Chapter Two - Busride

Bryce stepped onto the bus and took his rightful seat next to Johnathan, his eyes staring ahead as he placed his backpack onto his lap. His mind thinking back to what Cartoonz had said about the man in the lunchroom.

"He's one of those dudes who has his ego shoved up his ass. Call him one of the cool guys if you will or whatever."

"But Cartoonz aren't you a cool kid?"

"No, I get alone with everybody thank you very much!"

A small smile formed on his lips as he thought about the his friend but that moment didn't last long for his smile dropped as the image of the boy staring at him from across the cafeteria flashed across his mind and he immediately shook his head in hopes of making it disappear, face red with embarrassment.

"Hey, McQuaid right?" A woman's voice pierced Bryce's train of thought and he immediately looked up to find the girl from his class standing above him. "Here."

Bryce looked to his friend and both blinked before looking down at the yellow sticky note that rests on her slim finger. Johnathan broke out in a fit of laughter while Bryce slowly peeled it off her finger. At first his mind was racing with thoughts such as fear and somewhat curiosity for the unknown words written on it. He doubted this girl liked him due to everyone in the school knowing he wasn't straight—not only that but a girl having a crush on him? Yeah right.

"I'm sorry but Bryce is gay."

Her eyes shot in the direction of the other boy with a scowl on her face, "It's not from me. It's from a boy."

Johnathan elbows Bryce with a grin as he asked who the note was from.

"Doesn't say..." He glanced over the thin yellow paper with eyes that held nothing but pure curiosity and wonder. At first the thought of the man in the lunch room came to mind but once again he was met with Cartoonz words and he quickly washed out that idea. Who are you kidding Bryce? That guys probably just toying with you. He thought to himself as he began to read over the words written in fine ink,

Dear McQuaid,

Are you new here? I haven't seen you around here before. Anyways, I thought you should know that you've caught my eye... Which doesn't happen a lot. If you wanna hit me up send a note through my friend, the one who gave you the note. I'll be waiting for a response.

A small smile formed on his lips as the thought of someone actually taking a liking to him pierced his train of thoughts. He gave the note a quick lookover, looking for any sign of a name but there was nothing. Nothing other than a large purple smiley face on the back. When he went to ask the girl who sent the note she was gone, all the way in the back now with a friend of hers. He shoved the note in his pocket and put his earbuds in holding the same smile he had when he read it.

—>

Bryce taps his finger on his computer desk as he stares at the sticky note that was now pinned to his board above him. The sound of his friends chatting tumbled through his headphones but he payed no attention to them for he was too busy trying to figure out who this guy was. Thinking of all the faces of all the people he's met and it could've been. Maybe it was someone in his friend group? No, they all had someone they were interested in. Maybe that guy he showed around school? Yeah, that had to be it right? Right?

"Bryce are you listening?"

He jumped at the sound of Cartoonz voice blaring through the microphone.

"Yeah uh sorry, what'd you say?"

"I heard you got a note from someone today," he points out "any ideas?"

Bryce gave a click to his tongue as he aimed a certain way to hit the spot he wanted, "I think I got one person in mind." Once he let go the ball went into the hole giving him a nice comeback, "Who knows though."

The rest of the group laughed and began to tease him about his gameplay skills along with the note.

On the other side of the screen Cartoonz was glaring at his monitor, his hands reaching for his phone which held a name at the top of the message bar. His eyes darkening when the three little dots popped up to indicate someone was typing. He gave a sigh before saying, "Good game Bryce. I'm gonna head off for tonight though, I need to catch up on some school stuff."

Bryce smiles, "Alight have a good sleep dude."

As soon as Cartoonz left everyone else slowly began to leave and soon Bryce found himself alone with pen in hand and sticky note in the other. His mind racing, what would he say? He didn't even know who this guy was so how would he even start the note? Taking a deep breath he began to write.

Dear ¿

For all I know this could be a joke on me and it wouldn't surprise me at this point... How do you know who I am exactly?? I don't really take kindly to people trying to pull a bunch of crap. I'm not really that new here, I mean I'm a transfer student if that's what you mean but I've been here for months now...

He folded the paper and shoved it in his side pouch before walking into the bathroom and looking over his features in the mirror. Bryce knew he wasn't the best looking guy and that people messed around with him and if this was a joke he would be too upset to hold back everything. He'd be made fun of again. At just the thought of that made his stomach drop and his head ache with memories.

Bryce pulled away from the mirror and began to turn on the water to take a shower and get ready for bed.

Bryce stepped into the water and began to wash himself clean. His head running with various thoughts as he tried to figure out if the note was real or not. As happy as he was he didn't want to be fooled so of course he did what any man would and was deciding to play it safe. Play hardball.

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—> -means time skip/skip