My history teacher, Mrs. Cruise stopped me, blocking my path from sitting next to Delcan. “Where have you been, Mr. Gatley?” she asked, her voice sounding full of annoyance. Everyone in the class turned to look at me, and I felt myself blush bright red.
Mrs. Cruise being mad at me was actually a shock. Most teachers loved me, the only teacher not seeing me as their absolute favorite was our football coach, but I understood that. No matter what I do around this school, teachers always treat me with so much respect to the point where I’m not even used to teachers when they treat me rudely.
She watched me with her hands on her hips, and I brushed her quickly. As I sat next to Delcan, he locked eyes with me for a solid second before looking away, covering his face from me. Mrs. Cruise walked over to my desk, leaned on it, and gave me a cold stare.
“After school detention,” she ordered rather than told me. “Unless you’d like to tell the rest of the class why you’re late. Were your siblings, as well?”757Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HA6yrWnS5
I nodded, knowing how much detention would add to my punishment. “My older brother was, and my sister is suspended.” Mrs. Cruise straightened her back, looking at me as I continued talking. “My younger brother was introducing me to one of his friends at school today and I just lost track of time. I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Cruise seemed to take that, and she went back to the lesson.
After about ten minutes after I had come in late to class, Delcan had leaned into me and began talking. “So...what was your punishment?”
I looked at him. “For what?” I whispered.
“Coming home late.” Delcan raised his eyebrows and waited for me to understand.
“Phone taken away for the weekend,” I whispered, watching as the teacher wrote down our homework on the board. “Siblings chores for a couple of weeks, and an extra few hours at the gym. Basically, I got busted.”
Delcan smiled. “They didn’t take away your phone today?”
I pulled my iPhone out from my pocket. “I still have it,” I told him. “But only until Friday. Then, they’re taking it away the second I get home.” He actually seemed to be listening now, which isn’t exactly how he was acting last night.
“Your parents suck,” he said.
I hated myself for smiling to him. “They really do.”
Both Delcan and I sat up and began writing down the vocabulary as Mrs. Cruise turned around and looked at our row. Her eyes actually landed on Delcan, who she looked at for some times before making any other movements. Then, she tilted her head as she looked at me. She didn’t say anything, but I’m sure she was thinking of something to change my lie. She may even call Eric’s homeroom teacher to see what his excuse for being late is.
When the dismissal bell (but not the dismissal bell because the teachers are the ones who dismiss you) rang, Delcan got up from his seat but stopped to look at me for a few seconds. “Want me to wait?” he asked.
I nodded, shoving my homework from last night into a folder. “Yeah.”
If Delcan had even smiled, I didn’t see it. All I knew was that his smile faded the second Evvie came over here. I watched her as she made her way to us, her hands fidgeting with a piece of notebook paper. When she was finally standing right next to Delcan, she handed it to me.
I moved the piece of paper around in my hands, looking at it as if it was a ticking bomb. “What is this?” I asked her.
“A note from Haven,” Evvie said, watching as Delcan rolled his eyes. Perfect. Just who I needed right now. “She was looking for you today and she kept asking me if you were cheating on her with someone else - mainly me - and I told her no. But she handed me that note and said that if you didn’t come, she wanted it to be mailed to you. So...you’re welcome.”
I stared at the note, deciding if I wanted to open it or not.
“My vote is a breakup note,” Delcan said, his voice sounding cheerful about it. “Maybe she’s fed up with your weirdness and the fact that you really don’t share things with other people.”
I looked at him. “Thanks, Delcan.”
“No problem.”
“Open it,” Evvie said.
Mrs. Cruise was behind her desk, raising her eyebrows and waiting for us to leave. I annoyingly turned away from her, and left the classroom, not expecting either Delcan nor Evvie to follow me behind - but they did. There was still another three minutes before my next class started, which was a study hall, and a class I shared with both of them. So I stopped in the hallway, and opened up the note Haven wrote for me.
Dear Ezra,
Hey baby, I wondered what happened to you last night, since I really needed to tell you something. Angelica told me she’s staying for a few more days (which is great!) but I wanted you to be there when she leaves, so text me whenever you get this letter.
Also, on Saturday, I have some plans for the two of us. Text me if you can come over, Ez.
Love you baby!757Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUELw0jYrXY
-Haven
I set the note down and looked up. Delcan and Evvie both shared the same expression on their face: curiosity.
“Please tell me she told you to burn in ⟴,” he said.
“It isn’t a breakup note,” I said, looking away from his beautiful face. His face changed, and I saw him scrunch up his nose for a few seconds. “Quite the opposite, actually.” Without hesitation, I handed him the note as confusion spread all over his face.
“What?”
“Read it,” I told him. He opened up the note again without question, and I watched as his green eyes skimmed through the words quickly. When he was done with the note, he let out a short laugh before handing the note back to me.
Evvie took the note out of my hands in a quick move and read it to herself. Once she’d finished, she had to look up in order for her eyes to meet mine.
“I think we all know what the last part of the note means,” I said, hating myself for it. Delcan turned his head away, clearly showing he didn’t want to hear any plans that Haven had for the two of us.
Evvie raised her eyebrows. “Can’t you just tell her no?” I wished that I could, but it’d be impossible. I’d been blowing Haven off for months now, pushing her away in order to spend more time around Delcan. But Haven didn’t know any of that, and I’m sure she wouldn’t be cool with it when she did. All of us turned the hall to the next class as Delcan looked over to me.
“She probably wants to know if you’re gay or not,” he said. “Or she wants to know if what Angelica thinks is true.” I looked at him, wanting to say something back that would actually make him shut up. It wasn’t like Haven finding out would be a good thing. Haven finding out = her telling her friends + her friends = football team. Football team x entire school = everyone knowing my secret.
It’s basic algebra.
“What does Angelica know, exactly?” Evvie asked. She looked over to Delcan first, knowing that he’d probably be the first one to say something out of the two of us. “No one told me about this.” She looked back and forth between Delcan and me, but I couldn’t speak. And even if I did tell her, she’d kill Angelica. Including that Angelica somehow recorded, proving that Delcan was more than a friend.
“Might as well,” Delcan said, shrugging. I paused for a second before slowly nodding. Because Delcan was on the other side of me, he brushed his hand against mine without Evvie seeing it. I knew he wouldn’t take it or anything (not that he ever actually did, even when there was nobody watching us). Slowly but surely, Delcan began to help by not making me feel bad about not kissing him sometimes. He understood the rules that I put around our relationship after a short amount of time, and I understood his rules.
“What is it, Delcan?” Evvie said. We passed a corner as Delcan looked over to her, his eyes staying green.
“Last night,” Delcan began. I felt my throat tighten as he spoke. “Angelica confronted Ezra on what she thinks she knows. Shocker, it’s about me. She found my accounts on social media and also found ways to talk to my sister without me knowing about it. She also has a video of us, where...Ezra kissed me.”
Evvie shook her head. “That’s bull,” she declared. Then she paused for a minute, realizing the last part of Delcan’s words. “Wait-what do you mean?”
I ran my hands through my hair.
“After the football game, I was trying to congratulate Ezra on his play, and he surprised me with a kiss. Angelica has a recording of it, and that’s kinda all I remember him telling me,” Delcan said, looking at me before he finally landed his eyes on Evvie.
“But Sam was the last one to leave, and nobody else was there. I was sure of it,” I said. I hadn’t even realized that I’d started talking before Evvie patted me on the back, and I could feel Delcan’s fingertips brush mine again.
Evvie continued talking. “Sorry,” she said. “Has she told Haven?”
“Yup. She wants to sleep with him because she knows that he’s not into her,” Delcan said, not trying to hide his sarcasm. Delcan ignored it whenever I slightly hit him in the shoulder. “Common sense, Evvie.”
Evvie squinted her eyes but didn’t respond to him. Instead, she just kept talking to me, leaving her hand on my back. I’m sure she was thinking of thousands of different names to call Angelica in the first place. “At least she doesn’t know yet,” Evvie said to me. “But you should just ignore her, okay?”
How could I ignore any of this?
It’s already happened. Angelica actually has proof that I’m not exactly being honest about who I am, and the video doesn’t look fake at all. On top of all of this, everybody is beginning to get more and more comfortable with Delcan, which means people are probably gonna start wondering things. Something could even happen to both of us.
But all of it felt so wrong. Delcan didn’t deserve to be brought into any of this, because I knew it wasn’t actually his fault. But I was wondering how long it would take before he woke up and realized he didn’t need me anymore.
Or want me.
“How about this idea,” Evvie said, snapping me back to reality. Both Delcan and I looked at her. “I’ll try out for the dance team so that I can get closer to Haven and keep an eye on her.” Her idea wasn’t impossible. Evvie was an amazing dancer, and she’s won titles before. Then again, that could result in drama (and Evvie is a much better dancer than Haven. Not in a rude way, Haven’s just better when it comes to cheering). But if she did try out, it would make it easier to be closer to Haven. Plus, she always changes the subject when I mention her dancing.
“You have a brain up there,” Delcan said.
Both Evvie and I looked at him.
He smiled, catching me off guard. I didn’t blush this time, but I could feel myself reacting before I wanted to. “That was supposed to be a compliment,” he said. “But good idea.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Good plan, Eve. Thanks.” I put one of my arms around her to the best of my ability. She gave me a smile before leaning on me, which I could tell bothered Delcan in a way because he’d moved his hand away from mine.
Evvie walked into class first, and then I went, Delcan walking in last. Though maybe I shouldn’t have been as surprised by the teacher giving us detention for walking in late and forcing us to write down reasons.
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