3. Investigation

"So," Jimmy began one Friday afternoon as he strolled back from classes with Pete. He hadn't actually started following him, but he equally wasn't planning to leave him alone in places he might get caught out any time soon. "Successful week?"

"Huh?" Pete murmured.

"I asked if you had a successful week," Jimmy repeated. "Y'nno."

"Um... I guess so?" he answered.

"Really?" Jimmy preyed. "How many?"

"What?" There was the distinct impression that Pete wasn't getting this.

"Did you score this week?" he fired, slightly less relaxed than he'd started out.

"What?" he scoffed. "Why're you asking me that?"

"Why not?" Jimmy shot. "Just chatting the shit, Pete. What, can't I ask if you got some action?" Almost as if he might have some kinda direct vested interest in it.

"Me?" Pete posed. "You really think there's a chance of me getting any action around here?"

"Why not?" he retorted. "I mean... whatever you go for..."

"What?" Pete started.

"What?" Jimmy echoed.

"What?" It rounded back again. "Are you feeling all right, Jimmy?" he queried. "You drinking enough in this heat?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled. Confused, frustrated, generally jaded about his situation and why he had to go and ruin the sweet deal he had going on in this school. "Nothin', Pete. I was just kidding around."

"Uh... haha, good one," he laughed uncertainly, and the topic was never mentioned again.

So that was strike one out.

The next time he and Zoe conspired that if Jimmy was too chickenshit to flirt with Pete himself, Zoe would do it and find out that way

"Heya, squirt," she called after him across the playground, catching up while Jimmy hid behind the auto-shop wall and eavesdropped from the other side.

"Hi, Zoe," he answered cheerfully. Always so damn perky these days. "How's it going?"

"Good," she answered. "I was looking for you, actually," she began. "See, I've got this problem, and I figured you could help."

"Oh?" Pete prompted, expecting the usual host of things that people thought a Head Boy could fix, but he really couldn't.

"See, I've got two tickets to see this movie in Bullworth Town tonight, and no one to take me," she revealed suggestively, and Jimmy felt the muscles in his jaw strain.

"Whu... oh, I get it," Pete second-guesed. "Is this a set up?"

"No," she countered. "Why'd you think that?"

"C'mon, you don't really want me to take you to the movies," he insisted blandly.

"I do," she forced.

"What about Jimmy?"

"I'm not tied down to Jimmy!" she declared proudly. "He doesn't own me. Besides, he's..." Jimmy's heart stopped for a moment, "...got other interests right now," she finished, and he could breathe again.

"Oh," Pete sidelined. "Well... what movie is it?" he continued, and Jimmy had the sensation that this was turning into a friend-outing.

"Just a romance flick," Zoe replied. "I thought we could get to, uh... know each other better, maybe sit in the back-"

"Hey guys!" Jimmy saluted as he hopped over the wall and landed right between the pair of them. "Talkin' about movies?"

"Jimmy!" Zoe hissed.

"All right, you got me," Pete denounced cheerfully. "I'm sure this is real funny for some reason, but I've gotta get to the office, okay? Enjoy your movie." He might as well have skipped off, leaving Zoe and Jimmy slumped against the wall.

"Did you just get jealous?" she accused fiercely.

"No," he denied. "I mean... not really. Pete wasn't buying it anyway."

"He might've if you'd let me finish," she badgered. "Who is it you're actually jealous of, huh?"

"I don't know!" he snapped, then took a second to think about it. "Both of you!"

"You are a child, Jimmy Hopkins," she declared. "Why don't you just ask him?"

"Oh that's rich," he scoffed. "I just march up to him and ask if he likes chicks or dicks... wait a minute, that might work." Zoe threw up her hands and sighed, wandering off to find something less aggravating to do.

The weekend came with a fresh set of Math homework and Jimmy reasoned that he could find a way to ask Pete which team he played for and get some work done at the same time.

However, that also involved sitting crammed up at one end of his desk again and it seemed even harder to concentrate having admitted that he was harbouring a crush of an indistinct and vexing nature for the person sitting right next to him. He wasn't used to being so close to someone he liked without going in for something.

"Jimmy... can I ask you something?" Pete piped up about half way through, when Jimmy was almost thinking the moment was about right.

"Sure," he replied.

"Are you okay?" Pete put to him. "You've been a bit... I dunno. Weird."

"Have I been weird?" he asked himself like he needed to voice it. "I don't think so. Maybe it's the heat."

"Uh, yeah," Pete settled. "Maybe it's that." So he wasn't keeping as good a lid on it as he thought he could. He just wasn't accustomed to holding things in.

He could've just come out with the whole thing and stopped pussying around, but then he stood a good chance of so completely weirding Pete out that they stopped being friends, and he'd rather deal with having a crush for a while than end up losing the first honest friend he had in a long damn time.

"Got any plans for later?" he asked, putting on a show of being normal. If Pete was smelling something fishy he needed to be put off before he really got onto the case.

"Dunno, was thinking of going to the pool," Pete remarked vacantly, scribbling his own homework on the edge of Jimmy's desk that'd been allocated to him.

"They opened the pool?" he queried.

"The school pool? God no," he scoffed. "I don't wanna die, Jimmy. I go to the one in Bullworth Town sometimes."

"They've got a pool?" He didn't know that. Then again, there were a lot of buildings with no signs that people walked in and out of all the time. He'd assumed the town had a habit for not putting up advertising, or that people were just real friendly in one another's houses.

"It's nothing fancy," Pete excused, "but it's clean, I guess. Mostly it's seniors doing water aerobics."

"What a party," Jimmy joked, and Pete sniggered. At least he could take a joke now. Better than he used to – although it never really was jokes with Gary. That might've been the difference.

"I didn't say you have to come," he pointed out, and only then did Jimmy notice the invitation.

"Did you say I could?" he probed.

"You wanna come swimming?" he suggested with just a hint of scepticism.

"What?" Jimmy demanded.

"I thought you did all your swimming fully clothed in the harbour."

"That was one time," he insisted, and Pete just stared him out. Prolonged eye contact was not necessarily Jimmy's strong point at that moment in time. "Okay, a few times." Pete still didn't look away and Jimmy sort of wished he would because it was making him uncomfortable in the wrong kind of ways. "Look, the man wanted his crabs!" he snapped, and Pete burst out laughing.

"Anything for a few bucks, huh Jimmy?" he chuckled.

"I'm not a cash whore," he snapped, feeling his scowl bite at his cheeks.

"I never called you a cash whore," Pete retorted in alarm.

"No, but you said I'd do anything for money." Jimmy wasn't too stupid to miss implications.

"I didn't mean it like that," he explained, rolling his eyes, "I just meant it in a... swim in the harbour catching crabs kinda way." Jimmy didn't know if he was being picky or Pete was just doing that thing where he said the wrong words. Probably a bit of both.

"Well, as long as it's not the wrong kind of crabs," he muttered.

"Trust me, I don't wanna know about your crabs," Pete joked, and Jimmy gave him a hurt look. Point one in the minus column. "What?" he added when he realised Jimmy wasn't working, just sitting and frowning. "I didn't mean you have crabs!" he flustered.

"I don't have crabs!" he burst.

"I never said you did!" Pete yelled. "I just mean... I mean if you did have them, I wouldn't want to know!"

"Look, let's just leave it, okay?" Before either of them made even bigger asses out of themselves. Pete turned awkwardly back to his work and started to scribble alarmingly fast. About a half hour later they were done, and Pete got all his things.

"So, I'll see you later, I guess," he said in one ungainly blurt.

"What?" Jimmy bit. "You're notgoin' swimming?"

"No," he responded. "I mean, yes, I am. I thought you didn't-"

"I never said that," he cut in. "It's like a hundred degrees out and I am not built for the heat, Pete. Water sounds great right about now." He went to the closet for his trunks and a towel, throwing them nonchalantly over one shoulder. "Are we ready or what?"

"Sure," Pete answered. "I'll get my stuff and... see you at the entrance?" Jimmy nodded, and off he went.

Not a date, he reminded himself as he leant back against the dorm wall. Not a date. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Pete would have to know for it to be a date. Although technically he called that time he and Zoe tipped Burton down a hill in a porta-potty their first date, when she claimed it was no such thing. It was a grey area.

"Jimmy?" Pete had snuck up on him somehow and he jumped.

"What is it with your soft little rabbit feet?" he declared, and Pete furrowed his brow.

"My what?" It did sound a bit weird on the playback.

"Rabbit feet," Jimmy answered. "You move quiet, that's all. Jeesh." He probably didn't need to worry about his crush for much longer if every conversation was as strange and stilted as the last few had been

Then again, he later realised that a trip to the pool meant bathing suits and he had honestly expected Pete to have normal loose shorts like his, but that'd be too easy. Now, while he wasn't exactly in a speedo, the tight fit of square trunks was enough to make Jimmy severely question his sanity in agreeing to this. How he had been dumb enough to think that ignoring a crush was going to be easy while Pete was zipping around literally naked except for the low-rise shorts was beyond even him.

"Way to go, Jimmy," he commended himself, overlooking the dimly-lit pool that had a few elderly citizens floating up and down in the slow lanes. The other lengths were empty.

"Ready?" Pete remarked by his side and Jimmy almost jumped out of his skin.

"Why do you keep on doing that?!" he burst, voice raising loud enough to get a bored whistle from the life guard.

"Sorry," Pete retracted. "I guess I lurk sometimes."

"Well just, do it in my line of vision," Jimmy advised, and then realised that Pete was going to notice if his eyes were constantly flicking up and down Pete's body. Refreshment. Time for refreshment.

He lined up and launched himself into the water, hitting it a little harder than he expected and it being a lot colder than he expected. So it wasn't a heated pool, Pete could've told him that. Then again, the harbour wasn't heated either, and they didn't need to get into that crab business again.

He did a few lengths, stopped at one point and saw Pete passing him in the other lane, doing an impeccably neat front crawl and practically gliding through the water. Even if the water wasn't warmer, Jimmy was, so he picked up pace and didn't stop until his arms were aching.

Beaching himself on the ledge of the pool like a whale, he panted and wondered why he thought he was capable of swimming like that for so long.

"Wow, Jimmy, you must've done about fifty lengths!" Pete cheered, and Jimmy jumped enough to let go of the ledge of the pool and dunk himself back in the water. Re-emerging, Pete looked sheepish. "Was I lurking again?" he inquired tentatively.

"Forget about it," Jimmy dismissed. "I'm a bit jumpy lately." Around him. And his swim trunks. "Did you quit already?" he inquired anew, noticing that Pete was perching on the edge with his feet hanging in but was clearly not in the process of swimming, which was surely what he came here to do.

"Taking a break," he replied. "We're not all Jimmy Hopkins, you know." He paused for a moment, swishing his feet back and forth. "Although your technique is kinda messy, if you wanted some tips-"

"You're teaching me how to swim now?" Jimmy seized, perhaps a little prickly. It wasn't often someone half his size and stamina tried to tell him he could improve his technique.

"No," Pete denied quickly. "It was just a suggestion."

"First Math, now this," he goaded. "Look at you, Pete. All... hot shit." He clearly hadn't found the phrase that sounded right in that sentence in time.

"I'm what?" he queried. Jimmy decided enough with the talking, that never went well for them anyway.

"Maybe you should cool off!" He sprung, grabbing Pete's ankle and then putting his feet on the pool wall and kicking off, near-flinging Pete into the water very almost on top of him. They made a horrific splash and the life guard was soon hyperventilating through his whistle.

"Jimmy!" Pete scolded as he broke the surface. "What was that for?!" Jimmy just cackled, never one to resist a nice pool prank when the opportunity arose. Pete's reception of his laughter could've been better, but it also could've been worse. "Well fine," Pete huffed, splashing water in Jimmy's face. Jimmy retaliated by putting his hands to the top of Pete's head and dunking him, limbs flailing and the life guard was freaking out.

"That's enough!" he bellowed as Jimmy let Pete back up, who was somehow scowling and smiling. He tried to dunk Jimmy back, but he didn't have the weight for it and just ended up with wet palms on top of Jimmy's shoulders, at which point his chest was ready to inflate and start sirening for emergency evac because it was going to overload. "Behave or leave the pool!" the lifeguard admonished, and Jimmy was suddenly twisting away from Pete and scrambling up the pool wall like a lizard. Too close. Too naked. Too naked and close.

"Yessir rightawaysir," he blurted, steamrolling back out to the changing room and sticking himself under a cold shower. He stood with his face to the wall and pressed his forehead to the tiles, cold water cascading off his back. "You're a fuckin' idiot," he told himself. "Get a grip."

"Jimmy!" Pete trotted in after him. "Are you done already? We've only been here like-"

"I don't really feel like it any more," he excused. In fact his arms were aching. "Think I hit it too hard."

"Yeah... maybe," Pete agreed. "Well, I'm gonna stay a bit longer." He stopped himself. "You don't mind, do you?"

"What? No," he shot. "It's not like we're on a date or something." About that point he wondered why he hadn't preventively bitten out his tongue to make sure he didn't say damn revealing stupid things like that.

"Haha, yeah right," Pete scoffed, and for a moment the churning sensation of having butterflies or live ferrets or whatever it was in Jimmy's gut seized up and died, leaving a sharp stab of realisation. It was nothing but a joke to him.

"I'll... see ya around," Jimmy murmured, shutting off the shower and going back to change.