Hello, all of you devilishly handsome people. Thanks for reading and reviewing and alerting and all those wonderful things you do. I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, my mom decided to play interior designer and tore out my kitchen so I'm eating tons of frozen food, I feel like I'm prepping for college in the worst of ways. I'm getting a much clearer image of this story right now, definitely in a slashy direction. This means I force my recently outed friend to beta for me to make sure we're staying in a mildly realistic zone.
Warning: Teenage boys, and therefore swearing ahead.
I decided to be a respectable human and turn the watch in at the Lost & Found at the Office. I took a small detour, sliding down the Northern Stairs, and peered into the glass room. The woman Kendall fought with on my first day was shuffling papers. I noticed, now, that she looks like a bird. A scary bird. A crow, maybe, were crows scary? Maybe that explained my C in Biology last year. Her nose looks like a beak. I giggled to myself, mentally singing "Beak nose, beak nose, look at her beak nose. Who's got a beak nose? No me, not you, not the little red kazoo, its BEAK NOSE LADY!" I caught myself from bursting into song by slapping a hand over my mouth. "Focus, Carlos, remember your focus." I mentally chastised myself. I also remembered Beak-Nose-Lady hates Kendall, and likely will come to hate me soon by association. I straightened my shirt, sent a little prayer that she wouldn't remember me, and strode in as confidently as I could muster.
I stood in front of the desk and cleared my throat mildly, effectively catching her attention. Her stony grey eyes peered up, "What can I do for you?" She asked, albeit slightly inhospitably. I promised myself I wouldn't get distracted with her nose. I swallowed and willed myself not to stutter. "I found this watch," I pulled it from my pocket "in the library." I set it on the counter top. "I wanted to turn it into the Lost & Found."
She huffed, as if it was futile, but pulled a key from around her neck and unlocked a drawer, plopping the watch inside. "If no one collects it within thirty days, it's yours."
I nodded, and attempted to get away from the scary, crow-like woman as quickly as possible. I sped walked from the room, arms pumping furiously, maybe even a little silly looking but that was fine with me. I was nothing if not silly. I hopped through the Business wing, went up a full flight of stairs, through the French hall, slid down the railing of the half flight of stairs, and, finally, arrived at Gym A. I was relieved at the sight of the teenage boys before him, as I really didn't feel like trekking down to the track. There were around 2 boys lounging on various pieces of exercise equipment, sweaty and looking as if they were relaxing after a challenging workout.
A boy I didn't recognize spotted me first. "Hey, Kindle. Fresh meat!" A boy called back into the cardio section behind a set of broad double doors.
"This late? You've got to be kidding. The announcement was so fucking specific, man; be here at…" His eyes landed on me.
"Aw, Cam, no fresh meat here." Kendall waved him over, and I jogged to the group. "This," he swung an arm around me "is Carlos Garcia." He pulled me, in laughing as I choked on his odor. "A Californian transplant with a tan that won't last ten minutes in this town." He laughed and threw his sweaty towel, which had been lying on his shoulder, at me. The other guys laughed as well, and I listened as heavy steps fell.
"A towel boy already? Cool shit, bro." A familiar voice said, adding his towel to the growing pile on my face.
"Thanks, James. Good to know I can count on you." I muttered, throwing the towels from my head.
James frowned "whoops. Sorry, buddy." James laid across a bike, "you introduce him to the guys, Ken Doll?"
Kendall sighed, "Do any of you actually know my name?" He asked resignedly, but with a familiar hint of a smirk. "Nah, not yet. Carlos- this is Cameron," he pointed to the boy who called me 'fresh meat.' He was tall, but thin, with developed arms, lightly tanned skin and brown hair that paled in comparison to James'. "a defensemen. And that is Jared," he pointed to the bigger, surly looking guy. He was pasty and a little overweight, with lifeless mousy brown hair, but nothing horrid to look at. "Someone who needs to think with his brains and not his arms," Kendall warned but Jared grinned and flexed impressive biceps.
"A man's got to do what a man's got to do." Kendall laughed. "And you of course know James," James tossed him a small wave and a cheeky wink. "And me, your Captain."
Cameron jogged to his gym bag after the introductions, gulping down some water. He crudely wiped his mouth with his arm. "We're all that's left of last year's team."
"Who says you'll be on this year's team?" Kendall joked, but his eyes hinted at that no one should get cocky.
"Are you guys juniors?" I asked the other two.
"Nah," Jared replied, "I'm a senior, should be fucking Captain," he sneered at Kendall, "and he's the baby" he said, flicking Cameron's ear. "A sophomore"
"Hey," Kendall defended "you know full well I had nothing to do with decision for Captain."
"It's only because I kicked Mike's ass last year at Jaycee's party, dick, he should have gotten over it."
James stifled a laugh, as if that had nothing to do with Kendall being Captain.
"Whatever man, I gotta go, Sarah's driving me nuts. Are you going to Mel's party Friday?"
James nodded, Kendall shrugged, Cameron's confused expression matched my own.
"You should, Ken. It's going to be crazy. James are you driving?"
James shook his head, "sorry man, not this time. Think I'll just crash at Carrie's, I think her parents are out. I think Dan's driving though, he failed his last test and is trying to keep it clean."
I could tell from James' tone that by test, he meant no English test. More like a drug test, or got a DUI or something. It's not like there weren't parties in El Centro, there were. Maybe this time I'll be on the part of things that can go to these things without getting weird looks.
Cameron's cell phone rang. "Yeah, mom?" He clicked and opened it. Jared laughed, a little meanly, in my opinion. He gave a slight wave and thudded out of the room. James and Kendall rolled their eyes.
Cameron's eyes widened "no, no it's okay. Don't worry." James ran across the room to collect his and Cameron's bags. He threw Cameron's at the boy, and said "Don't worry, kid. I'll drive ya'." Cameron looked relieved but trying to throw himself back into a 'cool guy' composure. "It's fine, Mom, James will drive me. Yeah, I love you, bye." Cameron found himself getting a noogie the next second, head firmly trapped between James' arms.
"Dude, let me up," Cameron wiggled "you smell like shit." James grabbed him by the shoulders instead, and pushed him from the room.
"Meet you at 6" James called back to Kendall. Kendall didn't respond, but he didn't need to. I stared at him as he collected his stuff, wanting to ask him about Logan desperately.
"Ready to go?" Kendall asked me.
"Where am I going, again?" I asked.
"My house, duh. Ma loves people."
That sounded pretty good right about now, my house was filled with arguing and not enough space and boxes.
"Where are you meeting James?"
"Where are we meeting James, remember? Best friends have certain responsibilities, you know." He tweaked my nose.
I nodded and followed him from the room.
"Now, I have to go argue with Mrs. Lucas."
"Beak nose lady!" I shouted; a mixture of scared and excited and everything.
Kendall barked loudly, "yea' I guess you could say that." I picked up my half open backpack, and realized, with disappointment, that my math book that Logan had thrown, was still in the Library.
"I'll meet you by the entrance; I've got to run back to the library."
"Take a short cut through the History wing" Kendall suggested, as we departed in different directions.
"Good idea, thanks!
I cut through the halls quickly, sliding through my memories best I could. I was at least getting better at this. When I arrived there was only one other soul in there. A very familiar looking soul crawling around on the floor, pushing various objects out of his way.
"Damn it all, where is it?" Logan flipped a chair over, before sitting back, rubbing at his eyes in exhaustion. "Imagine if Elle could see me now, she can fucking deal with the swearing." He laughed bitterly, for a moment, allowing me to cleverly hide myself behind the librarian's desk. His laughter turned to choking. He slid himself back, so he was completely under the table. He curled into himself slightly.
"And now you're talking to yourself. Get a grip, Mitchell. You've lost the last piece of him, okay? Fine." His voice grew angrier. "You shouldn't even be looking for it. Looking for him, fuck that." He coughed a while, looking malnourished and tiny and crushed by the weight of the world.
"You just need some sleep, and to do that goddamn paper. And stop talking to yourself, for the Lord's sake." His composure was completely regained, and he stepped out from under the table, already pulling his phone from his pocket, texting furiously.
Carlos watched him go, picked up his book, and swore never to return to the library, ever.