The Betrayal

Monday rolls in looking and smelling good. I wake up and prepare for school with a smile on my face. I like school. It calms me and gives me a sense of purpose. I one time told Ryan the same thing and he looked at me weird. Ryan is what I call a total slacker. He is a guy with a terrifyingly high IQ but he seems determined to misuse it because I know if he put his mind to it, he would be rolling in As.

"Gavin, Hurry up or your gonna be late on your first day."Mom yells from downstairs

"Coming ." I yell back and directly bolt out of the room and rush downstairs. I find Dad already in the car and mom runs towards us carrying packed lunch boxes.

"Mom, you do realize that we have cafeterias where we are going,right?" I ask as I receive the lunch boxes from her.

"Yea yes I know but today is your first day so I gotta pack something for you." She says looking at me askance and I just smile sheepishly.

"Babe, aren't you going to work today?" Dad asks over me

"Nope ,I work from home today." Mom replies. Mom is a hotshot interior designer and her job is very flexible sometimes since she has her own company and all.

"Ok then. See you this evening." I say waving out the car

"Bye baby. Mommy loves you and don't forget to share that with Ryan too. I packed for you both." she says while waving at us. I inwardly cringe because my mom can be a lot sometimes.

Dad drives out of the compound and then looks at me. In our family, mom is the quiet unobtrusive parent while dad is the parent who wants to know everything about his child.

"Before you say anything, I don't know and I will tell you if I figure it out ok." I say immediately he tried to open his mouth.

He smiles and just shakes his head at me.

Not long after, we reach school and he drops me off at the school gate. The SHIH building looms infront of me and for a moment I am intimidated by the sheer look of it but then I hear a voice I know too well screaming my name and suddenly all my nerves disappear.

"Twinnieeeeeeeee." Ceci screams my name as though nobody is around and I turn to her with a huge smile. She rushes to wards me for a hug and I hug her back .

"Good morning Mr.Montez" she says looking behind me and it's only then that I realize that Dad hasn't left yet.

"Morning,Cecily." he replies

"Bye Dad" I wave at him as he pulls away from the side walk.

Ceci puts her hand on the crook of my elbow and we walk towards the school together.

"Soooooooo....?" she says looking at me with one quirked eyebrow

"What?" I look back at her as though I am clueless on what she is implying

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks looking at me with an all too knowing gaze. Sometimes I wonder if this girl is a worm in my brain or something.

" No,babes.Don't worry about it." I reply."I promise I will tell you when I feel like it,ok." I add when she doesn't seem to want to drop it

As first year high schoolers, we are summoned to the main hall for assembly where we are told various rules and regulations, what the school stands for and after what feels like hours we are finally let out.

We immediately rush to the dean's office for our schedules and the fact that all our classes match makes us so happy we are practically jumping up and down.

As we come out of the office , we collide with the football team and Ryan. I try to wave at him but he pretends not to see me which really baffles me since before his little avoiding game, we had not fought or anything of the sort.

It's as we move out of the office and the football team packs in that I finally seem to glimpse at why Ryan has chosen to be distant.

"Who is that ?You know him?" One guy who seems to be the captain of the team asks.

"Not personally. We are neighbors" Ryan answers and I am not sure why but that sends a shooting pain in my chest. All this while I thought we were atleast friends turns out we are just neighbors.

"Indeed. He looks like a sissy. Steer clear of him." That same guy speaks again and when I wait for a defense that doesn't to be forth coming from Ryan, I pull Ceci away from there at the fastest speed I can manage while feeling my eyes burning hot.

"Why would Ryan speak like that?" Ceci asks and I just shrug because the stone lodged in my throat at the moment won't let me speak. Since I have met her, Ryan has been our topic of conversation since he was my first friend when we moved to Saber hills and I just couldn't not tell my new bestie about him.

However, it seems the sentiment wasn't shared and now the acid I feel in my stomach is so bitter I feel like vomiting when I very well know my stomach is as empty as they come.

"Babes no offense but why do you react as though this is a break up ?" she asks and I look at her askance

"Ryan was my .........." I start to say but then think better of it."Forget it. You won't understand." I say sighing

"Explain it to me so that I can understand next time but for now we are going to be late for our first class." she says looking at her watch and we immediately rush down the building and towards our first class of high school.