Astral High - Chapter 30
#32 of Astral High
So... Sorry for not uploading last night, but I'm hitting the point where I realize there's a crap ton more to the story, and at some point it's gonna be too long to properly enjoy. So, I'm to trying find a good place to cut it into two stories. It just so happens, that's probably somewhere in the next ten to twenty chapters, which is where all this inching up the plot diagram will pick up the pace. All in all, the story's gonna get more interesting soon.
I entered the boys' locker room and choose a locker next to Seth's. He was there, changing into his PE shorts, with Daniel and Ted on the other side of the bench doing the same thing. I followed suit, and managed to finish in time to follow them out into the gymnasium, where we walked around the perimeter of the gym with the forming stream of students.
There wasn't much to say until Titus joined us. I noticed Seth pop his knuckles and grimace a little. I figured he must be a little jealous of Titus, so I kissed him on the cheek as he lightly grabbed my hips and moved me to his left, on the opposite side of him from Titus. A minute or so went by and two hyenas came up and grabbed Titus on the shoulders, and quite frankly they all looked the same.
"How's it goin', cous'?" [The hyena on the right]
"Go away..." [Titus]
"Ah, you're not gonna pay attention to your dear cousins?" [The hyena on the left]
"Please, not now..."
"But Titus, you're such a kind and caring person, how could you tell your own cousins to go away?" [The hyena on the right]
"Hey, leave him alone." [Daniel]
"Oh, looks like someone's got himself a boyfriend. Quite the hipocrit now, aren't you?" [The Hyena on the left]
"Wait... You guys were his cousins?" [Ted]
"Oh hey, it's Teddy Bear!" [The hyena on the left]
"Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you. No, we have a new target now, and he deserves it, don't you, you worthless little fuck?" The hyena on Titus' right pinched Titus' cheek, wriggling his head around. Titus' eyes were closed tight and he kept moaning or groaning when they picked on him like that.
"I hate both of you..." [Titus]
"Ah, I think you just need a little motivation." [The hyena on the right]
"Yeah. Three..." [The hyena on the left]
"Two..." [Both of the hyenas]
"One..."
"Now!" Titus' cousins used the arms latched onto his shoulders to force him down as they both spun around and kneed him hard in the crotch and stomach. He fell to the ground crying and curled up in a ball. The few people not in our group who noticed just looked away or laughed at him, trying not to pay attention to him.
I stopped and helped Titus up as the two hyenas walked off, high fiving and fist bumping. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned to see Seth glare at me a little for helping him up and letting him lean on my shoulder, still crying and limping.
"Seth, are you seriously jealous of Titus?" [Me]
"... I'm not gonna answer that."
"Well that's an answer, and I'm taking it to mean yes. To be fair, you helped Daniel that evening last year."
"... But Daniel wasn't checking me out." [Seth]
"That's mostly because I never got the chance between you only walking away once and Ted cuddling himself up to me." [Daniel]
"You say it regretfully." [Ted]
"N-no, I didn't mean it like-"
"Even so, you're always stealing glances at the three of us, you're not exactly discreet." [Me]
"He-... Okay, fair enough. But Titus is different. Titus didn't live in the same dorm as us, and he most certainly didn't develop the intricate social network that we did." [Seth]
"What intricate social network? We all have a thing for each other, and can't help but get really fricking hard when thinking about each other." [Ted]
"I only get hard when I think about Seth." [Me]
"Bullshit, I've sat in your lap enough times to know the lie behind that." [Ted]
"Dear god, you guys are so fucking gay." [Titus]
"Yeah, you got a problem with it?" [Daniel]
"Quite the opposite, it's a nice change from silence and my dad getting mad at me for being bi."
"I thought your dad was the priniciple." [Ted]
"Not exactly. He's my stepdad, but my biological dad is the one I went to live with after my parents split and... I'm just in a rough place right now." [Titus]
"Jesus Christ, does everyone come from a corrupt family? I mean, X is adopted, I live with my grandparents, Zane lives with his aunt, Garrick's parents split, and now Titus' parents split." [Daniel]
"Eh, bias. Me and Alex still come from functioning families." [Seth]
"Tanner doesn't though. His parents were killed in the same wreck that took my mom and he lives with his brother now." [Titus]
"Oh. ... Kinda makes you feel sorry for him." [Me]
"No it doesn't, it just shows that society's gonna worship him even more. That fuck needs to die!" [Ted]
"Who needs to die?" I turned to see Garrick walking alongside Seth.
"Tanner." [Titus and Ted in unison]
"Woah, you guys hate him."
"No shit, the guy ruined our lives." [Ted]
"Well, my life. He just damaged yours." [Titus]
"Wait, Tanner's the one who teased you a couple years ago?" [Garrick]
"Yeah, and he's a total ass." [Ted]
"Man, you have anger issues."
"I don't care! He's the one who teased me and mocked me! And now- apparently- last year he made a big scene and stole the thunder that could've been mine, and now, when that blasted fire arts competition rolls around, I'm going to crush him and ruin the only good that he won fair and square, and then he'll see what it feels like to be-"
"Dude, you're monologing." [Garrick]
"I don't care!"
"You say it like he's the bad guy or something." [Seth]
"Life has no bad guys and no good guys. There is no hero, and if there were, it'd be me." [Titus]
"You? Why you?" [Seth]
"My family's corrupt, my life's falling apart, and I have no friends. Perfect for use a protagonist!" [Titus]
"Yeah, sure, whatever." [Seth]
"Seth, you need to get over your issue with him." [Me]
"What issue?" [Garrick]
"Seth's jealous of Titus because I've been nice to him."
"Ah. Yeah, Seth, guard your ground. They look kinda cute together."
Seth grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him, squeezing it and trying to keep me away from Titus. The others laughed, but something about the way Seth acted told me he wasn't playing around.