“Yeah, maybe we could catch a movie sometime.” I say, making sure to keep it very blasé, very casual. Jennifer giggles, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. You can just tell that she spent hours curling that hair and gallons of hairspray on it.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” She says, flirtily. “Call me sometime.”

I smirk. “Will do.”

She gives me one last flirtatious smile and then walks off. I stand there for a second, and then hear a low whistle and turn around.

“Nate.” I laugh.

“Nice pull, man.” He says, still staring after Jennifer.

I grin at him. “You know that’s how I do.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re way too cocky man. Tone down your ego.”

“My ego is at a perfectly good size, thank you very much.”

“See?” Nate exclaims. “You’re even boasting about your ego.”

“Shut up.” I shove him into the lockers playfully and he laughs.

“Come on, let’s go to lunch.” He says, starting to walk backwards to the cafeteria. I sigh and roll my eyes, but follow him.

After we get our food from the lunch line, we sit at our usual table, where Alana and Jess are already seated.

“Guys, guess what?” Nate says immediately.

Jess pounces. “What?”

“Luke’s moving in on Jennifer.”

My eyes widen and I glare at Nate, who grins mischievously at me. Ugh! Jess turns to glare at me.

“Really, Luke?” she says, coldly. “It hasn’t even been five days since you broke up with Vanessa.”

“Look, I’m not dating Jennifer or anything. I haven’t even asked her out or anything. We’re just kinda…” I trail off, not really wanting to finish.

Jess’ eyes narrow, which—to be honest—scares the shit out of me. “Kinda what?” she hisses. I gulp.

“We’re just kinda flirting and messing around.”
Alana groans and drops her head in her hands. “Vanessa is literally going to kill you. No, like, I’m serious. Like, she is going to actually pull out your organs, shave off your skin and burn it all while your skinless body watches as you hang from a laundry line by your toes.”

Nate, Jess, and I all pause to stare at Alana. Honestly, what the hell?

“That’s disgusting.” Jess says, breaking the momentary silence we had. Alana shrugs and continues to eat her lunch. That kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer, I’m not kidding.

I hoped that Alana’s weird outburst would save me from having to continue the painful conversation I was having with Jess, but unfortunately Jess is not one to forget easily.

“But really, Vanessa’s going to be really pissed.” Jess says, pointing her fork at me in an accusatory manner.

“Aren’t she and Jennifer friends?” I ask.

“Not if Jennifer’s stealing her man.”

My eyes nearly pop out of my head. “Oh my God, you girls are literally insane. First of all, I’m not her man. Second of all, don’t your friends matter more? I mean, like, Nate here is freakin’ crazy about you, but even if you and I slept together, he and I’d be fine. I mean, he’d probably go ape shit for a while, but he’d cool off and we’d still be bros.”

Alana chuckles. “Don’t count on it.”

I glance over at Nate, who isn’t saying anything and instead seems extremely interested in the fajita on his plastic plate.
I groan. “My point is, I don’t know why I even bother with dating. It’s never been satisfactory to me.”

Nate grins. “Except for the sex.”

I sigh. Well, might as well tell ‘em now. “I’ve never actually had sex.”

They all stare at me and I sigh again before continuing. “I just let y’all think I did. But I haven’t. I mean, all the girls I’ve dated up to this point have driven me absolutely insane. I genuinely did not like any of them. I thought I would, but I didn’t. And I don’t really want to sleep with someone I don’t even like. And like I was saying, I don’t know why I bother dating when I’ve never really enjoyed it.”

There’s a second of silence before Alana speaks. “Well, that’s your decision ultimately. You can date whomever you want and sleep with whomever you want. And you know that you don’t have to lie to us; we don’t care who you date and who you sleep with. Unless it’s Jess.”

Jess rolls her eyes.

I can’t help but smile. “Thanks, guys. Y’all are cool. I know it sounds corny, but I kinda wanna wait for the right time.”

“And the right girl!” Jess chips in.

I smile at her.

“Yeah. And the right girl.”

*

So I don’t call Jennifer.

I really think I’m done with all this pointless dating. Honestly, I’ve dated so many girls since I’ve started high school, I’ve lost count. I could ask Nate, I bet he has a list.

I feel a little hypocritical after giving Gabe that little speech in the car the other day. I told him that who you date matters.

That you should date someone you like, someone whose company you enjoy. Someone that makes your stomach all fluttery and weird.

Oh my God, I’m turning into a chick. I’ve been spending way too much time with Alana.

But anyways. I think I’m done being hypocritical.

I’m not necessarily done with dating, but I think I’m done dating unnecessarily. I’m gonna make sure that the next person I date means something to me; that it’s someone I genuinely care about.

After all, what joy did I ever really get from dating? Other than the fact that it drives Nate absolutely crazy.

“Hey, Luke!”

Speak of the devil.

Nate’s running down the halls like a crazy person, calling my name over and over again. He pants when he reaches me.

“Yo, Nate.” I give him a fist bump. “What’s up, my brother from another mother?”

He furrows his eyebrows at my weird greeting, but shakes it off. “Guess what?”

I roll my eyes, but humor him. “What?”

“There’s a fight going down in the quad.”

I jump to my feet. “What?” I exclaim. “Why didn’t you open with that?”

I grab Nate’s arm and drag him back down the hall, running at top speed. When we get to the quad, Nate’s about ready to pass out, so I leave him to fall against the wall and push myself to the front of the circle of onlookers.

Most of them have their phones out, taping the whole thing, others are looking worried, and the vast majority is screaming “fight, fight, fight, fight!”

I cast my eyes down at the fight to see who it’s between and am not surprised to see that Bryce is involved. What surprises me is who he’s fighting. Toby Wallace.

Toby Wallace is a sophomore and he’s a good friend of my brother’s. He’s been round at our place a couple times. He’s a nice kid, mostly silent.

The longer I stare down at the fight, the more I see that it’s not a fight—it’s a straight up beat down.

Toby is not defending himself, he doesn’t seem capable. He’s just lying there and Bryce is hitting him again and again, harder and harder.

“Hey, hey, Bryce! Woah, back off.” I jump right into the heat of it and start yanking on the back of Bryce’s shirt, trying to get him off the kid. Bryce struggles against me for a while, but then lets me pull him off.

“Come on, man, he’s just a kid.” I say, leaning down to grab onto Toby’s hand and pull him up.

I hoist him up and let him lean against me, holding his arm around my shoulder so I can keep him up.

“What the hell, Bryce?” I ask. Bryce wipes his mouth and spits on the ground.

“He asked for it.” Bryce mumbles. It takes genuine effort to keep myself from rolling my eyes.

“How?” I demand.

Bryce fidgets slightly. “He was…”

This time I actually roll my eyes. “Okay, while you come up with an excuse, I’m taking the kid to the nurse.”

The observers have lost interest at this point and either they’ve left the quad or are re-watching their videos of the fight or grumbling about me ending it. Either way, I push through the remaining kids and re-enter the school building, Toby limping along beside me.

Usually I don’t get involved in Bryce’s fights, but I couldn’t help it this time. I mean, Toby wasn’t even trying to defend himself.

That wasn’t even a fight. Bryce was just beating Toby up.

You don’t just watch something like that happen without doing something about it. Well, I mean, I guess some people do, hence all the spectators and their video cameras.

I prop Toby up against me and try to lead him up the stairs. He’s still conscious, but barely so. He’s mumbling quietly under his breath, but I’m not really all too bothered about decoding the mutterings of a half-delusional fifteen-year-old.

I’m more bent on getting him to the nurse as fast as I can, because I may be strong and Toby may be smaller than me, but nearly all of his weight is on me, and school stairways can be a bitch.

“Come on, kid, you gotta help me out here.” I heave Toby up a stair. He stirs slightly and realizes what I’m trying to do. He shuffles his feet a bit and we begin to make progress.

It takes way too long to get to the nurse’s office and once we do, I’m completely out of breath. I drop Toby on the bed and then collapse onto a chair, panting.

“Sweet Baby Jesus, what happened to this boy?” the nurse exclaims, rushing to Toby’s side. Toby is back to his barely-conscious state and continues muttering incoherent things.

Ms. Mollen, the nurse, starts rushing around collecting things to take care of Toby.

She doesn’t even glance at me, so instead of heading to class, I stay where I am, wanting to know why Bryce pounced on Toby and if he’ll be okay.

Ms. Mollen doesn’t seem as panicky anymore, so I’m starting to worry less. Toby’s also looking much better with all the blood cleaned off of his face.

He’s still murmuring something under his breath, but his eyes are wide open now and he seems to know what’s going on.

“Okay, honey, I’ve patched you up as best as I could. I’m going to let you rest while I call your mother to come get you, alright?” Ms. Mollen says, smiling at Toby.

Toby nods, looking down at his hands as he fiddles with a tear in his jeans. As soon as Ms. Mollen leaves, closing the door behind her, I turn to Toby.

“Toby, why did Bryce do this?”

Toby continues to stare at his fingers, not meeting my eyes. He shrugs. “I don’t know. Why does Bryce do anything?”

“Toby.” I insist. He glances at me and, seeing that I’m not going to leave him alone till I know what happened, sighs in defeat.

“He…saw me…doing something…that he didn’t like.” Toby mumbles vaguely. I raise my eyebrows at him.

“You’re going to have to give me more than that, Toby.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair.

Toby looks at me again and this time I see the sadness—the desperation—in his eyes. Worry returns in me again. Something really bad happened, I can tell. This is important.

Toby looks back at his hands. He continues speaking, so quietly that I have to lean in to hear him. “We were back behind the gym, where we always go for lunch. It’s always just us, no one ever goes back there. But then – ” Toby’s voice cracks slightly. “Then Bryce was there and he saw us and…” Toby trails off, chewing viciously on his bottom lip. “And I told Drew to just go. He didn’t want to leave, but I told him he had to. So he ran off and then Bryce…”

He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to. I soak in Toby’s words and then they start to make sense in my brain. Toby and this Drew kid were…oh.

I have absolutely no idea what to say in this kind of situation. ‘Sorry’? ‘People are dicks’? ‘It gets better’? Does it get better? I feel my palms sweating. I’m really not good in awkward situations.

“Toby…” I start and thank God Toby cut me off because I have no idea what I would’ve said.

“It’s fine.” Toby says, his voice much firmer now than it was when he was telling me what happened between him and Bryce. “You don’t have to say anything. I get it, really, I do.”

“No, Toby, what Bryce did wasn’t right. And I’m sorry for that.” I say, feeling awful after Toby’s words. I stand up and head to the door, turning around before I leave. “Do you want me to find Drew and tell him what happened?”

Toby smiles at me. “No, I don’t want him to know. But thanks. Thanks for everything.”

I smile back, but still feel terrible. “Anytime.”

And I leave.

But I can’t get Toby’s words out of my head for the rest of the day. And what about that Drew kid? Where is he? Did Bryce go after him too? I just can’t shake the whole thing. After school, while I’m dumping my books into my locker, Alana comes over to do the same and asks if I know what happened to Toby.

“Bryce got to him.” I reply.

Alana scowls at me. “No shit. Thanks for that, Captain Obvious. I mean, why?”

As she asks this, Nate and Jess—who were walking down the hall together—stop to hear the story as well. I sigh.

“Bryce found Toby with his…uh…boyfriend…or something.” I say, pretending not to really know.

Nate and Jess’ eyes widen.

“Woah, that’s intense.” Nate says, seriously. Jess nods in agreement. Alana, on the other hand, completely explodes, making all of us jump.

“That’s complete bullshit! Oh my God, I can’t believe Bryce beat him up for that! What the hell is wrong with this world?”

I just shrug. “You know Bryce. He’s beaten people up for less than that.”

I close my locker and zip my backpack up before slinging it over my shoulder. “Anyways, I have to go find Gabe. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I say and walk off.

*

As soon as I pull Gabe away from the group of girls he’s talking to, he starts talking at top speed.

“Dude! That jackass teammate of yours beat up Toby today! What the hell, right? I mean, you know Toby! He’s such a harmless dude! He can’t even defend myself! And apparently, that basketball asshole was just pounding him and people were videotaping it and – ”

I cut him off. “I know what happened, Gabe. I was there, I took Toby to the nurse.”

Gabe’s eyes nearly fly out of his head. “Are you serious? Is he okay?”

I nod. “He’s fine now.”

Gabe shakes his head incredulously. “Why the hell would anyone want to beat up a kid like Toby?”

I glance at him, unsure of whether or not he knows about Toby. Part of me wants to say yes, since he and Toby are good friends. But then another part of me reminds me how awkward Toby was when he told me about him and that other kid.

“Um…you know who Toby’s dating, right?” I say, casually, trying to see if Gabe knows the truth in the safest way possible. Gabe looks at me with raised eyebrows.

“Dating? Toby’s dating someone?” he snorts. “Toby doesn’t date. He leaves the room whenever we even talk about girls.”

Okay, well, that answers my question. I turn away, pulling my car keys out of my backpack and unlocking the car. Gabe stares at me, skeptically.

“Who’s Toby dating?” he asks, as we both get in the car.

“No one.” I say, unconvincingly, sticking the key into the ignition. Gabe doesn’t believe me.

“Come on, tell me.” He insists.

“It’s not my place to tell.” I say, awkwardly, wishing now that I hadn’t said anything at all.

Gabe scowls at me. “Fine, I’ll just ask Toby.”

My eyes widen. “No!” I exclaim. Gabe stares at me. I sigh. “Don’t ask Toby. He has enough shit to deal with without you getting into his personal life.”

“Who you’re dating is not your personal life in high school.” Gabe argues.

“Gabe, I’m your older brother and I rarely play this card, but I’m going to now. I know that this situation is not something you should get involved in, so just do what you’re told for once.”

Gabe continues to stare at me. He definitely didn’t expect that. I sigh and lean over to turn on the radio so we don’t get stuck in an awkward silence.

I really hope Gabe doesn’t ask Toby, because then Toby will feel completely betrayed that I told. I’m starting to wish I didn’t say anything to Nate, Jess, and Alana either. I mean, it’s Toby’s secret and I really shouldn’t have gotten involved. I just hope that this stays quiet and nobody harasses Toby any more than Bryce already has.