Fickle
Old Fiat
Yay! I'm so glad most of you guys loved the last chapter (for some it was their favorites!) and I loved all the feedback. I always love getting reviews.
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Just so you guys know, I don't write slash that often. I mean, I usually write stories with hetero pairings and stuff. So, this will probably be one of the few slash stories I write. (However, I do write stories with ambiguous endings that can be pulled in any direction so… :D)
Enjoy!
Currently Listening: "Come Back To Me" and "Let's Dance" from Vanessa Hudgens' album, V.
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Chapter 4: Another Brick In the Wall
Gabriella and I sat like that for at least another fifteen minutes before she finally looked up at me again. Her face was puffy and her eyes red from crying. She still looked pretty though. I rubbed her back as she tried to steady her breathing.
"Troy, I…" she stood up and I fell off my swing. The sand fell upward stung my eyes but I brushed myself off. To my relief, she was giggling slightly. I wrapped my arm around her and, still blinking sand out of my eyes, led her back to the car.
When we were seated in the soft interior of the truck, she turned towards me. "Troy, you won't tell anyone that I though you were proposing anymore. It's already humiliating enough for you to leave me for a guy, but… Not that I don't support you or anything, but—" She was confused. I could tell. Gabriella always babbled like that when she felt confused. Confused, shocked or tired. At that moment, I thought she had to be all three, so I just smiled and put a finger to her lips.
"Your secrets are safe with me," I said. "Are mine safe you?"
She gave a small sigh of relief. "Yeah. As long as we're still friends."
"Forever," I held up my little finger and she hooked hers around it. A promise.
I suddenly remembered the last time I made that promise of friendship with anyone. That was back in… preschool? Kindergarten? It was with Chad. We had been friends ever since.
But even so, I really don't know what kind of weird brain-issue I had to be able to think, "Hey, Gabi was okay with this, maybe Chad will be too." without realizing the second afterward that I had obviously gone insane. Whatever the issue was, it was big. I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense. As I said before, me and Chad had been best friends since preschool (maybe, I'm not certain). The longest fight we'd ever had was two months, and it was because he was going to be in Italy visiting family all summer. (He usually only stays two weeks or a month at most.) It didn't really matter that we were fighting anyways because he was on another continent.
Also, he was Ryan's friend. Maybe he could help me in… someway. Plus, I just can't keep secrets from Chad. He always knows when something's eating me and always can get it out of me. It'd just be easier to tell him now rather than have it forced out later.
So I told him (very uncomfortably) about my crush on Ryan. It was just as horrible, if not worse, as telling Gabriella, only Chad didn't say "What?" three hundred times. However he did let out a string of swear words, got up from the floor and collapsed on to his bed.
We were at his house—in his room, to be precise—and it was quite late in the evening. The sky outside the window was navy blue with a thin strip of pink around the horizon. We had been sitting around playing video games for several hours after work when Chad noticed how nervous I was. He paused the game and turned towards me.
"What's up, man?" he asked, pulling a Coke out of the mini-fridge. (!!! Chad's dad is a pretty successful lawyer so he has a lot of luxuries that are denied a person with a father who teaches.) "Usually you can beat me at pod racing in a second. Are you okay?"
I wasn't okay. I felt about read to throw up. I could've just smiled and said 'Yeah, I'm totally fine. Kind of tired though. Can I have a soda?', but no. My brain decides to say what could happen? You've been friends since preschool (I think.). He'll always be there to support you. Through thick and thin. So I opened my mouth and said the dreaded words:
"Chad, can I tell you about something?"
Oh! If only I hadn't said those words! If only I had gone with the smile-'I'm fine' routine and had it squeezed out later! But, unfortunately, the vibrations had already hit his eardrums. He shrugged and sipped his Coke.
"It's about why me and Gabi broke up."
Of course, the Wildcats had found out we had broken up the day after it happened. You can't keep secrets in such a big group, especially about relationships. No body knew why though. When asked, I got very vague and always said I had to go meet Fulton (manager of the country club) in the kitchen/welcome area and Gabriella just smiled slightly and said something about us wanting to see other people.
Chad sat up now. After a week of questioning, no one had been able to get the reason out of me, now he was getting it just for being there.
"What about it?" he asked, carefully studying my face. Chad carefully studies a lot of things, especially faces. I don't really know why, it's just something he does.
"We broke up because I like someone else," I said slowly. I kept repeating to myself Chad will never hate you, Chad will never hate you, Chad will never hate you in a kind of attempt to calm myself down.
"Who?"
I bit my tongue, hoping it would swell up so I couldn't speak.
It didn't.
"Ryan Evans," I said in almost a whisper.
This is where the stream of Danforth choice swear words came into the scene. I glanced nervously at the air vent next to Chad's desk and hoped his mom hadn't heard.
Chad stood up, I guess to pace, but his legs couldn't support his body at that moment so he fell on to the bed.
"Damn it…" he muttered, staring up at the plain white ceiling. I, however, glanced around at the red walls.
Me and Chad had painted his room together when his parents were out one day. Originally, they had been a pale blue, almost white, but we covered them with layers of scarlet. I seem to recall some more Danforth choice swear words being used by his mom when she came home, even though we'd covered everything in newspaper.
I was banned from the house for a whole week afterwards.
"Are you… gay?" he breathed, sitting up and looking down at me, carefully studying my face and posture.
I decided to do some careful studying of my own and looked at my hands. I'd been doing that a lot lately.
"No—" I stuttered. "I'm bi…"
But no matter what I said to Chad he didn't seem to believe me. He just ran his fingers through his hair and didn't really speak to me for the rest of the hour.
We decided to sleep at my house that night. (Rarely do I go over to Chad's house/him come to mine and it not end up in a sleep over.) My mom didn't especially mind and it was a pretty normal thing for us to do, but it was strange… When he suggested it, I thought, for a second, that I saw a mischievous glint in his eye.
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School started on August twentieth. I don't know why, but I always like school. I mean, I don't like being in class. Class is as boring as Hell (except English). But I just like being around people and saying 'hi' to them and not having to run and get golf balls for them. I've always like school. Most of the student body like me too because I'm the 'basketball junior all-star'.
Because they all like me so much, I was kind of confused not to be greeted on my second day of my senior year. I mean, they practically had a party on the first day where I was the king (I'd wanted to write about in my journal, but I couldn't find it anywhere in my room), yet on the twenty-first no one spoke to me. They whispered about me as I passed, but never said anything to me. They pushed to the sides of the halls, squishing against their bright red lockers so as not to touch me, as I passed.
Even the basketball team didn't speak to me. Well, they kind of did, they had to during morning practice and stuff, but it wasn't in the same way.
I was totally confused, until Gabriella came running up to me at lunch.
"T-Troy… Oh my God…" she looked terrified and glanced around the cafeteria. She turned back towards me. "It's… They… Someone…"
"Gabs, spit it out," I said cheerfully, giving her playful (and very light) punch on the shoulder.
"They know," she said, taking deep breaths. "About you… and Ryan. Someone told, Troy. I… Everyone knows…"
I just stood there as the first brick fell from the tower that was my reputation.
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Omigod! Who told? Actually, I'd like everyone to answer that question: Who was the leak? Gabriella? Chad? Or was it someone else?
Please review!
-OFsI
(Ps, sorry if this chapter isn't all that great. I mean, I wanted to detail what was happening more at the school, but there wasn't much more to say…)
(Pps, for anyone who cares, Chad and Troy are playing Star Wars: Podracing or whatever that game is called when they're hanging out at Chad's.)