Icarus Reincarnate || The Secret History

two

Unluckily for me, it seemed as if the grecophiles heard my declaration to keep away from them and Zeus himself told them to single me out.

Over the next two days, I neglect my paper in favor of zoning out and reevaluating my enrollment into such an elitist school. Inwardly I laugh considering my parents didn't give me much of a choice. The temperature is favorable on the day before my paper is due and I decide I'll start from scratch rather than tracking Richard down again.

I'm not angry with him or anything but the possibility of one of his friends being around should I track him down is too high, so I refrain. Cowardice is more like but I've never claimed to be particularly brave.

Oddly enough, the picnic table I have my essay materials spread out on budgets a little when another presence sits down opposite of me like they were invited. I look up at a pair of glasses and a face framed by dark hair. It's the boy who I knocked into.

Without a greeting he puts the outline Richard helped me with on the table and I look at him in confusion. "You left this in Greek studies and I stumbled upon it." I'm no idiot. I'm sure he already knows what happened but the way he delivers his sentence as if he really did find this outline with my name on it and tracked me down intrigues me.

Not the symbiotic interest I have in Richard but in an "I want to keep talking to this guy" kind of way.

"Well then thank you, I nearly had to start over." Henry offers help. I decline. "I wouldn't want to impose." Henry ignores me and makes notes on the outline. As he's scribbling I look out to the quad and realize quite a few people are looking our way. I wonder if Henry realizes he sticks out like a sore thumb and ever gets tired of the eyes.

I shrug the thought off. He simply seems above social anxiety, like it could never occur to him to be scared of people looking at him. He breaks the silence that was once being filled only by the rustling of the breeze.

"You never reported Bunny." It surprises me how direct Henry is being. I answer honestly. "It never occurred to me to do so." I don't feel like going to the dean on racial matters in a school with a statue of a known bigot to the quad. I would probably just be humiliated. Henry finished scribbling peer me in the face. I feel my face grow warm under his calculating gaze.

Richard and I relate to one another and can share gazes of understanding. Somehow Henry's gazes look at me in understand in a different way altogether. Like he figured out the reason I didn't rat on Bunny just by looking into my eyes. "I see. If you expand on the subpoints you'll get an A-minus at the least." He says and disappears.

My eyes widen at the paper he thrusted into my hands and sure enough did Henry write the evidence needed to prove my main arguments and what books to find them in. The only thing left for me to do was elaborate. I finished my paper in two hours and wondered what about Henry made him so alluring. Suddenly I found myself wanting his approval, and for what? I'm unsure.

I find myself looking out for any of the members of Richard's little group and begin to wonder what the hell I'm doing. It's likely I should stay the hell away from anything Bunny is apart of.

That night Richard apologizes for his friends' behavior and I want to ask why he's friends with him anyway but refrain. I opt to accept his metaphorical extended hand instead. We chat for a while and he tells me things about his group that don't matter but are interesting nonetheless.

Suddenly I find myself spilling things I never have before. "I'm a bit enamored by Camilla. You ever get friend-crushes Richard?" He goes into deep thought.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." I wonder if he's trying to find a homoerotic meaning under my words and explain. "I mean when you see someone and you want to be their friend but more so than other people. You want to be near them despite knowing little about them. But friendship only. Acceptance even."