Teenage Dirtbag (SeaChaos - REVAMPED)

5 - Threats

His best friend's a dick, and he brings a gun to school. He'd simply kick my ass if he knew the truth. He's really good with game hacks, his first name is Max. But he doesn't know who I am. And he doesn't give a damn about me.

'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby.

After the normally weird breakfast experience -- although the sexual advancement from Galm and Ze was certainly a small and unwelcome variation -- we all pack up and leave the house. Smarty gives Tom the usual doting before he leaves for work in the car. Tom doesn't complain, but we all know he rolls his eyes at it all. Galm and Ze are no longer being overly open as we begin the walk to school, holding hands lightly as we make conversation. I glance at them a bit sadly, trying hard to push out the image of holding Adam's hand. It's never gonna happen.

I shake my head slightly and focus on walking and talking. We make it to school at the same time as usual. As normal, we say our goodbyes at the door of the school and break off into our groups. Ze and Galm go one direction. I head in another, with Smarty walking behind me, not necessarily with me.

I break off and walk into my first period, sliding into my desk. Coach F greets me warmly, as always.

"How was your night?" I ask, because I know he was stressed yesterday.

"Much better than the previous, Anthony," he says. "Although I'm sure you've already picked up on that." I smile and nod, and he chuckles. It is true, though. I notice these kinds of things about people. I spend a lot of my time watching other people, and reading them just comes naturally. Perhaps that is another drawing point to Adam. I'm almost certain he does the same thing.

Once again, I am early. Coach F and I have a routine. We talk like we're friends before people show up, me going so far as to call him Jason, just as he calls me Anthony. We are on a first-name basis out of school. But when people begin filtering, our conversation turns from his wife and kids or my shenanigans at home to homework and my grade. I become Mr. Chaos and he becomes Coach F.

Adam is first to walk in, unlike in my routine. The smile I have on my face is not the normal, small expression, because I am laughing at a small joke from Coach F, smiling widely and genuinely. I quickly wipe my face of the smile, but not before Adam catches sight of it. He takes the seat beside me.

Not the routine.

My heartbeat speeds up immediately. He sits a few seats to my left, not one. He sits a few behind me, too, not none. Why is he breaching protocol? I call it protocol because that's basically what it is. The popular kid does not sit next to me. That's against the rules. Right? Right.

So why now?

I mean, I'm not complaining, but I am very curious and very confused. Sure, we've spoken a bit, but that was one day, not like a whole week! Coach F doesn't say anything, only smiles slightly, sure that I've made a friend, something he keeps bagging on me about, almost like a father would. Plus, he doesn't have assigned seats; no one in this class is bad enough to need it, and we all just sit wherever we feel.

And today, Adam feels like sitting next to me.

"Morning, Chaos," Adam says as he shrugs off his bag. I lick my lips nervously.

"M-morning, Montoya," I reply, aiming for smoothly, although I stutter a little. I smack myself mentally and then turn slightly red as Adam flashes that smile of his at me.

"How was your night?" he asks casually, even as people begin to filter in. "I saw you walking with your friends yesterday. Who was that girl with purple in her hair? I've never seen her around. I would remember someone like her." That statement makes me feel a little upset, simply because it shows, once again, that he is far from interested in the male population. Sure, Minx being a lesbian certainly makes me feel a bit better, but Adam doesn't even know that fact about her.