Teddy

I walk to my school resenting my parents for making me move halfway through the school year. I open the doors to the new school and I walk in with my head down, not wanting anyone to notice me walking in. I try to make my way to the office without getting lost but I end up having to ask someone for directions. The kid I ask looks like a big geek. He has short wavy blonde hair, black eyes, and glasses. He was shorter than me and it seemed like he was very excited about having a new classmate.

When I get to the office the secretary leads me into the principal's office and he gives me my schedule for the year. Then he calls someone named Francis Pope into the office.

When the boy walks through the door I recognize him as the one who had helped me find the office. Great. Anyone who sees us is going to think I'm a huge geek because he's with me.

"Oh! You're the kid I spoke to earlier," Francis says as soon as he spots me.

"Yes I am," I say bluntly.

"Well that's wonderful! You've already met. That makes my job so much easier," The principal tells us.

We nod and then leave the office and Francis leads me to my first class which Francis also happens to be in. We walk into the classroom and I see the ugliest woman I have ever seen before.

"Hello! You must be Teddy! How wonderful to finally meet you. You may take your seat Francis," She tells us, "I am Mrs. Godfrey, your homeroom and social studies teacher. Do you care to introduce yourself to the class?"

"Um, sure," I tell her, turning to face the class, "My name is Teddy Ortiz. I'm part Mexican and part Puerto Rican. That's about it."

"Thank you for introducing yourself," Mrs. Godfrey says to me, "you'll be sitting next to Nate Wright. Nate can you raise your hand please?"

"1843!" Someone with spiky black hair and blue eyes says. His hair was flat on one side and his eyes were already drifting shut again.

"Detention Nate!" Mrs. Godfrey yells at him.

"What did I do?" Nate says offended, "Who's that?" He asks, looking at me.

"His name is Teddy," Mrs. Godfrey tells him, "He's going to sit next to you."

I walk over to my seat and sit through the next 45 minutes of the most boring class ever.

At the end of the class a boy with sparkly hair and blue eyes rushes over to Francis and starts talking about something that causes Francis to roll his eyes.

"She did not slap you because she liked you and was playing hard to get, she slapped you because she wanted you to go away," Francis says to the spiky haired kid, "Now can you go? I have to show the new kid around."

"Oh yeah! The new kid," The spiky haired boy exclaims, "What's he like? What's his name?"

"Why don't you figure it out yourself?" Francis says to the blue eyed kid, "He's coming over here right now."

I realize that Francis caught me eavesdropping and sheepishly walk over to him.

"Hi." The spiky haired kid says, "I'm Nate and I can tell you everything you need to know about this school. Especially, how to get the ladies."

He whispers the last part while his eyes follow a blonde girl as she walks out of the classroom.

"I'm Teddy," I tell him, "And who's that?"

"Who's who?" Nate says, looking dazed.

"Who were you looking at?" I ask him and he just sighs and follows her. I look over at Francis and he looks exasperated, but also something else that I can't put my finger on.

"So who was that?" I ask Francis.

"That was Jenny. Me and Nate have known her since kindergarten and he's had the biggest crush on her since the first time he laid eyes on her," He said with a sort of sadness I couldn't put my finger on, "Jenny hates him, but that has never stopped him from creepily stalking her."

"Interesting," I say, "Where's my next class?"

"Oh, just follow me. I think we have the same schedule," Francis tells me as he walks out of the door.

After school

"So, how long have you guys been friends?" I ask Francis and Nate as we walk home.

"Since kindergarten," Francis tells me looking over at Nate to confirm, who nods and adds, "The first day we met and became friends."

"How did you meet?" I ask them. They look at each other trying to figure it out and then Nate turns to me and says,

"I was running around on the playground and I saw him hiding behind his mom, so I went over to say hi. Then we became best friends. Francis probably would have dropped me by now but all of our classes are together so he has to stick with me," he jokes.

"He speaks the truth," Francis confirms, smiling. Then his smile fades a little when he says, "best friends."

That's weird. Does he not want them to be friends? I think about that for a little until I think about all the little incidents today at school. Then I realize what's going on.

We walk for a while in silence, until Nate sees his house coming up. He says good-bye then runs up to his front door.

"Do you like hime?" I ask Francis, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Of course I do. He's my best friend," Francis tells me.

"I mean, do you like like him?" I push him.

"What are you talking about!" He exclaims, turning bright red, "Of course not! He's my best friend and he's a guy!"

"Sure, but you just looked kinda sad whenever Nate was talking about Jenny," I point out to him.

"That's just because it's sad seeing him get rejected so many times and so often," Francis claims, still super red, "It's not because I like him."

"O-kay, sure dude, sure," I say skeptically.

"I'm not gay!" Francis almost shouts.

"I never said you were," I say to him calmly, "you could be bi, or pan. You don't have to be gay to like boys you know."

"I know, but I just, I dunno," He says, his words full of anxiety, "I didn't mean it like that, but, it's just that, uh, I don't know. Okay. Is that what you wanted? I just don't know. Are you happy with that?"

"I never wanted to confuse you, all I wanted to know was if you liked Nate or not," I say, picking up the pace, "And I got my answer."

Francis

I watch Teddy walk away and don't know what to think. What does that me, 'I got my answer'? Does he think I like Nate? Do I like Nate? I can't. Can I? I've known I was gay for a while but I can't like Nate right? I mean, it's Nate! I walk to my house stewing over all the thoughts swirling around in my head.

That night I barely get any sleep because of Nate and the thoughts Teddy put in my head. When I finally fall asleep my alarm wakes me up before I can get more than two hours of sleep. I wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and walk to school in a daze.

"Are you okay Francis? You didn't say anything on the way to school and you look like you didn't get any sleep at all," Nate says when we walk into first period. I look over at him and see genuine concern on his face. I smile at him and I'm about to tell him I'm fine when Jenny walks in. "Hey look Jenny's here." He says dreamily not looking at me or caring about me anymore.

I fight down that feeling that I always get around Jenny. I finally realize what that feeling is. Jealousy. I was jealous of Jenny. Because of Nate. Because I liked Nate. I look back at all my memories I have of us and realize, I don't like Nate. I love Nate. And I am completely fucked. Because no matter how much I wanted to, I would never be able to get over the little ball of shit that is Nate, unless he isn't in my life. And that won't be happening anytime soon.