"Friendship" ~ Petekey

Ch.3~A Day With The Target

Once the bell rang, Pete looked over at Mikey and quickly asked, "What's your next class?"

He already knew the kid's class. Billie Joe gave him his entire schedule. Pete found it very creepy how he got it, but read it anyway.

"English," Mikey said.

"Me too!" Pete said, trying to sound somewhat surprised. "I'll walk with you."

Mikey nodded and the two walked out. As they walked, Pete decided to start conversation.

"So do you have any friends of your own?" Pete asked, "That isn't your brother's?"

"Um," Mikey looked down, "Not really."

"Why not?" Pete asked. He regretted asking that immediately. He knows in eighth grade, when he moved away, he hated when his friends from Chicago asked why he had no friends in Jersey. If he hates being asked that, Mikey definitely will.

He already screwed up the plan and he just met the guy an hour ago!

"No one really wanted to talk to me, I've been too shy to talk to anyone, too," Mikey said. "But my brother let me go out with his friends."

"Oh."

If this kid is shy, how long would it take to gain enough trust for him to tell Pete? 

"Well, I moved here in eight grade," Pete said, deciding that if he opened up quickly, Mikey would do the same, "So I had no friends. It was kinda lonely."

"Got any friends now?"

"Um," Pete thought and decided whether he should lie or not, "Yeah. They - They don't really talk to me."

"Oh," Mikey said as they entered their English class.

"So maybe we could be friends," Pete continued, "Since we're both considerably lonely. But - but it's cool if you don't want to."

"No, I want to," Mikey said quietly.

Pete smiled softly. Then he remembers that he can't get emotionally attached. He's just going to ditch the dude afterward anyway. Mikey would definitely hate him if he found out that he was only being used. Not only that, Pete's group told him not to be friends with him. Only use him to get the truth out. And so he will.

******

At lunch, they sat together. They had the corner of the table to themselves. No surprise, they're the two losers in the sophomore year. This is when Pete wishes he was a junior or senior, like the rest of his friends. He would be able to sit with them.

Better with Mikey than no one, though.

"Where'd you move from?" Mikey asked, remembering Pete mention moving.

"Oh, you remember," Pete said, surprised, "I moved from Chicago. My dad got a job here."

"Nice, where?" Mikey asked.

"Here, he literally works at this school," Pete chuckled, "He's the counselor."

"Oh," Mikey laughed.

"My other school replaced him and my brother was getting  bullied in school, so my parents just decided to restart," Pete explained, "I got all my friends' phone numbers, hopped in the car, and we drove all the way to New Jersey."

"That's cool," Mikey said, "I've lived here my entire life."

"So do you know all those cool Jersey secret places only residents know?"

"Didn't know there were any. Were there any in Chicago?"

Pete shrugged, "I dunno, I was thirteen when I left. I barely explored."

"But enough about me, what's your life all about?" Pete said.

"Pretty boring," Mikey said.

Pete smiled, "It is always the interesting people in the world who say that, tell me."

"Never thought about it that way," Mikey said, "All I do is go to school and get dragged everywhere by my brother."

"Come on! Tell me one unique thing about you."

"Nothing," Mikey said.

"Insecure, found one," Pete chuckled, "I'm insecure too. Don't worry."

"What is there to be insecure about you?" Asked Mikey, "You seem cool for the half the day I've known you."

"Plenty of things," Pete said, "Just look at me."

"You look normal."

"Exactly, what's so different about me?" Pete asked.

"I can think of some things."

Pete raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Your fashion sense sucks," Mikey laughed.

Pete softly laughed, "Nothing unique about you? You're funny, man."

"Alot of people are funny."

"Yeah, but you know the difference between a joke and being serious," Pete said. "You have no idea how many times someone has gotten mad at the jokes I tell."

Mikey smiled softly.

"Plus if you weren't somehow interesting, would I still be here?" Pete asked. The truth was yes, he would. He's forced into this "friendship." But if he wasn't interesting, he wouldn't be enjoying himself so much.

"Guess not," Mikey replied.

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I try not doing Author's Notes for this story, but I guess things change. Anyway, logged into Wattpad today (only like... 2 people read the first two chapters) BUT I got #131 on the Petekey tag in rankings. Yeah, nothing big, but out of 28-something stories, it's a big deal to me! Ha, just wanted to say that. Enjoy the story!