Five Minutes Before Class

Scarlet Weathers steps out of the Principal’s office to find Remy waiting in the hall.
“Ah,” he says, waving. “Scarlet.”
His incorrect emphasis was almost cute to her. “Come on, Remy, you’re with me today.”
“I am with you every day, Scarlet.” He tries to link arms with her, but she brushes him aside.
“Uh, no.”
“Why?” he asks putting on a huge frown. “Afraid someone will get the wrong idea?”
She blanches, then shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just come with me. I’ll show you to your homeroom and then I have to go to class.”
Remy frowns. “You are not very fun, are you?”
She glares at him. “I can be fun. I just choose not to be.”
“Mhm,” he says. “And I choose to enjoy getting naked with people.”
She rolls her eyes. As they walk down the hall, people part to let Scarlet pass. Part of it is her status as VP to Toby, but part of it is just the way she walks, like she’ll set you on fire if you don’t get out of her way. Remy watches her for a moment, enjoying her strange command of the room. Then he sees someone else.
“Oh, who is that?” he asks, pointing.
Scarlet turns to see Colin Daniels rummaging through his locker. “No one,” Scarlet says.
“No, that boy right there,” Remy says, clearly indicating Colin.
“What, Colin?” Scarlet laughs. “He’s Colin.”
“So, who is he?” Remy asks.
Scarlet shrugs. “Just Colin. Everyone knows Colin. He’s great.”
“Yes, he is great,” Remy says. “I want to say hi.”
He pulls away from Scarlet, who looks at the clock nervously. “Fine,” she says. “I had something to do anyway.” She pulls out her phone and starts texting furiously.
Remy saunters up to Colin, pushing his hands through his hair. “Allo, Colin.”
Colin starts a little, then turns with a huge grin on his face. “Whoa, man, didn’t see you there.”
Remy extends his hand. “I am new. I am also French. And you are very attractive.”
Colin’s green eyes pop open and he searches for someone else to help diffuse the situation. Scarlet is across the hall, texting much too seriously, but everyone else has gone to class. Which means he's late.
“Uh,” Colin says, laughing. “That’s nice of you, but I’m not really, uh, into that.”
Remy smiles. “Don’t worry, I’m not either. Call me sometime.” He puts a piece of paper in the front pocket of Colin’s jeans. When he steps away, Scarlet grabs his sleeve and drags him down the hall.
“See you, Colin,” she says as an afterthought.
Colin stares after them. Though he hasn’t spent much time thinking about it, he is pretty sure he's straight. But that isn’t what startles him. Remy noticed him. He didn’t just get noticed, he got approached. By a crazy Frenchman. That doesn’t happen every day, and it certainly doesn’t happen to Colin.
He shoves his used textbooks into his bag and hikes it over his shoulder, praying the teacher will give him some slack on the first day back. Entering the classroom, he finds the only seat available is next to Toby Lightly.
“Hey,” Colin says to him. “What did I miss?”
Toby stares at him for a moment. “Nothing. We’ve been here for 30 seconds.”
Colin give another huge grin. “Oops. Guess I’m just used to missing out on things. Don’t, like, arrest me or anything.”
“I can’t arrest you, Colin. I’m student body president, not a cop.”
Colin nods. “Sounds good to me.”
He immediately opens his notebook and starts doodling. Toby shakes his head, turning his attention to the teacher, and wondering how on earth Colin Daniels wound up in his AP Literature course. The guy isa dope. A cute dope, but a dope none the less. Toby refocuses again. He has better things to do than obsess over the cute dope sitting next to him.
Toby has a thing for dopes.
“Did you have a good…break?” Colin asks, easing into the idea of asking a question.
Toby keeps his eyes on the teacher and answer quietly. “Sure. I wrote about fifteen college applications, listened to my parents preach about gay rights 20 hours out of every day, and then Jack Woods died. It was great.” He shakes his head. “That was a lot more depressing than I meant it to be.”
Colin stares at him. “Wow, jeez. I thought I had a shitty summer.”
“Who said my name?” Summer Walsh turns to glare at them.
“Believe it or not, we were addressing the season, not you,” Toby says. Colin snickers.
Summer’s glare turns to a full on scowl. “You know it’s our duty as high level thinkers not to eat animals. I saw you snacking on beef jerky before school, Colin.”
Colin shrugs. “If animals weren’t meant to be eaten, why are they so delicious?”
“You’re disgusting,” she says and turns back around.
Colin and Toby quietly laugh to themselves