How To Be Straight

conғєѕѕ yoυr ғєєℓιngѕ

CHAPTER 17

     [ Derek ]

I walked through the school's double doors with a vengeance in my step. As usual, the halls were filled with students who wanted to use the time before school to catch up with their friends, and as usual, these students felt the need to stand in the middle of the hallway. But today, I wasn't in the mood to patiently wait for them to move.

I shoved my way past everyone - to the point where the crowd started to part like the Red Sea in fear of getting on my bad side if they stood in my way.

As soon as I reached my destination, Mike's locker, I took the blond-haired boy by surprise by slamming him against the locker adjacent to his and punching him in the gut. He doubled over and howled in pain, but it quickly subsided when he glanced up at me with his clear blue eyes, a silly smile threatening to surface. "Whoa, dude, what did I do to deserve that?"

"You told me if I kissed Calvin, everything would be fine," I growled angrily, "It's not fine!"

"Wait, you kissed him?" Mike prompted, lifting a blond brow. "Wow, I didn't think you had the balls."

I raised my fist to punch him again, but he lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, calm down, Incredible Hulk. I didn't say kissing him would make everything okay. I said it might help you figure out if your feelings for him are real."

The more he talked, the more he angered me. "Well, guess what? They're real!" I shook his shoulders roughly, drawing the attention of the students near us. "But what's the point of having real feelings for him if he doesn't have real feelings for me?"

Mike pulled his lips into a sloppy grin, obviously enjoying seeing me in such an angry state. "Don't be stupid, Derek. Everyone has feelings for you, whether they want to or not."

I wanted to punch him again, but I knew he was partly right. If people weren't falling head over heels in love with me, then they at least respected me. I had never made any enemies during my high school life, because no one had ever tried to cross me.

But just because everyone else didn't hate me, it didn't necessarily mean that Calvin didn't hate me either.

If there was anything I learned about him in the past few weeks, it was that he wasn't like everyone else.

He was different.

And funny.

And cute.

"What ya thinking about, buddy?" Mike questioned with a smirk.

I broke out of my thoughts and snapped my angry stare to him. "I'm thinking about how much I want to kill you, right now."

He blew out a loud, obnoxious puff of air. "Don't blame me because Calvin can't get it up for you." I bared my teeth in an animal-like manner, a low growl bubbling in my throat, and that made Mike quickly take back his words. "It was a joke, I was kidding. Damn, you're grumpy when you're in love."

Deep down inside, I knew I wanted to do something to Mike to make him regret saying those words to me, but I didn't bother. Instead, my hands dropped to his polo shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles I had caused, and then I slowly backed away from him. "I'm sorry. It's just pretty frustrating. I thought we were actually having a moment, then he leaves without an explanation. He just kept muttering some shit about Frenchy."

Mike pretended to think. "Well, he is his boyfriend, so."

My shoulders fell in disappointment. That kiss felt magical. It felt like the world had stopped and it was just us. I never expected kissing Calvin to be anything spectacular, but he had the softest lips in the entire world and I wanted nothing more than to feel them against my own again.