“So, I’ll see you guys after practice?” Gideon asked.

                We were sitting in lunch the next day. I had invited Ethan to sit with us to keep him safe from Nate and Landon.

                “Yea. I’ll run home after practice and shower, then I’ll pick Ethan up and we’ll come to your house,” I said.

                “Aw, my hero is even escorting me tonight,” Ethan said.

                “Ethan, I really don’t like you,” I said in annoyance.

                “Oh you love me Benji. You can admit it now,” he said with a wink.

                “Go sit somewhere else!” I said, pointing towards an empty table.

                “Aw come on Benji! I’m a short, friendless, scrawny white boy! I’ll die out there on my own!” he whined.

                “Well rest in peace!” I snapped.

                “Stop that,” Sonnet said, rolling her eyes and whacking me in the back of the head.

                “I am really starting to like her,” Ethan said happily.

                “And I like you because you’re not a little bitch. You speak the truth,” Sonnet said.

                “Sonnet! You’re supposed to be on my side!” I said.

                “Can I come to your games, Benji?” Ethan asked.

                “He’s a bench warmer, Ethan,” Sonnet informed him.

                “So? Then I can watch Gideon got hot and sweaty, and if I get sick of that sight for some reason, I can just flick back to Benji,” he said joyfully.

                “This kid just doesn’t have a filter,” Sonnet said with a sigh. “I kind of like it, but I kind of miss being the only filterless bitch of the group.”

                “I hate my life,” I groaned, banging my head against Gideon’s shoulder.

                He wrapped his arm around me and offered me a smile. “Aw, it’s not so bad Greyson! I think Ethan’s a nice guy,” he said.

                “So, it’s settled. I’m a nice guy. Practically a saint,” Ethan said, his tone announcing that this topic was over.

                I sighed but let it drop. We ate until the bell rang, and got up for class. Ethan pulled his messenger bag over his shoulder and moved next to me as we walked down the hallway towards our next classes.

                “Hey, thanks for letting me sit with you guys today. Getting the shit beat out of me in the bathroom is my least favorite hobby,” he said.

                “So they hate you because you hit on Landon?” I asked.

                “Jokingly hit on Landon. And that’s only part of it. Landon hates me for that, but Jude hates me because I exposed him as the dick he is. He knows I’m not afraid to tell it like it is, even if it means having my arms broken off and shoved in my ears. Which, for your information, is completely unpleasant,” he said.

                “Well, hopefully that will stop after tonight. We’ll expose Jude to Gideon, and if he tries to come after you, we’ll handle it,” I assured him.

                “Aw, my man is looking out for me!” he said, linking his arm with mine.

                I pulled my arm away from his, making a face at him. “Don’t do that. I still don’t like you.”

                Ethan grinned. “You’ll come to love me in time, Benji. I’m sure of it.”

                I rolled my eyes and waved to him as he turned into his classroom. I suffered through the rest of the day, including a very uncomfortable soccer practice. Nate and Landon kept shooting me death glares, and I was relieved when Coach finally ended practice.

                I went into the locker room and pulled out my bag and clothes, ready to just shower and start our battle against Jude. I wanted this to be over. I wanted him to be exposed to Gideon already.

                “Jude told us about tonight, Benji. You better watch your fucking mouth if you don’t want to end up like Ethan,” Landon snarled as he walked by me, Nate following him.

                “Jesus, are you guys his bitches?” I asked, irritated. Immediately regretting my choice of words, I took comfort in the fact that Gideon was only a row of lockers away and could save my pathetic butt if they decided to hit me.

                “We’ll get you for that comment later. Don’t worry,” Nate promised, grabbing Landon’s arm before he could strike me. He forced Landon away from me, and the two disappeared out of sight.

                I grabbed the rest of my stuff and hurried out of the locker room and to my car. I drove home, showered, and drove myself to Ethan’s house.

                Ethan came out and climbed into the passenger seat of my car. I pulled out of his driveway and started off towards Gideon’s house.

                “So, uh, your parents are cool with you just spending the night at a random guy’s house?” I asked.

                “Oh please. I had to stop my mom from tweeting that I had friends,” Ethan said with a sigh.

                “Your mom tweets?” I shuddered at the horrible thoughts of my mother tweeting.

                “Please don’t remind me,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands.

                “Awkward,” I mumbled, turning up the music so that I didn’t have to talk to Ethan anymore. He was just so weird.

                I pulled into Gideon’s driveway a few minutes later, noticing Sonnet’s car and a sleek black car parked next to it. Probably the spoiled brat’s car.

                We went up to the door and rang the doorbell. Gideon’s mom opened it and smiled, letting us into the house.

                “Hi Tara. This is Ethan,” I introduced.

                “Nice to meet you Ethan!” Gideon’s mom, Tara, said. “Gideon, Jude, and Sonnet are in Gideon’s bedroom. Did something happen between Gideon and Jude? They seem…a little distant. Just the other day they were cuddling on the couch.” A worried frown appeared on her face.

                “Jude-”

                I slapped my hand over Ethan’s mouth before he could talk. “I’m sure whatever is happening between them will be resolved tonight,” I said, forcing a smile.

                “Alright,” Tara said, shooting a confused look between me and Ethan before disappearing into the kitchen.

                I led Ethan down the short hallway to Gideon’s room. I let myself in, and Gideon looked up at us from the floor. They were setting up the air mattress for later.

                “Hi Benji! Hi Ethan!” Gideon greeted.

                “Hey Gideon,” I said, entering the room and shutting his bedroom door once Ethan was in the room as well.

                “So tonight, I was thinking you three could share the air mattress since it’s so big. Jude and I can sleep on my bed together,” Gideon said.

                “Yea. We’re fine with that arrangement,” I said, trying to sound casual instead of insanely jealous. When I slept over Gideon’s house, I shared his bed with him.

                “Great! I’m just going to run and get some more blankets out of the basement. I’ll be right back,” Gideon said, getting up and heading out of his bedroom, shutting the door as he went.

                Jude got up and came right over to us. I opened my mouth to say something witty, but before I got the chance, he slapped Ethan.

                He gripped Ethan’s shirt and slammed him against the wall. “You’re a little shit, Ethan,” he hissed. “I’m not going to let you screw things up between me and Gideon. I’ve never liked you, and now I really hate you.”

                “Your cologne smells nice. It masks your evil personality,” Ethan said, sniffing Jude’s shirt.

                Jude punched him, and I stepped forward. I shoved Jude off of Ethan and stepped in front of Ethan protectively. Yes, he was weird and overly sarcastic with not filter between his brain and his mouth. But I felt a strange need to keep him safe.

                “Leave him alone,” I said coldly.

                “I’ll do whatever I damn well please. In case you haven’t noticed yet, Benji, I’m always going to win. I don’t know why you still try to stop me. I’m going to make that bastard’s life hell, and I’m going to get with Gideon. You’ll never stop me. I get what I want. Always,” Jude said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

                “Someone’s been spoiled by mommy and daddy a little too much,” Sonnet grumbled, standing up and moving next to me.

                “Well, my parents can’t buy me Gideon’s affections. I’ve earned that on my own,” he said with his usual smug expression.

                “By lying to him,” I snapped.

                Jude shrugged. “The end justifies the means. As long as I get to date Gideon, do you think I give a shit how it happened? If I have to lie to him and pretend to get along with you pathetic fuckers, I’ll do it. But if I have to hurt you to get you to mind your own business, I’ll gladly do that too.”

                He gripped my shirt, pulling me up close to his face. He stared into my eyes, his thin lips stretched up into a smirk. This close, I could manage to just barely tell him pupils apart from the rest of his pitch black eyes.

                “I’m going to date Gideon, Benji. Face it. I’ll date him, kiss him, hold his hand, have sex with him. Hell, maybe I’ll even get him to fall in love with me. Why? Because I like him. You could never understand it. I’ll admit that I’m not the nicest person in the world. But I am capable of affection, and I do sincerely want to be with Gideon. So you should really just leave our relationship alone before I have to hurt you,” he said, his eyes shining at the thought.

                Sonnet yanked his hand off, glaring at him. “I don’t like you Jude. No one actually likes you besides Gideon, and even he wouldn’t if he knew the real you. So let me make this very clear: You do not ever lay your hands on Benji. Or I will kick you so hard that your testicles will come flying out of your mouth,” she threatened, releasing his hand.

                “Oh, scary,” Jude said. “So I’m not allowed to do this?”

                He turned and punched me in the face so hard that I staggered and nearly fell over. Ethan steadied me before I could fall.

                Sonnet raised her fist to strike him, but I yanked her away as I heard Gideon coming down the hallway. Sonnet shot me a confused look.

                “He wants you to hit him!” I hissed as Gideon’s bedroom door opened. Sonnet dropped her fist, shooting a hate-filled glare at the ever-smug Jude.

                “Did I miss anything?” Gideon asked cheerfully as he set down a stack of blankets on the air mattress.

                “Just casual conversation,” Jude said with a shrug.

                “You look really tan Jude,” Gideon noted, eyeing him.

                “I was out in the sun yesterday,” Jude said. His skin was nicely tanned, matching the rest of his dark features. God, the guy was just walking darkness, wasn’t he?

                “So much sexy filled with so much cruelty. It’s almost depressing,” Ethan said, rubbing his cheek where Jude had struck him.

                “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jude said in annoyance.

                “Oh, yes you do. But that’s okay; please keep playing ignorant in order to get laid. It makes you look pathetic Judeikas,” Ethan said, grinning.

                “Judeikas.” Sonnet shuddered. “God, your parents should be shot for that.”

                “Guys! Cut it out!” Gideon said angrily, wrapping an arm around Jude’s waist. “We’re here to fix everything, not fight with each other.”  

                “I just want to get along with you all. Even you, Ethan. I always try to be nice to you, but I feel like all of you just hate me and I don’t know why,” Jude said, looking as genuinely sad as he could manage. It was very convincing.

                “They don’t hate you Jude!” Gideon said. He shot us all a look. “Do you?”

                “I do!” Ethan raised his hand cheerfully.

                I whacked him in the arm. “Not yet,” I hissed. “No, we don’t hate you Jude,” I said, loud so that everyone could hear me this time.

                “Thank you Benji,” Gideon said in relief. “See Jude? They don’t hate you.”

                “Well, I really hope not,” he said, frowning. “I really just want to get along with you guys. Besides, a lot of people judge me based on rumors people spread. I really hate it.”

                “They’re not rumors. You really are an asshole,” Ethan said.

                “Ethan!” I elbowed him in the side. It wasn’t time to expose Jude yet. We needed proof, and if we could just get our iPods out to record without him noticing, we could do it.

                “I have a big mouth, Benji! Don’t be mean to me!” he whined, pushing my arm away.

                “Look, I’m going to go have my mom order us a pizza for dinner. Then we can hang out while we wait for that, okay?” Gideon shot Jude a concerned look before leaving his bedroom again.

                Jude strut over to Ethan, shoving me to the ground to get me out of the way. He pulled Ethan close and punched him, hard.

                “I won’t let you ruin this for me Ethan. Maybe I can’t do much to you here, but when I get you alone, you better believe that I’ll beat you within an inch of your life if you don’t shut your damn mouth,” Jude said flatly.

                “And I’ll beat you within an inch of your life if you touch him again,” I said, pushing myself off of the ground and knocking Jude backwards.

                “Do you really think you can beat me up, Benji?” Jude asked, trying not to laugh. “Oh, now that would be a sight. I don’t need Nate and Landon to do my dirty work. I can handle situations by myself. I just didn’t want Gideon getting suspicious.”

                “Oh, I know you can handle things on your own. Remember that time you split my ear open and I needed stitches?” Ethan said, pointing at his ear. I noticed that it did look scarred.

                “Let me guess: You hurt Ethan because you were bored,” Sonnet said in disgust.

                “Actually, yea,” Jude said, his lips curving back into a smirk.

                “God, you’re a sick person,” I said, gripping Ethan’s arm and pulling him away from Jude. I could hear Gideon coming back down the hallway.

                “You will never expose me, Benji,” Jude promised, and fell quiet as Gideon entered the room.

                “Alright, my mom ordered pizza for us. We have about a half hour to kill until it gets here. So, I was thinking maybe we could go in the pool,” Gideon said, taking Jude’s hand in his.

                “Well that would be all fine and dandy, except that I can’t swim and I don’t trust Jude,” Ethan said.

                “Jude would never hurt anyone,” Gideon said automatically.

                “I say we swim. Benji can help you if you need it. The low end of Gideon’s pool is only four feet. You’re not that short Ethan,” Jude said with a shrug.

                “This sexy thing helping me?” Ethan jerked his thumb at me, raising an eyebrow. “Alright, I’m totally in. I just don’t have swim trunks.”

                “You can borrow some of mine,” Gideon offered.

                So we all changed into our bathing suits and met up in Gideon’s backyard. I had to force my mouth not to drop open at the sight of the beautiful people in front of me.

                First was Sonnet. I may be gay, but I could definitely appreciate how breathtakingly beautiful she was. She had a great body; not too skinny, but nowhere near fat. She had a very light tan going, and her light brown hair fell straight as a pin, slightly past her shoulders.

                Then there was Jude. Holy hell the boy was sexy. With his pitch black hair and eyes, his perfectly tanned skin, and his well toned body, he looked like a friggin’ supermodel. You could tell by the confidence and smugness in his expression that he was quite aware of how sexy he truly was.

                Ethan stood near Sonnet, looking like a confused puppy as his eyes shot around, trying to take in everyone’s appearance. He was short and scrawny, but he was cute.

                Finally, was Gideon. His gorgeous body teased me, with his slightly tanned skin, his light brown hair, and his freaking abs. His legs were nicely built, but not disgustingly so. You could definitely tell he was a soccer player.

                “Are you guys ready to swim?” Gideon asked, snapping me out of my hungry trance. I was starting to feel like Ethan. I just wanted to look at all of them at once.

                “Don’t you dare let me drown, and if you let Jude kill me, I promise I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life,” Ethan promised, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to the pool.

                “Oh god. I’d rather keep you alive,” I said, watching Sonnet perform a nice dive right into the deep end of the pool. Gideon jumped in after her, with about as much grace as a cow attempting ballet.

                “Have fun swimming Ethan,” Jude said, smirking and shoving by us so he could get in the water.

                “Don’t worry about him, Ethan. I won’t let you drown,” I assured, pulling him into the low end of Gideon’s pool.

                Ethan nervously gripping my arm. “While this does give me a really good excuse to cling to you, you better know that I actually am terrified of drowning,” he said matter-of-factly.

                “How do you not know how to swim?” I asked.

                “Did you miss the part where I’m afraid of drowning? My dad took me in the ocean once, a wave crashed over me, I didn’t know which way was up, I nearly drowned, and I haven’t been back in water since then. That was 13 years ago,” he said.

                “Come on; let’s go in the deep end with the others,” I said, starting to lead him.

                Ethan pulled me to a stop. “Whoa there big boy! Seriously, do you just tune me out when I try to tell you things?” he asked in annoyance.

                “Basically. Anyways, I understand you’re afraid, but I swear I won’t let you drown. Just trust me Ethan,” I said seriously.

                He hesitated before coming over and putting his arm around my neck. He held onto me, kicking his feet desperately as we made it to the deep end of the pool where he couldn’t touch.

                “Don’t kick your legs so wildly,” I said, demonstrating how to do it.

                “God, this sucks,” Ethan groaned, trying to copy me. He slowly released me as I showed him how to move his arms and legs to tread water. I smiled at him as he treaded the water by himself.

                “See? Not so hard,” I said.

                “You two are cute together,” Jude said, looking between us.

                “I’m just cute in general,” Ethan said, gripping my shoulder as he forgot to move his legs while he talked. I held him until he was back into the rhythm again.

                “Don’t you think they’re cute together Gideon?” Jude asked, ignoring Ethan.

                “Yea. Yea, I do think so,” Gideon said, smiling at me.

                “Well this just got uncomfortable,” Ethan announced as we fell into awkward silence. “I mean, I like being shipped with Benji, but this just got so awkward.”

                I laughed uncomfortably and we went back to swimming. We swam around for about twenty minutes before hearing a door open.

                “Gideon! The pizza is here!” Gideon’s dad called from the backdoor.

                I helped Ethan out of the pool and we all started walking inside. Sonnet grabbed my hand and yanked me back as the other three disappeared through the backdoor.

                “You idiot!” she said impatiently.

                “What?” I asked in confusion.

                “Jude is winning right now,” she said.

                “What the hell are you talking about?!” I asked.

                “After Jude’s comment, Gideon made sure you two weren’t paying attention before telling me that he thinks you should ask Ethan out because you guys are cute together,” she said. “Guess who wanted that idea in his head?”

                “Because Jude wants Gideon to think I don’t like him. He wants Gideon to think I’m perfectly content with someone like Ethan,” I said slowly.

                “Bravo,” Jude said, stepping out of the backdoor. “You pick up on things quickly, Sonnet.”

                “You bastard,” I snarled, clenching my fist tightly.

                Jude smirked at me. “Gideon wanted me to make sure you two were alright. I told him you were probably discussing your feelings for Ethan. I honestly could see you two together. A pathetic loser with a pathetic loser. It’s very fitting.”

                “We’ll expose you,” I said coldly.

                “No, you won’t. You’ll never outsmart me Benji. Not even with Sonnet’s help. As for Ethan? The kid is worthless. Why do you think he has absolutely no friends? You might as well drop him while you have the chance.” His smirk grew. “Also, come inside and have some pizza.”

                With that, he turned and disappeared inside. Sonnet placed a hand on my shoulder, glaring after Jude.

                “We’ll get him Benji. I promise we will,” she said before giving me a shove into the house.

                “Hey guys. Pizza’s here,” Gideon said, tossing us paper plates as we entered the dining room.

                We sat down and talked as we ate pizza. When we were done, we went back out to the pool where I had to help Ethan again. I became aware of Gideon watching us as Ethan wrapped his arms around my neck to keep from sinking. I grit my teeth, but didn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t just let Ethan drown, even if he was an obnoxious idiot.

                When it got dark, we left the pool and went up to Gideon’s room, changing into shorts to go to bed. I climbed onto the air mattress in between Sonnet and Ethan.

                My heart ached as I watched Jude lie down next to Gideon. Gideon wrapped his arms around Jude’s waist, holding him close, a slight blush on his face.

                “Before we go to sleep, I just want to know something Jude,” Gideon said.

                “Anything,” Jude said, glancing at Gideon curiously.

                “Did you ever do anything mean to Ethan?” Gideon asked, his expression turning serious. “And don’t lie to me. You’ve never lied to me before.”

                “Nate and Landon have hurt him in the past. I guess he hates me for not stopping them,” Jude said guiltily.

                “No, I hate you for joining them,” Ethan corrected with a bright smile.

                “I would never hurt anyone!” Jude said, trying to sound offensive. God, the kid was convincing.

                “Yea, and I’m a 3-legged nun named Mother Tangoflango,” Ethan said with a snort.

                “I’m sorry I never stopped them, Ethan,” Jude said sincerely. The same sincere tone he had used when apologizing to me and handing me a drink full of Everclear.

                “And I’m sorry that your future boyfriend is falling for your nice guy act. He’s in for a big surprise when he gets to know the real you,” Ethan said.

                “Preach it, sister,” Sonnet said, patting Ethan’s shoulder approvingly.

                “Listen, I don’t know what happened between you and Jude, and I don’t know when it happened. But I do know that Jude is not a mean person. He would never harm anyone intentionally. Nate and Landon…Well, they’re mean people. So I can believe that they would hurt you. But Ethan, if you’re mad that Jude didn’t stop them, I can understand. There’s no need to say he hurt you if he didn’t. Jude is a good person,” Gideon said, pulling Jude even closer to himself.

                Ethan rolled over so that he was facing me. “Seriously, you put up with that dense hottie?”

                “Ethan!” I snapped, whacking him in the arm.

                “Ow! Don’t hit me!” he said, swatting my hand away.

                “Well don’t insult Gideon,” I said sternly. It wasn’t Gideon’s fault that Jude was good at playing a nice guy.

                “Okay, okay. Can we just go to sleep? And I’m probably going to have some morning wood. All the hot guys in the room are making things down south turn north,” Ethan said with a sigh.

                “Lovely. Thank you for sharing,” Sonnet grumbled, rolling over and shutting the lights out for us.

                As we fell into darkness, I could hear Jude and Gideon shifting on his bed. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized that Gideon had his head on Jude’s chest, and Jude was playing with Gideon’s hair comfortingly.

                Panic pumped through my veins as I watched the two. They were so, so close to dating each other. I had to expose Jude to Gideon before it was too late. Maybe I couldn’t stop them from dating, but I could at least make Gideon think about it before he accepted to be Jude’s boyfriend.

                I felt a hand rest on top of mine, and my heart calmed down from its wild pumping. I could make out Ethan’s face in the darkness, turned towards me.

                “Thanks for not letting me drown,” he said, his voice low so that only I could hear him.

                “I swore I wouldn’t,” I said. Okay, so maybe Ethan wasn’t annoying all the time. Just most of the time.

                “You asked me to trust you today. I do trust you Benji. A lot. You’re the only person who’s ever been nice to me. Well, besides my mom, but she doesn’t count,” he said, scooting a little closer to me.

                I mentally sighed, letting my hand close around his. “You’re not half bad, Ethan,” I said, also keeping my voice low.

                He grinned in the darkness. “Not half bad? Eh, I’ll take it.”

                He curled up against me, closing his eyes. I was surprised at first, but slowly relaxed against him, slinging my arm over him.

                Something tickled at my heart, but I ignored it. I was just being nice to Ethan. The only person I would ever have feelings for was Gideon. And I was so close to exposing Jude to him. Irrelevant feelings for Ethan weren’t going to pull me away from my Gideon when I was so close to finally making him mine.

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A.N.- Sorry it took so long to update! Also, sorry if this chapter is a little messy and scatter-brained. I fell and hit my head the other day (also resulting in me throwing out my back and pulling something in my neck. Smooth is my middle name.) and I'm sleep deprived haha. 

Buttttttt you got a lot of Jude and Ethan this chapter! So let me know what you guys think of them! ^-^