THAT WAS A LITTLE WEIRD
1657 Words
KAMEO
Oh, how I hated him. I hated that sly little smile on his face and the smug look he gave the stain on his hoodie—a souvenir from the Chipotle me and AJ had for breakfast. I hated the way he looked at my hair; maybe he could guess I hadn’t washed it this morning.
"So, Curly—" ugh, i hated how that stupid word sounded coming from his lips.
"Kameo," I corrected. I turned to look at him, held out my hand, and asked, "Did you get your class schedules?" I watched him as he checked his pocket and pulled out a schedule that he’d somehow found the time to fold neatly.
"Here," he said, handing it over. I unfolded the paper and scanned it. He had several AP subjects listed, which was interesting because I’d genuinely pegged him for a dumb jock. "So, what grade are you in?"
"I'm a Junior," I responded pointedly. I was trying to do this as fast as possible so I could get to my first class of the day: AP Chemistry.
"Cool, we’re both Juniors too." This time it was his sister who spoke. I felt like I had no reason to ignore her, so I looked at her and offered a soft smile. She looked nervous, like she was worried about being here. I knew that look all too well. "Maybe we have some classes together and we could go to them?" Her voice was hopeful. She’d done nothing wrong—neither had Jax, really, but that was completely different—so I turned to her, my heart completely melting.
"Yeah, of course. I’m pretty sure some of our classes cross, but my track is mostly AP, so we might not have too many together," I said. A bright smile spread across her face. "Hand me your schedule; I’ll check." She handed it to me. It was smooth and uncrumpled, unlike her brother’s.
"I hope we do. I’d really like to have at least one friend here," she muttered. I looked up from the paper. Friends? That was a new one. Most kids here held one of two opinions of me:
That I was a poor little charity case that Martins brought here, stealing a spot from a "far better" candidate.
That I was a stuck-up, broke snob who thought I was better than them because I was smarter.
I had a reputation born out of my "silly little habit" of correcting people. As a kid, adults thought it was cute, but as I grew older, it became a nuisance. Like human pride demanded, it made them feel stupid, and people thought I was being a smartass. By the time I’d learned to suppress it, it had already set me apart; no one could really stand to be around me anymore. Except AJ. He’d known me since we were kids, longer than all these snobs.
But maybe she was different. "Yeah, that sounds nice," I said, trying to look as welcoming as possible. If I could make friends with her before people who barely knew me started telling her who they thought I was, maybe this could work. I looked down at the paper. "Look, we have AP Biology together after lunch. We could sit together."
"What about me?" Jax whined from my other side. "You don’t wanna be friends with me? I even kept your dirty little secret." He smiled at me. God, his smile was so annoying.
"Thank you for keeping my secret, but I already have a seatmate," I said, looking away from his pretty green eyes. Here we go again. That stupid feeling was bubbling up in my stomach. I knew exactly what it was, and I slowly began to understand why I had such a strong dislike for someone I’d just met. The worst was happening again: I had a crush. On him.
It was no secret to anyone here that I was gay. I had long, curly hair that I cared about more than most people, my skin was well-maintained, and I was relatively effeminate; anyone could guess. However, I made it a point not to get involved with the rich, spoiled brats here because it never ended well.
In Sophomore year, I’d been involved with the son of a judge. After we broke up because I’d prioritized my schoolwork over his stupid parties, he’d made it his mission to put me through hell. It started with him tripping me in the halls and ended with threats via text. It had taken me showing up at his house to show his father the messages to finally get him to stop.
In hindsight, I was lucky. If his father had taken his side, I would have lost my scholarship. Ever since then, I’d had crushes, but I made a point to stomp them out before they got too far. This one wasn't going to be any different.
"Anyway, I'll show you where the pool is since you've got swimming on your schedule. Do you have any interest in joining the team? What other activities do you do?" I asked, desperately changing the topic.
"Yeah, I’m interested in the swim team. And, uh... do we have a music club? Or maybe just a piano?" Jax asked, his smile never slipping.
"We have a music room and an orchestra, but no formal music club. There is a piano in the music room, though," I explained, handing both schedules back. "Since you’re interested in the team, I’ll introduce you to AJ. He’s one of the co-captains. I think he’d love to hear there's another swimmer he can bench." My tone was sharp yet sweet.
"I’m not getting benched." The smile had become a smirk.
"Oh... really?" I watched his eyes; they had turned a darker, more intense green. They were so piercing I had to look away. I turned to Lyn. "What about you? Any extracurriculars?"
She hesitated for a second, then smiled. "Yeah, badminton. I play competitively and I want to keep playing here."
"Cool. The girls' badminton team isn't anything like our swim team—they mostly just hit States and that’s it—so I think you won't be benched." As I spoke, I took a left turn and opened the first door on the right. "Alright, fish boy, this is the pool. It’s 50 meters long and 25 wide, about two meters deep. Outside of class days, it’s only open on Saturdays, but if the lifeguard isn’t out here, you aren't allowed to set foot in the water." I gave him a second to look inside before closing the door.
"Damn, that’s Olympic-sized," he commented.
"That’s the point. A lot of Hawthorne Prep alumni have gone on to compete in the Olympics. The school’s job is to prepare you for the best in whatever sport you've chosen." I almost rolled my eyes as I spouted the absolute bullshit monologue the school expected Student Council members to memorize for tours.
"How many times a week do you give these kinds of tours?" Jax asked.
"Not many now, but a lot at the end of the year when parents are trying to figure out if they want their kids here," I responded as professionally as I could.
"So they basically train you to give all those speeches about the school?"
"I... uh..." I was caught off guard. "They don't train me to do anything. It’s my job as Student Body President to give the tour. Other members of the Council do it, too."
"But you do it more than they do." It was a statement, like he already knew. He was right. I was the only one who did it because most of the kids on the Council were too much of pompous asses to bother.
"I heard the receptionist, Emma, ask if she should call Kameo to come down for the tour again. I thought you were a teacher or something, but you're a student." He looked past me to his sister, then back at me. "It’s cool that you do it, but let’s not waste your time. Let’s head to class; you don’t have to do this."
"I—" I tried to explain, but I was interrupted.
"Yeah, it starts at nine, right? Let's go, we don't want to be late," Lyn agreed, gesturing for me to lead the way.
Jax was right. I did most of the work for the Council—from tours and proposals to taking meeting minutes and planning events. It pissed me off, but what was I supposed to do? I needed "Student Council President" on my resume for Harvard, and being the first Junior to hold the position was a feat on its own, even if I only got it because everyone else was too lazy to want it.
For the rest of the walk, they hung a few feet behind me, talking in hushed tones. Whenever I turned to look, they would quiet down. What a weird pair.
JAX
Okay, this was weird. They were treating him like some sort of lackey, and he wasn't even saying anything. The complete disregard they had for his time was absolutely disrespectful. I knew it, and so did Lyn.
"That was a little weird," she muttered.
"I know," I whispered back. "They’ve got him running around on a school morning when he has a class in fifteen minutes. Isnt that weird?"
"Yeah, it is," she said. We walked behind Kam for another minute before she leaned in. "He’s gay, and he so wants to bone you."
"Oh my god, shut up!" I say with a groan. Yeah, he's totally gay.
- Writer
