I'm Scott Malkinson

5- Something Special

Scott sat on the bleachers, the coolness of the metal bench permeating through the fabric of  his jeans. He tried to ignore the sensation, rubbing his legs together to warm them. Every Friday he sat and watched Sophie's soccer practice. Scott liked having a routine, he liked knowing what he could expect from his day. Clyde asking to be his partner earlier had been unexpected. He wasn't sure how much he actually liked that. He was still deciding.

Scott is the only one on the bleachers. He'd seen plenty of girls show up to watch their boyfriends practice before, but nobody really showed up to girls' sports practices. There was a time back in elementary school in which many of the guys at school would have showed up for Sophie's practices, but then the novelty of her moving to South Park wore off and they quickly lost interest. Scott still showed up though, he kind of liked it better now that it was quiet.

He sat with a book in his lap, loosely paying attention to the practice as he read. Scott was reading the Hobbit for like the fourth time. He'd first picked it up in fourth grade after Stan Marsh had given a whole speech on how the works of J.R.R. Tolkien should be made into required reading at school. Scott had thoroughly enjoyed it. The first time he read through it he just read. Each subsequent time after that he'd written notes into the margins using a different colored pen to signify which read through the notes were created. It was fun to revisit what he'd been thinking of the past couple times he'd read and to compare how certain thoughts had changed as he got older.

Scott's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reached in to check who was messaging him. He expected it to be one of his parents, but instead he's surprised to see that it was Clyde. It shouldn't have been too surprising as they'd exchanged numbers for the project, but nonetheless he wasn't expecting it. He was probably still in shock that Clyde wanted to partner with him at all. Why had he? It must've been because he sat directing behind Clyde. There couldn't be any other reason behind it unless he meant to make a spectacle of Scott somehow, but though he was often mocked by his classmates, only Eric Cartman would ever put that much effort into being cruel.

Clyde: Hey Scott, it's Clyde. You doing anything right now? :D

Scott: Watching Sophie's soccer practice.

Clyde: Ooooh ;)
Clyde: Is she your girlfriend??

Scott: Not really, no. We're just friends.

Clyde: Okay sure ;) ;) ;)
Clyde: Meet me at Tweak Bros when you're done? We can get started on the project.

Scott: Um okay, sure. I'll text you when I'm on my way over.

Clyde: Coolio, see you then dude. ^~^

Scott smiled at his phone. He really liked the way Clyde's texts were so expressive. Especially because instead of choosing emojis he took the time to create his own expressions with the keyboard characters. Just that little bit of extra effort made the texts feel like something special. Scott couldn't even remember the last time someone had made him feel that way. Probably in fourth grade when Sophie had told him she wanted to get to know him better. That had been a long time ago.

"Who's got you smiling like that?" Scott heard, causing him to look up from his phone. The field was empty and Sophie stood in front of him. The coach must have called for a water break.

Scott was self conscious now. What was he smiling like? Did Sophie think he was taking to a crush? If he told her who he'd actually been talking to would she think he had a crush on Clyde? He didn't. He barely knew him. Besides, Scott wasn't gay. If he had a crush, which he didn't, it would be on a girl, probably Sophie.

"No one, I just scrolled past a cat video on Instagram," Scott lied, immediately feeling guilty for doing so. He mentally  added it to the list of things he needed to confess on Sunday.

Things Scott Needs to Confess:
1.) Scott accidentally spied on Stan and Butters
2.) Scott let himself speculate about Craig's sexuality, which was so not cool.
3.) Scott lied to Sophie about who he was texting.
4.) S̶c̶o̶t̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶s̶ ̶C̶l̶y̶d̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶e̶