Abracadabra, You're Gay (Kellic)

Nine: Before (3)

December, 1912.
13 years old.

Brendon sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
"Do you think he's ignoring me because-"

"He's not ignoring you," Kellin sighed, standing up from his bed below me and walking across to Brendon's. I instinctively looked across the room at the empty top bunk.

I had gotten used to observing our dorm from my high bed, always looking over at Ryan and sharing a laugh. Except that recently that bed had been chronically empty.

"He never talks to me anymore," Brendon said, looking at Kellin sitting beside him. Brendon sat up, pulling some of the bedsheet so that it covered Kellin as well.

"If it's any consolation," I mumbled irritably, "he doesn't speak to any of us."

Kellin looked up and me, raising his eyebrows at my sudden foul mood. He didn't say anything though, just opting to staring at me as if he thought that if he stared long enough, he would be able to drill a hole through my head and read my thoughts.

"It's not like we don't know where he is," Brendon said, lying back down in his bed.

"Well, I for one am not being kept in the loop then," Kellin said, shifting his gaze from me to Brendon. "Where is he?"

Brendon rolled his eyes. "He's with her."

Kellin's eyebrows shot up instantly. "Who the hell is 'her?'"

"This girl he's friends with," I answered in a flat voice. "They've been hanging out a lot and it's making Brendon jealous."

"I am not jealous," Brendon snapped. "But he's definitely not just friends with her."

"Does she have a name?" Kellin asked sarcastically.

"Probably," I replied, "we just don't know what it is."

"Well Ryan's spending a lot of time with her," Kellin said, a grin starting to form. "He's probably got a crush on her. Let him live a little."

I frowned immediately at Kellin, but he wasn't looking at me. Could he be any thicker? Why else would Brendon be this jealous about it if he didn't have some kind of feelings for-

"Isn't that wonderful," Brendon snapped, rolling over and facing the wall.

Kellin shot me a confused face and I mouthed: 'I'll explain later', to him.

I didn't have the heart to explain that I was just as obsessed with this girl as Ryan was. Except she didn't know me and was somehow avoiding speaking to me.

I had tried to follow Ryan when he was going to meet up with her, but he had caught me immediately because of my flaring flame and had yelled at me.

I tried looking for her in class and in the corridors, sometimes only able to catch glimpses of red before it was swallowed by a crowd of people.

I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow she knew exactly where I'd be and when - expertly using this to her advantage to avoid me.

But the more I thought about it the stupider that theory became. She was just in different classes to me and we kept missing each other, that was all.