[4]

After the horrible encounter with this Riku guy, I haven't seen him anywhere. It's like he isn't even attending the classes, he's just showing up once a week to prove the principal that he's still alive, though he probably doesn't even care what the principal thinks about him.

Anyway, tomorrow is this weird summer event that Kai has told me about, and I'm not looking forward to it at all. It just seems like a boring festival with a lot of cliché-like kids making out with each other. And I know I'd just be hanging around in one corner of the building, anyways.

"It's gonna be fun! Stop making such a face, Mr.Grumpy!" Gwen exclaims and pinches my cheeks, making me flush in embarrassment. I swat her hands away and a scowl crosses my lips.

"I'm not grumpy," I argue.

"Yes. Yes, you are," Kai agrees, whereupon I roll my eyes and lay my head on the desk, completely ignoring whatever Mr.Holmes is talking about.

"Hey, can we meet at yours today? You know, making a plan on how to get the chicks and stuff?" Kai questions with a smug undertone.

"Can't we go to your place? Or Gwen's?" I complain, raising my head. I don't want to trouble my aunt after only five days of living with her.

"Sorry Chase, but my parents are home and you know how they are. They wouldn't leave us alone and bombard us with questions. And Gwen's little brother has friends over."

"Ugh, fine." I sigh, contemplating on whether or not this was a good idea.

"Then, see you after school at your locker, kay?" I just nod and lay my head down on the desk once again, before I close my eyes and let the noises around me soothe me to sleep, much to Mr.Holme's dismay.

When I'm about to slip away and give in to the darkness, that is oh-so tempting, someone hits his palms on my desk, making it shake violently, whereupon I jolt up. People around me are snickering and whispering, but all I can focus on is the hard glare that my math teacher is sending my way, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Mr.Covington is my lesson boring you that much?" he asks, with raised eyebrows, that are daring me to say the wrong thing. I gulp visibly and bite my lip, a habit that I had taken on over the years.

"No, Mr.Holmes. I apologize." I mutter and lower my gaze. He just grunts in response and goes back to talking about useless stuff that I'll never need to know in my life anyways, whereas I grab a pen and scribble down some things in my notebook.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast, since I was distracted by the thought of how my aunt would react. She's a pretty laid-back woman, yes. But I had never asked if it was okay to bring friends over. It's her house after all.

After our last period was over, I grab my backpack and make my way into the direction of my locker, while trying to not get into the crowd of students again. When I round the corner, I catch a glimpse of black hair right next to my locker, hidden underneath a black hood. I stop dead in my tracks, when my eyes trail down to the person's face and I find myself staring at hazel colored eyes.

My breath hitches and my eyes widen, as I stare at him. He brings his hand up to his face and inhales the smoke from his cigarette, coughing slightly, whereupon one of his strands falls in front of his eyes. He puts it back into place and closes his eyes.

My heartbeat is filling my ears; it's beating rapidly and loudly, as if I just ran a marathon. While my mind is trying to find a way out of here wihout getting caught, my feet have other plans. I take a step back, accidentally stumbling over a glass bottle, which is standing on the ground, probably long forgotten by the student who had left it there. A loud smash echoes through the empty hallways, as the bottle falls to the floor and rolls a couple of inches.

I bite my lips as I raise my head and lock eyes with his'. He's sending me an unfriendly glare, making my palms start to sweat. I quickly turn around and run as fast as my legs can carry me. I hear his footsteps behind me, but he doesn't seem to be running, just walking. I slam the doors, that are leading to the back of the school, open and run around the building, trying to get onto the parking lot.

I don't dare look over my shoulder, as I approach my aunt's car. Kai and Gwen are already standing next to it, pacing back and forth. When I reach them, I stop and put my hands on my knees, panting heavily.

"Chase! Oh my god, sorry dude," Kai apologizes, patting my back, "we wanted to warn you, but you didn't pick up your phone!"

"It's fine." I breath out, looking around me, frantically. Maybe I had just overreacted and Riku just wanted to go to the toilet? Or just get away from me? I should stop being so paranoid.

"Come on, get in." Gwen says, to which I obey and sit down in the back seat, my aunt eyeing me suspiciously through the rear-view mirror.

"I'm sorry Nicole, I didn't tell you. I just-. . . Can they come over for a couple of hours? They're my friends and there is this summer event, and it's totally fine if you don't--" I'm cut off by a chuckle echoing through the car.

"Calm down, darling. Your friends already told me about them and your plans," my aunt reassures and starts the engine, whereupon the motor roars loudly. With that, we drive to my house in a comfortable silence.

"So, tell me more about this weird event," I say, breaking the awkward silence that has embraced my room. Kai, Gween and I had instantly went to my room when we arrived, not wanting to be interrupted.

"It ain't weird! All the cool kids go there and although it's practically one of the most boring events, the nights are the real fun. You know, when the teachers are gone and the students, who had 'left', sneak back onto the school grounds. That's when the real fun starts!" Kai smirks, throwing his hands in the air in excitement.

"And everyone's there?" I question, slightly afraid of the amount of people who were going to be there. I've had some bad experiences with big crowds, especially when it comes to crowds consisting of drunk teenagers. It's already hard enough to have to face them everyday in school; to willingly throw myself into such crowds can be considered suicide for someone who gets anxious when even only one person is watching him.

"Everyone, excluding the ones who rather wanna study."

"Nerds," Gwen coughs out, whereupon I roll my eyes. I could be considered a nerd too. I studied a lot in my old school, and I'm not planning on letting my grades drop just because I moved. I also never went to any parties, not that I was invited anyways, but the main reason was, that he didn't allow me to leave the house other than for school. If I did, then I would get a lovely amount of belt whips crashing onto my back.

"Hey Chase, just wanted--" Chloe comes strutting through the door, slamming it open in the process; but when she raises her head, she cuts herself off. She eyes first Kai and then Gwen from head to toe.

One of her friends had dropped her off today, because they were on some shopping trip or something - at least that's, what she had babbled about when we had breakfast this morning -; that's why she didn't know I had friends over.

"Chloe, these are Kai and Gwen. Guys, this is my cousin Chloe," I announce, my eyes jumping back and forth between the three of them, who are having kind of a stare down.

"Didn't know you had friends over. Well, bye then." She storms out of the room, leaving the door wide open. I groan in frustration, stand up and gently close the door, not wanting to make a fuss out of something this petty.

"Didn't know your Cousin was that hot," Kai admits, whereupon I slightly slap the back of his head, which probably feels like a baby kicked him with its foot, but whatever.

"She's my cousin, stay away from her!" I hiss.

"The both of you," I add when I see that Gwen's eyes are still lingering on the door. Her head snaps toward me and her cheeks flush a crimson red, making my eyes widen.

"Oh my god, you're really gay?" I gasp, surprised. It's not that I have anything against it. It's her life after all and I'm definitely not against homosexuality or bisexuality or what not, in any kind of way, but I'm just utterly surprised, since I haven't expected it at all.

"She is. Got a problem with that?" Kai snaps, putting an arm around Gwen's shoulder. I quickly shake my head and sit down on my bed, next to them.

"No, no. Sorry. I was just surprised. But nevertheless, stay away from my cousin. Both of you," I demand, emphasizing it a bit.

They both loosen up and a smile spreads on Gwen's lips, a spark glimmering in her eyes as she beams at me with a wide grin. She pulls me into a hug and lets out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you," she whispers.

"For what?"

"For accepting me."

My eyes grow wide, the smile on my lips faltering. I know what she means. I was never accepted either. I was bullied, for my weakness and my ugly self. The bullying was already bad as it was, if I had come out back then as well, then I'd be dead meat. Especially since he was a homophobe.

Everytime he saw two guys or two girls making out in some bar, he would always take out his anger on me, about 'how disgusting' they were. Which was one of the many reasons why I was closeted, never had my first kiss and never even dreamt of having a boyfriend.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I bring my attention back to my friends, who are laughing about something, that I didn't hear due to zoning out. Again. It's another one of my habits.

"I'm so excited about tomorrow! It's gonna be so much fun, Chase!" Kai exclaims happily, clapping his hands together in anticipation. I send him a smile, though my mind is already imagining all the things that could go wrong.

We will see whether it's gonna be fun.

We will see.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey there,

I hope you enjoyed the chappie. I dunno what I should talk about today, so I'm just gonna shut up, before I ramble on about some random stuff.

Oh yea, by the way. Just so you know, Chester is anxious about what he does around his aunt or her house because of his past. So yeah, just in case that brought up some confusion.

Anyway, what do ya think about Gwen being gay?

Stay safe everyone!

❤

- L I S A