Falling for Ocean Blue [BxB] ✔️

Chapter Twenty eight

Steven is at my locker with a scowl on his face that forms an invisible field around him, repelling passers-by. 

"Did you hear?" He asks.

I open the metal door to retrieve my science book, nodding solemnly.

"Lunch duty?"

"It's totally unfair! That prank was tame compared to arson! Need I remind you of Baxter!" In his rage, Steven still sends a hail Mary up into the heaven.

"Please don't..."

"Robert Gardiner was still in the costume!"

I sigh.

The burly soccer player is visibly unravelled. His black hair is in disarray. His uniform is skewed and noticeably dirty, drenched in aftershave at the collar.

"I haven't picked up my spare uniform from Mr Arlette. You can borrow it." I tell him.

Steven's shoulders drop. His brown eyes lighten, and I catch a small smile on his ashen face. I'm reminded by how handsome the boy could be, albeit, rough around the edges.

"Thanks, man. Water pipes burst in the apartment again. I don't want to bother my mom-"

And for once, I get it. Only Steven understands the false promise of the working class.

I remember his mother distinctly.

She wore an overbearing perfume with a wide smile and twinkling eyes. A small Korean woman with a berating voice when a punishment needed to be dealt. She baked brownies for the bake sale when no other parent bothered. She showed up with orange slices and water bottles at the big soccer games. Her nurse uniform hidden under a yellow jersey with her son's number sewn on. Number 1.

Steven won the rights to it after a very drunk game of strip poker. Between us, I know he wasn't as drunk as he led the others to believe. Number one stitched into his soccer uniform makes his mother proud, and Steven is a mama's boy.

"I needed lunch break to study. I need to keep my grades up. They're barely mediocre as it is."

"Can't you speak to Principal Greene?" I close my locker and face him. 

Steven exhales in frustration.

"I already did. Zero tolerance."

Private school opens many doors, but there's a limit.

We walk in a lament, side by side as the morning air bustles all around us. Clouds of cliques funnel through the halls, hand in hand. I'm getting accustomed to the internal workings of high school. Now, I manoeuvre through with the stealth of an assassin.

"Have you spoken to Wolfe?" Steven asks me with a curious lilt in his voice.

I frown.

The boy is suddenly awkward in my inspection of him. I turn away to give him some recovery before he clears his throat and asks a better question.

"I mean... Isn't he acting weird? I barely saw him since last night and he usually gives me a ride to school."

I shrug my shoulders.

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"No reason. Did you hear about the royal break up? I bet Austin is happy, he can finally get back together with Aubrey." He shakes his head comically, "I'll never understand the back-and-forth between two slightly different looking white boys. Promise when you leave LA, you'll take me with you."

I laugh out loud. This might be the first time, in a while, I've meant it. Steven grins like he's caught a glimpse behind a slipping façade. I allow it because the boy is incapable of any malice and doesn't deserve the indifference I give everyone else.