A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Stephen Gomez)

"So… Are you with Josh?" Brian asked from Laura next to him. We – we as me, Stephen and them – were in our high school's cafeteria, eating lunch. Some disgusting pasta with sauce, but hey, we had gotten free lunch, so I guess we kind of had to eat.

"No, Brian, no for fuck's sake", Laura said rolling her eyes.

"You are", Brian stated poking his pasta. I needed to work hard to hide my amusement.

"No, we are just friends", Laura dropped her fork and turned to give a murderous look to Brian who immediately got little bit afraid and said he was just asking since they had been so tight together recently. That was true, but Laura wasn't with Josh.

"Oh, friends like Julia and John?" I asked raising my eyebrows and nodding my head towards them. Those two hardly hung out with us anymore. Now they were sitting in the corner table of cafeteria, Julia on John's lap. Oh gosh that was just disgusting – cuddling and kissing in public. Again.

"I thought they were dating?" Stephen frowned. He leaned down towards me and placed his head on my shoulder inclined to see his brother and best friend. That was what we almost had in common. Julia was also my best friend, or 'bestest' just like I was her. Then John was my best friend, and Stephen was Julia's best friend. Anyways, they were important to both of us and we kind of missed their company.

"No, Julia said they're just friends, and John said the same. Talk with your brother sometimes", I uttered a laugh pushing Stephen back to his own place. He refused to take his head off until I had given him a kiss. I did. See, we're together, unlike them.

"That is just… Disgusting. We can't hang out with anyone since everybody is making out. I mean, Jess got some guy and she's all the time with him. John and Julia are making out like 24/7. You guys are cute, but too much physical connection. Just… Eww", Laura sighed. Brian immediately leaned towards her raising his eyebrows.

"That didn't mean I need someone to make out with…" she continued. Brian clearly looked little bit disappointed as he leaned back. Stephen and I started to laugh. Only two days before summer holiday. Stephen, Julia and Laura were going to be seniors, Josh, Brian and Jess juniors, me and John sophomores. Our age difference was kind of bad thing, I mean, when I was going to be junior, Stephen wasn't in this school anymore. It will limit time we spend together.

As guys kept talking about normal stuff – school, what they were going to do after their graduation, dating, kissing, gigs… Blah blah. Then about the party Laura was going to throw after our spring festival on Saturday afternoon had ended. I was just sucking my smoothie. That small smoothieplace next to our high school was absolutely the best. And their smoothies beats school's juice easily. I noticed how John and Julia got up, took their tray to the rack and left, holding hands. Just friends, yeah, sure. I said that out loud.

"At least they got nice how-we-started-dating-story to tell", Stephen giggled. He did that a lot. And I thought it was the cutest thing in this world. Right after his crooked smile. No, giggle was cuter. Nah, whatever, the whole guy was the cutest thing in this world including his trademark smile and giggles.

"Yeah, like 'we made a deal that if Stephen kisses Allie, then I will kiss John and then I kissed him and then we became friends' or something?" I imitated Julia's voice rolling my eyes. Our table's people literally cracked into laugh. Brian made another imitation and we started laughing at it until Laura and Brian opposite us got suddenly so quiet.

"You guys are so mean, you knew that", Julia whispered right next to my ear. I literally jumped off my seat and almost dropped. Stephen got me and pulled me onto his lap. Julia sat on my chair. John wasn't anywhere near.

"We're just friends if you still wonder", she gave us the look and put the straw of my smoothie on her mouth. I was about to cry for it, but then I realized it was only fair to let her drink little bit of my smoothie…

"It's been two weeks. You can stop being just friends", Brian said raising an eyebrow. Julia immediately kicked him under the table – or at least I thought when I heard a loud voice and saw Brian's face. The rest of our lunch we spent talking about the party… After those twenty minutes we had had left, I dragged myself to the biology class. John was there already, thinking something very hard, then writing something down to the paper. I sat in front of him since there were no desks for pairs. He immediately hid his paper. I lifted my hands in the air to say I didn't even try to look. He took his white lenseless glasses off and sighed. I never understood the meaning of those glasses. Just weird…

"Oh my God, Johnny, you guys are so cute together with J—"

"With J? Johnny? Who the fuck are you?" I interrupted two girls attacking John who was only slightly surprised. We both stared at the girls. They looked at John, the other one was leaned towards him but looking at me with her mouth open. I shook my head little bit like telling them to answer.

"I'm Jade and that is Hannah. We've been on your class for a year", the first one, obviously Jade, rolled her eyes. I turned to look John who just shrugged putting his glasses back on. I shrugged back as Hannah sighed something. John asked why they were talking to us.

"We just wanted to say that you are so cute together with J!" Jade squealed again.

"With J? Like you know her. And we are not together. Just friends", John snapped. I was hiding my amusement and holding back my laugh as Jade looked really confused. John just took his biology's book and started reading about lung cancer or some shit like that…

"Bye who-ever-you-are", he said when those girl didn't leave. He didn't even lift his eyes from the book. I just smirked to the girls and started talking about what weed does to your lungs. Girls stood there for a while, but finally left. We burst into a laugh with John. After we had calmed down, we started talking about original stuff as the teacher arrived. She started teaching, but I was still turned towards John behind me and talked with him.

"So, what are you doing today?" I asked as I was trying to figure out what I was going to do today. I was pretty sure my afternoon was going to be full of Stephen. If not, then I would try to get John or Julia somewhere with me. If they were going to be together, then I had only couple guys left. Nah, I counted everything on Stephen.

"I'm gonna be with J", John answered simply throwing his book on the desk. I sighed smiling and searched for my nail file from my tote bag. Finally, I found it and started filing my nails.

"What are you doing to do?" I asked but didn't really pay attention. My nails were just nasty.

"Just… What friends usually do…" he said like it was just verbiage but I noticed how he was avoiding my question. Oh… Or then I was totally thinking something else.

"So…Just snogging?" I asked trying to hide my smirk. I failed. John shook his head in frustration. Usually he would've just smirk back and maybe raise his eyebrows. I stopped filing and looked at John. He told me to shut up by his face and nodded little bit to the left side. I saw those two girls staring at us. Gossip seekers… Talking about gossips, we started gossiping about Brian's obsession with Laura.

"Mister Gomez, do you have something you want to say to the whole class?" our teacher, quite old lady Whistler asked from John. John immediately made his cutest smile and crossed his hands.

"Yes, I actually do since everyone seem to be so interested about this shit", John started. I was still my back towards the teacher but I could tell she was shocked by the curse word. Everybody knew how much she hated cursing. Sometimes, John just makes me facepalm – like now. He got up, grabbed his backpack and walked in front of the class. I turned around to look at him.

"I know I don't really talk to you guys, and ignore all you girls flirting with me, I really do not fucking care about you. You are a class of immature people. I'm not dating Julia, my nickname is not Johnny and you may not call Julia as J. That is something she accepts only from her closest friends though I know everybody in this building calls her as J. But got the main point?" John asked spreading his arms. I noticed quite many people in the class nodding as lady Whistler was this horrified.

"Allie, you coming?" John asked holding the classroom's door. I grabbed my tote bag and walked after him, smiling lovely to our biology teacher. John was such a detention collector. After we had got out of the class, I rolled my eyes and asked what on earth he thought he just did.

"Told the truth?"

"Yeah, and got us detention for the last days of school", I said as we headed to the French class which was on the second floor. I knew Stephen and Julia both had French. They got a chance to start another language when they were in elementary school. Now they had studied French for six fucking years as Julia would say. Neither one of them liked that language of love.

We stood behind the door of French class. They were listening to some chapter and then repeating after. French sure sounded sweet, but just… No. Suddenly, I somehow managed to push John's ham which made him loose balance and fall on the ground – smashing the door.

"Pourquoi for fuck's sake vous êtes ici?" Julia hissed as she came to open the door.

"Wow, chill J, speak English, please—"

"Some of us don't speak French—"

We started explaining in union with John. After couple seconds their French teacher, mademoiselle Broussard, came there next to her.

"Que faire si j'ai tout juste de lancer ces fouteurs sortir d'ici", Julia said in French. Or course I didn't understand what she said but almost the whole class behind her and the teacher tried not to laugh.

"Ah, mais Julia! Nettoyez votre bouche et demandez à vos amis et votre petit ami à l'intérieur", their teacher answered giving bad look to Julia, then smiled to us. She asked me to help John up – in English, thank God – so I did.

"Excusez-moi, mais ce garçon n'est pas mon fucking petit ami", Julia squealed before slamming the door close right after us. I loved how she still cursed in English.

"Bla bla, il est, J. Inutilement nier", Stephen interrupted mademoiselle Broussard before she even got a chance to start. And woah, you should have seen how harsh that nip Julia made was. Stephen rubbed his ear and cried something, still in French.

"Oh my God, people, talk English!" John finally cried loudly from the corner of the class. The whole class froze for a while. Then Julia next to Stephen just shrugged and kept yelling at him as she still shot him with nips.

"Okay… Is not", Julia stated and Stephen just showed his tongue to her. I had to say Stephen speaking French was quite… Well, I found it quite sexy. Maybe French really is the language of love. Though in Julia's mouth it sure didn't sound like it. Sometimes I wondered what I had done to get that bitchy and hardly controllable best friend… And damn I pitied John at the moment. Stephen and Julia argued about somebody being or not being for a while, then Julia said she was leaving because of the drama. Stephen ran after her yelling that he had to apologize.

We – we as John and I – followed them all the way to the lounge. We were quite surprised to found Julia and Stephen high fiving. John asked what had just happened here. Stephen rolled his eyes smirking as Julia crossed her arms and laughed little bit.

"How can handle two hours of French? We got so easily away, thanks for you two showing up", Stephen finally explained and then offered his hand to me asking if I was hungry. I told him I was and grabbed his hand. With that we left. Julia and John could go and do… Stuff what friends usually do.

* * *

Saturday. Party. Drunken people. Three words to describe our spring festival after party. Since it was such a nice weather, sunny and all, we decided to stay outside. Outside as the terrace of J's mum's roof apartment… Her mother was fucking rich, but she liked to live with his dad, who lived in Brooklyn. That was just insane. Maybe it was because of her mom. They were like clones of each others – such bitches. Anyways, back to the party. I had came there earlier, to help Julia though she had everything ready – everything as a water pipe, couple bottles of vodka and a bunch of beer. People started to arrive, pretty much random people – everybody knew Julia and she had told about the party only to me, Stephen, John, Laura and Brian. I guess Brian did the dirty work…

It was only 8pm and the terrace was full of light. Party was mostly inside, music was loud and people were already really wasted. Neither Stephen nor John had arrived yet, so we were just sitting on the floor with Julia. And with the water pipe. Giggling and gossiping and everything. I recognized the song as Fall Out Boy's Dance Dance – everybody was of course dancing, everybody but us. Still nobody walked over us though we were sitting in the middle of the dance floor.

"Hello friends", John smirked as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sat next to Julia. They didn't kiss or anything – which was actually good – John only grabbed the water pipe taking a deep breath. I asked if Stephen had come with him. John pointed to the terrace blowing the smokes away. I got up and went outside. I saw Stephen talking with Laura.

"Oh, good evening, honey", Stephen said as I collapsed onto his embrace.

"Long time, no see", I giggled back. Laura rolled her eyes asking how much I had drunk. I formed zero with my fingers which make both of them laugh. I didn't get the fun part. Then Stephen asked how much I had drunk for real. I still said zero, but mentioned I had smoked for a while already.

"That explains everything", Stephen smirked and said he should get something to drink.

"I'll go back with Julia and John, we're gonna play something for sure", I giggled and headed back to the inside leaving Stephen and Laura alone. I found John and Julia giggling on the floor with the water pipe, so I sat down and we started just smoking and joking. Hey, that rhymed!

Before we even noticed, it was already 1am. Everybody was still there, partying hard and music was loud. We had moved to the terrace, it was getting hot inside. I had drunk about three or four beers, so I was quite a mess since I was also high, really high. Just like Julia and John. Everybody else was just drunk and smoking cigarettes, nobody was smoking weed. I just didn't get them.

"Oh fuck, it's already 1am", Julia noticed when she was about to call Brian to ask where he was.

"Brian always comes after 1am, he says the best things happens always after 1am!" I knew.

"That is true", John yawned leaning on Julia's shoulder. I thought it was actually sad that they were just friends; they would've made such a wonderful couple.

"I haven't been with Stephen at all", I cried when I noticed Brian heading towards us.

"Speak of the devil!" Julia squealed and got up so suddenly that John didn't even realize it and collapsed on the ground. I helped the poor kid up as Julia kissed Brian's cheek and offered the water pipe for him.

"Hey, Allie, aren't you together with Stephen anymore?" Brian asked with very low voice when he hadn't blown the smokes away yet. I frowned asking what he was talking about. Brian ignored me, he was too busy smoking and high-fiving with John. I got little worried. I really needed to find Stephen now. I went inside and noticed the song was Alkaline Trio's This Addiction. Good song, but I didn't have time to dance and sing along. I looked literally from everywhere, even from Julia's mother's room, but no sign of Stephen. Then I opened Julia's room's door.

Oh my good God. Stephen and that stupid bitch from my class.

"Nice one, Stephen", I smirked leaning on the door frame. Stephen and the girl, I guess her name was Jade, immediately pulled out from their very passionate kiss. Stephen looked me with wide eyes as Jade just made bitchy smirk. I turned my back to them and noticed little china bowl on the bureau. I took it and threw it straight towards Jade's head. It reached her temple and broke immediately. She's skin got some nasty scars and started bleeding. Stephen got up, but I left before he got a chance to say anything. Plus he was so drunk he almost fell down as he took the first step.

"I fucking love you!" I yelled as I left the apartment. Music stopped as I slammed the door, and I heard Julia screaming something at Stephen. The elevator was downstairs. I had to wait for it. Julia came outside and asked what just happened. I answered nothing and stepped into the elevator when it finally arrived. Though Julia was wearing only extra large Ramones –tee and undies, she stepped in with me.

"You realize you have no pants—Why you don't have pants on? I swear when I left you guys you had socking and shorts", I asked in confusion. Julia blushed little bit, crossed her arms and repeated her question. I sighed, still not answering. Suddenly the elevator stopped. Julia almost fell down.

"Cool. We're stuck here", she said after we had tried to open the door and push buttons and everything. She leaned on the wall and slowly got down sitting. I sat opposite her, taking my biker jacket off.

"Stephen was kissing some bitch of my class."

"What? He's head over heels in love with you", Julia stated. Though she was high and drunk, she still knew what to say make me smile. I wasn't sure about that anymore, but it sure made me smile.

"That's what I thought", I said sighing again. Julia said it all will be okay since he is just drunk and probably on drugs also. She told someone offered ecstasy for her.

"You don't fucking understand, do you?! I'm fucking losing my boyfriend and both of my best friends! You two, you and John, are just so awfully stupid not to be together officially! That is fucking stupid, you should work on it since you have someone who actually loves you! He is my best friend. You are even better and more important friend! I hate the fact I'll be all alone this summer!" I suddenly let it all out. Julia was silent for a while, she just stared at me. I swear her eyes were getting blurry. After couple minutes, I looked away. I couldn't look at her, I would've cried otherwise. She got up, came next to me and sat there. Then she wrapped her arms around me apologizing silently:

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I love you more than John, more than anyone else, got that?"

I couldn't say anything. It was so goddamn sensitive moment! I just placed my hand on her arm biting my lower lip. She placed her head on my shoulder and we just were silent for a while. Then she broke the silence by telling they were probably going to be officially together with John, just like me and Stephen. I smiled weakly, and congratulated her. Julia asked how I felt about Stephen right now, so I started to tell how much I hated Stephen until Julia asked not to talk about it.

"Okay. What are you doing without pants then?" I was glad to change the subject.

"Well… You know…" she said sounding avoiding.

"Oh, do I know—" I started but got interrupted by the noises above us.

"You can't—Oh my God, be fucking careful!"

"That's Brian's voice, isn't it?" Julia asked frowning. She kept her eyes on the elevator's sealing.

"Yeah, but who he's talking to?" I asked staring the same spot. We heard a loud thump and let out a scream clinging on each others. Suddenly the hatch opened and we saw Stephen. He asked if we were alright.

"We fucking are", I answered. With that, Stephen was on the elevator's ground, rubbing his neck. That fall had looked quite bad. Julia asked if he was alright. He nodded quietly and dragged himself on the spot Julia had sat earlier. He just looked at us and he seemed to be ashamed.

"Don't you love Allie anymore?" Julia suddenly asked. From her voice you could tell how high and drunk she actually was. Her voice was quiet and fuzzy. Actually she was fuzzy. Stephen looked at her, uttering a laugh. Julia was still leaning on my shoulder, I swear she was falling asleep soon.

"I do", Stephen said. Or whispered. His voice was just a little bit louder than a whisper.

"You can't love her if you love someone else", she argued and closed her eyes.

"I never said I love someone else than her."

"You don't kiss people you don't love. I love John. I just never said it out loud because everybody knew I love him when I kiss him. I could never kiss people who I don't love."

"She make a good point", I said raising an eyebrow. Stephen buried his face into his hands.

"Allison, see, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to kiss someone else. I love you, more than anything, no one can ever love you this much and—"

"I love her more than you ever can", Julia stated and made me smile. Stephen uttered a laugh.

"Yeah, baby, but my love is little bit different than yours", he said smiling but I don't think Julia even realized he said it to her.

"I know I'm the stupidest human being on this planet and I just don't want to loose you. I mean, I've liked you for a good while, it took too much courage to even come hang out with you and Julia", Stephen kept explaining. I pushed Julia to lean on the corner of the elevator and got up. Stephen didn't even notice me since his face was among his hands. I crouched in front of him and met his eyes as he lifted them upon mine.

"I love you too, but I hate things like that. I can't forgive something like that", I said seriously. Stephen's little smile fade away.

"Can we just start again, please?" he pouted. I bit my lower lip. Then the elevator started moving again. I smiled at Stephen, took his hands and lifted my eyes upon his deep eyes. I loved them.

"Like… I'm Stephen Gomez and I'm head over heels in love you?" Stephen smiled little bit.

"Hi Stephen. I'm Allie and I love your crooked smile."