Being in love with a straight boy is a straight-up nightmare. Especially if it's been like that for years. But it's even worse when he's your best friend's brother, who has a girlfriend that's there to remind you how straight he is. That's when it b...
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Next to Jackson and Kenny sat... a boy. For a second, I thought he was just a stranger who happened to have taken seat on the same bench, because there weren't nearly enough benches for the number of students, but then I saw that his leg and Kenny's leg were touching. So he was clearly someone that he knew. Then how come I'd never seen him before?
When I reached them, I only said hello and Kenny's head shot up so fast it was as if I'd caught him doing something he shouldn't be doing. He didn't even reply to my greeting—just stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers—but then Jackson's leg shot forward to kick my leg and I hissed in pain and grunted, "What the hell was that for?!"
"Just felt like it," he said, shrugging.
So I kicked him, too, and added, "Oh, sorry, I don't know what came over me. I suddenly felt like hurting my brother for no fucking reason."
The boy that sat next to Kenny started laughing and Kenny rubbed his eyes and sighed, "You're such children."
Considering Kenny was the youngest of us all—even a few months younger than Jackson, though this didn't always show—I chose to ignore this and said to the unfamiliar blond boy, "I believe we haven't met yet. I'm Mason."
He offered me his hand with a smile and told me his name was Jamie, while Kenny was still covering his face with his hand, for some reason. Was he not feeling well or something? He looked kind of tired, actually. When Jamie spoke to me, he even went a little pale.
"I've heard a lot about you, Mason," Jamie said.
"Good or bad?"
He shrugged. "Is there anything bad I should know?"
"Oh, there's a lot," Jackson said.
"I seem to have a sudden urge to kick you again," I threatened, and Kenny finally perked up to say, "Let's stop kicking each other. I'm hungry. Who wants to go get something to eat?"
None of us were opposed to that idea, so we all got up to visit the food hall, where I offered to get Jackson something, since he obviously didn't have a college card. Jackson being Jackson, he took advantage of this and chose the most expensive things—and a lot of it, too—until I threatened him into paying me back everything he got, whether he ate it or not.
He put half of it back with a scowl.
Before we added ourselves to Kenny and Jamie, I watched them from afar, sitting so close to each other and chatting so casually as if they'd known each other for years... It was just so... odd, because I had no idea Jamie even existed before today! Frowning, I asked Jackson, "So who is Jamie exactly? Why have I never heard of him?"
