THERE IS AN ADDENDUM TO the list of inanimate objects mocking Alejandro. It is a lifeless, metallic void called a locker. He stares into the air till he finds himself reminiscing about the locker he had back in his former school. It wasn't only resplendent, it was suffocating! From pretty stickers, cards and pictures to obnoxious love letters and roses from both queer guys and even straight girls, thinking they can change him, like how disturbingly dumb is that?
You can't change a gay dude.
Now that he thinks of Fortinbras Academy, a downpour of nostalgia rains down on him like he's in his sauna at home. Alejandro left the millionaire private school because Freya had "important" business here which was made more important than his friends, teachers, neighbors, his boyfriend with a 's'. He'll never forgive his mother nor forget that it was heaven and he was fabulous, fabulously gay.
Sighing, he slips my singlet on and throws his dirty clothes in. He's almost forgotten he is in the gym lockers and this isn't his real locker. He doesn't care anyways, the real one is just as bad. The teeth of the comb travels through his tough locks while his pharynx reels out Taylor Swift. Like the butterfingers he is, the comb slips from his hold. Alejandro curses out loud, angry he's having a bad day - he swore, coach heard and it earned him ten sweet laps, talk about embarrassing - and too lazy to pick the comb. The mere inches down the floor is like crawling into a bottomless pit. Alejandro nonetheless bends over before his butt is smacked.
He freezes. His left fist curls into Thor's hammer laced with kryptonite and he almost swings it at Nolan's face. He is wearing a goofy smile and a towel, displaying abs that can sharpen a lightsaber.
"Nolan, it's just you." Alejandro breathes, still convinced his eyes are deceiving him.
"Yes, it's just me." Nolan didn't just slap his ass. Is this some kind of play among straight guys because he's not buying this shit.
"So, what's up with you, faggot? Nolan laughs out loud, throwing his head back in hysteria. Since that day Alejandro tried to come out to him, Nolan has nicknamed him 'faggot'. Alejandro does the casual jocular shove or slap on the back whenever Nolan utters that yechy word and smiles over it. He isn't one to pay attention to contemptible slurs but when it becomes too much and he's not able to do anything about it, it is revolting.
"To be honest, nothing."
"What? No fags to gag?"
And there it is again; that familiar bite of ill and ire. Alejandro silently prays his friend doesn't step on his karate alter ego's nerves or he'll pay an agonizing visit to Seattle Central's emergency ward. Alejandro doesn't think he can handle this round so like a coward, he lifts his gaze from Nolan back to his locker.
"Hey I'm talking to you."
Alejandro doesn't reply. He continues to toil his tight sweatpants around his ankles till he almost falls on his face. He can sense Nolan silent but his mind is struggling to think happy thoughts - no, sad thoughts. Sadness effects the human mood stronger than happiness. Alejandro is fighting the fire in his belly that is urging him to grab Nolan's afro curls, clobber his face with the locker like slabbing pancakes, bust those gummy lifesavers he calls lips, widen that annoying diastema further and bake those hazel orbs with a gargantuan, obsidian eyeshadow; a black eye.
Suddenly, Alejandro feels something warm on his arm. He pivots his neck to see a chocolate johnson. Alejandro swallows his lips from yelling blue and bloody murder and jerks away from the naked Nolan as if electrocuted. Nolan rolls in the aisles till his sides split and tears brew from his eyelids. Alejandro, on the other hand, is redder than Snow White's lips.
"It isn't funny." Alejandro sneers, putting his hoodie on and stomps away from the scene. Nolan doesn't even bother to apologize or hold him back despite seeing Alejandro flip out as he laughs his head and blasted dick off.
The ginger's habit; throwing curse words without a filter, and he's currently doing it right now. He left the locker room so chafed that he didn't bother to tie his hair and left it bouncing like the boobs of a well-stacked marathoner. He is bulldozing the hallway floor with irated footprints and aggrandizing global warming with foul language taught to him by the devil himself.
"Hey you."
Alejandro lifts a questioning eyebrow at the square-faced girl. "Me?"
"No, your shadow. Of course you pinhead."
He grimaces. All fragments of his previous anger have vanished and a new one starts to stack its bricks. "What is it? I don't have your time at the moment."
"Oh really? It looked like you had a lot of time yesterday." She looks so menacing, she can even scare a worm.
"First of all, that doesn't really make any sense."
"Yeah yeah, I had to give a witty reply. Not everyone is as stupid as you look." She simpers like a victor.
Alejandro wants to perform an hara-kiri on himself because right now, he's so frustrated that he almost can't bring himself to reply her. If he does, it will be cliche and Alejandro hates cliche. But he can't just waste this golden opportunity. You don't meet simpletons everyday.
"The amount of wits in that statement multiplied by all of your body cells isn't even bigger than a snail's eye.
Her face is hot and huffy, steam puffs out of her like she's Goliath's cancer stick. Her heels stab the floor bloodily as she inches closer to Alejandro and grabs the collar of his hoodie. The latter shoves her hand like swatting a fly.
"I don't care about your little antics. Just keep your faggot hands away from my boyfriend."
"Wait, what?" Alejandro can't contain his laughter. The thought of he and Grayson dating is just as stupid as the thinker; Layla. "You think I'm going out with your boo?"
"Don't try me, bitch. I saw you two yesterday."
Oh.
"Dude, Grayson needs to file a restraining order against your ass. You're a creepy mad hatter."
Layla shrugs, "It isn't as if I've not been called worse."
"Ha. Why wasn't I able to figure it out? Anyways, we were just hanging out as friends. Believe me or not, I don't like him." And it's true. Grayson may see yesterday as a date but not in Alejandro's eyes. No no, hell no the no no, a big no with a middle finger on top, no dipped in Nutella and toothpaste! He was there for the free food and Seattle breeze. And that kiss - peck was just a thank-you since Grayson seems to love appraisal and ego boosts. He also looked so adorably miserable that he fed Alejandro's sadism and the latter just had to bless him.
Layla doesn't look convinced. "I don't give a rat's cock -"
Wow.
Ew.
"- whether you like him or not. Leave him alone."
"Is this the part where you dump food all over me?" Alejandro smirks into his facepalm.
"Soon, darling. Soon." Layla pats the ginger's shoulder but it's more like jamming a tent pin.
"Hate to fuck your surprise, but you are dumping on me already."
"What?"
"Your spit."
Layla scoffs indignantly, a stray strand of hair marginating her face. She spins on her stilettos and schleps herself out of the scene.
Alejandro stands on the tip of toes and cups his mouth with his palm. "By the way, your foundation is way thicker than Iron Man's suit! Grayson wouldn't like that, will he? Oh wait, he can't."
Alejandro can't help the smile on his face. This school won't cease to amaze him.
⏩
"Melissa Joachim and Nolan Michelle!"
Nolan walks to the front of the class and presents his flawless project flawlessly. He sparks his infamous British accent and crowns it all with his barristerial gestures. He has always been a subject of envy, Alejandro even admits this. Nolan is a paragon of quintessentiality and he isn't afraid to rub it on Beyoncé's face.
"B+!"
The entire class whoop in concomitance. Alejandro notices Mrs Callaghan is that type of fuddy-duddy fussbudget of a teacher who is difficult to please but Nolan and Melissa's project is beyond perfect. Alejandro is almost surprised when Nolan rolls his eyes. Melissa, on the other hand, is blowing up her Japanese gaskets.
Alejandro shifts uncomfortably in his seat, dreading the fate of he and Grayson's project. His ass and scalp itches and his pulse quickens. Alejandro refuses to allow Nolan get any better than him in the project he greased not only his elbow but also his cerebrum for. He has to slay this bitch.
"Alejandro Bale and Grayson Jackson!"
Now his pulse really start to race when he glances at Gray's seat; it is emptier than Layla's brain. Where the hell is he? He chooses to be late yet again during an important occasion like this. Alejandro is already skimming through his encyclopedia of 'how to X-out tardy lab partners' when the blonde barges into the class and straight to his seat and Alejandro almost breathes a sigh of relief. His face is soaked in worry like a scone dunked in wine, which kindles a curious flame in Alejandro. But most of his concern is based on Grayson to present the damn project! Mrs Callaghan isn't the most patient human on earth nor is she even in the list.
"I'm so, so sorry but I think I've lost -"
A sneeze cuts him off that draws everyone's attention; a dry sneeze from Alejandro. "Sorry, sorry go on."
"I thought I kept in in my locker but it's nowhere to be -"
Alejandro sneezes again. He's trying to sneeze out that alien worm eating into his cochlea, causing him to hear delusions induced by his out-and-out negativity. He just can't/mustn't/won't believe his ears. Curse this martian maggot!
"One more sneeze and you'll be searching for a first aid box in detention."
Calm down, calm down Al. Grayson didn't. Grayson just didn't. He is probably, most likely, hopefully joking. That explains the suspicious look on Mrs Callaghan's face. She's cautious about the fact that it might be a prank and doesn't want to come off as foolish in front of her favorite student. Yeah that's it. Grayson couldn't have lost what they worked their heads off to accomplish.
"So, Grayson. You're saying you don't know the whereabouts of your - you two's project?" She points at the panicking duo.
"Well I do but it's just, one minute it was here and another. . . . ."
She smiles with joy all through Grayson's rambling but it's clear as a bell that Mrs. Callaghan has her mind resolute. Her next reply laterally inverts Alejandro's sanity.
"G!"
She burst into laughter. The whole class stares at her like she's has been snorting coke while drinking coke at the same time. "Pardon me. I was being anticlimactic."
She clears her throat.
"F."
⏯
i live for anticlimax bitch. So many things happened in this chapter and i think it deserves a vote, no?