KISS: Casablanca High School

Ch 20: Senior Szn (Eric C and Bruce)

ERIC C

I hopped out of my car and moved toward the picnic tables, swinging my keys and feeling them slap satisfyingly against my palm. Ace was lying on the bench with his head in Peter's lap, smiling up at him as Peter ran a hand through his hair. Gene was sitting with his head in his hands, miserable look on his face.

"Hey, where's Paul?" I asked, eliciting nothing more than laughter from Ace and Peter.

"Oh man, you didn't hear what happened?" Peter said with a grin. "He got busted!" Ace cried, sitting upright. "Paul went home hungover, even though we told him not to, and his parents totally knew he had gotten wasted and were pisssssed. He's grounded to the point they don't even want him leaving the house for school. Like, they took his phone, shut off the WiFi in their house, the whole nine yards. And Genie here has to go to school, work, and then straight home to deep clean your apartment, doncha?"

"Shut up, man," Gene grumbled.

"Oh dang that's tough. How many days is Paul out?"

Peter just shrugged, pulling Ace back onto his lap. "No clue, man."

The first bell rang and the mad scramble for backpacks ensued. "Hey Gene, can you send me a picture of the math notes? Ohhhh no you can't do that, huh?" Peter teased. Rising to his feet, Gene grabbed his backpack and flipped Peter off. "You keep your mouth shut, Criss," he growled, storming off to math.

"Aw, curly, don't tease him like that! You know it wasn't his fault technically!" Peter just grinned, kissing Ace goodbye and walking with me to math.

"So, what's with you and Bruce?" he blurted out. My face grew redder and I stared at the floor. "Nothing, honestly. We're just friends. Well, I'm trying to be friends with him I just get so flustered and all that," I mumbled.

"What, flustered like you get when you have a crush on someone?" Peter wheedled. "No! Not like that, it's just... I dunno man, he just seems so chill and all that and it gets to me. Guess I'm not as comfortable here as I thought."

"Aw, Eric. You gotta get out more, man. Sorry we all bailed at the party, by the way. Who'd you hang out with?"

"Yeah thanks for that. Some of my friends from Devereaux were at the party so I hung out with them until I saw Paul jump off the roof."

Peter nodded slowly, eyes shining. "Hey, our water polo game got rescheduled to today, you wanna go? You could meet some more people on the team and at school and whatnot, and see that Bruce isn't cool enough to warrent being intimidated by," he said, smile creeping across his face. I felt a blush creeping across mine. "Maybe. I'll have to see how much homework I have," I mumbled.

"Aw, come on, Eric! You've what, been to two football games and a party? It's been like over two months, you gotta branch out!"

"What, you trying to get rid of me?" I asked with a laugh. Peter ruffled my hair affectionately. "Hardly, man, but I want you to have fun here! Senior year and all that!"

"Senior year would be a whole lot better if I didn't have to be in calculus."

Peter let out a heavy sigh as we joined the small mob of students outside of Aucoin's. "Ain't that the truth." 

Halfway through French, Bruce rose to his feet, excuse note clutched triumphantly in his hand. "Hey Eric, you should come to the game! You'll have a chance to meet some new people and stuff!" he murmured. "Did Peter put you up to that?" I whispered back, eliciting a laugh from Bruce. "He told me to encourage you to show up, yeah. But you really should go, the games are fun to watch. We're pretty good this season, now that Peter's showing up sober to practice," he said with a wink. I shook my head, face happily red. "Imagine my surprise. Well, I'll see if I can make it! Good luck!"