| 10 | Cemetery Drive

***

That evening I spent watching stupid (well actually they were really entertaining) Chick Flicks in Brice's room. It was about one in the morning now, and I've been chugging coffee ever since I've gotten here. Brice did the same; we were determined to stay awake tonight before we go back to school.

"Damn, she could have avoided all of this by not kissing that dude!" Brice frowned, throwing popcorn at the T.V. "How dumb."

"Well it's a Chick Flick of course you can expect drama," I replied, stuffing a handful of popcorn into my mouth.

"We should totally watch a horror movie," a twisted smile spread across his face, "—let's see what they have."

"Let's watch The Shrine," I suggested. "I heard they had it on Netflix, and I also heard it was pretty good."

"Since when do you hear about horror movies?" Brice questioned while reading the initial description of The Shrine. "Have you even watched horror movies?"

"Not really, they're not my type," I admitted, "but my friend Isaac always watched them, and he would tell me all about them. I remember this one time he had watched The Shrine and he was, well, hyped up about it and really wanted me to go watch it."

"Well, let's start watching it then," Brice said.

***

Screams, blood, and gore. I had hid under the covers every time a scene depicted of bloodshed. Again, I wasn't the type for horror movies, mainly because they scared the living shit out of me. Luckily, Brice had done the same at every jump scare or intense moment. We were on the same boat with this.

Abruptly, as there were more screams, I felt a vibration on the mattress. Brice toppled foreword, pausing the movie and sitting on the ground. Frantically, he whispered, "What was that?"

"I think someone's calling me," I frowned as I searched for my phone, "someone besides my parents."

Brice turned the light on, "Who else would call you at this time and hour?"

I eventually had found it under the sheets. I checked the notification, "Jason apparently would."

"Call him back, then," Brice suggested.

I nodded and dialed his number, then held the phone against my ear. It rang a couple times before Jason had picked up.

"Hey Star Boy," I said, cheerfully. Brice gave me a weird look.

"Hey Seto," I heard Jason's radiant outburst on the other line. "How come you didn't come to school today?"

"Oh, I got sick," I faked a cough, "but I'm feeling much better now."

"Sweet," I could just imagine his face lighting up on the other line, "I was wondering where you were right now, though it sounds like a dumb question since you were sick."

"I'm uh—" I paused for a moment, "—currently at my house; why are you asking?"

"I wanted to ask if we could meet up at Cemetery Drive," Jason requested (which sounded more like a statement).

"Sure, just let me change and I'll be there in a bit," I nodded. Brice gave me a weird look again.

"Okay, bye!" Jason gleefully shouted, nearly piercing my eardrum. I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone.

"You're coming with me to Cemetery Drive," I told Brice while I stood up and stretched. "He wants to tell me something apparently."

"What if it's foggy out and we see that creepy statue from the movie?" Brice panicked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

I giggled, "What? You're even more afraid than I am?"

Brice rolled his eyes, "Let's go sneak out the window."

I nodded. Brice opened up one of his windows and jumped out. I followed. It wasn't a big jump since he had lived in a one story house. He somehow managed to shut the window. I watched with amusement.

"You do this often, don't you?" I scoffed.

"Shut up," Brice frowned. "Cemetery Drive is only a couple blocks away. If we sprint for it we can probably make it there first. What does Jason want to tell you?"

"No clue, honestly," I shrugged. "He told me how he wanted to meet up with me at Cemetery Drive two days ago, but I had forgotten."

Brice nodded as he started walking down the sidewalk. It was a cold autumn evening, the wind was blowing harshly and the trees swayed and hit windows. The street lamps flickered, each not bothering to light up the long, gloomy road ahead of us. I shivered—I should have brought a heavier jacket.

Brice stopped in his tracks and took off his leather jacket, passing it to me, "Take it—you're cold."

"But you're wearing short sleeves," I argued.

"It's not like I'm actually cold. I have more meat on my bones, unlike you," he snickered. I rolled my eyes and took his jacket. It was oversized and the sleeves were a bit long, but it kept me warm. It smelled fresh.

We continued our walk. Brice didn't seem to be phased by the fact that it was horrendously cold out, nor did he seem phased that I was being weighed down by his jacket. Leather is heavy, first of all. Additionally, when it's twice your regular size, of course it's going to slow you down almost like that one shitty Pokémon. What was it—Slowpoke?

In the distance I could see a graveyard, along with a dark figure standing in front of them. Brice slowed down, seeming to have caught sight of this as well. "I'll wait here, you just go so Jason won't get suspicious. Take the jacket, too. Don't shiver like a puppy."

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks Brice."

He nodded and stood waiting. I began to stroll towards the lone figure that stood in front of the graveyard. The lamppost above the figure flickered to reveal it was Jason—holding a single rose. I gulped.

I managed to catch up with him. He was wearing a blue hoodie, ripped jeans, and black converse shoes. His hair was a mess, and his face was tinted pink by either the chill outside or whatever was going to occur at this very moment. He avoided my sharp gaze and smiled.

"Hey," he rubbed the back of my neck. "So, you're probably wondering why I asked you out here."

"Well, yeah," I shrugged, gazing out at the dozen rows of graves and tombstones. The gate was opened.

"I have something to tell you," he bit the corner of his lip and frowned. "But first, want to go take a walk? The graveyard is really pretty at night."

I furrowed my eyebrows, quite suspicious, "Sure."

He nodded, then started to walk towards the graveyard. I followed behind him, managing to walk by his side after a couple steps. The graves shone in the silver strip of moonlight above our heads. Though I thought of this as something creepy, it was actually quite pleasant. Occasionally, I would gaze over my shoulder to see Brice edging closer to us, but Jason didn't seem to notice.

We walked down the gravel path until we had reached a large circle in the middle of the graveyard. There was a single bench. Surrounding it was some bushes. Behind it was a lamppost that didn't flicker, but had stayed on. Jason strolled towards it, standing in front of the bench. I followed, awkwardly standing in front of him.

"So—" I tried to start up basic conversation, but the silence was too thick.

"I have something to tell you," he repeated, biting the corner of his lip. He gazed down, avoiding eye contact with me once more. It was almost as if he had looked guilty.

"What is it?" I gulped, trying to be as blunt as possible.

"I love you," he looked up at me and gave the single rose to me. Its petals were soft and delicate. The flower seemed to be freshly picked. Jason continued, "It hasn't been a week since I've met you, but I really do love you. I mean, ever since I've laid eyes on you I had a huge crush on you and I love you so much, Seto, and words can't even describe it."

I felt my face heat up. Sure, I had thought he was cute in the past, but hell we didn't even talk that much. I remained silent as I avoided his gaze; what would Brice do in this situation?

"And uh," Jason smiled, "will you be my boyfriend?"

I widened my eyes and awkwardly shifted. Of course, one "no" could crush his whole confidence, and I couldn't do that. I didn't like Jason like that, though—so I remained quiet until something could happen. Part of me wished for an apocalypse to begin, mainly because we were standing in the middle of a graveyard.

"Hey Seto!" Brice shouted in the distance, alerting both Jason and I. He ran up to me, seeming to understand my awkward posture. "Can't believe I'd be seeing you here!"

Jason frowned, "Go away, Brice."

"Oh look," Brice sneered, returning to his asshole attitude, "it's Jason Probst, the one and only. Oh, how I should tremble before your feet."

I tried my best not to snicker.

"What are you doing here?" Jason questioned, poking at Brice's chest (quite fiercely despite his size).

"Careful now," Brice snickered, "don't get too pushy. We wouldn't want your precious Adam and Ty to get hurt!"

After spending time with Brice, it had sounded so fake. God, part of me wanted to burst out laughing at moment, but I managed to hold it in.

"Leave, Brice," Jason growled. "This is private."

"Last time I checked you didn't own this cemetery," Brice sassed. "Anyway, Seto and I really need to go."

He turned to me, "I thought I'd find you out here instead of the forest—seems like you'd enjoy this type of stuff. Now let's go, I'm not finishing that art project by myself, asshole."

He grabbed my wrist, making it look as if he was angry. His tone of voice was fake, but to someone who didn't know him as well it sounded quite real. Jason snapped, "Can't you fucking wait!"

"Sorry, but I unfortunately can't," Brice sneered. He began pulling me down the gravel path; I made it look as if it was against my own will. Jason ran after us, but then stopped in his tracks.

"Seto," Jason began, "that's Brice's jacket you're wearing, isn't it?"

Shit.

"Why would I give my jacket to this fag?" Brice barked. "You're insane. I'm done talking to you, let's go. You better fucking finish that project."

I dropped the rose on the ground.

"A-Alright," I stuttered as he yanked me away. Jason didn't bother to follow, he just stood there on the gravel path, staring down at us while we had walked away.

Yeah, I felt like a total asshole, but it was alright.

Everything was alright.

***

"You can't wear the same clothes everyday, Seto," Brice rolled his eyes. "No wonder Jason liked you—you're like a cartoon character who never changes their clothes."

"Well, I honestly don't want to go back to my house with my shitty parents," I rolled my eyes as well, having that same sharp tone.

"Then get your clothes at your house," Brice suggested. "Or whatever you'd need. Then, you can just live with me or something."

"You're serious?" I snickered.

"Of course," Brice smiled.

Instead of going back to Brice's house, we snuck back to my own house. Brice was amused at the size of it. Both of us managing to fit through the small gaps of the gate, we dashed towards the side of the house. My room was on the second floor. I gave Brice back his jacket, and he gave me a boost up on the mini roof thing (or whatever you'd call the little roofs under windows). I managed to open up the window from the outside and break in.

It was dark in my room, and despite everything not being unpacked yet, it was unpacked for me. Hell, even all my posters were hung up. I quietly strolled towards my closet and grabbed the black duffle bag that was sitting on the floor. I also grabbed some necessities (like clothes, toothbrushes, multiple packets of toothpaste, and my debit cards that have quite a lot of money in them) and stuffed them in there. I closed the duffle bag and went back towards the window.

Crawling out, I slammed the window shut and jumped down from the roof thing. Brice managed to catch me.

"Got everything you need?" Brice questioned.

"Hell yeah, I'm not living there anymore," I replied.

"You can live in the treehouse that I had built in the forest," Brice suggested. "I can stay with you there too if you'd like. Running away is pretty cool."

"Aren't your moms gonna get pissed?" I questioned as we left my parent's house.

"Not really, I can just call them every once and a while," Brice shrugged. "My moms are use to edgy teenagers."

"Sweet. How did you think Jason took that acting?" I questioned as we headed out towards the forest.

"He probably took it quite seriously. I mean, we're probably going to be the talk of the school tomorrow."

"What if Adam and Ty grab at my throat?"

"Then I'll grab at theirs."

***

School today wasn't as easy as breaking into my parent's house and getting my stuff.

Brice and I were exhausted, and quite spooked, from yesterday's adventures and the horror movie we had watched. Thank god we had most of our classes together—that gave us an excuse to talk to each other without it being so awkward. Most of the school had heard of the events that took place at Cemetery Drive; odd looks would be shot at us every once and a while.

In other news, Brice had broken up with Shelby. It reminded me of the Chick Flicks we had watched as well—the girl slaps the guy and then goes crying to her bitchy friends. Except this time, Brice catches her hand and flips her off. I'm really proud of the dude; that's a big step of overcoming an abusive relationship.

I haven't seen Adam or Ty around, luckily. If I had, there would be some kind of argument being broiled up, which I wouldn't want to occur. I've seen Jason, though. Whenever we'd make eye contact he always had that lost look in his eyes.

I tried my best not to feel guilty.

Now lunch, my favorite subject of the day, was here. Not knowing where to sit, Brice led me to his table and I sat there. He sat with all the artsy kids—they were all pretty nice. I even met the girl he was talking to the other day; her nickname was Bonkers apparently. She wore eyeliner and bright red eyeshadow. She also had black hair and a pixie cut, as well as a jaw line that could cut a bitch.

"So about those rumors with Cemetery Drive," WeedLion said (his real name was Inge, but he said he'd rather be called by WeedLion. It's pretty cool if you asked me).

"What are the rumors?" James, otherwise known as BlueMonkey, had asked.

"Last I heard was that Brice punched Jason in the face, but that's obviously not true," Bonkers rolled her eyes.

"Chill," Brice frowned. "Jason was confessing his undying love for Seto—"

"—aww," James interrupted.

"Let me finish," Brice rolled his eyes, "and Seto wanted to say no, but couldn't. So I just pretended to be an asshole and drag him away; case closed."

"Weren't you two enemies just a couple days ago?" Bonkers questioned.

"I mean shit can happen in a week," WeedLion answered for the both of us. "Anyway, have you seen the trio all day?"

"Not really," we all replied in unison.

"I heard they're giving solace to Jason," Bonkers snickered. Brice rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha," Brice gave a fake laugh, "extremely funny. I've got to admit, you're the best at puns."

"Why thank you," Bonkers smiled.

"That was sarcasm," James bluntly said to her.

"Sarcasm my ass, I'm still taking it as a compliment," Bonkers argued. "Anyway, Seto, how do you feel about what's going on? I mean, you're a new student after all."

I frowned, "It hasn't been a week since I've moved here and there already so much drama. I came here last Saturday."

"Wow, that's a record," WeedLion snickered. "And when did you meet Brice?"

"I don't know, maybe Sunday or Saturday?" I shrugged. "I don't keep track of this shit."

"Well damn, we have another sass lord," Bonkers cheered. "I like him, can we keep him?"

"Is he a pet dog or something?" James rolled his eyes.

"Back off hoes, this is my dog," Brice joked as he grabbed my shoulders and hugged me from behind. He rested his chin on my head.

"Shit, I take personal offense to that," Bonkers frowned, snickering a bit as well. "I'm the best hoe, you'll have to admit."

"Number one," James bowed.

"All hail the queen," WeedLion bowed as well.

"Hell yeah I'm the queen!" Bonkers shouted as she stood on the table. We got some odd looks, but no one really seemed to notice. "Bow down you peasants. You all are obligated to do so by me, your glorious and outstanding queen who debunks all rumors, including Cemetery Drive."

"Well shit, you got me there," Brice had let go of me and pretended to bow. I did the same as well.

"Hell yeah!" Bonkers cheered as she sat back down. We all eventually stopped bowing. I snickered as I continued to eat my sandwich.

Of course, I'd never imagine to be bowing to one of Brice's friends, and I never expected to be this happy at school. I mean, it comes and it goes, but I guess maybe this time it will stay.

Yeah, I definitely like it here.