AUGUST
"August?! You didn't tell me you were coming," Mary spat as she rushed her way out of the door. She seemed quite surprised at my sudden appearance and honestly, I would be too.
"Yeah, I was just about to pass by when I remembered we haven't actually talked to each other in a while." I went on.
Mary had already grown on me in the short time that we hanged out. That's not surprising considering the fact that we share something in common. She doesn't know that I'm gay but I know that she likes girls too and that's enough for us to have an unspoken understanding of each other. I have this certainty in me that our friendship will still grow to a budding flower. We just had to take things separately and secretly. She's okay with my plan on pursuing the one and only Rachel Curtis even though she has a huge crush on her. Maybe it's the fact that she knew she's not going anywhere near Rachel and I reckon I was the only tie that she's going to ever have to Rachel. She still doesn't know the fact that part of the reason why I wanted to ask Rachel out is because I wanted the popularity that's coming along with it. I know that's terribly awful of me and I'm disgusted by myself for hiding that opportunistic part of me. I have got to do what I need to do to make my high school life one of the best experience that I will have.
"Just say you miss me," She uttered in a snarky manner.
"Ahahaha!" I began cackling. "No, I won't."
"Then why you here?" She raised her eyebrows on me and that's when I noticed the freshness emanating from her appearance. She hasn't applied that mascara yet, just a thin layer of eyeliner which I'm guessing she also rushed. Despite all of that, she appeared very much refreshing to eye.
"Okay, I miss you."
"See, it ain't that hard to miss me."
"I didn't say that."
We were already on our way to where I left my bicycle.
"Well no one misses me anyway. Even Rock and Gustav."
"Really?" I suddenly felt bad about her.
"No, shit. I was just kidding, of course they miss me too but they just never say it to my face."
"Maybe they're embarrassed by it?"
"I know because they are losers, right? We are losers." Mary spoke and she's doing this self-deprecating thing again.
"Gosh, Mary. Stop saying that. You are not a loser." I said making my voice having some sort of emphasis hoping that I would cheer her up.
"I mean look at you," She inched a few steps away from me and with her hands, she acted as if she's presenting me to a crowd. "You are even more popular than you were two weeks ago."
"I doubt that." She's right but I just have to play nice and respectful that I won't her feelings.
"Two weeks ago, you are just August Levisay and now you are the August Levisay."
She's over praising me and I don't think I like being praised like a god. I don't even feel like the August Levisay that she's talking about but I'm honestly jumping with so much joy inside as if I had already accomplished a lot of things. Somehow it feels extremely good that people like you. I tried to keep my cool and pretended to be normal.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Are we going to walk or?" Mary inquired and I'm guessing she's thinking the same thing that I was thinking.
"You are going to hitch a ride on my bicycle."
"Are you sure? I'm really heavy and I don't think you can pedal with someone behind you." Mary went on and I was already on the bicycle.
"Mary, stop with the complaining and get your ass here." I yelled at her.
Mary didn't have a choice but to climb behind me. She had to sit sideways because she's wearing a skirt and what I liked about her is she didn't complain. I struggled to step on a pedal at first but then when I captured the feel of carrying someone, everything went smoothly. Thankfully the road is well cemented that I didn't have the problem of avoiding bumps and slopes. The only problem that I had was every time we reach an uphill I had to exert a quadruple of effort to carry us both.
After pedaling for a while, Mary asked this question that I kind of expected. "By the way, what happened last Friday?"
"You mean Ambrose and me?"
"Ahuh. That rain was bad timing." She was making her voice a bit louder even though I can clearly hear her. Perhaps she's thinking that I can't hear her but she's just a few inches away from my ears. It's not like we are on a motorcycle.
"Oh the rain was a blessing. We continued fighting for a while but then we both went our separate ways when we noticed everybody vanished." I replied quickly.
I have already made a choice to keep the kissing thing out of the picture. I am not trying to protect Ambrose for keeping the kiss a secret. If I wasn't left confused about it, I would've already spilled the truth to Mary.
"So, did somebody won?"
"I don't even know. I think it was a draw."
"Damn, you could've won that duel. You could've knocked off Ambrose from his high horse."
"I know. I could've proven to everyone that I am the Ambrose bane."
"The usurper!" Mary added with her comical voice.
The ride was bit slower and by the time we arrived at school, I was already sweating.
"Thanks for the ride, kind sir!" Mary uttered as she jumped out behind me and bowed down with her hands on her chest.
"Your welcome my lady." I replied as if we were living on medieval times.
I jumped out of my bicycle and dragged it to the parking rack. I quickly tied it and joined Mary.
"Mary," I said blocking her way so I could get her full attention.
"What?"
"I think I may have made Rachel mad at me."
"August?! What did you do?"
"Well, she asked if we could see each other last Saturday and I turned her down."
"Why would you turn her down? I thought you were trying to impress her?"
"It's just." I paused for a few seconds and decided that I should tell her what really happened as opposed to making fake stories. "I had a fever last Saturday and I didn't want to make her worry about me so I lied to her. I told her that I was helping my mom with something."
"Okay. You'll be fine. She's probably just disappointed that she didn't get to see your handsome face."
"But she stopped calling and texting me." I spat. I'm still not convinced that everything's going to be fine. "Don't you think I should be worried about that?"
"Trust me August, she likes you more than anyone else. Everything will go back to normal once she sees you. But of course, you have to go and talk to her about it."
"Sure?"
"Yes. Look at you! If I wasn't into girls, I would probably have a crush on you. First of all, you are fine as hell. You are like one of the few boys here in Mary Heights that's actually cute. Second, you are a good person to have a conversation with whether it's small talk or about serious matters. And third, you are the Ambrose bane."
"What the. Mary, that is too much!" I just have to call her out on that.
"No, it's not. A lot of girls here a having a crush on you. You are like the new campus hottie, you know."
"What? Me?"
"Yes and I heard Jessie also has a crush on you."
Mary continued teasing and praising me when the bell rang saving me from this flattering situation. Mary had a lot to say about me being the new campus crush and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. The gayness inside of me is slowly hiding deeper and deeper that I don't have any clue to pull it once it reaches the bottom. This is getting even more frightening for me. If a lot of people thinks that I'm straight, then I don't know what's going to happen when somebody finds out about the skeletons that I'm hiding.
There could be a witch hunt. Everyone might persecute me. Or maybe not. Maybe I have to talk to Jessie, the only other gay person here and ask him some questions.
During our first break I felt my bladder was full of waste. Biology class seemed to be rolling forever and I should've asked permission to Mrs. O'Riley to go out and urinate but then we had a surprise quiz.
I walked inside the comfort room and towards the first unoccupied compartment. The school doesn't have any urinals and I don't even know why but these cubicles are perfect for privacy. I quickly unzipped my zipper to set my bird free.
"Do you think August can really beat the shit out of Ambrose?" I heard a voice speak and it got me conscious and curious. I tried moving my aim so my water waste won't crash with the water and create a loud sound.
"I don't know. I hope he does because I'm sick of Ambrose's top dog bullshit. I hope he goes all out and break Ambrose's leg or that fu**ing face." Another voice replied. From what I'm hearing, they don't like Ambrose as much as I do.
As I was hearing this I started to realize that there are other people who hates Ambrose. It's not a surprise at all but I'm glad I heard them. I really do have allies if that's the right term. I can start a club for this and we should start a revolution to kick Ambrose out of this school.
"Me too. I'm sick and tired of him stealing my lunches." They continued.
"I know he's filthy rich but stealing our thing?"
"He's just an asshole."
I just finished urinating and I thought if I could get see them but I thought maybe I could listen to their thoughts before stepping out of the compartment. I leaned towards the door and tried listening but the hand dryer began wheezing making it difficult for me to hear them. The hand dryer stopped and I heard the boys step out of the comfort room. I waited for about two minutes before eventually coming out of the compartment. I was about to turn on the faucet when I heard someone enter. I turned my head to see who it was and I was astonished to see Ambrose.
Ambrose Haylock, out of nowhere, showed up right at the time that I wasn't expecting his appearance. I don't know if time stopped from ticking or I was just frozen. Either way, I was just staring at Ambrose without moving any muscle at all. I couldn't help myself but shudder inside that we had to meet each other inside this comfort room of all the possible places. We could've bumped to each other at hallway or outside the school grounds.
I felt tremors in my chest. Ambrose has made me recognize fear in all of its horrible glory but this is not it. It doesn't feel like it. It is wild but I'm certain that I wasn't feeling afraid at all. My chest continued to beat and I wasn't so sure about what to do.
Ambrose looked quite surprised to see me too. The expression painted in his face appeared as if he had seen a ghost and that alone made things unexpectedly interesting. I'm pretty confident about the relative truth that he did not expect to see me here either. That's probably the reason why he looked like a deer caught in headlights but there's something different about that look.
Both our eyes seem to meet halfway. It just a few seconds of shared connection but then something washed over us. I snapped out from being frozen and quite shockingly, we both looked away at the very same time. I thought this could be my chance to speak and ask him about what went through his mind when he kissed me, however, he might just shut me down with violence. It is crystal clear that violence is his speaking language and I don't want to engage and speak his language.
There was a loud awkward silence reigning in the air as we both went on to doing our things. I switched my attention to turning on the faucet. Meanwhile he slowly walked straight inside the same compartment where I came from. I started washing my hands while trying to shake this strange feeling away.
I thought I was hearing the water coming from the faucet but it was actually Ambrose releasing his water waste. The crashing sound coming from him reverberated throughout the hollowness of the comfort room but the beating in my chest was a bit louder. I don't know if I'm going to laugh or not and this is making things even more awkward. I unconsciously turned my head and saw that he didn't close the door. I was looking at his back and I thought he's really that fine. That's not really up for debate.
He's around 5'10 in height and I can see how broad his arms and shoulder were which is obviously expected from the athletic person that he is. His unkempt and curly mullet appeared to extend down to his nape. I noticed him move his head and shoulder a little bit. He's probably having some sort of orgasm from urinating. I panicked for a bit and quickly went back to washing my hands. I washed my hands a bit faster and then left the comfort room without even drying my wet hands.
I ended up joining Rachel, Victoria and Nicole at their usual spot at the school bench. They were all sharing a burst of hysterical laughter and I wasn't so sure if I was going to just chime in or wait for them to cool down. I still feel like an outsider and they were just allowing me to join their group just because I became popular as they are.
I ended up chiming in.
"Hi," I said letting them know of my presence but I was specifically talking to Rachel.
"Hi," She smiled but then looked away almost immediately. The mood between me and Rachel seem to be blatantly off and I'm pretty certain that she's mad at me.
"You all look happy. What seems to be going on?" I asked casually shaking Rachel's reaction. I may have to get a feel of her mood before trying to speaking to her.
"Oh nothing. One of the losers just farted and it was so loud it was like a nuclear bomb exploding." Victoria replied and she was looking towards the table where Rock, Mary and Gustav where all huddled up.
"Who do you think it was?" Nicole asked.
"I guess it's..." I was about tell them it's probably Gustav but Victoria was so quick to cutting me off.
"It's got to be that Mary girl again. That girl looks gassy and she's not even fat. But look at her, she looked like she's been eating garlic with broccoli and lentils." Victoria went off.
"Are you sure it's her?" Rachel spoke stepping up to her role as the nicest one. "I mean it could be anyone. There are a lot of people here."
"It's definitely Mary. Remember when she pooped herself?" Nicole trailed and she shared a look with Victoria.
"She's called poopy pants for a reason," Victoria followed up and they both continued laughing.
"Can you all stop calling Mary that name," I stepped up. I think I have made my voice a bit loud and confrontational that Victoria and Nicole both looked at me with utter shock painted in their faces.
I can finally see why Mary wants me to spread nothing but good things about them in hopes of leisurely cleaning out their name. Popular kids are doing a great job at influencing everyone else who are jealous and insecure about themselves. It doesn't even matter if they are spreading good or rotten things, people will always follow what they are preaching.
"Are you saying that because you are friends with them?" Victoria uttered and I was thrown off my seat. That was quite an unexpected query that I wasn't ready to answer.
"No," I wanted to say yes but then I thought they might evict me right then and now. I don't want that to happen. "It's doesn't even matter if I'm friends with them. I just believe that we should start forgetting what happened several years ago. We all have had one embarrassing moments in our life but that's not the thing that's going to defines us. Mary pooped her pants, okay, yes it's funny for a while but it shouldn't define her as a person." I was starting to feel the heat. I continued talking and the three of them just stared at me as if I'm a spokesperson of some support group.
"I think August's right." Rachel babbled out and I was surprised by her agreeing to what I'm saying but I also expected this from her. She doesn't have that bully energy. It's got to be hard to be her and listen to Victoria and Nicole call people names that aren't even relevant anymore every single day.
"I'm sure we all have one embarrassing experience in our life. I peed my pants once in grade school and for a while I was called different names." I spat and I know I didn't really peed my pants. I just made this up to prove my point.
"I mistook my mom's pills for vitamin." Nicole revealed and the three of us were left gagged.
"What?" I spat.
"You mean pills for....?" Rachel trailed halting herself to not speak the following words but we all knew what it was.
"Yeah, I took probably ten pills before my mom caught me."
"HAHAHAHA!" All of laugh started laughing hysterically.
***
During our lunch break, the tension between me and Rachel magically died out and we are back to normal. We really haven't spoken about it but it seemed that she's not mad at me anymore. I have a strong feeling that it was because of what we talked about during our first break. I feel good that I managed to actually tell them to stop calling Mary poopy pants. I know it's not that much because a lot of people still probably call Mary that name but this is a start.
"Hey, would you like to try this homemade yogurt?" Rachel asked showing me this small cup of purplish slushy thing.
"Did you made it?"
"No, my aunt did."
"You mean Miss." I was about to speak out Miss Briar's name but Rachel's eyes widened forcing me to not speak the name. "Yeah, yeah. Your aunt made it."
"Would you like to try it?" Rachel asked once again.
"Sure," I nodded.
She grabbed the smallest spoon that I have seen in my life and then scooped an amount of yogurt. I thought she's going to hand me the spoon but she rattled the hell out of me by feeing me.
"How does it taste?" She asked with her face so close to mine. I'm getting anxious about her action. There a lot of people around the cafeteria and we are acting like this star crossed lover.
"Hmm. It's good. It's really tasty." I relied almost immediately. I was still shocked that she just fed me when she could've easily handed the spoon to my hand.
"She has made a lot of homemade yogurt but they all taste different." Rachel confessed nonchalantly telling me that Miss Briar is doing a bad job.
She took another scoop using the same spoon and shoved it to her mouth. Rachel is really wild to do that right in front of me. This is starting to become crazy. We all continued eating and Rachel made this habit of feeding me. This is nuts. Nicole pointed it out and we just smiled as if it's nothing.
After devouring all of our food, Rachel decided to visit the bathroom and I was left exchanging jokes with Victoria and Nicole. While having a conversation with them, my eyes unconsciously scanned the place until I found Ambrose's table a few tables away from us. I looked at him and he was sitting very stiffly as if he had nothing to eat. I looked away but then I looked back at him again and he was staring already at me.
Our eyes meet halfway once again and I couldn't help myself but think that he could've seen Rachel feeding me.