"So how'd the French test go?" Jay Bhatia, my closest friend right now, asks me. Second period in personal fitness with Mr Snow, the boy's gym teacher. Such a blast to have a short bald man doing bicep curls and the occasional Bhangra. Jay laughs at the Bhangra part a lot.
I shrug and breathe out. I can feel my arms straining as I pull myself up again on the bar, high above the white tile floor of the school's weight room. My feet wiggle as they hang and then I raise them up, like in a crouching position, but with my arms pulling me up from the bar.
All around the room, workout machines and boys stand. Some of the boys have headphones in and are working out on their own or with weights or balls. Others are at the machines and sweating hard from more... what's the word? Being active? What? Fuck, I need to read a book or something.
A couple of skinnier boys look at me, kissing their teeth because the chicken leg that is I can lift himself up multiple times.
"Well, I don't think that I failed miserably today," I say once I drop down to answer Jay. It's true this time and I'm not being sarcastic like usual.
Jay raises one of his unusually thick eyebrows. Doubt. Ouch.
Adding to that, back of my shoulders, my biceps and core all burn. I'm breathing heavily as I quickly drink the water from the bottle Jay hands me. The dinky bottle makes a crackling sound and I suck all of the water and air out of it so quickly. I'm still breathing heavy from drinking the water so fast. The bottle is now flatter than ever.
Jay smirks at me. "Cheated? 'Cause whenever I ask you about your French you groan like you have a hickey on your neck from last night's 'secret' party." He says to me, looking smug as shit, and I shake my head. The "secret" part of the sentence was put in quotation marks. Along with giving Jay an are-you-serious look. I mean, I may not be the best at languages but at least give me credit for asking for help.
Mistake, though. My blond hair falls from the small ponytail I had it in and now I have to redo it from all of the head-shaking. Fun.
"I got some help." I say to him as I shove my water bottle into his chest. Jay takes it with his left hand and runs his hand through his fuckboy-like hair with his right. I hear the crunch of the plastic water bottle as he squishes it in his hands. That's not nice. Give the bottle a break.
"How?" He asks me again. He always asks questions. I don't really mind but it can get annoying at times. "Don't know. I went on that school blogging site and just messaged someone."
Jay makes an "O" shape with his lips and furrows his thick eyebrows.
Jay is my height, he's about 5'11. That's where our similarities in looks end though. His skin is dark brown like milk chocolate and mine is pale... like a plastic fork. With a slight tan.
I'm a plastic fork. I guess that's how Jay would describe me because he calls me that all of the time. I wonder how he got that idea though. It's forking stupid.
Jay has really dark brown hair that's styled into this stupid quiff but my hair is thin and blond and reaches my shoulders. Jay sometimes calls me Kurt Cobain. You know, that guy from Nirvana. The dead one.
Honestly though, Jay looks like a girl because he has wide hips and a lean body. It makes him sway his hips when he walks. I'm more of a rectangle. So ha. I win, I think.
Also, his eyelashes are just... really long. Abnormally long. The girls are always asking if he wears makeup like this other boy around, Phil. Jay always looks at them weirdly and they have their answer. It's a what-the-fuck kind of look.
Wait, Jay was saying something. Shit. I look back to him from when I zoned out.
"... Shitty. It always lags." I nod in agreement even though I had no idea about what he was talking about. I think it's the school's website because of the lag mention.
We wander over to the bench press next. I look over at Jay and he has an eyebrow raised with his hands on his hips. His lips are pressed together.
"What?" I ask him as I sit on the cushioned part of the seat. "You did get their name, right?"
I blank out. "Whose name?"
Jay laughs. A quirk, short bark of laughter that would take you by surprise if you don't know him very well. He sounds like a dog yelping after you accidentally step on its tail. Sorry, Rex. "The kid who helped you with your shitty French."
I frown now. My eyebrows furrow and I lie down. My hair is splayed everywhere on the dark leather of the seat. "Oh..."
Jay just sighs. Or laughs. Whichever seems appropriate because I'm quite focused on the weights of the chest press above me.. "You're such a fucking mess, Avery Bradley. You can't even ask for a name? Come on."
I'm already pushing up on the bar and breathing heavily under the chest press while Jay is just going on and on about how I need to find out the guy's name. I'm not even sure the kid is a guy! But he is, according to Jay.
You should probably do it just to shut him up 'cause we all know he's a smart-ass. I smile at that thought of Jay shutting up for once. He was probably born sassing his parents and the nice old ladies who pinch your cheeks.
"I'll get their name tonight."
"Huh?" Jay looks over to me with his hands on his hips and the bottle he's holding raised in his arm. He looks like he was too immersed in his story about how I need to pay attention.
"LionG." I peek over to Jay's face when he gives me another "Huh?" Still confused as ever.
I snort at that and put my weight down again. "The French kid."
"Oh," Jay says with a nod. I turn my head to look at him and we both laugh. We don't even know why! We just laugh because it's ridiculous. This. Him. Mainly him. I'm secretly laughing at Jay.
Just then, Mr Snow blows his whistle, which means that it's time to switch workouts- Jay's working out and I'm looking out for him and occasionally squishing his water bottle out of spite.
Good, means that I can rest.
And think.
... About LionG, of course.
Well, what I'm going to say to them. Today. After school. On the internet.
Wow, I fucked that up.
---
Shit, I'm late is my internal monologue as I sit with my laptop on my bed, connected by a charger to the pink-painted wall because I forgot to charge it last night. Whoops. I repeat it over and over in my head like a mantra because I really want to talk to LionG again and I'm afraid that they'll think I'm ditching them or something.
Now, just to say something- if you look at me and then look at my room, you wouldn't be able to see how I'd own it. My room is a red-pink colour from when I was a little kid because I'm really lazy and I didn't bother to repaint, even after I've grown out of this cartoon-dinosaur looking colour.
Torn out pages of a sketchbook or two are scattered across the walls. They're not mine, though, they're from artistic friends who I want to keep a memory of or my older sister who left a couple of years ago. The room is pretty spacey, so I have my furniture all around the outside of the room. The middle's just carpet space. The furniture mix-and-match: black wood, pale wood, black leather, ass-numbing blue plastic.
It's a mess. I love it.
Now, back to the main problem: fuck fuckity sweet flying fuck.
Why am I so stressed about this? I met Lion yesterday. They don't hate me yet.
I quickly go onto the blogging site and log in. About 7 notifications pop up onto the chat room part of the screen which takes a few seconds to load because of how shitty this website is and how many refreshes the page would need because of the chat.
AVETREE101 is online.
It takes a few seconds for the other names to load but I don't realize how tense I am until I see another name bolded online. I can't tell why I'm so tensed up but I guess that I have something to prove to class A smart-ass Jay.
Hey, that rhymes.
LIONG_ sent you a message.
LIONG_: You're late.
AVETREE101: by 2 minutes lol
LIONG_: Well... It was a long two minutes.
LIONG_: Don't judge. It only feels that way because I type fast.
I smile at that. Lion seems like a nerd.
AVETREE101: No judging here lol
LIONG_: Great. Shall we start with être verbs being used in sentences?
AVETREE101: Yeah
AVETREE101: Sure
LIONG_: Okay. Let's start with mourir.
LIONG_: Try and translate this: She died yesterday.
I'm taking the nerd part back. Calm down there bud. Let's try to not be edgelords today.
AVETREE101: Lol that's really dark
LIONG_: French is dark. And confusing. You can make calling someone a baked potato sexy if you try hard enough plus half of the numbers in the number system is just a combination of others. We've never heard of a functional number above sixty-nine.
How would that work? I should try that out sometime. After I ask Lion what the French word for baked potato is.
AVETREE101: holy shit lmao
AVETREE101: what else
LIONG_: Literal translations of words- and they don't even have to be in French.
AVETREE101: Go for it
I brace myself. This is about to get ridiculous.
LIONG_: In English we have coconut oil. In French it becomes "Oil of the nut of the coco."
I would have laughed but instead I just breathe heavily through my nose. It takes a lot to make me laugh over the internet.
AVETREE101: Ok try another one
LIONG_: The French speaking population of Canada don't eat potatoes. We eat apples of the earth.
Wow. Uh, well, yum...? That's confusing. But Lion sends me another message before I reply.
LIONG_: It's much funnier when you see the original.
Fair enough.
LIONG_: Also, French jokes are the best.
AVETREE101: how?
LIONG_: If you speak French and English, look at the French words for 80.
I have to pause for a moment to recall the number, quatre-vingt. But now I'm confused because what do numbers have to do with jokes? Numbers aren't funny. Unless you like seeing a teenage boy crying over math homework. Then yes, it is funny and you may be just a little insane.
AVETREE101: Four twenties?
LIONG_: "lol blaze it"
AVETREE101: wtf
80, blaze it? Four twenties, lol blaze it? 4 20s--
AVETREE101: OH
AVETREE101: fuck you that's funny
LIONG: I see you've been enlightened.
Fuck. Lion got me with a weed joke. A popular one too. I feel stupid but it's kind of funny, I have to admit that.
AVETREE101: lol how do you know all of this
LIONG_: I have a very reliable source. Tumblr.
Holy shit, people still use Tumblr? Isn't it like MySpace or something?
AVETREE101: i've heard of Tumblr but what is it?
LIONG_: Fandom hell.
What's a fandom? What? I'll search that up later so that I don't have to ask Lion. I already feel stupid enough.
AVETREE101: ?
LIONG_: Basixally blogs.
LIONG_: *Basically
AVETREE101: oh lol
And now I take a breath. I'm going to ask Lion for a name.
AVETREE101: Ok can I ask you something
I feel like we both pause. A minute goes by before I get an answer.
LIONG_: Depends on what the something is.
Fair enough.
Here goes. My hands fly over the keyboard and I hesitantly look over my question before pressuring the send button on my screen.
AVETREE101: are you dating someone
Fuckwaitthat'snotright-
LIONG_: No, why?
Shit. Gotta save this somehow.
AVETREE101: tbh there's this 11th grade girl I found cute
LIONG_: Why are you telling me this?
Why didn't I think of that before sounding... kind of creepy, actually. This whole conversation was a train wreck from start to finish.
AVETREE101: honestly idk. i don't even know your name
LIONG_: Well, then. What's your name?
I sigh. Saved. It can't hurt to tell Lion my name, I guess. It's a school website. Besides, I'd get a name too.
AVETREE101: Avery
Another pause. Then comes another notification.
LIONG_: Are you a lesbian?
Somehow I actually do laugh at that thought. It's a giggle. I think of telling Jay that I'm a lesbian. At least to Lion I am. He'd be so weirded out and the look he'd give me would be so priceless, I'm almost tempted to text him right now to see his reaction. I decide to tell him tomorrow though, so that I could look at his face when I "come out" to him.
AVETREE101: lmao i'm a boy
LIONG_: Pfft. Sorry.
Maybe Lion's a lesbian, though.
AVETREE101: I won't judge if you are though
LIONG_: What? A boy?
AVETREE101: No
AVETREE101: a lesbian
LIONG_: Nope, I'm into dudes.
AVETREE101: Oh lol
Maybe, if Lion's hot, I could meet up with her one day. Maybe.
LIONG_: Well, it seems only fair that I introduce myself as well, seeing as you did so too. My name is Leo.
I frown at that. Who names their daughter Leo? That's just sad and... kind of weird, honestly.
AVETREE101: no offense who names their daughter Leo?
LIONG_: That's where you're wrong again, Avery. I'm a boy too.
Oh. That clears it up. Leo's gay. It's not like I have a problem with gay people, either. It's just that I'm not gay.
I think of who Leo might be before coming to realize something.
AVETREE101: But there are like
AVETREE101: 7 leos in our school
LIONG_: Six, actually. Including me.
Oh. Oops. I'm new, so I have an excuse.
AVETREE101: My bad
LIONG_: It's fine. The same goes to you too, though. There are about 9 Averies in our school. Some of which are of the female gender.
I kind of cringed at that. That's overcomplicated for just using the word girl.
AVETREE101: Leo there is no need to fuck up a perfectly good word
AVETREE101: saying girl is find
LIONG_: Shhh. I'm making it seem like I'm smart by using synonyms and big words.
Is he trying to impress me?
Fair enough.
LIONG_: Also, *fine.
AVETREE101: what do you mean
LIONG_: Check what you just said. I corrected it.
I have to scroll up a bit to check out what Leo just said about *fine. There I find the mistake. The "saying girl is find" thing. Whoops. Should I put that laughing sweat emoji here?
LIONG_: The point is that the school is huge and that there is now a plural word for Avery.
AVETREE101: should I be impressed
LIONG_: Why not?
AVETREE101: fair enough
LIONG_: ;)
AVETREE101: lol
Best response.
LIONG_: Anyways, Avery. I have to go work on this project. I'll see you tomorrow or something, if you still want to talk to me?
AVETREE101: ye what time
LIONG_: Same as today? I'm free tomorrow as well.
I look over to the clock on the corner of my screen and I shrug. I don't do any club activities and I don't do anything outside of school.
AVETREE101: yea sounds good leo
LIONG_: Great. See you.
LIONG_ is offline.
It's actually been about an hour since I started talking to Leo. I'm surprised at how quickly the time when by! I guess that reading and typing out my own response and waiting for Leo's takes up more time than I originally thought.
I look up to my ceiling and stretch my arm out way above my head, reaching for it. I'm stretching and it feels nice after having my back hunched over for about an hour. I didn't notice how it ached from being in an awkward position until now.
I lay back into my pillows. My legs unfurl from being crossed and numb under my ass and thighs. I bet the circulation in them is shitty. Judging from the pins and needles in my legs? Yeah, pretty much.
Fuck, that hurts.
But now what to do?
Jay's been bugging me about this show, Voltron: Legendary Defender. Might as well check it out now so that Jay stops reminding me about the show sooner or later.
My head tilts back down from leaning in the top of the headboard and to my computer screen. I go to Netflix and find the show, plus I put a couple others into my "to watch" list.
Hey, only 12 episodes. I could binge this today.
I smirk at the thought before another pops into my head, intruding but unstoppable: you didn't learn or practice your french today.
Fuck.
---
Note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender or Netflix.
A/N: Hello everyone! My name's Salem and I'm the author of this story. I'm really excited to be sharing it with you all because this is one of my first stories on here that I've thought out the whole plan (I've had an older account in which I make the story up as I go. Cringe.) I hope you all like it!
A little about me is that I'm really into books, anime and cartoons. What do you all like?
Don't forget to comment and vote!
What was your favourite part of the chapter?