Mystery of Love

11

Theo quickened his steps to avoid being the last few. Upon climbing down the stairs to reach the second floor, there were noticeable crowds that seemed to jam the main staircase that directly led to the school hall.

Slowing his walking pace, he perspired heavily whilst trying to catch his breath. He tried to contain the volume of his breathing to hide the fact that he was physically unfit.

Theo wasn't overweight or anything like that. In fact, he had lean muscles despite rarely exercising. However, he clearly did not possess an athlete's body.

He saw Kaleb walking alone from a distance. He could recognise him from his height and the black Nike bag he was carrying. It had the iconic "Just do it" tagline imprinted on it.

"Hey Kaleb...You're alone? Where are your friends?" Theo questioned curiously as he recalled always spotting him with his rowdy group of friends.

"I don't know." Kaleb replied nonchalantly, almost displaying a lack of interest in engaging the conversation further.

"Can I sit with you inside?" Theo continued.

"Sure."

Theo got the hint that Kaleb had not shaken the morning sleepiness away. He understood that angsty feeling and not wanting to have a conversation. However, he still wanted to be with him.

Lola suddenly appeared from behind and slapped a hand against Theo's schoolbag. He hated getting surprised that way.

"Last week of school BITCHH!!" She presented her typical, silly "squinted-eyes" smile.

Catching a glimpse of Kaleb, she immediately leaned into Theo's ear and whispered: "You two are dating aren't you?"

"No, silly. We are just friends. Stop shipping me with every guy!!" He replied hurriedly.

Before he could continue, Lola was already typing busily on her phone, presumably informing Abby of his new "relationship".

"I swear you better not be spreading false rumours."

"You both look so cute together...Just get together already." She cheekily remarked after ignoring him.

In the school hall, Theo sat in the middle between Lola and Kaleb. It was the only reasonable arrangement since he was the only one who was close to the both of them.

He felt like a parent taking care of his two little children which was rare as usually, he was the shortest in a group setting.

The students were all seated and impatient at the late arrival of the principal. It was going to be one of her usual long speeches.

Lola had whipped out her make-up pouch and was busily applying powder onto her face. Theo had also gotten bored. Sensing that Kaleb was dozing off, he took out his phone and played with Snapchat filters.

Scrolling through the filter options, he decided to pick one that added cute animal ears and nose to the user. He pressed on the button to make a video and aimed the selfie camera at Kaleb.

Noticing the phone, Kaleb shuffled his hair by shaking his head gently. Theo was glad he caught that moment as he thought Kaleb was incredibly cute in the way he styled his hair.

As he rewatched the video, he couldn't help but feel adoration for Kaleb. His eyelids were threatening to close yet he still managed a slight smile with his pinkish lips.

"So cutee." Theo thought to himself as he hit on the save button.

The principal, clad in a baby pink short sleeve dress, took her time ascending up the stage. She approached the microphone and spoke into it: " Welcome students, to the final week of school. I know all of you are excited for your summer break to begin. However, a gentle reminder that the school rules still apply and you are expected to abide by them..."

A male student seated several rows in front made a huge yawning gesture. After what seemed like an eternity, the speech was finally over.

"I'll see you in extracurriculars?"

"Yup." Kaleb replied with a more rejuvenated look.

The trio got up from their seats and left the school hall. Walking towards the staircase, Abby could be seen rushing up from the level below and instantly blended with the crowd of students.

"A little early aren't you?" Lola mocked.

"Did I miss the morning assembly?" Abby continued asking whilst sweating profusely. Her petite and short stature made her appear naturally innocent. 

"Obviously." Lola replied.

"So you have a new boyfriend now?"

"What do you mean a NEW boyfriend?? It's not like I dated anyone before. Besides, his clearly straight. The two of us are just friends. This was just another one of Lola's lousy pranks."

"Okay calm down."

Theo felt bad for not telling them the truth about Jovan. Moreover, they never went on an official date together. If he wanted to keep his love life private, he had every right to do so.

He instinctively shook his head, dismissing any thoughts about Jovan as they only served to hurt him.

For the rest of the day, Theo couldn't seem to focus in class. His mind was preoccupied with making holiday plans such as the food he would eat and upcoming shows to catch up on.

When the time came for extracurriculars, he was beyond exhausted. He wanted to go home and slack so badly.

Randy on the other hand, seemed to be in a jovial mood. He had arrived surprisingly early that day and was already piecing his saxophone together.

"EWW THERE ARE ANTS IN HERE!!" He suddenly screeched from the band storeroom.

Another member from the saxophone section had apparently left his instrument without cleaning it properly, resulting in a colony of ants forming.

"It must be crumbs from those brownies he ate last practice. That would explain his stinky breath. But honestly, I'm not surprised considering the glutton that he is." Randy remarked to Kaleb, resulting in a subsequent series of chuckles.

Theo scoffed. He was frankly annoyed by his childish sense of humor, always bringing others down to lift himself up. It was either fat-shaming, racism or homophobia which was truly ironic because his sexuality was painfully obvious to Theo.

He purposely made his voice sound deeper and portrayed himself as more masculine than he really is. It was all a front to hide the insecurity surrounding his sexual orientation.

What was most infuriating to Theo was seeing Kaleb showing an interest in the things he had to say as well as his atrocious jokes. He also felt extremely jealous whenever Randy did anything even slighly intimate with him, such as piggybacking him. He had to separate the two of them.