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With eyebrows furrowing in frustration, you continue to clumsily fumble with the lock, trying your damnedest to get the thing open only for it to not budge an inch. Quietly cursing to yourself you try to brute force the damn thing as footsteps seems to be coming from everywhere. Behind you, from the sides of you, the sounds kept coming and going, increasing the urgency behind your actions until finally the satisfying click of the locking mechanism disengaging could be heard. A sigh of relief pushes past your lips only for a voice to echo right in your ear:
“What’s your favorite scary movie?”
The hair on the back of your neck rises as all at once you feel your agitation fade into begrudging amusement, and with a roll of your eyes, you take your gaze off of your now open locker to look at Randy. “Do you ever get bored of being a nerd?” You quip with a raised brow before gathering your book for world history class and then slamming your locker shut with probably more force than necessary. That’ll teach the damn thing to work next time.
“Oh, come on, it's all part of my charm.” Randy follows his words with a wag of his eyebrows, causing you to shake your head as a smile comes to your lips despite yourself. You shove at him lightly to hide your bemusement from him. Further, covering up your reaction as you flawlessly deliver another sly remark. “Yeah, well leave the charms off until Sidney’s around.” You wag your brows at him just like he did a few seconds ago as your words alone seem to do the trick with his face flushing bright pink before he instantly goes to deny it. “W-what no. I mean-” He cuts himself off with a groan, rubbing the back of his neck. “Am I really that obvious?”
You give him a look that seems to say it all, but you decide to have a bit of fun with it. “If I were you, I would avoid being alone with Billy.” Your gaze flickers to intently watch the rise and fall of his adam apple as he nervously swallows. Your focus doesn't stray away from his neck until he slowly moves his head back and forth to scan the halls- no doubt looking for his other group of friends.
Seeming to be satisfied with what he saw he ducks his head to conspirituality whisper to you, “okay I get it man, just please keep it down. I don’t need the whole school knowing.” Not being able to help yourself you snidely reply back, “As if they don’t already know.” A twinkle of amusement lights up your eyes that Randy doesn’t seem to return, and instead whines for you to be serious, coaxing another eye roll out of you before you make an ‘x’ motion above your heart. “Fine, my lips are sealed. I promise.” He stares at you for a bit longer as if he doesn’t fully believe your words before finally nodding to himself and rounding back to his original question. “Okay so what is your favorite horror movie? Friday the 13th? Halloween? Candyman?”
With a raised brow you can’t help but ask, “What’s with you only listing slasher films?” He shrugs before casually throwing in, “Just seems like your type of movie. Ya know with the killer stalking down their victims before brutally striking them down one by one to get their revenge.” At his explanation, you can’t help but feel a dark curl of amusement at how right he was, but to keep the conversation flowing you push past that thought as you find yet another opportunity to tease him. So, without hesitation, a sardonic grin unfurls onto your lips as you cross your arms over your chest. “Wooow, did you really just imply I'm the stalkerish type?”
He instantly tries to back pedal while waving his hands back and forth in a frantic motion “What no, of course not!” You have to hold back a chuckle as you practically feel the mortification radiating off of him in waves as he continues to justify himself. “I just thought you would enjoy the whole tension aspect that the stalking scenes build up.” You're mildly impressed how he manages to say all that in one breath while a darker part of you wonders if he could scream for that long as well.
Shaking your head, you finally release a huff of amusement before relenting. “Chill man. I’m just pulling your leg.” He gives you a deadpan glare that you easily brush past, seeing far more fearful looks in your life. ” I’m more into psychological thrillers anyway like Fatal Attraction or The Shining.” The lie pasts your lips easily enough. It wasn’t that you didn’t like those movies, but they weren’t exactly your favorites either. Still, they were pretty high up there for you.
A sentiment Randy didn’t seem to share with you as he raises an eyebrow at you before letting out an incredulous huff: “The Shining, really?” Nonchalantly shrugging your shoulders because you knew it would get a rise out of him, you let out a laid-back reply. “What it’s a classic?” That seems like the right response as you observe his right eye begin to twitch before he crosses his own arms with a sour look on his face.” Yeah, but also more than a bit basic.”
You make a sort of ‘what can you do’ type of gesture, which draws another huff from him as if he can’t believe you guys are actually friends. In turn, fueling your own amusement that he seems to notice as he sends you another dirty look before running his hand over his face, groaning into it before fixing you with a dead serious stare. “You, me. Horror movie marathon. Tonight, so I can fix your decrepit ways.”
You were just about to refuse his offer that borderline on being a demand, bristling slightly at the idea of anyone bossing you around even jokingly when an overzealous voice interrupts your conversation. “There ya are man!” The friendly greeting causes you to lose any trace of friendliness as you draw your shoulders back to allow yourself to stand at full height. While your senses become alert despite the words not even being directed towards you.
Then, in typical Stu fashion, he rushes towards you two only to completely ignore you while draping his arm around Randy, which isn’t exactly new. The short haired boy never seemed to notice you, and you can’t say you mind considering you found him more obnoxious than anything else. Still, you don’t allow yourself to relax around the other teen instead your gaze remains dead set on him completely ignoring Randy for now.
His whole pushy attitude annoyed you, and quite honestly you weren’t sure how Randy and he were friends to begin with. Their personalities seem to clash more than anything else. The only thing you could guess they really had in common was their love for horror movies and goofy behavior. Well from what you saw anyways, you had never been personally privy to Stu’s type of humor. What with him ignoring your whole existence most of the time.
After all, the only way to really catch his attention was either by having a nice rack or a nice ass. For obvious reasons, the first didn’t apply to you, and while you liked to think your ass was better than average, the fact that you were a guy to begin with made that point null and void. Although you snidely can’t help but think Stu would make an exception for Billy with the way he seemed to hang off his best friend’s every word.
With a soft snort, you realize the two before you must have been talking the whole time with you not catching a word of it. Although your mental absence went unnoticed by either of them as Stu suddenly begins to drag Randy away. To your surprise Randy actually manages to dig his heels in enough to only be jerked in said direction before clearing his throat and throwing his friend a withering yet cautious look before moving his gaze back to you. “So, horror movie marathon at my place?”
Despite your earlier intentions of declining, you still didn’t appreciate how Stu seemed to immediately butt in to answer for you. “I’m sure he has something else to do, man.” He looks at you with something you can only take as a challenge, and immediately you're tempted to lunge at him but refrain with every last ounce of self-control you can muster. All the while biting down on the inside of your cheek to keep quiet, not quite trusting yourself to not verbally lash out, allowing Stu to continue uninterrupted. “Besides, we're hanging out at my place with the rest of the guys, and we need you to pick up the movies.”
Feeling particularly spiteful you send the taller male a glare before looking pleasantly back at Randy. “Actually, Ray I would love to.” You couldn’t help but lay it on thick with your tone, something Stu clearly caught onto with mischievous flicker in his gaze. While Randy either was even denser than you thought or was just pushing past your obviously less than honest intentions as he lights up. “Hell yeah, dude! Swing by at 8 or so.” He jokingly fist pumps the air, making you huff in amusement despite the other teen still within earshot.
Speaking of which, you can’t help but shoot Stu a smug look while saying, “Awesome I’ll make sure to bring some snacks then.” You send a wink towards Randy, something you normally wouldn’t do but given who was watching you were feeling more than generous. It causes Stu’s gaze to linger on you long enough for you to raise a brow at him in challenge. In return, he simply gives a boyish grin, which does nothing but annoy you, and instantly you know something’s up.
He doesn’t give away what though as he finally pipes up. “Mind if I snag Ray now?” He shockingly doesn’t wait for your reply, before leading him away from you. This time successfully overpowering the other boy’s slighter frame. Rolling your eyes, you start to follow them, wanting to know exactly what he was scheming.
However, your steps falter as you catch sight of Billy right behind Tatum and Sidney. His hollow stare makes your fingers twitch for a weapon that isn’t there. So, instead you give him a smile that looks more like a predator baring its teeth. His expression doesn’t change even an ounce, but you can see the hard look that enters his eyes before Sidney says something to him drawing his gaze to her. You stare for a moment longer until it's clear Tatum noticed with the way she glares up at you.
Seeing that as your cue to leave, you effortlessly allow yourself to get lost in the sea of bodies as more and more students pour into the hallways the closer it gets to school starting. You can’t help but dread another year, doubting junior year will be any different than sophomore year. Although thinking of your movie marathon later with Randy did perk you up a bit if only because you knew it threw a wrench in Stu’s plans.