Unraveling [BXB]

Chapter 16

Chase was panicking when he walked into school Monday morning. He had a plan, kind of, but it all hinged on one conversation going relatively well, and at this point, he wasn't above begging on his knees if all else failed. When he'd called and told Taylor what happened, he'd told Chase it would be so much easier to just talk to Trey and tell him the truth, but seeing as there was nothing in the world more terrifying to him than confrontation, and the thought of having that conversation made him want to simultaneously throw up and drop dead, this seemed like the only viable option.

He found Hayden pretty quickly once he got into school. Thankfully, he was standing alone at his locker texting someone. Chase hesitated before walking up to him. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd actually say what he needed to considering that he wasn't currently getting any air into his lungs, but he'd have to figure it out.

"Hey, uh, can I...talk to you?" He asked. "Preferably somewhere more private?"

Hayden looked at him, his expression growing even more confused at the second half of his question. "Sorry, who are you?" He asked.

"Chase? I came to one of your parties with Wren Hendrix like three weeks ago."

Hayden stared at him for what was probably an entire minute before the recognition dawned on his face. "Oh shit, yeah right, you're Trey Tanner's kid brother."

"Yeah, and I have a proposition for you," Chase said and Hayden just nodded, nodding his head to the side before he walking off and letting Chase follow him into an empty classroom a few halls down.

"No one uses this until next period," Hayden said, sitting down on one of the desks.

"How would you know that?"

"I used to make out with Molly Fredericks in here," he said with a shrug. "But if you're planning to confess your love for me or something, I'm flattered, I'm just not into taking it up the ass."

"I'm not in love with you, and that's not even-" Chase took a soft breath in. "Look, I'm kind of seeing someone, but I didn't know how to tell Trey who it was, so I panicked and told him I was dating you."

"Why the fuck would you say that?" Hayden asked, not mad, just extremely confused.

"I don't know, I say stupid things when I'm put on the spot," Chase said, running his fingers through his hair. "But if you pretend to be my boyfriend, just until I can figure out how to tell him, I'll do all of your homework. I'll give you test answers, I'll write your essays, take notes for all of your reading, everything."

Hayden looked at him with his arms crossed, seeming to consider his offer. "Yeah, but after that ends, how would I be able to get chicks if they all think I'm gay?"

"You're graduating this year, and girls are into bi guys," Chase said with a shrug. "Plus, you like Harper, right? She's super into smart guys."

"Really?" Hayden asked, suddenly much more interested.

"Yeah, and I'm friends with Trey's friends. If you dated me, you could be friends with her. It might even make her jealous. Also, if you ask her out after everything's over, you can explain the whole thing."

Hayden stared at the wall for a second, biting the inside of his cheek. "So...how would we go about this then?"

Chase breathed a sigh of relief, quickly dropping his backpack down to pull out a piece of paper.

"Is this a contract?" Hayden asked after looking at it for a few seconds.

"Well I...figured it might help to have things laid out," Chase said, picking at his nails for a second before shoving his hands into his pockets. "I also figured it would make sense if we went to homecoming together."