Just Say You Need Me

Chapter 3: Follow Me

"Mr. Hallis, I assume you know why I asked to meet with you after class." Mr. H always starts his conversations like this when we talk at his desk. Whether I'm in trouble or during our regular conversations at lunch, he always starts like this. I kind of like it, but it makes things feel too official.

"Hmmm, let me think about it," I say, touching a finger to my chin. "Is it because of my last free write?"

"No, but we can talk about your offensive way of writing later," He chuckles. "No, this is about Mr. Schwinn."

"Okay, first of all, it's not offensive! It's different!" I defend my writing, even though I know there are things I could improve. "Anyway, what about him?"

"Well," Mr. H begins, "I noticed during our little Q&A that you had all eyes on Rick the whole time. I assume you've taken an interest to him?"

I give him a confused stare. "What are you getting at?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to show him around the school a bit, just so he won't get lost again."

Mr. H and I share a glance for a minute, then the door opens and Rick walks in. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all!" Mr. H exclaims, looking between Rick and I. "I was just asking Drew here if he'd like to show you around the school." He glances at me again, and I shoot him the stink eye.

"Sure, I'd love to..." I mutter.

"Oh, um, that's great. Thanks, Mr. Harris." Rick smiles at Mr. H and looks back to me. "So, Shall we begin?"

"Okay," I stammer, looking toward him shyly. "Follow me."

We leave the classroom and walk down the hallway, stopping in front of the gym. "Our first stop is the gym. Usually only freshman and sophomores have gym, and the juniors and seniors have swimming and weights, but being that I don't know which of those you are, you'd need to know."

"Oh, I'm actually a sophomore," Richard points out. A sophomore. The same class as me, yet he seems like he's at least a year older. Maybe he got held back a year?

"Are you okay?" He taps my shoulder, and I notice that I got lost in my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I feign. "I was just thinking about something."

"It wasn't about me, was it?" Richard says, letting out a small snicker.

"What? No! No, I was just thinking about my blood sugar," I lie. I also just gave away the fact that I have diabetes to a complete stranger. This is lovely.

"Wait," Richard stops me. "You're diabetic? I had no idea."

"Yeah, I was diagnosed at a young age. I've had it basically all my life."

"I'm so sorry." He stares into my eyes with a look of sympathy. "It must've been rough to hear."

"It was hard at first, but you learn to live with it. It's not that bad, honestly. It's just about how you take care of yourself."

"Do you have to take injections?"

"No, I take pills for my insulin. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed with type 2, so I have more options as far as medicine."

Richard cocks his head at me. "Isn't type 2 the worst type to have?"

"For most people. For me, I learned to adapt to it quickly."

"That's so cool!" He smiles at me, and I notice his teeth are really white. Not blindingly white, but just enough to be unnatural.

"I guess. We should probably move on."

I walk Rick through the school, hitting all the essential spots and telling him all the secrets that he should know for his survival. Not that he should take tips from me, but it's worth a shot.

"Thank you for showing me around today," Richard smiles again, extending his hand to shake mine.

"No problem," I beam, taking his hand. We really got along on our walk, and I learned a lot about him. Maybe we could make this friendship work...

Except just as I start thinking that, some jock bumps into me, knocking me into a locker. "Watch where you're going, fag!" He yells toward me, then walks off. I roll my eyes and look back toward Richard.

"Did he just say-"

"Yes," I interrupt Richard. "He called me a fag."

"So does that mean..." He begins to say something, but trails off.

"Does that mean what?"

"That means you're gay, right?"

"Yep, but I don't let anyone know except close friends. This is Vermont, after all." I stare down at my shoes, feeling awkward.

Richard locks me into a loose hug. "Oh, thank God! I thought I was going to be the only gay kid at this school!"

Did he just say what I think he said?

I slip out of Richard's hug, still not looking at him. "You're gay?"

"Yeah!" He says, picking my chin up to look at him. I get a shiver down my spine, because damn that just happened.

"But you don't really seem like you are."

"What does a gay guy look like to you?" He cocks his head again, still smiling a bit.

"I don't know... " I stop to think. "Weird hairstyles, colorful clothes, vibrant personalities-"

"Then you don't necessarily fill that description, do you?"

"Fair point," I smile up at him. He's only a couple inches taller than me, but I like it.

"So can we make this an inside joke now?"

"What, two gay guys hanging outside of the cafeteria, talking?"

"More of the two gay guys part," Richard chuckles again.

"I think we could."

"I would like that, especially if it's with a cute guy like you."

He just dropped the cute bomb! What do I do?

"I guess you could say that..." I smile down at my shoes again. I can't believe he just said that.

I guess today just keeps getting better and better.