OPEN [boyxboy] ✓

eleven:: when your "bully" brings his buddies.

[Calum; Glad You Came by The Wanted]

ELEVEN:: when your "bully" brings his buddies.

The following Monday was considerably quieter than ever. People no longer gawked but the pity in their eyes was enough to keep me on edge throughout the day. I was walking through the locker rooms later that day during my lunch period when some girl with ruler-straight blonde hair stopped me, telling me that her name was Elizabeth and that I was brave and how much she shipped Calum and I.

And I had no idea what shipping was or what Calum and I had to do with it but it didn't sound healthy to me. She compared us to Percebeth which I'd seen somewhere on the internet and thought it was just some kind of disease. Trying to get away from her as quick as possible, I'd seen a specific boy with boxy glasses and unmanageable, unruly curly hair which somehow had gotten bigger.

And making up some excuse about going to meet a friend, I flashed her a smile before exiting the premises, "Pete!"

I watched as his body froze up, voice coming out timid as he stuttered out a reply, "L-listen, Ricky, I-I-I don't have your-" he said quietly, spinning around slightly and slowly but as his eyes met mine, he relaxed, "oh, hey..."

But something was off about that greeting, Pete was scared of this Ricky kid and if it was the one on my team, we'd have a problem, "You okay?"

His eyebrows furrowed at the sight of my hand resting awkwardly on his shoulder for comfort and after a few seconds of Pete daring me to move, I'd dropped it. Stepping away, he registered exactly what I'd said, his head shaking as he spoke, "I-I'm fine, um... what'd you want?"

"I just wanted to get away from that girl," but I couldn't not press the matter, that's not fair to Paul, not knowing if his little brother is safe and it also wasn't fair to my own conscience, "Seriously, is Ricky bothering you?"

Fidgeting with his hands I watched his slim, lanky form shuffle his feet slightly as cross the scuff mark stained floor. I realized the little nervous tick he'd had and how much he resembled Paul. His hair, although way bushier, had the same texture and his eyes held the same depth just a shade lighter than the brown I'd liked so much. His body, although slimmer had that same length and he'd no doubt be taller and grow into his height as much as Paul had.

I watched Pete's eyes travel around and then back to the floor, as if he were scared to be seen, "No, it's just a misunderstanding..."

"Pete, you don't look okay."

I hadn't expected it when he snapped at me, "Look, can you just leave me alone? Just because you're fucking my brother doesn't mean that you and I are friends, you don't have to be nice to me, okay?"

"Pete, we're friends."

"We're not." He scoffed. "The only reason I ever talked to you was because Paul asked me to find you."

I tried to stifle a smile, tried to hide it behind a cough. "Still..."

But I wasn't fucking Paul and even if I was, I'd still care about Pete's safety; he jumped in a fight that I was clearly losing, he broke up that fight and took me to his brother's house so I wouldn't have to go home. Pete was a good person; I didn't get to say that because as soon as I'd opened my mouth, I was being called away.

"Hey, Douglas, Ben's looking for you," I heard a guy from the team call out to me, interrupting my talk with Pete who looked too relieved to get rid of me. I recalled the guy was a freshman and his name was Trent or Troy or something like that but I never really had a reason to learn, Andy always handled the 9th and 10th graders because he actually had time. I gave him a look, turning around to make sure Pete knew that we'd be talking later.