WHO THE FUCK IS COLE?

"I have news." Meghan squeals as she enters Ivy's room. Ivy sits up from her bed to see why her friend is so happy.

"I'm trying to sleep," Ivy grumbled as Meghan jumps on her bed.

"Well don't, there's big news."

"What? What?" Ivy rolls her eyes.

"Wilder broke it off with Tracey."  Meghan squeals again.

Ivy can't deny that her heart skips a beat, "And So...." Ivy says, pretending not to be affected by the news.

"So, he kisses you in the janitor's closet and then breaks up with his girlfriend. Don't you see it?"

Ivy won't admit she's excited about the recent piece of information. " I am not going to read into that."

She's not keeping her hopes up.

"He's totally going to ask you out to the  homecoming dance." Meghan gets under her blanket.

"Then he should."

"What will be your answer?"

"I don't know."

"You better know, your sister and her minions are waiting in line."

~~~

"How's our first day?" Ivy drops her bag at the counter, smiling at Meghan who just started working at her favorite coffee shop.

"Stressful," Meghan says dropping the napkin she was using to clean the counter and stands in front of Ivy. "I'm minutes away from telling my boss to shove it up to his ass."

"Hang in there." Ivy laughs. "Can I gave a donut please?" Ivy pouts.

"Fine, it's on the house." Meghan walks over to display glass to get donut when Wilder and his crew walk into the coffee shop.

"Hey, 9'0 clock," Meghan calls out Ivy.

Ivy turns to the door of the dinner, immediately locks eyes with Wilder. She is about to wave when one of his friends, drags him into a booth.

"Here's your donut."

"Thanks," Ivy says turning back to her friend.

"You can go and say hi."

Ivy scoffs, "Hell no, not with those jerks around."  She says bitting on her donut. "O my God." She moans.

"I'll be needing a coffee as well." Ivy calls out.


~~~~

"You keep looking at her and she might turn to stone." Issac one of the jocks says to Wilder who has his eyes fixated on Ivy.

"Shut up," Wilder says.

Casey shifts closer to Wilder, "What's up with you and Ivy?" Casey whispers.

"Nothing," Wilder whispers as well.

"So you didn't break up with Tracey after kissing Ivy."

"Shut up, these idiots might hear you." Wilder gestures to his crew.

"Look, guys," Isaac points at the door, "It's the new guy."

Wilder turns to see a lanky kid with glasses and an oversized hoodie walking into the coffee shop. "Watch this," Wilder says, as she sets his right leg in front making the boy slip and bump into Ivy, who appears from nowhere.  He spills the content of her coffee on Ivy's favorite shirt.

"Fuck," Wilder mutters to himself.

"Shit," Ivy cuss out loud, looking down at how badly her white shirt is ruined.

"I a-am so-sorry." The young boy stammers, trying to clean her shirt with his blue hoodie but he's only making it worse.

"I mu-must have slipped and fell, clumsy me." He says still trying to clean her shirt.

Ivy's eyes move to Wilder who's looking guilty as she suspected. "It's okay." She says holding the guy's hand to stop him from spreading it further.

"You are new here," Ivy says with her smile on her face.

"Y-yes, I'm Cole."

"Ivy." Ivy waves slightly.

"I am so sorry about your shirt."

Well her favorite author signed the shirt and now it's ruined but it's not the Coles fault, it's Wilders.

"Maybe you can apologize over a cup of coffee," Ivy says loudly, making sure the culprit heard her.

"Y-yeah." Cole stutters as he and Ivy walk over to the counter.

"Looks like you fucked up," Casey mutters to Wilder who watches the pair walk away.

"Shut the hell up."

~~~

"You know the coffee shit was an accident, it was a prank meant for the new boy," Meghan says resting on Ivy's locker.

"His name is Cole and that doesn't make it right."

"You are just making excuses to reject Wilder's homecoming proposal." Meghan rolls her eyes.

"He hasn't even asked me." Ivy scoffs as she slightly pushes Meghan, unlocking her locker.

"We both know he will."

Ivy opens her locker and to her surprise there a bouquet of flowers resting in it.

"What's it?"  Meghan asks noticing her friend's jaw slightly drops.

Ivy takes out the bouquet, inhaling the fresh scent of the roses.

"How cute is this?" Meghan smiles as she looks into her friend's locker for a note.

"What does it say?" Ivy asks still smelling the flowers.

"Sorry about your shirt." Meghan reads, putting her hands on her chest dramatically and then proceeds to give a long "Awww."

"Wilder is so cute," Meghan comments dropping the note inside Ivy's locker.

"Or it could be Cole."

"And why would he do that?"

"Because he's a nice guy."

"Stop deceiving yourself bitch, you know it's Wilder. You know I'm not going to stop until you talk to him, maybe you can start by saying "thanks for the flowers", try that." Meghan insists.

Megan has watched Wilder and Ivy fight, make up, fight some more. They have this love-hate relationship and it's intriguing.

"Okay fine." Ivy says in defeat, "But not today, showing Cole around school today. Told him I would."

"And why would you do that?"

"As I said, he's a nice guy."

~~~

"Hey," Casey moves past the crowd as he rushes out of the classroom to catch up with Cole.

Cole turns surprised that someone will be calling out to him, he set his eyes on a pair of blue eyes. The guy is wearing a letterman jacket so his a jock, his black hair gelled back and he has this bright smile on his face.

Cole's heart starts beating hard, nervous by their close proximity.

"H-hey," Cole's voice comes out as a whisper. He mentally scolds himself for sounding like an idiot.

"I wanted to apologize for my friend's actions yesterday. He is not always a jerk." Casey says, nervously holding on to his backpack.

"W-what?" Cole manages to say, still staring at his eyes. Is it blue or green, Cole finds himself wondering.

Casey soon realizes that the guy has no idea that Wilder was responsible for his fall, "Nothing, I'm Casey." Casey legs go of his backpack and stretch his hand forward.

"Cole," Cole takes his warm hand into his.

They both soon realize that they are shaking for long,  Cole lets go immediately.

"Hmmm, Did you catch what Mr. Willam was teaching?" Casey says as he lets out a low laugh. Casey stopped paying attention when Cole walked into the classroom, he spent the entire period staring at him.

"Yeah, do you have a partner for the assignment."

"So there's an assignment?" Casey says wide-eyed.

Cole lets out a laugh, "Yeah, want to be my partner?" Cole asks nervously.

"Sure, maybe you can tell me more about the assignment later today? "

"Yeah, you can come to my place," Cole asks and immediately regretting it. His mum will be home from work early today.

"Sure," Casey says with a smile before walking away. Cole watches him leave, muttering "stupid" to himself a couple of times before heading to his next class.

~~~

"Wow, you are a nerd." Casey mocks, closing his notebook.

"And because of that, we are going to get an A." Cole dramatically bows.

Casey shakes his head, with a smile that hasn't left his face since he arrived, "I don't doubt that."

Casey picks up his bag, putting his books into it and Cole freaks out that he is about to leave.

"Hmm, do you want to stay for dinner?" Cole asks.

"S-Sure. I would like to take a break from my parents." Casey lets out a low laugh.

"Why?"

"Don't get me wrong, I love them. But ever since I came out to them, they've been extra protective." Casey pauses to see Cole's reaction but he didn't get any, which makes him smile. "They want to ensure that I'm not being bullied, which is impossible in school as long as Wilder is around."

"Wow, you have awesome friends and family," Cole says sadly. He wishes he has those.

"Yeah? They are great but also a handful." Casey says, dropping his bag, just then he spots a teddy bear that's poorly hidden behind Cole's bed. "Is that.." Casey begins walking towards it, which makes Cole turn. He spots where Casey is going and he mentally cuss himself for not hiding it well.

He lunches after Casey but Casey is fast enough to grab the brow average-sized teddy bear into his arms. "Awww, he has a teddy bear," Casey mocks, putting his hands up as Cole tries to reach for it.

"Mock me all you want," Cole says jumping to get it but still no avail, his jump only gets him extremely close to Casey.

Really close, eye locked, breathing forced, heat radiating. Both waiting for the other to make a move and Cole does the boldest thing he has ever done, he begins to lean in until their lips are inching close.

Casey is about to close the distance when Cole's door opens, revealing his mum. Both move away from each other immediately.

"Dinner is ready, boys." Mrs. James says, looking at the boys suspiciously.

~~~

"Thank you for the wonderful dinner, Mrs. James," Casey says trying to force a smile after having the weirdest dinner ever. He picks up his backpack.

"Oh please call me Melissa." Mrs. James says with a tight smile.

"I'll walk..." Before Cole can complete his sentence Melissa places her hands on Cole's lap to stop him from talking any further.

"Bye Melissa. See you around school Cole." Casey says before he walks out.

Melissa waits for the boy to close the door before she speaks her mind. "I don't want you hanging out with him again."

"Why?"

"Aside from the fact that he's gay?" Melissa says, rolling her eyes.

"Why does it matter, his family and friends accept him. I don't see a problem."

"Then I am going to pray for his soul, along with his friends and family's." She puts her hands together dramatically muttering some inaudible words. "God created a man for a woman. I don't know what this world is turning to."

Melissa turns to her son and takes his hands, "I am trying to protect you. God forbid you guys to hang out and people start to think you are gay too."

Cole doesn't know why but he felt his heartbreak, "Is being gay that bad?"

"Yeah. If you were, it will break my heart and your dad will be so disappointed. I thank God you are not because I see you with that girl yesterday." Melissa teases.

"Ivy?" 

"Is that her name? She's prettyish." Melissa gives a tight smile. "There a homecoming dance coming up, you should ask her." 

"I doubt she will say yes."

Cole believes that Ivy is way out of his league, he is surprised that she is even talking to him.

"Wouldn't hurt to try."

~~~

"What's this I'm hearing about you going to homecoming with the new guy?"  Meghan slams Ivy's locker shut.

Ivy turns to her friend, "For the last time, his name is Cole and yes I am. I asked him to go with me."

"What about Wilder? The guy you've had a crush on for years now."

"I don't have a crush on him." Ivy lies. " And I tried saying "Hi and thanks for the flowers" like you instructed but he turns out kissing very girl, so I'm not special.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw him with Lili, not surprised."

This may be the perfect time that Meghan says something about the surprise homecoming proposal that Wilder let her in on. Meghan was really looking forward to it.

"Whatever, at least you have a date."

~~~

"Hey Cole, wait up" Casey calls after Cole who seems to be avoiding him.

Cole stops walking, which gives Casey time to catch up.

"Hey," Casey says weirdly.

"Hey," Cole says with the same amount of weirdness.

"We got an A," Casey says.

"I noticed." Cole nods.

"I had fun yesterday, although dinner was weird."

"Me too," Cole says honestly.

"Maybe we can try that again, at the homecoming?"

Cole freezes, almost the same reaction he had when Ivy asked him.

"Uh, I'm going with Ivy."

"Oh, okay. Maybe we can hang out later today?"

"I'm not gay." Cole blurts out, having no idea why he said that.

"Oh," Casey says taken aback my Cole's statement. "I  s-sorry I ... Casey pauses, he sounds stupid unable to make out a sentence. "I should go." Casey as walking away as fast as he could.

"Casey," Cole tries to call him back but it comes out as a whisper. He just wants to say "fuck what Mum thinks." And hang out with Casey. He really wants to.

~~~

"Dude," Wilder catches up with Casey, putting his arm around his best friend's shoulder. "Ivy's sister is crazy, trying to talk to her and she kisses me out of the blue."

"Wow," Casey says mockingly, "Many guys will kill to have your problems."

"Why are you so down?" He let his arm down.

"It's nothing."

"Well get your spirits up, because you promised to help with Ivy and get her to say "yes" to going to the dance with me."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, she's going with Cole."

"Who the fuck is Cole?"

~~~~