CHAPTER FIFTEEN: I am not a crook

ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

XAVIER MACKEN TURNED HIS HEAD WHEN HE HEARD THE SOUND OF RUSHED FOOTSTEPS. Eric Matthews dropped his bag in the seat next to Xavier. Xavier leaned towards the other. "You okay?" He asked.

"What? Yeah!" Eric replied, rushing.

"You do know you weren't anywhere near late-as you normally are, right? It's a minute til the class starts." Xavier informed. "You ran into this class like you had a few seconds to get here."

"Yeah," Eric quickly says, nodding his head frantically.

Xavier looked at the other, confused. "Why?"

"I wanted to talk to you."
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

"Xavier we need your help!"  Shawn yelled.

Xavier looked away from Eric, who glared at Shawn as he ran up to the two, interrupting the conversation.  "Hey, Shawn,"

"We need to talk good about Cory," Shawn says, lifting up the camera.

"How about you show up before I'm torturing  Eric and I'll give you a statement then, all right?"
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

"Shawn, I said before I start to tutor Eric," Xavier says.

"What's it matter? He wasn't paying attention! He was to busy staring at you!" Shawn argued.

"I was explaining the lesson, what's he supposed to do? Look at the wall?" Xavier asked. It wasn't math, so it's not like Eric needed to see the problem solving steps.

"You weren't even teaching him anything! You were ranting about your favorite book-"

"It wasn't his favorite book, it was the book he last read," Eric corrected.

"Okay. Whatever!" Shawn took he camera out, he pointed it at Eric. "Okay, so the ideas here is that you and your brother share a common bond-brotherhood."

"So, basically, you just want to see me being an older brother," Eric says.

"There you go. Okay. Action!"

Cory walked into the kitchen by the back door, smiling.

"Hey, Cor!" Eric immediately says.

"Hey there, older brother," Cory smiled.

The only reason Xavier doesn't face palm into the table was because Shawn would complain that he needed to do a retake.

"You know, Cor, I was just sitting here thinking what makes my little brother special?  What sets him apart from the other seventh grade candidates? Is it his allergy to scallops?"

"Eric," Cory says, panicked.

"Is it his scooby-drop thermos?" Eric takes the thermos.

Xavier laughed. "Hey, at least it's scooby-doo and not...like the Magic school bus."

"Where'd you find that?" Cory asked.

"No. I think it's his fuzzy bunny pajamas with the cotton tail."

"I haven't worn these for years. I swear." Cory says into the camera.

"Boingy, boingy, boingy," Eric bounced the small set of pajamas in the air. "vote for me. Boingy, boingy, boingy."

Cory ripped the pajamas from his hands. "Xavier, talk!"

"What the fuck do you want me to say?" He questioned, looking at the boy as if he was insane.

"Anything! You talk and Eric gets distracted!"

Eric stared at Xavier, who rolled his eyes. "Why is everyone so weird? Come on, Eric," Xavier reached out, grabbing Eric's hand. "Let's go study."

Eric stared down at where Xavier had grabbed his hands.
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒ

Xavier had moved his seat to sit next to Eric, helping the other with the homework.

Xavier had been ignoring the pitying looks his classmates had sent him. The way the teacher had offered that he could leave the room anytime he wanted.

Xavier had taken the chance the teacher was giving him and switching where he sat to sit next to Eric.  He gave Eric the answers, saying he would explain them to him later.
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

Eric said he wanted something to drink, taking Xavier's hand and pulling him to the lunchroom.

"I'm Cory Matthews! The next president of the eight grade!" Corey yelled out as Shawn walked out of the cafeteria.

"Not without me, pal," Shawn had turned around, before he walked down the hallway.

Eric handed Xavier a coca-cola, having brought two. "Thanks," Xavier smiled.

"So, how's the campaign?" Eric asked his little brother.

"We're just re-evaluating, you know," Cory speaks. "considering a new direction."

"And that would be down?" Eric asked back.

Xavier laughed.

"Shawn was just holding me back," Cory says.

Xavier tsked, biting his tongue to keep from snapping at the younger one.

"You're right. It's a good move," Eric speaks. "Dumping your best friend for a class election you're gonna lose anyway."

"You're jealous," Cory smiled. "You're use to being the big man. Mr. Rugby shirt, Mr. Good hair, Mr. Dimples."

"Oh, stop. Stop," Eric motioned for Cory to continue.

"But, when I'm president, people are gonna look at you and say, 'who's that sitting next to Cory?' 'Who's that giving Cory a ride home?'"

"Who's the guy with naked photos of Cory running through the sprinklers?" Eric shot back.

"Isn't that the kid who was almost killed by Harley for dating his sister?" Xavier brought up, opening his can of soda.

"Eric, big deal. I was four." Cory argued. "And Xavier, no one knew she was his sister. Did you see how many guys said they've dated her?"

"I knew she was his sister," Xavier replied.

"Shocker!" Cory sarcastically responded.

"You were twelve," Eric tells Cory.

Xavier looked at him, shocked. "Dude, what is wrong with you?"

"It was refreshing," Cory argued.
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

Xavier sat across from Eric. "Hey, do you want to go somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah," Eric says, sounding a bit confused but he was grinning.

Xavier reached for Eric's hand, pulling him along. "Come on, I want to show you a place. It's a bit late. But, you've got to ask your parents, I can show you another-" he starts.

Eric had ran down the stairs, pulling Xavier with him.  "Bye, we're going out!" Eric yelled as he ran pass his father and mother.

"Wow! Are you aware of what time it is?" Alan asked, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

"Don't worry it's not like I'm going back to my dad's house. There's this place nearby, it's less than an hour away, and I wanted to take Eric to see it," Xavier explained.

"It's late. You shouldn't be out on the streets this late, especially during a school night."

"But, Dad,  -" Eric started to complain, because, his father ruined the night with Xavier. He had thought that, maybe, he could take that moment to ask Xavier out. Before he cowards out. Again.

"No. No. Neither of you are allowed out late. Or should I get Mr. Fenny, Xavier?" Alan says.

Xavier looked down at the ground, lowly muttering. "No, Mr. Matthews."

Alan glanced at Eric, seeing the way his eldest son looked at Xavier. And, if he hadn't seen Xavier look at Eric in the same way, he would have let Xavier stay over.
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

Xavier had gone to the Matthew's house, nervously. Alan sighed, walking to the back door and opening it. "Let me guess, you're here to see Eric?"

Xavier had tried to stop his face from heating up. "Yeah, I wanted to show him a place, but, I'll bring him back before it gets to dark."

Alan narrowed his eyes, before he could say anything, Eric's frantic footstep were heard coming down the stairs. His head snapped up, tripping over his feet before he was able to steady himself. He looked down at his wrist, as if he had a watch. He didn't. "Xavier, you're early."

Alan sighed, reaching out and grabbing Eric's jacket sleeve, pulling him out the door and to Xavier. "Keep him."

Xavier laughed at the look at Eric's face as Alan closed the door. "Come on, handsome."
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

Xavier had climbed up the fire escape, glancing back at Eric, who was looking back at forth. "Relax. The coast is all clear."

Eric followed after him, Xavier laid in the roof, arms thrown back behind his head. Eric walked over, sitting down. Xavier reached over, pulling Eric's arm. "Lay back." Xavier ordered. "I love it. The sky's really beautiful."

"You came here a lot?" Eric asked, wanting to ask if Xavier had ever brought anyone else up here.

"Mostly to get away from my dad, haven't been here since that night." Xavier say. It went quite. Xavier mentally hit himself for ruining the moment. "You know, the only other person I showed this place was Shawn. And that was because I couldn't sleep that night. Neither cold he."

Xavier didn't say how the reason neither could sleep was because of how much pain Xavier was in. He didn't say that it had taken over thirty minutes for him to climb up the building or that Shawn had climbed behind him, incase Xavier slipped. Apparently ready to catch the older one. Xavier was sure that if anything, that would just make Shawn fall of as-well.

He shook his head, turning to Eric with a smile. "So, other that Shawn, you are the only person I've brought here."
ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴀʏᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ

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