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Tuesday October 5th, Japanese class desu desu.

"Hey Rob... do you have a date for homecoming?"

It was Jessica Langton asking the question. Remember her? She was the annoying Rabbit weaboo girl who always sat next to me in Japanese class. Normally I dart out of Japanese class the moment it ends so I'm not seen with THE UNDESIREABLES, but by now Jessica was smart to this, and caught me in a conversation three minutes before the end of class.

"Uh... wait, I thought you were dating William Poe?" I asked, internally thinking 'OH HELL NAW'.

She let out an exasperated sigh, quickly eying the Ermine with thick glasses at the corner of the room, the center of his little weaboo enclave. She rolled her eyes upwards in exasperation and went on to explain in that obnoxiously squeaky voice of hers, "We broke up... we got in a stupid argument when we were watching Kill El Kill and I said something about the fanservice being creepy. Can you believe that guy? He didn't have to agree completely, but he didn't have to be rude about it either!"

I_so_ did not care.

"Okay, then... are you just curious or are you asking me out then?" I asked, tactlessly blunt.

"I... guess I am asking you out, huh?" she said with a blushy smile, twirling her fingers through her hair, "I was thinking we could go in cosplay: Vocaloid cosplay! I know how much you like Mitsune Haku. Doesn't that sound cool?"

FUCK TO THE 'NO' IT DOESN'T!

"And it's going to be a really crazy dance this year, so we won't even stand out that much! But only if you want to, I'd totally be down for going in normal clothes. Are you interested?"

Of all the obnoxious... how am I going to let her down without totally crushing her feelings? I... oh, fuck. Fuuuuuuuuuck. Uhhh, deep breath. Do the right thing Rob. DO THE RIGHT THING!

"Uh, Jessica... I'm..."

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

_ _

"You see..."

_ _

I JUST HAD SEEEEEEX, AND IT FELT SO GOOD, DICK UP MY AYUUUUUSSSSSS.

_ _

"I'm, uh...."

A salty sea man on Captain Jack Swallows' ship the Black Pooper, arrrrr

_ _

"It's like..."

I enjoy the texture of semen!

"I'm just not interested in you, sorry."

...Fuck.

_ _

"Oh..." she said, her eyes dropping and disappointment riddling her face. For a while she didn't say anything and we just sat there awkwardly. I was mentally headdesking myself so hard for failing to come up with a way to turn her down lightly, and for sounding like a dick. I couldn't even distract myself with doing my homework because I just kept on painfully reminding myself how stupid I was in my head. Not to mention all the other possible things I could have said. So I just sat there, feeling like a shitty asshole... Though I probably didn't feel as shitty as she did right then.

After a while, Jessica looked back at me with a pained smile, "I'm sorry for bothering you. Stupid me, you're on the football team, and really good looking and popular so... there's no way you'd want to go with me... And going in cosplay? How embarrassing. I can't believe I thought that was a good idea..."

Oh, no, Jessica, don't do that to me... ah fuck I know it's just stupid pity talk but it's getting to me, aaaahhhh geez man.

"Yeah..." The word slipped out of my mouth, and Jessica's pained look depend. I wanted to dig a hole down to the center of the earth and scream till my lungs exploded.

The bell rang. I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I rushed out of the room like I always did...

---

End of fourth period Lockeroom Tiemz~

As if the universe were trying to make me feel even shittier today, I had to listen to Scott and Marty have a heated conversation on... the desirability of saggy breasts. I guess Marty was all for 'saggy tiddies', while Scott was on team firmness... whatever. Conversations always got bad between those two on days when Aaron Aaronson the Aardvark wasn't aat school. I wasn't really paying attention or pretending to contribute like I knew what I was talking about, because goddamn I fucked up with Jessica last period. UUUUUUUUUGH this fuck-up is gonna haunt me for a while.

I forgot to mention that Scott was in only his jockstrap for the course of the conversation, because of course he was. I swear he does that on purpose... But for once I wasn't on guard because nothing makes me less worried about popping a boner than feeling like a miserable heart-breaking sack of shit.

After Marty and Scott agreed to disagree on the ideal shape of 'funbag pillows', more fuckery ensued!

While he was putting on his Hammer brand deodorant spray, Scott suddenly looked really excited about something, as though he just remembered a word caught on the tip of his lounge, "Hey did you guys hear about the theme for Homecoming this year? It's, get this, Homecoming-out! Like coming out of the closet, LGBT style! How hilarious is that?" Scott laughed at just how hilarious it was.

The words entered my ears, and I think a part of my soul left with them when they exited.

Mother-flipping_coming out of the closet_ was this year's homecoming theme?! Mhm, yup, okay. Can you say 'karma'? Because this was definitely Karma, I, uh oh-

Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon

---

There's self-loathing in my eyes, all the waaaay

If you knew about my lies, would you saaaaay

I'm a maaaaan without convictiooooon I'm a maaaaan who doesn't knooooow How to seeeeell a contradictiooooon? I'm an asshoooooooole, I'm an asshooooooole

_ _

Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon I'm an asshoooooooole, I'm an asshooooooole

Goddammit, I don't have time for this bullshit Rob's Mind!

I began tensing up, and not just at my subconscious' painfully on point cover of an 80's one hit wonder that I'm not even sure why I knew. My brain felt like scrambled eggs trying to process why the fuck 'homecoming out' was an actual thing. However, my immediate reaction was to look at Sean at the locker two over because uh oh homophobic reaction imminent. The Tabby Cat hadn't been talking to us much recently after the prank (whoop whoop), but I could visibly see his face darken after hearing Scott's announcement, especially in the way he lowered his cap to obscure his eyes. His expression reminded me of a bottle rocket ready to get set off.

Other than that, Toru's shoulders shrunk at the announcement, and Marty made an 'O' shape with his lips, as he often did. No idea what to make of that. Grinning, Scott faced me who-was-secretly-in-a-state-of-panic and then stretched upward with his arms behind his back, making some relaxed sigh. The curvature of his abs was in full on view... why did he have to always do this? His grin looked extra mischievous, "Oh, and get this, the poster said you get in to the dance free if you have a same sex date! Hilarious right? Maybe instead of Katie, I should go with you Robbie! Eh, eh? You wanna save some moolah? Eh, eh?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows and elbowing me each time he said 'eh'.

"Eh, eh, eh, eh?"

Aaand so much for not being on guard. Cue the Scott-induced calamity in my mind.

What the fuck, why is he elbowing me? He doesn't know does he? There's no way he knows! He's joking, right? He's not actually asking me out, is he? That has to be joke! He's still got Katie as a girlfriend, right? Or does he really want to save money that badly?! Dear God, if he's not joking... then he's basically asking me out! I MEAN YEAH IT'S EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN LIFEà well before I met Daren anyway. And now we're sort of an item so I couldn't just say 'yes' even if I knew he were being serious! AGH but he can't be serious anyway because he's asking me in front of other people in the locker room! CURSE YOU to Tartarus Scott for simultaneously getting my hopes up, making me feel bad about it, and then crushing them all in one paragraph!

*SLAM!* sounded a locker loud enough to divert the attention of everyone in the locker aisle.

_ _

Oooh, right Sean was there too. And now he wasn't. After hearing Scott's homoerotic joke, he went storming away like a massive ball of hatred, menacingly curling his protracted claws back and forth by his sides. It was as good of a distraction as any to settle my mind down; it left Toru, Marty and me feeling shook. It was like that awkward sidelined feeling like you accidentally overhear two students breakup in the hallway. That Cat had issues...

Scott, the only one of us unperturbed, scoffed cockily at Sean's back, "Don't worry about Mary Jane Mcstormcloud, guys. He's just a drama lama hater."

"Hey, I take offense to that expression!" said Joey Winterstein from the other locker aisle, who was a Lama.

Luckily Joey's intrusion was enough to make Scott forget about his little prank invitation. So after Scott gave Joey a 'sorry man!' I used the opportunity to shift the topic to how Scott's nicknames seem to be getting progressively weirder.

Thanks to my smooth timing, we managed to converse in honest to God normal fashion until the bell rang, thank Raptor Jesus. Scott finally put on his clothes, and we made our way on over to the cafeteria to get our MSG ridden lunches with the perfect balance of salt fat and sugar to create a chemical dependency for it in our brains (not entirely joking even).

But only a few feet out of the locker room, we crossed paths with a big muscular Rottweiler, in an open flannel shirt and black tanktop. It was Daren... looking handsome as ever. I broke into a warm smile the moment I saw the barrel-chest hunk, "Oh, hey Daren."

"Yo," He replied, an equally warm smile brightening his face... It came at a good time too, there was no one I wanted to see more right now than Daren. God I could just melt into those eyes. Ever since last Friday I... MMMMM.

Daren exchanged a brief greeting with the other guys before saying, "Mind if I borrow Rob for a bit? It ain't a big deal or nothing but, you know, personal stuff."

"No problemo! See you dudes at lunch!" Scott said cheerfully with a thumbs up before beginning a very asinine conversation with Marty (that I couldn't help but listen to just for a little bit), "What was that question you were about to ask me Marticus?"

"Oh yeah, uh, I was meaning to ask you Scott, are uh, are traps gay?" the Bull looked oddly concerned as he asked the questions while I just shook my head thinking 'goddammit Marty, no more internet for you'.

Scott beamed proudly as though he was some esteemed mentor about to pass down his sacred knowledge to his pupil, "Oh you came to the right man, Marticus! I recently read this entire thread on ForChan about why traps are in fact, not gay! Lemme explain..."

Wow, if there wasn't a better conversation to represent what kind of conversations Marty and Scott partake in. Poor Toru looked like he was listening to a debate in a foreign language. Such an innocent pup, that one...

Ignoring that... conversation... Daren and I walked to the unused lockers by the far end of the cafeteria's west side hallway, where we could have a mostly-private chat. He leaned his shoulder against the locker, eyes lingering a bit lower than usual, though still smiling, "Uh, you hear about homecoming?" he asked me.

"Oh yeah, Homecoming Out and stuff. Crazy, huh? Even crazier is that even with that as the theme, I still had a girl try to ask me out... turning her down was super awkward, I might have hurt her feelings..." I spoke with all kinds of bitter tastes in my mouth.

"That what's upsetting you?" Daren asked in a sympathetic voice.

Oh, he could tell?

"Yeah..." I said earnestly.

"You tell her you're...?" Daren was keeping his voice down like we had discussed in private, because I'm a fucking pathetic closet case etc. etc.

"Oh, uh, no, I didn't actually..." I stammered, low key embarrassed.

"Ah," Daren said, understandingly. "Well you can always tell her later."

"That's true," I said without giving it much thought, mostly I was just glad that my handsome prince was bringing light to my otherwise shitty day. Staring into his eyes was really helping me forget about all the dumb crap that happened earlier today...

"It be especially easy if you went to the homecoming dance with another guy," Daren said looking at me with a slightly shy smile and... wait... shit.

...shit!

I was finally relaxing!

SHIT!

SHIIIIT is he indirectly asking me out?! I couldn't even come out to a girl who was asking me out to let her down softly, so there's no way in hell I can out myself to the whole goddamn school by going with another guy! Goddamn I would love to be able to go with Daren, like that would be so romantic slow dancing with him on the dancefloor, but I AM JUST NOT READY FOR THAT KIND OF A COMMITMENT! Agh, fuck school dances! Fuck homecoming! Get asked out by a girl? Lose. Get asked out by a guy? Also lose! THERE IS NO WINNING! That's it:

JOKE DEFENCE MATRIX ACTIVATE!

"Oh, the Homecoming dance! Sure sounds like it's gonna be the... uh... hippenest hoppenist poppinest jamboree on the East side of the 71!" I said while pumping my arms side by side like I was doing some sort of 1950's lame gag routine.

"Uhh..." Daren was evidently confused at my choice of words. "Yeah, I was just gon say it seems pretty Gucci for a lame-ass school dance. Never been to a school dance before, but I was considering going."

Now it was my term to be confused by Daren's choice of words. The fuck did 'Gucci' mean? "Uh, yeah it might be cool... or lame maybe, I dunno," I responded vaguely.

"So you gon' go then?" Daren asked, which caused a creeping tingling feeling to pull at my skin. There was no other way to take that then 'I want you to go with me, even if it inevitably results in you coming out to the whole school, whoopsies'. The precarious sensation felt like I was trying to finish an important email with only three minutes of battery life left on my laptop.

I began rubbing my forearm and smiling nervously, "Uh, I dunno... I'm a terrible dancer and just so bad with LGBT slang, it'll be like what am I even doing here, you know? Plus the theme might just be a joke, right? There's no waaaay it's legit!"

"It seemed legit though..." Daren said dubiously, like he was reading something in to my reaction. My eyes began darting around nervously.

Ugh, no Daren, please just take the hint! Oh... I can't deal with this right now.

_ _

I finally think I can get over all this stupid homecoming-related bullshit with a chat with Daren, and he just up and piles more of it on me. There's only so much high school flavored stress I can take in one day! I need a distraction... anyone... anything...

Right then I spotted a tall Husky who was surrounded by a swath of empty space in a very very crowded hallway space by the cafeteria. I immediately recognized her to be Francesca, who couldn't have come at a better time. It was perfect, I could ask her about the homecoming dance and probably pretend to misconstrue her words or something to convince Daren that it's not worth it to go!

"Hold that thought, lemme just ask Francesca about the dance," I said, gesturing for Daren to stay put with a paw on his shoulder. Or at least I that's what I thought that gesture meant.

"Uh... alright, I guess I'll come too," Daren said, immediately throwing a wrench in my plan, but it was too late to back out now. Hopefully I could still make something work because God knew there was hardly anybody in the world I'd be less inclined to have casual ulterior motive-lacking conversation with than Francesca Buchanan.

I weaved my way through the crowd that was farther up, Daren close behind me. Ellie was following Francesca while taking notes with her tablet out, shocker. That Raccoon sure did love taking notes... I put on my straight, preppy bro Rob act, "Oh hey there, prez! How's it going? You just decided on the homecoming theme, huh?" I said in my casual yet confident-sounding voice, even though I didn't know what the fuck was going on any more.

Upon seeing me, Francesca widened her smile, but somehow it didn't feel like she was happy to see me because she liked me... "Oh, if it isn't Robert Hamilton. How fortuitous! I had something pertaining to homecoming that I wanted to talk to you about. Walk with me," Francesca said, before curiously eyeing Daren, who was obviously trying to make his presence know.

Daren was sort of awkwardly 'just kind of there' at this moment, and when looked at Francesca close up he seemed a bit... not quite intimidated, but maybe on guard? Not that I blamed him considering it was Francesca I was talking to. For one, height-wise she was just a bit shorter than me but still taller than Daren, like, damn this gurl big. But she also had that modern princess look with her designer blouse and skirt that looked like they were made out of some high end fabric with an impossible to pronounce name. So yeah, Daren's introduction was a bit choppy, "Uh, hey... Uh, I'm Rob's friend, Daren. I heard you student council president?"

It took a moment before Francesca's eyes lit up with recognition like Fourth of July sparklers, "Oh, you must the new hoodlum transfer student! I've been wanting to converse with you for a while now! "

Daren blinked, clearly not knowing how to respond. "Excuse me? Hoodlum?"

Well, I asked for a distraction, and I got one because Francesca definitely had... things... to say... "What a wonderful opportunity it is you've received by coming to Grovedale High! Here you can cast away the fetters of inner city gang violence and drug abuse in favor of a more constructive, nourishing and suburban environment to propel you to your future as a productive member of society! It's always so heartwarming to see you more aggressive and unruly breeds of Dog live up to your potential. You must be so relieved now that there's no further need for you to worry about the school to prison pipeline!"

Halfway through Francesca's condescending mini-monologue, Daren looked so taken back that you'd almost think he found it funny. He leaned sideways to whisper in my direction, eyes still on the yapping Husky, "This bitch for real?" Francesca didn't even notice because she was too busy talking as though she were on a podium addressing the entire student body.

"You get used to it after a while..." I said with a resigned sigh. And Daren's taken back expression turned into pure stank face for a brief moment, before re-addressing her with a blank expression.

Francesca cleared her throat after finishing, I don't even know what she was saying, "But I'm getting distracted, anyway, I'll just be a moment with Rob, Daren! Ellie, be a dear and converse with Daren while I talk to Rob," she said, crooking a finger to me as she walked forward to the empty lockers ahead.

"O-Oh, okay!" Ellie said taken aback, as she put away her tablet in her purse. The last thing I saw before walking away was the Raccoon clearly straining to think of something to say. The conversation I still heard for a bit longer, and it was pretty... wow.

"I like your... um, hair? Where did you get it done?" she asked in a kind, but forced tone.

Daren's tone was flat and dark, "Prison." I could practically sense the horror on Ellie's face from behind my back before he added "I'm joking."

"What's this about, prez?" I asked Francesca when we had our privacy by the lockers. I definitely wasn't expecting what she said next.

"I need you to ask me out to homecoming," she stated matter of factly.

FUCK WHY HAS MY ENTIRE LIFE REVOLVED AROUND PEOPLE ASKING ME OUT TO HOMECOMING FOR THE PAST HOUR?!

"...So you asking me out, too?" I asked in a pathetically whiney voice.

"Au contraire" She said in what was... definitely not a real French accent. "I'll try to be brief. I have a plan to catch Jayce's attention and I need a fake date of high social standing to pull it off. You're the most suitable because you're one of the few boys at this school who's taller than me, you're in the top ten popular boys list, single, respectably intelligent, and yes, you meet my standards for attractiveness as well. You're the ideal fake date."

"Okay, why exactly do you need a fake date, then?" I asked, both confused and resigned to hear her out. Francesca's smiled tightened so that you could just tell that she was miffed that I didn't immediately get exactly what in tarnation she was talking about.

So then I had to listen to her plan, which was uh... well it kind of seemed like she was playing a game of three dimensional chess with herself? It was hard to not tune out halfway through, considering how used to that I was whenever she spoke at school assemblies...

She spoke steadily but fast, as if everything she was saying was completely normal and not zany as hell, "I need to catch Jayce's attention, but I don't want to look like some pathetic floozy and ask him out directly. Boys are the ones meant to ask out the girl, after all, but I can't count on him to do it. So you ask me out, make a big deal out of it to your friends, and when Jayce and I inevitably get voted Homecoming King and Queen, we'll share an inestimably magical kiss on stage, followed up by the flawless King and Queen dance. He'll feel not just my radiant je ne sais quoi allure but the masculine desire to snatch a woman from another man, making it the perfect passionate beginning to a long relationship. And you secretly won't care because you're in on it, though you'll put on a show of being, what's the word? Oh yes, salty. And after the plan works, I'll do a favor for you, maybe sneak in some popularity points for you, maybe get you new football gear, you name it. It's a win, win, win situation. So that's why you'll be asking me out to homecoming."

"Uhhhhhhhh..." I droned, her explanation leaving me more confused than before.

So what, she was trying to make Jayce jealous with me so she would rope him into being her trophy husband or some shit? That sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. But I guess all those years of huffing glue as a kitten finally caught up to me, because I began seeing a hallucination of a miniature version of Scott with devil horns and wings above my right shoulder. Looks like we're doing this old cliché gag...

Devil Scott whispered in my ear, "You know Rob, since Francesca's not actually interested in you, she'd make the perfect cover! If you take her out, not only do you not have to miss out on a lit Homecoming dance, but you also get to stay entirely in the closet as well! Plus, she said she'll buy you shit, and you can just honestly say you have a date to any other girls who try to ask you out! No more repeats of what happened with Jesicaaaaa~ "

_ _

Then, a miniature angel version of Jayce, obviously, appeared above my left shoulder, "No Rob! You can't keep on getting yourself into these stupid situations just to keep yourself in the closet! Your school is accepting enough of homosexuality that the homecoming is LGBT themed for crying out loud! Just tell her your gay and she'll understand that as a legitimate reason why you have to turn her down! It's what you should have done with Jessica, and it's what you should do here as well! Stop enabling yourself to cause undue distress to other people! Imagine what Daren will- mrrmmm!!"

Devil Scott had flown over and was muffling Angel Jayce with his paw, "Okay okay, but hear me out... if you say 'yes'... you get to stay in the closet!"

_ _

"You already said that!" Angel Jayce protested after yanking away the paw on his muzzle.

Escalation imminent. "FUCK YOU MAN, I'M NOT A PART OF THIS SYSTEM! YOU WANNA FIGHT? COME AT ME BRO!" Devil Scott said, ornery as fuck.

_ _

"FOR ALDERAAN!" Angel Jayce roared before he and Angel Scott started sissy slapping each other.

_ _

After a few moments of imaginary stupidity: Green Lantern Angel Jayce had lost to Lord Swoldemort Devil Scott, who had one foot on his toppled over back in triumph. Well, that settled that! No way could I go against the outcome of the angel/devil on your shoulder gag! Time to take the path of least resistance, aw yeah.

"...Yeah, yeah okay! Let's go to homecoming together," I said like I was accepting a friend's offer to shoot some heroine.

Hello darkness, my old friend** ?**

Francesca gave me one big, fat pleased smile. "Excellent. Make sure to wear a proper tux and pick me up with flowers at my place at seven thirty to put on the air of authenticity. I'm glad we see eye to eye. Now come, let us return to our dear friends."

"Hahaha, what am I getting myself into?" I said to myself with a manic smile as I followed Francesca's elegant strut over to Daren. When we got back to the Rottie and Raccoon, Ellie seemed so relieved to no longer have to force conversation that you'd think somebody told her her two year student council secretary/detainee status just got lifted. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Francesca apologized that she'd have to cut our conversation short, giving me and Daren a perky 'toodleo' to us before she and Ellie continued on to class.

Daren let out a relieved huff when the Husky and Raccoon were out of earshot. "That Ellie a nice girl and all, but damn, that conversation was awkward as hell," he started shaking his head, but then looked at my curiously. "So what did Optimus Bitch, want?"

I smiled at our little inside joke from when we saw Transmorphers Four, which was a good momentary distraction from my nagging conscious that I was mentally burying six feet under, "Uh... she wanted me to go to homecoming with her, but not because she was interested, but for social maneuvering reasons I guess?"

Daren snorted, "Heh, that's a fucking riot. What she do when you turned her down?"

"Yeah, about that..." I said, slightly stretching out each word.

After a few seconds of reading my expression, Daren's face dropped into something entirely blank, "Oh my God, you said 'yes' didn't you?"

I put on my best placating face as I rubbed the back of my head, smile all nervous with a bit of a panicked smile, "She was just really forward and hard to say 'no' to and has all that power as student council president, and she's basically paying me to do it so... you know, it just sort of happened. Oops!"

Uh oh, is that a stank face?That looks kinda like a stank face.

I gulped. "Y-You're not... mad, are you?" I asked, ears folded down, tail curled up around my left leg.

There was a pause. And then Daren started... smiling? "Naaaah, I ain't mad, fam. Why would I be salty that the guy I'm basically low key dating is going with some beard bitch to a dance called Homecoming-Out? Ain't like I was hoping you'd ask me out or nothing!"

*Processing sarcasm*

*Processing sarcasm*

*Processing sarcasm*

*Error*

"Oh, good, for a moment I was worried you'd be mad at me!" I said, experiencing waves of relief as Daren's smile dropped in disbelief at how fucking delusional I was.

Thank God, I could have sworn that he'd be a least a little bit salty, seeing how I'm basically putting him on the backburner for a girl I don't even like! But nope, this is why Daren's so great, cause he's not just a totally hunk, but also so understanding! Bullet dodged there! Although for some reason Daren's lips were tightening up harder than my butthole before a precalc test... Probably just my dorky inability to read anthros' facial expressions, yup, that's all that was.

With that we started walking to lunch, and I stared lightly talking about our plans for the weekend to hang out and maybe, you know... again. Daren mostly just nodded, though I did hear him mumble something under his breath. I couldn't hear it, but it totally wasn't a comment like, 'This unbelievable motherfucker...' or anything, nope, I was totally in the clear! No Home-coming out for this guy! Hopefully I can stay in the partial closet like this until the best time to totally come out: college! I just hope I don't have to explain to my parents why I'm suddenly taking a girl out to an LGBT themed homecoming, haha, wouldn't that just be the most awkward thing!

---

*Meanwhile, Toru stares at a poster in the hallway south of the Cafeteria after ditching the enlightened conversation on traps*

I couldn't believe it... the theme really was Homecoming out...

The poster looked like it was from a terrifyingly wonderful different world. Rainbow colors and strange squiggly text font... impressive sketches of guys making out with other guys, drag queens with pounds of makeup on, girls in tuxedos... Based off the design it seemed like the dance was going to be as crazy wild as a pride parade. Even if I was in a spot with enough student traffic that I wouldn't stand out, I knew it still had to look suspicious ogling this poster. But I couldn't stop staring, like it was a fifteen foot dive I was too scared to take. This wasn't even part of the plan, and I felt like I was wigging myself out...

"Yo," a deep voice said suddenly from behind. I jittered, immediately throwing my head around to see who had snuck up on me. It was Daren, and Rob wasn't with him? Holy Moly, this timing...

"H-Hi, Daren!" I said, still startled. He looked a bit... grumpy? Yesterday he seemed so happy too... "You seem uh... upset about something. Did it have to do with your running training with Chris?"

He scoffed, "Nah, that ain't it, just salty about Rob being a fucking dumbass again. Just needed to get away from him for a moment when I saw you."

The way he talked was pointed and irritated, almost like he had been stood up or something. And I had been hoping I'd catch him in a good mood too. "Oh," I said, cautious that if I questioned him any further it'd be like poking at a feral alligator with a stick.

But Daren continued anyway, and you could tell that he was holding on to deeper levels of anger, "He just so caught up in shit that ain't matter, that he do things entirely opposite his own happiness. So I'm stuck watching him flounder around in his own bullshit like a fucking fool."

"Oh..." I said again, a poor conversationalist as always. Whatever he was referring to seemed... pretty intense. His tone was enough to cause my tail to curl up, and I had to stop my ears from folding downwards.

Daren sighed and walked up by my side, looking up at the Homecoming out poster, disappointed. "Anyway, you uh, been starting at that poster for a while now, fam."

My ears flicked upward as my body became very very alert as though I had just noticed something dangerous in the distance. "Y-Yeah..." God, he probably was already suspecting me as gay, wasn't he? But no, that was an unimportant eventuality! I needed to focus on what had to be done!

Okay so... just like I practiced. Umm... oh God I'm already so nervous I can't remember! Oh, right, right!

"Hey Daren, will you be going to the homecoming dance with anyone?" I asked, my tongue feeling drier than stale white rice.

He curiously cocked on ear at me before he looked behind his shoulder for a brief moment, across the glass doors to the cafeteria. It seemed like he was looking at our lunch table where the guys were? I wasn't sure why. "Apparently not," he said, sounding bitterer than over-steeped black tea, wow.

Okay, building up to the moment of truth here...

"Hey... Daren? Can I ask you a favor? It's something... pretty hard for me to ask." That was the understatement of my life. I was sweating worse than when I talked to Taro yesterday... this was beyond skirting around the topic of being gay, this was actually legitimately coming out to somebody for real.

"Shoot."

I let in a deep breath... and then another one... and other one... and then I licked my lips, and stared playing with my claw tips...

Vertigo hit me. I felt like I was falling... off a cliff. And I'd be falling into a scary scary sea of unknown horrors... but I also knew that I had to cross that sea to get to where I wanted.

I gulped.

Hard.

"...Will you go to homecoming with me?"

_ _

There, it was out, no reneges. My eyes zeroed in on Daren's expression, fearing the worst. He looked confused, and wasn't answering. I immediately began to regret my decision as I felt panic rush through my blood like a fast acting poison, and my head began to spin. It was painfully embarrassing, ooooh, he was werided out, wasn't he? We barely knew each other after all! I hadn't even explained that I was gay to him first! Stupid stupid stupid!

I began rambling, "Not that I want to date you or anything! I just met you a while ago but... I need someone to go with... you know... a guy so... people... know... about me... and stuff... I don't know..." By the end I was looking at Daren's feet. I felt exposed, like milk left out in the sun to curdle and spoil. The beginnings of tears were forming in my eyes. Why was this so hard?? What was I doing? What did I ever think this was a good idea?!

But then... Daren's answer came. It was level, and nonchalant. "Mmm, aight, I'll go with you."

I looked up in disbelief, my feeling off panic began to waver, and my mess of emotions seemed to lose their traction, "You mean it?" I all but whispered.

His lips curled up into a slight smile as he looked back into the cafeteria for the briefest moment. "Yup, it's a date, cutie. You. me. Homecoming."