Pas de Trois

Chapter 18: "So what are we doing?"

Danny had been dreading the first day back at school for a lot of reasons. The biggest reason was standing at the end of the hall in his red Toms: Matt. Even though he tried to look away as fast as he could, Danny was still looking when Matt turned and saw him.

"Ignore him," Slade squeezed Danny's shoulder. "Come on, walk me to class."

"Yeah okay," Danny tried to swallow but his throat was too dry.

"We just have to make it until lunch," Slade said. That was true. Their spring ballet schedule had them starting classes at 12:30 every day, and some days even earlier. It meant keeping up with their classes was going to be even harder than before.

"I'm going to fail high school," Danny realized. "I'll never make it to graduation at this rate."

"Yeah, you will," Slade said. "You've got all A's, you'll be fine."

"Because I work my ass off," Danny protested. "If I miss all this class I'm going to be even dumber than I am now."

"You're not dumb," Slade rolled his eyes.

"I'm not very smart," Danny shrugged. He wanted to look behind them and see if Matt had followed him.

"What are you talking about?" Slade frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"It's just true, I don't know," Danny said. "This is your class, I have to go."

"I'll wait for you before ballet," Slade said.

"Okay," Danny nodded. Slade smiled but he looked like he wanted to say something. Danny waited but when Slade didn't speak he walked away.

He didn't see Matt again until it was time to leave for ballet. Danny was finishing his notes as he walked, trying to remember everything his math teacher had explained, so he wasn't prepared when he looked up and saw Matt standing between him and the front door to the building.

"Hi," Matt said. He was giving Danny the saddest look.

"Hi," Danny felt his throat go dry again. "I'm um, leaving now."

"I know, I saw you have this crazy schedule now," Matt looked away. "I was kind of worried you weren't coming back to school at all."

"I have to come to school," Danny said, wondering exactly where Matt had seen his new schedule.

"Chloe got a tutor, you two are like besties or whatever, I didn't know if you would do that too," Matt shrugged.

"Mom said no," Danny admitted. He and Slade begged, but his mom pointed out that the reason she'd put them in their school to begin with was because the school was okay with their crazy ballet schedule and would let them make up the work at other times.

"Is it wrong if I say I'm glad?" Matt asked. He pushed his lips together for a second and Danny wondered if he was about to start crying. "I was afraid I might never see you again."

"That's not wrong," Danny shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Can I hug you?" Matt asked. "I really miss you."

"I miss you too," Danny said. He opened his arms to hug Matt. It felt all wrong, not the same as it used to at all, even though Matt smelled as good as Danny remembered.

"I know you have to leave but can we please talk?" Matt asked, still holding him. "I'll wait up all night if I have to, I just-"

"No, you don't have to do that," Danny pulled away. "I get done with class at 2 today. We could-"

"Danny, we have to go," Slade interrupted.

"Yeah, I know, just one second," Danny waited for Slade to walk away but he didn't move. "Maybe we can talk then," Danny said.