Cities Made of Starlight [BoyxBoy]

Two

Calvin

Calvin watches the smaller boy run off, slightly hurt.

Did I do something wrong? Did I say something? I didn't mean to hurt him.

He picks up his bag and begins the long walk home. Fourth period could wait for another day. He really needed to talk to someone. And he had just the person in mind.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fifteen minutes later, he shuts the front door behind him.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Ms. Marner shuffles out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on an apron tied around her waist. She pulls Calvin into a tight hug before grasping his shoulders and turning him from side to side, inspecting him. 

"This doesn't look like your fourth period PE class. Did something happen? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

He lightly shakes her off, chuckling slightly, "No mom, I'm fine. I just needed to talk to you about something and it couldn't wait until the end of school. It's not like I missed much anyway, it's just-"

She wags her finger at him, trying to look stern, "Gym is important, young man. It goes on your transcript and it affects your GPA just like everything else."

"I know, I know. I just really needed to talk to you."

She starts back toward the kitchen, motioning for him to follow. He kicks off his shoes quickly and jogs to catch up with her. 

"Is it fine if your brother listens? We were just in the middle of a geometry lesson."

"Hey Jamie," Calvin walks over and tousles the hair of a boy sitting at the dining room table. Ms. Marner shuffles back into the connected kitchen and continues chopping vegetables, "Yeah, of course he can listen. He's got the most intuitive advice in the house, if you ask me."

Ms. Marner chuckles and Jamie beams down into his textbook.

"So, what's wrong?"

"There's this kid at school. His name is Collin. Collin Groves. He was getting picked on by these two kids today. He's this really skinny kid and he's got real pale skin and black hair. I've seen him around before today. In the halls and in PE and stuff. He always looks really sad. He's kinda cute."

Jamie smirks down at his book. Calvin shoots him a look.

"Like, how Jay Jay's cute. You know? Like, I want to protect him. I want to make him smile. So anyway, I told them to stop and they ran off. Got me called to the principal's office."

"On what grounds?" Ms. Marner interrupts.

"They said I was the one picking on them."

Ms. Marner scoffs.

"I told the principal what really happened, and they told her to call Collin in and ask him. She did, and I don't get it."

"Why's that?"

"He agreed with them. Well, not really. He didn't talk, just nodded and shook his head in answer to questions. But he answered in a way that they didn't get in trouble for bullying him. I was going to get in trouble but he... told the truth... made it so that I didn't."

Jamie's head shoots up and he starts signing frantically.

'So he's like me. Right? He's like me. He can talk to me. He can explain things to me. He knows what it's like. Right?'

Calvin puts a hand on Jamie's shoulder, "I thought so, at first. But the way he acted was.... different. I tried to talk to him once she let us go."