Surviving Elite High (4 page)

“You hungry?” Nick asked me as we walked out of school.

“Yes I am. PE left me exhausted.”

“Cool, because I'm in the mood for burgers.”

We jumped inside his car and Nick drove to the nearest Burger King establishment. I love Burger King. I think everyone does! I could actually count the number of times I tasted those delicious burgers. Three. I tasted them when I graduated middle school and for my last two birthdays. I should thank Madison and Kitty for those times. It’s so funny that three of the most important people in my life took me to Burger King.

“Are you sure you're going to eat that?” I asked Nick as I gazed at his super size king burger.

“Hell yes! The question really is…are you going to get full?”

Nick smiled as he looked at my medium size burger and Pepsi.

“I don't eat a lot, but it looks like you do.”

“When you train hard like me, you're hungry all the time,” Nick explained as he took a huge bite of his burger.

I laughed. He had a drop of ketchup at the top right corner of his lip. Nick turned to me.

“What?”

“You've a little something there,” I replied as I pointed to the right side of his lip.

Nick took a napkin and wiped his mouth. When he finished, he turned to me with a smile.

“That’s embarrassing.”

I lifted my burger and took a small bite. He laughed.

“What? Do I have something on my face too?” I asked as I wiped my mouth.

“No. It's just that you take small bites. No wonder you're so slim. You need to eat a lot in order to build muscles. Don't chew your food, swallow it.”

“I love my body. I'm not fat or thin.”

“True, but that doesn't help you against Matthew or Jacob.”

I placed the burger down as I remembered their words.

“Whoa! You really are afraid of them. Aren't you?”

“Yes. They are two mean bullies. Matthew is the worst one, though.”

“Don't worry, I've got your back now. I promise you that no one will ever hurt you again. Now, eat because I'm ordering a second round!”

I examined every inch of Nick as we ate. His smile was warm and welcoming. He was the perfect guy. Allison was one lucky girl. Trust me, Nick did not lie. He ordered a second round, but I took mine home. I didn’t want to eat it. I wanted to keep it as a souvenir. I know it sounds stupid, but I wanted to keep something that would remind me of that night. I still have that Burger King paper bag in my memory box. After he finished with his second round of food, Nick took me home.

When I got home, my mom was there. I found her sleeping on the sofa so I covered her with a blanket and turned off the television. She looked exhausted even when she slept. I loved her long honey brown hair and eyes. Many argued that I was the male version of my mom. I kissed her good night and headed to my room.

I immediately jumped into my bed. My entire body ached. It felt as if every muscle had been tugged out of place. I closed my eyes and relived my day as I did every night. Usually, my days were dull and uneventful. There was nothing exciting about my life. It was the same old routine: survive Elite High. Yes, Madison and Kitty enlightened my day, but besides them, my life was boring and flat. But something occurred the last two days that made my life more interesting. Nick probably? Nah! He had always been there, in the background, but now that he was in the foreground, things changed completely. Was I falling in love with Nick?

Yes, I craved Nick's love, but I was still afraid of it. Why? I did not want to fall in love with someone who would not love me back. That would suck so badly, and I was trying to avoid that nightmare. I did not want to get my heart broken by a naïve Nick Wild Hawk. I would end up hating him. We were from two very different worlds and should remain that way. Nick was superior in every way possible. I was nothing compared to him. I closed my eyes. It did not take long for me to fall asleep.

Chapter Three

I wanted to see the Burger King establishment again. For some silly reason, I needed to relive the previous night so I decided to pass by on my way to school. As I walked through the parking lot, I looked through the windows and saw Nick and Allison French kissing. They were sitting on the same spot where we sat the previous night. It felt as if a knife went through my heart and twisted itself around. I didn’t know why it hurt me the way it did. It’s not like I didn’t know that he was dating her. Everyone knew who Nick dated. Maybe it was because I saw them with my very own eyes. I hung my head and cried my way to school.

I had no idea why I was crying. That’s a lie; deep inside, I knew. I had fallen in love with Nick Wild Hawk. I guess seeing them together made me to realize that I was in love with him. How was I going to look Madison and Kitty in the eye? We all hated the jocks. Well, Madison wanted to sleep with them, but she still hated them. I briskly walked to school and stopped at my locker. For the first time ever, I didn’t bother to look for my two sexual predators. In fact, I was so angry that if I would have seen them, I would have knocked them out with a single punch. I wanted to pull every single hair from Allison's head and shove them down her bitchy throat.

“That bitch!” I shouted as I slammed my locker door shut.

“Whoa, Nelly! Somebody's angry!” Kitty exclaimed as she stood beside me.

“Oh, Kitty! I…I didn't see you,” I answered with a nervous laugh.

“Nor me,” Madison murmured from behind her.

“Oh, hey Madison!”

“So, who's the bitch? I mean, besides Madison that is,” Kitty asked with a wink.

“Hey!” Madison replied with a laugh.

“No one.”

I began to make my way towards English class. They ran to my side. Madison spoke before Kitty.

“There's something you're not telling us.”

I froze. As I turned to them, tears poured out from my eyes again. Kitty walked up to me.

“Sweetie, what happened?”

“I…”

“Matthew and Jacob?” Madison asked me as she gently combed my hair.

I shook my head and sobbed.

“Nick! I knew that cheap whore couldn't be trusted!”

“What did that son of a bitch do to you?” Kitty asked me.

I shook my head again as I tried to calm down. I had to tell them. They were my best friends, but I could not tell them that I had fallen in love with Nick. I had to tell them my other secret and finally come clean. I needed to tell someone.

“I'm…”

“What?” Madison asked as she wiped my tears.

“I'm…gay.”

Madison and Kitty turned to each other. A few seconds later, they started laughing. Yes, they started laughing. That was their first initial reaction. I stared at the two while their laughter died out. Kitty turned to me with a smile.

“Baby, we knew that before you did.”

“Yeah, we know you like the back of our hands.”

“We were just waiting for you to tell us.”

I was shocked. Did that mean that my mom knew too?

“Oh. So, you don't care?”

“Of course not,” Madison answered, smiling.

“Yeah, what difference does it make if you like guys? You're still the same person and we love you no matter what.”

“I thought that you guys would dislike me at least.”

“I think that's why we love you more,” Kitty answered she extended her arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer.

We slowly made our way to class.

“Yeah, and it makes me more comfortable to talk about boys and my menstrual cycle in front of you,” Madison confessed as she hugged me.

“I feel like a fool.”

“Don't feel that way,” Kitty told me as we walked into class.

“We're your friends and we love you,” Madison reassured me as we sat down.

“It's just that I never expected you to be so cool about it.”

“We're just two cool bitches,” Madison replied. “However, I feel like that's not the reason you were crying. What made you realized that you were gay?”

“I guess I've always known. I just came to accept it.”

Madison and Kitty looked unconvinced. They knew that I was hiding something, but they didn’t press on because Nick and Mrs. Carter entered the room. Nick nodded at me and I replied with a faint smile. I didn’t want to show my resentment towards him. What would I gain from that? Absolutely nothing! I would lose his friendship, and I wanted to be his friend. I could be happy with just being his nerdy buddy.

* * *

“Can you believe how much homework we have for the weekend?” Madison said as she drank her diet coke. It was lunchtime and the cafeteria was busy. “Thank God the first week of classes is over.”

“I know what you mean. Thank God it's Friday!” Kitty squeaked excitedly.

“Yup! Well, well, well…look at the happy couple,” Madison pointed out as she witnessed Nick kissing Allison. “They sure are spending a lot of time together.”

I didn’t look up. They were sitting a few tables away from us, but I could not bring myself to glance at them. It was too painful to watch.

“Football season starts next Friday so they're making the best out of the situation,” Kitty added. She turned to me. “How are the tutoring sessions going with Nick?”

“Surprisingly well. We'll start to meet later next week because the new football season,” I answered as I examined my empty plate. “Even though he's a C+ student, he's doing remarkably well.”

“Who knew a jock could be smart instead of stupid.”

“A hot, horny and smart jock,” Madison added. “He's the perfect guy.”

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Too bad his girlfriend is such a little bitch.”

Believe me, she was. She hated anyone that was smarter than her. That actually meant that she hated the entire school. Nick fell in love with that stupid bimbo because she looked like those blonde playboy bunnies from the magazines. He cheated on her left, right, up and down! She was just too dim-witted to realize that Nick was having sex with the entire squad behind her back.

“I heard Carol blew him last week at his dad's office,” Madison continued.

“I heard she had a sore throat all week,” Kitty added with a smile.

“You have to admit that's hot! I also heard that he fingered Alice during science lab.”

“Yeah,” Kitty answered, laughing. “After that, he boned Beatrice in an empty classroom.”

“Can we talk about something else?” I asked irritably.

“Is that jealousy I smell, Johnny Boy?” Kitty asked me with a smirk.

“Hell no!”

“Mm-hmm,” Kitty replied.

“Stop that!”

“It's okay, Johnny Boy. You can say that he's hot,” Madison told me.

“No. He's a big, stupid and horny jock!”

“But, that doesn't change the fact that he's hot as hell.”

“Now you're calling him stupid? You just called him smart a few minutes ago,” Kitty told me.

“I said he's a C+ student.”

“Just admit it,” Madison told me.

“Admit what!?”

“That he's hot.”

“No!”

“Yes,” Kitty replied.

“No!”

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“NO!”

“YES!”

“Fine! He's hot!” I begrudgingly admitted.

They dragged it out of me. They started laughing and I turned red. I had never told anyone that I thought another guy was hot. Kitty turned to me with a smile.

“I knew you liked him.”

“No. I said he's hot.”

“We know you, Johnny Boy.”

“You love him, don’t you?” Madison added.

“No I don't!”

“You get nervous whenever he comes near you and jealous whenever you hear those naughty rumors about him.”

I sighed. Madison and Kitty could read me even if I was written in fifty-three different languages. I could never lie to them.

“Fine, I like him a lot and I hate hearing stuff like that.”

Kitty smiled while Madison hugged my arm.

“I don't know what to say. Being in love with someone who doesn't love you back is horrible enough. That's probably the worst feeling ever.”

“I know, but what can I do, Kitty? I can't stop loving him. Believe me, I wish I could control my emotions towards him.”

“Nick is straight, baby. He has probably slept with half the school.”

“Yeah, and he hasn’t slept with the other half because they're guys,” Madison added.

She made us laugh. There was never a dull moment with Madison around. Never! We turned to the happy couple who were talking in hushed tones. Apparently, they had already exchanged enough saliva.

“I love how he inadvertently flexes his muscles,” Madison continued.

“Allison is one lucky bitch.”

“Yeah,” I answered as I examined Nick's biceps and leaned back.

At that moment, Allison stood and bitch slapped Nick across his face. Our mouths dropped open in unison. The entire school froze and focused their attention towards the previously happy couple.

“You fucking asshole! Why are you dumping me!?”

“I think we're better off alone. Can we talk about this privately?” Nick pleaded as he looked around.

“Why!?” Allison shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Stop, screaming! Lower your voice, please.”

“Why Nick!? Why!? I love you!”

“Look! Shut the fuck up already! I'm just tired of the same thing over and over again! You're too much drama! I want to live my life, okay? Bye, bitch.”

Nick turned around and walked out of the cafeteria. Yes, Nick was a huge asshole and a dick! In a twisted kind of way, that was the reason all the girls wanted him. He was rugged and sexy. Girls love bad boys and Nick was the worst of them. Allison immediately dropped to the floor crying and made a huge scene. Her two best friends helped her up, but she continued bawling anyway.

“Oh my God!” Madison exclaimed as we closed our jaws.

“He dumped her in front of the entire school,” I declared with a laugh.

“What an asshole!” Kitty added.

I had been having such a dull day, but after witnessing that, I became Mr. Happy. Yes, I felt bad for Allison because Nick should have handled things differently. It was official—the era of ‘Nickson’ was over. It was just Nick or just Allison now. As we headed for the period after lunch, the entire school went nuts. Everyone was talking about what happened and it looked like a Miss America Pageant hit the hallways. All the girls were combing their hair, fixing their clothes, applying more make-up or perfuming themselves. Nick was up for grabs and girls would do anything to be his new girlfriend.