Chapter 7: Bus Trip

During the ride to the camp, Ryan has one earbud on his ear as he listens to some alternative music on his WhoPod as he looks out the window and as he's looking, he's contemplating on the fact that he's the only one that knows that he came out as bi, but wasn't sure if he was ready to tell the others soon. On one hand, he knows that they'll never be judgmental and accept him as whatever he is because they're so tight together, but on the other hand...he's unsure of how the outcome would be and is worried that someone outside of the crew would tell him to cut him off because he's bi. He's just at a loss for what he might do about this and he blinked his eyes a couple of times as he lowered his head down.

"Ryan?"

Ryan slowly rose his head and saw his crush standing over there behind him and that kinda surprised him to see him all of a sudden and he said, "Hey."

His crush sits on the other side of the seat and he said, "You know, we haven't been introduced."

"Well...how'd you know my name, for starters?" asked Ryan, taking his earbud off of his ear.

"When I was signing up for this camp and I saw your name there and soon enough, I saw your penmanship on the back of your backpack at school. I know that I'm new there, but for some reason, I never seem to forget about one's penmanship because it can show a lot about someone. So I just wanted to take a chance and see what I might end up with." his crush replied.

Ryan blinked his eyes and just became so captivated by his crush's response that it almost seemed like it was straightforward and honest at the same time like he can read Ryan's mind and it blew him away. Ryan kept blinking his eyes and stared at him a little more and he said, "My name's Ryan."

"I know your name. I'm Kendall Jansen."

"Kendall...sweet name." Ryan said, dreamily.

That pretty much took Kendall aback a little bit and that also made Ryan a little bit more embarrassed that he's humiliating himself in front of Kendall again and just got very hard on himself for that and Kendall said, "Hey...I appreciate the compliment."

"You do?" asked Ryan.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" asked Kendall.

Ryan seemed a little unsure to explain the reason why because he doesn't want to give Kendall the wrong impression and he said, "It's just that...I have a crush on you at school when I see you. Like at class, at lunch, at the shower..."

Ryan paused when he uttered out the last part and Kendall was obviously surprised by that and asked, "Wait...that was you?"

Ryan was officially embarrassed when he admitted that he watched Kendall in the shower at school and covered his face to spare himself more embarrassment and said, "Yes. Please don't judge me."

"Bro, I'm used to it. Why do you always kick yourself?" asked Kendall.

"It's just...you wouldn't care if I say this, but I recently came out as bi before Christmas last year. I kept that to myself since then and there were several crushes I have, but none of them became 'the one' for me, you know? When you came, it just...I don't know. I just have this feeling that I might've found someone who gets me and who doesn't judge me when I say or do something weird. Kinda stupid, huh?" asked Ryan.

Kendall blinked his eyes in response and said, "I understand how you feel. I'm bi too."

And that sent a huge shockwave through Ryan after finding out that Kendall is bi too and he said, "No kidding?"

"Nope. A lot of people look at me and they see me as this ladies' man with the hair, the clothes, the 'don't really care, I'm a rocker' attitude, but in reality, I just don't have that title. I've been drawn to both girls and guys, but I'm strictly a guy person. I guess when you came in, it just sorta clicked that you're the one guy who's not like anyone else, but needs to learn some confidence." Kendall answered.

"That's the number-one thing I suck at the most; having confidence in myself." Ryan replied.

Kendall reached out to Ryan as he puts his hand on Ryan's and said, "Maybe I can help with that...if you'll let me."

When Ryan felt Kendall's gentle touch, it was like time had stopped and that it was only him and Kendall alone and that moment became the ultimate in finding true purpose and he nodded his head at this and he said, "That'd be cool."

Meanwhile, Brutus secretly looked at Koa for a while and he just felt like there's a deeper connection between the two of them. Obviously, they're Who'iian and they have a laid-back personality that seems like they're easy to get along with. But when it comes to each other, he wishes that he has the courage to tell him his feelings for him, but it gets harder because of the brotherhood perception they have and not to go beyond that.

Brutus sighed at this and wanted to tell someone about this and he motioned Jojo to come over and when he did so, in comes Hoagie, Seth, Josh, Austin, Diego, Jonah, Zeke, Travis and half of the crew and that made it a lot harder for Brutus to keep this a secret, but at least a few dozen is better than none and Jojo asked, "What's going on?"

"Okay...I have a bit of a secret that I've been keeping for several months now." Brutus answered.

"We know you're bi, Brutus. You don't have to tell us that. And we told you a million times that we're cool with it." Jonah answered.

"I wasn't gonna say that. I actually have a crush on someone." Brutus said.

They seemed very intrigued to know who this crush is and Austin said, "Who's the lucky one?"

"Koa."

That surprised Jojo to hear that Brutus has a crush on Koa and said, "You do?"

"Yeah. I have been for a while. He's just so cool, kind, humble, sensitive and there's something about him that kinda makes me feel warm inside." Brutus added.

"Was it your junk?" asked Josh.

Brutus glared at Josh with that particular comment and said, "We're getting WAY off the subject. The thing is, I have a crush on him, but I don't know how to express it so I send him random admiring texts under the name 'Secret Admirer' instead of my name. I don't want Koa to get the wrong idea and I just want to tell him when it's time."

"Well...that's very creative. But I think it's best to tell Koa face-to-face." Travis added.

"It's not that easy to do that. Plus, I'm kinda worried about how Mana will react to that." Brutus stated.

"I'm sure Mana will be fine with it. Just have courage to tell Koa how you feel. But I like the fact that you're Koa's secret admirer by text." Hoagie added, eating a banana.

"Who knows? I might tell him at camp." Brutus said, hopeful.

Just then, Mike and Cody walked past them and Cody became stoked about the amazing things on the bus and he said, "Did you guys know that when you flush the toilet, it plays rock music? We need a bus like this."

"Whoever came up with this is a genius." Mike agreed.

Diego chuckled and responded by the whole thing in spanish and Cody said, "He says that it sounds like a cool idea for those that want to take a dump and rock out at the same time."

"Campers...we are about 15 minutes until we arrive at Camp Harmony."

All of them are completely stoked up about heading to Camp Harmony and knowing that they're almost there makes this trip worthwhile and all the other campers that are on the bus felt the same way too and Jojo said, "I can hardly wait."

"Me too, guys." Koa agreed.