Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

Kelly's House

"You bet," Freddie says as he speed-dresses and then throws the towel onto the lawn behind a tree. Climbing into the car, he waits for Belinda to buckle in. He pops a couple antacids (daily recommended maximums are for losers).

He wants to be mad, but Kelly Unger!

"Home it is." He drives away, then says, "You and Mr. Unger, huh? He's not good enough for you, you know." He smiles at the cheesy line, but can't shake the good mood.

"How come you get to be Sherlock and I’m stuck as Watson? The lovable sidekick…" Lily jokes.

"Fine! Let’s grab some!" Lily rushes into the room and grabs up a test tube, a stopper and a one of those dropper things for gathering liquids.

Returning, she sucks some into the dropper thing, and puts it into the test tube.

"Blegh! It’s so thick! Can we please get out of here now? I feel like I need to be hosed down!"

A Few Minutes Before That

After that conversation in the car, ending with Zach holding Aaron's hand and him accepting his eventual show of affection and agreeing to come to the dance - for Zach! - Zach feels like he's floating. He briefly warns Aaron that his parents are weird but luckily, neither of them is home when they get out of the uber. Inside the small house, Zach gives Aaron a very brief tour, then finds some snacks and a can of soda (definitely not Sprite) for him. As he picks out some clothes from his wardrobe, he obscures the view to make sure Aaron doesn't even have a chance to catch a glimpse of Zach's binders, as well hidden as they are under his shirts. He grabs some clothes, but, feeling like about a million bucks right now, Zach decides not to go for another hoodie but instead grabs a simple grey button-up his dad had bought him a while back, promising it would make him look manly, and which he has basically never worn because it requires a good bit more confidence than his loose hoodies do.

Zach hops into the shower, making sure Aaron is occupied in his room and won't have cause to start searching it and potentially find anything that could give him a clue as to Zach's second secret, which he is not yet ready to reveal like he had the first. After his shower, Zach gets dressed and inspects himself in the mirror for a long time. He does look pretty good, he judges, and despite the much more form-fitting shape of the shirt, nothing is visible that shouldn't be visible. He thinks.

Aaron and Zach return to school taking another uber. Neither of the boys mentions what they talked about during the first ride, but there are some blushes and awkward looks, so both definitely remember. Once they reach the school, they split up unceremoniously, heading to their respective classes.

- - -

When Zach arrives at the newsroom, some of his uncharacteristic good mood and confidence leave him as nervousness sets in. He hesitates for a long moment before finally knocking and entering. Lily is already there. "Hey there," he greets the girl. "Crazy day, huh?" He clears his throat. "How are... things?"

Emily was still fuming with Steve and the whole parental whack job of a scene with her parents by the time she arrived back at school. With balled fists, she slammed the van door and stormed red-faced toward the building to find the others.

Freddie walks down the hallway, chipper. Maybe it's the narrow escaping from death, either at the hands of non-load bearing eavestrophing, or by angry fathers with Rambo-esque arsenals of automatic weapons, or by towel-stealing homeless pervert-hermits who live in the woods.

Still, his afternoon couldn't have been better. Spending time with Kelly, naked time, and then Belinda called him 'Loverboy'. In his head, he's marching to his own song.

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man, no time to talk
Music loud and women warm, I've been kicked around
Since I was born
And now it's alright, it's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man

When he sees Lily and Wendy (Definitely the two of them on my arms would make Homecoming so badass!), Zach and Aaron, he waves and joins up with them.

"Things are gooood." Lily chimes back, slotting a spare memory card into her camera. She shoots a few shots of the editing room and checks them through to make sure everything’s working correctly.

"Crazy day. But that’s hardly new around here. Feels like there’s something brewing! But how are things with you?"

Zach can't stop a somewhat goofy grin from popping up on his face for a moment as he remembers his time with Aaron. It hadn't been a date. But it had been closer to a date than anything he'd ever done with a guy before. "Good," he replies. "Really good."

Then he gets more serious as his nerves kick in once again. "Lily, can I ask you something? It's a bit... personal. And you don't have to answer." He bites his lip. "I saw you and Wendy earlier. I mean, obviously I saw you, we were sitting at the same table. But before we found Emily and Steve and that whole situation, I mean. You were, uhm, holding hands. I was just wondering... Do you like her? Not as a friend. Or, well, also as a friend, I guess, but..." He stops his rambling and lets out a long breath to calm down. "I guess what I want to ask, and I hope you don't mind: Are you... gay?"

Lily puts down the camera, once Zach says what he wants to say…

"Mmm… am I… I guess well… I don’t…" she starts, stammering a little, working the thing over in her head.

"Not… usually, maybe. If that makes sense." her face reddens a little, as she doesn’t sound particularly confident or charismatic.

"What am I trying to say? I…" she takes a deep breath then. "…‘ve been friends with Wendy for a long time. I used to like her brother. But… I don’t know. We just kind of feel nice together."

She stops then, and pauses:

"We’ve never… you know… or anything. We’re just kind of… figuring it out as we go.

Why do you ask?"

"That's nice," Zach says, trying to sound reassuring. He's worried Lily will think he's judging her or that he has a problem with it. "Exploring who you are and what feels right."

He takes a shaky breath, then says, "I'm gay." He wants to wait for her reaction but then can't stop himself from adding, "I only like boys. In that way, I mean. I like you, but as a friend." He chuckles, definitely more from nerves than humor, then he says, "You can't tell anyone."

"So you won’t go to the dance with me?" Lily says, joking with feigned disappointment!

"I knew there was something going on with you." she follows up.

"… and Aaron." she quickly adds, not trying to make it feel accusatory!

"I won’t tell anyone. You know… this place is crazy, but the people aren’t all bad. You know what I mean? You could maybe…"

"Go to the dance with you?" Zach asks, blinking in surprise at her joking comment, which takes him completely by surprise. "I mean, we weren't going to anyway, right? We..." His expression turns thoughtful, until she pulls him back out of his thoughts when she mentions Aaron's name. His cheeks turn deep red. "I... Well, I mean... was it that obvious?" he asks. He lets out a breath and that same goofy grin pops up again for a moment. "He's really cute, isn't he?"

He listens to Lily's words, then shakes his head. "I suffered endlessly at my old school after I came out." He doesn't clarify that it wasn't gay that he came out as there. "I don't want that again. Not when things are going so well here. I have friends. I'm moderately popular. I'm not the butt of every joke." His expression drops as he says, "Which is why, as much as I'd love to, I can't officially go with Aaron to the dance." He swallows, then adds, "But you kind of gave me an idea. It's probably stupid, but..." He drifts off and doesn't finish.

"It was a joke. Because… well…" she points a finger at herself and then him.

"Obviously, right? Because of what we are talking about right now!"

She listens then for a moment, nodding her head, or making a sympathetic pained expression when he says they won’t go together.

"It helps that I’m moderately unpopular. Being, whatever else I am, I’m the editor of the school paper. Nothing lower than that!" she chuckles to herself.

"Oh… did I? What were you thinking?…"

Zach takes in a steadying breath, then says, "I know you seem to be confident going with Wendy. And that's awesome. And I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean, you're girls. It's different. People won't start talking just because you go together as friends. But I was thinking..." He trails off again. "We'd have to talk to the others as well. To Wendy and Aaron. Obviously. And well, only if you think it's a good idea. And I guess I'd have to say something to Emily as well."

He shakes his head, forcing himself to stop rambling and get it out. "What if we did go to the dance together? You and I, I mean. And Wendy would go with Aaron. And then the four of us just... well, if it turns out you and Wendy spend more time together and Aaron and I do than we do with our respective dates... That wouldn't be too weird, right?"

Lily makes a kind of quizzical face as Zach explains the plan.

"Mmmm…" she starts. "Everything else aside… won’t taking the two editors to the dance be a blow to your ‘cred’?"

"I wouldn't think of it like that," Zach quickly replies. "I'd say we'd be taking two attractive girls to the dance. That could do nothing but boost our reputation."

He gives her a smile that's only half as nervous as his previous one. "You don't have to decide anything right now. Maybe just think about it. And ask what Wendy thinks. Unless you think it's totally stupid."