marionette | DreamNotFound

- 8 -

oh. OH.

„George, are you ready," Nick shouted into his ears as they left school together on friday. „Absolutely not," George responded. He really did NOT want to pass time with Clay. God, he really wished he could ditch them. „Come on, George," Nick said. „No," George was annoyed.

Prior that day, he noticed that he stared at Clay for too long. He didn't know where it came from, but he knew it meant trouble. Clay kind of stood up for George when someone was making comments about his weight. George left his cafeteria to go cry in the bathroom stalls but he simply couldn't. All he could think about was how Clay defended him and honestly, he had heart eyes. He just couldn't let anyone know. When he came back, George, Clay and Toby weren't alone anymore, Nick, Tommy and Will had joined them. „There you are, George," Nick said and pointed to the empty space next to him. George's eyes wandered to the blond guy with the smudged eyeliner and fluffy hair that stood up in all directions. Please, Clay, be a prick so I can quit looking at you. George tried his best to keep a straight face, maybe even a frown. Nick followed his best friend's gaze and he saw Clay. He quietly laughed and was glad he asked Toby to get Clay to come to the party. He'll have loads of fun that night, he was gonna make it happen.

Clay felt himself being stared at, he uncomfortably fixed his posture. He saw George in the corner of his eye, asking himself once again what he had done to George to look at him with a frown. He knew they didn't have a great start but he wanted to make their relationship better and he began with defending George. Of course, he would have done it for everyone but he really felt the need to do it for George. Some prick was complaining about George's body, he really didn't need to be called fat, especially in George's case. He had barely any fat and the more he thought about, it, he barely seemed to eat proper meals. It was always George giving away his food and being absent most of the time at lunch an- oh. OH. My god. Clay's mouth was opened, his face had an expression that was not readable. Why didn't he realize earlier? It was so obvious, Clay chuckled. That was a bit of a problem, he knew. If he was to help George, he would dislike him even more. If he wasn't, George could have serious consequences. He should probably tell Nick- if he didn't knew already.

At that moment, Nick really didn't pay attention to anything that was happening. He thought about the party and how much alcohol he had to give to George for him to play party games. He also planned the party games where he could bring Clay and George to kind of fall for each other. Nick knew that George's behaviour towards Clay wasn't because he was going to turn out to be an absolute asshole but because he admired the guy since the beginning. God, how was he so blind?

„George, do you plan on sleeping here?" Nick asked him as they entered Nick's house. „Uh, I didn't plan on staying long but if I had too much to drink, I will probably stay" Nick nodded. Dear lord, the gallons of alcohol going down that boy's throat today. George will stay, Nick decided and moved on to get all the alcohol in the fridge.

„Hello, Clay," Tommy said. Clay closed his eyes and stopped walking. „Hey, Tommy," Clay said annoyed. He liked Tommy, he really did, but the child got on his nerves. Usually, when conversations start like this, Tommy would ask uncomfortable questions. „Are you excited for the party?" he asked. „Actually, yes, it's gonna be my first party in England," Clay responded. Tommy nodded, „You wont even last an hour, I'm telling you, big man" „Why not?" Clay asked and grabbed the cigarrettes from the pocket of his jacked. He lit one and kept more distance to the child as he didn't want him to smoke passive. „There's gonna be so much alcohol, it's gonna be amazing. Americans tend to pass out after forty minutes here," Tommy said. „Oh, well, I mean it's a bet, isn't it?" Clay grinned. „I'm not much of a drinker but you can mess with Will, he's usually the last one standing" „Oh, well," Clay said. „We'll see"

„So, ever took any drugs?"