The Other Side [boyxboy]

The Other Side {3}

                By the end of the day, I'd adjusted to Taliesin constantly watching me in classes. His rude attitude helped my resolve in ignoring him.

                It didn't keep my mind from whispering that he could just be putting on a show, that the old Taliesin was still in there. I wasn't sure I'd ever stop wondering what had happened to make him change.

                "Survive the day?" Nadia asked as she came up to my locker.

                "He missed math class, so I got a break from him," I said. "Kace isn't too happy though."

                "He'll manage. This'll all die down soon enough," Nadia said. "Want to come over and do homework at my house? My mom made garlic knots last night."

                "That's a hell yea from me," I said. "I'll never say no to garlic knots."

                "I figured. Let's go," she said.

                I shut my locker and followed Nadia out of the school. We got in our cars and drove to her house, getting out and going inside together.

                Nadia grabbed a bowl of garlic knots, heated them up, and brought them with us up to her bedroom. We settled ourselves on her bed with our homework and the garlic knots between us.

                "Hey, be honest Gabriel, are you really doing alright seeing him again?" she asked.

                It was no secret just how close Taliesin and I had always been, even before we'd started dating. We'd been fast friends as little kids. My parents used to call Taliesin my shadow because it was so rare to see me without him.

                "He's not the Taliesin I grew up with," I said.

                Nadia looked down at her homework. "Something happened. But you already know that."

                "He looks...tired," I said. I'd noticed the heavy bags under Taliesin's eyes. "You didn't see the way he treated Kace, though. I want no part of that. There's no excuse for treating your friends that way."

                "Let's do our work. Talking about Taliesin doesn't help us graduate," she said.

                The two of us got to work on our homework, snacking on garlic knots and occasionally holding a light conversation to break up the silence. As it got later, I left Nadia's house and went back to my own for dinner, my homework finished.

                "Hey, Gabriel," dad greeted as I walked into the house. "Mom said you were at Nadia's doing homework."

                "Yea, but I came home for dinner. Mom said she was making something new," I said.

                "How is school going?" dad asked, following me into the dining room. "Are you staying on top of everything?"

                "Oh, yea, I'm doing fine. It's getting pretty busy soon for the student council, but we're doing a lot of prep work to make sure it's not overwhelming," I assured.

                "Good. Take a seat, it'll be out soon. We already set the table," dad said.

                I sat down at the table, checking the time. I'd have to go to bed early so I could be up early. There was a lot of work to do, and I didn't want to fall behind. I'd pull as much of Taliesin's weight in the student council as I could now that he was gone.

                My parents came into the kitchen a few minutes later and set down dinner. My parents asked me about school, my friends, and my responsibilities. I didn't mention Taliesin and neither did they; it had been an off-limits topic for a while.