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“I need you to go over to the house and see if Vic wants to go out for dinner, Kellin. I can’t call him right now, I’m too busy.” Mr. Fuentes told me as I clocked out for the day. It was about 2 and I had been working since 8. Work wasn’t too bad, though. I was a busboy but still got tips and everything. I didn’t care what I did, honestly. I just needed the money for me and mom.
“Sure,” I said before leaving. As I walked over to the car, Justin was leaning up against it and I stopped when he spoke.
“Well, isn’t it the man of the hour!” He got up from leaning against it and stood up straight, taking a few steps towards me. “I’ve been waiting for you, Bostwick.” I put my keys in my fist but kept my hand down. I didn’t know what he wanted but I didn’t want to even think of him right now. What a piece of shit.
“What do you want, Justin?” I asked in a calm-ish manner. I was on edge and annoyed but I wasn’t mad just yet. It surprised me, honestly. Usually, I’d be fuming already.
“Just to talk,”
“We have nothing to talk about so get the fuck away from my car and leave,” I said. He held up his hands and walked closer to me.
“You’re spending an awfully good amount of time with the Fuentes’.” He commented. I looked at him from the side of my eye.
“What’s that matter to you?”
“No matter how many… altercations we’ve had in the past, I just don’t want to see you turn out to be a tranny like your little girlfriend over there.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I said. I may be dense but it was clear he was talking about Vic. He had no idea what he was saying, though. Justin must have been high or something.
“Why don’t you ask? I’m sure you’ll have the opportunity after you get gay with whatever she is. That’s why I and my guys are going to teach her a lesson soon. You’re free to join us if you change your mind.” I had had enough. I didn’t want to listen to him talk anymore. Every word was like cancer but the moment he spoke about hurting Vic I spazzed. Swiftly, I turned my keys in-between my knuckles and punched him in the face, cutting open his skin and making him bleed.
“Ah! What the fuck!?” He screams, holding his face. He winced in pain and fell to the ground but I stood over him as I looked down.
“If you ever think about hurting Vic ever again, you’ll get a lot worse than that. Back the fuck off and tell your pussy- friends, too.” I spat in his face and walked towards the car. He hastily got up but I was in my car, getting ready to go by then.
“You’ll regret this, Bostwick! I swear you will.” I rolled my eyes and drove off, heading to Vic. I had no clue as to what came over me to react like that but I didn’t think twice about it. Now I was, though. It was like every time Vic came to my mind I was fine and relaxed instead of spiteful and annoyed at his lifestyle like before. It was confusing but, still, I found myself so at ease around him. I spent more time at his house than mine and we’ve been doing a lot, too. Instead of acquaintances, we’d turned friends almost.
When I got to his house, I quickly walked in and found him at the dining room table with music playing and notebooks sprawled across the table. He was mindlessly singing along and I stopped in the doorway. He looked up at me with his mouth open and frantically turned off his music.
“Hey!” He said with an awkward smile but I gave him a small one back. I walked over to him and sat down in the chair next to him.
“Hey,” I said. “Your dad wants to know if you want to go out to dinner tonight.” He thought for a moment.
“Where? Are you going?”
“Am I going? Listen, I’m just the messenger here. Besides, I have no idea where.” I picked up one of this many office supplies and played around with it.
“You should still go. It’ll be cool. You can eat something besides greasy pizza. Like salad.” He joked. I laughed and shook my head. He smiled at me and I just looked at him. His smile was so bright and I liked it a lot. I shook that thought away from my head, though.
“What are you doing?” I said instead.
“School. Super boring.”
“So this is homeschooling, huh?” I picked up one of his notebooks and read the contents. The Graying of America. I almost barfed. That sounded so dumb. “What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s how there are a lot of old people in America. Like, they’re the fastest growing group here but they’re at a disadvantage or something.”
“You don’t know?”
“I do, I just don’t care for it.”
“What subject do you like then?” He thought for a minute.
“Math.” I gagged.
“That is gross. I hate math.”
“What was your favorite subject when you were in school?” I wasted no time in thinking about my answer.
“English. It was easy.”
“It’s boring!” He groaned and leaned his head on his hands. I shrugged.
“I like it,” I said with a smile. I remembered how I had English last period every day and that was the class I wouldn’t skip for anything. I loved it. It was so easy to me. I was even in AP classes for it.
“Hey,” Vic spoke up. “Why did you drop out?”
“I already told you.”
“It had to be something else, though, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it just couldn’t be that it was a waste of time, right? There had to be another driving factor to make you do that.” For that, I thought.
“School isn’t something that was for me. School isn’t for everyone and I was such an outcast that it was like going somewhere you hated for no reason at all. Like church!” I laughed. Vic nodded and laughed with me. He didn’t judge or anything like that, he just understood and I appreciated it.
“I have a question, too,” I said. Maybe now I could find out why he’s different. What’s the matter with him?
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