After School Activities (20 page)

was a
party
, dammit, and Mel and I were going to rock it.

We danced with Kai until our ears wanted to bleed from the music,

which, despite Charlotte’s best efforts, kept climbing higher. We won a

doubles Ping-Pong tournament against two kids from the physics club.

Mel even beat Will Davis at a beer-chugging contest, and the rest of the

football team lifted her on their shoulders and carried her around. At one

point I joked to Mel that this night was so extreme there would even be a

party going on in the front closet. I threw open the door and interrupted

two people in the middle of a very personal sort of party. I couldn’t tell

who one of them was—he jumped behind the hanging coats too fast for

me to make out anything more than black hair and that he was very

definitely a guy. The other one I recognized immediately.

“It’s you,” I said. “That kid I rescued from Adam way back at the

beginning of the year. I guess he was right about you. How does he always

fucking do that? What are you even doing here? Freshmen aren’t supposed to

be at this party, much less in the closet….” I noticed the terrified, caught look on his face, and changed what I was about to say. “Completely alone. With

your pants unbuttoned. Al by yourself.” The kid’s look vacillated between

surprise, confusion, and relief almost too fast to follow. “Excuse me,” I said, and closed the door, shutting the two secret lovers back in.

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That was it. The last straw. The final bit of missed gay opportunity

that I could deal with for one night. It was supposed to be me and Adam

secretly making out in a closet, goddammit, not some fucking faceless

whoever and that goddamned new-kid freshman.

We were supposed to feel the adrenaline haze of risky loving, with

fear of getting caught only fueling our need.
I
was the one who fucking came out and dealt with all these bullshit people for years, not once getting so much as a lustful glance along the way, and this stupid freshman comes

along out of the blue and immediately gets play? Meanwhile I have to be

the one alone at the party, again, surrounded by straight people having the

time of their fucking lives.

“Are you okay?” Mel asked, clearly having noticed the rage that

boiled within me. I know she meant well, but it only made me madder.

Suddenly I saw the entire night in a whole new light. While that stupid

fucking freshman was running around with his forbidden love, probably

sneaking touches on the dance floor and exchanging longing glances over

the Ping-Pong table before dashing off to give in to temptation in the

closet, I was spending my night with a fucking
woman
. Sure, she was my best friend and I loved her, like, a lot, but I was so tired of my right-hand man not being, well, a
man
. I felt sick. It was hard to see the night I’d spent with Mel as fun anymore. All I could think of was how that

freshman stole the night I should have had with Adam.

“I’m fine. I’m just done with this party. Can we leave?”

Mel’s brow furrowed with concern. She clearly didn’t believe I was

fine, but knew that I wasn’t going to be talking about it here. “Sure,” she

said. “Let’s find Kai.”

That was easy. Kai was right where we’d left him, making a fool of

himself on the dance floor.

“Already?” he asked when I said I wanted to leave. “But we just got

here!” “It’s been like four hours,” I said.

“But….” He looked from me to the girls on the dance floor and

back. He gave a look like a begging puppy. Before I could say anything,

Mel grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. He rolled his

eyes. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.” We were heading to the front door when

I saw
him
, standing in the corner behind a ficus, talking to Tiffany with 118

After School Activities

that sort of forehead-to-forehead type of conversation that only comes

with deep flirting.

It was Adam.

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Dirk Hunter

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ADAM SAW me too. There was no mistaking it. Our eyes met, and I could

see the panic in them. He hid it well, though. I doubt anyone else noticed.

Tiffany certainly didn’t. She kept talking as before, oblivious to the

sudden tension in the air.

Mel saw him too, and gasped. “That bastard,” she said.

Kai was a little slower on the uptake. “I though you said he couldn’t

make it? Wait, why is he with…?” His brain must have finally caught up

to his mouth. “Oh.
Oh.
That bastard.”

“Do you want Kai to punch him?” Mel asked.

“Yeah, do you want me to…. Wait, why do
I
have to be the one to

punch him? Dude’s huge!”

“Ladies never punch.”

“You punch
me
all the time.”

“It’s okay, guys,” I said. “I got this.”

I made straight for them, but I ignored Adam. Instead I focused on

Tiffany. “Oh my
God
, bitch. Where have you been all night? You look

fierce. Spin for me, babe. Let me see that little black number.” She did so,

beaming at the attention. “Girl, what are you looking all pretty for?”

“Oh, you know,” she said, wrapping her arms around Adam’s bicep.

“Always gotta look my best.” She looked up at Adam coyly. “Never know

when it will come in handy.” She put a special emphasis on the word

“handy” like she was going for some kind of innuendo. Adam gave no

sign he noticed her attentions. His eyes were glued on me.

I didn’t so much as bat a single eyelash his way. “Work it, girl. I’m

going to dance. Adam.” I gave him the slightest of nods, acknowledging

his presence, barely, for the first time. Then I turned and walked back to

Mel and Kai. I could feel Adam’s eyes on me the whole way.

A rational human would be forgiven for expecting something a little

more confrontational from me. And I’m not saying I didn’t have that

desire. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a small part of me that wanted

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After School Activities

nothing more than to confront him, loudly, in front of everyone. But that

was only a small part of me. The thing is, even pissed as I was, I cared

about Adam. I didn’t want to hurt him. Well, no, that’s not true, I did want

to hurt him. But, like, a small hurt. A punch-in-the-gut, maybe even the

knock-the-breath-from-him kind of hurt. Not the colossal, world-stopping,

soul-rending kind of pain that would happen if I outed him right then. I

didn’t want him to feel that fear. A hint of that fear, sure, as he worried

whether I would out him or not—but I wouldn’t actually do it.

Besides, if I did, he would have something to be mad at me for.

Something legitimate he could blame on me. And I wanted him to wallow

in the totality of his guilt.

So I simply walked back to Mel, who was looking at me with

admiration in her eyes, and Kai, who was looking at me in shock.

“What just happened?” Kai asked.

“That was diabolical,” Mel said.

“Who even
are
you?” Kai was dumbfounded.

I ignored him. Instead, I said to Mel, “Do you think you could…?”

“Already on it,” she said. She reached out and grabbed Miranda

Brickmann’s arm, who was walking by right at that moment. “Oh my

God, Miranda!” she said, joining her in walking toward the kitchen. “I’m

so glad you came! Good. I say fuck him.”

“What do you mean?” Miranda asked.

“You didn’t know? Oh God, I’m so sorry. Forget I said anything.” If

I didn’t know Mel even half as well as I did, it would be remarkable how

sincere she sounded in all this.

“No, tell me. What is it?” Just like that, Miranda had gone from

slightly confused to full-on concerned.

“It’s nothing. It’s just, I heard that Adam was going to ask you to

this party, but apparently….” Her voice faded into the general din of the

party as they walked away.

Kai was still staring at me, wide-eyed, like he had never seen me

before. “What? Playing the sassy gay best friend is fun, sometimes,” I

said, guessing what had thrown him for such a loop.

“Okay,” he said. “Sure. But what’s this that’s happening, right

now?”

“Oh. That. Well, I gave Tiffany the encouragement she needed to

throw herself completely at Adam. Figure if he wants to pretend to be

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straight, he can damn well deal with the ramifications of that. Presumably

Mel is doing the same thing with Miranda, and probably Caroline. And

almost definitely Samantha.”

“Did you two plan this?”

“No, we just make a really good team, especially when it comes to

spinning elaborate lies in tandem.”

“Well, a lot of things suddenly make sense in hindsight,” Kai

mumbled to himself. “Okay, but am I the only one who worries that this

is, well, kind of evil?”

Before I could formulate an answer, James P. Hogan appeared

around the corner. “Dylan! Malachi! How’s the party?” he exclaimed,

putting a hand on each of our shoulders and squeezing.

It was a sign of my mental state that James’s close proximity and

affectionate physical contact didn’t trigger an immediate bout of

giddiness. I barely even noticed the heady scent of cologne tinged with

sweat, or the tantalizing way his muscles rippled in his forearm.

Barely.

“It’s a great party,” I replied.

“Swell,” Kai said, without taking his narrowed eyes off me.

“Okay…,” James said suspiciously. “I’m missing something here.”

Right then, he noticed Adam, still in the same corner with a heavily

flirtatious Tiffany. Only now Miranda was there too, latched to his other

arm. It was a neck-to-neck flirtation war. A few other girls were starting to gather around the edges, some even throwing themselves into the fray.

“Oh my God,” James said, letting go of Kai, grabbing my shoulders

and turning me toward him—and away from Adam. “Are you okay? Did

you two split? What happened?” He was looking at me with genuine

concern.

I swooned a little. I’m only human. “I’m okay. It’s under control.”

“Wait,
he
knows?” Kai broke in, incredulous. “He didn’t know

before me, did he?”

“Well,” I said, “I mean… he figured it out….”

“I can’t believe—” Kai started.

“What do you mean, under control?” James began.

Mel showed up, interrupting them both. “Operation Raining Bitches

is a go,” she said with a self-satisfied smirk.

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I turned and found Adam drowning in a sea of girls, each desperate

to get their hands on him. “Holy shit! How did you do it?”

“Trade secrets,” she said.

“Remind me never to piss you off,” Kai said.

“That was something you were in danger of forgetting?” Mel replied

sweetly. Too sweetly.

“You guys did this?” James asked. “Uh-oh. Charlotte is
not
going to

be happy.”

As though invoking her name summoned her, Charlotte materialized

at James’s elbow. “Hon,” she said, a dangerous edge to her voice. “Why

do I sense drama at my party? I’ve worked
very
hard to keep all the drama
out
of this party.” Her eyes took in the expressions on all our faces, then quickly glanced once over at Adam. Finally, her gaze settled on me and, in

those eyes, I saw my doom. “I see. Revenge drama, is it?”

“Wait,” I said. “You know?”

“She does?” Mel and Kai said in unison with identical amounts of

surprise and jealousy.

“You told her?” I said accusingly to James.

“Actually, I told him,” Charlotte said.

James shrugged at me with a look that said “What? We both know

I’m not the smart one in this relationship.”

“That’s not the point,” Charlotte continued. “Melanie, you promised

me you wouldn’t use your powers for evil.”

“What makes you think it was me?” Mel said indignantly.

Charlotte turned those doom eyes to her. “I recognize the touch.”

Mel visibly withered.

“I’m sensing a story here I wish I knew,” Kai whispered to me.

“I know,” Mel said, sounding halfway to apologetic, “I remember

what happened last time—”

“
Really
wish I knew.”

“—but when you mess with the people I love, the claws come out.

Sorry I’m not sorry.”

Charlotte turned back to me. “Dylan, I expected better from you. I’m

going to have to ask you to leave.”

“That’s fine,” I said before anyone could protest. “We were just

leaving, anyway.”

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

WE GOT back to my house in time to watch the ball drop with my parents.

They didn’t say anything about our early return, though they exchanged

many looks. Probably had something to do with Mel and Kai’s

uncharacteristic silence. Or maybe the grim look on my face. Afterward,

the three of us headed to my room to play video games. After a few

halfhearted rounds of losing, I quit and let Mel and Kai play on their own.

The way I figured it, there was no need to ruin their fun with my sour

mood. Before we had been home much longer than an hour or two, there

was a noise at my window. In unison, Mel and Kai looked at each other,

then at me, then dove behind my bed, out of sight. The knocking came

again. I threw back the curtain and opened the window, only a few inches.