Everyone was around the school's bulletin board, looking at tryout papers, and taking pictures because the school's too lazy to post them online earlier, apparently.
Winter sports are ending soon, people need other sports to play during the spring.
Which also means the basketball season is coming to an end. Sam and the guys have one of their last games this weekend.
Tanner, Danny, Joey and Kyle were side by side, staring at the board together. Tanner, Joey, and Kyle were chatting, and Danny was just on his phone. He looks up from his phone for a moment to see what was going on, looking around his surroundings for a moment before gluing his eyes back onto his phone. He scrunches his eyebrows, and looks up again, looking to his left.
"Thought I saw something beaming from the corner of my eye.." Danny says, referring to Samson, who was staring at the board as well, except for some reason it looked like he absorbed the sun's glow, and it was emanating around him. "What the hell.." Danny murmurs, and his eye twitches. He taps on Sam's shoulder.
Sam turns to him. "Hey, Danny. Haven't spoken to you in a hot minute." He smiles at him, looking back at the board.
The other boys turn when they hear Sam's voice, already realizing the change as soon as they see him.
"What's up with you?" Kyle asks.
Danny scratches his head. "Aren't you gonna yell at me for not answering you at all this weekend?" He questions.
Sam shrugs. "I assumed you got your phone taken away."
"I did.." Danny mumbles.
"You think Wendy asked him out?" Tanner asks among the other boys.
"Maybe he got laid?" Joey suggests.
"Geez, Sam.. What were you up to this weekend?" Kyle adds.
Sam looks at everyone confused. "What are you guys talking about?"
They all look at each other, then look back at Sam suspiciously.
"You know the afterglow people get when they get a partner or have really good sex?" Danny asks. "You've got that, Sam."
Sam's heart sinks. He awkwardly laughs, then scratches the back of his head. "Nonsense!" He shouts, then ducks his head and lowers his voice. "Is it bad..?"
"Not horrible, just noticeable." Joey answers.
"Damn it.." He points to Danny. "You, come talk with me. Kyle.. I'll talk with you after first period." He declares, grabs Danny's hand, and storms off before Kyle or Danny could react.
Kyle's eyes slightly widen. "Wait.. really?" He questions, but Sam was already too far.
"You're even humming to yourself.. what the hell went on?" Danny questions. "Oh!" He exclaims. "Didn't you say something about him coming over to your house on Friday?"
"Keep your voice down!" Sam shouts, looking around. He led Danny into a nearby bathroom, Luckily, it was empty. Danny kicked the block from the door so it would shut, so students would think the bathroom was closed. He runs back over to Sam
Danny holds a tight grasp onto Sam's shoulder. "What happened?!"
Sam holds onto Danny's shoulders as well. "He kissed me."
"He-" Danny stops himself from speaking, raising an eyebrow. "He- kissed you?" He says, then lets out a sigh, dropping his arms. "Sam.. I don't think it was-"
"I don't know why he did it! He kinda just- asked! And I was like 'uhh okay', and then we actually did it, and then I realized we were doing it and-" Sam paused to catch his breath as he talked at a fast speed. "Then it got really intense! Like- reeally intense.." Sam says, thinking back on it. "It was like.." Sam looks Danny right in the eye. "Hot."
"What..?"
"It was hot." Sam repeats. "The kiss."
"You gay bastard."
"I know!"
Danny gives him a worried look, and he's hesitant to speak, opening his jaw but looking away.
Sam shakes his shoulders. "What is it?!" He questions, desperately wanting to know "What, Danny?!"
"Well, Sam.." Danny mumbles. "It's just that.. I think he might just be messing with you.."
"Why would you think that?"
"Well.. he did go to a party this weekend." Danny says. Sam raises an eyebrow, and shrugs, gesturing that going to a party's not that big of a deal. Danny slowly drops his hands and scratches the back of his head, looking down. "-And he was.. with other girls.." He peeks up, and Sam's eyebrow is raised further, he's leaning forward.
"And?"
"And he was making out with them- so.. I don't think you two should be doing that- when he makes out with a bunch of girls already."
Sam's eyebrows drop, disappointingly. "He was what? But he said- he liked the.." Sam drops his hands as well.
"He could've liked it- but also could've just kissed you for the fun of kissing, like he does with other girls." Danny adds, proposing a pretty accurate guesstimation.
Sam scrunches his face in irritation. "But I'm not one of his 'other girls'." He comes to a realization, crossing his arms and scoffing. "What does he take me for? He thinks he can just.. One, steal my first kiss? At my place!" He violently points a finger up. "And two, kiss more than one girl the day after?!" He then remembered one of Casey's statements, his voice reverberating in his head.
He said, "It's just a kiss."
Maybe he really didn't think of it as anything.
Sam frowns. "I don't know why I got so worked up. Of course- it's not like he likes me." He sighs. "And I honestly shouldn't be upset over it either."
Danny rubs his back. "Nonsense, Sam. He's playing with your feelings."
"Class is about to start." Sam checks his phone, already seeing a message from Casey. He doesn't dare look at it. "Let's go."
~~~
Tanner clears his throat, trying to mask the obvious awkward silence filled between one half of the table. Sam was weighing down the positive energy. The once radiating glow from him was now darkness. A dark purple aura surrounding him. His shoulders were lumpy and he put one hand on the table. He looked down as he dangled his feet. His friend group stared at him, the rest of the table of boys would glance ever now and then to ask what was up with him. Sam would lift his head, smile, and say he was internally studying for a quiz for his next period. Which often was the case, but it was obvious something else was on his mind. It was even more obvious because Danny seemed affected too, often looking at him and sighing. Kyle, further emanating the tensions by looking at him both confused, annoyed and angry. Sam didn't talk to him like he said he would. Now he's upset.
"Alright." Kyle smacks the table. "Danny, what's up with him?"
Danny slowly shakes his head at Kyle.
Tanner taps Kyle's shoulder, leans closer to him, and whispers in his ear. "He not with 'em for lunch today."
He was referring to Casey
"Do you know where Casey is?" He whispers back and asks Tanner.
"Nah."
Kyle looks among his friends, then at Sam specifically. "Sam." He calls.
Sam lifts his head up immediately. "Yeah- yup?" He clears his throat.
"You don't have to be here if you don't want to. You look miserable. Go with Casey if that's what you want." He says. "You shouldn't be worried about me being mad when you sure as hell can think before you do things that make me mad, because clearly you don't care then."
Sam looks to his left, and then to his right, completely confused. He scrunches his face at Kyle. "What the hell is your problem? You really think that's why I'm upset? -And I'm sitting with you, am I not?"
Danny groans and facepalms.
"You lied again, Sam. You said you'd talk to me. I thought it'd be important."
"It was important!"
"Something happened after that." Danny interrupted. "Kyle, you're kinda being an asshole right-"
"Danny! Shut the fuck up! Why are you always instigating in his life all of a sudden?! Stop trying to be relevant!" Kyle stands up and shouts. "Why are you even sitting here?! Half the people here don't like you!"
"Kyle.." Joey mumbles.
"Calm down, babe." Danny puts his hands up in surrender and gives up an eyebrow wiggle.
"You know what, Kyle? Fuck you! You seriously have no right talking to Danny like that! He's been more relevant and understanding than you have lately!" Sam lashes out. "Why do you get so mad at him?!"
About half the cafeteria was staring now that Kyle and Sam were up and riled.
"Because you're defending him! All he does is make fucked up sexual jokes! How is that relevant?!"
Danny whistles. "Might goon to this." He says. "It's getting intense."
"You see?!"
Joey titters, covers his mouth, and coughs to mask it.
Dev, the football captain, knocks on the table from a few seats away, sitting with some other friends to catch their attention. "Hey guys, people are looking. Tone it down." He looks at Kyle, and then Samson.
Dev had to be the most mature out of everyone at the table.
"Okay, then I'll just go." Sam stands up and just walks away.
Everyone's head follows after him. Kyle, cursing a few things under his breath. Danny side-eyes him, leaving the table as well. Joey mouths a 'sorry' to him as he does so.
Casey just so happened to be by the cafeteria to witness the small argument. Noticing the turning of heads once Kyle shouted and stood up. Samson was on his way out of the cafeteria. Casey, by the door, calls out to him.
I am not in the mood for this.
Sam keeps his head forward; he doesn't look at Casey, but he does stop walking.
"I haven't seen you all day." Casey says
Sam turned his head to him. He had someone waiting by the wall next to him.
A girl.
Jasmine(again), to be more precise.
Jasmine smiles and waves at Sam, but he doesn't return it.
Casey waves a hand in Sam's face. "Hello? Earth to Samson."
Sam blinks and looks back at Casey. "Oh, uh-." He wipes half of his face. "Did you go to a party on Sunday?"
"Yeah, with Avery." He looks around before speaking again. "Where were you this morning?"
"With Danny." Sam answers.
"The gay one?" Casey asks, and Sam nods. Catching Jasmine waving again from the corner of his eye, thinking he didn't see her wave the first time because he didn't wave back.
Casey realizes Samson's parting gaze and smirks. "What? You're gonna ask if I brought her home next?"
"Why would I want to know that? It's not my business." Sam replies, and walks away before Casey could react, but Casey quickly trails behind. poking him in the shoulder pretty hard.
"Where are you going?" He asks. "I didn't say you could leave, captain."
"I'm not your captain. Dev's your captain. Stop following me."
"Oh, now because you had a little fight with your best friend you're gonna be all pissy? Take it out on me, yeah? That's not a good idea, Darron."
Sam stops right by the end of the art and music pod, which weren't currently in use because lunch was still going on. He stands there, with a hand over his face. Casey waits, standing behind him and crossing his arms, rolling his eyes once Sam lets out a long and exaggerated sigh. He doesn't dare look back at him, and attempts to walk away again.
Casey grabs him by the shoulder, pulling him back and facing Sam towards him. "Hey," He says, his voice soft. "Can we do it again?" He asks, suddenly, pulling Sam closer and sniggering.
Sam frowns and looks away from him. "..Why?"
Casey tilts his head. "You don't wanna?"
"No, I don't." Sam replies, yanking Casey's hand off of his shoulder. "Can we not talk about something like this in public?"
"We can do it in private."
"No!" Sam puts a hand on his head and looks around before continuing. "Casey, why don't you go back with Jasmine if you want someone to kiss?"
"It's not as good." Casey shrugs. "It was ten times better with you."
Sam's heart skipped a couple beats. He might've stopped breathing for a second.
Brutally honest, are we?
"I don't-.. I don't know what to say to that.." Sam drew his hand from his head to the back. "But I can't kiss you if you're kissing other people. Sorry, it's just weird for me. Considering, it was my first, and you-" Sam stopped himself from finishing. He could feel his skin boiling and his nerves running as he thought about it. "I should've said no the first time. It was a mistake." He sighs again, turns around, and walks away.
Casey doesn't stop him this time.