I'm Scott Malkinson

13- Jealosy

Lunch time rolled around Thursday and this time Scott was sitting in the art classroom. The art teacher, Mr. Day was known around school to be a pretty relaxed dude, so a few kinds liked to come into his room at lunchtime either to work on projects or just hang out in a quieter location. Scott usually tended to avoid it in favor of complete solitude, but today he had work to do.

There was a row of computers in one corner of the classroom that were usually used to find references for art projects online. Today Scott was using photoshop to make minor edits to the photos he'd taken on Tuesday, nothing significant, just adjusting the lighting or how it was cropped to make them look a bit nicer. He wouldn't think it was right to use photoshop to change someone's appearance. There was this period of time in fourth grade where girls were photoshopping themselves to look like supermodels to impress the boys and all it really resulted in was everyone feeling bad about themselves.

"Wow Butters was right, that is a good picture of me. I look totally hot," Scott heard someone say. He turned his head towards the voice, finding Clyde right behind him, leaning over his shoulder to look at the computer screen.

"Clyde!" Scott called out in shock, surprised by the sudden closeness of the other boy. His cheeks grew warm and red and he could feel his heart rate pick up. Clyde's face had been so close to his. H̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶k̶i̶s̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶i̶m̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶f̶f̶o̶r̶t̶.

"Scott!" Clyde answered back, mimicking the shock that Scott had displayed, then bursting into laughter. That smile of his was intoxicating. Scott could stare at it forever and never get bored of it. Of course he'd never do that because staring at someone for that long was creepy.

"Man, you're pretty jumpy aren't you," Clyde commented. "I feel like you're constantly getting freaked out. Low-key, it's kinda adorable, no homo though."

"Uh... thanks?" Scott replied, holding his hands in front of his chest and fiddling with them nervously. He didn't know why Clyde was suddenly talking to him so much and it was somewhat making him uncomfortable. Yet there was also part of him that was sad to see him go every time he finally broke conversation and returned to his friends. "Did you want something?"

"Just stopping by to say hi, that's all. You know, you're not as lame as people say you are." Scott was a bit taken aback by this. Sure, the compliment was pretty backhanded, though Scott guessed that Clyde didn't even realize it was, but even so it brought back that warm and mushy feeling. Clyde was cool, a jock, a ladies man, and Scott was just a kid with diabetes and a lisp. How could someone like that not think Scott Malkinson was totally lame? His heart fluttered a bit and he couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks," he replied. Clyde nodded back at him in response then turned around and returned to his seat next to Millie Larson. The two of them leaned in close, staring at each other with wide smiles as they whispered happily. Scott's heart ached at the sight of that, and he chalked it up to feeling jealous about how Clyde had such an easy time getting along with other people, because it absolutely wasn't because he had a crush on Clyde. He absolutely didn't wish he were in Millie's spot right now. He didn't wish Clyde were looking at him like nobody else existed. He didn't wish for any of that, because Scott didn't like Clyde.

The bell rang, and Millie leaned forward, giving Clyde a kiss on the cheek before walking off and leaving him standing there smiling like an idiot. Watching that made Scott's skin crawl, but not because he was jealous. He hated PDA.