"So how was yesterday?" Gray asked again when Bryce came.
He patted Gray on the shoulder and said, "you never fail to defy my expectations." Then he approached Charlie.
"We need to talk after," he said after leaning in.
Charlie thought for a moment. He wondered why Bryce would want to talk before remembering what happened the day before. He sighed to himself and agreed.
"So, what'd you wanna tell me?" Bryce asked.
Charlie looked at Gray then back at Bryce, "what days are you two usually free?" he paused then rephrased, "free-er."
Bryce scratched the bottom of his chin then turned to Gray, "what days is your load light?"
"Mondays are pretty easy and Thursdays, the weekends aren't too bad either though on Sundays I'm busy watching the pros," Gray answered.
"Thursdays work for and the weekends too, Mondays are kinda rough so it just depends on how busy that day is for me," Bryce said to Charlie.
"Okay, today's Tuesday so let's aim to go to the mall this Thursday and this Saturday," Charlie said as he started gathering his belongings.
Bryce thought for a moment as to why Charlie would be taking the two of them to the mall. At first he didn't understand but then he remembered what Charlie had said yesterday before leaving and made a noise signaling that he understood why.
Gray looked between the two of them. He felt as if he were missing out, like they were having a conversation without even speaking. "Why the mall?" he finally asked.
Bryce patted him on the shoulder, "you'll see why when we get there."
Charlie grabbed Gray's backpack and handed it to him as he still looked between the two of them, still unsure of why they were going to the mall.
"But why the mall?" Gray asked again as they left the school.
The trio left the second cafeteria and walked around the school to the parking lot. As they walked Charlie thought about how to teach Gray but stopped himself. He knew he was getting too far ahead of himself and shook the future thoughts away. It was then that a nostalgic feeling passed through him and he couldn't suppress the pleasure he felt from it. He looked to his right, at Gray and Bryce who continued to bicker among themselves and smiled. The thought brought a sense of guilt with it but still he couldn't help but think about it. He had missed living like this.
The first car they reached was Gray's. It was a black, full-sized SUV, big enough to fit seven people. When Gray turned it on the vehicle roared to life, sending a rumble through Charlie's chest. Bryce and Charlie waved as Gray reversed but before driving off he lowered his window and tapped the leather steering wheel. He looked like he was about to say something but couldn't.
Gray thought about the right words but no matter what came to mind, it sounded too simple. He felt more thankful than he had with anyone before but the words wouldn't form.
After a minute Charlie and Bryce turned to each other. Bryce shrugged, despite knowing Gray for a long time he still didn't know what was happening.
"Are yo-" Charlie was stopped by the window slowly rolling up and the career rumbling away.
For a minute Charlie stood frozen and Bryce stood next to him laughing. After a slight shake of his head, Charlie started walking towards his car again, "I'll never understand him," Charlie whispered to Bryce.
"He'll always surprise you," Bryce said as he walked alongside Charlie.
Their pace slowed, turning their walk into a drift. Neither said anything, letting the chirping of the bugs and the distant road noises fill the space around them. Eventually they made it to Charlie's car. He opened the trunk and tossed his backpack inside before joining it. He looked at Bryce and with his head he motioned for Bryce to sit next to him. Hesitantly, Bryce did so.
It took him a while to become comfortable but after he had Charlie chuckled. He looked down and saw why. Unlike Charlie who looked relaxed leaning against the top of the trunk, he was scrunched forwards, despite using the top of the trunk as something to lean on.
"So, what'd you wanna talk about?" Charlie asked, letting his gaze wonder.
Bryce brought his hands across his scrunched stomach and started playing with his nails, "you're the Love Guru aren't you?"
Charlie wanted to deny it but he felt strangely comfortable telling Bryce the truth. He didn't know how or why but he had a feeling that he could tell Bryce anything and Bryce wouldn't tell anyone.
Charlie nodded, "I used to be but now I'm a former bully and a cheater."
"Do you remember any of the people you helped?"
Charlie pressed his lips together as he thought. "Hmmm," he made the noise through his throat, "Not exactly, I remember how happy I was when I saw them together and a few came back and took pictures with me so I remember them."
Bryce picked at his nail on his thumb, "do you remember how you became a bully?"
Charlie shook his head, "I never bullied anyone, never forced anyone to cheat either." He took a deep breath, cleansing his emotions and thoughts.
"I can believe that," Bryce said.
"Yea well, lies travel faster than the truth and they're easier to believe, but it happened in the past so I've moved on," as Charlie said the last part he realized he had just lied, whether it was to himself or to Bryce he wasn't sure.
"So, what'd you wanna talk about?" Charlie tried changing the subject.
Bryce looked up at him and carefully studied Charlie's face. He never knew why but he felt as if he had a sixth sense for when people were lying. Around Charlie it had never bothered him but now that sense was irking him. Not wanting to push him further, Bryce returned his gaze to his fingers and once again started picking at his thumb.
"I know you're helping Chandler," Bryce said.
A jolt went through Charlie. He thought about denying it before asking, "how'd you figure it out?"
"I talked to Chandler today after school and she told me," he paused and thought of what to say.
For the first time in the conversation Charlie turned to look at Bryce who sighed and scratched the back of his neck. Then with an annoying grunt he told Charlie what Chandler had told him on the roof.
"Why do you care so much about what happened yesterday?" Charlie asked.
Bryce didn't answer. He had his reasons but he didn't want to voice them to Charlie, he didn't know if it was out of his fear of what Charlie would do or because he would lose Charlie as a friend.
Charlie breathed heavily, "they were bound to do something if I started helping again," Charlie said before pushing himself out of the trunk. He looked down at Bryce and offered him a hand and pulled him out. Then he grabbed Bryce's backpack and handed it to him.
"I appreciate the thought but I can handle myself, Bryce," Charlie said as he patted Bryce's arm. Without another word or glance towards Bryce, Charlie walked to and entered the driver's seat. The car came to life with a slight grumble and as Charlie put it into reverse, Bryce stepped aside.
He watched as Charlie drove away without another look towards him. As Charlie's car grew further and further in the distance, Bryce's fingers tightened around his backpack. He made a promise to himself in that moment, no matter what happened, he would protect Charlie.
***
Annie was the last to arrive in the small, glass room the next day. It was early in the morning and as the time to school starting reached closer, the more students filled the library. Already present were Nathan, Chloe and Jack, and like last time, Nathan was the only one sitting alone.
"So what'd you find?" Nathan asked as Annie started to close the door.
Annie took her backpack off and moved to stand at the head of the table. She looked at Nathan then to the other two and explained what happened with Chandler and how Charlie had appeared with Gray, Bryce and Mr. Liev's younger brother. After she finished Nathan smiled a little and stood up and began walking around the room slowly.
"So it's all but confirmed that he's doing it again," Jack was the first to speak after. His voice was rough and cold.
Nathan shook his head, "no, could just be coincidence."
"Coincidence that he was walking around with Gray and Bryce after school?" Jack asked.
Nathan nodded, "he has a knack for knowing people you wouldn't expect."
Annie raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest, "You're on board now?"
Jack eyed her, "I never said I wasn't, I was just against the idea of doing something with there being a chance that Charlie was innocent but that doesn't seem like the case anymore."
Annie scoffed then rolled her eyes.
"What about you then?" Annie turned to Chloe.
"He can do whatever he wants, I don't want to be a part of this though," Chloe said after a minute. Then she stood up and grabbed her backpack, slipped it on and opened the sliding glass door and left.
"I'll go and check him out," Nathan said as he turned to Annie, "you go and talk to Liev's little brother, don't be suspicious about it though."
She nodded as the tardy bell rang. It's monotone beeping put Annie into a rush as she quickly grabbed her bag and left the room. Outside the clumps of students began to disperse, creating large crowds at the exits of the library. As Nathan watched the students shuffling to leave, Jack stood up and moved to stand next to him.
"Whats your plan?" Jack asked.
"Plan?" Nathan asked, keeping his eyes on the students. His gaze was on one student in particular. He knew the student's next class and knew that he was heading the wrong way.
"What are you going to do?" Jack clarified.
The student Nathan was watching kept shuffling towards the exit. "I'm going to talk to Charlie, see what he's up to," Nathan said.
"I meant after."
The student suddenly turned around and began fighting the crowd. Nathan smirked as the crowd kept moving the student towards the exit now matter how hard he tried to fight it until finally he was out. The student moved to the entrance of the library and knocked on the glass door but the librarian shook her head and pointed to another route. Nathan turned to Jack, "I don't know, I gotta talk to Charlie first," he said before patting the side of Jack's shoulder and leaving the room.
***
Charlie entered the large cafeteria after his fourth period class. He looked around the giant, white, tiled floor. The room was huge, and spread across the large room were wooden, cafeteria tables, six rows with height columns. On the far side was the lunch line that dipped into a room out of which students came with sandwiches, pizzas and other items.
He scanned the room, looking for one person in particular. Quickly he looked at all the crowded tables and saw that Gray wasn't there. He took a few steps deeper into the cafeteria and still couldn't find him.
"Who're you looking for?" asked a scratchy voice behind him.
"Oh I'm looking for Gray, have you seen him?" Charlie asked, still scanning the cafeteria.
The voice went silent for a second before saying, "I'm right here."
Charlie snapped around to see Gray's smiling face, "what happened to your voice?"
"I yelled a little too much during morning practice," he explained.
Charlie nodded before telling Gray to follow him. Together the two stood in the lunch line as Charlie started talking.
"I was thinking last night and just going to the mall isn't going to cut it," he started, "I need you to learn quicker and to get you with a girl faster, before they do something."
Gray looked at him with a confused look. He was still wondering why they needed to go to the mall and now he had even more things to think about.
"So, we're going to speed things up a bit," Charlie said as they grabbed their food and left the lunch line.
As they walked across the room, Gray asked, "where are we going?"
Charlie pointed with his chin, "that table."
Gray turned his head to where Charlie was pointing and immediately turned around, "no." he said.
Charlie quickly moved to stand in front of Gray, blocking his escape. Gray tried side-stepping to avoid him but no matter what he did Charlie would always stand in his way. Then Charlie took a step towards him, forcing Gray to take a step back.
"I know you're scared, but trust me on this," Charlie started.
"No, hell no, let me go."
"Gray, we don't have time anymore, if you want a girlfriend, be the quarterback you're meant to be," Charlie pointed with his chin again, "then we gotta go over there."
Gray stood still. He squeezed his eyes close and clenched his jaw tight, "fine," he said the word, making it sound like poison.
Nodding to himself, Charlie turned Gray around and guided him to the cheerleaders table. As they approached it he scanned the table and made a mental note. There were six girls sitting on one side and four girls and two guys sitting on the other. The closer they reached the more heads turned in their direction of which Charlie saw four girls fix their hair and sit up taller.
"Can we join ya'll?" Charlie asked.
"Of course," said one of the guys. He scooted to his left and patted the bench carefully. As he did he kept his eyes on Charlie, making sure to take his appearance in.
Charlie looked at the spot on the bench, then to the four girls on the opposite corner of the table. He did his best to hide his frustration and told himself that this would be good enough. He sat down next to the man who patted the bench, motioning for Gray to sit at the end of the table.
"So what brings you to the cheerleaders table?" said the guy as he rested his chin on his hands and his elbows on the table. He leaned in a little towards Charlie as he spoke.
Charlie scooted towards Gray, "uh, Gray wanted to get to know y'all better," Charlie stiffly turned his head towards to find his face in a ghostly white shade, "he said that since y'all do a great job supporting him and the football guys he should at least get to know y'all so that he can thank y'all."
The eyes on the table suddenly all focused towards Gray who shakily reached for his slice of pizza. As the pizza rose from the plastic tray, Gray kept his eyes glued to it, unable to look anywhere else. Then he felt a sharp pain in his side, removing the stiffness he felt. He turned towards the table and swallowed hard.
"Y-yea… I wanna thank you guys…" he spoke softly.
The people at the table nodded awkwardly.
"We'll need even more… when we start playoffs…" he trailed off.
"We'll do our best Gray," said one of the girls and the rest nodded.
Just as Charlie was about to speak he saw a familiar pair of shorts approach the table.
"Can I sit here?" Nathan asked.