Only Ones Who Know - Derp Crew High School AU

Chapter 8: ... Because She Has Brothers

(A/N: The title is based off of a line from "How I Met Your Mother": "I only have one rule. Never screw over a girl whose last name ends in a vowel, because she has brothers.")

"Her?"

"No."

"How about her?"

"She's got a boyfriend."

"What about -"

"GaLm, she's your girlfriend."

"I know but isn't she the cutest?"

Steven sighed and leaned back against the seat. Like everyday during our free period, we're out here at the track, but today is different. Homecoming is in three days and the guys are still insisting on finding me and Steven dates. So far, it's been a complete failure. On their part, though.

As for me and Steven, our secret is still just that. We've been dating for three days and the only people who know are our parents and sisters. But we like it like that. Neither one of us is ready to come out and that's fine by me.

"So, what? You're just going to be alone for the entire night?" Smarty asked.

"Well, not alone." While we haven't come out as a couple, we have thought of another thing to tell them, at least to get this date-scoping mission out of the way. "Anthony and I want to fly solo for the dance. You know, just enjoy hanging out as friends."

I nod in agreement. "Plus, I might see what Cielo and that Ryan guy she's been talking to are planning on doing. I might follow them to dinner."

"Oh, spying on the little sis, I see?" Tom wiggled his eyebrows.

Yeah, it's true. Saturday night after Steven left, Cielo confided in me that Ryan not only asked her to Homecoming, but asked her to be his girlfriend too. Of course I was concerned, wanting to look out for her. Plus, I've never even met this kid. "I just want to make sure he's fit for her," I reason, throwing a gummy bear in the air and catching it on my tongue.

"You know you'll have to let her go eventually, right?"

I stared at GaLm. "Yeah, when Dad and I give her away at her wedding. But she's 14, going on 15, for crying out loud! Of course I'm going to look out for her! I guess it's just the Italian in me coming out."

The guys laughed in unison. "Oh? Anthony, do you have any real-life mafia connections we need to know about?"

I leaned back and pretended to tighten my tie. "Hey, ya know, ya gotta be a lil' tough to make in this city," I drawled in a thick Italian accent, sending the guys roaring with laughter.

"Alright, Godfather Chilled. You go on ahead and do that. We might make dinner plans as a group if you guys want to do that instead."

Steven stared up at me and we nodded in unison. "Sure, I'll think about it." At that, the dismissal bell rang and we went our separate ways to class, not before we made plans for ice cream after school. I made my way to English, thinking about what I wanted to do for Friday. But as long as I'm with Steven, I don't care what we plan to do.

~~~

We laughed all the way from the ice cream shop to my house, making Sean Connery references to tease Tom. Before today, none of us knew how messy of an ice cream eater Tom really was. It wasn't until Smarty made himself a fake ice cream mustache that he realized what he looked like. His goatee was coated in vanilla ice cream. From now on, we're going to refer to him as Sean Connery for that.

"Oh ha ha, keep laughing, Mr. Mafia," Tom scoffed as Smarty pulled his car up in front of my house. I turned my head to the window, but my jaw dropped when I saw a strange car sitting on our curb. In the garage was Dad's car, meaning that he must be home from work already.