Gabriel's alarm rang loudly, waking him from another homosexually induced nightmare. These were beginning to become a regular occurence.
Ugh. I should probably see someone about this. Gabe thought to himself upon waking up.
As he was getting dressed, he remembered that he needed to ask Sean about whatever happened on the first day of school. They were now atleast a month into school, and Gabe woke up every day with the intention of asking him, but every time he saw Sean, his mind would get lost in those big, blue eyes...and the thought was lost with it.
So in order to help him remember, Gabe took a Sharpie and wrote "ASK SEAN" in big, bold letters on his wrist, accompanying "MATH TEST FRIDAY" and "MOW LAWN". As an extra precaution against Sean's gorgeous eyes distracting his thoughts, he put on a pair of really dark sunglasses. On the way out he grabbed an instant breakfast, and headed out the door.
On the way to school, Gabe realized that the only person that he had really befriended at all since moving to Fairvalley was Sean. In fact, he couldn't even really remember the names of any of the other students in his class. In the month he had lived here, his thoughts had pretty much been consumed by Homework and Sean. But mostly Sean.
Ugh. I'm hopeless Gabe thought.
This is just sad. I'm such a screw up. I can't believe I'm having such faggoty thoughts..
His head in the clouds, Gabe suddenly felt the impact of another body. Soon, he was on the ground, and very confused as to why. Looking up, he saw none other than Griselda Smart. She was the only other name he could remember from his class. Who could forget a name like Griselda? Despite her outlandish name, Griselda Smart was one of the most popular of the Fairvalley ninth graders. She ruled over the teenagers of Fairvalley with a finely-manicured fist. And a cell phone with unlimited text messaging. Sean had told Gabe about the horrors that had been done unto fellow teens with that seemingly innocent device. He said he could speak from personal experience on it, however when Gabe questioned further, Sean simply said he didn't want to talk about it.
Griselda, who had been texting and not paying attention to oncoming sidewalkers, collided with the daydreaming Gabriel Brenner.
Little fucker needs to watch where he's going. She thought, but looked at Gabe with a warm smile "I'm so sorry, that was all my fault." She offered her hand to help him up. After becoming upright once more, "why don't we walk to school together?" she asked.
"Sure..I suppose" He said, taking off the sunglasses. Carried away into another daydream, probably involving Sean's getting to know the inside of Gabe's mouth on an intimate level, he didn't say anything to Griselda.
She looked at him inquisitively. "You moved here from.." she scrolled through her phone "Milwaukee right?" Trying to make conversation.
"Yeah.." he said, his daydream broken. "How'd you know?"
"Oh, I think a friend told me. So what is the real world like? Is Chicago totally fabulous or what?!"
Gabe gave her a weird look. "I suppose...I mean, I really like the Shakespeare theater there. what do you mean by 'real world'?"
Griselda looked down for a moment.
Shit, he doesn't know? How is that possible? Well I better be careful. She thought. "Oh its just a joke we have around here. The shopping must be totally fab!" she said, enthusiastically.
"I suppose. I mean I don't like shopping all that much." He said, desperately trying to return to his daydream romance.
"I think I would live on Michigan Avenue. So that must've sucked leaving all of your friends and everything behind in Milwaukee. I know for me, it was just awful."
"Yeah, I guess. I mean I didn't really have many friends. I was mostly thankful for the fresh start."
"Oh. Well someone like you MUST have had a girlfriend." She said, flipping her hair behind her shoulder, giving a better view of her rediculously low cleavage.
Gabriel looked off into the clouds, not picking up on the hint. "No, I didn't really date. Who's your boyfriend?" He asked, desperately trying to get her to stop asking him questions.
"No one right now. But I dated that bastard Sean last month. Ugh, that was a disaster."
Gabriel's heart sank at the thought of Sean dating girls. "Oh. What was he like? What was wrong with him? Is he dating someone right now? Did you break it off or did he? Why wasn't it working out?" He asked, a little too eagerly.
That was...odd Griselda thought. "You could totally tell that he totally wasn't into it. He's single, and quite honestly he won't ever find a girl in this town ever again. Why didn't you date in Milwaukee?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Oh. I don't know. I guess I just didn't meet the right person."
"Huh..well what kind of person do you like?"
"I don't know..smart, funny, you know. The usual."
"Well...if you had someone in mind, I'd always be willing to help out a friend." Griselda asked with a wink.
"I don't know...I don't think he would be interested, but thanks anyway." Gabe replied.
"He?" She said, stopping their leisurely pace.
"Oh..oops. Did I say he? I meant she" Gabe said, laughing nervously. His face had gone very pale. "She isn't interested in me. She. Its a girl. heh."
Holy fuck!! how did that even happen?! Hopefully she doesn't think....no...its not possible. She couldn't! I mean I corrected myself right?Griselda sighed. "Yeah....she." It was pretty obvious that she knew.
"Please...don't tell anyone, okay? I'm just... I don't know. Just don't tell anyone. Please!" Gabe pleaded.
"It'll be our secret. Don't worry, my uncle's gay." She said with a little wink. "Its totally cool."
Gabe breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much...I'm dealing with a lot right now...I just have to get it all figured out."
"I understand" she said. She said, and looked back at the crowd of her friends waiting outside the school building, which they had arrived at some time ago. "Well, duty calls. Catch you later!" Griselda ran over to her friends, and whispered to them excitedly.
Gabe sat down and worked on some homework he had neglected to finish the night before.
Thank God there are nice people in the world. "Okay everyone! Its time for class! Come on!" Said Dr. Byrne (the ninth grade history teacher) arriving a couple minutes late. Everyone entered the small room, and by the time Gabriel entered the room, everyone had found seats. Everyone found seats that were as far away from Gabe's usual spot as possible. Gabe looked at everyone confusedly and sat down.
Dr. Byrne began his tedious lecture on the French Enlightenment.
