New Generation

Unnecessary Aggression

Once school was over, Alexis called her boyfriend and asked if he could pick us up. Being the good, loyal guy he is, he came within a few minutes. He greeted me with a head nod that I quickly returned, and her with a heated kiss that made me a bit more than a little uncomfortable.

The car ride there was even worse, as I had to sit in the back seat while Alexis was in the passenger seat, making googly eyes at Matt. All the while he had his hand on her thigh. Needless to say, I shrunk back so far I almost became apart of the leather seat.

We finally arrived at Alexis' house, and quickly got inside. I walked in first —I spend almost all my free time here, why not?— while Alexis pulled Matt along to her room. I plopped down on her bed, while she and Matt took a seat on the floor in front of me. She clapped her hands together.

"Okay," she began, "so what are we going to do about your boy problems?" Matt seemed to be awakened from his daze, as his head quickly snapped to my direction.

"You're gay?!" He said, almost shocked.

I felt my voice catch in my throat. I'd only come to realize my sexuality this morning, I have no idea how to react to my best friends' boyfriend asking about it.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. "Can't you tell? His pants are tighter than mine and he's never spared a girl a second glance the entire time we've been friends," Alexis explains.

Matt furrows his eyebrows together, "well, yeah. Okay. That makes sense, I'm surprised I didn't see it earlier."

I finally found my voice, "Should I take that as a compliment?" Matt just stared at me blankly. Sometimes I wonder why Alexis chose him, it seems like there's nothing going on in his head. Talking to him was like talking to an eggshell sometimes.

Alexis rolled her eyes, "Let's focus! We've got to figure out a way to get Eli off of Chris and onto you."

I chuckled, "well, it seems like Chris was on Eli, if anything."

Alexis made a gagging noise. "Mm. Thanks for that image," she seemed to find her train of thought again, "maybe you should just ask him to hang out with us one day."

At this, I broke out into a fit of laughter. After all the threats and dirty looks I've gotten today? Yeah, right. Let's be friends, Eli!

Alexis pouted, "okay fine. Ugh, Matt," she said, resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "How do you get a guy in your pants?"

He bit his lip, turning a bit red. I rolled my eyes. Alexis quickly realized what she just said, freaking out, "Oh God, no, I mean—" I didn't hear much after that since I had covered my face and ears with a pillow on her bed, laying down. This seemed so pointless. The guy hates me and he's obviously involved with Chris anyway.

I felt a sudden grip on the pillow, and it was tugged away from my face, revealing an upset-looking Alexis standing over me. "Matt's got an idea for you!"

I propped myself up on my elbows, looking at Matt and raising my eyebrows. I didn't expect him to put much thought into helping me.

"Alexis said he threatened you the moment he realized you saw, right?" I nodded, wincing at the memory. "That's just man pride," he explained. "He's using aggression as a sort of protection, you can use that against him. Tease him about his aggression, act like he's using it as a defence to hide  his attraction for you. Guys like getting teased, having a bit of competition."

I sighed, "wow," I said. "I didn't think you had so much to say."

He scoffed, "I'm just a meathead, aren't I?"

I bit my lip. I didn't mean to come off that way. Before I could explain myself, Alexis cut in.

"Are you guys doing the whole teasing competition thing because I'm still your girlfriend," she said sternly, looking at Matt, who just laughed and put his arm around her.

"Don't worry, babe. It's just practice for my boy Ken."

The next day, I decided not to arrive first for English. Actually, I tried to avoid it for as long as possible. It wasn't until the late bell rang that I realized that I was just prolonging my certain doom, so I just walked in.

It's funny how you can be 20 seconds late to a class, and everyone will still stare at you as if you interrupted the most important lesson of their lives. I rolled my eyes, and sat in the same spot as I did yesterday, next to Eli. It took all my power to not glance over at him.

My teacher just shook her head at me, but I guess she let the fact that I came in late today slide. I had just opened my notebook when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"You think being tardy is cool, lil' boy?" Eli said, his voice quiet, but low. Almost dangerous. I did my best to pull off a convincing chuckle.

"Nothing beats being 10 minutes late to the first class of the year, though," I said, teasing him about yesterday. I crossed my fingers under my desk, hoping that Matt's plan wouldn't get my ass beat.

What I earned instead of a punch to the face was a smirk. Eli leaned back in his seat, and looked back up at our teacher,  he looked amused. The knot in my stomach made me nervous. I didn't know whether to take his amusement as a good or a bad sign.

Our second class actually consisted of a lesson, unlike our first which was just introductions. We worked on grammar worksheets for an hour and 15 minutes, and it made me want to blow my brains out. So when the bell rang, I thanked the heavens and quickly rushed out of the room.

I was at my locker, putting away my English notebook and getting another one out for my next period class, when I felt someone lean on the locker next to mine, behind my open locker door. I slowly closed my locker, afraid of what he wanted.

"Yes?" I gulped. He seemed to relish in my fear, it only made me more nervous.

"How about I skin you alive after school today?" He asked casually, the smirk on his face never fading.

I felt my heart drop. He was going to kill me. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you, but come on I didn't do anything wrong, all I —"

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. He put a hand up to his forehead in a face palm gesture, as if to say what am I going to do with you? "That's not what I meant," he said, opening his eyes and laughing. "Come over."

My eyes widened, my mouth agape. I realized what an idiot I must've looked like when his smirk grew into a full-on grin, and I snapped my mouth shut. "Uh—yeah. Yeah, sure," I stuttered, blinking a couple times. I hadn't expected it to be so easy.

"Great," he said, winking as he turned on his heel, making his way down the hall and away from me.