Chapter 49
Dull aqua green eyes stared at the blackboard as the teacher wrote out notes during her lecture. The stout woman stretched her arm as high as it would reach and still could only write her notes about three fourths of the way up the board. The rest of the class was in various states of boredom. Some were already passed out with their heads on their desk. The red headed man sitting next to him was snoring softly as he drooled on his desk. Other students were staring out the window or at the clock or leaning back into their chairs to stare at the ceiling. Only a few students sat up straight, alert and taking notes on the lecture.
Kwan glanced down at his notebook and realized that he hadn't paid attention to whatever the woman was saying for the past few minutes. His eyes slipped shut, the teacher's droning voice lulling him toward sleep like the majority of the class. His mind started drifting to the oblivion of sleep until something buzzed against his hip. Jerking upright in his seat, he pulled out his PDA from his pocket. His eyes darted quickly to rotund woman whose waist had a habit of rubbing away the notes she wrote on the board for them. Her focus was only on giving her lecture, and she didn't pay much attention to what her students were doing. The ones who weren't listening to her would pay for that later when exams hit. Mrs. Franklin may be duller than most other teachers, but her exams were always the toughest in the school. Exam time was a big money maker for the students that actually paid enough attention in class to take notes and sell them to the other students.
Slipping his PDA onto his desk, Kwan stared down at the screen. After his conversation with Tucker, he set up an alert system that would tell him whenever Phantom's unique signature registered in the real world. Biting on his lower lip, his mind turned to his brother. The mere thought of the older man was enough to boil the blood rushing through his veins. He would be a lot happier if he never had to deal with his brother again, but right now he had little choice in the matter. If he didn't do something, his brother would track down Phantom, and he didn't want to think what would happen when Jing did find Phantom.
"Mrs. Franklin," Kwan said, his arm shooting up in the air.
The rambling lecture cut off with a startled silence as all eyes seemed to turn to him. The teacher worked her mouth opened and closed like she was struggling to swallow her tongue in her shock of a student actually interrupting her for once in her long career. She adjusted the sparkly silver framed glasses on her wide nose as her green eyes landed on him.
"Uh, yes, um, Long, is it?" Mrs. Franklin's frog like mouth pulled downward at him.
"I need to use the restroom. May I be excused?" Kwan waited expectantly for her answer with his hand still raised.
Mrs. Franklin blinked several times, mouth hanging partially open. It seemed, for the moment, that the woman lost all sense of how to function with this small interruption in her usual lesson plan. "Yes, go right ahead," she answered, waving a hand toward the door.
Kwan gathered up his books as he stood then headed for the door. His long strides carried him swiftly through the halls, his eyes darting periodically toward his PDA to check on the location of Phantom. With his brother posing as a teacher, Kwan decided his best option was to intercept the man somewhere between the computer labs and Phantom's current position, his movement appearing to stop right outside the front of the school. Cramming his PDA back into his pocket, Kwan worried his lower lip, and he repeated in his head that he was doing this to help Fenton, to protect him from a terrible fate in the hands of the Guys in White.
As he predicted, Kwan crossed paths with his brother, whose determined expression with his brow creased and his eyes focused only in front of him like only his destination mattered suggested he was in a hurry. Kwan purposely placed himself in his brother's way, blocking the taller man's path and forcing him to take notice of his younger brother.
"Jing, we need to talk." Kwan's voice held firm, though inside he wanted anything but to talk to his brother. But since his brother seemed bent on trying to open some line of communication between them, suggesting they should talk seemed like the best distraction he could offer at that moment.
"Not now, Kwan. I'm busy." Jing placed a hand on Kwan's shoulder, shoving his brother aside to continue on his way down the hall.
Grinding his teeth, Kwan grabbed Jing by the arm, jerking him back around to face him again. "That's the problem with you," he snapped, managing not to shout in his brother's face, as tempting as that was. "You're always busy."
"Kwan," Jing said, his mouth stretching downward as he pried the hand free from his arm, "you should be in class."
His jaw clenched painfully, and Kwan's eye came very close to twitching in annoyance. "Like it really matters," he ground out, each word holding rage mixed with bitterness. "Mom and Dad will always think I'm not good enough in anything. Why should I bother anymore when in their eyes I'm a worthless idiot, a disgrace to the family name? How could I ever possibly hope to live up to the oh so perfect Jing?" His arms folded over his broad chest, and his eyes narrowed darkly at his brother.
"Kwan, this isn't the time to be having this discussion." Jing turned to start walking again. "Go back to class."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kwan said in a louder voice, sarcasm and hatred dripping from his words like venom. "I forgot that I only matter when it's convenient for you. You only want to talk to me when it somehow affects you."
Jing stepped back up to his brother, seizing the front of Kwan's shirt as his brown eyes took on a dangerous look that Kwan couldn't remember seeing before now. "My work is important to me. There are dangerous viruses in this school, and I'm not going to stand around chatting about this when I should be tracking them down and eliminating them. We can talk later."
"No!" The rage burned hotter than ever in Kwan, his hands curling at his sides as short, jagged nails dug into his palms. "If you want to talk to me, it's now or never. I'm not dealing with this anymore. If you can't talk to me now, then there's no point in trying ever again."
"Kwan," Jing growled, the conflict he felt inside seeping into his eyes. Perhaps some part of him really did want to be a good brother, but his desire to succeed at his job was stronger than the wish to become closer to Kwan. "We can talk. I promise-"
"God, Jing!" Kwan stepped back from his brother, pulling free from the hold Jing had on him. He didn't expect that to actually hurt. Years of living under his brother's shadow already told him exactly what his family thought of him. But realizing that his brother couldn't even set aside five minutes to really talk to him when he came to him voluntarily, sort of, cut at him like a knife to the chest. How low on the list did he really rank to his brother? Was he even on the list of things that mattered? Kwan began to think that he wasn't so much as a blip on his brother's radar unless he fouled something up where it concerned Jing's job.
"Kwan," Jing actually tried to look apologetic, and the false sincerity sickened Kwan, "I can't ignore a virus attacking the school."
"We don't need the Guys in White!" Kwan shouted, his words echoing through the empty hall. He snapped up an arm, pointing a finger at his brother. "You treat Phantom like he's some sort of criminal, but he's the one actually succeeding in stopping the virus attacks around town. What do you do? You arrive long after the battle is already fought and you make a mess out of everything. The whole organization is joke, and you're wasting your talents working for such a bunch of dumbasses. And your partner has really messed up eyebrows." The last comment really held no meaning in his argument, but that unibrow really bugged him when he met his brother's partner.
"Phantom causes as much destruction to the town as the viruses he claims to fight against." It was the same argument that all the GIW and Net Protectors used when talking about Phantom. "He's a dangerous digital entity that needs to be stopped."
"He's not-" Kwan shouted, stopping himself as he gritted his teeth. "You're all wrong about him."
Brown eyes narrowed, curiosity dancing through them as Jing took a step closer to his brother. His brow pinched as the gears worked in his brain, trying to puzzle out something that Kwan couldn't figure out based on that expression alone. "What do you know, Kwan?"
"What?" Kwan backed up a step, startled by the question. "I don't know anything!"
"Then why are you so insistent that Phantom isn't as big a threat as we think he is?"
"Because that much is obvious to anyone that actually watches him fight." Kwan spun on his feet. "You're such an idiot, Jing." He walked away as the bell rang, and students immediately filed out of the classrooms, filling the hall. If Jing tried to follow after him, Kwan ignored it as he drew out his PDA. When he checked the screen, it showed no sign of Phantom anywhere. Heaving out a breath in relief, he shoved the PDA into his pocket as he headed for his next class, praying Fenton wouldn't have to fight again anytime soon. He couldn't do that again to distract his brother.
When he got to his next class, Kwan took his seat in the back of the class. His leg shook impatiently as he leaned on one arm, staring out the window to his left. The teacher started talking once class began, describing some random battle that took place hundreds of years ago. Kwan tried to focus on writing notes, but his mind kept drifting to other things, rolling back and replaying the whole confrontation with his brother over and over again. Sighing, he rubbed tiredly at his face. Why did he have to get stuck in this family? He just wanted to get away.
By the time lunch rolled around, the idea of just running away from everything and disappearing was becoming even more tempting to him. But he still had months left before graduating, and his parents had all his savings tied up so that he couldn't take out more than a hundred dollars a month to buy stuff. That wouldn't be enough to survive on if he ran away, and knowing his parents, they would probably cut him off completely if he suddenly disappeared.
The cafeteria doors were up ahead when someone grabbed hold of his arm. Kwan blinked as he was jerked back down the hall away from the cafeteria. "Dash, what's going on?"
"We need to talk." His friend gave no more than that as they headed through the halls.
Dash finally released his arm when they stepped outside. Kwan shivered in the growing cold and tugged his letterman tighter around his body. Dash shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued leading the way, walking away from the school building. A worrisome feeling grew inside Kwan as he frowned at the back of his friend's head, wondering why Dash needed to speak to him in private. When he thought Dash might want to talk some more about his feelings for Fenton, Kwan sighed tiredly. He really couldn't deal with that right now, not right after his little chat with his brother.
"So what stupid move did you make this time?" Kwan questioned when they arrived at the football field. After the attack, the field didn't get much use with most of it torn up and the stands in ruins. But that made it an excellent spot to talk since no one would bother to hang around it.
"Huh?" Dash's brow pinched in confusion, coming out of his distracted thoughts with that question.
"Fenton?" Kwan rolled his eyes at the oblivious look on his friend's face. "Why else would we be coming out here to talk? You must have made some other stupid move on him." He plastered a joking smile onto his face, and it felt strange how easily he could slip on a mask like that.
"I haven't seen Fenton today," Dash admitted, his brow still creasing in that confused manner like he didn't know about what Kwan was talking.
"Then what are we doing out here?" Kwan managed to find a semi still intact part of the stands to collapse onto and tilted his head up to stare at his friend.
Dash rubbed at the back of his neck, dropping his gaze to the ground, and the silence worried Kwan. "Do you like me?"
The mask crumbled. He could feel it falling apart as his heart stopped in his chest. Kwan's eyes were wide, disbelieving the words that came out of his friend's mouth. "Dude, you're only my best friend." He laughed, trying to glue his mask back in place before Dash catch the truth behind it.
Annoyance flashed in dark blue eyes as Dash landed him with a glare. "You know what I meant." His mouth pressed together, and he folded his arms over his chest. "You like me as more than just a friend."
Kwan swallowed, trying to force down the lump of fear choking him. Dash wasn't questioning it. He was stating it as a fact. "Where did you ever hear something like that?" He laughed, forcing it out, and it sounded strange to his ears. It wasn't his usual laugh. It was strained and sounded fake.
Dash stared dully, no amusement anywhere in his expression. "We need to talk about this, Kwan."
"No," Kwan argued, abandoning his mask because it was clearly failing him now. "There's nothing to talk about, Dash."
"You can't have feelings for me and get to pass it off as nothing. We're talking about this."
Kwan rose to his feet, dusting off his pants, taking his time before he stepped up to his friend. He still had the slight height advantage over the quarterback, not to mention a broader frame. "No, Dash, we're not," he said firmly, staring straight into Dash's eyes. "My feelings aren't important. You like Fenton. That's great. I'm happy for the two of you. So just forget that you even found out anything about how I feel. I'm perfectly happy just being your best friend. And talking about it will just ruin everything. Trust me. Things are better this way."
"How are they better?" Dash shouted enraged before he dropped his head into a hand, rubbing at his forehead as he sighed. "Kwan, Fenton doesn't want me. He doesn't even want to try giving it a shot."
"So now I'm the rebound guy? No thanks." Why were things happening like this? Kwan wanted Dash to look at him, wanted Dash to see him as something more than a friend, but not like this. He didn't want to be the guy Dash turned to after the man he really wanted rejected him. He didn't want to be the second choice, even if he really wanted to be with Dash. His heart squeezed in his chest, each beat feeling like an agonizing struggle. Why couldn't Dash choose him from the beginning?
"That's not what I'm saying." Dash raked a hand through his blond locks. "I'm obviously not just going to switch gears from liking Fenton to suddenly being madly in love with you."
Kwan wondered if Dash could possibly know how much that comment killed him.
"I can't just pretend that I don't know you like me," Dash continued, frowning at his friend. "I don't want to hurt you. And I know I have." He stared pointedly at his friend, knowing Kwan would likely argue that fact. "I'm sorry about that. I-" He huffed out a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. "I was being selfish. It's always been about me, and that's not fair to you. You're my best friend, but I haven't been treating you like a very good one. I never even noticed that I might be hurting you."
"That was the point of you not knowing that I have feelings for you," Kwan pointed out dryly.
"Well, I do know, and I'm sorry for being a terrible friend."
Kwan rolled his eyes. "You're not a terrible friend. I wouldn't call you my best friend if I thought you were terrible."
"From now on, no more talk about Fenton."
Kwan laughed, almost able to make it sound like a real one. "And who are you going to get such great love advice from if you don't talk to me?"
Dash glowered at him, and it felt somewhat like their usual exchanges. "Very funny. But I'm serious." The corners of his mouth tugged downward, and his eyes searched Kwan, who shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. "Everything okay with you? I heard there was an argument earlier, and rumor has it that it was between you and Jing."
Kwan sighed, hanging his head. "That's gotten around school?" He groaned as he wondered what exactly the rumors were saying. "It's not really anything. Just, you know, Jing being his usual jerk self." He scratched a hand through his raven locks, his gaze lowering to the ground. "Great family, huh? None of them think I'm worth the time." A miserable feeling settled in him until arms suddenly wrapped around him, yanking him into a tight embrace. "Uh, Dash?"
"Idiot," Dash muttered, refusing to let him go right away. "You're important to me. And Paulina. And Valerie. So fuck those assholes. They don't deserve to be your family."
Kwan sighed as he rested his head against Dash's shoulder. Sometimes, he believed he wasn't worthy enough to be friends with Dash. "We should probably head to lunch," he mumbled, even though part of him didn't want the hug to end.
swagdanny: A temporary truce might be kind of cool. XD;; It would be like the Christmas Truce. XD
rosewhip889: Uh oh~ Sounds like that mystery virus is going to show up soon! Thanks~ =)
midnight: And Ember remains forever unimpressed by Skulker's skills. XD;; Poor guy.
Sammi: Not too much longer before he reveals himself! 8D
