The Romantics(39)

And then he turned up Henderson, heading toward home, and for some reason, his steps were just the tiniest bit lighter.



* * *




5. Cynic: One who refuses to buy a single thing that the movies, their friends, or even their lovey-dovey grandparents have told them about romance. Believes that most relationships are doomed to fail and thus tries to protect themselves when they find themselves in one. May result in holding back from expressing true feelings, expecting things to go wrong, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. May also lead to amazing loyalty once they do let someone in because they do it so infrequently.





true bromance


For the first time in a long time, Gael was actually in an okay mood at school the next day.

Piper was no longer mad at him, lunch was back to being Anika-free, and he was excited that he was going to see Sammy again that afternoon. Last night, he’d managed to squeeze in Sammy’s movie rec after his mom had ordered pizza and they’d binged on some Piper-appropriate TV. He’d lost a good bit of sleep just so he could watch When Harry Met Sally, and he couldn’t wait to talk to her about it.

But when Gael got to fifth-period chemistry, Mason was not only early (completely unlike him), but he had a huge grin on his face. He looked like he seriously wanted to talk. There went Gael’s mood.

Gael threw his backpack onto the chemistry table and tried to ignore him. Whatever Mason’s grin meant, he was sure it would be annoying. Maybe instead of begging for advice about Anika, he wanted to share some new exciting development in their relationship. Umm, no thanks.

Mason turned to face him, grin still intact.

Gael pulled his big brick of a book out of his bag but didn’t indulge Mason. Yes, he’d stuck up for Gael yesterday, but that didn’t suddenly mean they were best buddies again, even if Gael was in a particularly good mood.

“Uh-uhm,” Mason cleared his throat.

Gael didn’t turn his head.

“UH-UHM.”

“You’re not going to stop doing that until I talk to you, are you?” Gael asked.

In response, Mason pushed a colorful piece of poster board his way.

Gael glanced down. “What’s this?”

Mason beamed. “It’s the extra-credit project. A whole extra three points on our end-of-semester grades, enough to keep me out of C territory and you at a solid A.” Mason pointed to the names at the top right corner: Gael Brennan and Mason Dewart, 5th Period.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Gael said, confused. “You should cross my name out. I didn’t do anything.”

Mason shrugged. “It’s the same credit either way. Take it, dude. Plus, I already wrote your name in Sharpie. It would look shady if I crossed it out now.”

Gael surveyed the work. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good.

“We had to pick ten different elements or elemental compounds and illustrate their uses in real life,” Mason said matter-of-factly, as if he’d even known what any of those things were a week ago.

“I don’t even remember Mrs. Ellison talking about this,” Gael said.

Mason laughed as he ran his finger along the bottom of the poster board. “You haven’t exactly been paying a ton of attention.”

Gael raised an eyebrow, but Mason threw up his hands. “I know, I know,” he said. “With perfectly good reason.”

Gael shook his head as he looked over the sheet. “Kr is Krypton, dude, not Kryptonite.”

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Mason said.

“Just give me your pen,” Gael said with a laugh. He crossed out the extra letters as cleanly as possible.

“So you approve?” Mason asked. “I can turn it in?”

“Yes,” Gael said, after a moment. “I approve.”

Mason shot out of his seat and walked to the front, where he set the poster board on top of a couple of other people’s extra-credit projects on Mrs. Ellison’s desk.

Gael waited until Mason was back in his seat. “Oh, and thanks, by the way,” he said quickly. Then he whipped his chemistry book open and pretended to read it as fast as he could.

But he couldn’t help but hand it to his friend. Correction—former friend. He might be a shameless, lying scumbag, but he had done a pretty nice thing.

What can I say? Sometimes, the best grand gestures of love don’t have anything to do with romance at all.





missed wes connection


Piper was in fine form that afternoon, in anticipation of Halloween and her completely over-the-top costume (he had to give his mom props—she could go through a divorce and create a truly magnificent eighteenth-century costume, all while holding down a job and generally keeping it all together). Piper demanded that Sammy give her a special lesson on Marie Antoinette, complete with phrases like “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” Apart from frequent walk-bys to see if they were done, Gael mainly left them to themselves because Piper had asked him to not interrupt their “important work.” Gael was still trying to earn Piper points after his unfortunate outburst at dinner on Sunday.

In fact, it was nearly 5:00 when Gael finally saw Piper working quietly while Sammy read Candide.

“I watched When Harry Met Sally last night,” Gael blurted out.

Sammy startled, then looked up and laughed.