The Shy One (boyxboy)

Chapter 3

I don't know what it was about him. He intrigued me.

I'd never really noticed him before. I mean, of course I heard the whispers, the rumors, but I never paid much attention.

The shy kid in the back of the class.

Rumor said he was emo. Rumor said he was gay.

Never had either of those come from his mouth though, and my mother taught me better than to blindly accept what people told me.

He was the exact opposite of the kind of person I hung out with.

My friends were polished, popular, seemingly perfect.

But my friends also gossiped, betrayed, and hurt others for seemingly no reason.

That didn't change it though, Aubrey Andrews and I were not meant to be friends.

So when I saw Aubrey pinned under the hateful glare of Dean Carter I had two options.

One, I could ignore the unfolding scene like everyone else in the hallway and go to class.

Or two, I could help.

I consider myself a pretty decent person so of course I was going to help.

"Yo Carter!" I yelled down the hall, catching the lug's attention.

He and his cronies all turned to face me.

I quickened my pace down the hall and saw Aubrey look away.

"What are you doing man?" I asked as I approached them. Not like it wasn't obvious to anyone with eyes.

"About to beat up the fag here," he said stupidly. His cronies, some other guys from the team, laughed behind him, "wanna help bro?" He stuck his thumb in Aubrey's direction and the smaller boy flinched.

I felt rage boil through my blood at that comment. Were they aware this was another person they were talking about?!

"Why would I do that?!" I asked him, barely concealing my anger with curiosity. If Carter felt attacked this wouldn't end well.

"I don't know man, you tell me." Carter smirked and I had to refrain from grimacing at the sight of his yellowing teeth.

"That's not cool man, you could be kicked off the team." Or worse, I wanted to say.

"Like he doesn't deserve it!" Carter snarled.

"What did he do to you?" I asked, trying to keep the raw hostility out of my voice. Aubrey never did anything to anyone!

"Look at the little brat Matthews!" Carter yelled, really dumb if you asked me, now everyone was looking.

I looked over at Aubrey, really looked, and saw a small, frightened boy with long hair covering haunted brown eyes. He was pale and skinny but...cute.

"I am." I said simply. I saw Aubrey's eyes widen before he looked down. "Let me rephrase this Carter. If I see you trying this crap with ANYONE again you WILL be off the team. Got it?" I spat at him. I was honestly this close to snapping but one look at Aubrey had me calming down again.

Carter huffed and puffed but eventually just dropped it and stalked away. I watched him go before turning back to my little damsel in distress.

"Come on, we've got about a minute left to get to class." I said, seeming to startle him out of his thoughts.

I started walking and heard him follow behind me, he was so quiet.

I wanted to talk to him, but when I did he acted like the apocalypse was happening.