The Art of Being a Gentleman

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

DAVID WAS WEARING a neon green shirt and hating every minute of it.

              He had gotten lazy and hadn't done laundry in a while, so all he had left was this disgustingly bright button up shirt that Rachael had purchased for him at the mall all that time ago. After realizing his misfortune, he had panic-texted Ricky, begging him to let him wear a regular t-shirt just for today, but being the giant stinker that he was, Ricky said no.

              Normally, David would've just said 'screw it' and worn whatever he wanted anyway, but today they were supposed to be meeting to cover a few last minute things before his quickly approaching date with the Harvard family, and he knew Ricky would refuse to do anything with him if he wasn't dressed for it. David was actually really nervous for this whole thing and couldn't risk messing it up by missing any more lessons... so the neon shirt it was.

"AAAGH! MY EYES!" Mack screeched as he rounded the corner of the school hallway. He had been doing that all day, every single time he had seen David, whether in class or across the entire cafeteria. "THEY BURN!"

              "You realize that I know everything that you're scared of and am willing to use them against you to kill you, right?" David glared, ignoring the snickers from the others students in the hallway that for some reason actually thought Mack was funny.

              "Okay, Scarecrow," Mack laughed, tossing the baseball he was carrying between his hands and following David down the hallway.

              David was getting grumpier and grumpier by the second, trying to avoid the looks from other people. Even girls who had normally appreciated David's outfits steered clear of him today.

              "Besides," Mack continued mindlessly beside him. "Where would you even get your hands on a platypus anyways?"

              Snorting, David tried to hide his smile, "I still don't understand why you're scared of them."

              "They're weird looking! They have duck faces and beaver bodies. And they lay eggs... like what kind of freak of nature is that? It's not right," he shuddered.

              "I think that—"

              "David, hey," a voice interrupted, causing them to turn around to see a heavy-breathing Ricky rushing up to them. "Something has come up and I..." he trailed off mid-sentence, his upper lip curling in disgust, "Is that the shirt you were messaging me about this morning?"

              David looked down with a grimace at the shirt that could probably be used for a night club sign, and glanced back up, "...yes."

              Ricky's cough sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "I'm sorry. If I had known it looked like that, I would've let you wear something else. Why did we even buy that?"

              "Honestly dude, sometimes I think you just do things to intentionally drive me crazy."

              "I feel the same way," Ricky grinned, before waving his hand. "Anyway, the reason I've come over is because I'm afraid I can't help you out today."

              David blanched, "What? No, Ricky. The date's in days, I need all the last-minute help I can get. I—"

              "I'm sorry, David. But I have a lot on my plate right now," Ricky explained with genuine regret in his tone that stopped David from totally freaking out on him. "I just got my first rejection letter in the mail to a university I was really interested in, which is seriously disappointing, but is an obvious sign that I need to be working harder. Not only that, but my mother needs me to look after the twins again tonight, and they're a hassle and a half, which means I need as much time to get my assignments done as possible. Hence, we can't meet up."