CHAPTER TWO

ANTHONY’S POV

I stared at Anderson with my mouth hanging open, praying silently that for once he didn’t get anything on that stupid camera of his.

“I didn’t realize you guys were…occupied. I’ll come back later, Tony,” he said and scurried off, but not before giving me a disapproving look. I hurried after him, abandoning Blake to deal with this new experience of kissing a boy even though it was just a surface touch.

“Anderson, wait! Slow down!” I managed to catch up with him halfway through the hall. As if confirming his countenance from before, he gave me another disgruntled look.

“What the hell Tony? Of all people to kiss, you chose Blake Lindell? The guy that bullies you with the rest of his douchebag friends? Have you forgotten what he did to you in ninth grade?”

The mention of the Ninth-Grade Incident, as I liked to call it, puts me in a mood. I was immediately transported back to that moment in freshman year when my entire high school experience got ruined before I had the chance to even attend my first class.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten what he did to me,” I snapped back, fuming at the little faith he had in me.

“Oh yeah? It didn’t seem that way to me when you guys were licking lips and exchanging DNA!”

He continued walking, heading towards the Calculus class room.

“I slipped, okay?” He stopped and turned to me, giving me a listening ear even though he was having second thoughts about doing so. “I wanted to punch him because he made a typical Blake Lindell comment about Crystal but I slipped and fell on him and when we crash-landed our lips…meshed.”

“If it was an accident, why the hell are you blushing right now?” My hands flew to my cheeks and cupped them, feeling them grow warmer with each second that passed under Anderson’s scrutinizing glare.

To any other person and Anderson who was angry at the moment, it would have seemed as though I was blushing because I liked Blake Lindell or the action of kissing him had brought me some kind of warmth and fuzziness, but the truth was I was just so embarrassed at having slipped and fallen on Blake when I was supposed to be sucker punching him. If he wasn’t so mortified at having kissed me, he would have been making fun of me for that slip-up.

“Tell me the truth, Tony. Do you still like Blake? Are you guys in some kind of secret relationship?” His assumption was so preposterous that I ended up laughing out like a maniac. And just when I was about to give a snarky reply, his question sank in.

“Do you still like Blake?” Emphasis on the “still.”

That’s when my face turned really red, but again it wasn’t from liking him but from the sheer embarrassment that I once did, followed by anger for having liked him in the first place.

My family had just moved to Elm City when I was four and our neighbors just happened to be the Lindells who coincidentally were my dad’s former college friends. So, it was natural for me to be friends with their four-year-old son. Blake pretended to be my friend and I ended up liking him as stupid as I was. He was the one that made me realize I was gay in the first place. And then we entered ninth grade and he pulled that stunt and showed me his true colors. I hated Blake Lindell and absolutely nothing was going to stop me from hating him no matter how many dinner parties our parents threw that forced us to be in close proximity even outside school.

“Anderson, Blake Lindell will sooner be a monk than be gay. Also, even if he was gay, I’d sooner be the first Asian guy to step on the moon than get with him.”

“You’re white,” he deadpanned.

“Exactly my point.” His eyes surreptitiously move to my cast and I feel the pain shooting through my arm to my brain for the first time since I fell on Blake. Ignoring the ache, I moved closer to Anderson and took his camera from him.

“How do you even work this thing?” I asked looking for a button that showed me how to delete a video. Anderson tuts and snatched it back from me.

“You have to delete that video, Anderson. I can’t have something that humiliating lying around. If it gets out…”

“Oh, stop your whining. I’ll delete it. See you after Calculus.” He didn’t bother to ask me if I’ll be joining him. Well, I guess years of friendship with me has taught him that I’d rather spend that time in the Clay Room. Although now, that option was unavailable.

He reached the end of the hall way before stopping and turning around, his eyes set on my cast.

“And Tony, you be careful man. I know Blake Lindell is cute and everything, but he is bad news. You’ll be spending more time together in that little mud room. Just make sure to not let your guard down.”

I opened my mouth to say “if I could spend years with him as his next-door neighbor, on the court and in the changing room without catching any feelings, I wasn’t about to do that in the Clay Room”, but closed it right back when a thought occurred to me: How the hell did he know Blake was taking Pottery Class?

***

The one thing about school that I hated asides Calculus was basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I was amazing at it, but I just didn’t like the idea of bouncing around a ball on a wooden court for almost forty minutes while simultaneously trying to get it over to the other team’s hoop. The fun thing about it, however, was that I got to play while Blake sat on the bleachers and watched. Oh, and also sweaty, buff guys.

“Pearce! How’s the arm holding up?” I looked up from the bench to see Gary, the hottest guy on the basketball team (despite what last year’s poll said about Blake being the hottest) smiling down at me, his eyes the deepest blue you ever saw. I struggled to maintain my cool.

“Can’t shoot yet according to coach, but I’m pretty sure I can make a basket.” His smile broadened and I swear he even winked at me. I was about to say something witty when a huge ass figure blocked my view.

“Where the hell is Anderson?” Blake looked ravenously mad, like he could kill at any moment and get away with it. A shiver ran down my spine and I quickly shook away the rising thought that he looked quite sexy mad.

“Probably in the dark room, why?”

He didn’t wait for the question to leave my lips completely before he lifted me off the bench. Since he was a little bit taller than me, I was literally on the tip of my toes.

“Listen here, Pearce! You and your friends may have some sick kind of humor but I’d really appreciate it if you left me out of it. Two videos at the same time? The first one I quite like, but the second one with me and you…” He faltered here and looked around him. People had started to gather and stare and Gary approached us like a stealth Alpha, surveying the situation. Reluctantly he let me go and I felt the ache in my arm multiply.

“I thought you had the good sense to tell Anderson to delete that video earlier today. I guess I was wrong.” My mind was blank and unable to make sense of the words he spoke and I stare at him utterly confused. Anderson did delete the video. He said he would…

My eyes widened in horror as I watched the rest of the team and some cheerleaders pull out their phones and gazed at their screen, the sound of their notification going off one after the other. They seemed to be watching the same thing because a few seconds later, all eyes were on Blake and I.

“You are so dead, Pearce! Prepare to have the most horrible senior year experience in the history of high school. And tell Anderson that he should better hide away in a freaking hole like the rat that he is, because the moment I lay my eyes on him, he’s a goner.”

He stormed out of the gym, his angry strides echoing in the spacious room.

Malia, one of the cheerleaders who was my science partner last year walked up to me and shoved her phone in my face.

“I think you’re gonna wanna see this.”

I looked at her screen and watched in horror as Blake kissed my little sister, Crystal. It seemed like they were by the fountain close to the external library. I could make out the flowers there just as my eyes were most unfortunate to see him grope her breast. I felt a surge of rage course through my whole body and I wanted to hurt Blake Lindell more than I wanted to do anything else in the world. But before I could process my rage, the video switched and suddenly it was Blake and I in the pottery room from earlier this morning. It only showed when we were already on the floor and my lips were on his.

It’s funny how quickly my rage turned into embarrassment and then back to rage. This time though, it was directed at Anderson.

I didn’t say a word and left just as angrily as Blake did, ignoring Gary’s call to me. After locating Anderson by his locker, I grabbed his collar and slammed him against a locker, the pain in my arm shooting up to my brain again. He looked frightened and I almost felt bad for him.

“What the hell Anderson? I thought I told you to delete that video? Why the hell did you post it online? And that video of my sister? What’s wrong with you, man?”

“I swear to you, Tony, I didn’t do it.” His eyes were misty, and I could feel him tremble underneath my hands. His eyes flickered to his locker and that was when I noticed how disorganized it was. His books were strewn all over the floor and his bag had been turned upside down.

“Someone stole my camera, Tony. I have no idea where it is or who it was.”

Shit!