Easter Egg (Gawsten)

Yellow

Otto looked up at them when they came in. "It's about time."

Awsten laughed, not noticing Geoff stare down at the tile floor.

"Chill, dude," said Otto. "I'm not serious. Get in here. Let me talk about My Chemical Romance."

Geoff smiled and made his way to Otto and Chloe, parked in their usual spots. Awsten simply stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Boy, why are you just standing there?" said Chloe. "Come on. Join society."

Awsten glanced at the table in front of her and only then noticed the pair of scissors she was toying with. "Okay," he said, and knelt on the floor next to Geoff.

"Why did you let him do that?" Otto asked Geoff, sending Awsten's mind to sad places.

"Do what?" said Awsten.

"Walk him to class," said Otto, turning to Geoff and nodding. Geoff nodded back at him and Otto sighed. "As far as I know, Geoff hates people."

"Well, no..." stammered Geoff, and gestured again to Otto. Chloe passed the scissors from hand to hand, making Awsten uneasy.

"Let me rephrase that," said Otto. "He has a deep-seated mistrust of other human beings."

Geoff nodded. "People hate me."

"Yes," said Otto, and glanced at Geoff one more time. "We met in seventh grade and I can't remember the last time he let someone do a favor for him."

"Why not?" Awsten asked Geoff. "You seem like an...okay person."

"Um," said Geoff, his eyes darting around the room, "too many people who'd, like, trip me and stuff, and, uh, laugh at me for not, like, realizing they were going to." Chloe pushed the scissors around again. "I'm just, well, bad, y'know, with people."

"I get that," said Awsten, not getting any of it.

The scissors slid across the table, Chloe expertly directing, and Geoff's eyes followed them. "I, uh, well, I'm not that smart-"

"Shut up," said Otto. "You can balance chemical equations in your head."

"Okay, but, like, people."

"People suck," said Chloe as she spun the scissors on a finger. "All you need in life is an equal amount of aluminum atoms in both the reactant and the product."

"And My Chemical Romance," said Otto.

"Yes, can't forget about-"

The scissors slipped from Chloe's controlled orbit.

They moved actually rather slowly, but Awsten jerked away from the table as quickly as possible and took refuge a few feet out of the scissors' range. Awkwardly, he put his hands down and tried to face the other three.

For a moment, he furrowed his brow, wondering why only Otto and Chloe were still there. Then his gaze slipped down and found Geoff under the table. "Geoff?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you there?"

"Why are you there?"

Neither of them moved until Chloe cleared her throat. "Um, I'm sorry about that. Geoff, the scissors are gone, you can come out."

Geoff crawled to his previous spot, and Awsten did the same and placed his hands on the table to feel more included.

"Well, that was a bit weird," he said.

"Okay," said Otto, "Geoff I can understand, but do you have a severe scissor phobia or something? I'm not trying to be rude or anything."

"Um, it's nothing," said Awsten.

"Really?"

"Really," snapped Awsten.

"Seriously dude-"

"Drop it," burst out Geoff, startling Otto.

"All right!" said Otto. "I'll stop."

Awsten looked down. He felt someone place their hand over his, and when he came back up, he caught Geoff sitting just a bit closer to him. He drummed his free fingers on the table.

The rhythm he'd tapped repeated after he'd relaxed his hand. That was weird-until he glanced over and saw Geoff smiling far too cutely for his totally-not-into-Geoff heart. It sped the frick up, and Awsten tried moving his hand away.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Geoff whipped his own hand off Awsten's. "Sorry about that," he muttered, and gave Otto a look of pure "save me."

Otto didn't have to do any saving, as the bell rang and Ms. Costello immediately jumped into economics and stuff. Awkwardly, Awsten walked to the back of the room and took his position as grader of multiple-choice tests.

He hated Geoff.

He hated Geoff for doing that.

What that was, he wasn't exactly sure, but he hated Geoff for it. Making his heart do the thing. Making his face get all hot and stuff. Making him look so weird. Sure, maybe he's kinda cute, thought Awsten, but he's...you know.

He told that to Jayden while they were doing homework at his house.

Jayden gave him a quizzical look. "You know?"

"You know," said Awsten, "not...normal. He's sweet and all, but I don't think..."

"What?"

"...I couldn't be with someone like him. I don't even like him."

Jayden laughed. "Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're getting all hot and bothered over him," said Jayden, "and you haven't been like that since Ciara."

"Well-"

"And it's not like you're normal, either."

"Well, yeah," said Awsten, "but I'm not enough of a weirdo to be in special ed. I don't like him."

"Didn't you walk him to class?"

"It's not like I'm gonna be mean to him," protested Awsten. "He's special ed. Do you know how much shit I'd get for being a dick to a special kid?"

"You like him."

"I do not."

"You don't not like him."

"Fine!" sighed Awsten. "You got me. But if you tell Jawn I'll lock you in the closet."

"Why would I tell Jawn?" said Jayden.

"Don't you get off on this?"

"No," said Jayden. "I just kinda like watching Mr. Self-Confidence struggle with the fact that he has a massive fucking crush on a special ed student who actually sounds like a pretty alright guy, but who he won't give a chance to because he's not 'normal.'"

"You can't force me to hook up with him," said Awsten.

"You're right," said Jayden. "I can't. But I can't resist matchmaking."

"We're not a match!" shouted Awsten, slamming his fist on the table and making everything jump.

"Maybe you're not," said Jayden, "but I know a boy with a crush when I see one."

"Did you finally learn something useful from all that time you spend in front of a mirror?"

"Shut up and do your homework."