I sat in seventh period thinking about all that had happened that day at lunch. Four months had gone by, and I still couldn't get over that look Dylan had in his eyes. In all of my years of knowing Dylan, I'd never seen him cry before. He was always so strong, and most of the time he was comforting me when I cried. Now the roles were reversed and I was the one who was able to maintain my tears. I played with one of my dreads, and almost didn't hear the kid sitting next to me speak. 'Hey you ok?' 'Huh...uh...yeah I'm fine.' I said still not really paying attention to him.
'Sorry if I'm bothering you it's just that I've been in this class for months, and I don't know anyone.' 'No it's ok I know what it's like to be alone.' I mumbled. ' I didn't think someone as cute as you would ever be alone.' This caught my attention and brought a smile to my face. 'Ahhh so you can smile, by the way my names Jacob Ortiz' 'Matt Valentine' I said extending my hand for a shake. Instead of shaking it he kissed it.
The soft kiss sent shivers down my spine. I took a minute to actually look at him, and he was breath taking. He was about my height, but he was very muscular. Not exactly body builder, but more so than the average athlete his age. He had large light brown eyes, and full pink lips. He looked Puerto Rican, and says he played basketball at his old school.
I gave him a questioning eyebrow seeing as though this class was performing arts. Before he could respond our teacher Ms. Pennyworth came out and assigned everyone a performance rival. This is what I loved about this it wasn't just singing, dancing, or acting it was all combined. She would rate you in each division individually the day before school starts, and then would partner you up with whomever ranked closes to. Then would compete with each other on stage, and help each other when practicing.
My rival of course was Jacob. (Go figure). As we waited our turn on we continued talking, and I really enjoyed our conversation. I also was happy to have my mind off of Dylan. Once it was Jacobs turn I focused on his performance. He could really sing and acted fairly well, but he barely moved. After his performance it was my turn.
I knew I was more than capable of putting on a better performance, but my mind was elsewhere. After I finished I knew my performance was better, because I excelled in all three divisions. My mom was a dancer, and she taught me so much growing up. After a while Ms. Pennyworth put the grades, and winners on a clipboard. Another interesting tactic of hers was that even if you got the higher score didn't mean you beat your rival. Before Jacob and I could see who won she called us on stage.
'You two had the best performances today so I'll tell you your scores in person' she always did this for the best performers every year, and even in my chubbier days I've been called up every time. 'Jacob you got an overall score of ninety two.' 'Matt you got an overall score of one hundred.'
'The winner of the performance is............Jacob' she said. Everyone except me looked at her like she was crazy including Jacob. She turned to me and said. 'Matt you got a perfect score based on all of the guidelines you had to follow, but you gave no emotion. It was almost like you were being forced to perform, You've lost that fire that you had in your eyes when I met you your freshmen year. Jacob your performance was weak seeing as though you didn't dance much, but you gave it your all.' Honestly I didn't care as long as I got my A. For the rest of the class Jacob and I gave each other pointers on how to become better performers.
'Okay schools out dismissed.' Said Ms. Pennyworth As we left Jacob walked me to my locker. 'Okay thanks a lot for your help, and I can't wait until our next session where I get to help you.' He said. 'Help me with wha...' Before I could finish his lips where on mine, and just as soon as they arrived, they were gone and he whispered 'Passion' before leaving me breathless. The walk home was amazing as I held my lips and smiled barely focused on the nonsense that Christy was speaking as I walked her home. After I dropped her off I made my way home. As soon as I stepped into my apartment, and slid down my door in a fit of laughter. Maybe this year is looking up for me.
I got dressed for school the next day with a new personality. I was buzzing around my house singing whatever came in my head. As I was walking to school with Christy she noticed my bubbly demeanor, and responded like only she would. 'What, or who has gotten into you?''Nothing' I said trying to conceal my excitement. She just smirked and shook her head. As we made our way into Riverview we walked to our locker and my excitement quickly turned into rage.
On my locker they had sprayed the words 'half fag' in bright red, but on Christy's locker were the words 'ugly cunt' in purple. I dropped everything as Christy and I headed full speed at Devlin and his girlfriend. Christy tackled the girl, and they latched on to each others hair. I charged Devlin and connected to his left eye. I don't think that I had hit him very hard, but between catching him off guard and my ring hitting his eye it worked in my favor.
He stumbled back, but lost his footing and I tackled him to the floor. Again I'm not sure if it was my power or the fact that he'd lost his footing that brought him down. Honestly though I didn't care as I leapt on top of him and my fists connected with any body part he could find. He tried to fight me off, but I was moving too sporadically for him to land a damaging blow. I just kept swinging not knowing focusing on where I was hitting, but just making sure that I hit him as hard as I could.
After a while some administrators started pulling us apart, but I wasn't done as I continued to assault him. I grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. They held my arms so I couldn't hit him, but he was stuck in the shirt so I sort of drug him along as they pulled me trough the hallway. All of a sudden I felt a pair of hands grab me and throw me over his shoulders while I was kicking and screaming. I knew exactly who it was as I kept trying to break free. The only thing that I could get a glimpse of besides his very firm looking backside was the administrators trying to get Christy to let goof Devlin's girlfriends hair.
'Put me down Dylan, I'm not a kid put me down!' I whined as I tried as hard as I could to get him to release me. He didn't say anything, and it was pissing me off how easily he was able to man handle me. He sat me down in the nurses office while I continued screaming at him. He looked at me with this death stare that automatically brought me to a hush.
'Now I'll be right back, don't move a fucking muscle!' Too scared to say anything I just nodded. He came back a minute later with an ice pack in one hand, and Christy kicking and screaming in the other. He sat her down beside me and held the ice pack on my bruised cheek. 'I can do that myself!' I said grabbing the ice pack.
'Didn't I tell you not to fucking move!' I quickly withdrew my hand and dropped my gaze to the floor. Even when I'm made Dylan has always exuded such a dominance that makes calm down. 'Seriously what the hell were you two thinking, especially you Matt he is like two hundred pounds bigger than you. You could have seriously gotten hurt!' he said kneeling in front of me looking me dead in the eyes. I looked at Christy who returned my gaze, and we busted into laughter. Dylan looked at us as if we had three heads.
'What is so funny?!' He asked obviously still pissed at us. 'We won!' Christy said as we started laughing again. I don't know what was so funny, but we couldn't help but laugh. Dylan scowled at first, but started laughing with us. Soon Christy and I were almost rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter wiping our tears. Once we finally started catching our breath I gave Dylan a hug. `Thanks.' I said. Seemingly stunned at first, Dylan finally wrapped his muscular arms around the small of my back. 'Friends?' He asked.
'Acquaintances, but we could be friends in the future.' I responded. He picked me up and swung me around until I felt my stomach in my throat. I couldn't believe how strong he had gotten so quickly, he spent me around like I was a rag doll. 'Oh!......d...dy....uh....Dylan...you're killing me...uh' 'Oh sorry bro' he said putting me down, but couldn't wipe off the huge grin on his face. Finally Dylan and I were together again.
For some reason Devlin, his girlfriend, Christy, and I were all exempt from suspension and were just given a slap o the wrist. I was pleased to see the Dylan had a few bruises on him, more than likely because of my ring. Christy, Devlin girlfriend, and I walked away unharmed. Well the girls hair was disarrayed and based on appearance alone you could tell that Christy bested her. After being released we were given passes and were told to get to class.
The bell rang and Dylan walked Christy and I to first period. As Christy walked in the classroom, and Dylan grabbed my arm. I turned around, and he was smiling. 'What?' I asked and he threw me another one of those cocky smirks. 'I'm just really glad we are friends again' 'Me too.' I said smiling rather sheepishly. 'I'm so excited for lunch, where you get to meet my friends'. All I could picture was Christy, and I in an all out brawl with the football players. 'I....uh you sure we aren't going to clash'. He didn't respond he just gave me another bear hug before walking into his class.
Lunch came much faster than I would've liked, plus Christy left early for a doctors appointment. Another image flashed in my head. The football players trying to attack me while Dylan held me back as I was kicking and screaming. I decided to do the mature thing and get my food and skip out of the cafeteria, but Dylan spotted me. He waved me over, and I reluctantly sat down. Surprisingly, he only sat with six people.
Since he was an athlete, although you don't see many MMA fighters in high school, I assumed he'd sit with the football players, and other jocks. He introduced me to everyone starting with this peppy girl with blonde hair and blue eyes named Becky. I immediately didn't like this girl. Something about her screamed bitch. I made a mental note to keep my eye on her, just the look in her eye let me know that she was bad news.
Then there were triplets two guys, and a girl. They all had red hair, and emerald eyes. There names are Jamie, Johnny, and Joey. They all waved simultaneously, which was a bit creepy, but they seemed nice. Then there was this kid with brown hair, and brown eyes. He had his hair gelled back, and for some reason he glared at me. His name was Dante. The last person was Jacob. I smiled at him, and introduced myself to everyone. After breaking the ice with everyone Dante turned to me and asked.
'Weren't you that kid who threw that milkshake on Dylan?' He said immediately after I'd finished. I liked his forwardness, and if his anger hadn't been directed towards me we could've gotten along. (Oh well). 'It was a smoothie, and yes I did.' he gave me another look, and gave him one right back. He turned to Dylan and smirked.
Dylan looked annoyed, and embarrassed. Joey explained the whole story, or at least what he knew to Dante. Dante who's a newer student seemed to soften up to me, but I still kept my guard. After that conversation I excused myself to the bathroom with no intentions of coming back. As I got up Dylan gave me a hug, which was like the fifth one today. I walked to my locker, and realized I wasn't wearing my necklace. Panicking I ran back into the cafeteria and saw Dylan smiling at me while holding my necklace. He must have taken it when he gave me that last hug. I returned to the table, and shot him a look as he gave me a knowing smile. (This is going to be a long day.) Luckily the rest of lunch went by fairly quickly.
After school Dylan convinced me to take a walk with him. I hesitantly agreed and he and I walked into the little path in the forest, and came to the plush field of green grass, and beautiful river. We lay down, and soaked in it's beauty. After a while we talked as if nothing had ever changed. After a while I noticed Dylan had something shining on his shirt. I slowly reached over and grabbed it. It was a necklace of a sun with rays. It had a silver base, with little diamonds in it which were shining in the sun. 'You kept it!' I said smiling.
'Of course I did...my best friend gave it to me.' He started to lean up but I tackled him, and gave him a big hug. On our last birthday when we exchanged gifts we got each other these necklaces. Dylan got the sun because he was always the outgoing, personable, playful one. I got the moon because I was the mysterious, reserved, and quiet one. After that huge fight a few minutes later I was sure he had broken it, but apparently he cares just as much as I do. After a couple of hours of talking, and horse playing Dylan put on a serious expression.
'Matt about the day I hit you, I didn't hit you because you're gay. I hit you because...' "But you didn't have to cut me up, make out like it never happened, and that we were nothing" I looked down at my phone to see Jacob had texted me. Dylan let me read it, and it said. "Sorry I didn't talk much at lunch, but can you meet me at red lobster in an hour." I smiled, and turned to Dylan.
'Would you be okay with us dating?' I asked hopefully. I honestly didn't know where he stood on my sexuality yet. 'Uh...sure' he said shifting a bit. I asked him to finish saying what he had started, but he said it wasn't important. We walked to red lobster, and he gave me another hug before leaving.
I walked in, and saw Jacob nervously looking out the window. I sat down beside him and he turned around, smiled, and kissed. I was a little shocked that he did it in public, but that didn't stop me from kissing him back. We had a wonderful time, and he offered to walk me home, but I declined. I felt that the story about my parents would ruin the evening, and make my boyfriend upset. Yes he asked me to go steady! Well he didn't say it like that, but anyways I damn near floated home. '(This year is really looking up for me.)