about? Mr. Perfect. That Collin?!
Yes, it was that Collin. I didn't turn around to look at him, let alone to talk to him. There was no way. No freaking way. Ms. Cambell finished the list. Or I think she did. I wasn't paying attention. She said something and all the seats around me were pushed around, and the noisy teenagers pushed off of their seats and walked over to their partners.
That's when I slowly turned to look over at him. Three rows back, two seats down.... not that I counted. He wasn't even looking at me. He was looking at his desk. It looked like he was about to be sick. Maybe it was because of me, or maybe it was the big game tonight. Either way, it looked like he was going to puke. That's when he seemed to feel my stare.
He looked up under his messy hair. I caught a glimpse of his eyes but then they were gone, looking back down at his desk. I quickly looked back around towards the front of the class. There was writing on the board, but I couldn't tell what it said. I pretended to be reading that, when a voice rang out.
"Mr. Slateford, please join Mr. Lucas in the back." Ms. Cambell. How I hate that woman. I stared at the writing one last time, then grabbed my backpack. I got up and shuffled to the back of the class, dodging a paper wad that was thrown at me by one of the loud students. I knew what was about to happen before it did.
"Faggot!" A voice rang out. Right as the voice broke through the noise, I was tripped. I fell flat on the floor, being rewarded by shouts and laughter. I ignored them, trying to hold down tears. I pushed my dark brown hair away from my brown eyes and the now pink skin on my face.
Faggot.
Couldn't they all just forget about it? Last summer was a mistake. Everyone had to get a life. I didn't feel that way anymore! I couldn't!
I pushed myself up roughly from the cold floor, practically fighting back tears. I slumped into a seat next to Collin and stared at the desk. The whole class had stopped staring at least. Well, except for Collin's... "girlfriend." More like screw buddy. Her dirty blonde hair shimmered from the sun. Her blue eyes stared at me. She was shooting me daggers. As I caught her gaze, she ran a finger across her throat.
She was the "queen" of the school. As someone in a movie once said, "That's why her hair is so big. It's full of secrets." But it's more like push up bras in her case.
Slut. I repeated over and over in my head. Slut slut slut.
I finally peeked over at Collin under my own bangs. He wasn't looking at me. He had his hands clasped in his lap, twisting a necklace over and over again. I saw a glimpse of it - a metal piece on the end of a black string. I couldn't see what shape it was, and I tried to look closer.
"Hey, faggot. Checking out his package?" A voice rang out. I quickly averted my eyes, but not before I saw Collin cover his necklace instead of his crotch area. He knew. He knew I hadn't been looking at that. I turned and gave the finger, not even looking up to see who I was giving it to.
A paper was pushed in front of us by a major teacher's pet. When I looked up, she gave me a look and quickly looked away. She practically tripped over her floor length flower dress to get away. She thought I was the freak? Neither me nor Collin moved. We were both staring at the paper that had landed lightly in the middle of the table. It took me about five minutes to make out one sentence. At the end of the period, we had both been sitting there, silent, for thirty minutes. I finally read the whole thing.
Who Are They? Project
1) Go to other person's house and see how they live/ act at home. Remember little details that show their heritage/culture.
2) Have dinner with them. Ask parents/guardians about what food it is, where it came from. Take mental notes.
3) (optional/extra credit [for same genders]) Spend the night and see what a family of a different heritage acts.
4) What do they do on their free time? Take notes.
There was more, but the pain of reading was too hard to read through the whole thing. I looked over at Collin, again peeking through my bangs.
He was easily five inches taller than me. His tousled, light brown hair almost covered his blue eyes. His hair wasn't long, just went everywhere on top of his head. He was more muscular than me too. I realized that I was suddenly staring into his crystal clear blue eyes. I quickly looked down, but he didn't stop staring at me.
"The big game..." He started. He took a deep breath. "Will you be there?"
"Maybe," I muttered. His voice is deep, and like velvet. Why is my heart fluttering so fast? Why are there butterflies in my stomach? Last summer was a mistake!
"If you go... you can stay after and we can get rid of number four," He muttered. I just nodded lightly. I saw him take out a pen from the corner of my eye. He ripped off a little paper from the side of his homework, and wrote down something in green pen. I strangely noticed that he was left handed.
He pushed the paper in front of me. Just as he did so, the bell rang. Everyone jumped up, and he was suddenly not sitting next to me. I took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate. He was walking next to the door, arm around his girlfriend, laughing at whatever his football buddy said. He turned his head to glance back at me, and then he was gone.
Ms. Cambell and I were the only people left in the classroom a few seconds later. Well, it was a Thursday. I was staring at the paper that Collin had left, terrified that I wouldn't be able to read it. I finally noticed a phone number, and a time. 7:00.
That was the time of the big game. I took a deep breath, and seemed to start to float above my classroom seat in happiness. I quickly popped my mental happiness bubble, and mentally slapped myself.
A mistake. Last summer meant NOTHING.
Or hopefully.
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Finding Mr. Perfect's Flaws (boyxboy) [One]