II

I put my notebooks and a few pencils in my backpack as I got ready to go to school. I grabbed my backpack and walked downstairs, setting my bag on the couch before I walked into the kitchen to get something to eat before I left when I suddenly heard Stilton's voice behind me. "What are you doing up so early, boy?" He questioned and I felt my heart beat fast as I put a piece of bread in the toaster. "I-I..." "You what? Didn't you hear me ask you a question?" "Yes..." "Then turn around and answer me." He said in a loud and demanding voice which caused me to flinch before I spun around and looked at him. He was standing by the table with a bottle of beer in his hand. "I said, what are you doing up this early?" He repeated.

"It's Monday..." I said and watched as he took a drink of his beer. "What's that got to do with anything?" He asked. "I-I have to go to school today.." I responded as I grabbed my toast and attempted to head back into the living room, only to have him stop me. "Why do you even bother going to that damned school if you already know that you won't achieve anything?" He queried. He had me pinned against the wall so it was hard for me to try and get away from him. "B-because I have a chance to get away from you." I stuttered and he didn't respond which made my heart beat loud in my ears. I was afraid of what was going to happen next. "And why would you want to do that?" He questioned, taking another swig of his drink.

I managed to get away from him and into the living room to put my shoes on. I quickly slipped them on and grabbed my backpack only to have Stilton grab it from me and throw it on the ground. "Hey!" I shouted and immediately regretted it because he grabbed me by my arm and yanked me towards him. "Don't ever raise your voice to me, do you understand?" He yelled and I was shaking now. He stared at me before putting one of his hands on my face, which made me flinch. "I'm sorry.." He said to me before letting my arm go. I stood there for a moment before grabbing my backpack and running out of the house, down the street to the bus stop. The last couple of kids got on and I ran on behind them just before the doors closed.

"Good timing kid," the driver said to me and I waved it off as I tried to catch my breath. "Next time, make sure you have an alarm so you can get here on time." He joked lightly and I growled silently. "Take a seat so we can get you kiddos to school." I walked down the aisle to find a seat when I saw Chowder wave to me to sit next to him and I let out a sigh before sitting next to him. "Hey Gorgy." He greeted and I covered his mouth. "Chowder, please do not call me that. We may be friends, but don't call me Gorgy! At least, not in public..." I said in a hushed voice as I felt my face turn pink and he looked at me. I uncovered his mouth and he smiled at me. "Okay. But, I just have one question." He voiced and I looked at him again. "What is it?"

"Do you.. not like the nickname?" He queried with a sudden sad look on his face which made my heart skip a beat. "N-no, no. I like it I just don't want you to call me that in public please," I said as I put my hands on either side of his face to make him look at me as I said that. I looked at his face and saw it was a slight pink and that's what I realized what I was doing and immediately removed my hands away from him and looked out the window, embarrassed. We both were silent for a moment before I decided to speak again, remembering yesterday. "U-uhm, Chowder?" "Yeah?" "Remember yesterday when I fell into the fountain and we, uhm.. went to your house?" I asked as I peeked over at him. "I was wondering... how did you get my clothes?" I questioned.

He quickly looked at me with his face a shade of pink before looking down at his hands. He didn't say anything and I let out a sigh, knowing that I wasn't going to get a proper answer so I just decided to leave the conversation there until he was ready to give me one.

~ ~ ~

The bus finally arrived at the school and everyone began to get off it, Chowder and I walking off last. "So, what classes do you have this semester?" I asked him as we walked through the entrance. "Oh uhm.. I have a physics class even though I am terrible in regular math," he began and I chuckled. "I believe I have a cooking class as well as fitness." He said the last class with a groan and I laughed. "I must admit, fitness is kind of terrible," I began and he groaned again. "I don't mind the walking and running but it's all the other stuff that I don't like while being in fitness." He said and I smiled. "Well hey, on the bright side we have two of those classes together." I voiced and he looked at me. "Really?" He asked with a smile and I felt my face warm up but I just nodded. "Y-yeah.. it's the physics one." I told him.

"Hey, Gorgonzola!" I heard a familiar, irritating voice and grimaced. 𝑂ℎ 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤.. I thought as I didn't turn around and kept walking. But she caught up to us, Ceviché not far behind her, and she stopped in front of us. "Didn't you hear me?" She laughed once she caught her breath a little and I rolled my eyes. "Nope, must've been too far behind us for me to 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡 to hear your voice." I said with a growl and she glared at me for a second before shrugging me off and turning towards Chowder. "How about you Num-Nums? Did you hear me?" She asked him in the most tryhard seductive voice she could do all while messing with his hat and touching on him. I suddenly felt a small feeling of jealousy rise inside of me and I smacked her hand away when she tried to take his hat off.

"Ow!" She exclaimed as she pulled her hand back and held it close to her chest, glaring at me with her eyes full of rage. I returned the glare, shooting daggers into her. "Do 𝑛𝑜𝑡 touch him unless you have the permission to do so." I growled at her and she looked between us before turning around and stomping away, Ceviché following behind. "Bitch.." I muttered when she was well away from us. "T-thanks Gorgonzola.." Chowder said, looking down and I let out a breath. "Not a problem," I said as I looked at him. "Come on, let's get to our classes. The faster we are, the better seats we'll get." I encouraged and he chuckled, beginning to walk. "Alright."

~ ~ ~

For my first class, everything was quiet, despite the couple of people who would talk to one another while the teacher spoke. Unfortunately Chowder wasn't in this class to make it a bit more interesting. My next class was Fitness, one of the classes we did have together which I was looking forward to, regardless of the fact it wasn't my best and thought that it was pointless. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠? 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. I thought as I changed in the locker room. Once I was dressed, I walked out and jogged down the track until I saw Chowder. While I passed some people, I heard a few girls gossiping. "--no way, really?" One asked with a gasp. "Yes really! I heard that he left a red mark on her face this morning and she had to cover it up with makeup because it hasn't gone away yet." Another responded.

They kept talking until they noticed me and immediately walked away down the track. "I didn't slap her.." I mumbled to myself. I couldn't deny that I did feel bad about smacking her hand. I continued down the track until I eventually saw Panini and Ceviché chatting in the grass. I let out a sigh before I walked over to hem. "Uh, hey Panini.." I greeted and she turned to face but just rolled her eyes and turned away. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" She asked. "You're not going to slap her again, are you?" Ceviché questioned. "Hey! I didn't slap her, I smacked her hand away." I snapped at him but sighed. "Look, that's what I'm here to discuss. I'm sorry that I smacked you.. it was a weird morning.." I voiced as I looked at her. She thought for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning to me.

"It's fine. I guess everyone has their weird mornings. I accept your apology Gorg-" "But I still stand by what I said; make sure you have the proper permission before you touch anyone or their stuff." I interrupted her and walked away before she could get another word out. I kept walking and I finally saw Chowder who was at the drinking fountains and I walked up and over to him. I noticed him walking around and looking around before I walked to one of the fountains. While I was getting a drink, I felt as if someone were staring at me and I turned around to see Chowder pretending to look at birds. I instantly thought of something and slowly and quietly walked up behind him. "Whatcha doing Pudge?" I said the old nickname I called him back when we were younger close to his ear which caused him to jump and hold onto the railing.

"A-ah uhmm I-I'm just looking at the uhh birds.." He stuttered, his face a light pink and I chuckled. "The birds, huh?" I leaned against the rails and looked at him. "So, see any interesting 'birds?'" I queried with a smile. "Y-yeah.. I did.." He responded. "Oh really?" "Yes. It was a green one.." He voiced and I smiled. "L-let's get going." He said and began to walk back down to the track and I followed behind him. We walked in silence until I sighed and decided to break the silence. "Soo.. you know how Panini made up a nickname for you, even though you're not dating.." I began and Chowder looked at me. "Yeah.. I know it.. wait, what about it?" He asked. "Well.. I was wondering if you had one for her.." I asked an he didn't answer right away which concerned me. "Not really, no. But if I did, it possibly wouldn't be a nice one.." He admitted and I laughed.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one." We kept walking in silence again before we stopped and sat on the sidewalk and I looked over at him and he looked away from me. "What's wrong?" I asked and noticed him looking Panini and Ceviché were across the track and I noticed that he looked a little bit doleful. I looked at them for a moment before looking back at him, raising a brow. "Chowder, do you.. do you like Panini?" I asked and he quickly turned to face me, surprised by the question but I saw it in his eyes that he didn't and I shouldn't have asked. Before I could say anything else, out teacher called everyone to get ready to head to our next classes. I sighed and stood up. "Come on, let's go." I held my hand out so I could help him up. He looked at me before grabbing my hand and I felt something go through my body when his hand touched mine.

We stood there for a moment before I turned away from him, my face heating up. "L-let's go.." I said and began to walk up the track and towards the locker rooms to get changed before quickly heading to my next class. Once I was in Physics, I found a seat and sat down, putting my face in my hands and silently groaned. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? I asked myself as I rubbed my face, not noticing everyone walk into the class. Especially Chowder. I heard the teacher speak and I shook my head and paid attention. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎.. I thought as I began to do the work he had told us to start on. Throughout the entirety of the class, it was pretty chill. "Alright everyone, finish up whatever you have left and put your things away, we will be watching-"

I tuned out the last bit of what he was talking about as I finished the problems I was working on, but as I was doing so, someone threw something at me. I just tried to ignore it until they threw a paper airplane next. I swiftly turned around and noticed Chowder scribbling something on a piece of paper before folding it into a plane. I smirked as I watched him and as soon as he was about to toss it at me, he looked at me and crumpled the airplane up with a blush on his face which made me laugh and wave to him, Chowder returning the wave shyly. As soon as everyone began to sit next to people they knew and the lights went off, I got up and sat next to Chowder. "Hey, why were you throwing paper at me?" I chuckled, looking at the crumpled paper in his hands. "U-uh.." He looked away from me.

"I-I didn't throw paper at you Gorgy.." He whispered and I gently grabbed his wrist, getting close to his ear. "I told you not to call me that in public. Do I need to tell you again?" I asked in a low voice and I noticed that his face was red. "I-I uhm.. I.." He stuttered and I let go of his wrist and grabbed the paper from his hands. Once I started to uncrumple the paper, Chowder tried to grab it back from me. "N-no! Please don't read that." He whispered, panicked. "Why not? What is so bad on this paper that you don't want me to read it?" I questioned while trying to keep him off of me. "Please Gorgonzola, just don't read it." He said again, desperate. I looked at his face before letting out a sigh. Our teacher dismissed everyone and I stood up before putting the paper in my pocket and grabbed my stuff, walking out of the classroom with Chowder following behind me.

"Don't worry, I won't read it. I have a shredder in my room so I'll shred it once I get home." I told him and he smiled before hugging me. "Thank you Gorgonzola!" I felt a blush creep onto my face and I tried to pull him away before anyone saw. "It's no problem." I responded before walking away, heading towards my house.