11-Game on

Axel's pov

Last night was a wild night and it for sure did not end on a good note.

First off, Shawn invited me to that party and I said yes because I remembered it was his birthday. Though, I had no idea it had anything to do with the gang and that it would be remotely that big. The moment I stepped in, I knew it wouldn't end well.

Even if I could tell Shawn did not plan that party, it was still fun and overall I got some time with him. I even got to steal him away from the gang.

But that's not what I remember the most from yesterday.

It wasn't even Shawn getting drunk, even that worried me quite a lot, it was the fact that we kissed.

I can't wrap my head around that. I get that Shawn was drunk but why did he do that and most importantly why did I give in!?

I knew Shawn was drunk and here I was...Wait, that's not the point, the point is that I let him kiss me, I even kissed him back!

Gosh, I knew things were weird between us but yesterday was a whole new entire level.

If I ever thought I could deny whatever is going on around us after that, I am wrong. There's no way I can deny that, I wasn't drunk!

Thank goodness the kiss was interrupted because I don't know what I would have done next.

I mean the reason is not a good one.

It was really nerve-racking suddenly seeing Shawn's parents, especially knowing I was at the party too.

Thankfully they let me off the hook and told me to leave but I feel bad about Shawn.

Yeah, as confusing as this is all, I should be thinking about the trouble Shawn is in.

His dads looked so mad at him and his sister, I mean at that moment deep down I had wished they knew this party was going on but I knew they probably didn't.

I hope he and his sister aren't in too much trouble.

I'm almost tempted to text him but I feel like it's dumb to ask him for something obvious.

Regardless, I have no reason to text Shawn, we're no longer teammates nor are we in the same gang, so I really should be minding my own damn business.

Speaking of my business, someone's knocking on my door.

"What?" I yell annoyed already knowing who it is.

She opens the door and stays there.

"Your dad just wanted to let you know, that dinner is ready," My dad's girlfriend says.

"Let him know I'll come down once he's not there." She nods.

From then on it becomes silent and the more she stays there by the door without saying a thing, the more awkward it becomes.

"What do you want?" I snap and her eyes get startled.

"Oh, I was just thinking..." She says quietly.

"Thinking about that? You know you can think elsewhere?" I snap irritated but she ignores me.

"You play guitar?" She points at the obvious guitar in my hands.

"Yeah sometimes, but it's rare," I say unbothered, hoping she leaves me alone but no.

"Hm, interesting, I heard you playing before coming in, you're not that bad." She points out, did she have to point that out?

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, what made you want to play the guitar today?" She questions as she starts coming in, causing me to tense.

"I just needed a distraction."

"A distraction, I see." She smiles lightly and I become skeptical of her.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing, it just makes me think about me. You know sometimes I tend to overthink so I play logic games and do puzzles as a distraction. So I kinda relate to you." She smiles lightly and I frown unsure of where she's going with this.

Then, she sits down on my bed, through further than me.

"You still do that at your age?"

"Yeah, overthinking never ends." She chuckles lightly at herself and I surprisingly feel less tense...

"I don't know what makes you think that but I wasn't overthinking, I just needed a distraction." She raises her eyebrows at me.

"You sure about that?" She smiles lightly as if she knows she's right and it annoys me that she's right.

"Yeah..."

"Whatever what it is, I won't ask. It's your thing, but guitar, when did you start playing?" Wow...I thought she would prey to know more but she's letting me off the hook...

I started explaining how I got my guitar and surprisingly I found myself getting comfortable sharing personal information with her.

Of course, it doesn't last long as we hear footsteps and then we notice my dad arrive at the door.

"What are you two still doing there, dinner is ready." He says sharply and stares coldly at me. Geez, a bit mad I'm stealing his time with his girl.

"Oh, we were just talking. We'll come down soon." His girlfriend says. My dad's eyes widen a bit and he looks at me.

"Good to know you're finally making efforts to talk to your step-mother." My blood boils at the word and I give a dead stare at my dad.

"She'll never be my stepmom," I say coldly and they both look at me a bit startled but it doesn't take long for my dad to regain his furious nature.

"She is, we'll get married soon and that's final." He says so curtly, it leaves no room to disagree but I guess I was wrong.

"Gevehard, he's right. Even if we get married, it's his decision whether he wants to see me as his stepmom or not." His girlfriend, Ms Katelgo says, making us caught off guard.

"Alright, seems like Ms Katlego agrees with you, you're lucky." My dad says curtly and his last words throw me off.

I almost fight back but as if sensing the upcoming disaster between my dad and me, his girlfriend shoots him an icy cold stare. I expect my dad to say something in return but to my astonishment, he doesn't.

Wow, not only can she argue against my dad, and question his ideas, but she can shut him off too? Almost no one can...even though I struggled for years. How on earth did my dad convince this woman to date him? By bribe?

Regardless, this woman isn't as bad as I first thought...

——————-

Goodness, coming back to school after the whole ordeal last Friday feels weird. I can tell everyone is talking about it, I mean it's everywhere on social media and even the school's account. The morons have nothing better to do than post online.

It's one thing the whole atmosphere outside but it's something else inside the school, especially the lockers...

Speaking of lockers, there they are, the popular gang, the ones behind all this and of course they act as if they have nothing to do with it.

I head to my locker and immediately the girls glare at me but I ignore them, even Zayne even if all of this is not his fault.

As I open my locker and place my skateboard there, I can't help but notice that Shawn is looking at me, I mean I can feel that I am watched.

Oddly enough, he's smiling at me all shyly, a reminder of last Friday and I'm almost tempted to smile back but quickly get reminded of the girls tearing through my soul. Yeah, I get it, I'll back off.

"Come on, I think we're done here," Tessa says and strolls Shawn around her, the other two following behind, though I notice Zayne smiling apologetically.

Shawn continues to look at me and as much as I try to deny it, the eye contact between us keeps getting to me. Gosh, it's even making my heart skip a beat, even more so at how cute he is.

Wait what? Am I seriously gay now? I thought whatever this was, it was gonna pass...Oh well I guess not.

This leaves me all alone but not for long as Shawn's sister appears out of nowhere and comes to me.

"Hey, finally they're gone, they're annoying, aren't they?" She says smiling a bit strained and I look at her, confused.

"Yeah, where were you? You're usually at the lockers at the same time as us?" I ask confused and her smile drops a bit.

"About that, I figured it would be safer to stay away from them."

"Wait, did Grace do something to you?" Her eyes widen but immediately she acts as if it's nothing.

"Anyways, even if it sucks that I don't get to spend any time with Shawn, that's not what bothers me, did you know Shawn and I got grounded?" Despite finding it odd that she changes the subject, I decide to ignore it.

"Yeah, I figured, is it bad?"

Shawn's sister starts explaining about how it's the first time Shawn and her are grounded for a week and how they can't go out either, except for school.

"Wow, a bit harsh but what about phones?"

"Thank goodness, I have my dad, Brandon, he convinced our other dad to let us have our phones, school reasons and stuff."

"Nice, being banned from your phone is the worst, trust me."

"It happened to you?" She asks curious.

Through luckily I don't have to answer because the bell rings.

"Oh well, I'll tell you another time."

"You better."

We both leave for our respective classes.

——————

The entire day of Monday has passed and it means it's the music club meeting.

Usually, I don't really care about it but now that's the only way I get to be around Shawn and right now I really want to confirm my hypothesis.

Yes, I'm trying to figure out if the idea that Shawn likes me is true or not.

So as usual, the gang leaves to go to their respective practice and Shawn stays behind. Unlike other times, his sister is not there to tag along with us, how odd...

We start walking to the usual music classroom and I can't help but notice how shy he is, he wasn't like that before the party, huh...

"Hey...I'm sorry about last Friday..." He suddenly says breaking the silence.

"Sorry for what?"

"It must have been awkward for you..."

"No, it's fine, it wasn't your fault." He smiles at me and stares at me while blushing, as we continue to walk. Oddly enough, I like that he's looking at me...

What is that supposed to mean?

Before we know it we get to the classroom and end all conversation as we notice his sister there, to our relief. I was starting to have doubts she would show up.

Through, she looks at the both of us and winks at me. What the hell? What is that supposed to mean?

Wait...is she hinting to Shawn and I possibly being more...?

Wait...she knows something I don't. Does this mean Shawn likes me?

——————-

It's been two days and the idea of Shawn liking me is killing me. I have yet to come to a conclusion and an explanation for all of that.

Of course, I've seen the signs but how can I absolutely confirm Shawn does in fact like me if I never get to talk to him? Is he even gay? Does he know he likes guys? Is he fine with the idea? I have no clue and that's because we never talked about such things. This really is driving me mad.

Anyway, even if the gym isn't my thing maybe this could be my source of distraction. Oh wait, Shawn is in my PE class.

Regardless of everything, PE class is happening right now and I should let go of this.

If only the teacher didn't just assign us as pairs to do the usual athletic tests, push-ups and stuff. So yeah, it seems like I'm paired with Shawn and of course, the girls look like they want to murder me.

I take a mat and Shawn follows me without saying a word, how discreet.

Then I place it down.

"OK, are you good when it comes to sit-ups?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Not really."

"Yeah, I figured, we'll go slowly then. Who goes first?"

"You," He says weary.

"Sure"

I position myself to do the sit-ups and Shawn has to hold my legs to prevent them from moving and he has to count too.

As soon as he puts his hands around my ankles, a shiver runs through me, as I feel a weird electrical shock. How awkward...

I decide to forget it and start the sit-up.

I do as much as I can even if Shawn's hands on my ankles are a bit distracting.

Then I stop when I can no longer do it.

"How many did I do?" I say breathless.

"77"

"Damn, I'm good." I smile confidently and he blushes.

"Now it's your turn."

"Actually before we do...I...was wondering if you liked someone." He says nervously and I stare at him caught off guard.

"If I like someone?" I ask confused and a bit curious.

"Yeah...I know it's random..." Before I realize it, I answer his question way too honestly.

"No, it's fine. Yeah, there's this person...that for some reason I keep thinking about them
and I can't seem to figure out why I seem so drawn to them nor can I figure out if they like me..." His eyes widen in surprise.

"Wow...I didn't think you liked someone new already..." He says wistfully. Wait, why does he seem bothered by that...is this his way of confirming....No, I need to be sure about it.

"What about you?" His eyes widen and he blushes.

"Oh uh...yes, I like this guy..." He says flustered yet a bit uneasy.

Now it all makes sense!

"You like guys?"

"Oh...I think, does it bother you...?"

"No? If I don't mind your dads, then why would you liking a guy bother me?" He releases a breath in relief.

"Thanks, I wasn't sure."

"Hey! You two over there! Stop talking and do your sits up!" The teacher yells and we both get flustered at being caught, but we resume instantly the task at hand.

Through seems like the girls noticed too because they are giving me the usual glare.

———————-

PE class is over and thank goodness it's over, I don't think I can bear being that close to Shawn again with all that weird tension we had.

I'm about to leave the changing room but come face to face with Grace. Ugh, what does she want?

"Axel," She says harshly.

"What?" I say annoyed.

"Oh don't act like you don't know what you've been doing."

"What did I do wrong this time around?"

"You really don't know? Doesn't matter, the point is, you better stay away from Shawn." She threatens and that only gains a smile in challenge.

"Why should I?"

"You're no longer a member of the gang, you have no right to steal Shawn away from us."

"Then why are you so bothered by that? I'm not a menace to your whole love battle, it's not like I'm gay." Her eyes widened and she didn't seem to have that through, cat got her tongue, eh?

"Oh whatever, just stay away from Shawn." She finally settles to say and leaves without another word.

Wow, I can't believe what I just said. Though even if I'm right, I'm starting to have my doubts about not being gay, especially with what I said earlier to Shawn. Ugh, sometimes I should stop being too honest.

———————

A day has passed since yesterday and not gonna lie I dreamed about Shawn, though my denial will for sure not last long as I am met by Shawn's sister.

"Hey, just us two again." She says.

"Yeah"

"I've been thinking about it but Shawn and you really did kiss last Friday, right?" How does she know?

"How do you know that...?" She grins. Ugh, curse my mouth.

"I wanted to make sure since Shawn was drunk but he told me."

"He did?"

"Yeah, he tells me everything."

"Oh..."

"Speaking about that, you like him too, don't you?" My eyes widen and I get betrayed by a small blush.

"I knew it, I know you're gonna deny it but please don't, he likes you back." Omg...I can't believe the cat is out of the bag.

"Really? How can you be so sure?"

"I know him and even if he hasn't said it word by word, I know he does."

"Wow ok...I knew he liked guys but..." I say pretty overwhelmed by the news.

"Ok, hear me out, you should really ask him out."

"You think so?"

"He wants that too but he's too shy to do it, trust me."

"You sure...?"

"Confident!"

"So, tell me your ideas, I don't know him enough."

She starts drilling me with all the details and when she's done, there's one thing that comes to mind.

If I like Shawn and I try to ask him out, it means I'm entering the love battle, aren't I? I'm not a fan of that but if it means pissing off the girls, then yeah, I'm in, then game on.