This Story Has No Name – Part One

Nathan

                “Um...I’m sorry, Nathan. It’s just that...well, I’ve always thought of you as a brother, ya know?” It was passing period. She stood in front of me, playing with her hands and drawing somethng in the dirt with her foot. I felt stupid. “But, you’re such an awesome guy. I mean, how come you don’t already have a girlfriend?”
                I looked at the floor. You’re kidding, right? I mean, do I really need to answer that? What do you mean, “Why don’t I have a girlfriend?” It’s ‘cause of stupid bitches like you! No, Nathan...no. You shouldn’t have called her that. A lot of guys want to act sweet, but as soon as they get turned down, they wanna call her every name in the book. I don’t want to be that guy.
                She never made eye contact, though. None, not even for a quick second. The awkward silence lasted forever, only broken by the sound of the school bell. Damn. Everyone hated that bell. It was always too loud, and it never rang when it was supposed to. But, if there was ever a time that I didn’t want to hear the bell, it was now. If she ever wanted to hear it, it was now.
                “Sorry, that’s the bell,” she turned around and said without looking back. “Don’t want to be late for class.”
                Wow, classic. Saved by the bell. Saved by the freaking...aw, forget it.

                Class wasn’t exactly any more fun. History. I hate that class. I’ve got more than enough problems today than to learn about some dead guy’s years ago. I took my usual seat in the back of the class. Left corner. I guess you could say I was a loner. I never did put labels on myself, but if about 16 personality tests on the internet all tell me that I’m more of a loner than anything else, then it must be true. Right? I have nothing else to believe in, anyway.
                It was when I threw my backpack on the small chair-desk thingy, that I heard it. Girls. Lots of them. That meant Davis was coming. Seriously, I don’t even know why this guy bothers to hang out with me, but he does. We were best friends in elementary school, though. It was about the time we hit puberty that I noticed he was getting a lot more attention from...well, girls, I guess, but he was my best friend so he was always trying to pull me in there somehow, some way. We split ways in middle school, but ended up going to the same high school, and it basically went back to old times. He’s pretty much everything I’m not. Popular, cool, talented, outgoing, in-the-know, um...I guess, attractive? I don’t know, I don’t wanna sound gay. He yelled something out to the girls before coming to the back of the class to sit next to me.
                “Yo, Nate! What’s up?”
                I buried my face in my folded arms. “Meh...”
                “Meh? That’s it?” He bent in to whisper in my ear, “I don’t know man, I saw you talking to Veronica. Ha, ha! Did you get any?”
                I turned my head to look at him, a scowl across my face. “Any what?”
                “You know! Some play!” Davis sat up and smiled like a two-year-old, happy ‘cause he put his triangles and squares in the right holes.
                I put my face back in my arms. “Quit, you know I don’t work like that.”
                “Seriously dude, I think you’re gay.”
                “Dammit, Davis, I’m not gay!”
                Everyone eyed my back as I left the room in a huff. I was sick of it. I was sick of his crap and everyone else’s. Yeah, he’s my best friend, but who cares? He should know better than anyone else if I was gay or not. So what if I’m seventeen and haven’t had a girlfriend yet. Or my first kiss. Or a freakin’ hug, whatever! That shouldn’t automatically determine my sexual orientation. But, people are people and you shouldn’t expect them to do anything other than what people do even if it is incredibly stupid. Then again, if I was gay, I’d be almost like flypaper...except for girls, I guess. I hear they like those types.
                I stormed down the empty hallway. It was spirit week or whatever. It didn’t matter to me, though. Blue, yellow, and white papers were all over the walls. All over the floor too, advertising that annual junior dance that was supposed to be happening this Friday. Some idiot lit a fire in a bathroom on the second floor, and the whole thing got canceled, though. Students were in an uproar and some even protested. Ha! I protest getting out of bed each morning, but it didn’t matter to me. I wasn’t going.
                There’s that girl though, Veronica. She’s my friend actually and I like her a lot, but I never know what to say around her. She’s very talkative with her friends, but when I come around she gets really quiet and barely says anything at all, almost like she’s bored with me or something. So I pretty much just leave her alone. It’s a wonder how we’re even friends at all. Or, maybe we’re not...maybe it’s just a fantasy of mine...
                “Nathaniel!” I heard my old principal call me as I turned around the corner. She knew my name, not because I’m some sort of troublemaker, it’s ‘cause I volunteer in her office sometimes at lunch. Nothin’ better to do. She walked over to me. “What are you doing outside of class?”
                It wasn’t until then that I realized I had just marched out of third period history class. I turned around to face the woman. She was the youngest of all the assistant principals when she got here, only 29 or something, so they gave her the freshman. A lot of the senior guys try to flirt with her ‘cause she looks really young, but she’s very professional and shoos ‘em away. I looked at the floor.
                “I don’t know, Ms. Anderson,” I leaned against a rusted locker, and folded my arms. Sliding down to the floor, I ripped some of the fabrics out of the back of my sweatshirt. “People keep calling me gay ‘cause I haven’t been with a girl yet.”
                “Well, are you gay?”
                “Nooo,” I groaned.
                “Well then, there you go!” She unfolded her arms and put her hands on her hips. “If people say that you’re gay, and you know you aren’t, then whatever they say is invalid, right?”
                “It’s not that easy, Ms. Anderson,” I replied. “You know Veronica, right?”
                “There’s a lot of Veronica’s in this school.”
                “I’m sorry, the one that’s in the anime club. I like her. A lot. But, I feel like she’s bored around me, and that maybe I’m not good enough for her. That’s why I never really say anything about us.”
                “Well, has she told you she’s bored?” my old principal inquired.
                “No.”
                “Then take your shot,” she looked at her watch, “Shouldn’t you be somewhere right now? Somewhere like history class?”
                “Oops…” I smiled, stood up, and walked back to class, feeling a little better. I guess now I can finally say something.

                Aw, who am I kidding?