Crush

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Oliver

"Do we have to keep coming here?" Jenson asked as we walked through the school gates, peering at the building with a look of disgust on his face. "I mean, the school year is practically over. What's the point of turning up this late in the year? Do we even have to go in there?" He pointed at the front of the building.

I just grinned at him. "Course you do. I would miss you if you didn't turn up," I replied, putting my hand over my heart and giving him a pout, fluttering my eyelashes.

Jenson turned his attention to me, one eyebrow raised. "I know you love me, man, but that face ain't doing nothing for me." He reached over, ruffled my hair. "I just think it's pointless coming here when we're juniors. We're gonna be seniors soon. We need the extra rest before we start our final year."

Annoyed, I ran a hand over my hair and frowned at him. I didn't know why I bothered doing anything with my hair in the mornings when Jenson spent the day messing it up. He had been doing it for years. For as long as I'd known him. He would only ever do it to me. No one else. And I think it was because he knew it would piss me off.

"I like your logic, but we're only here for a couple more weeks. Then we're free for the summer," I said to him now, nudging him with my shoulder while we walked.

He let out a sigh. "I guess," he agreed, trudging along.

Despite it being early in the day, the sun was already torturing us with its heat. I had to blink a couple of times to adjust to the brightness of the daylight. I was glad I chose to wear shorts today. There was no way I was going to cope with jeans in the classrooms. I'd be a sweaty mess by lunchtime.

Jenson stopped walking for a moment, glanced at the school and sighed loudly. Scrunching up his nose, he clapped me on the back. "Let's get it over with, then." He nodded at the front door surrounded by students and we walked towards it.

Holding my breath, I strolled alongside my best friend, keeping close to him, almost like he was protecting me while I stepped into my fake, not-yet-out-of-the-closet face.

Waves, greetings, smiles ... everyone was happy to welcome us into school. It was like this every morning. Our friends. Teammates. Even the quiet kids offered a smile or two.

With every step towards the building, I made sure I was ready to pretend, ready to be what everyone expected me to be, ready to not let the 'real' me out.

We smiled back at everyone, said hello to a few while we walked along the hall to our lockers, which were next to each other. Jenson had managed to persuade one of the cheerleaders to swap lockers so that his was next to mine. He was as tall as me, lean like me with broad shoulders and defined muscles. No wonder he managed to get that cheerleader to swap lockers - a wink and one flash of his cheeky smile usually had all the girls giggling and blushing.

Jenson pulled his locker door open with a bang, startling a couple of kids that were standing near us, chatting. "So," he started, glancing my way. "Prom."

I sighed. We'd only just gotten into school and it felt like this subject was being thrust in my face already. I opened my own locker and started rifling through the books in there, looking for the ones I needed for first period. "What about the prom?" I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. It wasn't Jenson's fault I was annoyed at the mention of the prom and the reminder of the constant pretending I would have to do.

"You're taking Chloe, I'm taking Amber," Jenson carried on, like I didn't already know the plan. Amber was on the swim team with Chloe, best friends like Jenson and I. Everyone thought it was cute that the four best friends were dating. I just thought it was a little too cliched. "We'll meet at the prom, hang out, go to Mason's party, get wasted." Jenson stuck his head around the open door of my locker, with his smirk firmly in place and his dark hair falling across his forehead.