Anagapesis

Zayn was shaking . He wasn't expecting this. He wasn't expecting his best friend to have feelings for him and if he was following along right he didn't even like Daniela in the first place. He balled his hands into fist and crossed his arms.

"Why would you put her through that?"

"The first fucking thing you think about is how this would affect her?" Christian's tone changed to anger and frustration. "Can it once not be about her?" Christian wasn't one to cry but for something he felt that was supposed to be heartfelt it wasn't going that way. He kept this bottle up for so long and Zayn's reaction wasn't what he wanted. Zayn could feel the same way now that he knows. "I can't figure out if it's because you quote on quote 'love' her or you're way too far gone into this protective role. I wanted you to at least reject me or make fun of me. Instead you jumped straight to her. This wasn't about her!" Attention was drawn to them now. The teacher who was circling their area came right back around to them. Zayn put his arm up to signal he wanted to be out of this conversation. The students around them stared and made him uncomfortable. Christian noted this wasn't the place to get loud like that but he couldn't hold it back. Zayn stepped out into the hallway pulling his tie to give himself air.

"What happened?" Daniela asked with a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her with his hazel eyes.

"You were right…" She didn't know if to smile or not. She felt satisfaction in being right yet it made her feel weird for some reason. She didn't know what she was feeling but it felt similar to disappointment.

"What did he say?" She asked, clearing her throat.

"H-he said…" He didn't know if he should mention this to her. The whole reason Christian freaked out on him is because he knew what would be her reaction. She stared at him waiting for him to put together the words but he couldn't say them. "Danie, I can't say it." She was gently smiling at him but he knew she would blow up if the words dropped. The way Zayn was putting things made her feel anxious. It definitely involved her.

She squeezed his hand that she was holding even harder. "Zayn what did he say about me?" She was smiling but a tear ran down from her eye.

"He said…" He was so scared to say this to her but he knew he had to. "He said he didn't like you an- and… and he was jealous of yo-" She pushed him away. She couldn't listen to him. She wasted months on him just to feel like shit. Fuck being right it only makes her feel worst now. She wrapped her arms around herself and sobbed. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't focus on anything Zayn said after that. She felt so sick, so angry. She was used and she hated that she was used that way. Chantelle turned out to be right about so many things she couldn't see or ignored intentionally and unintentionally. She sat on the frozen feeling like she was suffocating from this new reality. She thought even if he had some interest in Zayn maybe he was still into her but there were no feelings there. She ran off in the direction of the washrooms and Zayn didn't know how to feel. He leaned himself against the wall with his head in his hands.

"Just suck it up." He repeated in his head. He tried to go on with his day like nothing happened but his peers were staring at him like he had something on his face. Was it because of the article? He had no idea but didn't bother to ask anyone.

"What happened?"

"What are you talking about?" He answered while blowing on his food.

"Today, I heard Christian blew up on you during the exercise and there are rumors going around that he's gay." Zayn stopped for a second and looked up at her with a taken back expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know you know. Right now Elenore is losing her head and everyone is watching each other sideways cuz every week someone else likes touching bats or bumping donuts."

"All I see is eyes on me."

"Because Everyone thinks he said it to you or that's how the rumor goes." Lorel eyed him kinda judgingly and he felt under scrutiny.

"I think they're watching me because of the article."

"That too." Lorel slid her phone across to him and pulled up the forums. "Look at today's topics. Like who capitalized Gay? The hell?" She pulled back over her phone and looked closely at the account name. "Oh that's one of Aubrey's accounts, allegedly." She rolled her eyes and passed the phone back to her friend. "See what he said. Let me read. Christian Walker is and was always for the gays. I swear he stared at my ass once. I know he was when I noticed his odd friendship with Zayn Snipes who I also think is an undercover queer. Christian seems to see Zayn is a homosexual lighting. Iykyk." She looked over at Zayn who seemed to be deep in thought and not really phased by this alleged Aubrey account's statement. "What did he say?"

"That he likes me."

"Anything else."

"He alluded to not liking Dani at all and using her to…" Zayn paused and shut his eyes tightly in disgust. "Feel… me." Lorel displayed repulsion. Zayn felt pissed all over again.

"And you told her." She already knew from the way she was sure she heard her crying in the bathroom, the classroom and the stairwell. Zayn nodded in response. "Everyone is talking about this. Now that they think that they will be paying even more attention to you and watching you to prove it." He knew that and in his head he was freaking out but he had to save face. He shrugged and focused on his food. "Right now especially after today, everyone is kinda tense. After that whole communication thing everyone wants to cut everyone's head off. I talked with Daniela and I guess things went well. On my paper I got 'where do we start?' And that was kinda hard to answer. I was uncomfortable but I guess things are better." She did a little corner smile which indicated things were still sour between them. He was in the mood to inquire so he pushed it to the back of his mind for another time.

His mind was still running over Christian confession which made him sick. He was supposed to feel the same way but didn't. He didn't feel those same butterflies. It was washed away or something. He didn't care for Christian right now he wanted to break his skull Renee style. The thought of beating him with a metal water bottle made him laugh to himself. Lorel looked up at him like he was going mad and did that judgey thing with her eyes and turned back to her food.

"Wait, I never asked. I don't know if it's appropriate to ask right now but how are things with Aaron?" Lorel asked, covering her mouth. He raised his eyebrow and thought. They really had nothing going on since they last saw each other. Zayn still felt awkward around him because of the doubt Lorel planted in his mind.

"I don't know…" Lorel scoffed.

"I thought you were interested in him? If you want him, stick around, flirt a bit and the process might speed up." She pointed at him with her fork.

"I don't want to." She tried to read his energy but she couldn't figure it out.

"Is it because of what I said?" She asked regretfully. He didn't say anything which confirmed she was right. "I'm sorry." He somewhat shrugged. "I know you're trying to act like all this is what ever but I see right through that and I want you to know that I'm here no matter what. I'm just looking out for you." Her words didn't exactly move him but he got the message and gave a reassuring smile.

Right now he just wanted to sink into the floor and never recover.