Black Star Cross - 36. Those Things I Hate About You

Black Star Cross

Chapter 36: Those Things I Hate About You

“Bro, you gotta talk some sense into your boy here.”

“Boy?!” I stated, furious at the implication.

Anthony blushed.

“He’s not my...boy,” he said, quiet as a mouse.

“Well, whatever he is, you need to tell him about how things work around here, bro. He ain’t got a clue about what we have to go through every day, ‘cause he ain’t popular.”

“Newsflash: I’m right here, you fucking moron!”

“Um, maybe I should head on back to the table...” Anthony suggested, warning sirens no doubt going off in his head. He should know by now when I’m showing signs of being pissed off.

“Why?” Keith asked, completely clueless to the emerging situation he’s creating.

“Trust me, dude. We need to head back now. Did you tell Shawn what I asked you to tell him?”

“Well, he DID make a pretty good point,” Keith submitted.

“That being...?”

“The difference between you telling Keith to say something to me and you telling me directly is nothing,” I spoke up.

“Dude, you should know by now why I do things like this.”

“And you should know by now why it doesn’t really matter.”

“Maybe we should head back...” Keith offered.

“And what does that mean?!” Anthony said, ignoring Keith.

“It means exactly what it means!”

“Dudes! Bros! Stop,” Keith intervened. “You guys are so worried about covering up your relationship, yet practically anybody can see how close you two are because of all the fights you guys have. It’s almost like you’re an old married couple.”

“Why does everyone say that?!” Anthony let slip.

“Everyone?” queried Keith.

Anthony stopped completely, stammered, and was visibly turning paler. I stepped in.

“His aunt seemed to have figured it out for herself and told us.”

“Emmy? That sweet old lady with the two kids?”

I nodded.

“She’s a nice lady. Gives me cookies whenever I come over. Haven’t been there in awhile now. Then again, Anthony hasn’t been sent there as an extended sleepover in, like, forever, man,” He turned to Anthony. “And you wouldn’t invite me over when you were staying there last month.”

“And why do you think that was?” he replied sarcastically.

“Bro! I already told you that I didn’t care who you dated!”

“Yeah! Earlier today! Not a month ago when I was actually living with him! I didn’t know what you’d think about it back then.”

“Terrified is what he was,” I said.

Anthony pointed a finger at me.

“You stay out of this,” he warned.

“Or else what?” I countered. “I’m part of this conversation too, you know.”

I’ll say this for Keith: he sure is a quick learner. He stepped in immediately to try to diffuse the impending argument.

“Okay, look! Us three standing around here isn’t doing anything to help wave off suspicion about you guys. If anything, it’s only drawing more attention to you guys. So here’s what we’ll do. Anthony and I are going back to the table, and Shawn is going to stay here and finish his lunch. We act like nothing happened, and things go back to normal. Got it?”

Anthony and I didn’t say a word. We knew that Keith was right, but we both probably wanted to duke it out with each other again to prove our point.

“Fine,” Anthony said, firmly.

“Whatever,” I said in an equal tone of voice.

And they went back to the table, trying to ignore the fact that, obviously, some of guys at the table had witnessed our little spat. A couple were still looking my way. I just ignored them and went back to eating.

Soon after, the lunch bell rang, signaling the end of the period. As I exited the lunchroom, Keith bumped past me.

“And by the way, Anthony told me to ask you if you wanted to study with him for an upcoming test in one of your classes you guys share.” And then he blew past me.

What? That was it? And Anthony couldn’t have just asked me himself? Do I seriously look like I host a contagious disease or something? I managed to corner Anthony at his own locker.

“Do you really need help with this upcoming test?” I grilled him.

“I could always use a better grade, dude,” was his pathetic answer.

“Uh-huh. Look...”

“No, you look,” he interrupted. “I’m trying to get us a reason to get together sometime. My mom would probably buy this. There’s an actual test coming up, and none of my friends but you are in that class with me. It all works out! And you’re trying to get out of it?”

I was taken aback. He had thought of all this? He wants to find more time with me? I would’ve thought that he’d try to distance himself as much as possible until I did something about it.

“N-no,” I stumbled. “I mean, I didn’t think that...”

I left the sentence drifting.

“That what? I wasn’t smart enough to think of this?” he pressed on.

“No. I just thought that I’d have to initiate everything here.”

We stayed quiet after that.

“So...do you want to hang out soon?” he asked.

“Yeah. I guess I can ‘tutor’ you on some things,” I said with a grin.

“Yeah, I bet you can. You slut,” he grinned back.

“You’re the one to wants it so much! Whore.”

“‘Stud’ would be more appropriate. You know that no one can resist ‘this,’” he said, patting his chest. “Can I help it if I aim to please?”

“The only thing you ‘please’ is your hand, Anthony,” I remarked. “You’re a virgin, remember?”

“Shhhhh! Don’t say that out loud! What if somebody hears you?”

“Don’t you have a class to go to?” I pried, all the while trying to suppress my laughter.

“So do you!”

“Then I guess I should be heading off then?”

“Dude, I’ll talk to my mom about when you can come over. Okay?”

“Whatever, Anthony.”

Then I headed off to my next class. I thought over what just happened. Hopefully, I can come over to his house soon, and maybe cum over his chest soon, too. The idea put a smile on my face, which must’ve looked weird to anybody paying attention to me. Luckily, nobody ever does that. Keith came up to me before the end of school.

“So I heard that you two are gonna do the dirty in a couple of days,” he said out of the blue.

“WHAT?!?” I was shocked. Where did he hear this from?!

“Bro, chill,” he said, having the gall to smile at me.

“Who told you that?!” I demanded.

“Anthony, bro.”

“Huh?”

He laughed. “Yo, Anthony said that you weren’t too smart in the technology field, so he figured you wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out how to text in class without getting caught. That’s how I found out. Dude, do you even have your cell phone with you?”

“Yes, I do!” I said through clenched teeth. I am NOT liking this guy anymore!

“But it probably isn’t even turned on, is it?”

“No, there’s no need.”

“See? There you go. All us popular kids get our hourly gossip through texting each other. Though I will grant Anthony this. He made damn sure to code his message to me as discreetly as possible. Said that you two were going to his house later on in the week to ‘study for an upcoming test.’ After the second time hearing that, I finally got it. Not bad, but c’mon! He could’ve done better than that! ANYONE could see through that lie.”

He MAY have had a point there.

“And what if he really meant that we were going over to his house to study for a test?”

“Well, I thought about that. Knowing him, it could’ve been likely. So that’s why I came to you and said what I said. Your reaction more than said that my suspicion was right.”

“I never said that what you said was true!”

“But it was the way you handled yourself that gave it away, bro. You looked terrified that somebody caught on.”

Shit! Is this guy some kind of freaking genius or something? He’s supposed to be a dumb jock like Anthony and everybody else! I’ll just have to kill him...

“Don’t worry, bro. It’s not like I’m gonna tell anybody or anything. I’m already keeping one of your guys’ secrets. I’ll probably harass Anthony too before he leaves today. That’s just the kind of good friend I am.”

Maybe with a rope? Hang him? Drown him in the bathroom toilet? Shove chalk down his throat until he gets lead poisoning or something? Shoot him? Can’t; no gun. Stab him a couple hundred times? Unless a spork can do it, I can’t get my hands on something sharp and bring it into school unnoticed. Stupid school killings.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I asked none-too-kindly, blatantly letting him know that I didn’t want him around anymore.

“Bro, you are the bitchiest guy I’ve ever seen. Wait, second bitchiest. That Peter guy’s WAY more flaming than you. Later.”

And with a wave, he left. Maybe I can coerce Anthony into helping me off him. Anthony has muscles. He can take him.

I saw Anthony at the end of the day. He didn’t look too happy.

“So your friend Keith...” I began.

“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard,” he said venomously. I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised. It looks like Keith got to him, too.

“Good. I’ve got a few ideas,” I replied back, grinning mischievously.

Now it was HIS turn to look surprised. And it looked to be pleasantly surprised as well.

“Well, I’m sure that we can work out a ‘brain and muscles’ kind of job, dude,” he said, mirroring my grin.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

We smiled and walked to his car, talking about how we can get away with killing Keith and not get caught. It was one of our more enjoyable conversations.