I Met My Love Playing Pool (BXB)

Chapter 7 - Macaroni & Cheese

"We have English first," Ally was staring at her schedule, having planned all their classes together. Kane had agreed to having them together so he doesn't need to feel alone in any classes, and he, from the driver's seat, glanced towards her schedule a few times before eventually finding a parking spot beside the school. "It's on the second floor, Mrs. Morton. She's pretty cool."

"Alright, anything I should know about this school before we head inside?"

"Yea, don't hang out with the nerds. That'll put a target on your back," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "That's how this school works over here."

"That's why there's a target on Jay's back, that's what you mean?"

Ally furrowed her brows before opening her car door, "Why are you on about him all the time?"

"Because," Kane stepped out of the car and rushed beside his sister, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "he acts scared all the time, and he's my friend—"

"He's not your friend," Ally threw his arm away from her, "seriously. You better not hang out with him."

At first, Kane found her attitude amusing, but as they reached the school, he realized she was serious and instantly furrowed his brows. "Shut up, I'm going to hang out with whoever I want to hang out with."

Before Ally could answer back, she felt a sudden weight on her back and she tumbled to the floor face first, hearing giggling from on top of her. "Got you!" she heard.

"Get the hell off me, Megan."

"Relax Ally," they heard from behind them. Kane watched as the two other girls he had met approached them, annoyed by the flirtatious eyes Jamie was sending him, "Glad to see you."

"Let's compare schedules!" Kristen shouted, pulling her schedule from her jacket pocket and revealing it to all three of them.

Jamie raised an eyebrow, "We literally scheduled our classes together, we know which one we have with one another."

"Well, I don't remember—"

"We don't know which ones we have with him though..." Jamie winked, meeting Kane's gaze.

Unfortunately, Kane was not in the mood for Jamie right now, not after he was yelled at by Ally for no reason. That was why, without a response, he simply scoffed and began walking away from them. Ally, who began standing to her feet, called his name, "Kane, where are you going?"

Kane did not respond, tightened his school bag of his shoulders and heading inside.

Jamie turned to Ally, "What's his deal?"

"Don't worry, he's just mad because I kinda yelled at him."

"About what?" Megan asked.

Ally waved her hand dismissively, "He just wants to hang out with Jaylin and these weirdos now, I'm not sure why..."

"Are you kidding?" Megan gasped.

"Does he know what happened with Jaylin?" Jamie asked quietly, and the atmosphere between them suddenly became strangely cold. Their smiles had faded, and they all eyed Ally who was staring in the distance, attempting to shake away all the memories from that time.

"No, he doesn't. I'm hoping to keep it that way."

"Well, you already know I'm not going to tell him, I barely know what happened," Kristen spoke, but her tone trembled.

Jamie placed a palm on Ally's shoulder, "No worries, this stays between us and the guys."

"Yea, nobody else will find out."

Ally nodded her head slowly, scratching the side of her face uneasily, "I trust you guys."

***

"Stop avoiding me!" Ally grabbed Kane by the back of his shirt, pulling him backwards and forcing him to face her. "I said I'm sorry for yelling at you, can we please head to lunch together?" They had just left their last class before lunch, and Kane was eyeing the throng of people crowding the hallways, receiving a few looks from students as he walked by them. Ally had been literally jogging after him since he was full speed attempting to walk away, until she finally caught him and he stopped.

"I don't want to hang out with you because I think you're a nerd and I don't want to have a target on my back—"

"Shut up," Ally grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the cafeteria, "I shouldn't have said that, I just wanted to be helpful. Can we please go?"

"Fine," Kane eventually agreed, knowing he would keep a close eye on Ally to get a bit more information on what she meant by that comment. As she followed Ally to the cafeteria, observing the crowd all following the same flow to the same area for lunch, Kane noticed one individual particularly head a different route and enter the bathroom down the hall. There was a line to enter the cafeteria, therefore they had to wait about ten minutes before the crowd dispersed and there was a path Kane could walk through. And after ten minutes, he never came out.

Kane frowned, eyeing that bathroom door before he started making his way in that direction, "I'll be back." Ally protested, but her voice was blurred as he stomped his way through the people and towards the empty hallway.

Once he reached the bathroom, he slowly pushed open the door, and was thankful there was no creak. He heard plastic from one of the stalls, and then he heard chewing, and it was continuous until the door actually closed behind him. Instantly, the noise stopped, and it was pure silence that fell into the room.

Kane shoved his hands in his front pockets, "Jay."

Jay froze, unsure what to do. He had always done this for years at this point, and nobody had ever bothered to look for him. That was why he did not respond, and he heard footsteps approach his stall until he saw a head appear from over the stall door. He met the widened navy eyes, staring at everything inside the stall to get a gist of what was going on, and then pushed himself away.

Then, there was nothing. Jay neither Kane said anything, and then all of a sudden, Jay saw Kane plop down to the floor, sitting down right in front of the stall. He reached inside his bag, and then cursed under his breath, "Ally took my lunch, it's in her bag. Shoot.." He leaned against the wall, placing his palm behind his head, "That's alright though, I'm not that hungry."

The quiet returned, and Jay felt a sweat begin to form on the corner of his face. He was unsure whether Kane was attempting to be nice, or this was a facade to make fun of him. But he sat there, staring at absolutely nothingness, entertaining himself with the lines on the ceiling and all the cracks he could find, before his attention diverted when Jay asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm spending lunch in the bathroom."

Jay raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Well why do you do it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Because it's the place I feel more comfortable."

"Same," he tilted his head, "guess we're more alike than we think."

Jay was sitting in the stall, looking at the macaroni and cheese he had warmed before school. And all of a sudden, he burst into giggles, standing to his feet and pulling open the stall door. Even Kane beamed into chuckles when he watch Jay step out of the stall with his school bag on his shoulders and the plastic container with food.

"You said you forgot your lunch with Ally—do you want some?"

"How did you know this was my favourite? Yes, I'll grab a bit, thank you." Kane reached for the plastic container and took a few bites, extending it to Jay afterwards who took a few bites as well. They shared the macaroni and cheese until it was gone, and Kane placed a palm on his stomach, "Thank you, that was very good."

"Thank you for spending your lunch hour in the bathroom with me."

"You should come to the cafeteria with me sometime? We could eat together."

Jay's eyes seemed to twinkle, "You think so?"

"I know so," he nodded his head excitingly, "whenever you feel comfortable leaving this spot. Until then, we could find an empty classroom or even eat outside?"

He forced himself to retrieve the tears that were starting to form in his eyes, "That's really nice, I'd love that."

"Sweet, I'm excited. Maybe we can talk about pool and how good you are."

"I'm better than you then—"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Both of them laughed, until they heard the bell rang and Kane stood to his feet. "I'll see you later, okay? Do you want me to walk you to class?"

"No, I'll be fine," he pushed his glasses closer to his nose, "thank you."

"No need to thank me, we're friends, Jay." And he left the bathroom. Right after, Kane sprinted towards the nearest bathroom at the other end of the school, and as soon as he entered a stall, he closed the door behind him and barfed all the food into the toilet.

He hated macaroni and cheese.