"Did you experiment different types of hair bleaches for your science fair project?"
"No!" Michael gave me a glare. "I did that last year."
I burst out in laughter, and the only thing that Michael did was shove my shoulder slightly. He was too much of a sweetheart to be violent. He was like a little kitten, and his newly-colored lavender hair could prove it. Michael pouted, but he soon started to laugh along with me.
"We should probably give these to Howell," Michael shrugged. I nodded, and the two of us told Mrs. Smith we were heading to the class next door.
"Did you actually try working on your science fair project?" I asked Michael.
Michael gave me a shrug. "I tried harder than I did last year. Last year, I was pretty much winging the project. I gave Mrs. Smith a whole bunch of bullshit for my data. But this year, I actually put a bit of effort in this project. It is senior year, after all."
"You don't need to remind me," I muttered under my breath.
"What?" Michael asked.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I didn't say anything," I lied.
"Oh."
Michael and I dropped our posters at the very back of the class, and we saw Ashton messing around with his poster. Michael saw the nervous look in Ashton's eye, and—being the very good person I was—shoved the lavender-haired boy towards his boyfriend.
"Ash, what's wrong?" Michael asked.
Ashton crinkled his nose in slight disgust, and he shook his head. "It's just that..." He sighed. "I don't know. I'd like to think that I had put some hard work into this science fair project, and then I look at Rylee's project. Rylee always goes to the County Fair, Mikey! I just don't think my project's good enough..."
Michael shook his head, and he wrapped his arms around the older boy's waist. He rested his head in the crook of Ashton's neck, and Ashton laid his head on Michael's. "You shouldn't care if you don't go to the County Fair. Ash, they only choose thirteen students per school. I know it upsets you that Rylee, Jordan, and Beau always get selected to go to the County Fair, but science is just their specialty. Your specialty just so happens to be math and computers."
Ashton let out a distressed sigh. "I just wanted to win for once, Mikey..."
"You won my heart, if that makes you feel any better," Michael said, intertwining their fingers.
Ashton smiled his famous dimpled smile, and he pecked Michael on the lips. "It's the best prize I could ever win."
Ashton and Michael continued to share soft kisses, not caring that every other of our classmates were in the class turning in their projects. I simply stood there, hands at my side and my lips pursed together. I started to shift my weight from my toes to my heels. I bobbed my head side-to-side to the music coming from my headphones. About five minutes had passed, and I was still standing there, watching Michael and Ashton kiss. I could totally blackmail them for this, I thought. I took my phone out, pretending to change the song. I slightly tilted my phone upwards, and I snapped multiple pictures of the lip-locked couple.
"Okay," I declared, "you can either stop being so fucking cute, or I can post the pictures online."
Michael let out a shriek, and I forced myself not to laugh at the sound. "You took pictures?!" he exclaimed.
I shrugged. "Only about twenty—"
"You are so dead, Hemmings!" Michael promised.
"Yeah, you're so intimidating, Clifford," I said sarcastically. "I think it's the lavender hair. You want a flower crown with that?"
I don't know where the attitude came from. I suppose sleeping in your parents' bedroom like a baby for three weeks can really piss you off. Not only that, but Liz has been a pain ever since she and my dad found out; I'm getting really sick of her.
Michael crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me. Ashton didn't seem to mind the photos being taken. He looked a bit flustered, if you ask me. Ashton was calm, and he simply wrapped his arms around Michael's waste and kissed him softly on the cheek.
Michael let out a sigh. "You're lucky I love kissing my boyfriend, Lucas, otherwise you'd be dead by now."
Ashton and Michael continued to kiss the morning away, and I told them that I was going back to homeroom. They didn't notice me, anyway—hardly anyone ever does. I managed to sneak a few more pictures.
✘✘✘
"So you're going to ask out Rylee soon?" Francesca asked.
"For the last time, Francesca: No, I am not going to ask out Rylee. I don't like her!" Except I do like Rylee. I like her a lot. I'm just too scared of rejection.
"But you need to make Ryluke happen!" Francesca whined. "It's a hashtag, for crying out loud!"
"Come back to me when '#Ryluke' becomes the number one worldwide trend on Twitter," I sassed. If that happened, I would die happily.
Francesca started to whine again, which was all she ever seemed to do nowadays. She whined to me, she whined to Rylee—hell, she even whined to James and how Ryluke hasn't happened yet. Don't get me wrong, I want Ryluke to happen just as much as Francesca does. It's just that Francesca's kind of a bitch, and I'm too scared of rejection to ask Rylee out.
Rylee's been hanging out with Julie Jorgenson a lot, lately. I feel as if Rylee had finally gotten herself out of the third-wheel position and has gotten a new best friend. It was good for Rylee, I guess, but I wasn't so sure that choosing Julia as her best friend was the best choice. Julia's got a boyfriend of her own: Jared Sullivan. I was afraid that Rylee was going to become a third-wheel again, but she seemed to fit in really well in Julia and Jared's group of friends.
"Is it just me," Rick Giles asked me, "or do the people who're most perceived as homosexual aren't homosexual, and the ones who you'd never guess would be homosexual are?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What kind of a question is that?"
Rick shrugged. "It just came to me. Think about it, though. Isn't it true?"
I thought about it, and Rick was right. Never in my life would I think that Ashton or Michael were gay, yet here they are. "I guess you're right," I told Rick.
Rick acknowledged my answer with a smile. "I never thought that Beau Stevens was bisexual. You know he had a crush on James?"
I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "James Cabral?"
"Francesca's boyfriend, yeah," Rick said with a nodded. "I don't know why James even likes her. Francesca's, uh..."
"Kind of a bitch?" I asked, trying to finish Rick's sentence. He nodded, and I smiled. "Everyone says that about her," I continued. "Now that I think of it, Francesca's not a fan favorite. But damn, she and James make a good couple."
"I was pretty sure that Julia was a lesbian," Rick told me, moving on to something else. "I thought she and Mary Perez had a thing."
I nodded, taking in Rick's every word. I had no idea why Rick was talking about this, or why he chose me of all people to discuss this with. I went along with it, though. "I thought Mary was homosexual as well," I told him. "But nope! She's as straight as a ruler."
"There's one problem with Mary, though," Rick said, facing me.
"And what would that be?" I asked.
"Mary has a crush on Jared."
"Jared, as in Jared Sullivan? Jared Sullivan, as in Julia's boyfriend?"
"He's the only Jared in this school, so yeah, that Jared."
"Yandel Romero has a crush on Julia." It was funny how much of the gossip you could learn by just sitting around and listening.
"Well, shit," Rick said with a laugh.
"What about you, Rick?" I asked, trying to strike up a conversation that wasn't about other people's love lives. "Anyone special in your life?"
Rick shrugged. "I used to have a crush on Charlotte Sanders. Then she started hooking up with random people, and it sort of just faded. I don't have my eyes on anyone at the moment. What about you, Luke?" He laughed, and he looked at me. "The teachers may not hear, but I certainly pay attention to your pleas for just being called 'Luke' rather than your full name."
"Nah, mate, no one really catches my eye." Yeah, no one except for Rylee Jacob. She's all I think about.
"You know," Rick said, "there's all this commotion going on about you and Rylee Jacob."
I clicked my tongue. "Yeah, Francesca and Killian call it 'Ryluke'. James ships it, too."
Rick shook his head sadly. "Ryluke sounds stupid. And Killian's annoying as hell, so anything that has to do with Killian, I ultimately hate."
"I take it you don't like Killian?" I asked with a chuckle.
"'Dislike' does not even start with my hatred towards Killian Gordon."
"I never thought of you as the hating type, Mr. Giles," I said.
Rick laughed. "Most people don't. When they see me, the only thing they think of is, 'Oh my gosh, I want your hair, and your voice is beautiful.'"
I let out a small chuckle. "Well, you have Patrick Stump hair—that's a huge turn-on. Plus, your voice sounds pretty fucking nice when you sing. Ever think of making a career out of it?"
Rick shrugged. "I don't know. I want to pursue something in the arts, so I guess singing can be a part of my future. And who's Patrick Stump?"
Only the cutest human being on earth. "Eh, you don't know him."
Rick and I averted our attention to the bell that was ringing, and he patted my back. "Well, Luke, I'll see you in English class. Good luck with the Ryluke thing."
Rick got up from the bleachers, and started walking towards the locker room to dress. I sat on the bleachers for a while, watching everything from a distance. I saw Francesca bugging Rylee, how had Julie by her side. I saw Ashton and James chatting up, probably talking about their love lives, like they usually do. I saw most kids walking towards the locker rooms. There was the exception of kids that were in the very back of the field smoking marijuana. I got up from the bleachers, and I made my own way towards the locker room.
Wait... Rick is in my English class?
✘✘✘
"Hey, do you mind taking a picture for the yearbook?" I asked.
The group of freshmen looked at each other, and they all nodded. I stood on a table, trying to go for a bird's eye view, and I shot a few pictures of the boys and girls goofing around. I knew one of the freshman was Jared's younger sister, and another was Francesca's younger brother, so it wouldn't be so hard identifying them in the photo—of course, if that was even necessary.
I looked at the photo, and I smiled. "Thanks, guys!" I said. The freshmen nodded, and they went back to eating and/or fooling around. I went through my camera, looking at all the pictures I've taken during lunch time. I felt like a lot of them were nice. A few were candid shots, which I was pretty happy about. Everyone nowadays made the most ridiculous pose or completely shielded their face. It was really great to take a picture of everyone smiling and laughing, and none of them even noticed it!
Once I was done looking through the pictures, I looked up. I saw Michael and Ashton connected by the hip, sitting on a bench surrounded by a few of their other friends. Their legs were tangled together, and their fingers were intertwined, and Ashton kissed Michael on the cheek every once in a while. I slightly cooed at the sight—sometimes, they were too cute for everyone's own good.
I turned my camera back on, and I moved away from my previous spot. I tried to hide behind some tables so that they wouldn't notice me. I zoomed in a little bit, and I snapped the perfect picture of the two boys in their current position, Ashton kissing Michael on the cheek.
"Oh my gosh, YES!" I squealed, and I was jumping up and down before I even noticed it. The bell rang for us to go to class, and I grabbed my rotten JanSport backpack and made my way towards my elective.
I walked by Ashton and Michael, who, despite their friends going to class already, were sitting on the bench, showing no sign of moving. It was like they were tangled in their own little world. For a moment, you could really feel the love coming from the two of them.
"This picture is so going on the yearbook," I rambled. "Thanks guys!"
I ran off before either of them could have the chance to kill me.
✘✘✘
"Oh, you know that I've been waiting for you."
"Yo, Hemmings!"
I saw the lavender-haired boy coming my way, and I only managed a smile.
"Shut up and listen to this song," I said, putting the left headphone in Michael's ear.
In a few seconds, Michael was bobbing his head to the beat. "This is really good," he said. "I thought you were more of the rock-and-roll type, Lucas."
"I listen to what I like, but most of what I like, I admit, is punk or rock," I replied, and Michael nodded. "I'm currently broke so I can't buy any of their shirts. Not only that, but they only have shirts of their European tour. Am I European? No, I'm American. It would make no sense for me to buy a shirt of a tour that I couldn't even go to. I'm just going to wait until they release new merch. Hopefully I'll buy it once the times comes."
Michael continued to bob his head to the beat, and he pointed at my iPhone. "What is this song called?"
"Move," I replied, unlocking my iPhone and showing him the album artwork. I laughed to myself. "The album came out in November, but only in the UK and Australia. There is no way in hell that I'm going to wait until February for it to come out in the US. So I got it in November."
"You downloaded it illegally?" Michael asked in shock.
I clicked my tongue and shook my head, making a 'tsk' sound. "The only way I get music, mate."
Michael pursed his lips, but he shook off the thought. Instead, he pointed at the album artwork on my phone. "Who's that?" he asked.
I smiled. "Jesy Nelson," I replied.
"She's hot."
"She is indeed."
"I call dibs on her!" Michael shouted.
I laughed. "It's all right with me. Perrie Edwards is all mine."
"Perrie's the blonde, right?"
I nodded.
"Isn't she engaged to that One Direction guy?"
I smiled. "Yeah, she is. I ship them so hard. Zerrie will be the ship that I shall sink with. Of course, if it does sink, though I don't think it will, I will gladly take Perrie into my arms and ride off into the sunset on a rainbow unicorn."
Michael laughed. "Why am I friends with you?" he asked.
"I wonder the same thing," I said sadly.
Michael didn't seem to take the hint that I was being serious, and he smiled at me. I returned a fake smile. I took my headphone back from Michael's ear, and I went back to listening to Salute on shuffle. A Different Beat came on, and at that moment, I really wished I knew how to play drums.
"Hey, Luke!" a female voice called. I turned around, and Rylee was walked towards me with a smile on her face.
"Hi, Rylee," I said with a smile. Please don't blush, please don't blush.
"So, I finished the pushpin book. It was really good! I need to read more stuff from this guy. I finished it in about three days. I would have returned it to you during winter break, but I don't know where you live, and coming to your house during holiday would have been kind of creepy... Anyway! Here's your book. Thanks for letting me borrow it."
I grabbed Paper Towns from her hands. "No problem. I could lend you The Fault in Our Stars, if you'd like. The movie's coming out this summer."
Rylee clapped her hands. "That would be great! Thanks, Lucas."
"You're welcome, Kylee," I said with a smirk.
Rylee smiled, but she shoved my shoulder slightly. Kylee showed up behind Rylee with frown on her face.
"You know I'm Kylee, right?" Kylee asked me.
"It's a joke between us," Rylee explained to her sister.
Kylee nodded, and she walked over to her carpool. Rylee turned back to me, and she flashed me a smile.
"I should go to my carpool before they call out on me for holding them up," Rylee said. "Bye, Michael. Bye, Luke. You'll give me the book, yeah?"
I nodded, and Rylee bid us goodbye once again. She joined her sister and two of their friends in their carpool, and they left.
Michael stood next to me, and he had a slight smile on his face. He was looking down at his phone, his thumbs moving all over the screen. He was texting Ashton.
I sighed. I don't know if I considered Michael a friend. I couldn't afford to have a friend. I had a friend, my best friend, and he left me. I was alone. I knew for a fact that if I considered Michael—or Ashton, for that matter—a friend, he would leave me. I trusted Michael, though.
"Can I tell you something?" I asked.
Michael tore his eyes from his phone, and he looked at me with serious eyes. "What is it?"
I let out a deep sigh, and I fiddled with the bracelets on my wrists. "I sort of have a crush on Rylee," I murmured.
Michael smiled. "Dude, that's great!" He stopped. "Wait, which twin?"
"Rylee," I repeated.
Michael clapped his hands together, and he did a little happy dance. "You should totally ask her out to the Winter Formal!"
My eyes widened. "No! No, there is no way I am going to the Winter Formal. It's a formal for a reason. I don't do suit-and-tie, Michael. I'm not going to the Formal, much less asking Rylee to be my date."
"C'mon!" Michael complained. "Please? Ashton and I are going to be there. Well, Ashton has to be there because he's in the Student Council. But I'm going to be there! Please come."
I scoffed. "I'm not going, Michael."
Michael pouted, and I started thinking. Ashton was the Student Council Historian, so it was his priority to be at the Formal. Michael could have been in Student Council as well. In fact, Michael ran for Vice President. But he saw how badly Francesca wanted to be Vice President, and being the nice guy he is, Michael gave up his ballot and let Francesca win.
It was time that I was should start walking home, so I bid Michael goodbye and he started to make his way to his house as well. I started walking down the street. These Four Walls started playing, and it fit perfectly with my sad mood. I looked down as I walked, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.
The only thing I could think about was how much I missed Calum.