Bet On Love

8. Flashbacks (Phana's version)

It was time for their midday break and school had been let out, so the kids and staff could get some exercise. It had been pouring rain the past two days, so everyone was happy that the sun was out. Phana was supposed to be meeting up with Kit, Beam, and some of the basketball team to get a game in before coming back inside, but he really didn't want to play. It was hot out and the heat was making him feel lazy.

He ended up taking the long way out so he could loop around and see if Wayo was at his locker. When he saw no one there, he continued on to head outside to the school yard. No one knew that he had a huge crush on Wayo except Kit and Beam, and even still he constantly tried to deny it. But they knew better. Wayo had been Phana's target the moment he laid eyes on him.

Phana actually had no idea what it was that attracted him to Wayo. He was tiny, he wore big glasses, he had some acne breakouts, and he wore braces that looked like they crowded his mouth. But he was also really sweet. He took care of stray animals, he was nice to everyone even when it was obvious he had social anxiety, and Phana thought it was ridiculously cute how his glasses would constantly slide down his nose and rest on his chubby cheeks since they were so big.

But for whatever reason, whenever he was around Wayo, he could not stop himself from feeling uptight and annoyed which led to him picking on Wayo and often times calling him names. The very first time it happened, Yo was a tiny freshman, and he cried afterward. Phana immediately wanted to hug him and kiss away his tears, but instead he ran off to be with his basketball mates so he wouldn't have to watch Yo cry.

Now Phana was a senior, Wayo was a junior, and he would be going off to college soon. And he was still no closer to admitting his feelings to Yo than he had been as a sophomore. It wouldn't make a difference anyway. With the way he treated Wayo on a daily basis, it was obvious Wayo hated him, which only aggravated him even more and made him lash out whenever he saw Wayo or heard his voice.

What the heck is wrong with me? Phana thought to himself as he walked out into the sun.

He spotted some of his basketball mates over on the bleachers and walked over to join them.

"No game?" He asked them as he climbed the bleachers.

"Nahh, it's too hot." His teammate Kard said. He was lying down at the top of the bleachers with his arm resting over his eyes, blocking the sun.

Phana took a seat between a few of his mates and leaned back to get comfortable. His teammate on his left, Jay, picked up his conversation from before Phana arrived and Phana tuned him out. All Jay ever talked about was girls even though they all knew he wasn't get any play from any of the ones he spoke of.

Not long after he took a seat, he spotted Wayo and his friend Ming across the field. His eyes locked on him and he watched him walk over in his direction. He heard his teammates laugh at something, a joke maybe? He wasn't sure. He was completely oblivious to anything else besides the cute kid heading his way.

Yo was chattering away to Ming as they approached the bleachers and took a seat on the second row. He seemed to be really excited about something because he could hear everything he was saying all the way from where he was sitting.

Then those strange feelings came over him again; the mixture of liking Yo and wanting to talk to him, blended with irritation, annoyance, and fear. Fear of what his friends and teammates would say, fear of how it would look for the most popular guy in school to be dating a nerd like Yo, and fear of rejection from Yo himself. All of that would build up inside him and he couldn't stop the harsh words that would come out his mouth and hurt the person that he wanted the most.