My Cat Named Prince (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 13

I couldn't breathe. I moved my arms about me erratically, but the air around me slowed me down. It was so dark except for ripples of light above me, every time I moved the light wrinkled and shifted. I opened my mouth to scream, but the air around me choked me.

I knew that if I went towards that light I would survive, but my lungs ached so bad. I was finding it hard to move my arms, too.

I was drowning.

I shot up in bed, my alarm clock blaring. I felt the sheets around me, assuring me that I was alive and not underwater. I swallowed and looked towards my savior from the nightmare. I slapped the snooze button on top and let my legs hang over the edge of the bed.

I groaned and rubbed away the beaded sweat on my face. It wasn't a second out of having a nightmare I came back to the troubles between Prince and me. It kept me up all night, but I was thankful that it was Friday and I could make it up after school. I sighed and looked at his collar on top of my dresser. I got out of bed and picked it up, examining it closely.

I would never let you die, I couldn't.

My fist clenched around it, the bell jingling underneath my fingers. I threw it back onto my dresser and it slid until it fell behind the dresser. I couldn't imagine he'd need it anytime soon anyways.

After getting ready and seeing that his door was still closed I went into the kitchen to grab something to go. Mom raised her eyebrows at me from behind her coffee cup. I headed over to the pantry, grabbing some Poptarts and practically slamming the door behind me.

"You're in a hurry. Is Prince up yet?" she asked. I shrugged and went ahead and opened the wrapper.

"Well if you're not going to wait on him can you tell him I'll be stuck at the school another hour than I usually am?"

"Yeah, sure." I said grabbing her mug and taking a sip before she could protest, "See you after school." I broke a piece of strawberry Poptart off and shoved it in my mouth, wondering how I could avoid bumping into Prince between classes or at lunch. Today was going to be a hard day.
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"And I was like 'listen, I've told you twelve times that I only like girls and just because you're attractive doesn't mean I'm going to change my sexuality for you.' I wish guys weren't such idiots." Lacey said. I smiled and held up my water bottle.

"Cheers to that." I said. We clinked our plastic bottles together and laughed.

Cassandra smiled in amusement at us and raised her eyebrows.

"Speaking of guys that are idiots," Cassandra cut in, "have you talked to Sean lately, Ben?" I grimaced and Maria laughed from beside me.

"What about Prince, are you guys a thing or anything?" Lacey asked. I scoffed and set down my water bottle, giving up on finishing my half eaten lunch.

"No, and we never will be." I snapped. Lacey held up her hands in mock defense and I sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap you at you. We're actually kind of on the outs right now." I said. Lacey nodded and took a bite of her food, ready to drop the subject just as much as I wanted to.

"Speak of the devil." Said Kyle, his eyes scanning something above me. I didn't turn around but I heard him stop walking behind me.

"I was late to school." Prince said from behind me. I didn't turn around and shrugged.

"Sorry, I forgot. You should ask Mom for an alarm clock or something." I said coldly. I looked at Cassandra's confused expression and rolled my eyes. This was already pissing me off.

"Ben, please. I just want to talk." he said. I stood and turned around, his expression serious.

"About what? The fact that you don't care if I live or die?" I asked. He didn't take his eyes off me but frowned.

"I already told you that I'd never--" I grabbed his arm, pulling him from my friends and the cafeteria and into the hallway. There were a couple of teachers around so I went into the bathroom with him and made sure that no one else was in there.

"Prince, why can't you just leave me alone?" I asked. He didn't answer and instead scoffed, his eyes on the tile. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over how angry I am." His eyes rose from the tile and I tried not to feel something when their golden luminescence bore into my eyes.

"It's because I love you, Ben. I'm sorry I didn't call an ambulance because I'm afraid that they'll take you away from me forever." he said. My eyes roamed his hurt expression.

"What are you talking about? Where in the world would I go?" I asked. He shook his head his eyes left mine.

"I don't know it's a stupid." he said.

"It can't be as stupid as the idea that you'd want me to die." I said.

"I never told you why I ran away from the orphanage, did I?" I shook my head and listened to what he had to say.

"That caretaker woman I was so close to was in an accident. I was with her when it happened, she was holding scissors and she happened to trip and she ended up stabbing herself. While she was still conscious she told me to call 911, so I did."

"Did she..."

"Die? In front of me? No. She died in the ambulance. Not because she wasn't stable, but because some idiot decided it was the day to run a red light and crash into them. She never made it to the hospital alive." he said. I crossed my arms and mulled it all over.

"That's the reason why you didn't call anyone? You were scared the same thing might happen again?" I asked. He shrugged and I let my arms drop. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Is that good enough? Do you believe that I didn't want to kill you now?" I nodded and took a step forward. I put my hands on his face and pulled him in. His mouth moved against mine and I pulled away before we could reach the point of no return.

"You could say you're forgiven." I whispered. He smiled and leaned into me, pushing me up against the slick white wall.

"Hey, you two!" A deep voice rang out from the doorway. We stopped kissing and I pushed him away from me. It was one of the teachers I had seen out in the hallway. The fortunate thing was that I knew this teacher.

"Mr. Lionel, I can explain."

"Ben? Looks like we've got ourselves a predicament. How do you think we can solve this without you getting suspended or expelled?" he asked. I smiled nervously at the young teacher.

"Detention?" He didn't seem to react that well to that. "A lot of detention?" I asked. He nodded and smiled at Prince.

"You willing to cooperate?" he asked him. Prince nodded and looked down at his feet.

"See you two this afternoon and every afternoon for the next two weeks. You're lucky I'm understanding." he said.

"Wait are you--"

"Going to tell your Mom?" He teased. "No, not if you don't mind helping me grade some papers, too." I shook my head and he beamed.

"Then it's settled. Now go back to lunch." he said. I shuffled out of the bathroom next to Prince, Mr. Lionel right behind us.

I've never been more grateful to attend detention then I did in that moment.