You Can't Choose (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty Three

Since Cole clearly couldn't control himself around Henry, he had decided the answer was simple.

Don't be around Henry.

By the time the older boy had woken up for school Wednesday morning, Collier had already gone, having (thankfully) woken up two hours before the alarm and slipping ungracefully back out the basement window.

Cole hadn't been too concerned about avoiding Henry being difficult. It wasn't like Henry ever tried to talk to him in places other than the lunch room when they were at school. Ever since the beginning of their... relationship, Henry had only addressed him a few times within the school outside of lunch. Most of these instances had taken place in the language arts room, though this proved to not be an issue since Mr. Drake was in a sinister mood and forced them to spend the entire hour reading Shakespeare.

While Collier didn't dislike reading, he would most definitely chose a graphic novel over a piece of classic literature, and when he was forced to read actually books, and of Shakespeare's plays would be towards the bottom of the list of titles he would chose.

Besides, Cole was sure that even if Mr. Drake hadn't forced them to read, Henry would show no interest in him. The older boy had yet to spare him a single glance all afternoon.

While Cole was avoiding Henry, it would seem that Jake was avoiding him. The artist hadn't shown to first hour painting for the second day in a row, and this time Cole feared it was for a bigger reason than I slept through my alarm.

Cole had gotten to lunch early in order to talk to Sarah about this before Emerson and Henry arrived, though this didn't really work well since she had a lot to say about the matter and the two best friends had entered the lunchroom only a minute after Collier had.

"Let him avoid you," Sarah was saying, briefly glancing at Emerson as he placed his textbook in front of his usual chair. The blonde boy looked up to catch Cole's eye.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a moment of awkward staring and Collier just dropped his head and nodded. Emerson had been in the room with him during his mental breakdown the night before, and they had yet to speak to one another since, until then, of course. "Good". Emerson looked relieved.

"You can understand why Jake doesn't want to see you right now- ouch". Collier had kicked Sarah under the table, glancing awkwardly off to the side at Henry, who was looking and Emerson with a blank expression as he eavesdropped.

Emerson also seemed to noticed Cole's discomfort because his eyes shifted to Henry and he sighed. "Alright, Stone. Let's go get our food". Henry huffed in annoyance at this and practically stomped away, leaving Emerson behind. "Was he the one who hurt you?"

Cole opened his mouth and then shut it again, thinking carefully about his words. "It's confusing, Em". This didn't seem to be a good enough answer because Emerson remained put. "Henry didn't hurt me. I brought it on myself".

Sarah and Emerson looked alarmed with this answer, but neither pushed him for more information. Emerson finally left the table to follow Henry.

"Can I talk about Jake now?" Sarah asked, "or should I go and get us something to eat?"

Since Cole had come to the table early, Sarah had yet to go through the lunch line before he had arrived. "Give me advice on Jake, please".

Sarah nodded. "I'd say you just need to give him time. From what you've told me, he's insisted to you it's okay you don't have feelings for him, but you did agree to go out with him as more than friends, which kind of led him on, and then rejected him because you only saw him as a friend".