Finding Yourself: Book Two

Chapter Two: Identities

Devin could hear voices coming from inside the door, but he didn't hear what they said. In this case, he didn't really care about eavesdropping- in fact, he couldn't care less. 

 He rubbed his knuckles, which were slightly bruised from punching bone; they hurt, but it was nothing compared to what he normally did.

He was sitting in the waiting room of the principal's office; he had been there an uncountable amount of times. Then, there was this kid sitting across from him with a nasty black eye, nose running with fresh, red blood. 

Devin felt satisfied as he waited for Nick to pop out the door. He was no longer pent up with rage, and the guy who was talking to his girl was bleeding. He knew he would be in trouble for fighting a kid- all the families he was adopted into hated it- but that was the goal.

He wanted to get kicked out.

"Um, not trying to invalidate you or whatever," the kid started, which made Devin's eye twitch. Why was this kid speaking to him? "But...why did you punch me?"

It was a valid question, Devin supposed. He did kind of come out of nowhere with a fight.

"Because Hailey is my girl," Devin responded hatefully, "And every guy knows to stay away from my girl. The only reason you approached her was to take her from me, right?"

 "Dude," the guy responded bravely, "You have issues. First of all, I'm new to this school- so I didn't know to 'stay away from your girl.' Also, I'm gay. I like men. So, no, I wasn't hitting on her."

Devin blinked at him before realizing maybe he did have issues. He was always really jealous of any guy who even talked to his girlfriends. Suddenly, Devin regretted punching this kid in the face- even if he was a faggot. The kid didn't commit the crime Devin beat him up for, and now he felt like he was being unjust. 

"Oh," Devin replied, frowning some more, "I get... really jealous easily." The kid raised his eyebrows like, 'You think?' Devin decided this was a situation where he could use his friendliness facade. "But, um, I guess sorry for beating you up...for no reason."

He wasn't good at this whole apology thing. But... this guy was a new kid. He could easily "befriend" him to use as his pawn to survive the last month of school. It would easily yank him out of the gossip circle, he hoped.

The kid smiled at him, which made Devin relax. The apology must have been acceptable.

"It's all good," he replied, "Just don't beat me up again, and we can be chill. You seem pretty decent. Just a little angry, right?"

Devin just stared at him in response. He changed his mind. This kid was weird. Did he really want to make a "friendship" with him?

The kid held out his hand to shake.

"I'm Sam," he continued, "Sam Jenkins."

Devin stared at the hand like it was a urinal, but he decided to keep up his facade.

"Devin," he said, while taking the hand. His name was Devin Carter, but technically he was adopted by the Moore's now. So, he just went with Devin. 

"Nice to meet you, Devin," Sam responded with a kind smile. Unlike his hand, Sam's was much smaller and more dainty. "I'm going to put the fact that you punched me in the past, because- honestly- it was my fault for causing the misunderstanding."

Devin thought that it was anyone but the kid's fault, but he nodded anyway. He retracted his hand from Sam's after noticing that they had been shaking hands too long to be socially acceptable.