Like a Brother!

To get these chapters sent directly to your mailbox for free join my newsletter: https://szmackni.substack.com/

The cheerleaders below him looked up and beamed.

"Nathan!" They said in unison as they scooted, making room for him to place his tray and sit down.

"This is an unusual combination," he looked at Charlie, "finally making other friends?"

"I had to after you wouldn't introduce me to yours," Charlie.

Nathan looked at the girls on either side of him with a side-eye. Then shrugged all to obviously, "don't know what you're talking about," he chuckled. 

"What're you doing here? For real this time." 

Charlie motioned towards Gray with a slight head nod, "he needed my help with something so I'm here for that."

Nathan raised an eyebrow and turned towards Gray, "really?" He said the word slowly, "so what'd you need help with? Getting a girlfriend?" 

Gray froze. The color drained from his face and the table suddenly went quiet. All eyes were on Gray. Some were intrigued by the potential of drama while most wanted to know if he was available or not.

The small silence turned into a long one as Gray refused to look at anything except the table. Then he felt a sharp pain in his side once again. He looked down at it and saw Charlie's elbow and nodded to himself.

"I uh, wanted to say… thank you… to the girls," he said stiffly and slowly, "for supporting us."

"And you needed help with that?" Nathan asked, the table silently echoing his question.

"I'm just here as a plus one, he didn't want to sit with the cheerleaders alone," Charlie jumped in.

"I don't know man," Nathan suddenly turned to the girls next to him, "something seems suspicious here, don't you think?" His tone changed to be more playful.

Playing along with him the girls nodded, "you seem to be hiding something," one of them pointed to Gray.

"No, it's the truth." He said.

"I don't know, maybe you are here to find a girlfriend," said the other.

"I could never ask a girl out," Gray said.

Nathan watched as Charlie nodded to himself, "why're you nodding?" he asked.

"He's not wrong." Charlie said.

"And how would you know that?" Nathan asked, a sudden edge developed in his playful tone.

Charlie waved off Nathan, "something Bryce told me."

"I'm just waiting for the right person," Gray said loudly.

"But you had a girlfriend a few weeks ago," Nathan added, letting the words hang for a moment.

"It's alright Gray, the next girl will be the one, I know it." said the girl to the left of Nathan said after a few silent beats.

"Thanks," Gray said, unsure of whether to believe her or not.

The dismissal bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. As the group went to stand up, one of the girls looked at Charlie, Nathan and Gray. "You guys should come here again tomorrow, it was fun today," she smiled.

The three guys nodded as they left.

"My class is this way, see you guys tomorrow then," Nathan said as he walked away from Charlie and Gray.

As the two of them headed towards the commons Charlie nudged Gray, "you did good."

Gray nodded, "I thought my heart was gonna explode."

Charlie gave Gray a light pat on the back, "not while I was there," he said before climbing the stairs to his next class.

Gray chuckled as he watched Charlie go. A giddiness filled his chest and the idea of talking to a girl that scared him so much didn't seem as frightening anymore.

                                     ***

When the bell signaling school to end rang, Charlie gathered his belongings slowly. In his last class of the day he knew no one and the few people that did know him stayed away. He knew no one had forgotten what happened in middle school. After almost everyone had left the class, he headed for the door.

Knowing there was still another hour and a half until Gray and Bryce's practice would be over he wondered what he should do. He let his legs take control of where he was headed as he wondered what he could do. When he stepped off his train of thought, he realized he was outside the school's stadium.

There were more kids outside this time then when he had come before and as such the main gate was left open. Charlie shrugged, he told himself that there could be other ways to spend his time but now that he was there he should go inside. As he entered he saw the team practicing while Gray, Bryce and the cornerback from last time conducted their three man drill. 

On the track near the stands were cheerleaders. Charlie pushed his glasses up, wondering why they were there. Then he looked around at the stands and found Charles sitting where he had been sitting last time and decided to join him.

"How's practice going?" Charlie asked as he sat down.

He didn't respond and continued to stare at Gray.

"Hello?" Charlie leaned in a little.

Once again he didn't respond. Then Charlie gave him a little push, jolting Charles to life. He grunted as he snapped his head towards Charlie.

"When'd you come here?" he asked.

"When you were thinking about Annie," Charlie smiled.

Charles went bright red. He brought his t-shirt up to his nose, hiding everything but his eyes. After a few embarrassing seconds of silence he murmured, "how'd you know?"

"I caught you staring that day we ran into her."

The redness had now reached his forehead. Knowing it wasn't something he could hide anymore, he let his t-shirt go and revealed his tomato-colored complexion. 

"And I'm sorry to tell you but you're a few years too young for her."

"I know that," Charles grumbled annoyingly, getting a chuckle out of Charlie.

"Why're the cheerleaders here?" asked Charlie.

Charles gave him a weird look.

"No, I haven't gone to a football game," Charlie said quickly, as if he'd read Charles' mind.

"Ok, so cheerleaders make the crowd excited which makes the players excited," Charles explained.

"Ok, I know what they do and why they need to be at the games but why're they here, while the jocks are practicing," Charlie fired back.

"Practicing."

"Do they really need to practice?"

"Can you throw someone in the air and catch them so that they don't get hurt?"

Charlie nodded, "point taken."

The sound of the shrill, coach's whistle signaled the end of their conversation. The two watched the rest of the practice in silence, laughing at the mistakes and exclaiming whenever a big hit occurred. 

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Charles finally asked.

"Not really, and even if I did I'd probably still end up here," Charlie said.

"Why?"

"Because it's fun. I've never had a sibling and I don't have anyone I'm close to now to call a brother," Charlie started, he kept his eyes focused on the field knowing that Charles was looking at him, "but hanging out with you makes me feel like I have a younger brother."

Charles remained quiet until the football players started to head inside, "are you trying to win me over?" he finally asked.

Charlie took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "why would do that?"

"I don't know, you could be-"

"Stop! I've got something to do, see you around," Charlie said as he put his glasses back on and left Charles.

From his seat Charles watched as Charlie made his way onto the track and approached one of the cheerleaders. What they were saying wasn't clear but Charles could see her smiling and laughing a little.

Very quickly after, Charlie nodded and left. Charles wondered if he'd be going to the cafeteria to meet with Gray and for a moment thought about following him but decided against it. The last thing he wanted to do was get a scolding from his brother.

 As Charles made his way to Mr. Liev's classroom he remembered what Charlie said about not having a brother and what he'd said after. Despite having an older brother, Charles felt more relaxed around Charlie and wondered why that was the case. 

As he entered Mr. Liev's classroom he saw the principal sitting on a nearby table as Mr. Liev graded papers.

The principal was an older man in his late fifties. He had buzzed gray and white hair and a thick, white beard that wrapped around his jaw and neck. He wore a powder blue shirt that was once tucked into his pants but now hung out wrinkled. He had a barrel-like body and lanky limbs. As he sat on the desk, his toes grazed the ground. With his hazel eyes he looked at Charles and waved before returning to his conversation with Mr. Liev.

"Come on there's no guarantee that we win but if, and that's a good sized if, we win, could you announce the players in?" he asked.

"Just get someone else to do it, like their coach or something," Mr. Liev's eyes were glued to the papers on the table in front of him.

"But more students like you, hell even some of the freshmen know you," the principal motioned with his hands as he spoke.

"Listen Pete, I'm not gonna do it," Mr. Liev finally looked up from his papers.

Pete sighed, he turned to Charles, "can you help here?" he asked Charles who shrugged in response.

"If he doesn't listen to you, why do you think he'll listen to me?" Charles asked.

Pete pressed his tongue into the front of his lip as he thought for a moment.

"Fine," he said as he stood up, "just think about it, alright?" 

Mr. Liev waved him off but Pete didn't look. He waved goodbye to Charles and left, leaving the two brothers alone.

"I just have a few more papers left then we can leave," Mr. Liev said before resuming.

Charles nodded and found a seat near his brother's desk. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a few sheets of paper and began doing his homework. Halfway through the first sheet there was a light knocking on the door. Both brothers looked up to see Annie in black shorts and a gray long sleeve t-shirt. Her hair was damp, as if she'd just left the shower and she was carrying two bags.

As Charles took in her appearance his heart skipped a beat and a nervousness started to build in his chest.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Charles nodded before realizing that she was talking to his brother. He turned red as Mr. Liev motioned for her to come in.

Annie quickly found a seat across from Charles as Mr. Liev resumed working on his papers. Following his brothers lead, Charles turned his attention down to his homework but no matter how many times he read the question, the thought that Annie might be looking his way would enter his head and break all the concentration he had.

"Charles," Annie whispered as to not disturb Mr. Liev.

Immediately Charles looked up at her. Annie leaned in towards him. As she did, the smell of her shampoo snaked its way into his nose. Her brown eyes caught Charles' attention and he wondered if they were always this big.

"Were you with Charlie the whole time that day you ran into me and Chandler?" she asked.

Charles nodded.

"What were you guys doing?" she asked.

Charles opened his mouth to speak but his voice cracked as he tried saying the first word. He turned a bright shade of red and cleared his throat as Annie giggled. 

"We were just talking to Gray and Bryce," he said quickly.

Annie smiled and tilted her head, "just talking? Come on, you really think I'll believe that?"

"We were," Charles' voice suddenly grew loud and caught Mr. Liev's attention. He looked up at him for a moment before turning back to his papers. "We were," repeated Charles in a softer voice.

"So why were you guys walking around then?" she asked.

"Why?" Charles echoed the word.

He looked at Annie who was looking back with an intense gaze. "Why," he said the word again, this time pulling away and leaning back as he thought for a moment.

"Because," Charles thought back to that time they were walking around the hallway and as he remembered that time the corners of his lips rose. Then his conversation with Charlie on the stands appeared in his mind and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"It was fun," he looked up at Annie.

She stared at him blankly. That wasn't the answer she wanted so she decided to push further, "of course it was fun, but I wanna know the reason why you guys were walking around," her voice had risen a little.

Charles went to speak but stopped himself. He didn't know why but a part of himself told him to keep the answer to himself. It told him that no matter what happens he should not tell her or anyone.

"There was no reason, we were just walking around because we met each other in the cafeteria and it was fun to hang out," he lied.

She leaned back now and crossed her arms across her body. She nodded but it didn't seem like she was nodding at Charles. She quickly pulled her phone at, looked at the screen before putting it away.

"Ah my dads here, I gotta go now, it was fun talking," she said quickly to Charles before turning to Mr. Liev, "thanks for letting me stay for a bit."

Mr. Liev gave her a thumbs up as she left.

"Charlie's helping Gray find a girlfriend isn't he?" Mr. Liev asked after he was sure Annie was gone.

To get these chapters sent directly to your mailbox for free join my newsletter: https://szmackni.substack.com/