Detention [Boyxboy]

Chapter 9

Typically I hated going to school, but after spending time with Chris for the majority of the weekend, I was actually excited about seeing his face in class. I had fallen asleep smiling Sunday night, and had woke up smiling Monday morning. My happiness almost disturbed me. I wasn’t used to be happy for more than one day--more than one hour actually. But I felt relaxed and anxious all at once; relaxed because for once things were going smoothly, with no excessive complications, and anxious because I couldn’t wait to see Chris again. I couldn’t believe I was so excited to see him. I had just seen him the day before, and the day before that, and the day before--but it seemed like everytime I saw him I was seeing him for the first time. Ironically, Chris was the first, and currently only boy who had maintained my interest for such a long period of time (and three weeks is long for me) and I believed that Chris felt the same way about me. I hoped he felt the same way about me. 

The bus ride to school was quiet and boring for the first ten minutes or so. I was sitting in the very back row of the bus, looking out the window, when I heard a boy call my name. At first I figured that he was talking to someone else, because obviously I wasn’t the only person named Brandon in the world, and also because I really don’t know too many people--who knew my name. So I ignored it, and then the guy said, “Hey, Brandon.” I turned and so Scott Howard making his way toward the rear of the bus with me. Looking at Scott, it was really difficult to believe that he was only a fifteen-year-old freshman. He had such incredible, mature good-looks, and such a self-assuredness about him that made him seem at least five years older. Scott sat across from me on the bus. He was smiling a whole lot. I had really never talked to Scott Howard at all in life, so I really felt uneasy sitting across from him, just looking at him without saying anything. 

“Hey,” I said.

Scott kept smiling. He had a really nice smile, but I wanted to know what he was thinking. “So what did you do this weekend?” he asked. 

Obviously Scott had talked to Chris and Chris had told him what had gone down over the weekend. “Just kinda hung around,” I told him.

Raising an eyebrow, Scott asked, “That all you do? What happened with you and Chris when me and Billy and me left Friday night?” There wasn’t that many people on the bus, especially in the back, so I think Scott that it was alright if he talked really loud, so that the few people who were on the bus could hear everything he said. 

“Same thing we always do,” I said. 

“Which is...?” Scott persisted.

“You know what I’m talkin about Scott. Don’t play dumb.”

Scott shrugged. “That dude...what’s his name...Jason? He looked extra pissed off when you told us to get outta your house and Chris stayed.”

“It was just too many people and too much going on,” I said. “I just really wanted to be alone.”

“With Chris,” Scott stated. 

“Yeah.”

The smile on Scott’s face faded away. He turned his head to the side so that I only saw the profile of his face. I was ‘almost’ amazed at how beautiful his face looked when it was turned to the side. There was a few moments of silence between us. The bus stopped at a traffic signal. Looking down the narrow bus aisle, I saw a small Mexican girl staring at me with large dark eyes. For some reason her eyes reminded me of Chris’: the kind of eyes that can see right through a person, directly into their mind. The little girl was staring at me like she knew me without ever seeing me before. Finally she turned back around in her seat and began saying something to her mother in whispered Spanish. The bus moved forward, and Scott said to me, suddenly, out of nowhere, “He really likes you.” He turned his face back toward my direction. His eyes were really light-colored and piercing.