Delcan’s schedule had five classes with me (not including lunch) which meant I’d be stuck with him the entire day, basically. Two of the classes I didn’t have with him were with my friend, Adam, and the last one was with Thomas, Evvie, and Annalise.
Turns out, everyone - and I mean everyone - is either interested in Delcan’s eyes or his body. Some people know him from past things, but it really is hard not to be annoyed when others are talking about the person I’m...dating, I guess. Not really sure what it’s called yet.
At lunch, I was sitting away from some of the football guys, though stayed around Adam, Thomas, and Sam, along with their girlfriends (or “friends,” as they like to call it. Though it’s clear which one likes who). Because Evelyn was an athlete, she had the opportunity to switch her lunches around when she pleased to. So, she’d decided to have Thursday and Friday be her B lunches, while the rest of the days were A.
Most of the time, I would never care what lunch she or her friends had, but the fact that she’d played the “nice card” and invited Delcan over to the table two down from mine made me angry. She knew I wanted to avoid personal talking with Delcan around the school, especially around the time of lunch, because none of the teachers cared at that time period.
But of course, all of my friends had to talk about the issues with the new transferring kids, too. The first one to start it was Sam’s “friend” named Brooke. I hardly knew too much about Brooke, but what I do know is that she was one of the first girls who started being nice to Sam when he moved here, and even is on the dance team. Brooke and Sam have been “hanging out” for the past few weeks now, and instead of sitting next to her friends, she sits wherever Sam is.
“Have any of you met Grace?” Brooke asked, stealing another one of Sam’s strawberries. Sam rolled his blue eyes and then watched her as she talked. “She’s a super sweet girl, and I really like her.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofrXpe1jqa
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“And why do you like her so much?” Sam asked, leaning into her. Brooke laughed, and then pushed him away slightly.
“She’s a dancer, too?” Adam asked, taking a sip of his water. Adam always knew how to fit in and stand out at the same time, and he hardly cared what opinions people had about him. I was automatically called racist after a time the two of us posted a video on Instagram (I was rapping to a song with him, and it was the ⟴ clean version) though Adam knew just what to do. He stood up for me, and sometimes I wonder if he’s a better friend than Thomas is sometimes.
Brooke nodded, giving him a friendly smile. “Yeah,” she said. “Grace has the locker right next to mine, and the two of us got to talking. She’s such a cool person, and I was wondering if she’d be able to sit next to us tomorrow.”
I almost had to think about my answer before I said anything. Delcan hated Grace, not me. Maybe she wasn’t even that bad in the first place. “Sure,” I said. My food really wasn’t appetizing right now, and it became even less enjoyable the more I heard my sister laugh about something.
“Cool,” Brooke said. “I’ll text her.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5FsfNdgBj
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“What about that Delcan guy?” Rian said, holding out her fork. I had to resist the urge I felt to roll my eyes, and looked at her.
“What about him?”
“Isn’t he the Delcan who...you know,” Adam said. He didn’t continue to sentence at all, and it was clear that for some reason, he didn’t want to finish it.
Rian looked over to him. “Exactly what I was thinking,” she said. “But that confuses me.”
“How?” Thomas asked. “I mean, yeah, I understand that the dude did some stuff, but I don’t know how he even got picked for this thing.”
I wanted to stay out of the conversation, though everybody else seemed so into it. Usually, when there was any new kid in the school, the first people to jump on the new kids would be the cheerleaders or the drill team. The football team usually didn’t give any care about the new kids, unless they’re trying out for the team. I didn’t even think Adam, Thomas, or Sam would care about Delcan being here, but here we are, talking about him.
“Maybe they just picked at random,” Kylie said, setting down her apple juice. Kylie and Thomas actually used to be together, but they weren’t anymore now. I think they were dating in 9th grade or something, but I never really asked him about it after Kylie started dating Greg. “I mean, that’s what our school did.”
Adam nodded in agreement. “I agree,” he said. “Plus, if they did do it by academics, or attitude, Ezra would definitely be over at Oakwood.”
I looked over to him and bumped his shoulder. “Not true.”
“True,” Thomas argued. “I got a C on our last math test, man. Got grounded for the next week because of it.”
“I got a B,” I said, trying to help the situation. And even though all of my friends could care less about that (since it was a high B) it didn’t mean anything for me. Anything below a B in my house was looked down upon, and it didn’t help that nobody was on my side at that time. Dad almost grounded me for it, but somehow, my mom talked him out of it. And it didn’t even help that Delcan wasn’t talking to me at all.
Rian and Brooke looked at me. “Good for you, Ez,” Brooke said. I could hear the sarcasm in her voice, but I simply gave her a sly smile, then moved back to eating my food.
“And how does Evelyn know him?” Rian asked, watching as my younger sister laughed at something Delcan had whispered to her. I had to resist the urge I felt to roll my eyes, and turned back around quickly. “I mean, I wish I knew hot people like that.”
Adam looked over to her. “I’m not hot?”
“You have biceps, Ad,” Kylie said, biting her lip as she said it. “But for sure, you don’t have abs as he does.”
Brooke laughed as Adam slumped back in his chair, and then she looked over to me. “But how did you know about the abs thingy?” she asked me.
I looked up from texting Evelyn to stop, and it was like my mind understood what she’d just told me. The video was already posted...great. I hadn’t even thought of any excuse when somebody asked me about it, and now I was faced with an issue.
Everyone looked at me as I came up with one of the worst answers ever.
“Doesn’t mean I know him,” I said. “Plus, I’m not allowed to hang out with people like him in the first place.”
Brooke rolled her eyes. “I don’t care how much my parents would hate him,” she said. “I totally understand why Evelyn’s talking to him.”
I really wanted to ask Brooke how she could've watched the video and missed the obvious note that Delcan’s gay, and he wants nothing to do with basically anyone - especially girls. But keeping my mouth shut and taking a long gulp of my water kept the words inside of my head.
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