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~Kris → ~

"Why couldn't you be in dance? With me," my boyfriend said as he walked me to the boys' locker room for my first day in PE.

"I'm not a dancer, Corb," I chuckled, sliding my arm around his waist. "You're the artistic one, and I'm athletic."

"I know, but... It could be fun. It's not too late to change your mind. PE sucks."

"That's not a lie, but most of my guys are in this class."

Corbyn half-laughed and half-scoffed, as if he couldn't believe his ears. "I'm your boyfriend. That's a teeny bit more important than your 'guys.'" He did a quote gesture with his hands.

I didn't get a chance to respond as quickly as I would've liked because I waved to some familiar faces in the hall we were walking down. I felt a sharp nudge in my side before Corbyn ripped himself from my hold, a scowl on his face.

"Ouch!" I raised my eyebrows at him in confusion.

"Suck it up; you're a football player. You've survived a lot worse."

"What was that for?"

"Clearly you think your friends are way more relevant than me―"

"Not at all," I disagreed, taking his hand in my grasp. "Come here." I gently pulled him aside and stood next to a wall. "What's going on? Ever since school started a couple weeks ago, you've been... uptight and defensive."

He folded his arms, staring at me with icy blue eyes. "Yeah, because I'm so sick of all these lowlife idiots. It's not easy being better than everybody else, Kris. You of all people can relate to that."

I shook my head. "No," I refused. "Don't do that. I know what you're doing: you're putting on a facade―a mask, and I don't buy any of it."

"The only mask I'll be putting on is for Homecoming, which by the way, I'm suggesting as the theme. I'm on the committee, and I'll be damned if the Masquerade theme isn't enforced this year. Even better, I'm proposing a gender-neutral policy so instead of homecoming king and queen, it'll just be... I don't know, homecoming royals. I'll think of a more creative title―"

"Corbyn," I snapped him back to earth, interrupting his rambling. "I asked a serious question. What's really going on with you?"

Heaving an exasperated sigh, he dropped his arms to his sides. "You really wanna know? Everyone in this damn school wants you. You're a magnet and I always feel like I have to compete with them. Which is absurd considering I'm obviously in a much higher social stratosphere than these losers."

"Why do you feel like you're competing? You already have me, don't you? We're boyfriends; everyone knows that. You have to stop feeling threatened."

"Don't think I don't know about the girls who throw themselves, and their boobs, at you and the boys begging to give you blowjobs in the restrooms. I don't trust that they won't pounce on you at every turn."

"You don't have to trust them. But you trust me. Right?" I cupped his cheek and he finally let his guard down.

"I do," Corbyn softly said, his voice sweet and heartwarming. "I just don't wanna lose you. I love you, Kris."

"You're not gonna lose me," I reassured, but that didn't ease his mind. His lips tightened and for a second his eyes glossed over with tears before he blinked them away.

"When are you gonna say it back?" he whispered, not meeting my gaze.

I let my hand fall from his cheek, knitting my brown eyebrows together. "I just..."

"Don't love me," he concluded.

"No!" My eyes widened. "That's not what I was going to say at all."

"It's been almost a year since we started dating. Please tell me you're not still hung up over your stupid ex-girlfriend! I know she played with your feelings, but for crap sake, you two were fourteen. You had to know she wouldn't give two fucks about you down the road."

"Love is a serious thing and I know what it's like when someone takes it for granted."

He nodded. "You think I'd take you for granted? Who else has stood by you for an entire year? Who else has been making himself vulnerable to heartbreak every single time he confesses his love for you? But whatever, don't say it. Just like always, I'm gonna be waiting for you with open arms at the end of the day regardless of how you feel. Guess I'm the pathetic one, but so be it. I'll be in dance. I'm late anyway." He brushed past me to walk away, but I turned around and caught his arm.

"Wait. The truth is, I'm over my ex, I can promise that. Still, after all she did to me, including cheating, I guess it's been hard to trust again. But I trust you. You're right; you've stuck by me for a year."

He turned around to face me, a trace of anger still present in his gaze.

I continued nonetheless. "I love you, Corbyn. Yes, you're high maintenance, mean, quite self-centered and opinionated, but I accept your flaws... I love you."

He bit his lip, fighting his smile, but he couldn't. All the pent-up anger slipped away, and he was calm again.

"You're not just saying that to put a smile on this beautiful face, are you?"

"No, I mean every word."

He held up a finger, smiling at me happily. "Not self-centered, just honest and confident."

"Whatever you say." I pulled him closer and gave him several tender kisses. He hummed softly in delight before pulling away.

"Mm, think we could go out this Saturday?"

"Date night?" I agreed. "I'll take you wherever you want, baby."

✨✨

Gym class wasn't as awful as I expected it would be. The friends that I had in that class definitely made it worthwhile, so we were joking around and playing basketball. The gym was large, so there were six hoops instead of the standard two. As required, we had to either play or walk around the perimeter of the gym―as long as we weren't idle, Coach didn't care.

One of the boys passed the ball to me, which I swiftly caught and took a shot from the 3-point line. It bounced off the rim and another guy captured it.

"You rarely miss a shot, champ," my friend, Levi, said as he nodded at me. I chuckled.

"I'm human, aren't I?"

"Let me guess. Corbyn?"

I grasped the hem of my shirt and pulled it off, wiping my forehead with it. "Why'd you jump to that conclusion?"

Levi shrugged, laughing lightly. "He's everyone's problem, dude." He must've intended for that to be a joke, but I was smarter than to believe that it was.

"I know you don't like him, Levi, but I do. He's just going through a tough time."

"Bullshit. He's the one giving people a tough time. I'd know. I've got friends in the academic decathlon and since they're considered nerds, Corbyn makes them feel like scum. He even scares the band geeks. Nothing scares band geeks."

"Okay, stop. Please. I get it." It was disheartening to hear, but after my talk with him, I knew he'd tone the bitterness down a few notches. "I spoke to him before class."

I noticed Levi looking right past my shoulder at somebody in the distance so I traced his gaze with my own and turned my head. "What're you looking at?"

"Sorry, just... some kid's been staring at you since we got here."

I couldn't find anybody so I squinted at my friend in confusion. "Who?"

"Well, he already looked away. Don't you see that boy over there walking? Brown wavy hair to his shoulders? Probably the only one without leg hair." Levi laughed. "Looks like a girl."

I rolled my eyes. "You're so immature, Levi."

"He's looking again."

I glanced behind me and I caught the boy peering at me. Reading his expression, he was trying to figure out if I was looking at him since I was all the way on the opposite end of the gym. Averting his eyes and bowing his head, he folded his arms. He was beautiful, there was no denying that bit.

"Probably just another guy crushing on you," Levi slapped my arm. "Better put that shirt back on. Don't wanna tempt anyone else." There was a taunting laugh in his voice before he ran back over to the other guys and snatched the ball from someone.

I sighed, slipping my shirt back on and joining my friends again.

~Jaden~

A fierce blush stung my cheeks as I stared intensely at the ground. Was he looking at me? Did Kris H really lock eyes with mine?

No. No way.

I diverted from my path and headed straight to Nico who was shooting a basket and stole him from the players, swiftly heading back into the walking path.

"I give you three seconds to explain your intent before I summon the devil's wrath upon you," he grumbled, snatching his arm out of my tight grip.

"Kris looked at me... I think."

"You 'think'-you took me from my game to tell me that you're unsure that your crush looked at you. Priorities, Jaden."

"You don't understand!" I stressed, touching my heart. "He and his friend were probably talking about me and they both looked this way and considering I'm alone, they weren't talking about anybody else."

"It could be anything. For all you know, they could be planning how to kill you and where to stash your body."

I gaped at him. "No, Nico, I'm sure that's just you."

"You're not wrong. Listen, if you're so worried about what they were saying, why don't you just go ask? Or better, go play with them."

I frowned and glared at him. "You're crazy."

"No, you're just a coward." He flashed me a smile, slapped my back, and ran back to his little team. I let expelled a defeated sigh, glancing reluctantly back at Kris and his friends. God, were you punishing me for something I did? This was torture. A slightly satisfying yet deeply aching torture.

Nico was right though; I should just walk over there and play with them, but who was that brave? Definitely not a harmless boy like me, whose only safe haven was in a chair with a violin underneath my chin and a bow in my callused hand.

I supposed the only thing I could do was to forget about it, and it sucked that I had to because the curiosity was going to eat me alive like an untouchable itch.

🎗🎗🎗🎗🎗

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