| 13 | This Chapter Is All Over The Place, But So Am I

***

The days that progressed were just going upwards.

November 30th was filled with adventures in New York, ranging from sight seeing to going through back alleys and discovering other ditching kids with the wittiest personalities. They even showed us around the parks, and we went stargazing once more. It was beautiful.

December 1st was a calmer day, due to the rainstorm that had occupied our time. We spent it in a hotel room, watching cheesy chick flicks (again), and spending time telling stories to each other (just Brice and I). He made me laugh and my heart jump.

December 2nd was the day in which we were going back home; and home for me was the treehouse. My parents were still calling me until then, and I felt the guilt seeming to weigh me down. I didn't mind, though. Brice kept my mind off of things. He was always good at doing that. We didn't get back to Brice's house until 2:34 a.m. on December 3rd; a Monday morning.

"That was totally rad—we should do that again next week," Brice snickered as he stepped out of the car and stretched. We stood in his driveway. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing," I murmured, brushing away the thoughts of my parents.

"Well, of course it isn't nothing," Brice frowned, "tell me."

"It's just—the situation about that photo and my parents," I confessed.

"Right, your parents..." Brice muttered incoherently. "And, again, isn't Isaac's dad going to do something?"

"Yeah."

"Then don't think too much of it," Brice smiled.

"But then there's my parents," I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Facing them after this is going to be difficult. They're going to find me eventually, and I'm so worried that we're going to move again, and that they're going to—"

My words were interrupted by Brice shutting me up. He planted his own lips against mine; warm, soft, and oddly tasting of vanilla. I melted for a few moment, not wanting to escape this wonderful feeling. I was the first to back up, releasing what had just occurred. We both stared at each other within the dim light.

He kissed me.

"I-I have to go," I stuttered, feeling my face heat up. I felt Brice's hand tugging at my arm, but I broke free of it.

I ran.

I ran as far as my legs could take me.

***

I ended up sitting at that bridge on the ledge, hugging my knees. The rushing water below my feet was soothing. I buried my face into my knees and released an exasperated sigh in an attempt to calm myself down.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

It was no use telling myself that; the guilt was so suffocating. My chest was tight and my limbs had felt numb—tingly even. The mixed sensation of panic and fear was overwhelming. It was almost as if you had missed a step when going down the stairs by accident—but the feeling would repeat over and over, almost tauntingly.

He kissed me.

I blushed at the thought, almost like a teenage girl would. But I wasn't any teenage girl, and hell, I'm not even a girl.

Why did I overreact? I had probably ruined our whole relationship!

I screamed in frustration, anxiously rubbing my neck. The trees had swayed a bit more; I had probably scared some birds. Now I was completely alone again—stuck in the woods as a homeless person because I had ruined a huge relationship with just one shitty move.

If I had just stayed there, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

Part of me hoped that Brice wouldn't be angry at me, but the other half knew that he wouldn't be coming back for me. It was so dramatic; the spur of the moment left me speechless and afraid. The headaches, the pain, the misery business; everything was just a ticking time bomb.

And I was right in the middle of it—sobbing my teenage heart out over a boy I had met.

God, I'm disappointed in myself.

Brice is probably blaming himself because of my stupid overreaction.

I lunged backwards, landing on the concrete of the bridge, then stood back up. My back was in pain, but it didn't really matter at this point. I rubbed the back of my neck again, a habitual action that I usually had partaken in. Leaning on the edge of the bridge, I gazed into the waters below. It was rushing, almost like rush hour at a busy building. The moon over my head shone against the rocks that were sticking out of the water.

"They don't call it the Suicide Bridge for nothing," I heard a voice sigh behind me.

Brice; of course he'd find me here.

"I'm s-sorry," I managed to croak, hiccuping. Brice wrapped his arms around me, hugging me from behind and resting his chin on my head. "I was just overwhelmed and—"

"It's okay," he said, "it's okay."

"You're really going to forgive me that quickly?" I murmured, lowering my head.

"It's not that I have a choice, I love you after all," he seemed hesitant to say that. I felt my face heat up.

"You—"

"Yeah, I do."

I went silent for a moment, contemplating and hesitating on my response. It looked as if Brice had held his breath—maybe he thought I was straight.

"I love you too," I finally replied, giving in and letting a smile stretch across my lips.

"Then, can I have permission to kiss you again?"

"Permission granted."

I faced towards him and he planted his lips against mine once more. I felt my body relax; I felt safer in his arms. It was a weird sensation to love someone; your heart would race, your words would fumble, your thoughts would change, and your emotions would kick into overdrive.

But I couldn't be happier.

***

Arguments are weird.

Emotions are weird.

Brice forgave me so fast and hell, I couldn't forgive myself that fast. I still was blaming myself in the end, but didn't show the weariness on the outside. Brice and I had decided to ditch school one last time—just one last time, to spend time together again.

And it was eerily quieter than usual.

It pained me.

"So—" I started off the conversation. We were sitting inside the treehouse. I held a deck of playing cards in my hand, "—wanna play Go-Fish?"

Brice didn't reply. He seemed distant, almost as if lost in thought. Sometimes I wish I could be a Sorcerer and see what he would be thinking about; maybe he was tired of me in some way. I bit back the thought and repeated myself.

"Brice—" my voice trailed off again, "—Earth to Brice."

He snapped back into reality, then rubbing his eyes, "Huh?"

"I was asking if you wanted to play Go-Fish," I replied, showing him the deck of cards in my hand. "What are you thinking about?"

He shook his head, "The usual stuff."

"I don't know the usual stuff," I tried my best to stay monotonous and not snappy like I would usually be with Isaac.

"What exactly are we now?" Brice was hesitant on asking the topic.

"What do you mean?" I was intrigued by his question.

"Are we—" his voice trailed off in almost the same manner as mine had once did, "—friends?"

"I wouldn't say that..." I tried my best not to sound awkward.

"Best friends?"

"Kinda?"

Brice hesitated, "...boyfriends?"

I felt my face heat up uncomfortably, "We're just Brice and Seto. Two guys."

Brice sighed, twiddling his thumbs, "Yeah. Two rad guys hanging out, arguing, making up. That rad shit that happens so quickly only in fairytales."

"Your vocabulary is really extensive, isn't it?" I chuckled, leaning up against him. Brice's face heated up again to that pink hue. I smiled.

"Are we really ready to go back to school tomorrow?" Brice questioned aloud, frowning.

"You're the one who told me everything would be alright," I murmured.

"I know. If anyone messed with you I would just punch them in the face," Brice nodded, "but then again, there's something else on my mind as well."

"And that is...?"

"Shelby," Brice broke the silence with a disgruntled face.

I groaned at her name, rolling my eyes, "God. Why the hell are you so worried about her? She's just a girl."

"She's not just any girl, Seto," Brice croaked, "I've told her so much about me and I know so little about her. She could blackmail me, manipulate me—"

"Just shut up, Brice," I took a hefty pause, "you know she can't do anything to you."

"Yes, she definitely can," Brice rubbed his eyes. "I told her about my parents, my past, everything about—"

"What's wrong with your parents?" I questioned. "They seem like good people to me."

Brice broke a smile, "That's because they are. I'm adopted, Seto, if you couldn't tell."

I opened my mouth to say "no shit sherlock," but he continued to speak. It wouldn't be an appropriate time to say that, anyway.

"But my biological parents weren't the best people," Brice gulped, rubbing the back of his neck with discomfort. "I didn't get adopted until I was twelve years old, which was like what, almost five years ago?"

"What did your biological parents do?"

"You know what? Just forget what I said," Brice shook his head, wiping his eyes. "Look at me, being overly dramatic again."

I paused, "No, you're not being overly dramatic. It's okay. I just—"

I gazed into his eyes; those blue wonders that had always caught me off guard, "—I just want to help you."

Brice sighed, "Thank you."

I paused, "Wait—for what?"

He pulled me into a hug, "For not being a kid from yesterday."

I didn't know what that had meant, but I knew with his wordplay, it was of importance.

"I love you," I muttered into his shoulder.

"And I love you, too."

***

December 4th.

Today was Tuesday.

I sat in first period, engulfing myself in the lecture rather than the stares that had greeted me so kindly. I could barely remember my schedule, let alone what the period was about. What was this, physics or chemistry? Algebra?

I could barely pay attention.

"Seto," the teacher had spoken so swiftly, "would you mind explaining to the class why you've been absent, though you're a new student?"

Some snickers erupted through the classroom. I rubbed my temples.

"Listen here you ignorant wombat male from the domain eukaryota, the kingdom animalia, the phylum chordata, the order primates, the family hominidae, the genus Homo and the sapien species. I do not take fucking lightly to your lizard-like attitude, and I'll have you know I can run down this school and turn it into my own personal golf course if I wanted to. Don't. Fucking. Test. Me."

I wish I actually said that.

"Fever," I murmured, shifting my eyes to the floor.

"You're in school now, Mr. Source, and there is no fooling around. Would you like to come up here and teach the class about Latin?"

I blinked.

He wasn't talking about some crazy science or math shit after all!

"Sure," was all I simply said while standing up.

The other students in my class had stopped giggling. The teacher had looked at me as if he was sucker-punched in the face.

"Excuse me?" He repeated, quite frankly caught off guard.

I gritted my teeth, "I said, yes. I would like to come up there and teach the class about the subject of Latin since you kindly had offered."

The teacher had stepped aside, signaling for me to write on the board. I took a deep breath, looking at it for a brief moment. It was more of a history class, rather than an actual language class. He was touching upon the history of Latin, which in my opinion should he taught at the beginning of the year. However, I shrugged, grabbed a piece of white chalk, and began writing on the board.

I first drew a timeline.

"Latin was a language that was used in central Italy during, I suppose, around 753 BC to about 600 - 750 AD," I explained, marking down a dot towards the beginning of the timeline, then writing 753 BC. "I'm assuming that most of you know that the Romans had only used 23 letters to write Latin. The letters A, E, I, O, V, and Y were vowels, but I and V would be used at consonants respectively."

"Diphthongs were AE, OE, AV, EI, and EV. Now, can anyone in the class tell me what Diphthongs are?" I resisted the urge to break out into laughter. A girl in the back that I hadn't noticed before raised her hand. I pointed towards her.

"Diphthongs are—" she hesitated, "—a sound produced by two vowels in a single syllable. One vowel moves towards the other."

"Correct," I smiled, giving a thumbs up. I continued with the lesson until the bell had decided to ring, signaling second period. I was just about to head out the door when the teacher had stopped me. He frowned.

"Good job," he said quite monotonously, "do you plan on majoring in Latin?"

"No," I shook my head.

"English?"

"No."

"Well, you should major as a teacher, you're quite good at teaching others," he smiled, patting my head, "I haven't seen a student as exceptional as you before, Seto."

I nodded my head, trapped in quite a daze, "Oh, thanks."

We wrote me a late pass and I headed out the door. Okay, so maybe today wouldn't be so bad, and maybe I raised my reputation in the positive direction. I could tell some others were impressed, and I was honestly impressed that I could actually do that.

I mean, I never really cared about Latin before, never really paid attention, either.

I couldn't wait to tell Brice.

***

"What's up, Buttercup? You seem more giddier today than usual," Brice greeted me, swinging his arm around my shoulder. I couldn't help but smile—things were back to normal again. It was gym class now, and we were talking in the back of the boy's locker room behind the lockers that no one used. I was already in my gym clothes.

"I showed that bitchy Latin teacher who's boss!" I exclaimed, grinning ecstatically.

"Really?" Brice perked up. "How so?"

"So I wasn't paying attention in class, and he challenged me to teach the class. I accepted the challenge and totally impressed everyone, even him."

"That's my Seto," he ruffled my hair, making it even more shaggier than usual.

"God, stop it Brice, you're messing up my hair," I groaned, rolling my eyes as I had shifted aside. "I didn't get to ask, but how was your day?"

He shook his head, face going grim, but then turning into a wicked smile, "Going well. If you're happy, then I'm happy."

"Did you see Shelby at all?"

"Shelby—oddly, I haven't. I've been getting weird looks by her friends, however, and I was called an asshole by Adam. It's okay, though. They don't really suspect anything."

"Have you seen Jason at all yet? I need to apologize to him."

"Fuck Jason," Brice spat, lips curving into a frown, "don't apologize to that asshole. Probably spreading rumors about you and me. He probably sent that picture calling us fags as well."

My mind blanked back to that picture, then grimaced. How many people saw that picture? What are the odds that clients from my parent's company had actually saw it? What if my parents saw it?

"I thought you said Shelby did it," I retorted, crossing my arms. "Jason couldn't possibly be that mean."

"Oh come on, you really think that a guy like him could stay so pure and innocent?" Brice questioned. "Everyone thought you were like that, but obviously, you aren't."

"And I thought you were an asshole, but you've been proven to be more like a golden retriever who writes sappy poems, goes on sappy dates, and paints."

I smirked as Brice's face turned pale. He released an exasperated sigh, "You got me there, Set."

I stood up and stretched, peaking over the lockers to see that the other boys had begun to leave. Gym must be starting, "Hey Brice, let's go."

"Can we just—"

"No, we're not ditching again."

Brice grunted, barely able to stand up. I exited the locker room with Brice limping behind me. I wasn't really the athletic type, but playing sports was quite fun. I was in decently good shape, and I could outrun anyone—even Brice.

My mind drifted off as one of the gym teachers, I have to point out one that didn't look particularly fit, was explaining the rules to some kind of game. I think it was something along the lines of softball or dodgeball, but my mind had muted out any of the specifics. My eyes wandered, trying to spot out the faces in the crowd of students.

I noticed Brice was sitting next to one of his friends, but I had forgotten their name. I also noticed Ty was sitting alone, seeming to be deep in thought as well. He noticed that I was staring at him, however. He gave a wave, along with a small smile. I guess either he wasn't well informed about what happened between Jason and I, or he was on my side. Either way, I waved back and tried to pay attention.

As soon as he was done explaining the rules, I decided to follow one of my classmates to wherever they were going. I assumed it was class versus class, since Brice had stood on the other side of the gym, still talking to one of his friends.

Nice to know that I'm going to get pummeled playing dodgeball. Or, in fact my whole damn class.

With a loud tweet of a whistle, everyone bolted to grab the balls (I know without context that sounds fucking disgusting, but I'm disgusting for thinking this). I edged towards the back behind the others who were intently wanting to play this game, but ended up having a ball slammed at my face somehow. I felt blood trickle down my face.

I ended up, dizzily, strolling towards one of the gym teachers.

"Oh," was all that came out of the teacher's mouth. "Ty, take Seto to the nurse!"

I tensed up. Ty came jogging our way, and just like that, I was swept away out of the gym and towards the direction of the nurse's office.

Wow, this story is all over the place.

"So," Ty initiated the conversation, "care to explain why Jason's been gone?"