Love Hurts (boyxboy)

Chapter 2: Shattered Memories

A/N:

Italicized lines will represent a flashback of past events.

Parker POV

The final bell rang, sending all of the other simple minded students out of the classrooms and into the hallways, most yelling in excitement for the football game tonight.

"What a bunch of losers." I muttered to myself as I shut the door to the media room. "Seriously, who gets that excited about a bunch of guys tackling each other over a stupid ball?"

Someone cleared their throat to my right. I glanced over to see him standing there, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Griffin was standing less than ten feet from me in his blue and gold football jersey. I just stared at him, my words getting caught in my throat as I remembered this morning's incident.

"Think you could say that again? I didn't quite catch it." He took a few steps and closed the distance between us so I had to tilt my head back to see his face. Even in the dim lighting I could still see his emerald eyes, his short black hair, his broad shoulders, his solid jaw line...A slight blush came over my face that snapped me out of my daze, which he hopefully couldn't see in this light.

"That's not surprising with how often you can't catch the damn ball." I snapped back, my arms folding over my own chest.

"And how would you know if you didn't go to the games?" He taunted, a smile gracing over his features.

"How would your picture be in the yearbook if I wasn't there to take it?" I wasn't backing down.

"So you like to take pictures of me?"

"If I enjoyed taking pictures of you and your homophobic friends I would join a Republican candidate's advertising campaign." That caught his attention.

He scowled down at me, arms tensing up. So maybe I found him slightly intimidating? That was nothing new. I was used to it by now. The only difference between the scared little freshman I was and now is that I wasn't afraid to take a hit, even if I got my ass kicked.

"You think I'm homophobic?" He took another step forward, crowding my space. I didn't budge, my index finger landing on his firm chest. Like, it's really firm. Just wow...what?

"I don't think, I know, you oversized, egotistical-" I had been marching forward, forcing him backwards until the door opened. Some of my common sense came back and I took a step back from Griffin with a deep breath.

The girl that walked in was frozen in the doorway with wide eyes that were darting between the two of us. Griffin didn't move, still looking at me with a strange and somewhat angry expression. Whatever, he started it like all of the other dumb jocks do with their "bully the gay kid" bull shit.

"Can I help you?" I asked the girl. She didn't look familiar, granted Caldon High was a pretty big school, but still, she looked pretty young.

"Um, hi, I'm Janine, the art teacher told me this was where I could find someone to talk to about photography?" Janine looked like she was considering bolting at a moment's notice. Poor thing.

"This would be the place." I smiled at her.

"Um, is there a teacher or administrator or-"

"No, Parker is all the school's got as far as anything camera or film goes. Or, he's the only one with any talent or credibility." Griffin spoke up. "There was a photography club, but when Ms.-"

"Griffin." He stopped speaking, probably getting that it was a sensitive subject for me. My eyes were on the floor, my hands clenched into fists. I don't know why he was complimenting me so genuinely, but I didn't like when people talked about my old photography teacher. "I am the photographer of Caldon though!" I smiled at the Janine. "Are you interested in photography or...?"