Locked Wheels

Chapter 5

Halfway through Karkat's third week here, he did something crazy: he actually came to me first in the morning.

"Do you still want my phone number?" he asked me abruptly that Thursday.

"What?"

"I said d... do you want my phone number still," he said, his voice getting more mumbled as he spoke. His cheeks turned pink as he looked away and scratched the back of his head. "I-I can... um... g-give it to you now. If you want."

"Oh. No, yeah, that'd be nice." I pulled out my phone. With a slight smirk, I asked, "What took you so long?"

"Shut up," he muttered. "You're lucky I changed my mind at all." After a second, he sighed. "I just... I guess I thought about what you said and I thought that maybe I could... g-get to know you a little better." Half a second later, he added, "But that doesn't mean we're friends."

I smiled. "Alright, whatever you say. But still, thanks. Appreciate it."

"Yeah..." Karkat murmured as he handed me his phone. As I entered his number into my contacts, I glanced up at him and grinned a little.

"What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Here." I handed him back his phone. As I did, the bell rang. I gave him a single handed wave before I turned around and we went our separate ways. All throughout first and second period, I could practically feel his number burning in my pocket, so during third period, I slipped my phone into my lap and sent him a quick text.

DAVE: yo whats up kitkat

He texted back a couple minutes later.

KARKAT: WHAT THE FUCK.

KARKAT: WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TEXTING ME.

DAVE: woah dude chill no need to bite my fucking head off

KARKAT: SORRY. MY PHONE'S FUCKED UP. I CAN ONLY TEXT IN ALL CAPS.

DAVE: damn you ought to get that checked out and fixed man

DAVE: someone might think youre mad at them

KARKAT: WHO SAYS I'M NOT?

KARKAT: WHY ARE YOU EVEN TEXTING ME IN THE FIRST PLACE? AREN'T YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF CLASS RIGHT NOW?

DAVE: maybe

DAVE: its fine though i can get away with it

DAVE: teachers usually feel weird about taking a crippled kids phone

KARKAT: ARE YOU EVEN ALLOWED TO USE THAT WORD? ISN'T THAT A SLUR?

DAVE: nah man you dont understand

DAVE: *i* can use it because i actually am crippled

DAVE: its just you people with four fully functioning limbs who cant

KARKAT: OH.

KARKAT: WELL THAT STILL DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION. MY TEACHER NEARLY CAUGHT ME JUST NOW. WHAT DO YOU WANT?

DAVE: eh nothing really

DAVE: just wanted to talk to my new best bro

DAVE: and i wanted to see whether or not this was your actual phone number

DAVE: cuz you were kinda super fucking vague on who you do or dont give your number to and im not entirely sure if were friends still

DAVE: is the jury still out on that

KARKAT: THE JURY HASN'T EVEN BEEN CALLED INTO FUCKING SESSION.

DAVE: i see

DAVE: what about a court of appeals kinda deal