Robyn Hook
6th Grade
"Hey, Em." I sat next to him, twiddling my thumbs.
"What is it, Robyn?" Emerson was reading a bookâthat nerdâand he seemed upset that I interrupted his nerd session. He was sitting cross-legged in the corner of our classroom. It was free-time and we all chose to play games saved for him. Imagine reading for fun.
"So we were having a discussion-" I started.
Em wrinkled his nose and sniffed, still recovering from his illness. He had been gone for two days prior. He was mad because he had to make up a bunch of homework. Sucks for him.
"Spit it out, already."
I frowned. "If you're gonna be like that, maybe I'll just not tell you."
He rolled his eyes and continued to read. "Fine by me."
I momentarily clamped my mouth shut. Huh. Clearing my throat, I continued talking anyways because I had already been committed. "Well we were all talking about dating. Should I get a girlfriend? A lot of other boys already got one. It's not fair. I should be able to snatch any girl I want."
Em gave me the most intense 'are you stupid look' ever, raising his eyebrow condescendingly. "You're joking."
"Not really."
He snorted. "You, having a girlfriend? You know, jokes are meant to be funny."
"I didn't ask to be roasted, Em." I stuck my tongue out and blew a raspberry.
He paused and rolled his eyes. "I don't even know why you're asking me. I'm like the most single person here. And I'm not your mom. Do whatever you want. But just saying, we're literally children. It's not like any 'romantic' relationship you have now is gonna last anyways. That's all I'll say."
I stared at him wordlessly for a second. I should've expected a response like that. "Have people told you you act way older than you actually are?"
"Have people told you you act dumber than most people our age?"
"Em~" I whined. He was being so mean to me for some reason. I must've seemed really hurt, because Em sighed and closed his book.
"Come here," he said, gesturing me. So I leaned closer. "In my opinion, you're too good for any of these girls here." He smiled at me and ruffled my hair. "Let's make a deal."
"Shoot."
"If we're still single by the age of thirty, we're gonna have to get married
"Deal. But don't get your hopes up," I winked.
~~~
My art teacher droned on to seemingly no end. You weren't supposed to do that. Let us draw and listen to our music in peace. "Good afternoon, class. Today we are going to draw portraits of celebrities. Sounds easy, right? Well, the twist is that you have to do everything upside-down. From the sketching process to the shading. Everything must be done that way. This is to help activate your right brain." My mind zoned out after that. I groaned along with the class when I heard that we had to draw upside-down. I was on the verge of dropping out of that stupid class.
Most of my drawings were mediocre. A lot of kids were there for either fun or for their art credits. I'm the latter.
This was supposed to be a basic art class. It was supposed to be easy. Piece of cake my ass. The only easy thing about this class was that it was easy to say everyone else in the class was far better than I. I became accustomed to feeling inferior. I accepted it.
But when I saw what that Andrej guy could do. Oh boy. Where was I when God was blessing him with his talents? Drawing, singing, fashion sense. Heck, face. Save some for the rest of the world, buddy.
His portrait was so intricate my jaw dropped upon seeing it. I thought it was the picture we printed out for reference at first. It appeared to be a high-definition photo. Then I stared at it for quite a while and saw that it was done in pencil. Suffice to say, it was very difficult to pick my jaw off the floor.
"Dude, how the fu-"
"Ahem," my teacher cleared her throat loudly and gave me the stink-eye. She didn't have to say anything else. She was used to my shenanigans.
"You're literally a printer!" I looked at my pitiful attempt. "The saddest part is that this is my best piece in comparison to my other artworks."
Andrej chuckled politely. "I appreciate the compliment, but there is no need to put yourself down. I have been drawing for about a year."
"Excuse me, what?"
"Something the matter?" Andrej slightly cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Only a year?! Your art talent looks like it has been cultivated over at least ten years."
"Something like drawing can be easily improved through a lot of practice."
"Nah, bro. I think you were just born with it, honestly."
He just smiled. "I am not going to argue with you. But thank you."
I shrugged. "I will literally pay you to do my art assignments."
My teacher heard me. Oops. She spoke up from her desk. "Robyn, I will know why your art suddenly gets ten times better next project."
The class gawked at me. "Don't worry, miss. I don't have any money."
She looked skeptical but laughed. "I'm watching you two."
Andrej gave her a sweet smile and patted my shoulder. "I will keep him in check, ma'am."
~~~
Nathan and Oliver used to sit next to each other at our lunch table, always having something to talk, rant, and yell about. Now they sat at opposite sides, barely even making eye contact. It was a very odd thing and all of us at the table noticed it, but never openly commented about it. After all, they were supposed to be attached at the hip. It had been a while since they had a fight and it was a messy situation. None of us wanted to bring it up again. So we stayed silent. But the tension was literally choking me.
I leaned towards Em so that only he could hear me. "Is it just me, or are Nathan and Oliver acting weird? Please tell me it's not only me. I swear they've been like this for the past month now. And I literally have zero idea if it's sexual tension or..." I crossed my arms instead of finishing the sentence.
Before answering me, Emerson and I shared a baffled look as we sat at our lunch table, an awkward tension in the air threatening to drown me. I swallowed thickly. "No, it's not just you. There has been something going on between them."
"What do you think? Did Oliver steal Nathan's whole pantry? Or did one of them crash the other's car? I didn't want to bring it up, butâ" Emerson cut me off, knowing full well I was about to reference the big fight that happened about a year ago.
"Shut up! They could still hear us and it might make it even worse! We promised to not talk about that." He removed his hand that was over my mouth. "I don't think something like that warrants this reaction. I didn't think they were that petty."
Emerson gave them a sideways glance and gulped. I noticed that he was fidgeting. I narrowed my eyes. Lowering my voice, I said, "You know something, don't you?" His eyes widened slightly. "Bingo. You have to tell me now Em, or else. Do you know how much blackmail material I've picked up over the years?"
"No need, I was gonna tell you anyways." He sighed and rubbed his nose bridge with a sigh. "Not now though, I'll tell you at home. It's a long ass story."
I nodded my head. "Okay, you better spill all the details." Then I started to stuff my mouth with the chicken sandwich. Not even two bites in, yelling started to flood my ears. Oh, my poor ears.
"I am sick and tired of seeing your face everyday! It makes me f*cking sick!" I stopped chewing to let my jaw hang in total shock. The stunning fact was that Nathan cursed out loud. If he did, it was quiet and somewhere where not many people could hear it. But Nathan couldn't have yelled that any louder. It didn't take much for the whole lunchroom to pretty much turn heads in our direction. The high school lunchroom became uncharacteristically quiet and I never thought I would hate it this much.
Across from me, Em was no different. His eyes were as wide as saucers as he had his hands over his mouth. He buried his face into his hands as he couldn't handle the attention our table was getting. I put my hand over his. "I'm here, Em," I whispered. It only got worse from there.
"I bet you're broken mirror tells you the same thing, ugly ass." Oliver banged his fist on the table. "If you don't like my face, try closing your eyes and run into a wall while you're at it."
"Oh, piss off Oliver," Nathan said bitterly and averted his gaze to the ground. That was the first time Nathan called him Oliver instead of Ollie since the fight.
"I thought you stopped being a whiny little b*tch a year ago."
Our whole table gasped, he referenced it. Red panic signals were blaring everywhere. Everyone else out our table immediately averted their gaze. They knew exactly just how messy this altercation would become.
"What did you say?" Nathan said through gritted teeth. Before another word came out of Oliver's mouth, I tried to de-escalate the situation.
I immediately stood up, running over to the other side of the table before any hands could be thrown. "Stop it right now! Break it up boys! We are not doing this right now." I sternly held my ground, glaring at both of them.
Oliver leveled his glare at me in retaliation. "Stop acting all high and mighty just because you're the captain. Shut up and mind your own damn business."
More gasps. We practically were a Kardashian episode come to life and everyone was watching it.
I clenched my fists. "Y'all are making a scene. I swear if one you guys throw a punch, I will permanently throw you guys off the team."
Oliver snorted. "You have no authority. Your ability to play basketball is as nonexistent as my respect for you."
"What the hell did I do to you?" He was getting on my nerves. I let the first few things go because I knew he was talking out of his ass, caught up in the moment and his own fury. I hoped he was just taking out on me. "I meant it!"
I looked at the uncharacteristically silent Nathan and flinched at his face. He looked in so much pain, and in melancholy. His face was pinched as his lips were trembling. Eyes glassy, tears were threatening to spill out. He looked depressed. My chest hurt. What happened?
Yet Oliver kept on opening his stupid mouth. "That's right, stay quiet you pussy ass b*tch."
Nathan snapped his head back up to match the intensity of Oliver's stone cold gaze. He inhaled deeply before yelling, "F*CK YOU, OLIVER!" The icing on the cake was the two middle fingers he gave Oliver.
Oh now he went and did it. Besides getting the entirety of the lunch room's attention, he also caught the interests of the administrator. The over six feet tall administrator walked to our table in long strides. Sheâthreatening in her loud heels and business attireâmade her way to our table and stopped right in front of the aggressors. The cafeteria was silent save for her walkie talkie's static.
She put a hand on her hip and looked between all of us. "What is going on here, boys?"
They didn't break their s glaring contest to meet her eyes. Nathan's jaw was clenched as Oliver's knuckles were bright white. When the administrator didn't receive a tad bit of acknowledgment, she sighed loudly and talked into her walkie talkie.
"Yeah, have some back up just in case something goes wrong." Then she turned to the boys and leaned over so that her face was level with theirs. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to take you boys to the office." She appeared sad when she directed her speech to Nathan. "You had so much potential Nathan."
He flinched and muttered, "I'm sorry." I didn't know if it was directed to the administrator or Oliver.
"Save it." She looked down at the rest of the table. And our team barely breathed. "I'm going to need one witness." Everyone looked down, avoiding all eye contact. "Okay, then. You, you're coming with us," she said, pointing at me.
I nodded rigidly. "Gladly, ma'am." I was fully intent on hearing the whole story.
"Let's go." She didn't even look back as she led us out of the lunch room. As soon as she closed the door of the cafeteria, I could hear a chorus of elementary 'ooh's.' The administrator rolled her eyes and her pace quickened as her heels clicked against the floor harder and quicker. If we had short legs, we wouldn't have been able to keep up with her.
At her office, she held the door open for us and firmly shut it as soon as Nathan slowly trailed in. She rounded the desk and smoothly settled into her office chair, spinning to face us. Pulling out a few sheets of paper, the only sounds in the claustrophobically small room were the clock and the click of her pen. She rearranged the sheets and folded her hands on top of the stack. "Pull up a chair boys. There's going to be a long conversation." I sat in between them. If I didn't feel the tension before, I could sure as hell feel it now. She cleared her throat. "Name?"
"Robyn Hook, ma'am."
"Nathan Hawkins."
"Oliver Campbell."
She wrote down something on the sheet of paper and looked at me. "Tell me what you witnessed. Just anything you saw or heard as soon as you knew of the conflict. Also, tell me your relationship to them."
I gulped. "Well, they're my teammates on the basketball team. I sat on the opposite side of our lunch table, so I was a little late, but I did try to diffuse the situation." I could see Nathan fidgeting from the corner of my eye. "I was talking to my friend until we heard screaming. Even before the screaming, we could all sense something was wrong. I don't know how to explain it, but there was thick tension. Fights always start the same way. With yelling and insults. The insults were typical high school things. No physical contact or punches were thrown.
"They don't fight often, at least from the many years I've known them. I think the pressure got to them. A lot of personal problems have been going on, that much I could see. But we also haven't been doing so well in basketball and we are a very prideful and competitive team. I swear they're good kids."
She scribbled more stuff onto her paper. "Is that it?"
"It got very intense until you intervened. It escalated into extremely loud yelling, but that was it."
She nodded slowly. "Okay, Nathan. Let's hear your side."
He stared at his lap the whole time, wringing his fingers. "This wasn't the first time we fought. But we never fought to this extreme. Not like this. In at least a year. Just the first time at school. I mean, yeah, it's natural for people, even friends, to have fights from time to time, but for us, they just weren't a thing." I sucked in a breath, trying not to react. Because that was a bad fight. "You could ask anybody a few months ago. We were the closest best friends you ever knew of. Well, besides Robyn and his best friend." He paused briefly and I studied his tired face. He was just done, complete with eyebags, and pale despite his ethnicity. His curly hair didn't seem to be as kept as it usually is. He slowly ran a hand down his face. "Things started to go south recently. A lot of fighting and external factors made us snap. I swear I want things to go back to the way they were. I know we've recovered from it before." He sounded so desperate. I know for a fact that Nathan is a good kid. There were just too many things to pressure him. Including his parents.
The administrator took some time to scribble more notes. My eyes wandered around her office. I realized I never caught her name. So I searched for her diploma. Aha. It hung behind her head on the wall in a plain black frame. Mrs. Waterman. Next to it were pictures of her with her family. And oh, her marriage photos. Her wife looked beautiful. I found it cute that her wife was much shorter. They were a beautiful couple. I wanted to smile, but I held myself back, remembering it wasn't the appropriate time.
"Okay, Ollie-boy, your turn." Oliver flinched. Nathan called him Ollie. Besides Coach. "I'm all ears, son."
He was the only one who still seemed mad, with his fists clenched under the table, out of Mrs. Waterman's view. Oliver's eyebrows were still furrowed. "I agree with what they said." Mrs. Waterman waited, as if there was still more he was supposed to talk about, but I knew Oliver didn't want any of it.
Mrs. Waterman sighed. "Look, Mr. Campbell. I'm going to need you to cooperate with me, and if you don't, I am afraid there will be consequences."
"Are you threatening me?" Oliver challenged. Oh no. Please, not now.
"Mr. Campbell." She briefly paused to scrutinize Oliver. "I'll give you one more chance. You are being very difficult here and I am being very generous. Don't waste it and take it for granted."
I leaned over to Oliver. "Please."
Oliver's jaw flexed in contemplation. "Honestly, I didn't imitate the fight. Nathan was the one who first opened his mouth. Up until that point we barely contacted each other, even to the point of almost actively avoiding any interaction. Even down to eye contact. As Robyn had mentioned, there was a lot of pressure. A lot of things have been happening, but don't ask because you won't get answers about it. I don't know, maybe we were long overdue for a fight... If you ask me, I think we need space for the time being." And with that final statement he leaned back into his seat with crossed arms and looked boredly passed Mrs. Waterman.
She made an 'uh huh' noise and jotted down her final notes then turned to her computer. "You boys better not resort to physical violence. I'm letting y'all off with a warning right now because you guys have clean records, and this seems like a one-time thing. Especially you, Nathan. This was very shocking. If this happens again, there will be referrals handed out. There will be no second chances, and there may or may not be consequences pertaining to basketball and other privileges. Do I make myself clear?" They both nodded. "Good. And thank you, Robyn. For taking time out of your lunch. Get along boys, I would say hope to see you again, but that wouldn't be very good, would it?"
Nathan stiffly nodded and was the first one out the door. He bolted and I didn't see him after he rounded the corner when I stepped out of the office. Oliver slowly followed me until I became restless and reluctantly turned around to face him. It seemed like he wanted to say something.
"What?" He spat in a snappy tone.
"I should be asking that," I replied with raised eyebrows. "What's going on, Oliver?"
"Don't act like you actually care about us. You just want to make sure we don't make you look bad on the basketball team."
I flinched. He was blunt and it hurt. It hurt that he thought that. It hurt that he didn't think of me as a friend. "What the heck are you talking about? Do you not see me as a friend? Newsflash, buddy, I have for the past five years. So don't come at me with your snappy attitude and saying jack shit about our friendship, because I do actually care. Something has happened to you and I want to know. So I can help you."
Oliver sighed through his nose and crossed his arms. "You wouldn't get it."
I cocked one eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Don't push me, Hook."
Putting my hands up in surrender, I took two steps back. "I'm not trying to fight. I'm just saying, don't do anything that you'll regret. Nathan is a good friend. You don't want to lose him."
He scoffed and stormed off, leaving me alone in the dim hallway. The last thing I saw was his pained face.
~~~
"So, what went down?" Emerson asked. We were in the grocery store, stocking up on food Diana asked us to buy. Emily was a little salty she had to stay at home and finish her homework. I made sure to buy the cereal with marshmallows in it just for her. I was hunched over the cart while Em was scanning through the products in the isle.
"I have a headache over trying to figure it out. You need to tell me what you know. My brain is killing me. Those two act like their families have been in a feud since ancient times and they had a war over it. I'm surprised Mrs. Waterman let them off the hook, no pun intended. I felt bad for Nathan. He seemed really dejected. It wasn't like him to have an outburst like that. He's a good kid. They're both good kids. They haven't had a fight since you know what. I thought they were all fine and dandy."
"I'll tell you when we get home," Em said distracted as he was reading the labels of some pasta. "Which one?" He asked, holding up the boxes of rotini and farfalle.
I shook my head and picked up the princess-shaped macaroni boxes. "This one, hundred percent."
Emerson chuckled and sighed. "Sure, whatever makes Emily happy."
"Who said it was for Emily?" I teased, hugging the box to my chest. Emerson lightly smacked my shoulder.
"Come on, let's get some sauce. The faster we get out of this grocery store, the faster you can get your answers."
"Yessir."
When we got to the cash register, I helped Em place the groceries onto the conveyor belt, throwing on a Snickers bar last second. When Em gave me The Look â¢, I shrugged and said, "What? Those two really need one."
Emerson took out the cash Diana gave him and groaned when he saw he was three dollars short. "Shoot," he whispered to me, "do you have three dollars to spare? I'll give you the change."
Before I could reach into my back pocket, the cashier suavely ran his hands through his hair. "That's okay. Three dollars on me, sweet cheeks." The cashier winked at Em, rendering Em speechless. Like a deer in front of headlights, he stood still with side eyes and blushed. The cashier had a smirk on his pierced lips as he rested his head on his palm.
"Back off," I said in a low voice. Wrapping my arm around Em's shoulders, I sneered at him.
He ignored me and leaned closer to the shell-shocked Emerson. "Number?"
I pushed Em aside so he snapped out of his trance. He gulped and hid behind me. "He's not available." I slammed down a five dollar bill. "Keep the change and spare me your sad attempt of picking my boyfriend up."
With a condescending look, his gaze raked up and down my figure with a judgemental expression. He scoffed. "Sure."
Em quickly bagged the groceries, looking down the whole time. His hands were shaking so much, I put my hand on his. He was cold. "Let's go, Em."
He slowly nodded. As we walked away from the cashier I looked back and made eye contact with him. I gave him the very nice finger and smirked in victory when he guffawed in offense.
I let Em turn on the car and sit while I swiftly put the groceries into the trunk. Sitting in the passenger side, I glanced to my left to see that Emerson was staring off into space. I tapped him on his shoulder and he flinched.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he was so quiet I almost didn't hear him. He inhaled deeply. "Yeah, I'm fine. That was just a shock to me. Thank you for intervening. I don't know what I would've done if I was alone."
I frowned as I watched him, his hands shaking immensely. I couldn't do much. Then I got an idea. "Can you give me your phone?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah sure." He slowly reached for his back pocket and pulled it out. His lock screen wallpaper was the selfie we took on the day we got ice cream with Emily. I scrolled through his camera roll to find a photo of me
What I didn't expect, however, was the amount of photos he had of me. As I scrolled through them, memories flooded back at all the adventures we had together. I didn't know if I should have been flattered or creeped out. Many photos of me were bright and candid. This was how Em saw me? I didn't know I even smiled that much. I began to feel bad that many of my photos of him were stupid, dorky ones where we made faces. My cheeks became hot and I mentally slapped myself, loosening the neckline of my top. Eventually I gave up and settled for one he took of me in Steak n Shake. I was smiling goofily at Em behind the camera with some milkshake on my upper lip, with my head propped on my head. There was a soft filter over it, making it appear vintage. I set it as his lock screen wallpaper and smiled contentedly.
"What did you do?" he asked with visible confusion.
"Whenever someone harasses you like that again, or if you just feel like you are in an uncomfortable situation, show them your lock screen and say that I'm your boyfriend."
He took his phone back and sluggishly peered at his phone screen. "Robyn-" He started to blink rapidly when he processed what I said.
"It's fine. Next person who does that to you, I'm literally beating them up," I promised as I popped my knuckles
"Are you sure?"
"Always."
He smiled and sighed in relief. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Trust me, I feel the same."
He patted my shoulder and turned to take the steering wheel. We pulled out of the parking lot and I felt like I was burning up, so I switched on the air conditioner.
Em shivered. "It's kind of cold outside, why didn't you turn on the heater?"
"Uhm, I'm burning up actually. It suddenly got hot." I fanned myself to emphasize that. But I knew the real reason.
"You're literally wearing your Jersey, Robbie. And I'm wearing like three layers of clothing."
"It do be like that sometimes." I shrugged and Em just sighed through his nose. "I don't know, maybe I'm sick again."
He laughed incredulously. "Oh please, that was a pain in the ass. I swear if you get sick again, imma throw hands with you and your stupid immune system."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Then how about I get you sick! So sick you can't move. Then I don't have to deal with your obnoxious self for a while. And you can't do anything about it because you'll be immobile. I swear I will sneeze on you, cough on you, whatever it takes."
I closed my eyes and hummed. When Em looked at me like I was crazy, I laughed in his face. "What?"
"What are you doing?"
"I don't know, this seems like Deja Vu." I thought about it longer but then my brainâcorrection, brain cellâbegan to hurt. "You know what, never mind. I might be tripping."
"Honestly, you act like you're tripping 24/7. The craziest part is the fact that it's how you actually are."
"Can't argue with that logic," I said while nodding.
Emerson snorted and flicked my forehead. "As if you know what logic even is."
When we arrived home, it was odd to not have an eccentric Emily immediately cling onto me the moment I stepped through the doorway. "Where's Emily?"
Emerson shrugged haphazardly with one shoulder as he struggled to carry five bags of food. "I dunno. Maybe she actually went to soccer practice for once."
"Maybe. That means your mom made her go right after doing her homework. How cruel." I set down everything into the kitchen and started to unpack the items to place in the fridge and pantry. "She's missing out on some good ice cream right about now." I popped open the cookies and cream ice cream container before we were even done with putting away the food.
Em smacked my hand before I could scoop out the rock solid ice cream. "Hold on there, cowboy. We need to completely finish putting away the groceries."
I sighed but acquiesced. The sooner I could put away the groceries the sooner I could enjoy some premium ice cream.
While I savored the cookies and cream, Em settled down in the chair next to me. The look he gave told me exactly what we were going to talk about. Air in the room suddenly shifted to a serious one and I gulped in anticipation.
"So," Em started.
"Sooo," I drawled.
"Nathan and Oliver?"
"Oh yeah," I chuckled nervously.
"Didn't you want to know more about them?"
I flippantly flicked my hand in Em's direction. "Don't ruin this ice cream for me with bad vibes."
He raised an eyebrow questionably. "You don't wanna know about how I saw them kissing in the photo booth?"
I choked on my ice cream, wheezing when I tried to regain my breath. "Wait, what?!" Ice cream was spat all over the table. I scrambled to fetch some paper towels. "Sorry about that. When was that?"
"Mm, Nathan's party I went to a little while ago?"
I held up in index finger in shock and used the hem of my shirt to wipe the ice cream off my face. "Excuse my language. What the frick?! Okay one, I didn't know he had a photo booth, and two, do they know?!"
Em cocked his head sideways in visible confusion. "Do they know what?"
"That you know!"
"Of course not. If they knew I knew who knows what'll happen to me? Blackmail, Nathan being rich enough to hire a hitman, etcetera. I know it's not that deep, but you get the point. This is pretty serious according to the fight and how Nathan's parents are. I'm also pretty sure Oliver is going through some internalized homophobia or something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Oliver have a girlfriend?"
Nodding, I scratched the side of my head. "Cleo Valentine. He bragged about her to me all the time," I complained.
"Hold up," he said. "Look up her instagram."
"What?"
"Just do it."
"Alright," I said while pulling out my phone. I don't know why he couldn't have done it on his secret account or whatever, but okay. It wasn't that hard to find her since she was the first, top result. Oliver was generous with over a million followers. Actually, she almost had three million. "Ah, this is her." And I rotated my screen so Em could see her.
I was alarmed when Emerson's eyes widened a considerable amount. He gasped dramatically as if the biggest gossip bomb had been dropped. I sucked in a breath in preparation for the potential impending revelation. "What? What is it?!"
"It can't be just me," he muttered to himself, still staring in awe at my phone screen. "It's uncanny."
I internally did a high-pitch screech. "Tell me." It was killing me to not know. I hated being in the dark. Slamming my phone face first onto the table, my leg started to bounce.
His eyes slowly met mine as he pointed at my phone. "Miss Valentine here looks like Nathan's long lost twin sister."
Huh?
Scrambled to switch my phone back on to see what on earth he was talking about. "No way." I quickly scrolled through and mistyped her name three times. "How did I not see this before!" I exclaimed. She was literally a gender bent Nathan. She had a curly Afro and she also had sandy-colored skin. Honestly, I wouldn't have guessed Oliver to be Cleo's boyfriend. There were a plethora more photos with her and other guys than Oliver. If it wasn't for the one singular picture with her sitting on his lap with the captions saying 'bae <3 Date at the pavilion ⨠XX-XX-XOXO,' and Oliver telling me, then I would have never guessed. But even that is vague to most people.
"Are you sure Nathan and Cleo aren't related?" I stared dumbfounded.
Em, equally confuzzled, sighed loudly. "This kind of drama is something I've seen in cheesy rom coms and read in books. Never in my life would I have thought to witness it firsthand. But here I am. This is some deep shit. I'm not sure if I want to understand it. Let them handle this. I don't think I have enough mental capacity for this stuff."
I snorted. "If you don't have enough mental capacity, then my hella dumbass wouldn't get it either!"
"What are we supposed to do? Watch a friendship crumble because of something this trivial?"
"Em, tell me what else you saw that night at Nathan's party."
"Well, it's quite vague now, but I was hanging out with Andrej, helping him play some arcade games because apparently he has never been to one. Can you believe that? Anyways, before we could really do much I heard some kissy noises from the photo booth and listened. It turned out to be Nathan and Oliver when I saw them step out in askew clothing. They immediately started fighting. I was hiding behind the bar, with Andrej so they didn't see us. From what I heard, I infer Nathan was attempting to wrap his head around the dynamics of their relationship and I think Oliver was in some sort of self-denial.
"I don't know, Oliver seemed really hurt like he wanted to talk it out. Nathan kicked him out because he got offended, especially at the mention of Cleo. I wouldn't blame him, though. Oliver seemed like a real jerk with the fact that he was two-timing them. Here's the real kicker: After Oliver left, Nathan had an emotional breakdown and drank himself until he passed out. That's how he ended up wasted."
It took me a second to process this and I sat there looking like a fish out of water as my ice cream became soupy. I started to spoon some into my mouth as I stared off into space in contemplation. That was a lot of information to sponge in.
Emerson waited patiently and broke the silence with, "So?"
"You're right. This is some deep shit."
"This is much worse than when you know what happened," Em said.
"That was awful."
"Tell me about it," He pinched his nose bridge.
~~~~
a/n: this is a flashback to the incident I was originally not going to include but I know it's kinda mean not to so I guess I'll do it tbh it's mediocre but I'm guessing y'all would like to know what happened so voila
It was a normal basketball practice day, just a regular Tuesday.
At least, that's what it was supposed to be.
I don't know how certain things escalated, but at the end of it, Nathan ended up going to the hospital.
I remember so vividly where I was. It was sunny for once and the sun shone through the upper windows, illuminating the court in golden hues. You could see the lofty cumulonimbus clouds, like cotton balls in blue fields. The floor was newly waxed and the walls were a bright snow white since they were also newly painted. It smelled like Home Depot mixed with sweat.
Emerson was sitting on the bleachers with a Go-Gurt in one hand while the other held his book open. I can still recall the sunlight hitting his olive skin and making him look like a Greek god. His skin glistened and despite his hair being dark brown, it's fluffiness was like a halo around an angel. The only thing that was missing was choir music. With all this light and ethereality, it was a wonder I didn't become blinded.
My old coach was an old, senile man who had the best resting-b*tch face I've ever seen. He constantly sat at the sidelines and yelled at us with crossed arms. I have no clue how he didn't get admitted to the hospital with his blood pressure spiking every two seconds every time someone dropped the ball. At the time I hated practice, but in retrospect, it did good to me in the long run and now I'm the captain.
Anyways, Nathan and Oliver have been best friends long before I entered the picture. It was quite a shocker in sophomore year when they had the biggest fight in the time that I've known them. (Well, up until recently.)
Raking my hands through my hair, I jogged over to where Em resided. He was laughing at something he read and he failed miserably at attempting to stifle it. I sat next to him and he looked up, still giggling. "Hey," he barely managed through his teeth.
"What's so funny?"
"This book is hilarious! You should read it sometime. Honestly, it was way too ahead of its time."
"What's it called?"
"Shards of Time from the Nightrunner Series, it's amazing. I love the characters and the plot is so complex. It's beautifully written."
"Oh? Haven't you been reading that book for the past few weeks?"
"Hah, last time you asked me I was on book one. This is book seven."
I raised an eyebrow. "That's a hella thick book! You've read seven of those in less than a month?"
He nodded timidly, scratching the nape of his neck. "Yep. It's absolutely addicting. If I get hooked on a book I could easily finish it in two to three days."
"No thanks, I'm already slightly behind in the books that our school gives us. Imagine reading for fun. Couldn't be me."
Em shook his head. "You should try it sometime. Maybe you can at least double that one brain cell of yours."
"Hey, you're the one who said we basically share a brain cell, therefore you're indirectly insulting your own intelligence. Besides, I'm still maintaining an A average in language class. I don't wanna be losing my captain position."
"Oh, speaking of grades, do you still need help on your geometry homework?"
Shrugging, I stretched my legs out before me. "I got ninety percent the last quiz thanks to you. I think I'm fine for now."
"That's good! If you are ever struggling, just remember that I will always be available to help you."
I laughed. "No need to flex that you had over a hundred percent in geometry class in freshman year. I know."
"Just making sure," he said and smiled so widely, his eyes crinkled and almost disappeared.
I patted the top of his soft tufts of hair. We fell into our familiar, comfortable silence as we watched some of my teammates play in a scrimmage. I squinted at two figures. "You know those two over there, right?"
Emerson hummed in thought. "I think so. Nathan Hawkins and Oliver Campbell, was it?"
"Good memory. It's been awhile since you have talked with them, hasn't it?" He nodded. "Well, they are both exceptional players, but I think they're having a verbal fight right now. Or is it just me?"
Em shut his book and took a slurp from his Go-Gurt. "Huh. No, I can hear them now." The louder they shouted, the quieter the rest of the gymnasium became.
"I dare you to call me a fag one more time!" Nathan yelled.
Oliver threw his basketball, narrowly missing Nathan's head. "You're such a faggot!" In large strides he became almost chest to chest with Nathan, disdain clearly visible. With every word he spat, he enunciated with a poke on Nathan's chest as Nathan flinched every time. I couldn't hear it because it was clearly meant for only his ears. But at the end, he pushed Nathan down hard enough that he landed hard backwards. Nathan hissed in pain and got back up to say something back to his face, cradling his elbow.
Em gasped. "Woah, aren't they best friends?" I nodded, dumbfounded.
Our mummified coach hobbled over to the two boys who were screaming as if the world was about to end. He pinched their ears and kicked the back of their knees, forcing them to kneel on the ground.
"What did I say about fighting? No tolerance," growled the old man.
Nathan's face was flushed with anger as he bit his lips. He moved away his left arm, so I could tell there was something wrong with it. Oliver side-eyed him in disgust, oblivious, no more like willfully ignorant to what he just caused.
"You two stay here. I'm fetching an administrator." He turned to yell at our team. "Fifteen minutes stretch break. And if I catch you not stretching, you're all doing suicides until you collapse." He left and Em and I shared a panicked look. I ran over to the two of them, who were still on the floor. Nathan stared at the ground as Oliver scoffed.
"What happened?" Em asked.
They ignored him so I asked loudly, "What happened?"
"Ollie called Julius a fag because he 'shoots so gay' and I told him that wasn't nice." Oliver scoffed again. "Then he turned to me and called me a fag." Of course there was more but I honestly didn't want to hear more.
"You're such a snowflake," Oliver sneered. "It was a joke. Maybe you should calm your tits." He went too far. I was pretty tempted to socking him right in the jaw on the spot.
Nathan frowned at him. I crossed my arms and lowered myself to their eye-level. "Oh come off it, Oliver," I said. "You're acting like a prick. This isn't like you. I feel like I shouldn't have to tell you to not use those insults in this day and age. You sound absolutely moronic and nobody would want to be your friend." I pinched my nose bridge. "Honestly, Nathan is too good for you."
Nathan's eyes had a wet sheen, as if he was attempting to withhold his tears. I'd never seen him cry before. He didn't seem like the type to especially do so in front of others.
"Why are you such a jerk today, Oliver?"
Oliver rolled his hooded blue eyes unapologetically. "He normally wouldn't get offended at a stupid comment like that. I don't know why everyone is making a big deal of it."
Emerson crossed his arms. "What the hell, Oliver? You're being an insensitive dick."
I glanced at Nathan. All traces of rage were gonna and replaced with remorse and sadness. Nathan sniffled as he inhaled deeply. "No, don't get mad at him. He's right. I shouldn't have been offended. Many boys our age make jokes like that. I don't know why I got so worked up. I should grow a thicker skin." He paused and gulped. "Ignore me. I'm sorry that you're going to get in trouble because of me, Ollie."
Oliver blinked and his eyes grew wide. "Wait, wha-"
Before he could finish his sentence, our senior coach dragged him up by the arm. "Get up boys. Our administrator is taking you to the office. Don't make any more trouble."
Nathan got up himself and patted his legs, his left arm awkwardly hanging to his side. He inhaled through his teeth but said nothing as he was silently led off to an office. Before he left the gym, Nathan turned back and gave me a sad smile which I never understood or interpreted until today.
Even after Nathan's suspension period had ended he still didn't come to basketball practice. That's when I found out he had to go to the hospital after school and ended up with a fractured elbow.
~~~
"We need to help them out of this. It has become a toxic relationship and it's now affecting their school life and the people around them," Em said.
"Obviously, but how exactly? Should we even interfere? Suppose we try to help, then how do we go about it?"
Em shrugged. "Make Oliver choose. Make him realize it's wrong to lead on each person. Pick one or it's neither." He slid a hand down his face. "Gosh, I didn't know he'd be such a dick." Wrinkling his nose, he shook his head in disappointment.
"I know. Poor Nathan. As if his parents weren't tough enough."
"What's going on with his parents?"
"Ah, I forgot you don't know. Well at least you know how his parents are basically tiger parents that are very strict on him. From what I've heard, they're really homophobic and I swear his dad is abusive or something. In the locker rooms, he always tries to change in the stalls. But I have seen the bruises on that boy's body. Every time I try to ask him about it he conjures up a clever excuse like 'oh I fell down the stairs.' Or some shit like that. Imagine what would happen to him if they found out their son wasn't straight. What a mess."
"Oh, that's awful," Em said with a hand over his mouth.
"It must feel super shitty. The one person you would think you would have by your side no matter what is even pitted against you. Just thinking if it were you and me, that shit hurts, man."
Emerson placed one of his hands over mine and used the other to push back a strand behind my ear. My breath hitched and I hoped to everything above that he couldn't feel my pulse beating a million miles per second. "I would never leave your side, Robbie. Even if the universe forbids it, I'll always find my way back to you. Even if the rest of the world turns its back on you, I'll be next to you, taking every step with you. Because you know why?"
"Why?" I barely managed to squeak through.
"Because we are soulmates."
"Yeah. We are." Bliss filled my chest and I thought I was going to melt like the sad puddle of ice cream in my cup.
~~~
a/n: (Don't mind me, that drawing at the top is one of my art pieces)
ANYWAYS that was a rollercoaster to write and I'm sorry for any errors because I just wanted to get another chapter out because it's literally been a month ugH I'm so sorry
Anyways please vote and comment because that really makes my day and I'd really appreciate it especially since I'm on 3 week spring break because of coronavirus
Stay safe out there (unlike me, I have the flu oops, now everyone thinks I have COVID-19 :,D )
Update: ^^ lmao wrote this in March of 2020 if only I knew. It wasn't 3 weeks. Also had to rework some things of this chapter because there was some inconsistencies like I forgot to add Nathan fractured his arm the first time and if you thought Oliver's eyes weren't blue before, well, now they are.