Pride of the 90's

Chapter 9

The next couple weeks that went by were...yeah.

Haley was growing more concerned for me, but since I couldn't tell her what was wrong, she just left me alone. And Brandon and I started going in and out of whether or not we were actually friends. I kept trying to stay away from him, but that proved much harder than I thought. I came so close to telling her, but every time I tried, either Brandon was around or Maddy wouldn't let me leave. I want to tell someone so I stop going crazy, but it's like the world doesn't. Like it's taunting me, telling me I need to go crazy, bullying me through all of it. I don't want to keep pushing this down, but what else am I supposed to do?

I haven't even hung out with the Crew in a while, either. I've been spending most of my time with Haley and Maddy, trying to deal with all of this. I don't know what they think I'm doing and honestly, I couldn't care less. I never liked being around them anyway, so it's not my loss. I kept getting weird looks from Eric, though. No clue what that was about.

Probably got bored of abusing women and is seeking new prey.

It wasn't much better with Maddy, either. Every time I was at school, I stayed close to her, walking her to and from her classes. I don't know if she thought I was making up for something or if I was being more romantic or what, but she never questioned it. I'm trying so hard to get over this, to get it to leave me, but I can't. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but I can't. But I might now how.

Maybe I should just give up and-

"Danny!" Haley said, banging on the lockers.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?." I don't even know what I was staring at. I honestly don't even remember getting here, in front of our lockers.
"Zoned out again?"
"Yeah, sorry. It's been happening a lot more lately."
"It's okay. Look, I need to leave town for a couple days, so you're working alone with Brandon until I get back."
"Okay. Wait, what?!"
"It's my cousins Bat-Mitzvah. He lives in Seattle, so I'm leaving tonight. You're going to have to work alone with him."

Maybe I can claim to be sick?

"I can't , I'm-"
"Save it, D. You're not making up another bullshit excuse. You're working with him whether you like it or not. I don't know why you won't just admit that you have feelings for you-know-who, but maybe spending time them with weekend will finally get you to shut up about it."

She slammed her locker shut and stormed off.

She's mad. God dammit, why does she have to be mad? It's rare to see her genuinely upset. It's like she lives her life constantly high on whatever Captain Planet was telling us not to do. Actually seeing her mad was something I always hated. She says a lot of weird stuff, but she wouldn't do anything to actually hurt anyone. I just didn't like seeing her mad.

Okay, that's it. I'm telling her. I'm telling her everything. As soon as she gets back.

Okay, I can do this. I can do this. I can be totally alone with him for a couple days without making it weird. I can be just the guy friend. I can totally be alone with him and his gorgeous eyes and his sexy gym short legs for a couple days. Yep, not going to be weird at all.

It might be uncomfortable, though.

I headed across the hall to meet Brandon at his locker, which wasn't to far from mine. He had his headphones on and I could hear him softly singing along to it. I don't know what it was, but it didn't sound as angry this time. It actually sounded like the Beetles, only with the weird guy from Foot Fighters or whatever it's called. I walked up to him, leaning agasint the locker next to him to get his attention. He didn't notice me at first, so I tapped his shoulder and he put his fist up in self defense.

"Woah, hey, it's just me," I said lowering his hand.
"Oh. Hey. Sorry, I thought maybe you were...ya know."
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, they won't be messing with you anytime soon. Long as you're with me, anyway. I mean, not 'with me', just...with me. I hope."
"Oh. Okay, cool."