Extra Credit

I'M A LITTLE FRUITY TOO

​Kam

​"Hey," I say to Adam as I slip into my seat. It was two minutes to nine am and I was in class just in time. I had already shown the twins around and dropped them off at their English class; I said hi to Miss Montrose, their teacher, and then left for my own wing. "Sorry I'm late, Martins had me running around again."

​"Seriously, it's so early in the morning," he says, a look of annoyance on his face. He hated Martins with everything in him and never missed a moment to be an active hater. Like now. "Ugh, I hate that b***h so much." He passes me a granola bar as he says this, the wrapper crinkling. "You didn't eat much of your Chipotle this morning."

​"Yeah, I've got that stupid test on my mind... I'm so bad at physics and maths. I get so scared when I have to take any tests that have anything to do with calculations," I said, opening the granola bar then quickly closing it as the teacher walks into the room. I leaned in toward AJ. "By the way, I've got someone who wants to join the swim team. Interested?"

​"Yessss! Kevin quit on us yesterday. He had to drop out because his grades are s**t. What's so hard about keeping a f*****g 3.0? That's all he needs to stay on the team and he can’t even manage that!" As he says this, he looks over at the person he’s talking about to make sure Kevin is hearing him. He was, and he was giving AJ the ultimate stink eye from across the desks. "Weakling," AJ says with such avid disgust.

​"Some people can't handle the pressure," I say too, and that earns me a laugh from AJ. Most of the people here already didn't like me, so I really didn't care what I said around them. "It was hoodie guy," I mutter.

​"Deadass?" AJ says, a little too loud for a quiet classroom.

​"Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Hayes, I would prefer if you'd let me take attendance in silence, thank you," Mr. Colin says, looking at us with a disappointed look on his face.

​"Sorry," we both say in unison. We stayed quiet until he finished taking attendance and turned to write the topic on the board in that squeaky dry-erase marker.

​"Back to hoodie guy," AJ says in a low whisper, leaning in so we were closer together. "I thought you hallucinated him."

​"Hallucinated? Why would you think that?" I whisper-yell. What the f**k? Since when do hallucinations give you clothes? I didn't get that memo. "How would I get an honest-to-god hoodie from a hallucination?"

​"I don't know," he says with a shrug. "So, who is he, though?"

​"He's the student that Martins wanted me to tour. Him and his sister—"

​"Oh, is she hot?"

​"Yes, very. A solid nine, objectively," I said, because I knew he was going to ask that, the slut. "Anyhoo, his name is Jax. He's in our grade. He swam at his old school, I think... and I hate him."

​"What? Why? He gave you his hoodie, he seems nice," he says with a look of confusion which quickly changed to realization. "You have a crush, don’t you?" He was always so good at reading me—like, really, really good.

​We met on the playground when we were six. One of my mom's old boyfriends from back then had three kids that ended up living with us for a while until they broke up. He was nicer than the ones before because, at least, he was nice to me; he'd take his kids to the park and he'd take me with them.

​On one of those park days, one of his kids was trying to drown me in the sandbox, holding my head face-down in the sand. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes, but then again, I was six; there wasn't much of a life to see. AJ had seen him and had shoved him off me, helped me up, and then taken my hand. We ran away as fast as our little legs could carry us... straight into the woods near the park.

​It had taken the police four hours to find us, but by then we'd become the best of friends. Adam and Kam. We'd been inseparable ever since, and we told each other everything. He was the first to know I was gay, the first to know about my first kiss, the first to hear about a boyfriend. He could tell when I was sad, overwhelmed, or frustrated, and especially when I lied, because he could read me like an open book.

​It was no surprise that he knew I was catching feelings for Jax. "Yeah, but it's a fleeting thing."

​"Hmmm," he hums, and he has this knowing smile on his face, like he knows some secret that I don't. "Fleeting."

​"Adam, please. I am not romantically attracted to someone I just met, that's juvenile," I said and faced forward to see what Mr. Colin was writing on the board. I had already studied the material and was ahead on it, so I didn't really need to focus, but I needed to look busy. "Besides, I have a lot on my mind with the physics test and all."

​I excel in memorization subjects—biology, chemistry, English, etcetera—but when it came to subjects that had anything to do with math, I was stumped. I was barely scraping by with an A-, and this month I was determined to get an A+. One more mistake and I'd be having a B, and that, to me, was much, much more terrifying than a bad hair day.

​"I get it, I get it... but is he cute, though?" he asked, wiggling his thick brows.

​"Yes, a solid ten, unfortunately. He's like a Greek god, AJ. Tall and... manly." I wasn't very descriptive, nor was I creative in the slightest when it came to boys.

​"Really? Manly?" he said, before bursting into a quiet fit of laughter.

​"Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Hayes, this is your last warning," Mr. Colin said, turning around and giving us a stern look, then returned to teaching the class.

​"Sorry," we say again. AJ was holding back laughter as he stared at me, biting his lips to keep it together. His cheeks were swollen and his eyes were full of tears; the look on his face had me fighting my own laughter.

​But I was far stronger than him. "Manly," was all I whispered, and he finally burst.

​"Mr. Jacobs, hallway, now!!" Mr. Colin said, pointing at the door. "And don't come back in until you can act your age," he says sternly. AJ had a solemn look on his face, but I knew he was still holding in the laughter.

​I watched, a smile on my face, as AJ grabbed his phone from the side pocket of his bag and walked out from his seat. He turned his back on Colin and gave me the middle finger before leaving the classroom.

​Jax

​The day went by really fast, but I couldn't really get my mind off of Kamo. Lyn and I made sure to take the exact same classes with the exact same teachers. Somewhere along the line, Lyn had developed some sort of separation anxiety, and we couldn't really be apart for long periods of time without her sort of panicking. But we could make it work; we always have.

​We'd made some friends. A few girls from our AP Chemistry class had started talking to me at the start of class. It originally started with them talking about Kam, since he had been the one to walk me to class. They'd said he was smart and that he was a "normal dude"—like, who uses normal as an adjective to describe someone? But one of them had called him a snob.

​She’d specifically said, "He's such a snob, like he doesn't talk to anyone. Like, how do you be a snob when you're broke? I thought rich people were supposed to be the snobs," which had earned collective laughter from a few people in the class.

​He really didn't come off to me as a snob. I mean, he was kind of ignoring me all day, but it didn't come off as snobby; it came off as guarded. If he'd treated Lyn the same way he'd treated me, maybe I'd have called him a snob, but he was kind to her. And in my books, that makes you a kind person.

​"Hey," one of the more quiet girls had said after first period. I noticed she was staring at me most of the class—the "crushing on you and hoping our eyes meet" type of staring.

​"Hey," I’d said back. Damn, I should have left earlier, but I didn't. I was waiting for Lyn to wrap up with the other NPCs, but she was still talking to them, and now I had to talk to this one.

​"Look, I saw you were asking about Kameo, and he's cool and all, but he's a little... fruity," she said with concern in her voice. "Like, you know..." She drops her voice to a low whisper. "Gay," she says.

​"Oh," I deadpan. It had never occurred to me that there would be homophobes at this school. I’d come across a lot of homophobic people in my life; I lived in Dallas most of my life, and if not for my dad's brother, Marty, who was gay—who my dad loved to pieces and who I loved to pieces—I would have turned out just as homophobic.

​To be honest, there are a lot of homophobic rich people; when you have money, you can do without a personality. I know. A lot of people say money can't buy you happiness, but money sure as hell can buy you friends that would tolerate your bullshit... but not me. I leaned down. She was small, maybe 5'5 and chubby; she'd be cute if she wasn't homophobic. "You wanna know something?" I mimicked her and dropped my voice to a low whisper. "I'm a little fruity too."

​She looked up at me, eyes big. "I... I... you..." she stutters, her face turning red. "I'm sorry!" she exclaims and bolts.

​"What did you do?" Lyn says, coming out and seeing her run away.

​"Nothing," I say with a soft laugh.

​"God, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you doing something weird, can I?" she says, hooking our arms together.

​"I really didn't do anything to her. She called Kam fruity, and I said I was a little fruity, and she ran away," I tell her. We turn the corner of the hall and I catch a glimpse of curly brown hair.

​There he was, standing next to a guy who was a few inches taller than him with dirty blond hair and grey eyes. His friend had his hands in Kam's hair and was trying, and failing, to fix the stray curls. The friend looks up and sees me and Lyn, his eyes going a little wide. He says something to Kameo, who was currently pouting and looking at his phone. He looks up and sees me, his pout turning into a small frown and then into a smile the moment he sees Lyn.

​"Hey, Kammmm!" she says as she waves at him. She leans in to me. "He really doesn't like you." Kam waves back at her, but doesn't say anything to me.

​"I know," I say. I wave at him regardless of his attitude and he turns his face away. Snooty brat. I look at Lyn. "Can I have your seat next to Kam today? I'll pay you."

​"How much?"

​"Not in money, in a favor." Money didn't really matter between us, but favors did; she could get me to do pretty much anything for a favor. "Deal?"

​"Deal."

​Oh, this was going to be so much fun.