Sync - 1. Chapter 1

The late bell rang, and the class was a mix of people trying to find friends and claim seats. The teacher was still getting a stack of syllabuses ready on her desk, letting the class get seated before she started.

 

Kelly stumbled in late, but as it was the first day, didn’t get marked for it. Even as a senior, he still got turned around in the school sometimes. His blue eyes scanned the clumps of kids in search of familiar faces. He recognized a few from other years and classes, but none of his friends. His eyes landed on black trying to huddle in the back of the class so he aimed for that instead.

 

The kid was maybe a few inches shorter than Kelly, who was six feet and two inches, but it was hard to tell with the massive slouch the other teen had going on. Kelly could tell he was tall by the fact his knees were touching the back of the seat in front of him. A pair of clunky Skullcandy headphones were over his ears, a mix of neon green and black.

 

Kelly swung into the seat next to him, only having a small sports backpack with him. The other boy glanced over, then away again. Kelly made himself face the awkwardness and turned in his seat, holding out a wide hand. “Kelly,” He introduced himself.

 

The boy quickly yanked his headphones aside to hear. “What?”

 

“My name’s Kelly,” He repeated, still keeping his hand out. The boy glanced at it suspiciously before settling for a brief shake. “I’m Dexter.”

 

“Like the cartoon show?” Kelly pointed out hopefully. Dexter raised a black eyebrow. “I like to think like the drama serial killer.”

 

Kelly stalled, smile half slack in confusion. Dexter rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat. “There’s a TV show about a serial killer named Dexter…”

 

“Okay.” Kelly said, though he had never heard of it. Maybe later Google would give him some sense of what the kid was talking about. “So are you new here? I’ve never seen you before.”

 

Dexter chewed his lip, black hair successfully covering his eyes. It had a slight frizz, and with the perfect straightness of it, Kelly assumed he straightened it. “Yeah. Moved up here over the summer.” He paused, head turning to Dexter. “Why are you talking to me?”

 

Kelly blinked in confusion. “Well, why not?”

 

“Well,” Dexter looked down at himself. Tight pants on his legs, with only a little sag. A band t-shirt that Kelly couldn’t read, and thick combat boots. “And you look like some American boy poster child.”

 

Kelly almost laughed at that, but held back. All blonde hair and blue eyes, he was given a body of lean muscle and height. But still, poster child? “There aren’t a lot of cliques at this school.” It was true, for the better part. Yeah, people would still talk nasty about others, but circles of friends were pretty liberal.

 

“Oh,” Dexter mumbled, embarrassment coloring his cheeks. “Sorry, then.”

 

Kelly shook his head and smiled again. “Not a problem. So—“ Before he could ask anymore, the teacher finally announced herself at the front of the class. Kelly went back to his seat, glancing surreptitiously at Dexter. He had a sharp but almost feminine face, though black hair covered most of it. And were those gauges in his ears?

 

A syllabus was finally passed down the row of desks, and Kelly glanced at it briefly. They were all mostly the same. He could hear the faint music still coming out of Dexter’s impressively sized headphones, even if they were hung around his neck now.

 

Finally the teacher paused in her rant of the rules and said, “What’s that noise? Music?”

 

Kelly watched Dexter quickly disconnect the headphone cord from his iPod and stop the music. The teacher still scanned the class suspiciously before going back to the paper in front of her.

 

The syllabus took up an amazing forty-five minutes of the class, and the teacher gave them the last ten free. Kelly turned in his desk again. “So where’d you move from?”

 

Dexter didn’t look too happy that the conversation continued, as it prevented him from putting his headphones back on. “Listen, as nice as you’re trying to be for me being new here, I’m gay.”

 

There was an awkward pause before Kelly answered. “So? And I have a girly name.”

 

Dexter’s lips twitched briefly, trying to suppress a smile. “They won’t give you sh*t for hanging out with me or anything, then?”

 

“It’s my senior year, I don’t care what anyone thinks,” Kelly joked.

 

“Nice philosophy. Already have senioritis then? Because I won’t be doing all the work and letting you copy, just fyi,” Dexter replied, finally smiling a little at the easy banter.

 

“I have other people for that, don’t worry.” Kelly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “What’s your number?”

 

Dexter hesitated, another reminder that he was in fact gay on his lips, but he gave up the information anyways. Kelly knew and acknowledged his sexuality, so what ever happened now Dexter wasn’t entirely responsible for.

 

The two compared schedules. They shared only first period and lunch.

 

“Why isn’t my lunch period on the schedule?” Dexter asked and pointed at the six class list. “It depends on your English, History or Math class.” Kelly explained. “See? You have Econ, which counts as History, for sixth period, so you have C lunch.”

 

“And what time is that?” Dexter asked.

 

“It starts at one,” Kelly answered.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me? One?I have to wait until then to eat? It’s eight and I’m already hungry!” Dexter scowled.

 

“No, but see? You have fifth period off. That’s during the freshman lunch so you can eat then, or we have a snack line open during passing periods.” Kelly handed the schedule back to the other teen; who was still hungry and unhappy.

 

“What ever happened to block scheduling? Two classes a day, done by noon. Normal time to eat.”

 

“Well maybe our school isn’t like the other ones you’ve been to?” Kelly suggested when the bell rang. “And there is no G hall by the way.” Kelly pointed out a class on Dexter’s schedule as they stood up. “That’s just what they call the open space near the front of the school, that’s where Clark holds his class. It’s mostly games.”

 

“Sweet. Games I can do.” Dexter folded up the paper and pocketed it.

 

“Don’t let yourself get senioritis from playing too many games…” Kelly teased on their way out the door. Dexter stuck his tongue out, which was pierced, before he stalked off and pretended to know where he was going.

 

It took about five seconds before Dexter turned around and booked it back to Kelly. “I knew that was the wrong way, I was just seeing if there were stairs.” Dexter tried to justify himself, but failed.

 

“A hall is on the other side of the school. I’m going to E, I can walk you halfway there.” Kelly started to walk down the hall.

 

Dexter frowned but still followed. They separated when Kelly went down a hall to the left and Dexter kept going straight. The rest of the morning past easily, and Kelly sent Dexter an invitation text to lunch. He got no reply, but Dexter was waiting at the suggested spot near the front doors.

 

“We’re waiting on one more person,” Kelly said and started to scroll through his phone. “Ava should be here in a minute.”

 

“Right here,” She spoke up from behind. Dexter had to give Kelly credit; Ava had the underside of her hair dyed purple. She eyed Dexter appreciatively. “Hot,” She commented.

 

“Gay,” Dexter deterred her before she got any hopes.

 

Ava rolled her eyes, a warm brown. “Figures,” She sighed dramatically. “Kelly, you’re buying me lunch for that.”

 

“How did that happen?” Kelly asked in surprise.

 

“Because here I thought I was going to meet some hot guy I could date, but no. And you introduced me to him, therefore, you owe me lunch.”

 

“Don’t you love a woman’s logic?” Dexter snickered from the side.

 

“Damn straight,” Ava huffed and burst through the doors of the school. “Come on, oaf!”

 

“Oaf?” Dexter echoed in confusion.

 

“Me,” Kelly corrected him. “She calls about everyone over six feet an oaf.”

 

Ava was only maybe five feet and six inches tall, and her clothes consisted of black and purple to match her hair. She had on knee high boots that day, going with fishnet leggings and a black skirt that reached a thankful mid thigh. “For as much as you spent on those boots, Ava, they sure don’t make you much taller.” Kelly commented and skipped a safe distance ahead before he got punched.

 

Kelly drove the other two off campus for lunch. He paid for Ava, but Dexter covered himself. They snagged a table by the windows and started to inhale the fast food. Dexter dipped his fries into a chocolate shake, receiving a look from Ava. “Kelly, why didn’t I get a chocolate shake?” She complained.

 

Kelly sighed, playing agitated. “Because I guess I just don’t love you that much—ow!” Kelly reached down to rub his shin, where Ava had kicked him. She hmphed and stuck one of her fries into Dexter’s shake. “Help yourself,” Dexter mumbled and slid the shake out of her reach.

 

“If something she does really bothers you, just tell her and she’ll stop,” Kelly instructed. “Otherwise, this is her way of playing around.”

 

“What size are your gauges?” Ava asked, ignoring the small conversation they just had about her.

 

“Uh, eights.” Dexter tucked some hair behind his ear, showing off the hollow, neon green circle in his ear. For all his dressing in black, Kelly wondered if Dexter’s favorite color was green.

 

“You like green?” Ava nailed it.

 

“Yeah. Only neon green though.” Dexter touched his headphones lightly, since they had the same green decoration.

 

They finished eating and Kelly drove back to the school. Ava insisted on walking Dexter to class for some reason, and they exchanged numbers on the way. “You’d be good for him,” Ava said listlessly.

 

“He who?” Dexter asked.

 

“Kelly.”

 

“…Is straight, isn’t he?” Dexter objected. Hell, he hadn’t wanted Ava to have false hope. He didn’t want it either. Ava didn’t reply right away, and Dexter took that as his answer. “He’s straight.” Dexter clarified for himself. “And why are you following me to class?” He refused to believe she was just walking him.

 

“Because it’s my class too.” Ava darted in the class door, dragging Dexter along with her.

 

Fantastic.

 

Ava was all over him in class. It seemed since he was gay, it was okay to be overly affectionate. Finally Dexter managed to tell her off, and she took it. “Alright,” She answered easily. That didn’t mean she stopped talking to him, and that was fine. Dexter just wasn't a hands on person.

 

“So you want to hang out after school?” Ava asked. “Kelly has football practice, so I’m free.”

 

Dexter cringed slightly. Football players weren’t his favorite, but he wouldn’t voice it. Kelly was nice. “I can’t. Still unpacking from moving, need to get my room finished.”

 

“Ah,” Ava let it drop. Dexter was surprised she didn’t invite herself over, but maybe she really did have boundaries. “Where did you move from?” Ava asked.

 

“California,” Dexter admitted.

 

“Land of the rainbow flag? Why would you move away from there?” Ava seemed upset about it on his part for some reason.

 

“My step dad got transferred out here for work,” Dexter said awkwardly. Ava caught on to that, at least, and let another subject drop. After that she started paying attention to the teacher, like she was supposed to be doing in the first pace.

 

***

 

“Sorry about Ava,” Kelly apologized the next day during first period.

 

“She’s not that bad.” Dexter shrugged his shoulders. “She’ll just take some getting used to. More… in my space then I’m used to.”

 

“Ha, yeah, but she’s a good friend.” Kelly paused and looked down to his desk. “You any good at math?”

 

“Didn’t do your homework?” Dexter scowled.

 

“What teacher gives homework on the first day?” Kelly chuckled dryly and showed off a worksheet.

 

“When’s it due?” Dexter rolled his eyes.

 

“Next period?” Kelly looked at it again. “You don’t have to do it, but if you can just help me—“

 

Dexter snatched the paper away anyways, not looking too happy. “I said you don’t have to! Just some help…” Dexter waved him off and whipped out a pencil to begin scribbling away at the green paper. He had finished it in half the class and returned it to Kelly.

 

“Uh, thanks. I feel bad about making you do it.” Kelly admitted, looking down at the paper guiltily.

 

“…It’s fine.” Dexter drummed his fingers on the table. “I’m in advanced anyways. Calc AB.”

 

Kelly gaped openly for a moment before snapping his mouth shut. “I signed up for the easiest math I could get.”

 

Dexter smirked. “I could tell.” He chuckled, resting his combat boots on the basket under the desk in front of him. Kelly skimmed over his paper just to distract his eyes. “Are you… you know, dating anyone?”

 

Dexter raised an eyebrow. “No. Are you?”

 

“No,” Kelly answered flatly. “But you know, there’s this kid named Sean, and he’s gay… if you want I could—“

 

“No thanks,” Dexter interrupted. “I’m not going to date someone just because he’s the only other gay guy around.”

 

“Well he’s not the only…”

 

“That’s not what I mean.” Dexter sighed. “Say that all the pretty girls died, and the only one left is really, really fat or something. Like obese. Would you have sex with her just to have sex?”

 

“Well if it’s for the survival of the planet…”

 

“You are so dense.” Dexter chuckled. “That’s not what I mean. Would you make yourself love her just because she’s the last resort?”

 

“I guess it would be difficult,” Kelly agreed.

 

“Right. I’m not going to date someone if I don’t like him, with the hopes that maybe I will. Because if I don’t? That’s just a dick move.” Dexter concluded with that and sunk down into his desk.

 

A few minutes of awkward silence past before Kelly opted for another topic. “So we going out for lunch today? I think Ava actually got suspended, but my friend Sam might be coming.”

 

“Ava got suspended? When and for what? It’s the second day of school!” Dexter looked baffled that something like that could happen.

 

“Well, freshman year she got suspended the first five days of school. She was here for marching band and got caught smoking, so they suspended her once school started,” Kelly explained. “And I think she got caught smoking again, I don’t know.”

 

“She didn’t smell like smoke…” Dexter muttered. “I guess I’ll have to text her later. But lunch, yeah. I’ll go.” As far as later applied, Dexter waited about a minute before pulling out his cell phone and texting Ava. Kelly noticed, jealously, that it was one of those touch screen smart phones. Dexter was intensely focused on it, and it almost made Kelly laugh.

 

“You look like some high tech nerd.”

 

“Hm?” Dexter grunted without looking up from his phone.

 

“I said you look like a nerd.” Kelly repeated.

 

Dexter glanced up. “How do I look like a nerd?”

 

“With the headphones, and now you’re all high tech ability on your phone.” Kelly pointed at the rectangle device. He still had a flip keyboard type phone that was a year old, which in technology was ancient. “Oh. Well yeah, my step-dad got it for me.”

 

“Step?” Kelly echoed. Dexter’s fingers slowed on his phone for a moment. “Yeah. Complicated though. Don’t really want to talk about it.”

 

“Well, you know, my parents are divorced too. Just my mom lives out of state,” Kelly informed quietly. It wasn’t something he normally shared with people, as most of the people at the school were too bent on image to get divorced.

 

“Not divorced,” Dexter replied vaguely. “Like I said, complicated. I don’t want to talk about it.” That was the end of that, and Dexter went back to texting. A few minutes later he spoke up again. “No, she did not get suspended. She was out late doing something till like two and her mom is pissed.”

 

“Ah, sounds like Ava.” Kelly chuckled. Pretty soon the teacher fixed onto Dexter.

 

“Put that phone away!” The teacher yelled. Her voice hit such a shrill note, and so abruptly, Dexter actually jumped in his seat. He pocketed his phone guiltily, having a momentary stare-down with the teacher. “And no listening to your music in class.” She wagged a finger at him, noticing the giant Skullcandy headphones.

 

Dexter slouched further into his seat as most kids in the class turned to look at him.

 

“And now that we’re talking, would you like to explain to me what Owen means when he says, ‘God has taken your mother. My hands were the instrument. God has taken my hands. I am God’s instrument.’”

 

Dexter’s mouth hung slack before answering. “Uh, what?”

 

“Summer reading assignment.” Kelly hissed across the aisle. “Oh.” Dexter relaxed. “I moved here a week before school started, I didn’t read it.”

 

The teacher didn’t look happy to hear it, but let him go. The two waited before talking again, and Kelly leaned closer. “You can borrow my book if you want to read it, I think it’s out of print.”

 

“Alright.” Dexter answered quietly. “I can give it back to you tomorrow.”

 

Kelly snorted disbelievingly, getting a confused look from Dexter. After class, Kelly handed over the summer reading book. All six-hundred and twenty-seven pages of it.

 

“Good God,” Dexter gasped.

 

“We had to write an essay on it too, I think you got out of that.” Kelly waited for Dexter to take the book. Dexter finally yanked it away, stuffing it carefully into his backpack. “Insane. My other school didn’t have summer reading assignments, either. F*cking insane here.”

 

“We have the lowest fail rate in the district?” Kelly offered that as an excuse. “Yeah, but not the best scores. That’s Mullen High School. I looked it up,” Dexter grumbled.

 

“That’s a private high school,” Kelly pointed out.

 

“F*ck yeah it is. This is public. Shouldn’t matter what book we read.” Dexter zipped his bag back up and swung it over his shoulder. The two walked off towards their second period classes and split when Kelly went left into E hall.

 

“Did you do the homework?” Kelly’s friend, Sam, immediately asked.

 

“No,” Kelly answered. It was true, he hadn’t. Dexter had, and he really did feel bad about letting Dexter do it for him… he didn’t want to rely on Dexter, and he didn’t want Sam relying on him.

 

Sam swore and went back to trying to do his homework before the bell rang. Once the teacher collected it, Kelly tried to promise himself that he would do the next homework alone.

 

Lunch came, and without Ava it wasn’t nearly as exciting. Sam gave Dexter an odd look, it was returned with an obvious glare. “What?”

 

Sam flinched and looked away. “Uh, nothing.”

 

Dexter wasn’t so believing, but he wasn’t going to press it either. They piled into Kelly’s car and took a short drive off campus again to another fast food joint. Sam was oddly quiet the whole time, but Kelly didn’t ask anything of it and Dexter didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Think it’ll rain?” Sam asked out of the blue, watching the clouded sky out the window. “I hope not. We have practice.” Kelly leaned forward on the wheel to look up through the windshield.

 

“It rained almost every day in California,” Dexter added, playing with the cord of his headphones. Sam sent him another strange look. “It would only last maybe ten minutes here, right?” Dexter asked and returned Sam’s look.

 

“Yeah but then the field would be wet.” Kelly sighed and turned back into the school lot.

 

“Maybe they’ll cancel it?” Sam sounded hopeful. “And we could just hang out after school.”

 

“We?” Dexter echoed and twisted in his seat to look at Sam. Sam stumbled for a moment. “Never mind.”

 

Dexter snorted and went back to fiddling with his iPod. They got back to school and Sam took off almost immediately. “What the hell was his problem?” Kelly wondered out loud.

 

“Hell if I know,” Dexter grunted. “I know I didn’t tell him I was gay.” The implication was obvious, along with the accusing look he gave Kelly.

 

“I didn’t tell anyone you were gay!” Kelly lowered his voice. “I mean, Ava knows, but Sam and Ava don’t even get along. I don’t know what Sam’s problem is.”

 

“Fine.” Dexter stuffed his electronics away and sniffed the air. “But yes, I think it’s going to rain. Have fun at practice today.”

 

Kelly groaned and walked with Dexter back into the school as the bell rang. Dexter took off for his locker and disappeared. Kelly sought out Sam in the migrating crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen. The rest of the afternoon was dreary, and half way through the next class it started to rain.

 

Kelly stared out the window. Practice was going to suck. He was happy to hear an announcement come over the P.A. system two minutes before school ended, saying that all outdoor fall sports had been completely canceled for the evening.

 

A minute later he had a text message from Dexter—Lucky you.

 

Chuckling, Kelly replied with an invitation to hang out after school. Dexter agreed when the last bell rang Dexter agreed and they arranged to meet up at the front of the school. It was still raining then so Dexter was waiting just inside the school doors and off to the side, away from the flow of other students.

 

Kelly fixed his backpack and stepped up next to Dexter. “Let’s wait a few for the crowd to clear. My place or yours?” Kelly paused. “I have some step sisters that will probably bother us.”

 

“My place, then.” Dexter leaned against the wall and watched the students go by. Once the school had cleared out onto buses and cars, Kelly and Dexter went out to the parking lot. Dexter pointed out directions for his house, about a ten minutes drive form the school.

 

“Nice,” Kelly mumbled and looked up at the house. It was an older house, brick and a single floor. The front yard was pretty large, with a huge tree in the center of it. The inside of the house was fixed up, with modern appliances and furniture. A glimpse at the backyard showed it was even larger than the front, with trimmed grass and a lot of plants.

 

“The lady who lived here before did a lot of gardening.” Dexter waved a hand out that way, making it clear that he didn’t plant all those flowers. “We can hang out in my room, or I have the basement set up for gaming.”

 

“Either is fine.” Kelly took in some of the still unpacked boxes. Dexter opted for the basement and dropped his backpack at the top of the stairs. Dexter tromped down the stairs, combat boots making heavy thuds. Kelly was right behind him on the way down. The basement was sparse, with just a TV and couch with some game systems.

 

“My youngest stepsister hogs up the only game system I have,” Kelly said listlessly. Dexter turned on the TV and an Xbox, pulling out two controllers.

 

“That sucks. As you can see, I don’t have any siblings,” Dexter mumbled and sat down on the couch.

 

Kelly sunk down onto the cushion next to him. “My dad remarried just before my freshman year.”

 

Dexter nodded, hesitating again. “My… mom married my step-dad when I was seven. Never had a biological dad. My mom died when I was eleven though, cancer. So he’s my legal guardian.”

 

“Oh.” Now Kelly saw why Dexter didn’t really want to talk about it. “You at least… you two get along, right?”

 

“Not like he’s my best friend, but I don’t hate him either. Neutral ground I guess. Don’t you and your step-mom get along then?” Dexter started up a game on the screen.

 

“Same, neutral ground. She tries, but it’s different. My step sisters and I don’t get along with so well though,” Kelly spoke quietly. He hadn’t shared so much of this with anyone, really, aside some small details from Ava. She came from a single mother household, so she at least had a little bit of understanding.

 

“Did you and Ava date?” Dexter asked.

 

“Yeah, actually. Sophomore year, broke up on mutual terms. She and I are still really close though,” Kelly explained awkwardly. A few minutes later Dexter’s phone went off with a text message. He looked at it, confused and sent reply.

 

After another text, Dexter broke out with a, “Oh sh*t!” of surprise. “What?” Kelly questioned. “Hold on a sec,” Dexter dropped the game and started working more with his phone. “Okay. That’s why Sam was looking at me funny. He and I have been friends online, and he recognized me from a profile picture.”

 

“Wait, what?” Kelly laughed nervously.

 

“He and I have been online friends for about a year and have been texting too. So he freaked out when I suddenly started going to the same school as him. That is f*cking creepy. I mean I knew he lived in Colorado, but same school?” Dexter finally put his phone away. “Okay. Game.”

 

Kelly was a little surprised to hear that; it was weird. The two played games silently, until Kelly heard someone rattling around upstairs.

 

“That’s probably Jared,” Dexter informed. “He gets home around four or five usually.”

 

Kelly glanced at his cell phone in shock. “Sh*t, it’s already four-thirty. I still have to do my homework before dinner or dad’s going to kill me.”

 

“Math?” Dexter asked. “I don’t need you doing that for me again,” Kelly protested. Dexter rolled his eyes and paused the game.

 

“I can help you with it. It’s not that hard anyways,” Kelly grudgingly agreed and Dexter led the way upstairs.

 

“Jared?” Dexter called out, and an older man popped his head out of the kitchen. “I’m going to help Kelly with some homework up here.”

 

“I didn’t know you had a… friend over.” Jared narrowed his eyes, inspecting. “Or…?”

 

“Friend,” Dexter interjected firmly. “Straight.” He added and dragged his backpack to a kitchen table. Kelly smiled awkwardly at Jared before darting off after Dexter. Jared didn’t look that old, but then again, he wasn’t related to Dexter. Jared had short black hair and hazel eyes, similar to Dexter.

 

Kelly dished out his homework onto the table—a few pages of math, and one minor science assignment. Dexter looked over them all for a few minutes. “You need help with anything specific?”

 

“I don’t know. I know I can probably do the homework, but as soon as I get to the quiz or text I’ll forget something.” Kelly tapped on the math homework.

 

“Anxiety or what?” Dexter asked.

 

Kelly could only shrug. “I do the homework fine and bomb the tests and quizzes. That’s just going off the last few years though, so maybe this class will be easier.”

 

“I can probably find some mock tests online and print them off to see how you do.” Dexter offered.

 

“Isn’t that a little much?” Kelly frowned unsurely.

 

Dexter frowned and flicked a paper across the table. “I don’t mind, and so if you need the help…”

 

“That sounds like a lot,” Kelly complained. “So you don’t want to actually get a good grade for once, then?” Dexter snickered.

 

Kelly sighed and stared down at the homework. “I mean I want the better grade, I just don’t know about the whole practice test thing… maybe teach me some test taking skills, but I don’t want to take a test if I don’t have to.”

 

“Bah. Wimp,” Dexter teased. “But we can do that, then.”

 

“Let me guess, you don’t have test anxiety?” Kelly asked.

 

“Not anxiety, but I do rush. I make little mistakes… I’ve learned to go back and check my work, though,” Dexter admitted, tapping a pencil down onto the math sheet. “Now come on, see if you can work through some of the problems. I want to see what you do.”

 

Kelly huddled over the math sheet and started the rigorous work.