{ TWENTY-FOUR }

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CHAPTER 24 | Weird

The weekend passed by rather quickly. Ever before I met Mark, I enjoyed staying at my house and do all sorts of things. When I met him, it wasn't a very nice experience, but when I met his friendly side, I just wanted the weekend to end so I could go to school and see him.

Sometimes as I walked around the school with my friends, I happened to find Mark talking with his, or walking with them as well. When we passed by, Mark would give me a small smile that made me want to melt in that moment, and of course I would return a much bigger one. That's what we did when we saw each other and our friends were around. Meanwhile, Scarlet threw hateful words at Amber, and of course she backfired.

From his group, I think Mark and Skylar are the only ones who I'm getting along with, mostly with Mark. I don't know about Rupert, though, he hasn't called me a dwarf anymore so maybe he respects me now. Herman and Scarlet are the same arrogant dickheads as always.

At the end of classes, Mark would text me to say to meet him at the bleachers and talk for a while. That made me super excited and it was my favorite part of the day. Apart of being in that place, we would also take little walks around the school until we were tired. However, other times he would say he'd go with his friends and wouldn't be able to be there. Those days I felt disappointed, but oh well, maybe that's just part of his ambivert personality.

Today is Wednesday and he didn't text me whether he was going to be on the bleachers or not, so I went to check anyway. When I arrived, he wasn't there. I looked around to see if he was making his way somewhere, until I noticed a familiar figure among the soccer players who were running around. It was him. It looks like Mark has decided to go and play today. Well, this should be interesting to watch.

I took a seat on the bleachers and focused my gaze on Mark and only him. He was wearing his sports outfit: a tight white shirt that made his pecs and abs stand out, red shorts that made his ass stand out as well, and a pair of trainers on his beautiful feet.

He was really fast and agile as he chased the ball. With his long legs, he stole the ball from another player like a professional. Now all the other players were after him as Mark got closer to the goal. Someone shouted at him to pass the ball. He kicked it towards the other guy who called him. He was with the ball for a while as other players tried to steal it from him, but then he passed it back to Mark. Now that he had the ball on his possession, he gave it one last swift kick that scored a goal on his team.

They cheered at Mark and ran towards him to high five him and wrap their arms around his shoulders. I wanted to cheer too, but they would see that weird, so I just cheered for him in my mind. YAY! Great work, Marky!

I wonder why he doesn't play more often. He's really good at it! He could become one of the best soccer players in the world. Well, that's what I think. He's not only an extremely attractive artist, but also an excellent soccer player.

"Where is Mark?"

I yelped as I heard a female voice next to me. I turned to see Amber looking around her confusingly, before her eyes set on mine.

"Amber? What are you doing here?" I asked her, just as confused as she was. "I thought you had left already?"

"I was waiting for your aunt but she never arrived. Then I called my dad to tell him if he could pick me up but he was busy. So the only option was to go walking, but I didn't want to go alone, so I came back to find you."

"Oh, okay then. Um, just wait a bit and I'll go with you."

"Where is Mark?" She asked again. "Have you been lying when you told us you'd come here to see him?"

"No, he's almost always here. It's just that today he's playing. He's over there, see?" I motioned towards Mark who had started playing again.

"Where? Oh, I see him now." She said as she took a seat at my side. "Wow, he's fast."

"I know." I said with a small smile as I rested my chin on my palm.

"You look so lovestruck." Amber giggled as she elbowed me gently. "Remember the first time you met him? He was so rude."

"Yeah. I still don't know what made him change his attitude."

"It's because of his mood swings." She said. "I'd happen to see his mood change drastically a lot of times when we were dating."

"How?" I asked curiously.

"Look, one day, Mark was all nice and caring with me. He would waste money in things I didn't really like but I had to pretend I did. Even though I didn't like his gifts, it was a really sweet action. We would go to places either with my ex-friends or only the two of us alone, and we had a really nice time together. Then, next day, when we were at school, he suddenly turned so moody and with his boring stone face. I asked him what was wrong but he simply shook his head, leaving no word for argument. He was even acting aggressive, so much that he would slam the lockers or any other thing for no reason."

"One day, when we got to my house from school and he had been angry and serious all day, he jumped on me like a freaking tiger and started kissing me roughly. Although it didn't bother me that much, I thought he did it because he was tired or something like that, and having sex would be the only way for him to calm down. And for a moment, it did. I don't know why he had to be so rough and desperate, though. As if he hadn't touched me in ages."

"Well, now that's strange." I said suspiciously.

"Yeah. And the most intriguing part is that a few days later he started bullying random boys for no reason at all." She shrugged. "He never told me why he did it. Until I saw how he treated you when he noticed you were staring at him. That's when I noticed how homophobic he was and all those boys he bullied in the past were possibly gay. Or bi."

I thought about what she said. He had been bothering other boys before.

"You say that he stopped bothering you because you told him you were straight, right?" She asked.

"Yeah. But even so... It's still a bit weird. I mean, I don't know if he did really believe that."

I had never thought of that before. What if Mark knows I lied and is just acting nice to later beat me up? I know he saw me kissing Jaida, but that's not still enough proof. Then, maybe he noticed the way I was staring at his body that Friday, and he found out I like him. He could kill me one of these days without me even knowing!

"Has he ever acted aggressive or hateful towards you these last days?" Amber snapped me from my thoughts.

"Well, no. He has been nice. I don't think he hates me."

"Then maybe you're lucky." She said with a small smile. "Maybe he really considers you his friend and it will be that way forever!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I hope so."

"What if he even becomes more than your friend and he says he wants to be your boyyyfriend?" She squealed excitedly.

"Amber, how many times do I have to remind you that he's-"

"Yeah, I know, straight. But... he can be bi too, don't you think?"

"I wish he was, but sadly it's not like that."

"Ugh, Zack. Why is it that when I try to give you hope you always find an excuse to ruin it?"

"Because it's the truth, Amber." I looked at her. "Besides, I don't care if he will never be my boyfriend or if we'll never date. I'm perfectly fine with him being my friend."

"Really?"

"Of course. He used to bully me but he's my friend now. I can't ask for more."

She sighed as she crossed her arms and pouted a little. "Fine. It looks like my ship is sinking."

I gave her a weird look but I decided not to ask about it. What does a ship have to do with this? Whatever.

"But you can't deny the fact that you would love him to fuck your ass all day and night long!" She exclaimed.

I widened my eyes at her as she burst out laughing. My cheeks got red in embarrassment as I pictured that scene in my mind. Oh my God!

"Amber you're so embarrassing!" I said as I looked away.

"Oh, come on, Zacky! Laugh with me!" She said as she pushed me gently. It didn't look like she was laughing now. More like she was faking a laugh. Times like these are when she creeps me out really bad.

I decided I should make her pay for making me feel embarrassed.

"Amber, wait." I said as I focused my gaze on a specific spot behind her.

"What?" She asked as she recovered from her laugh.

"Don't move..."

"Why?"

"There's a spider-"

"WHERE?! AAAAHHH!!!" She quickly stood up from the bleachers, shaking her entire body and running her hands all over her dark blue hair as she screamed, making it all messy. "OH MY GOD, GET IT OFF ME!"

I couldn't stop laughing as I saw her reaction. Some soccer players stopped playing to look at the drama that Amber was creating with her screams and her dance. I could hear some of them laughing.

"You don't... You don't have anything! I was joking!" I said between laughs.

Amber finally stopped moving and was breathing heavily. I looked at her eyes and it looked like she wanted to cry. Oops, it looks like I found her extreme fear, didn't I.

"Don't. You. EVER. Joke to me like that, you heard me, Zack?!" She warned as she straightened her clothes.

"And don't you ever make me feel that embarrassed." I said back when I stopped laughing.

"Oh it was just a small joke!" She crossed her arms as she blew the hair away from her face. "Ugh, just look at this. All this scaring made me want to pee. Be right back. I hate you!" She snapped in a playful tone. I hope it was playful, though...

She jumped down the bleachers and walked away, probably to the restrooms. Wow, I didn't think spiders scared her that much.

A while later, the group of players dissipated in various directions, leaving the field half empty. I saw Mark jogging towards me. My stomach fluttered as I saw him approaching.

"Hey, Zack." He saluted, breathing heavily, his shirt all drenched in sweat and making his sexy torso more visible. "What happened to Amber? I saw her screaming."

"She got freaked out over an invisible spider, then she went to the restrooms to pee."

"What?" Mark asked as he laughed.

"I know. I wasn't expecting that reaction either." I chuckled.

He shook his head as he smiled. "Anyway, do you have any water? I left mine in my backpack... And I left my backpack in the locker room. And I don't want to go there for it." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I have some." I grabbed my backpack that was next to me and pulled out my water bottle. It was almost full. I handed it to him.

"Cool." He said as he grabbed the bottle and turned the screw cap open. "Do you mind if I drink it all?"

"No, not at all. Go ahead."

"Okay." He said as he brought the mouth of the bottle to his lips. He moved his head up, exposing his neck. I looked at how his throat moved along with his tattoo as he downed the fresh liquid. Some droplets of water flowed out from the corner of his mouth, making them slide down his neck until his chest.

He stopped drinking, leaving the bottle almost empty and he put the screw cap back on. He let out a satisfied sigh after he swallowed the liquid.

"Hey, Mark! We're going to start!" A guy shouted at him.

"Coming!" He shouted back as he handed back my bottle. "Thanks, man." I nodded before he turned and jogged towards the field.

He went back to play. I looked at the bottle. He had drank from it. Maybe I should lick it a little bit just to have a tiny taste of him... Nah, that would certainly be shocking for most people that is around the bleachers so I quickly discarded that thought from my head.

So when Amber came back, we watched Mark play the rest of the game and gossiped about his hot body until he finished.

================

Next day

This time we were both sitting on the bleachers and talking about stuff. Mark was looking at some things on his phone and he would occasionally give me pieces of the sandwich he was eating. At first I didn't want to receive it, but after I accepted, he started giving me another, and another and so on. As if I was a baby.

"Do you use glasses?" He asked before taking a bite of his sandwich. It was a small bite compared to the other monster bites that he would normally take. Maybe because he was sharing it with me and he didn't want to finish it all in one or two bites. Aww, sweet.

"No, why?"

"I saw you were using glasses in your pic." He commented with his mouth full. Oh, so he has been looking at my pics, huh?

"Oh yeah, but that's because I like that accessory, you know? I kinda like wearing them even though I don't need them." I chuckled as I grabbed another piece that he was offering me.

He nodded slightly. "You look cool with them."

Did he just compliment me? Aww!

I was going to thank him but I decided to go for something different this time.

"I know."

He turned to me and chuckled. "Hey, that's my line."

"Not anymore." I smiled. "You need to learn some manners."

He scoffed slightly and turned back to his phone. "That's not part of my personality."

"But you should at least be a little more grateful."

"Yeah, I should."

"And why you don't do it?"

"Again, that's not part of my personality."

I rolled my eyes. Well, at least I still remember when I went to his house and he thanked me after I helped him with his homework. That was really nice of him.

"By the way, Mark. I have a question."

"What?" He said as he kept scrolling on his phone. His sandwich was long gone already.

"Why does your mom don't have the same last name as your dad?"

Mark stopped scrolling for a few seconds before releasing a sigh. "Well... she just doesn't like it. Not a long time ago she decided to change it to her maiden name. And dad got really pissed about that."

"Why she didn't like it?" I asked curiously.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Just because."

I felt like he was lying, but I decided not to push further into the subject. I'm starting to suspect that maybe his parents aren't very affectionate one with the other.

Suddenly, I felt a hard blow impacting against the side of my face. It was something hard and coming at a really high speed. I winced in pain as I covered the area where the object had hit with my hand. I heard some Ow's and Shit's, probably coming from the soccer players. That's when I realized I had been hit with the ball.

"Shit! Are you okay, dude?" I heard a guy's voice approaching and kneeling in front of me to check my face.

"Watch it, you idiot." I heard Mark muttering between gritted teeth.

I tried to open my eyes as I kept my hand covering my face. I sighed of relief when I noticed I could still see well.

"Damn, I'm sorry dude. Are you okay? Do you want to go to the infirmary?" The guy asked worriedly.

My cheek and the area around my left eye burned slightly but I could stand it. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay... I'm fine."

I removed my hand from my face as I still felt it burning slightly. Well, this is going to leave a bruise.

"Sorry, dude. I'm really sorry. It won't happen again, okay?" The guy apologized.

"Yeah, don't worry." I gave him a small smile.

He grabbed the ball and gave a last glance at me, then at Mark. He looked a bit scared and so he jogged back with the rest of the players.

Then I glanced at Mark and I noticed he had been glaring at him. He turned towards me and his look changed to a little frown. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, it was just a hit. I don't think it damaged anything."

"I would have killed the idiot if he had done that to me." He muttered.

I chuckled a bit. "It was just an accident."

"I don't care, I would still do it for being so dumb."

I stayed quiet as I continued rubbing the side of my face. Damn, why does this have to happen to me? It was painful yet so embarrassing. Thank God it didn't hit my nose. Now that would've been a much bigger problem.

I heard Mark sighing and standing up from his spot. "Let's go to another place, shall we?"

"Do you want to leave now?"

"Yes, but I'll show you something first."

I got curious about what he wanted to show me. So I stood up and walked down the bleachers carefully, while Mark just had to jump down. I'm so dumb that I think if I jumped down, I'd break my ankle instantly.

Mark started walking and I was following behind him. We left the soccer field and we were now walking through a rocky way, the noise and voices of the school fading away the more we continued walking. Mark would look briefly over his shoulder to see if I was still following him.

For a moment I felt a bit uneasy, since around this place it was starting to get really quiet. We made our way past some buildings and other gardens I hadn't visited before. I always thought we weren't allowed to come to this part of the school, but it looks like Mark doesn't follow the rules.

A while later, we arrived to an open space with grass. It was like a large hill that overlooked the city on the horizon. Mark walked and stopped to look at the breathtaking view. I stood at his side to admire the scenery as well.

Wow, this would be a really good place to watch the sunset. Chilling with Mark and my friends in this place, in a cold afternoon, around a bonfire, telling stories. Yeah, it would be amazing. But sadly we can't stay that long here.

"It looks cool, doesn't it?" Mark commented.

"Yeah. Really cool." I replied.

Mark sat down on the grass and looked up at me, patting a spot beside him. "Sit. We'll leave in a while."

I sat down next to him, leaving a safe distance between us. Mark chuckled.

"Come on, man. I don't bite."

I guess by that he meant that he wanted me to get closer to him. So I obeyed and I shifted closer to his side, feeling his scent and his warmness at the proximity.

"I had never come around here." I admitted.

"Not many people come to this place. I like it because of the amazing view that you can appreciate from here. It's quiet, clean, peaceful."

"Yeah. It's pretty nice."

We stayed like that in a comfortable silence, enjoying the peacefulness and Mark's company.

"I'm thinking of making a painting out of this view. What do you think?" Mark asked after a while.

"That would be cool. Do you want to paint it now?"

"Heh, no dude. That takes time."

"Oh, right."

"It's just that I wouldn't do it on a regular notebook. I'm planning of making it on something bigger. Like a canvas."

"I'm sure it would look fantastic." I said truthfully. Knowing how skilled Mark is at painting and drawing, I don't doubt that he would make a masterpiece.

Mark gave me a smile and I returned it. Then I turned to look back in front of me. If I stayed looking at his perfect smile for too long, I might never pry my eyes off him.

Then I felt his big hand ruffling my hair, making it all messy. Although that didn't bother me, in fact, it felt nice. I just chuckled at him and leaned my chin on the palm of my hand.

But then he did it a second time. He ran his hand all over my scalp making it messier. Okay, now this is a bit strange.

A third time, he ruffled my hair and, as nice as it felt, it was starting to get a bit annoying now.

"Okay, stop." I finally said as I tried to put my hair back in place.

He

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