Dragonfly; Phan

VII

The next day, the group met with their bikes behind school. It was touching at nine when the bell rang through the building and Chris wiggled his eyebrows at Cat.

"Hear that, my love?" he teased. "Bells. You are now officially a rebel."

"I'll punch you in the face in a minute," Cat glared at him. "You weren't asked to come."

"Neither were you."

"I thought of the plan."

"Do you think we should go grab Skye?" Dan jumped into the conversation, ignoring their petty arguments.

"He's that kid in the asylum, right?" Chris asked.

"Yeah."

PJ frowned. "Why would we?"

"Because he's on his own," Dan shrugged, voice growing smaller, thinning with embarrassment.

"Aw," Chris made a soft sound. "That's quite cute."

"Didn't realise you swung that way, Danny," PJ teased with a smile, nudging their shoulders. "You think he's nice?"

"Shut up, I wasn't—I'm not—"

"Gay?"

Dan's cheeks flushed. "I'm not."

"You are for Skye."

"Yes, PJ," Dan's voice flooded with sarcasm. "My sexuality is fluid depending on the person. I'm an open book."

"That's called bisexuality," Chris told him.

"No, it's not. That's not what bisexuality is, you unenducated pleb. And it was a joke."

"I wasn't saying that's what you are, it's just what you described," Chris silenced himself. "Wouldn't matter if you were, anyway."

"I'm not!"

"Just saying!" Chris held his hands up. "I was just saying."

PJ nudged Dan again. "You probably are, if you like Skye."

"I like him but not like that. I'm not gonna kiss him or anything," Dan fiddled with his jacket. "Just think he's pretty."

"That's so adorable," Chris laughed.

"No," Dan shook his head.

"Yes," PJ argued. "It is. Kiss him."

"PJ!"

"What? Come on, Dan. I bet he likes you."

"He doesn't," Dan's skin was burning in a secluded embarrassment. "He totally doesn't."

"But you like him?" Cat chirped, eyes small and voice indifferent.

"I don't know," Dan felt like such an idiot. He felt like a complete mess inside. "Maybe—Probably—A bit. I don't know! Can we just go?"

"To get your boyfriend?" PJ was grinning.

"He's not my boyfriend. Don't start doing that shit, God."

"He would be if you did something about your feelings," Chris was smiling, also. "Is he actually hot?"

"Not hot," Dan shook his head, feeling something against the wording. "Pretty. He has really blue eyes and a really soft voice and . . . he's not hot. It's hard to explain. He's just—"

"Easy to look at?"

"Yeah," Dan chewed his lip. "Yeah. It's so lovely to look at him."

"I feel like I'm at the centre of a terrible rom-com," Cat commented.