The New KISS High School

Ch 3: Well Hello (Eric C)

"So. You and Bruce, huh?" Gene asked, raising an eyebrow as I fell into step beside him, heading to calculus. "No! Not me and Bruce! Why does everyone keep saying that?!" I snapped, feeling my face growing warm. "Hm, probably because you start blushing as soon as someone says his name. And you gave him your locker," Gene said, ghost of a smirk on his lips. I gave him a shove, scowling. "Shut up. What's it matter to you?" "It doesn't. Just think it's funny." "Well I'm not laughing," I said, before feeling my heart skip as I looked at the people who were waiting outside the classroom.

Sure enough, Bruce was leaning casually against the wall, chatting with Eric, and I found myself staring intently at him. His dark curly hair went just a little past his shoulders, bangs spilling over his forehead and nearly entirely hiding his warm chocolate eyes that sparkled as he smiled. His smile twitched his soft lips perfectly, accentuating his square jaw that was topped off by the cutest dimple on his chin. 

"You're making it obvious," Gene murmured, nudging me. Face burning, I quickly looked away. "Making what obvious?" I asked, trying to play innocent. "Uh huh. Just admit you like him!" he teased. "I don't!" I snapped. "Let's go talk to him," Gene said, slipping an arm around my shoulders and steering me over toward Bruce and the other Eric before I could desperately beg him not to do that. 

"Hey Bruce, hey Singer," Gene said, still leaning on me. Bruce gave Gene another startled look and I frowned, looking between the two of them. "Hey!" Eric said, giving us a smile, moving to push up his headband on instinct before dropping his hand with a sigh. "They're not dress code, you'll get in trouble," Bruce said to him with a faint smile, and I nearly melted. Hot and considerate. "So Bruce, how come you came back?" Gene asked, and he shrugged. 

"Eh, thought I'd give Elder a try but it wasn't any better so my parents said I might as well come back here since the education is technically ranked better," he said mildly. "Well it never feels like we're ranked better," I said with a sigh, and to my relief Bruce laughed. "Yeah you're not wrong. At least we're better at sports. Paul still play?" "Football? Yeah. Still kicks," Gene said, and I bit back a smile at the immediate fond look that spread across his face. "Soccer, too. Honestly not a ton has changed here since you've been gone." 

I nodded, shrugging. "Yeah, not much changes here to be honest. But you used to go here, so I'm sure you know that!" I said. Bruce gave me a smile, eyes sparkling, and I nearly melted into a puddle on the floor. "It's kind of nice to be back and have things be the same." "You still wrestle?" Gene asked, and I immediately perked up, hoping desperately the answer would be yes. "Yeah. Season last year sucked though. You still on the team?" "Mhm. So's Eric, actually!" he said, nudging me. Bruce's eyes seemed to get brighter and he gave me a bigger smile. "Oh, nice! Hopefully the season goes well for us all then." "Yeah, we'll see if you get stuck being a captain with me and Eric now that you're a returning senior too," Gene said.

The bell rang before I could keep talking to Bruce and Gene withdrew his arm from my shoulders, ruffling my hair and walking into the classroom. Bruce followed him and I moved to trail after him too but Eric grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a halt. He gave me a playful smile, crossing his arms. "So you've got a thing for him, huh?" "Who? Gene? No, never," I said, but his smirk just got bigger. "Don't play dumb, it's obvious!" he teased, and I cringed. "Is it really that obvious?" "It's very obvious. But I can tell you from experience that Bruce can never tell when someone's got a crush on him and is trying to flirt with him. I should know, I tried it for a year and a half before just giving up," he said mildly.

"Damn. Well at least he doesn't notice," I mumbled. "If he tells me he's got a crush on you too I'll pass on the information to you," he said cheerfully, reaching up to ruffle my hair before walking into the classroom. I let out a sigh, shifting my backpack to my other shoulder before following him. I looked at the seating chart on the board, feeling my heart drop as I looked at the desk next to the one where mine was, before looking at Gene, who was giving me the biggest smirk from the opposite side of the room. 

Hoping my face wasn't as red as it felt, I walked down the row before taking my seat in the desk next to Bruce. He gave me a soft smile. "Hey Eric! Cool we've got desks next to each other," he said, and I nodded. "Yeah, it's really nice," I mumbled, pulling a notebook out of my backpack and immediately spilling all my pencils on the floor. Face burning even more, I scrambled to pick them up, but to my surprise Bruce started to help me, hand brushing gently against mine. I lifted my head, locking eyes with him.

There was a brief pause as we exchanged a thousand words in a single glance before he gave me a smile, straightening up without a word and handing me the rest of my pencils. Heart hammering against my ribs so much it hurt, I shot a glance at Gene, who was shaking with barely suppressed laughter. Scowling at him, I turned to my notebook, staring intently at the page and hoping desperately that Eric was right about just how oblivious Bruce was, because there was no way I was going to be able to successfully hide just how big of a crush I had on him, after knowing him for a grand total of thirty minutes.