ch2 | ch3 | ch4 | ch5
In Social Studies, Paige stares into the middleground. Around him the class buzzes about history and current events, but he hears almost none of it. The period seemingly starts and ends in the blink of an eye.
Much of the same happens in Art, Paige absently doodling in his sketchbook. Who could’ve sent that note, he wondered. He didn’t have many friends outside of the immediate four he could think of—Brandon, Bro, Sue and, occasionally, OJ, so the idea that anyone outside of them really liked him in that way was kind of… unthinkable, really.
After all, he was the only openly gay boy at the whole school at the moment.
There were actually a good amount of lesbians he knew, but no other gays.
“Paige?” Sue asks, tapping on his shoulder and snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Are you okay?” They seem worried. “You haven’t really been paying attention.”
“Um… yes I have,” Paige lies.
“You lied just now,” Sue states.
“Did not,” Paige lies again.
“...Are you aware your blue eye twitches when you lie?” Sue inquires. “Only that one. It’s actually a very obvious tell I wasn’t going to ever mention to you, but you know I don’t like liars.”
Paige sighs. “I… did not know that,” he says, rubbing his arm. “Sorry, also. I didn’t mean to lie, I just… have a lot on my mind right now.”
“Like?” Sue prods. “You can tell me.”
Paige looks away. The two of them were close and all but… There was no way he could tell anyone besides Brandon first.
“It’s nothing,” he lies again, making sure to close his eyes first. No twitch would out him this time.
Sue is pouting when he opens his eyes again. They look pensive, but they don’t push any further.
“If you’re sure,” is all they say before turning back to their own work.
It’s not long before Paige is spacing out again.
When he’s interrupted the next time, it’s Brandon.
“You good, dude?” it asks. It’s got the same worried expression on its face as Sue had on earlier. “You’re like, barely drawing.” Paige blinks, looking down at his book. As it turns out, it’s true: the only thing on the page is back and forth strokes and half formed circles.
“Um,” he says smartly, glancing over to where Sue was. “It’s… um.” He scrunches his face and sighs. “I’ll tell you next period, okay?”
“Ookay…” Brandon nods, eyebrow raised.
The period ends shortly after and Brandon is like white on rice to Paige.
“What is it?” It asks. “What is it? What is it? What—”
“In class!” Paige shushes. “I said I’d tell you. In. Class.”
“Fiiiine,” Brandon groans. “How do you expect us to talk without getting caught, though?”
Paige hums as they descend the stairs. “How about… our secret code?” Brandon beams.
“Yes!” it cheers. “I’ve been waiting so long for an excuse to use it!”
The two don’t really talk after that, Brandon practically skipping ahead of Paige to the next classroom.
When they make it to the class, they take their seats next to each other and let the rest of the class pour in. The bell rings again after a moment, and class begins.
There’s a sub today. They announce that everyone’s to write a journal entry to start off, then write a short story based off of something they experienced today.
A journal entry… Paige briefly considers writing about the note, but… No. No one else besides Brandon needed to know right now. Especially not a nosy teacher.
So, Paige writes down all he can think to write down: Everything today was normal just like always. I did good in my classes, I think. That’s good. My mom will be proud of me.
That done, he glances up and over at the teacher. They’ve got their nose stuck in a book.
Perfect!
From the back of his notebook, he pulls out a sheet of paper and starts writing in the secret code he and Brandon shared.
The code went like this: Using the name of any random Pokemon you could think of, write down your message from top to bottom, then fill in the rest of the letters with a Pokemon’s name! Like this:
aipom gastly
latias oddish
litleo octillery
deoxys
That would translate to: ALL GOOD.
Paige scribbles out a message in their secret code.
(There was a note in my locker today. At lunch.)
He passes it over. Brandon quickly reads it and scribbles something else for a hot minute before handing it back.
(What was it about? Is someone trying to anonymously threaten you or something? Because I’ll find them and threaten them back if so.)
Paige almost laughs at the misunderstanding. He writes back and they continue to do so for a while longer.
(No! It was like. A love letter?)
(A love letter!?)
(Well not exactly. It was more of a. I don’t know.)
(Let me see!)
(Okay. Hold on.)
Paige checks on the sub again. They’ve moved on to typing something on their laptop furiously. He wonders what that was all about briefly, but shrugs it off. All that mattered was that they were still distracted.
With that confirmed, he quickly pulls out the note from his hoodie and passes it over. Brandon snaps it up immediately.
It reads it over quickly. Then it looks over at Paige. Then back to the note.
Then it bursts out in a quick laugh.
“Mister… kid,” the sub immediately barks. “Quiet.”
“Sorry!” it giggles. “I’ll be quiet.”
“See to it that you do,” they huff. With that, they go right back to typing on their laptop.
Brandon writes more down on the scrap piece of paper and hands it over along with the note from the locker.
(This is so funny. Just so you know.)
Paige pockets the note again and frowns.
(It’s not! I think it’s really cute, actually!)
Brandon chuckles a little bit when it gets the scrap paper back again.
(If you say so, Paige!)
Paige pouts for the rest of the class, a bit miffed at Brandon. He ignores its pokes and prods as well, staring down at his notebook where he writes nonsense words in no particular order. Anything to distract him until the bell rang for the final time that day.
And finally, ring it did.
Once the two teens had stuffed their bags and left the school to wait for the bus, Brandon finally explodes into questions.
“Who do you think it is?” it smiles. “Do you already know? Do you have a guess? Ooh, if you have a guess you have to tell me, okay!? Okay!?”
“Calm down!” Paige pleads, getting overwhelmed. “I… I don’t know who sent it. But!” He glances away, feeling his face warm a bit. “I think it was really cute of them.”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Brandon chuckles.
“Hey!” Paige frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothin’, nothin’,” Brandon reassures. “You just seem like the type to easily fall for notes like this.”
“Oh,” Paige breathes. And, now that he thinks about it, the idea of finding love does kind of make him feel dizzy in a good way. “I guess I am.”
“See!” Brandon smiles. “Even you know it!”
“I guess…” Paige sighs, holding one hand to his cheek. “Still… not knowing who it is just makes me so…”
“So?” Brandon asks.
“So… so…” Paige struggles. “I don’t know,” he sighs, giving up. Brandon gives him one of his Brotherly Pats On The Back. The ones that are just a little too hard, but not enough to actually hurt. Just enough to jostle your insides, though.
“That’s alright,” it says solemnly. “You’ll figure it out eventually.”
“Yeah,” Paige coughs, recovering. “Yeah, I sure hope I will.”
The bus pulls up shortly after that, the two of them taking their seats in the back while chatting amicably. Brandon tries and fails to bring up the notes several times, to Paige’s dismay. He tells it to just wait a bit, as there were still kids they knew were from the school on the bus as well.
Eventually it gives up and they talk about more lighthearted things until their stop comes. They depart from the front, Paige giving a quick wave and a “Bye!” to the bus driver. They blink, smile and wave back before pulling off for their next stop.
“Now can we talk about the note?” Brandon asks. “We’re off the bus.”
Paige digs around his backpack for his keys. “What would we even talk about? There’s not much to it.”
“Who do you think wrote it, silly?” it says, a laugh barely hidden. “Could it be someone we know? Or some stranger who’s never talked to us before?” Brandon pushes his hands together under his chin. “Oh, this is so exciting!”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re more excited about this than me?” Paige laughs. “Oh, there they are!” Triumphantly, he pulls out his house keys and holds them up to the sky for a moment, humming a tune as he does. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” he giggles.
“Are you telling me you’re not excited about this?” Brandon asks. “It’s exciting!”
“Oh, it is,” Paige agrees. “I just.. it’s a lot to take in, you know?”
Although it’s all Paige has been thinking about since receiving it, he hadn’t really… thought about it thought about it. Really, it was a little… much to think about think about.
A lot to think about think about.
“Paige?” Brandon asks, sounding a little worried.
“Huh?”
“You spaced out on me a little there.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“It’s okay, man. You wanna come over and chill or do you wanna go home?”
Paige thinks on it for a moment before ultimately deciding on the latter. “Home,” he says apologetically. “Sorry. Lots to think about, y’know?”
Brandon nods. “Yeah, I can imagine.” He holds out his fist. “See you tomorrow then?”
Paige nods and finishes the brofist. They explode it, although Paige’s is a lot less enthusiastic than the ones from earlier.
“Sorry,” he apologizes again.
“Don’t worry about it, brother.” Brandon claps its hand on his back again for another Brotherly Pat On The Back. “Text me if you need, alright?”
Paige nods. “Of course, Branflakes,” he smirks. Brandon laughs and walks off to its own house.
“Peace, playa!” it farewells. Paige giggles a bit.
Well. Nothing else to do but go home himself.
On the way, thoughts cloud his mind thoroughly. There weren’t many people he really knew enough to make any solid guesses… but he supposed that was the point of a secret admirer, huh?
Paige makes it home in one piece, but the same can’t be said for his split mind.
On one hand, he was swooning like there was no tomorrow. Imagine, someone liking him! Him! Of all people!
On the other hand, it’s scary. What if this was just an elaborate prank? Someone trying to get him excited just to burst his bubble at the last moment?
He goes back and forth as he repeats his morning routine—use bathroom, brush teeth, take shower, towel off and get dressed, this time in pajamas.
He then does his evening duties—homework, eating a TV dinner, and then off to bed.
While he’s fluffing his pillow and covering himself, his mom walks in. “Hello, darling,” she greets quietly. “How are you?” She walks over and gives him a kiss on the forehead. He gives a small smile.
“I’m okay,” he yawns. “Had a big day, I think.”
“You think?” Quinn chuckles. “Weren’t you there for it?”
“I was!” he laughs. It peters off after just a couple seconds though. “I don’t know. Something happened but… I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about it yet.”
“That’s alright, sweetie,” Quinn soothes, petting his head. “I’ll be here whenever you’re ready, okay?”
“Okay,” Paige smiles again. “Can you warm up Teds for me?”
“‘Course, hun.” Paige holds out his bear and his mom takes it, walking out of the room to go microwave him. While she’s gone, Paige sighs.
He hoped his response was enough… He didn’t get to do anything more than answer the question. Hopefully… hopefully if it was a real note to begin with, they’d find Paige’s note and respond in turn…
“Here you are, Paiges,” Quinn says, entering the room with the newly warmed Teds. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, alrighty?” She hands over the bear and kisses his forehead again. “Goodnight, hun.”
“Goodnight, Mom!” Paige waves.
Quinn flicks off the light on her way out. Paige gets comfortable snuggling up to Teds.
Ah well. No use dwelling anymore. It was the end of the day.
Whatever would happen tomorrow would happen, and he would have to be ready for it.
It’s Tuesday.
Paige ambles his way through his classes, swapping his French class for Home Ec and his Art class for Gym, just like he does every Tuesday and Thursday.
He makes sure to check his locker before going to his 1st period class, but the note he left there yesterday is still there. He frowns a bit, but keeps it moving.
The day goes by smoothly. There’s a mild explosion in Home Ec because Tiesha messed with chemicals again, but they always messed with chemicals, so it was about as normal as a regular Home Ec class went.
Everything in Paige’s day had been going good, all things considered. But, with the minimal amount of distractions he had, he noticed something.
He hadn’t seen OJ in a good couple of days…
He and everyone else had the same Lunch period. OJ was the only outlier in their group, having his Lunch be a period later.
He and OJ used to share practically every class last year. It’s how they became such good friends! They had some classes together in Freshman year as well, but not like last year. So, to share no classes with him this year was really upsetting. He missed him so much!
It didn’t help that he maybe had a bit of a crush on him…
Just a bit.
The thought is popped out of Paige’s head as Mr. Reed’s whistle blows.
“OK, kids!” Mr. Reed shouts, loud and proud. “Dodgeball today!” He looks over the crowd of children and points. “Lulu! Bola! You two’ll be the leaders of the two teams!”
Barret flushes in embarrassment. “Dad…” he grumbles.
Mr. Reed either doesn’t hear him, or ignores him entirely. “Round up your crew, team leaders!” He blows into his whistle again.
Immediately kids scramble to one side or the other, claiming their spots on their respective teams. Barret and Lucy don’t even get the chance to choose.
Paige runs with the crowd, somehow ending up on Lucy’s team, along with a good amount of students he recognized as hard hitters.
Great! Maybe he could just hide behind them…
See, Paige wasn’t really a big fan of dodgeball. He always ended up getting hurt or striking out first… It wasn’t a fun game for him at all.
“All ready?” Mr. Reed calls. The crowd of kids all cheer. “Alright then! PLAY BALL!” The teacher blows into his whistle one last time before popping some dodgeballs into play.
Immediately chaos breaks out. Balls are thrown left and right, making Paige dizzy trying to duck and weave. People strike out at seemingly every second, whistle after whistle splitting the air and calling out the poor players.
All things considered, Paige is doing pretty good for himself. He hasn’t tried making any moves, but just outlasting was an achievement in this game, wasn’t it?
Still, doing all this back and forth tires him out, and for just a moment, he takes a breather.
Big mistake.
Immediately, Lucy shouts out, “PAIGE!”
But it’s not soon enough.
Paige is beamed in the head by none other than Piper, who cheers, “Hell yes! Super Piper Power!” once Paige is sent cascading backwards. He hits the ground with a thud that rings in his head.
Paige doesn’t remember the next couple of seconds.
But when his eyes blink open, Mr. Reed is over him.
“Paige? Paige, open your eyes, kid!”
Paige groans. “What…?”
“Peter!” Mr. Reed shouts, hurting Paige’s head, “Call extension 811. Tell Ms. Tiseu to expect someone for a bed!”
The ground rumbles a bit and Paige holds a hand to his head.
“Owowow…”
“Hey, try not to touch it,” Mr. Reed says, gently pulling his hand away. “It’ll just aggravate it.”
“Okay…”
“Do you think you can make it to the Nurse’s office by yourself?” Mr. Reed is frowning. “Can you even stand?”
Could he?
“Here, grab on.” Mr. Reed holds out a hand, which Paige takes shakily. He’s hoisted up with ease by the strong teacher and he has to adjust to his jelly legs.
“I… I think I can do it…” Paige mumbles.
“You sure you don’t want Peter to go with you?”
“Piper?” Paige looks over at the other kid, who looks genuinely sorry for hitting him so hard. But…
“Mmm… I’m sure,” Paige nods. “Can I get a slip?”
“‘Course, kid.” Mr. Reed immediately power walks over to the table set up in the gym and scribbles something on a piece of paper while Paige slowly makes his way to the door. “Here, this should do you good.” The teacher hands over the note. “Be careful, y’hear? Use the walls if ya gotta.”
“‘Kay…”
Paige makes his way out of the gym and towards the Nurse’s office.
On the way, he has to pass by his locker, so he might as well check if the note he left was gone…
Ah.
It was.
And it’s place was a new one, stuffed into the side like before.
Paige’s head pounds, so instead of stopping to read, he simply tugs at the note and pockets it. He had to get to the office before he passed out, which he honestly felt like he was close to.
Luckily, he makes it there without falling.
“H-hello, Ms. Tiseu…” he greets, opening the door.
“Oh goodness.” Ms. Tiseu hops out of her chair and places a gentle hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Are you the student from Gym?”
“Yes…”
“Come, come,” she says, pulling Paige along. “Let’s get you sideways.”
Paige allows himself to be led to a bed and laid down. “Is it bad?” he asks, refraining from touching it.
Ms. Tiseu sucks her teeth a bit. “Well… it’s not pretty, sweetie.”
“Oh…”
“You’ll be fine, though!” she smiles. “I’m gonna get you an ice pack and a lollipop, alright?”
“Mmhm.”
Ms. Tiseu walks away and busies herself after pulling the separation curtain across the room, giving Paige some privacy.
Well… this seemed like a good as time as any to try and read that note.
Paige pulls out the small paper and smoothes it out. It reads:
“Did you know? U.S. cherry blossom trees date back to 1912.
If we were to date from then to now… how much more in love with you do you think I’d be?
(P.S.
What’s your favorite flower?)
(P.P.S.
Orange cats suit you. ♥)”
Paige flushes immediately. Oh goodness. Oh goodness, oh goodness, oh goodness.
The nurse returns and Paige quickly shoves the paper back in his pocket, holding his face in his hands immediately after.
“Oh dear, are you alright?” Ms. Tiseu asks, coming closer. “You’re a bit red…”
“I’m okay!” Paige yelps. “I-I mean… my head hurts a lot. B-but it’s… my face is just red because I’m… tired?”
Ms. Tiseu doesn’t look convinced, but she doesn’t press. Instead, she gives Paige a lollipop and an ice pack. “Hold this to your head until it stings, okay? It should take about 5 minutes.” She points at the clock on the wall. “You can keep track yourself, but I’ll come tell you when too, okay?”
“Okay.”
With that, the nurse leaves him to his own devices.
Paige holds the ice to his head and lays back.
The note was so cute… he had to find a way to get one back to his secret admirer. It was only fair!
He thinks about the several ways he could go about it, eyes slipping closed. He could ask to go to the bathroom? Or says he needs something from his locker. Or… or…
Paige falls asleep.
…
And then the bell rings.
It makes him scream, completely unprepared.
“Paige!?” The teen is clutching his chest and breathing heavily when Ms. Tiseu pulls the curtain back, clearly startled. “Are you alright!?”
“Ow…” Paige groans. “I… oww…” He lets go of his chest in favor of his head, which is now ringing painfully. “It hurts…”
“Oh dear.” The nurse bites at her finger. “Should I call your mother?”
“Mom’s busy…” Paige mumbles. “Call Aunt Carmen…”
“Your aunt?” She bites down. “I don’t know, sweetie… even if she is your aunt, we legally can’t release you to anybody we don’t know.”
“She’s on my blue card…”
“Oh!” Ms. Tiseu gasps. “Then I’ll call her, okay?”
“Okay.”
Without pulling the curtain back this time, the nurse leaves Paige and goes over to her filing cabinet. “Your last name is… Woods, correct hun?”
“Yes…”
“Alrighty. I’ll have your card in a sec. Sit tight.”
Paige nods. It hurts.
The late bell rings. It hurts even more.
The next period must be half over by the time Paige’s aunt makes her way through the Nurse office’s doors.
“Mijo, ¿estás bien?” Carmen cries, running up to him and grabbing his face with her hands. “What’s wrong, what happened?”
“Got hit by a dodgeball,” Paige mumbles, cheeks thoroughly squished. “This kinda hurts…”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, baby!” Like she had touched a hot stove, she pulls her hands back and flaps them. “Where does it hurt?” She flutters her hands around Paige’s whole head, like she’s unable to stand with her hands still but still unwilling to touch him and hurt him again.
“Here…” Paige points to his forehead, still a little damp from the ice pack. It still feels like it’s throbbing.
“Aah, honey…” Carmen continues moving her hands around, more to herself this time though. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”
“He’ll live,” Ms. Tiseu smiles softly. “Just be sure to keep an eye on it for the rest of the day.” She gives the aunt a small stack of papers. “I’ll just need you to sign these for the early leave, alright?”
“Of course, of course.” Looking like she’s happy to finally have something to do with her hands, Carmen swiftly reads through the forms.
Paige, still a little out of it, takes a moment to think. If he’s gonna leave now, he wouldn’t have time to reply to the note…
“I-I have to use the bathroom,” he says suddenly.
“Oh, go ahead, mijo,” Carmen waves. “Come back here when you’re done, okay?”
“Okay!” Paige grabs his bag and skedaddles before either of the adults can say anything to him.
Instead of going to the bathroom like he said he was, Paige makes a beeline towards his locker. On the way there, he thinks really hard about his answer.
There were a lot of flowers to pick from, but… there was only one he could really call his favorite for sure.
At his locker, he tugs out a piece of scrap paper and writes:
“My favorite flowers are lilies of the valley! I hear they’re very nice flowers that have very nice meanings. :)
(P.S. to you too,
Can I get a hint as to who you are? The curiosity is killing me!)”
With that, he stuffs it overtop his locker and makes his way back to the office.
As he walks, he thinks back to earlier in the day, before he got smacked upside the head. What was he thinking about again?
…Oh! OJ!
He slips his bag off really quickly to retrieve his phone. He inputs his password as he walks, smiles at his background and quickly goes to OJ’s contact.
paige: Hey OJ!
paige: It’s been a while since we talked. I wanted to wave your way!
paige: 👋
paige: (Thats me waving!)
Paige smiles at his message. As he pockets the phone, he hopes OJ will answer today.
“Oh, there you are sweetie!” Carmen smiles. “That was quick.”
“My head was hurting too much,” Paige half lies. “I just came back before I went.”
“That’s alright, the trip home’s not too long. C’mon,” she holds out her hand for Paige to take, and take it he does.
“Goodbye, Ms. Tiseu!” Paige calls behind him. She pokes her head out of the office and waves.
“Feel better, hun!”
+++
Paige ends up falling asleep on the ride home. He wakes up to his aunt shaking him awake.
“Honey, we’re home,” she sing-songs quietly.
“‘M up…” Paige mumbles. For a moment, he’s forgotten where he was, what he was doing, why his Aunt Carmen was waking him up…
But then his head starts pounding again and it all comes flooding back.
“Oww…” Paige mumbles, holding his head.
“Aww, I know, sweetheart,” Carmen coos, scooping up her nephew and his bag in both arms. “C’mon.” Somehow, even with her short stature, she’s able to hold both him and his bag, kick the car door closed and lock it with the keys she still had in one fell swoop. Paige would clap if his head didn’t still hurt.
Instead of going to his house, Paige is quick to notice the outside of his aunt’s and Brandon’s house. It made sense, but… really, Paige wanted to be in his own bed.
Still, the Aguja’s couch was plenty comfortable, he guessed.
Carmen places him right where he expects her to, dropping his back gently next to him on the floor. “You rest up, okay honey?” she pouts. “I’ll… I’ll make you some soup, okay? Auntie’s Homemade.”
Paige was going to say he wasn’t actually hungry, but the announcement of what it was shuts him up. There’s no way in heck he’d be giving up a chance for his Auntie’s Homemade.
“Thank you, Aunt Carmen,” he says quietly. “I’m gonna… take another nap.” The world was starting to spin a little bit. Had he still gotten a bout of motion sickness while being out like a light?
“Okay, sweetie!” Carmen says. He can hear the smile in it. “Sleep well!”
Paige settles onto the couch, pulling his bookbag on top of him. He found the weight comforting for whatever reason as he lets his eyes slip closed and sighs.
What a day…
Paige’s phone pings in his pocket. To his credit, he only startles a little bit.
squeezed to meet you: Hello Paige! It has been quite the while, has it not? Apologies to the deepest degrees, things got away from me. But! I’m sure we can get some time to hang out and pal around again soon, yes?
squeezed to meet you: By the by, I heard you got hurt today. To help, I thought I’d show you this cat I saw earlier today. It was cute and reminded me of you, so I thought I’d send it your way. Smiley face.
squeezed to meet you: [IMG]
Paige blinks as the picture loads.
It’s a meme of an orange cat chasing its tail. In big, outlined impact font above and below the cat it says:
“I AM UR KING!
WHY DO U RUN FROM ME?!”
Paige giggles. How sweet!
paige: Heehee!
paige: I love it! Thank you!
Paige pockets his phone once he’s done sending his message. This time when he closes his eyes, he’s smiling. He hopes he and OJ can meet up again soon like he said they could!
Paige chuckles. He wonders if OJ knew his favorite types of cats were orange ones?
“Paige, mijo, wake up!”
Paige blinks his eyes open slowly. “Mmm?”
“Auntie’s Homemade is done, sweetie.” Carmen smiles. “It’s piping hot!”
“Come get some, king!” calls Brandon, presumably from the kitchen. “Your ma’s here too!”
“Don’t shout, Brandon,” Paige can hear his mom say, “You might hurt his head more.”
“Oh, sorry!” Brandon apologizes, this time at a much more reasonable volume.
Paige rubs his head. It still hurt a little bit. “Mom’s here?” he asks.
“Si, Quinn’s staying the night with you.” Carmen gently grabs Paige’s arm and begins pulling him up.
“We’re staying the night?”
“Yes!” Carmen grins. “I talked to Ms. Tiseu a bit while you were gone earlier. She suggested not moving you around a lot, so me and Quinnsie thought it would be best to just have you sleep on the couch tonight.” He looks down at Paige. “That okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” Paige and Carmen walk to the kitchen table side to side, Carmen having an arm thrown around Paige’s shoulder.
“Heyo, man,” Brandon waves at the two of them, taking a huge bite of his soup. “C’mon in, the water’s fine.”
“If you mean the soup’s good, I already know!” Paige grins. “Aunt Carmen never fails a dish, let alone his patent pending Auntie’s Homemade!”
Carmen blushes. “You flatter me, mijo!” He sits Paige down in a chair next to Quinn and Brandon. “You wanna start small in case you get a headache, sweetie?”
“Um…” Paige’s eyebrows ruffle, actually causing him a bit of pain. “Ow…”
“Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard!” Carmen laughs, pouring some soup into a bowl. “Tell you what, less is more if you can’t decide, so we can just make you several small bowls, ‘kay?”
“Okay!” Paige nods. “As long as I get any I’ll be happy!”
Carmen giggles. “So sweet!” He places the bowl in front of Paige before going back to draw up another one. “Quinnsie, darling, how did you get such a wonderful son?” He places his own bowl in the last spot at the table, between Quinn and Brandon, before going back over to Paige. There, he gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Can I steal him?”
Quinn chuckles as Brandon pouts. “Ma!”
Carmen laughs. “Kidding! Kidding!” Brandon just continues putting on his most pathetic pout. This was one of the High Scale ones. He had been teaching Paige how to master the Art of the Pout, so he had studied this one rather hard in hopes of recreating it himself.
Carmen is unaffected.
He simply takes a seat and begins eating his own food, smiling innocently.
The small family eats together while chatting amicably, thankfully at a quiet volume for Paige’s sake.
“So, Paige,” Quinn starts, placing their spoon down in their bowl, “Do you think you can go to school tomorrow, sweetie?”
“Umm…” Paige is torn. On one hand, his perfect attendance would be at stake! But on the other hand, he couldn’t imagine going through classes like this.
And on the other other hand, how would he get tomorrow’s note…?
“...Ask me tomorrow?” Paige finally answers noncommittally.
Quinn nods. “Fair enough. See how you feel in the morning and all.”
“Can I crash with you on the couch tonight?” Brandon asks, pulling his bowl down from having just finished slurping the rest of the soup up.
“Sure!” Paige smiles. “It’ll be just like old times!”
“We could literally just go up to my room, you know,” Brandon mumbles with a chuckle.
“And walk up all those stairs?” Carmen gasps, shaking his head. “No, absolutely not. I’m not taking Ms. Tiseu’s word lightly.”
“It’s just two stories, Mami!” Brandon giggles.
“Actually, I’m inclined to agree with Carmen on this one, Branflakes,” Quinn says. “Paige isn’t really built to be beat up.” They turn to their son. “Right, honey?”
Paige rubs the back of his head. “The doctor says I bruise easy,” is all he chooses to say.
Brandon, to his credit, seems to be trying really hard not to laugh. Paige rolls his eyes.
“I think I’m done, Aunt Carmen.”
“Oh, what am I, chopped liver?” Quinn chortles.
“No!” Paige cries, “It’s just that Aunt Carmen was already helping me, so…”
“I know, honey, I know,” Quinn laughs. “I’m just poking a little fun.”
“Ooh, okay. Sorry, then.”
“It’s alright. You wanna go lay down?” Quinn yawns. “I could actually go for some shut eye myself…”
“Where will you sleep, Mom?” Paige asks as Carmen helps him back up.
…Was that blush on his mom’s face?
“Don’t you worry about that,” Carmen breaks in. “You know me and your Mami always find a way to work things out.”
“Oh, okay.”
The two of them walk back to the couch while Brandon rushes past the two of them. “Gonna get the epic blanket!” he shouts behind him.
“Ahh…”
“Sorry!” Brandon stage whispers.
“Honestly, that kid…” Carmen chuckles, shaking his head. “Let’s get you situated, sweetie.”
As Paige sits back down, he notices a pillow that wasn’t there when he had first fallen asleep. “Did you get me this while I was asleep?”
“I did! Couldn’t have you resting on the hard armrest, could we?” Carmen smiles, fluffing up said pillow for the boy.
“Got the blanket,” Brandon announces, smiling wide. In his hand, he triumphantly holds an extremely large green Creeper blanket. “Dug it out from where I always keep it for sleepovers!”
“Oh, awesome!” Paige smiles as Brandon comes over and lays on the opposite end of the small couch, spreading the cover over them. He also has a pillow he pushes behind himself as he proceeds to get comfortable.
“You kids rest well now, y’hear?” Quinn chuckles. “Me and Min are gonna go see about sleeping arrangements.”
“Yes, yes,” Carmen agrees. “Rest up, you two!”
“‘Kayyy,” Brandon waves as Paige simply smiles and quietly nods. Carmen gives them both a quick pat on the head and a peck on the cheek. Quinn comes right behind him and does the same.
“Night, loves!” Carmen says, grabbing Quinn’s hand and walking away and up the stairs with them.
Paige and Brandon both wait until the sound of a door opening and closing happens, and then wait a little longer. Finally, Paige is the first one to break the silence.
“Brandon?”
“What’s up, dude?”
“I… I don’t think I wanna go to school tomorrow.”
“That’s cool. Don’t do what you don’t wanna, and don’t do what you don’t gotta.” Brandon pushes his hands behind his head. “That’s always been my motto.”
“I’ve never heard you say that in your life.”
“...Starting now, that is.”
Paige laughs. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Mr. Master Sayings.” He bites his lip after, mumbling. “But, even though I don’t want to go, I don’t wanna miss tomorrow’s note either…”
“You mean from your secre—Ow!”
Paige had kicked Brandon. “Not so loud!” he shushes. “I don’t want Mom or Aunt Carmen to hear.”
“They’re probably too busy talking with each other to be listening to our amazing and incredibly insightful conversation,” Brandon scoffs with a smile. “But I hear ya. I’ll be more quiet.”
“Thank you,” Paige sighs.
“But, okay,” Brandon says. “You’re scared of missing the note from… PSA, right?”
“...PSA?” the other repeats, confused.
“Your… you know,” Brandon says hushed, waving a hand. “It’s you, Paige, and the first two letters of the phrase. PSA.” He crosses his arms with a smirk. “Pretty neat idea, right? Now we can talk about them in front of whoever and they’ll never catch on!”
Paige scrunches his face slightly, wary about doing it too much lest his head revolt again. “Hmm… you know what? That actually works pretty good!” he finally smiles.
“Epic!” Brandon smiles right back, holding out a fist. “Pound it, dude. To PSA!”
“To PSA!” Paige giggles, pounding and exploding the brofist.
“Heh,” Brandon chuckles. “Awesome. With that outta the way, I was trying to say earlier, I can totally get the note for you.”
“Really?” Paige gasps. “You really would?”
“‘Course, man!”
“Oh, thank you, Brandon!” Paige claps gently.
“Heh, just another awesome perk of bein’ my homeboy,'' Brandon jokes. Paige laughs quietly.
The two of them then dissolve into much simpler talk, mundane and boring, until eventually both of them are slurring their words so badly, they’ve both fallen asleep.
+++
“Yeah, no,” Paige hears, breaking into the waking world. “He said he’s not feeling up to it today.”
“He tell you that last night?” Quinn asks.
“Yeah,” Brandon replies. “But it’s cool. I’ll get all his work and stuff at the end of the day for him.”
“You stay the sweetest, don’t you, my little Branflake?” Paige can hear Brandon blow raspberries as the sound of a very put on mwah! comes from Quinn.
“Come onnn, Tía Quinn,” Brandon whines. “We’re gonna be late.”
“Just give me a minute! I’m giving you before we leave kisses to supplement for the ones you won’t let me give you when I drop you off!”
“Fiiine,” Brandon sighs, though it’s clear from his tone that he doesn’t mean it. “Let’s get out of the house, though. Don’t wanna wake Paige.”
Paige thinks it would be really funny to just say, “Too late!” and then pretend to fall asleep again, but by the time he’s gotten the idea in his head, the two others are already halfway through the door.
Ah, shoot. Well, there was always next time.
Paige sits up and takes out his phone. It was still early, they had plenty of time to make it there.
He wants to do something now that he’s awake though, but just the idea of playing some tiresome endless runner or tedious idle game made his head hurt. So, with little else to do, he opens up his texts.
He couldn’t text Brandon, that would just give him away as awake, and he didn’t want anyone from home to know he was up just yet. Especially not Brandon, because then Brandon would tell his mom, and they would talk about him without him being there.
Not that he actually thought they’d be bad things, but…
Well, the thought didn’t sit quite right in Paige’s head. So texting Brandon was out.
…Which also meant texting Sue or Bro was out, too. Because Sue would start asking too many questions, and then when he’d dodge them, they’d just go to Brandon for answers anyways, and Bro because…well, have you seen the way Bro and Brandon were always with each other? If Brandon wasn’t with Paige himself, there was a 100% guarantee that if you found Bro, you’d find Brandon right behind them.
So of course, this leaves OJ.
paige: Hey! Good morning. :)
Paige waits for the reply absently, thinking about what OJ must be up to this early. Eventually, his phone pings in his hands.
squeezed to meet you: Good morning to you too, Paige. How are you doing this morning? I sure do hope to see you today and give you well wishes in person.
Paige frowns sadly.
paige: Im staying out today actually :(
paige: Head hurts too much!
The reply dots start up immediately.
squeezed to meet you: So sorry to hear that, Paige. Perhaps when you return we can set up one of those palling around sessions? It would be a delight to see you in well heath again whilst also getting to spend time with you. Smiley face.
That message cheers Paige up again.
paige: Yes! I would love to hang again.
paige: Hopefully I’ll be back in school by tomorrow.
paige: Excited to plan!
Paige and OJ go on back and forth in more texts, already starting to catch up. Eventually though, school has to start, and OJ sends his last message.
squeezed to meet you: My dear friend, it pains me to announce I have arrived at school and thus our conversation must take its pause. I’ll do my best to get back in touch after the period is over, okay? TTYL!
Paige yawns as he replies.
paige: OK! See you soon. :)
Now with the little bit of energy he had burnt off talking to OJ, Paige finds himself wanting more sleep. He fixes his phone so the next ping from OJ will be sure to wake him up when second period comes. With that, he pockets his phone and gets comfortable under the Creeper cover again. A nice hour of z’s would do him good, surely.
+++
When Paige’s phone goes off next, it makes him nearly jump out of his skin. He had completely forgotten he made it that loud. In the time it takes for him to reorient himself, another loud ping has gone off. As quickly as he can, he fixes the phone’s volume with a sigh.
“What time is it…?” he mumbles to no one in particular.
“About time for school to end,” Carmen says from behind the couch. Paige jumps again. “Oh no, sweetie, did I scare you?” He quickly rounds the couch and sits on the edge of it, holding Paige in a quick hug. “So sorry, mijo.”
“‘Sokay, Aunt Carmen,” Paige says earnestly. “I’ll be good. Just didn't expect you to be there, is all.”
“I heard your phone practically scream so I thought I’d come check on you.” He gives the boy a worried look. “You were out for quite some time, sweetie.” He puts a hand up to Paige’s forehead gently. “You didn’t catch a fever as well, did you…?”
“No, I think I’m okay,” Paige assures. “My body just needs a lot of rest to recover from things.” He shrugs. “That’s what Mom told me, anyways.”
“Alright, honey,” Carmen says, lifting up. “I’ll let you wake up some more. then we’ve gotta get some soup in you, okay?”
“Okay!”
Once Carmen disappears somewhere into the household, Paige finally checks his messages.
There’s actually a couple. Three from OJ and one from Brandon. Paige decides to check OJ’s first.
squeezed to meet you: Terribly sorry, Paige. Time got away from me and I was unable to continue our texts from this morning.
squeezed to meet you: But fear not, as I shall be free to hang out with you tomorrow, should you return of course.
squeezed to meet you: Very excited to see you again! Please be well!
Paige smiles gently at the messages. They were so sweet… so genuine… so… well, OJ! He loved that about the shorter boy, just how unapologetically he was himself. His smile only widens as he backs out of OJ’s texts and opens up Brandon’s.
branflakes: got da note B)
paige: :D!