Growing up with someone allows us to know that person in a more intimate manner than just being his acquaintance. In my case as with most others, there is always that friendship that removes the barriers of verbal communication. And as with Felix and me, we've developed a sort of clairvoyant way to wordlessly understand each other.

Surprisingly, Felix remembered how we used telepathy.

"You're a mess, Chase."

"So are you," I said, eyeing his shirt from the collar to its edges. "Sorry about that."

He shrugged and said, "I still can't believe you remembered how to make me go along with what you were thinking."

"Yeah, well," I uttered, "I didn't expect you'd still understand what I did."

"Like this?" he asked, smirked a little and gave me a gentle wink.

"Exactly," I answered, remembering full well how I winked at him before walking over to where his table in the cafeteria was and ensuing such an orange-filled drama.

"You need to work on that wink of yours though."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's creepy," he said, slightly shivering in disgust to emphasise his point. "Still, it's the same old wink."

"Glad you understand," I mumbled and started wiping the stain off my shirt collar with some tissue. "Oh, and one more thing..."

"You're not gonna ask me about that kid that splashed you with some OJ, are you?"

"I was, actually."

"Well...," he trailed off, looking very deep in his thoughts and all. "He's a friend."

"A friend?"

"That surprised you?"

"No...well..." Of course it surprised me. Besides the OJ that hit my face, I didn't expect someone would actually defend Felix or even be his...friend.

"See, before you go around judging people, don't you think you should get to know them first? I have friends, Chase. I'm not as antisocial as you all think I am."

One problem though. Why didn't I see Felix with his friend around school? Or, as he argued, with his friends.

"What's his name? And how come he knows me?" I asked.

"He'll tell you later. You agreed to meet him after school anyway."

As it was, I did agree to meet Felix's `friend' after school. When there was about to be a general commotion in the cafeteria, with my three friends hurrying to my side and to beat up the other kid, Felix quickly got off the floor, turned around and sent a fleeting look toward the boy. I noticed then that it wasn't only Felix and me that shared telepathic conversations. This other boy knew how to read Felix's mind.

So before my friends could beat him up, he ran out the cafeteria and off to nowhere. On the other hand, Felix quickly grabbed my hand and dragged me out of there as well, leading to the opposite direction from where his `friend' was probably headed. My three friends, meanwhile, were left flabbergasted and just stood there, not knowing whether to follow us or not.

My plan may have messed up along the way, but it worked like a charm. I initially wanted to have Felix leave the cafeteria and head to the restroom where I would soon follow him afterwards. As luck would have it, we both ended up in the restroom and sharing stains of OJ on our shirts.

"So...," Felix started, bringing my thoughts back to him. "Why did you want me in here?"

"It's the most private place I could think of," I told him.

"I could just go to your house or you could come over to my house, you know," he said. "Restrooms aren't that private, especially in this school."

"But..."

"Yeah, I get it," he interrupted. "It's important. It couldn't wait. What though?"

"I have a plan."

He eyed me curiously before asking, "A plan? For what?"

"To...you know," I mumbled. "...make you believe that I like you."

He had to giggle at that and it sort of annoyed me, but Felix was Felix. He'd giggle every time I told him something...weird or anything at all.

"Okay, let's hear it," he said.

So I leaned in closer, afraid that we might be overheard from outside or by anyone who, perhaps, hid in one of the stalls. It took me a while to explain everything, and Felix was constantly interrupting me with his comments and doubts. In the end, he agreed and I was surely glad that he did. The rest of my plan wouldn't work without his help.

"You plan on making me like you by helping you to make me like you," he summed up, making it all...uncanny for me to hear. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah," I definitively said. "And...you did like me long ago, right?"

Felix changed his expression and I could see how serious he looked right then. He sighed, shrugged and said, "That was long ago."

"But you're willing for me to make you like me back, right?"

"Maybe."

Maybe.

That was supposed to be my line! I was supposed to be the undecided one, not Felix. But it seemed, right now, he was as much undecided as I was in all my dreams about the two of us talking to each other.

"This is all too drastic, Chase," he said. "And all this in one afternoon? This afternoon!"

"I made you wait long enough," I argued. "I should've done this long ago. So yeah, it has to be now."

He smiled a little, more like smirked, but he still looked so adorable. God, no matter how Felix looked at me, he'd only look so cute and...

"What are you doing?" I quickly asked, feeling some heat come up to my face.

"Drying my shirt," he nonchalantly answered. "Why? Is it bothering you?"

I shook my head and stuttered, "N-no...it's fine...perfectly fine. But do you really have to take it off?"

He giggled again and said, "We're both boys, Chase. No need to be shy around each other. Aren't you going to wipe that stain off?"

"I was...," I said, got another tissue and proceeded with wiping the OJ from my collar while Felix put his shirt under a hand dryer and...started making me feel uneasy now that I saw the outline of his perfect body.

"...fuck," I whispered.

"Huh? You said something?"

"I mean...luck. Good luck to me," I mumbled, smiling awkwardly while still very much aware of my flushed cheeks.

"Yeah. Good luck to you," he repeated. "I'll just be the idiot you want me to be."

"Felix..."

"No. I understand, Chase...," he said. "I need to be an idiot for you to dump your friends. It's all part of your plan."

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

He turned around, looked at me, smiled sort of sadly and said, "I just don't understand why you need to look like a freaking hero to make me like you back."

I was about to retort but he shushed me up when he quickly put his shirt on and headed for the door.

"See ya, Chase. I need to find my friend."

And that was it. Felix left me with a tissue in my hand, absently wiping the stain off my collar and inwardly scolding myself for making him feel like he was just some sort of...idiot I could incorporate into my plan. But I had to do it. No matter what he thought of me, I just had to.

`I'll just have to make it up to him,' I decided for myself before I eventually found my way to my first class for the afternoon. Felix, of course, was already there at his desk and when I walked past him, he smiled in a way that only I could notice and made it seem like nothing happened inside that restroom.

The rest of our classes was uneventful save for the frequent glances I got from my friends who obviously wondered why the hell I ran off with Felix earlier. Well, it did seem like I ran off with him. Perhaps no one else in the cafeteria noticed, but Felix's grip on my hand that time was both so secure and light as if he was pulling me out of all the troubles I was in. It made him look like a hero with a distressed little boy attached behind him. Still, the thought occurred to me that it was also the first time we held hands like that.

When, finally, the bell signalled the end of the day, my friends couldn't take it anymore so they hurriedly walked to me and threw every question at me while everyone else including Felix left for the hallways.

"What the hell happened back there?" Gregory asked.

"Did you just seriously run off with that queer?" Patrick said, sounding utterly disgusted and in disbelief.

"Where the hell did he take you, Chase?" Dennis inquired. "He didn't...suck..."

"Okay, stop it!" I yelled. "First of all, he didn't suck my dick. Secondly, I didn't run off with him. He dragged me. And lastly, I..."

"You what?"

"I sort of kicked his ass..."

"You're kidding," Dennis argued. "He's not limping or anything."

"Okay, I just told him off," I admitted. "I didn't know what else to do with so much OJ on my face!"

They looked at me strangely, their face straight and almost expressionless. Then, as if the whole thing was a joke, they erupted in boisterous laughter and I found myself chuckling along with them.

"You scared the shit out of us man," Gregory told me as he gently punched my shoulder. "We thought you were a goner."

"A goner? Felix couldn't do as much as hurt me. He's not...," I paused, gathering my words. "He's not that kind of person. He's just...taking other people's shit and doesn't even really care."

Another long pause before Patrick said, "You seem to know a lot about him."

"I do not!"

"How much do you really know, Chase?" Gregory asked. "We're not stupid, you know. We've seen how you look at him. Are you...are you turning gay over him, dude?"

I quickly shook my head, raised my arms in defence and shook them wildly. "I am perfectly normal! Not turning gay and especially not over Felix!"

I wasn't sure if they believed me, but they seemed satisfied and started gathering their stuff. Soon, we headed for our lockers and as expected, Felix was still fumbling with his stuff. I walked a bit behind my friends, but I could see perfectly well how Felix stole a glance toward us and I discreetly winked at him.

That was the signal.

He may have sighed before closing his locker, but I couldn't be sure. He just walked toward us like nothing was about to happen and that was enough to catch my friends' attention.

"Hey sunshine!" Dennis shouted. "You think you can just run off with our friend over here?"

Felix moved to his left in hopes of avoiding a confrontation, but Patrick was quick to block his way. Gregory proceeded to Felix's right and Dennis stood diagonally from him, with me still standing behind the three of them.

"We just wanna talk," Gregory said. "We don't feel like beating you up anyway."

`Fuck, fuck, fuck...,' I thought. `They're s'posed to beat him up! How was I s'posed to save Felix?!'

Felix may have seen my troubled face and I knew right then that he was improvising. He looked hesitant at first, but after just a few beats of my heart, as fast as it was, he spat at Dennis' face, dropped all his things, turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could.

"Fuck you!" Dennis yelled as he wiped the spit off his right eye. Before I could register what happened, the three of them were soon running after Felix.

"Fuck," I cursed lowly and also started running, knowing full well that I was far behind to ever catch up to Felix before my friends could get their hands on him.

We ran and ran like bandits through the hallway and out of our school, past the jungle gym and all the other kids and teachers who probably had an idea of what was happening. Felix ran to the sidewalk and was soon headed for nowhere in hopes of saving his ass from some beating. Still, even from how far I was behind all of them, I could see that my friends were already closing in on him. Felix didn't stand a chance at outrunning any of them.

It was Patrick who got to him first, grabbed his collar from behind and almost made him fall backward to the ground. Dennis was quick to launch his fist at Felix and as Gregory was about to kick him in the gut, I finally caught up to them and pushed them away from Felix.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I shouted like never before. "Leave him the fuck alone!"

I pulled Felix to my side before shielding him completely. Dennis, Gregory and Patrick stood there, sweat dripping down their ugly faces and their mouths wide open perhaps from shock or from how they desperately tried to catch their breaths. I, myself, was panting really hard.

"So you do know him," Patrick said. "Chase, you are turning gay for him!"

"What do you care?!" I retorted. "All you do is give him the bullshit he doesn't deserve! What did he ever do to you, huh?!"

They all smirked, chuckled slightly and wiped the sweat off their faces.

"Wow," Dennis said. "Oh my fucking god. I can't believe you're gay and I can't believe you were our friend."

"I didn't like being your friend," I argued. "All you do is push people around! What the fuck did they ever do to you?! You're all just...just..."

"What? What, Chase?" Gregory asked, almost calmly.

"Fucked up and disgusting," I said.

Dennis stepped forward, looking like he wanted to punch the hell out of me, but Patrick was quick to stop him.

"Quit it, man," Patrick said. "Everyone's watching."

At that, I looked around and saw grown-ups looking very concerned and a dog that kept barking from one of the houses that lined the street. We were causing such a commotion in the middle of a peaceful neighbourhood.

"You better watch out, Chase," Dennis warned. "This isn't the last of it."

"Just leave us alone!" I yelled.

"Not a chance," he said and soon, the three of them started their way back to school or to wherever they were headed. They kept glancing back to us and I could see that they would keep their word. This wasn't the last of it.

I was finally able to breathe out and bend my knees to try and calm myself. When I was sure enough that I was composed, I turned around to see if Felix was okay.

"Felix..."