The Church Boys ➸ Peterick/Brentrick

31: Hey, Bathmat!

"I made it! I made the advanced class!"

"Oh my God, I'm so proud of you!" Shane practically squealed from the other end of the line. 

"He told me I made a great impression in the way I did my lip-sync, so I think we both know what that means and I'm so happy it paid off. Thank you so much!"

"Anytime, babydoll. Anytime. Now get going to school. Love you."

"Bye, babe." 

He wasn't romantically involved with any of the drag queens, they just spoke in that way to each other regularly nowadays. It was nice to know that he could have a platonic relationship with someone and still be close enough to them to use nicknames that would otherwise seem to be romantic.

He put his phone in his pocket and stuck in his earbuds, turning the music he had playing up so he couldn't hear the people around him. Enema of the State continued to play as he made his way to his zero period class, and the earbuds never came out throughout the whole talk. It was forensics, and from the notes on the syllabus, he didn't make many interesting discoveries. Mr McLoughlin was the teacher's name, but that was all he really learned. 

He wasn't originally too hyped about taking a zero, but it was the only way he figured he could actually try sports. Baseball intrigued him, and after talking with the coach, he had the chance to try it out for the offseason. 

Halfway through the zero, he switched albums (since Enema of the State was only about a half hour and it had ended) to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Taking off his glasses so he could sleep for what remained, he was woken up by a kid next to him that probably didn't know he was the school's gaylord.

"Hey, um, bell's about to ring. Just thought you should know," he told Patrick once a single earbud was out. 

"Oh, thanks..."

"I'm Otto, sort of new here. I don't know anything, really."

Patrick turned off Elton John at this point- he'd slept until Gray Seal. "I'm Patrick," he said as he stretched, "d'you know where anything is?"

The other boy laughed. "No, not really." He was taller than Patrick, but not by much. His hair went to his shoulders, and he had a nose piercing. Though he seemed softer, he still had some masculine edge to his jawline. Patrick wasn't sure whether to be turned on or off.

Off, he didn't want to be that guy.

"I can show you to your classes if you like, it's not a big deal." Patrick smiled at him, going through his backpack to find a folder to put the syllabus he was given at the beginning of the period in. "I'd just...yeah, never mind."

Otto nodded, cracking a smile. "That's great, um, thanks." 

He took Otto to his history class, then told him where to meet up with him before second period so he could take him to the next class (it was a hidden one in a random corner of the school). Patrick had almost been late to his Econ/Gov class, but once he was in through the door, he took a look around the room, then up at the seating chart that was up on the screen. He hesitantly sat down in between a football player and someone from engineering. This was alphabetical order, his least favorite thing.

He was messing with his fingers, not wanting to put his earbuds back in when class was about to start and he'd have to take them out. He noticed Pete, Claire, and Brendon in the class, but he didn't make eye contact with either of them at the moment. The bell rang soon enough, and their new teacher walked in and removed her sunglasses, looking around.

Patrick was the only one in the class sitting, gaping at their Econ/Gov teacher with wide eyes.

She at least looked like a biological woman, and the only way Patrick would've been fooled was if he hadn't previously met her- him- whichever. Her makeup was toned down so it wasn't as extreme as it usually was, if anything it was more similar to Courtney's in the idea of being "fishy" or the most feminine. Nobody seemed to notice the makeup was hiding masculine features, or that she was wearing a breast plate.