The Do Over (Peterick)

two.

As Patrick and Ray wait outside of the barber shop for Joe, Ray talks about how good of a brother Joe is, bringing a smile to Patrick's face. It makes him miss Kevin - who left to go overseas with the army when Patrick was only thirteen - even more. Even as an adult, Patrick didn't get to see Kevin nearly enough.

"Here he comes." Ray says, standing up. From the ground, all they could see was Joe's beat up Converse. Now, standing up, both of them can see his face. More importantly, they can see his hair, which is now shaved on the sides and shorter at the top. He has it slicked back, and he looks really, really good. But what's really surprising is the streak of red going through the middle.

"Holy fuck, dude. You look sick as frick." Ray says to Joe, and the latter smiles. For a second, Patrick pauses. 'Sick as frick.' He hasn't heard that in a good twenty years, so it sounds almost foreign coming out of Ray's mouth.

"What do you think, 'Trick?" Joe asks, and Patrick remembers a fight between the three of them sometime around sophomore year. Ray claimed that Joe only wanted Patrick's approval in everything he did, leaving Ray himself out. Now, Patrick understands it because Joe doesn't even care what Ray thinks. He just wants to know Patrick's opinion.

"It looks great, man." Patrick says, and Joe grins widely. "You'll get all the girls you could ever dream of." He carefully puts girls in the place that he would usually say guys when talking to Joe, because the boy hasn't come out yet. Patrick remembers that coming about halfway through junior year. He confessed to having a crush on Patrick, to which the latter had to let him down easy, saying that Pete was the only one for him. Which proved to be true in the long run.

Joe's smile falters for a second at the word 'girls' before he quickly resumes his full on smirk. "You know it."

"Now let's go. We're already twenty minutes late." Patrick says, and the boys nod, taking off running the last few blocks to their new school, where they'll no doubt be questioned about their tardiness.

When they make it about five minutes later, they rush to their home rooms - Patrick and Ray have the same one, and Joe ends up stuck alone but quickly makes friends with Andy and Gerard. After being scolded for a few minutes, the boys receive their schedules and begin to compare them.

They end up having two out of seven classes together - freshman biology and Algebra I. The bell rings to signal the end of home room and the beginning of first period just a few minutes after they arrive.

Patrick jumps out of his seat, knowing this is when he's supposed to meet Pete. He grabs his backpack and rushes out of the room, leaving a confused Ray all alone.

As he approaches the bulletin board with all of the club/team sign ups, his eyes scan, searching for the theatre one, instead of the baseball one. Pete's name is already on there. Oh fuck.

Patrick's eyes widen, and he quickly jots his name down under the baseball sign up before running to the nearest boys' bathroom. He waits for the room to empty before turning the lock and sighing.

Patrick crosses his arms, feeling childish for what he's about to do. "Spencer, Spencer, Spencer." He mumbles out, and the man appears, dressed in a striped polo shirt, khaki shorts, and white shoes. He's holding a golf club.

"The fuck, Stump? I was just about to beat Satan in our weekly golf game and get bragging rights!" Spencer whines, but he quickly stops when he sees Patrick's pale face and horrified expression. "What's wrong?"

"I missed Pete at the sign up board. I met him in between home room and first period the first time, but when I got there just a few minutes ago, his name was already on the theatre list. I don't understand how I missed him." Patrick says quickly, and for the first time, he doesn't know what he's going to do. This isn't going to plan.

"Oh fuck, Stump. Did you do anything differently?" Spencer asks, setting his golf club down and placing a hand on Patrick's shoulder.

Patrick remembers taking Joe to get his hair cut and pushes Spencer away, moving to punch the wall. Spencer catches his wrist before he can, though, turning him around.

"Are you stupid? Break your hand, genius. Then let's see you make the baseball team." Spencer says. He lets go of Patrick's hand when he's sure the boy won't try to hit the wall again. "Tell me what you did."

"I took Joe to get a haircut before school so he wouldn't have to live through his high school career with a nickname he hated." Patrick says, letting his head fall back against the wall. "I was just trying to help."

"You did good. That's a nice thing you did for your friend, Patrick." Spencer says, and Patrick looks up at the use of his first name. "You'll get another chance to meet Pete. It'll be fine. Help others out, and everything will go right for you. Don't worry about doing things differently. Helping other people can only make things better for you."

"Are you sure I didn't fuck everything up?" Patrick asks. Spencer nods his head.

"I promise everything will be fine." Spencer smiles, grabbing his golf club. "Go to class. You know how to find me if you need me." He snaps his fingers and disappears.

Patrick takes a deep breath before unlocking the bathroom door and leaving, heading to his first period advanced English class. He's going to find Pete and make him fall in love if it's the last thing he ever fucking does.

—

so chap 2. is this good? or ? i reallllly like this idea like a whole fuck ton & i want to do it justice