Being Gene Belcher: Step One: Questioning All You Know

Chapter Three

   After Gene and Louise went their separate ways in the hall, Gene met up with Alex and Courtney before they had to begin class.

   "Hey, guys!" Courtney greeted them. "Guess what? I was thinking of a new name for the three of us and I think we should be called the 'GAC Pack' for Gene, Alex, and Courtney!" 

   "Ooh, I love it!" Alex exclaimed. "Gene?"

  Gene grinned. "Yeah, me too!" 

  "Great!" an excited Courtney squealed. "Now we're the 'GAC Pack'!" Courtney thought about it for a moment. "Ooh, I love how badass that sounds!" 

   Alex and Gene laughed. As they continued to walk through the hallway, Gene and Courtney arrived at their classroom. 

   "Oh, this is our class!" Courtney told him. "See ya at lunch, Alex!"

  "See ya!" Alex replied.

  Alex continued to walk down the hall as Gene and Courtney entered their first period class.

                                                                                                                ***

   Once everyone had sat down at their desks, their teacher, Mrs Kalpara, came to the front of the room to take attendance. "Good morning, students. When I call your name, state your favorite thing to eat! Garrett?"

   "Potatoes," the student in question answered.

   "Perfect. Hanna?"

 "Sunflower seeds."

   "Lovely," Mrs Kalpara said. "I like sunflower seeds too. Lenny?" 

  Lenny smirked as he snidely replied, "Ass."

  Students in the classroom began to giggle profusely, although Gene himself merely raised a confused eyebrow. 

   Mrs Kalpara narrowed her eyes. "Not appropriate for class, Lenny. Would you like to visit the principal's office?" 

   "Not really," Lenny said.

   "Then, be on your best behavior," Mrs Kalpara told him. She looked down at the attendance board. "Ah, Gene. Favorite thing to eat?" 

   "I couldn't choose just one thing," Gene answered. "I like a bit of everything."

   "Oh, so you swing in every direction?" Lenny teased him with a suggestive tone. 

  The class burst out laughing this time, except for Gene who once again, could only stare in confusion. 

   Mrs Kalpara gritted her teeth. "Principal's office. Now." 

  Unfazed, Lenny stood up and left the room, heading to the principal's office. As Mrs Kalpara continued to take attendance, Gene noticed Courtney sliding him a neatly folded note. Gene took it from her and carefully unfolded it to read:

     Sorry about Lenny's terrible sex jokes. He made a lot of them while I was dating him. Couldn't seem to talk about anything else.

  Gene turned the note over and wrote down a response before passing it back over to Courtney:

   I didn't even notice they were sex jokes. What does he mean that his favorite thing to eat is ass? And what does he mean I swing in every direction? 

   After Courtney received Gene's response, she stifled a laugh, trying not to choke on her own spit. She looked over at him with a slightly embarrassed expression and wrote a reply:

    Maybe you should ask your parents what it means. 

  Gene passed back another note:

  Oh. So, it's that taboo, huh? 

  Courtney looked at the note for a moment, trying to think of a reply. After she finally wrote something down, she passed it over to Gene:

   Meet me after class. I have something important I want to tell you.

  Gene swallowed, nervously, but turned to Courtney and nodded to affirm that he would meet her. Courtney smiled at him before Gene turned to face the front of the classroom. 

   Gene was sure that he knew what Courtney wanted to say. However, he wasn't sure that he was ready with a reply.

                                                                                                      ***

   After class, Courtney met Gene near his locker. She greeted him with a smile. "Hey, Gene."

   Gene shut his locker and turned to face Courtney. "Oh... uh... hi," he blurted out, nervously.

  Courtney sighed. "Listen... I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about my Dad having to come in and find us."

   Gene flinched upon remembering the horrible incident, his face growing hot. He cleared his throat before stammering out, "No, no, it's fine. That was just... an accident."

  Courtney looked down at her shoes. "Yeah... that's not all I wanted to talk about though."

  Gene heard his pulse in his ears. "Oh. What else?"

  "I think... I think I've fallen in love with-"

  Before she could finish, Gene awkwardly looked down at his wrist, despite the lack of a watch. "Uhh... look at the time! I have to get to the lunchroom and grab the last taco before somebody else gets it again!"

   Gene rushed off into the distance, leaving a slightly hurt and confused Courtney behind him. Upon reaching the lunchroom, he received a taco, though he was hardly able to enjoy it. He took a deep breath in between bites, finally deciding he needed to talk to someone before it became too much.

                                                                                                                   ***

    After school had finished, Gene and Louise met up at the front entrance. As they began to walk home together, Gene let out a short, defeated, "Ugh."

   "What are you 'ugh'-ing about?" Louise wondered.

  "I... just... it's the situation with Courtney and stuff," Gene admitted.

   "Oh... did you end up telling her you don't have feelings for her or...?" 

   Gene sighed, ashamedly telling her, "No. She was about to tell me she had feelings for me and then I chickened out." 

  "Yikes," Louise uttered. "You got to tell her eventually."

   "I know," Gene said. "I just... she was about to confess to me and that takes a lot of courage. I didn't want to just shoot her down right there."

   "That makes sense," Louise stated. "But how long do you plan on keeping this up?"

  "I don't know," Gene confessed. "I really don't." 

  Louise merely nodded as a blanket of silence settled over the two of them. Gene knew that by figuring out what was happening with him, he could make amends with Courtney easier and let her down gently. The problem was that he didn't think there was an answer.

(A/N: Sorry for the delay with this chapter! Work got a little busy and I wasn't able to find the time to update on time. Hopefully, I can get the next chapter done on schedule! 

Hope you enjoyed!)