Bet On Love

5. Flashbacks

Yo was in such a daze, he had no recollection of how he ever made it back to his dorm. Why would Phana make fun of him for drinking pink milk, only to go and buy it for him? It made no sense. And that wasn't the first time Phana had made fun of him for drinking pink milk. He had heard Phana's countless taunts back in high school every time he would catch him with a cup of pink milk in his hands.

Yo never understood why Phana was so mean to him. He had never even gotten the chance to admit to Phana that he ever had feelings for him. It would have been one thing had he admitted to Phana that he liked him, only to find out that Phana found him disgusting due to the fact that he only liked girls, but in all honesty, Yo was not sure who Phana was attracted to. Even with all the attention Phana received, Yo had never seen him date anyone or express any interest at all. Whether it was guy or girl, Phana was always single. The only people he hung out with were P'Beam and P'Kit.

One day during his junior year, and Phana was a senior, Yo remembered a particular heated argument he had gotten in with Phana. He had been sitting with Ming in the bleachers talking about his birthday party that he wanted to have. He wanted to have a big party since he was turning sixteen. He had been watching American tv and was infatuated by the idea of having a Sweet 16 birthday party. So, like the kids he saw on tv, he wanted a big party too, and his dad agreed to give it to him.

He had no idea Phana was sitting near the top of the bleachers with some of his other basketball buddies and as he was telling Ming about the theme he wanted for the party, Phana started hurling insults.

"You spoiled little brat!" He hollered down the bleachers.

Yo turned around to face him.

"Is that all you ever do, throw money around and flaunt it to your friends?"

This was not the first time Phana had been angry with him about money, although Yo was not sure why. Phana's family was not filthy rich or anything, but they made more than the average family and definitely weren't hard on cash.

"Is that all you ever do, worry about me and what I'm doing?" Yo spat back at him.

"You have no idea of the value of a dollar. You've never even had to lift a single pinky finger to work for anything. But that's okay as long as daddy gets his precious Yo whatever he wants, right?"

Yo could feel himself getting upset. Okay, so his father had no problem spending money. But Yo had never once flaunted that fact in anyone's face. There were still people who knew nothing about him or his family.

"You're just jealous!" Yo yelled at him. He knew he shouldn't have said it, but it was too late now. The words had already done their damage.

Phana was on his feet in an instant and stomping his way down the bleachers towards Yo and Ming. His basketball friends dropped their things and followed him down the bleachers in a hurry. Whether to stop Phana from getting carried away or to also beat him up, Yo wasn't sure.

Phana walked right up and stood nose to nose with Yo. Yo inhaled and held his breath, his heart feeling like it was going to explode out of his chest. He had never been this close to Phana before. He had daydreamed about it many times, but imagined it happening under much different circumstances.

"Jealous? Are you trying to bad mouth my family?" He whispered into Yo's face angrily. Yo thought he was going to faint. He could feel Ming grab onto his elbow letting him know that he was there and had his back if anything physical were about to happen.

"I never even mentioned your family." Yo said, his voice wavering a bit. "You did."

Phana gripped Yo by the coller with both hands and pulled him closer.

"Aye!" Ming hollered out. He dropped his bag and Yo knew he was ready to fight. But with all Phana's basketball cronies around, it would hardly be a fair fight.

"Listen here, you spoiled brat-"

"Hey! What's going on over there??" They heard a teacher yell from a short distance away. Everyone looked over and Phana let go of Yo's shirt. It was the gym teacher. He began stomping over toward them in a hurry.

"There's no fighting here! Get to where you boys are supposed to be. GO. NOW!" He yelled at them. Phana's teammates grabbed their things and scattered, urging Phana to hurry and follow them. Phana turned back to Yo and gave him one last glare before turning and leaving with his teammates.

"Are you boys okay?" He asked. The question was directed at both of them, but he was looking specifically at Wayo.

Ming looked at Yo also to see if he was alright. With his heart still pounding in his chest, all Yo could do was nod his head and take a deep breath. He looked over the way Phana had gone and watched his back as he stalked off with his teammates.

Later on that day, before he made his way outside to get into the van his father always sent for him, he stopped at his locker. He didn't have much homework that night and didn't want to be carrying his textbooks around with him. When he opened his locker, sitting there on the top shelf, inside a plastic carrying bag, was a cup of pink milk with a small piece of paper attached to it. Whoever had gotten it for him had done it recently as there was still ice in the cup.

At first, he thought it might have come from Ming. Ming had spent a bit of time trying to cheer him up after the altercation with Phana, but he had been with Ming the rest of the school day, so it couldn't have been him.

Yo pulled the note off the front of the bag and opened it. In a handwriting he did not recognize was a message that made a small smile begin to form at the corners of his mouth. It was written on cute stationary with the cutest cartoon puppy in the corner.

For you, always.

May you always remain just as sweet

Yo looked up and down the hallway but saw no one. He poked his head inside the classrooms near his locker, but everyone had already gone for the day. He grabbed the milk out his locker and closed the door, completely forgetting to empty his book bag of his heavy textbooks. He never did find out who bought him the pink milk.