WC: 2,119
Ah… Another day of school.
Another day of second period study hall.
Another day of being a certain someone’s secret admirer.
Correction: another nerve wracking day of being a certain someone’s secret admirer.
Orville was all around a relatively normal boy. He dotted his i’s and crossed his t’s. He raised his hand in class a moderate amount. He got good to passable grades. And he had a couple of close friends who he loved dearly, even if he didn’t really know how to show it.
There was just one issue with that normalcy: Orville had a huge crush on one of his friends.
Paige had to be the sweetest, kindest and prettiest boy on the planet Earth. It was like him and his snow white hair had descended from a higher plane or something. Of this, Orville was convinced.
But he was also convinced that despite all that, Paige wouldn't reciprocate his feelings.
Sure, they hung out every now and then, and when they did Paige would laugh a lot at his jokes and make melodic sounds Orville loved to hear, and Paige would let him talk about industrials until his voice gave out while listening intently and asking questions, and Paige had made him that mixtape that one time…
Oh goodness. The mixtape.
They lived in the year 2018—iPods and MP3 players were everywhere. And yet, somehow, some way, Paige had gifted him a physical cassette tape filled with songs that reminded him of Orville for his birthday last year.
To this day, Orville can’t think of a gesture that had ever touched him more.
But, he had gotten off track, as usual.
Even under the weight of all of that, there was still a huge ball of doubt in Orville’s heart. After all, wasn’t that all just things friends did for each other? There could’ve been no extra meaning. And then Orville would confess. And Paige would turn him down. And Orville would turn and walk away and go home and tell his moms they had to pack up and skip town—leave the state—escape the country!
…Okay. Maybe that was a bit extreme. But still! The first parts actually had a realistic chance to happen! The simple possibility was too much for Orville to gamble on, so he had decided to do the one thing he could think of:
Become Paige’s secret admirer.
Orville quietly slips away from where he’s supposed to be in favor of roaming the halls. He already had his note written out for the day, complete with a fun fact, a silly pick up line and a question to encourage a back and forth.
It’d be one thing to just leave notes—something Orville had thought long and hard about before actually adding the question on his first note. It wasn’t originally something he was going to do, but he realized a one sided conversation would get him nowhere. No, the only way he could be sure Paige wouldn’t just be creeped out by suddenly getting random love letters was to see if he would reply.
And reply he did.
The first reply he’d ever given, the one about his favorite breed of cat, was “orange”.
Orange.
He was ridiculous. That wasn’t a breed of cat! Orville would know—he spent several years learning all about everything cats! They were very interesting creatures, after all, so Orville knew, “orange” cats were absolutely not a specific breed of cat.
But that just made the answer all the more endearing, didn’t it?
The teen clutches the note in his pocket gently as he arrives at the scene of the repeated crime: Paige’s locker. Today’s note was particularly silly in the hopes of making Paige laugh, even if he himself didn’t get to hear it. Just the thought of Paige’s laugh makes him smile.
So, with one last glance around to make sure he was alone, Orville stuffs the note into the side of Paige’s locker, just enough so that it’s noticeable to where only someone who was looking for it could find it.
“I hope you like this one, Paige,” he breathes quietly into the open air. “Maybe you’ll say something to me about it if so…”
“Ahem.”
“AHH!”
Orville jumps about a foot into the air, heart rate skyrocketing.
Oh goodness. Oh goodness, oh goodness, oh goodness. This was it. He’d been caught. He’d been caught and the principal would find out and have his head and he’d have to go home and tell his moms they’d have to skip town, leave the state, escape the—!
“Dude, are you alright?” the person from just a second ago asks. Orville still hadn’t looked at them, too busy being curled up in a ball of fear to. But… Now that he thinks of it, that voice sounded kind of familiar?
Finally unshielding himself, Orville comes face to face with Brandon. It has one eyebrow raised and its arms crossed, but they’re loose. Could it not be mad, perchance?
“Dude?” it asks again.
“I am… okay?” he responds, though it sounds more like a question than anything else. He tries again. “I am… okay.” There. That was good.
“Okay…” Brandon says, dropping its arms to its hips. “That’s great and all, but what’re you… doing, exactly?”
“What do you mean.” Was that the right tone? Orville hoped so, it sounded kind of flat.
As a response, Brandom simply points directly at Paige’s locker—directly at the note. “You tryna mess with my best friend in the whole wide world’s little operation here?” It crosses its arms again. “‘Cause I won’t be havin’ that.”
“No!” Orville yelps, perhaps a bit loud. He glances around, but no one has seemed to notice them yet, so it should all be good for a while longer. He holds up his hands in front of him in a placating manor. “Please believe me. I… well…”
“Yeah?”
Orville sighs. There was no getting out of this without telling the truth, was there? He was definitely not a good liar, especially not under pressure. He drops his hands in defeat.
“You must promise not to tell on me, alright?” he asks. “Please.”
“Depends on what you’re about to say next, honestly.” Brandon is entirely no nonsense. “You know I like you, OJ, but Paige comes before you in my book. I’m not above a lot of things for him.”
Okay! That wasn’t scary at all!
“Um,” Orville squeaks. “I… am not… messing with an operation, as you so put it. I… am the operation.”
It takes a moment of scrutinizing, but eventually realization blooms on Brandon’s face.
“Oh,” it says, “My God.”
It then immediately bursts into giggles.
“No way!” it laughs. “You’re the secret admirer?”
“Please not so loud,” Orville begs. “I do not wish for anyone to hear…”
“You’re talkin’ real stilted dude,” Brandon notices, frowning. “Sorry if I scared you. I’d say I didn’t mean it, but I did!” it chuckles.
That… is not as funny as it thinks it is actually, but Orville smiles awkwardly regardless.
“Um. Yes. Very… humorous.” Oh goodness. He was so scared right now. “Please do not do that again.”
“Oh yeah, sure man. Whatever.” Brandon shrugs. “More importantly, you okay? I meant it, I really am sorry if I scared you.”
Oh.
That was nice.
Orville’s smile turns genuine and he uncurls a bit. “Yes, I will be okay. Soon.” He wrings his hands in front of him. Time for the ultimate question. “I just need to know something first.”
“Shoot.”
Orville takes a deep breath, calming himself. “Will you please keep my secret?” This boy will get on his hands and knees if he has to. “I still don’t know if Paige likes me back… I don’t want to ruin things before they even get started proper.”
Brandon doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then, “Oh my God. You’re serious?”
“...Yes?”
“Oh my God.” Brandon looks like he’s about to either laugh or cry—Orville can’t quite tell which. “Oh, this is rich.”
Orville’s face turns pensive. “What do you mean. What’s rich.” He cares not for what his tone is this time, face flushing with embarrassment. “Does… does Paige not like me?”
“Oh, dude,” Brandon chuckles. “My man. My guy. OJ.”
“Erm… yes?”
“You are the funniest guy in the world.”
What?
“What.”
“Look, I’ll level with you,” Brandon says, swinging an arm around Orville’s shoulder. It makes him vaguely uncomfortable, but he would keep quiet about it for now. “I think this whole thing is ridiculous.”
“Okay.”
“But. Paige thinks it’s cute.”
“He does?” Orville blinks. He wasn’t expecting that at all.
“He does,” Brandon nods. “But you’re doing this in the dumbest way possible.”
“I am?”
“You are,” Brandon nods again. “Buuuut… because I like you, and I would be remiss to let this all go down the chute, I’m gonna do you a favor.”
“A favor,” Orville repeats. “What… is it?”
“On the pretense that I get to vet all the rest of the notes, I will personally hand deliver them to Paige from now on.”
“WHAT?” Orville shouts, much, much too loud.
“Cool it,” Brandon warns, nabbing the note out of the locker before pulling the two of them into a side hallway. “You tryna get us caught?”
“Um… no… sorry…”
“It’s alright. I just realized I’m taking the world’s longest bathroom break, is all.” It rolls its eyes. “Not that I actually care about Math to begin with, but you know how the Lunch Squad can get if they catch you.”
“Ah,” Orville nods. “Yes. It’s my study hall, so I needn’t…” He clamps his mouth shut for a moment before trying again. “I don’t need to worry.”
Brandon raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on his correction. “Good for you,” it says, and even though Orville can’t detect any malice in it, there’s a feeling of jealousy buried within it.
“Do you not have a study hall?” he asks. Brandon just groans in response.
“I lost it. They’ve got me doing freaking make-up classes. The school year isn’t even half over yet!” it laments. “Ugh. But, whatever. Not what we’re here for.” It shakes its head. “This,” it says, waving the note, “This is what we’re here for.”
“Okay,” Orville nods. “The favor you wish to… um.” Orville gets stuck. What was another word for impart? C’mon, Orville, think…
Oh!
“The favor you want to do for me,” he continues, “I agree. To it. I mean.” He droops his head a bit and rubs his arm. “You can read this one, if you want.”
“Don’t mind if I do!” Brandon smiles. It opens the note and looks it over for a moment. Then, finally, it nods.
“It’s good, then?” Orville asks hopefully.
“Oh, it’s awful,” Brandon laughs. “Which makes it perfect.”
“Okay?”
“Paige will love it,” Brandon appends.
Orville smiles wide. “Yes? You truly think so?” He starts bouncing in place, hands flapping a bit. “Really and truly?”
“Really and truly, man,” Brandon smiles. “You want me to give this to him later in Writing? I’d do it in Art but Sue might see, and, well… You know how Sue is.”
“Yes,” Orville agrees. “Sue is… well. Sue is Sue.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself, brotha!” Brandon chuckles. “I’ll be sure to get this to him, then.”
“Thank you,” Orville says, pushing as much gratitude into it as possible. “Really. Thank you.”
“It’s no problem, dude.” Brandon waves off. “But we’ll have to figure out how we’ll pass notes between each other.”
“Don’t we share Social Studies periods?”
“Do we?”
“Fourth period.”
“Oh. Huh.” Brandon shrugs. “I always fall asleep. Mr. Alec is boring as hell.”
“He is a bit monotone,” Orville agrees, as if he has any room to speak. “But that’s besides the point. If you give the notes to Paige in the latter half of the day, he can give you the reply note and we can swap what we have during Social Studies.” He smirks a bit. “Mr. Alec may be boring, but he also doesn’t care about rules very much. We should have no problem passing notes!”
“Oh, awesome!” Brandon grins and holds out its hand. “What say you, OJ? Deal with the Devil?”
“You’re no Devil,” Orville pouts. “The Devil would never do such a thing to help someone like me.”
Brandon blinks. “Alright then. Deal with the Brandon?”
Orville’s expression brightens again. “Deal with the Brandon,” he repeats, shaking Brandon’s hand.
“You know,” it says, giving Orville a hard clap on the back, “I think this’ll be the start of a beautiful friendship.”
“...I thought we were already friends?”
Brandon laughs.
…What was so funny?
Next up... AAIYSA ch 6-9