Oh Boy ★ Ryden

Chapter 10: Oh, The Arts

Brent Wilson can fuck right off. The announcement for those that got into the school jazz band came out Wednesday and Brent has been giving everybody shit since then because the bass guitar spot was won by Jon. This is clearly because Jon is damn good at bass, but Brent? No, no, no. He's not having it. And you have to feel at least a little bad for the guy who's actually delusional enough to think that he was wronged because it couldn't possibly be because he can't play his instrument well and is also a dick.

The fifth period is trying to get started but Brent is stalling the entire jazz band by yelling at the poor teacher things along the lines of 'This is unbelievable' or 'Fuck you, Mr. Stump' and-- wait, that's not good. " Alright, everyone!" Mr. Stump calls to the rest of the class, seeming a bit uncomfortable in this situation, his back turned momentarily to Brent who's brooding by the door. "I'm just gonna hop on over to Principle Toro's office for a hot sec, so, um... just keep getting your instruments tuned up and yeah," he stammers out and hesitantly turns, asking Brent to follow him.

"Ryan!" Jon whisper-shouts to me from his spot over by the drum set with Brendon. Spencer's parents wanted him to focus more on academics this year and without a good drummer this whole class would have suffered but as it turns out Brendon is really good on drums so he got the position. As for me, I got rhythm guitar even though I was going for lead but that Ian kid is really impressive so it's all good. I carefully place my guitar back into my case and squeeze past the few kids in the horns section to get to Jon and Brendon. "What the hell are we gonna do about Brent?" Jon is still sitting down tuning his bass. Brendon is messing around on his drums.

"I honestly have no clue." I cross my arms.

"Yeah," Brendon cracks a grin, "he already hates two of us."

"He's still mad at you?" Jon finishes tuning and rests over his bass.

Brendon absentmindedly taps a stick on the rim of one of the drums. "I think I annoy him in general now. He just says really unintelligent things so it's a bit hard to hold back, you know?" He stops tapping for a second, "Like how the fuck could he just cuss at Stump?"

"Well, if God is sending that asshole to Hell for anything it's gonna be for swearing at that poor small man." The other two hum in agreement with my statement. Just then Mr. Stump walks back into the music room still looking distressed from the small conflict and we all get back to our seats. He settles everyone down and gets everything started having Brendon count off into our first song.

My chair is positioned so I'm facing the drums from the other side of the room. As I sit strumming my parts I watch Brendon just going at it on the set. He plays them in such a specific way, like when Spencer plays he moves around a bit but Brendon moves his whole body to the beat, making these stupid immersed faces. In the middle of bopping his head around, he looks in my direction and gives me a goofy smile. My insides feel warm and I almost fuck up the next chord from being distracted but I quickly recover.

Besides obvious Brent issues, everything has been good. Really good actually. Brendon and I have rekindled... whatever we had this summer. Nothing too serious but some sneaking around which feels a hell of a lot better in the context of me getting to fuck Brendon again; now it actually feels like something worth hiding which adds to the fun. There's an added rush to it all. I hadn't even realized this-- I don't think Brendon did either-- but he's not actually out to our friends. This became clear when Vicky asked if he was interested in any girls at the school yet during lunch two weeks ago and Brendon and I just made this wild eye contact from across the table. He responded with a vague They're not really my type. The moment everyone else moved onto another subject Brendon flashed me a smug grin, clearly satisfied with his statement's double meaning. Later that day when Stump had sent us out to the supply room in the big gym to retrieve some more chairs, I asked him why the fuck he was voluntarily re-entering the closet. With the supply room door closed he pulled me in by the belt loops on my pants for a deep, hot kiss. He removed his mouth and left a light trail of saliva along my cheek as he moved up to my ear and said, voice husky, I just thought it'd make sleeping around with you a bit easier. Also keeps things a little more exciting.