A gay adaptation of "Mean Girls," newcomer Caden Marshal moves to an Illinois suburb after being homeschooled in Barbados by his scientist parents. As he navigates public school, he falls in with " The Plastics," a popular clique, but soon realizes...
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Chapter Five | Custom Party
"Hey, what date is it?" Avian asked out of the blue, catching me off guard.
I smiled back, the warmth spreading through me as we exchanged glances. "It's October 3rd." I replied, my voice soft but eager to keep the conversation going. Avian nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to whatever he was doing.
As I watched him, I reflected on our last conversation on the football field a week ago. It was one of those rare moments when we had a chance to connect. Being a senior meant he often had early releases for activities that seemed irrelevant to me. Now that he was back in class, I felt a surge of anticipation to talk to him again. Yet, I hesitated. I didn't want to come across as too eager or desperate, unsure of how to approach him without feeling crazy.
So two weeks later, we spoke again.
"It's raining—kind of reminds me of that Rihanna song about rain." he said suddenly, catching my attention.
I nodded and glanced out the window. "Yeah, I know." I said softly, unsure where the conversation might lead next.
Ugh—how could Ryan have painted him as such a terrible person? From where I stand, he seems harmless, the kind who wouldn't hurt a fly. Whatever he did to Ryan in the past doesn't seem indicative of who he is now. People can change, and I'm curious to see if that's true. But in order to explore this further, I need to take action. Trusting my instincts, I decided it was time to accelerate things between us.
"Hey," I tapped his shoulder gently, catching his attention while Ms. Norbury went over the equations on the board. "I'm totally lost. Do you think you can help me?"
"Yeah," he replied as I handed him my pencil. The truth was, I wasn't lost at all. I already knew everything Ms. Norbury was teaching; it was like preschool to me. "It's a factorial, so you multiply each one by N."
Wrong.
I raised my eyebrow. "Is that the summation?"
He glanced down at my paper, shook his head, and then looked back at me. "Yeah, those are like the same thing."
