Thicker Than Water - 16. Chapter 16

“Are you planning on staying all day, Mr. Padilla?” Mr. Marx said, as Bryan walked into 2^nd period.

“You never know,” Bryan replied, as he took his seat.

After skipping class the day before and missing a good deal already, he wasn't surprised by the saltiness of his teachers. “Alright class,” Mr. Marx called out. “Put away your things and get out a pencil. We're having a pop quiz.”

The class groaned in unison. Bryan put his book in his bag and saw that he had a notification on his phone. He quickly opened it under the pretext of looking for a pencil and saw it was a message from Calvin. Anger and eagerness came quickly. Bryan desperately wanted to read it, but knew he couldn't without getting in trouble, since they weren't supposed to have their phones in class.

“Can I go to the restroom, Mr. Marx?” Bryan asked.

“No,” his teacher replied, as he handed out the small packet. “You had plenty of time before class and this is a timed test.”

Damn, Bryan thought, as he closed his bag. The test was six pages. He sighed, as he looked at the equations not really understanding any of them. Remembering Mr. Marx's question, Bryan wondered what difference his being in class made when he couldn't retain any of it.

Buzz buzz.

Bryan froze. It was his phone getting another notification. He realized that he hadn't put his phone on airplane mode, silencing the device and preventing notifications.

Buzz buzz.

“Whoever's phone that is, bring it up here, now!” Mr. Marx snarled. Bryan contemplated pretending like it wasn't his, but he also didn't want to get in any more trouble. He reached into his bag, turned off his phone and took it to his teacher. “You can have it back at the end of the day.”

“Yes Sir,” Bryan said, before retaking his seat. He couldn't concentrate on the test. Not knowing what Calvin wanted was eating at him.

Bryan spent the rest of the morning fretting over his phone. By the time lunch rolled around, he was in a sour mood.

“Hey,” Kenny said, as he and Terra sat with Bryan.

Bryan only mumbled his reply.

“What's wrong?” Terra asked.

“Mr. Marx took my fucking phone.”

“Oh,” Kenny exclaimed. “That's why you didn't return my text.”

“What text?!” Bryan demanded desperately. “When did you send it?!”

Confused and taken aback, Kenny replied, “During the break between 3^rd and 4^th period. Why?”

Bryan dismissively shook his head. The message he wanted to read was during 2^nd period, so it couldn't have been Kenny, which means it had to have been Calvin.

“What crawled up your butt?” Terra demanded. “Is it your father again?”

Even more confused, Kenny asked, “Did Diego do something?”

“No,” Terra said, “his other—” However, she was stopped by the savage look Bryan shot her way.

Kenny looked between his friend and boyfriend. “What's going on?”

“Nothing,” Bryan said. “Don't worry about it.”

Terra, too, looked at her friends and snapped at Bryan, “You haven't told him have you?”

“Obviously not,” Bryan replied in a tone that plainly said to drop it.

“Would someone tell me what's going on, or do I need to go sit with Dan Thomas?” Terra and Bryan blinked in surprise to the remark. “Now, that I have your attention,” Kenny continued, “you're clearly hiding something important. Bryan, if you want this relationship to work, you need to be open and honest with me.”

“Fine,” Bryan said, choosing to control the narrative before being ratted out by Terra. “Calvin found me on Facebook.”

“How?! When?!” Kenny looked horrified.

“Right after Donna's funeral. He was there, and I guess he figured out that Diego still had us.”

“How long has he been messaging you?”

“Off and on ever since. He wants to meet up, but I keep telling him to fuck off.”

“What has Diego said about it?” Bryan looked down at his tray. “You haven't told him?!” Kenny practically shouted.

“Mr. Mitchell,” one of the teachers called out, “keep your voice down.”

“Oh the irony,” Terra said, with a giggle.

Ignoring Terra, Bryan replied to Kenny, “Clearly not and for good reason.”

“Well, as long as you have a good reason, I'm sure your dad wouldn't mind you having contact with the man who abandoned you almost a decade ago. What, pray tell, is this 'good reason,' my love?”

Bryan didn't appreciate Kenny's tone, but there wasn't anything he could really do about it. He knew he was on the wrong side of this argument. “I'm trying to get through to the prick that I don't want him around me or Caleb.”

“Ah, I see,” Kenny nodded, his words laced with sarcasm, “so you, somehow, expect the man, who left you with a near complete stranger to chase pussy across the country, to find it in his heart to honor the wishes of a 14-year-old he has no real connection to, outside of DNA?”

“You don't need to be an ass about it.”

“You don't need to be keeping secrets, especially from me and your dad, and—no offense, Terra—I should've been told before her!”

“No offense taken,” Terra said, placidly.

“I needed to tell someone,” Bryan retorted, then quickly wished he hadn't.

“How about me, you dick?! I'm your best friend and your boyfriend, yet you didn't stop to think about telling me?!”

The three friends became all too aware that students around them had grown very quiet. None of them had realized just how loud they were being.

“Bryan Padilla's a faggot!” Dan Thomas called out while laughing, which caused several students around the cafeteria to join in, with some also making bigoted jokes.

“Mr. Thomas!” Mrs. Miller's voice rang over the din of student voices. “Go to the office right now!” She then proceeded to send several other students to the office for making homophobic remarks.

Without any further words, Kenny jumped from the table and ran out of the building. “I got this,” Terra called out, as she ran after Kenny.

“Congratulations,” a girl from the next table said to Bryan.

“Thanks,” he replied. He was no longer hungry and left the cafeteria.

He found a little spot away from the courtyard to hide in. Bryan knew it wouldn't be long before the whole school was talking about him and Kenny being a couple, and he also knew it would be longer before Kenny would want to talk to him. Bryan wanted to blame Calvin for the whole thing. Had the bastard not come back, none of this would've happened; however, he knew, if he hadn't tried keeping secrets, none of this would've happened to begin with.

Kenny wasn't in gym class nor was he in health. Terra could only follow him to just outside the boy's bathroom. Once the bell for 5^th period rang, she had to go to class. She didn't lecture Bryan about keeping his secrets, since Bryan was beating himself up enough already; half of the time in art, Bryan brought up how dumb he was. After school, Terra stood with Bryan in the parking lot, while he waited for Steve to pick him up.

“He's going to be alright, you know?” Terra wrapped her arm around Bryan's shoulder.

Some boy about 10 feet away yelled, “Cheating on your boyfriend already?” A small group of students began to laugh.

“Yeah, when I fucked your dad last night,” Bryan spat back.

The group fell into a chorus of “Oohs,” while the boy looked pissed and embarrassed.

“Ignore them,” Terra said. “You need to tell your dad about your sperm donor before Kenny spills the beans.”

“Yeah, I know. Fuck!” He had only just remembered his phone. “Tell Steve I'll be back in a minute.”

Bryan ran through the breeze ways and corridors till he made it to his math class. Mr. Marx was closing the door as Bryan came to a sudden stop. “Can I have my phone, please?” His ribs hurt and breathing sucked.

Mr. Marx looked annoyed but unlocked the door. “You're lucky I'm in a good mood, Bryan, but have your phone in my class again, you'll need your father to get it back. Is that understood?”

“Yes Sir.”

Bryan turned on his phone before running back to the parking lot.

“Meet me at the coffee shop on 24^th and Milhouse this Saturday at 1pm if you want to hear my side of things. I promise you haven't been told the truth about me or what happened.”

Bryan didn't know why he did it, but he deleted the message. It was bad enough that he was telling his dad about the messages so long after they had started, Bryan didn't want to imagine Diego's anger and disappointment at seeing Calvin's request for a face-to-face. As he rounded the corner, he saw Terra talking to Steve. Caleb was already in the front seat.

“...so if you put carpet down like that, they shouldn't spawn,” Terra said.

Steve said, “Thanks. I need as much gunpowder as possible.”

“Well, that should do it, then.”

To Bryan, who was buckling in, Steve asked, “Ready to go home?”

“Yep,” Bryan lied.

After saying their goodbyes to Terra, Steve drove the boys home.