Kyle walked through the front doors of the school like he did every Monday through Friday. His sister Maddie was with him again because she usually had him drive her to school. But unlike most days, a few minutes after they entered he heard his name being called and he and his sister were soon joined by his new friend, Angela.

Maddie smiled and greeted Angela politely, but once Angela turned her attention to Kyle, Maddie caught Kyle's eyes and raised both eyebrows questioningly.

Kyle ignored her look because if he tried to respond in any way, even with a gesture Angela would definitely see. And, Kyle didn't feel like explaining that despite his looks and popularity among most of the students in his year he hadn't had a girlfriend in years and his sister found the presence of a girl very odd and question-worthy.

"I hope I'm not bothering you guys or anything. I mean I don't know but the next thing I find out is that this is like your private sibling bonding time!" Angela said, her eyes wide and slightly nervous as she made her joke. Maddie smiled wide and shook her head while Kyle chuckled.

"No, our 'sibling bonding time' was in the summer and I had enough of that to last me until next year," Maddie told Angela bluntly laughing when Angela giggled. Maddie looked at Kyle and snorted when she saw him frowning. "I'm kidding! Hanging out with you is fun! Especially when you buy me food with your allowance."

Kyle took Maddie's apology because he knew that she was just joking in the first place and shook his head before responding with-

"Wow Maddie, glad to know why you always want to hang out with me now," Angela was full-on laughing at this point and Maddie's smile was so wide Kyle worried that her face would break.

Maddie noticed that they were coming to the point where she would usually split from her brother and turned to the two older teenagers in front with a smile.

"I have to go this way but I'll see you at home Kyle. Nice to meet you, Angela," Maddie smiled in parting, waving before turning away and quickly making her way through the halls. Angela waved but Kyle just smiled and they watched as Maddie rushed off.

"Your sister is really nice," Angela commented when they started walking again. "And funny, like you, is your whole family like that?" Kyle felt a grin come on when he heard the compliment and briefly thought over the question.

"My family is funny but my older sister is a bit more chill than Maddie, not by much though," Kyle eventually answered, smiling lovingly as he thought of his family. Angela smiled as well when she saw Kyle's expression. 

"Having a close-knit family is nice," she added quietly. Kyle looked over and saw her slightly solemn expression but decided to ignore it.

Kyle thought about the subject that had bugged him since he hung out with his friends the previous day. At first, he was able to deny it and say that he was just generally admiring someone, but now that he thought back on his thoughts and actions it becomes quite clear.

Kyle liked Cole more than as a friend.

Even just thinking it bluntly sent an uneasy shiver down Kyle's spine and made him want to glance around to see if anyone else could see that he was thinking about Cole this way.

Yet, even with all this unease about the subject, Kyle couldn't deny that when he ignored all of it and just thought about Cole his heart grew warm and a smile fought its way onto his face.

So Kyle looked at Angela. He hoped that what he was going to ask wouldn't come off as too creepy and spoke.

"Hey, Angela?" Angela looked up at Kyle and Kyle took the pause to think over how he would phrase his next question. "Let's say, hypothetically, that I had a crush on a friend of mine. Would it be a good or bad idea to go for it?"

Angela smirked the tiniest smirk that Kyle had ever seen.

"Are we really gonna play the hypothetical game right now?" She asked with a giggle. Kyle shrugged and nodded.

"Call it whatever you want. I need hypothetical advice," Kyle told her honestly. Angela looked towards the ground and started humming as she thought.

"Well, I think the first question is how much do you like this person?" Angela asked, then continued on without letting Kyle answer. "If you think that you like this person enough to take the risk of possibly ruining a friendship then ask yourself another question. Would the two of us work in a relationship romantically? If you answer yes again then ask yourself a final question. Would they say yes if I asked them out?"

Kyle thought over Angela's response and then suddenly thought of something.

"Wait, why not just ask yourself the last question and get it over with?" Angela looked deep into Kyle's eyes and said in a voice so serious, Kyle felt a sudden chill.

"If you answer no to any of the first two questions, the answer to the third one wouldn't matter," she told Kyle. "And if the third question is the only one that you would say no to you might want to consider asking them out anyway because it is just worth it."

—————

Kyle was in a better mood by the time lunch rolled around. Although earlier in the day he worried that he might kind of dig Cole in a "your face looks really nice" way, as he thought over it in class he realized that he had just jumped to conclusions.

Yes, he did enjoy Cole's company but Cole was just a really great guy to be around. And yes he did find Cole adorable but that was purely it, like finding a dog or a little bird attractive. It was purely platonic and Kyle was settled with the discovery.

Kyle was still okay with the fact that only hours earlier he thought that he had liked Cole because Angela's advice really did sound helpful and Kyle planned to use it in the future if he ever liked someone.

Kyle walked over to his lunch table happily, giving toothy grins to Neal and Cole before ripping open his lunch like an animal.

"You seem happy," Neal noted, watching as Kyle chomped into his lunch while smiling idiotically.

"I am," Kyle agreed, swallowing his food so that nothing would start flying out. "I was kind of worried about something but it all worked out. I feel like twenty pounds lighter."

"Good for you," Cole smiled, unscrewing the cap of his soda. "With all the rugby I really don't understand how you could lose more weight but still." Kyle smiled at Cole's jab but it fell slightly when he heard. "I wish I could say the same."

Kyle looked at Cole's face, he wondered if Cole had any particular problems with his weight but his face did not show anything.

Kyle still thought that Cole's comment was odd. Cole didn't have a six-pack and he didn't always fit into a small one but Kyle thought that he was far enough from overweight and by his thoughts the day before and this morning he didn't notice anything bad about Cole's body.

Kyle smiled some more as he repeated his previous thoughts in his head.

Those were definitely platonic. He thought proudly. I talked about him as if he were Neal.

A small part of Kyle's brain took note of the fact that Kyle would never think about Neal like that but Kyle ignored that part of him and continued to enjoy his food heartily.