Weekends

4- Bother and Brendon- D

Walking into school was usually something that brought me a bit of confidence to start off my day, but I was so nervous that someone had found out that I was partnered with a non-popular kid. I was ecstatic to be paired with someone that wasn't vain and a dick, but that wasn't the case for any of the others in the popular group.

"Dallon, I heard you were partnered with Mutey. Is he really as weird as everyone says? I wouldn't know. I don't align myself with people like that," Ryker laughed, looking around to see our other friends snickering. "Yeah, I was partnered with him, and he's really nice," I told them as a semi-circle of assholes (my 'friends') formed around me.

"He's probably just into you. He's a fucking fag," Dylan pushed me slightly. I glared at him. "Don't touch me, Dylan," I sighed. "But you want Brendon to touch you, don't you?" I rolled my eyes and tried to push through the wall of people. "Dallon, can you do us a favor and not lower yourself like that? You're one of the best looking people in this group," Ryker tried to reason. I pushed away from him. "Brendon isn't bad looking. Why can't he be in our group?" The whole group gasped.

I rolled my eyes. "Because he's a fag, he's a freak, and he's an ugly piece of shit," Ryker laughed. I had to hold myself back from hitting him. "I'm going to go to art now, so I'll see you at lunch," I said as I walked away. "I still can't believe he's taking that gay ass class," I heard someone snicker from behind me.

I saw Brendon by himself in the music room. He looked at ease sitting at the piano. His bottom lip was between his teeth. I just couldn't stop looking at his hair falling into his face in small strands. As soon as he'd push the hair back, another piece would fall.

He played so gracefully that I felt like I was falling into a trance. His hair was fluttering into his eyes as the song he played got more intense. He'd either flip the hair back or blow it away from his eyes, and I had to painfully tear my eyes away from him in order to make myself go to art class.

My heart was racing as I made my way through the art classroom door. "Dallon, you're a bit late today, aren't you," the art teacher asked. I shrugged at him and found my seat, letting my mind wander away from painting and over to the small boy playing the piano.

⏰⏰

The school bell rang to go to lunch. I uncomfortably walked over to the lunch table that my friends usually sat at. "Did you see Mute Boy," I was asked as soon as I sat down. I shrugged my shoulders and went to eat my lunch. "Aw Dallypoo, are you not talking anymore? Has Mutey gotten to you?" I rolled my eyes. "Do you still eat food? I heard that Brendon throws up his food," Ryker laughed as he grabbed my sandwich out of my hand, taking a bite and pretending to gag.

"Ryke, stop being an asshole," Spencer piped up. "Shut up, dickwad. You're lucky to even be in this clique," he spat, throwing my sandwich back onto the dirty cafeteria table. I sighed and got up to throw my food in the trash.

I saw Brendon sitting by himself at a table with the jocks pointing and laughing at him. He saw me looking at him. I gave him a small smile and went to sit with him, but he shook his head. "Do you want to go to chemistry now?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Chemistry, our next class, do you want to head over there now to get out of here," I clarified. He nodded his head, eyes wide.

"Are you okay with just sitting outside? I'm not sure that spending extra time in Ms. B's class would be any better than staying in the cafeteria." He shrugged and laughed. We walked to the small courtyard that was completely empty and sat on one of the benches.

Brendon played with his fingers. I could tell that he was uncomfortable. "So, what do you like to do outside of school," I asked, trying desperately to start a conversation. "I play piano and I like to write music," he answered. "Yeah, I heard you playing the piano in the music room today. You're incredible." His face went red.

"You heard me playing?" I nodded, smiling as I recalled seeing him so happy. "How do you know that it was me," he tried to argue. "Because I saw you." His face flushed a deeper shade of red. "It was hard for me to walk away from. That's how good you were," I praised him. His smile was so wide, and I could see his posture loosen up.

"Thank you." I nodded and grinned as I saw a piece of hair fall over his eye like it did when he was playing the piano except he made no move to push it away from his face. I reached my hand forward and tucked the piece of hair behind his ear. He giggled, which made my heart leap.

"What do you like to do outside of school," he asked. "I don't really do much. My stupid group of friends like forcing me to go to the mall, but I'd rather stay home and watch a movie with one person. I don't have anyone to watch movies with, though." I could feel myself growing more and more upset at the fact that I'd never really had a true friend.

"I bet you do something," Brendon wrote, a goofy encouraging smile on his lips. "I mean, I uh I sometimes play my old guitar, but I'm not all that good," I sighed, feeling so terrible about myself. I never felt that way. It seemed like once I was away from the narcissists I called my friends, I truly felt my own emotions rather than shutting them off and acting how they all wanted me to.

"Dallon, I bet you're great at playing the guitar," Brendon handed me the whiteboard and leaned over to give me a hug. As his arms wrapped around my shoulders, I felt warm inside. I put my arm around his back. "Is this what true friendship feels like," I thought. "Brendon," I asked. He looked up at me. "Would you want to watch a movie with me sometime?" Tears threatened to fall from my eyes when he nodded.

I blew out some of the air that was trapped in my lungs and looked to the sky to avoid my tears falling. I laughed slightly as one slipped out of my eye. "Are you alright?" I nodded and let my glance fall to his hand that was resting on my knee. "I just- I feel different than I usually do," I sniffled. He looked confused. "I usually feel so numb and like I can't do anything, but you've changed that." He smiled at me and that was all that mattered.