Thanks Aerle for betaing.

Chapter 7

Killer was looking forward to just chilling when he got home. Since Kid would be out, he wouldn't be there to complain if Killer was gaming the whole afternoon. Or if he got a beer from the fridge. Though Kid let him drink a beer every once in a while, he only allowed it on special occasions. Killer smiled at the prospect of a few hours alone, while he opened his locker.

A loud rattling sound woke him from his thoughts. When he looked up, he saw Bonney had let herself fall against the lockers and was now leaning against them.

"Ugh, I don't wanna go home," she complained. "My mom's angry with me."

"Why?" Killer asked.

"She said I 'raided the fridge' again," Bonney said, using her fingers to make air-quotes. She rolled her eyes. "Which is bullshit, of course, I just took some food with me so I wouldn't starve. I'm pretty sure I left something for her."

Killer snorted, as he knew she probably left nothing at all. He didn't know where all the food went that she devoured.

Bonney took a step towards him. "Can't I go home with you?" she asked, reaching out to brush a bit of hair out of his face.

Killer had to restrain himself to not lean out of her reach. "Uhm, well, I…"

"Please?" she asked. She closed the distance between them and kissed him on his lips. He could still taste the salt of the snack she'd been eating earlier.

She let go of him and spoke again. "Or don't you want your parents to see me? I could sneak in…"

"Nah, my father isn't home," Killer said, before he realized that would have been the perfect excuse.

"Even better!" Bonney smiled broadly.

Killer took his books out of his bag and put them into his locker. He tried not to sigh. "Sure, you can come with me."

It wasn't that he didn't want Bonney's company, he actually liked that. The problem was that she wanted to do couple-things, like kissing and cuddling, that still didn't feel natural to Killer. But he could hardly say he didn't want to kiss her, while still pretending to be attracted to her.

So, the way home on his bike, with Bonney sitting on the back, her arms wrapped around him, he tried to convince himself that he was just taking a friend home, and that the occasional kiss was just something they did as friends. If he could convince himself of this, he could probably get accustomed to their relationship.

They arrived at his home sooner than Killer had hoped, and he let her inside. Not sure what to do next, he just asked, "Want something to drink?"

"Yeah, what d'ya got?" she asked, taking a break from taking his house in.

Killer shrugged. "A lot; coffee, tea, soda… beer?" he said, suggesting the last, which he was planning to drink anyway.

Bonney looked around until she found a clock, and after giving it a thoughtful look, she shrugged. "Why not."

While Killer walked to the kitchen to get the beverages, he heard Bonney call after him, "Got any snacks too?"

Killer rolled his eyes. "Sure."

When he returned with two beers and a bowl of Doritos, Bonney immediately snatched the bowl and a bottle from his hands, and took a sip of the beer. "Well, show me around," she urged him.

Killer drank some as well. "What's there to show? This is the living room, the toilet is down the hall, upstairs are the bathroom, my room, and my father's bedroom. And no offence, but I'm not going to show you the kitchen."

Bonney raised an eyebrow, while stuffing her mouth with Doritos. "Why not?"

"You know why," Killer said, afraid he would offend her in some way if he would actually explain it.

"Well, at least show me your bedroom then," she said, a sly smile forming on her lips.

"Sure," Killer said, leading the way upstairs.

Bonney followed him, asking, "When will your father be home?"

"Not for a few hours," Killer answered.

"Chill," said Bonney quietly.

Killer opened the door to his bedroom for her. "Well, this is it."

She stepped inside, but not without Killer noticing the bowl he had given her was already half empty.

"Nice room," she commented. "Oh, you've got a Redhair poster!" She nodded towards the large poster that decorated his wardrobe, displaying the hard rock band Redhair, with lead singer Shanks on the foreground.

"Yeah, you like them?"

"Of course!" Bonney put some more Doritos into her mouth – it was not very appealing to look at her eating. "They're awesome!" she added while chewing.

She sat down on his bed, placing the bowl and her bottle of beer on the floor while looking around some more. "And that is a sick guitar."

Killer looked at the electric guitar he had proudly hung on his wall. "Thanks, I got it for my birthday."

"Awesome," Bonney said, and she reached out her hand to grab his. "Come." She pulled him softly towards her.

Even though he felt more comfortable standing, Killer sat down next to her anyway, putting his own half-empty bottle on his nightstand.

"It's nice," Bonney said, while leaning towards him. "Being in your room."

When she kissed him, he just went along with it, not really feeling much anymore. Even though there was always that little voice inside the back of his mind that told him kissing her was wrong, he noticed that he slowly became used to it.

The kiss lasted longer than the ones they had shared as school, and he felt that she became more passionate. He let it happen. It wasn't that bad… she wasn't a bad kisser.

Killer jumped when he suddenly felt Bonney's hand on his crotch, and he broke the kiss abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Bonney asked, not removing her hand, but instead slowly rubbing the place where his dick was hidden in his pants. "Don't you want this?"

Killer stood up, breaking the contact between her hand and his crotch. With one hand in his hair, pulling the strands, he walked a few steps away from her. "I'm sorry, I can't do this," he said without looking at her. Kissing was one thing, but sex with a girl?! There was no way he could do that. He was pretty sure he wouldn't even be able to get it up in front of a girl. Not even when that girl was as nice and good looking as Bonney.

"Why? Am I going too fast? Because I could totally wait, if that's what you want." Even though her voice sounded a little harsh, Killer knew that she meant what she said.

For a moment, he was considering to agree with what she said. That indeed, he needed more time. But he also knew no time would be long enough for him and it wouldn't be fair towards Bonney to keep her waiting for something that would probably never happen. So, he had to come clean. Well, as clean as he could.

"No, it's not that," he answered her question. He forced himself to look at her while he was talking, even if it were easier to avoid her gaze. "I'm just not… feeling it. I mean, I like you, I'm just not really in love with you... I mean, I like you, just…" He couldn't help but look away after all. "Just not as much as I first thought. I don't feel as much anymore as I did back then." Of course, the last bit was a lie – he'd never really felt anything for her, after all – but it was the closest he'd gotten to the truth in a while.

"Oh," Bonney said. She picked the bowl with Doritos from the floor and started eating again. "I guess… that's what the atmosphere in a bar, with good music, can do…"

"Yeah, exactly," Killer gratefully agreed. "And, you know, I'd had a few beers…" When he realized that sounded like people could only fall for her if they were drunk, he hastened himself to say, "Not that you're not beautiful or anything. You are, but… you know, I'm just not feeling it… which I really want if we're taking the next step." He thought he had talked himself out of that one pretty well.

Bonney nodded. "I get it. It's a shame though, you're cute."

Killer didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Thank you… I guess?"

"Do you still want to go to that next Hawkins Pirates gig together, though?" Bonney asked while putting some more chips into her mouth.

"Of course! Like I said, I like you. I'd love it if we could be friends," he said. "Like, real friends, I didn't mean that to sound like a cliché 'we can still be friends' talk. I actually like hanging out with you."

"As long as we're not doing anything sexual," she added, grinning.

"Right."

Bonney put the bowl to her mouth and shoved the last bit of Doritos inside. Chewing, she showed the non-existing content of the bowl to Killer. "It's empty."

It was time for biology again, but this time Penguin decided it would be best to sit as far away from Killer as possible. Killer sat near the front, so he sat down in the back. Just in a spot from where he could observe his crush from afar.

The teacher closed the door and walked towards the blackboard. "Ladies and gentlemen, today will not be an ordinary lesson. Today, we're gonna talk about sex."

Various students in the classroom groaned. Not this again, they all thought. Every year they got 'the sex-talk' as a reminder, just in case someone had forgotten how it worked in the past year. They had gotten this talk since they were twelve.

"Oh, so you think you know it all, do you?" said the teacher as reaction to the class. "Who of you have had sex already then?"

There was a lot of murmur in the classroom, and here and there students awkwardly raised their hands halfway, looking around to see if they were the only one, and then quickly lowered their hands again. "Like we're gonna tell you!" someone said.

"Now, now, you want to act tough, let me see those hands. Who has had sex?" the teacher repeated.

Now more hands were raised, and after seeing their neighbor raise their hand, some other students raised their own as well. Eventually, about half of the class held their hand up, most of them boys. Penguin noticed to his relief that Killer hadn't raised his. That meant he hadn't had sex with Bonney yet. Or maybe he just didn't want anyone to know, but that seemed unlikely. Most boys around him always bragged about all the girls they'd had sex with.

The teacher nodded as he counted the hands. "I'm impressed… but at least half of you are probably bluffing."

Penguin snorted, because he knew the teacher was right. They just wanted to look cool.

"Well, does any of you want to tell us all how it works then?" the teacher asked, and suddenly all hands were down again.

"I didn't think so." The teacher seemed pleased with himself. "Listen up, having sex is not a 'cool' thing. You aren't valued by how often or how little you've had sex. It is something that creates a deeper bond with the person you love. If you don't love a person, don't have sex with them. Now, since you all seem to need a refreshment of your memory…" The teacher continued to explain the basics about how children are made, what STDs are, and how to prevent pregnancy and STDs. It was the same story Penguin already knew.

At the end of the first hour, the teacher was done with 'the talk' and asked if there were any questions. One girl raised her hand. "You talk about the same basics every year, but could you maybe tell the boys where exactly the clitoris is on a woman's body and how to find it?"

A few other girls giggled, and the teacher became slightly red. "That isn't really needed for reproduction," he muttered.

"Maybe not, but it's needed for good sex, and weren't you talking about sex?" the girl responded.

"Also," Penguin started when he saw the teacher didn't have an answer ready. "You only talk about sex between a man and a woman, but could you explain gay sex as well?"

The teacher became even redder than before, but a lot of heads turned towards Penguin, and he realized he might have made a mistake by asking that question.

"Ew, nobody wants to know about that," one of the guys said with a grossed-out face. "Why do you want to know? Are you gay?"

From the corner of his eyes, Penguin caught Killer staring at him. Well, he was not nearly the only one, but it still made Penguin's heart speed up a little. He decided the best thing to do was ignore the other guy's question about his sexuality. If he would admit that he wasn't straight, there would probably be people to bully him about it. But if he would deny that he was gay, he would give Killer a signal that he wasn't interested. And just in case, even if there was only a tiny, minuscule chance that Killer liked him back, Penguin couldn't give off a straight-vibe.

He addressed his attention to the teacher, while answering the boy, "I just want the lesson to be inclusive for everyone. Someone might need it."

"Alright, alright," the teacher gave in. "You are both right. You know what, I'll look up some pictures I could use to show you properly, while you take a break, and I'll explain everything in ten minutes."

Everyone immediately started talking with their friends or stood up to go for a walk. But Penguin noticed that Killer was still looking at him. He couldn't help but smile and look back at him. To his disappointment, Killer turned his back to him as soon as their eyes met.

TBC~

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