Read Online The Elephant of Surprise (The Russel Middlebrook Series Book 4) by Brent Hartinger - Free Book Online
Authors: Brent Hartinger
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lives. Which is just crazy unfair. And even without thinking about it, I'd been totally buying into it. It was making me angry now that I thought about it, which I never really had before.
The point is—yes, I got a little off-topic there—I watched Kevin from a distance. And by the middle of the week, I had learned a few new things about him.
The biggest thing I noticed was that he didn't have a whole lot of friends. He'd used to be one of the most popular kids in school, but he wasn't now.
Kevin did have one friend—Ben, one of his buddies from the baseball team. At first I wondered if they were boyfriends, but it was pretty clear they weren't. I'm not sure how I could tell—I mean, it's not like they'd be holding hands in the hallway, not in our school. But they also weren't going to great lengths to not touch either, you know? Does that make sense?
I also never once saw Kevin bully or tease anyone else, even in a light-hearted way. Was this because he'd come out as gay, so he was more sensitive to others now? Or maybe his coming out had knocked him far enough down the popularity ladder that no one took him seriously as a bully anymore. (There was a depressing thought buried in there somewhere: on some level, did you need to be a bully to be popular? The whole "alpha" thing?)
Then on Wednesday afternoon on my way out of school, I happened to pass by the library, and I caught a glimpse of Kevin and a friend sitting at a table near the door. They were laughing, and it was such a warm, easy snicker between the two of them I might have stopped to listen even if it hadn't been Kevin. I knew immediately it was like that moment I'd shared with Min the week before—where you're not just in the same instant in time, you're sharing the same emotion.
Was this Kevin's new boyfriend? I admit I wanted to know that too.
No. I knew the guy Kevin was sitting with, and he was straight.
It was Brian Bund. He's a really good guy, but he's also someone who was the unquestioned outcast of the whole school, the lowest of the low. He had acne, a stutter, the whole bit.
I wasn't sure I'd ever even seen Brian laugh before. That's why I hadn't recognized him at first—he looked completely different now. His face was so much brighter, more open, with a big scythe of a smile, cutting me right down to size. Brian and I were still friends—he was straight, but he came to the school's GSA meetings, and I almost always said hi to him when I saw him in the hallway. But I guess I can't say we'd become friend-friends.
But Kevin and Brian had?
As I watched them, I realized Kevin looked different now too. That impish, smirk-y, somewhat cocky face that I'd fallen so madly in love with? It was deeper, more serious, or maybe more real, like Pinocchio becoming an actual little boy (I warned you I like animated Disney movies). Even his laugh seemed richer now.
Kevin caught me looking at him. The laughter froze on his face even as I immediately turned away.
It was funny how I'd been watching Kevin all these months out of the corner of my eye, but there were all these things I'd missed, obvious things that I should have seen. I'd been sneaking peeks at him, checking out the hang of his sweatshirt (or the bulge of his ass), but I guess I'd never really looked at him , not until just this week.
Gunnar had a dentist's appointment after school, so I headed for my bike alone, but I couldn't stop thinking about Kevin.
None of this made sense. Kevin had been a total jerk to me in the park that night. And yet now here he was going around the school looking all real and serious, even as he laughed in the library with Brian Bund. This wasn't the Elephant of Surprise—it was the Elephant of Fuck With Your Mind.
As I passed by the Dumpster, a head poked up.
"Wade?" I said.
"Russel!" he said with a smile. "I was hoping I'd run into you."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Wade was hoping he'd run into me?
"Really?" I said. "Me?" It was a little like one of those
The point is—yes, I got a little off-topic there—I watched Kevin from a distance. And by the middle of the week, I had learned a few new things about him.
The biggest thing I noticed was that he didn't have a whole lot of friends. He'd used to be one of the most popular kids in school, but he wasn't now.
Kevin did have one friend—Ben, one of his buddies from the baseball team. At first I wondered if they were boyfriends, but it was pretty clear they weren't. I'm not sure how I could tell—I mean, it's not like they'd be holding hands in the hallway, not in our school. But they also weren't going to great lengths to not touch either, you know? Does that make sense?
I also never once saw Kevin bully or tease anyone else, even in a light-hearted way. Was this because he'd come out as gay, so he was more sensitive to others now? Or maybe his coming out had knocked him far enough down the popularity ladder that no one took him seriously as a bully anymore. (There was a depressing thought buried in there somewhere: on some level, did you need to be a bully to be popular? The whole "alpha" thing?)
Then on Wednesday afternoon on my way out of school, I happened to pass by the library, and I caught a glimpse of Kevin and a friend sitting at a table near the door. They were laughing, and it was such a warm, easy snicker between the two of them I might have stopped to listen even if it hadn't been Kevin. I knew immediately it was like that moment I'd shared with Min the week before—where you're not just in the same instant in time, you're sharing the same emotion.
Was this Kevin's new boyfriend? I admit I wanted to know that too.
No. I knew the guy Kevin was sitting with, and he was straight.
It was Brian Bund. He's a really good guy, but he's also someone who was the unquestioned outcast of the whole school, the lowest of the low. He had acne, a stutter, the whole bit.
I wasn't sure I'd ever even seen Brian laugh before. That's why I hadn't recognized him at first—he looked completely different now. His face was so much brighter, more open, with a big scythe of a smile, cutting me right down to size. Brian and I were still friends—he was straight, but he came to the school's GSA meetings, and I almost always said hi to him when I saw him in the hallway. But I guess I can't say we'd become friend-friends.
But Kevin and Brian had?
As I watched them, I realized Kevin looked different now too. That impish, smirk-y, somewhat cocky face that I'd fallen so madly in love with? It was deeper, more serious, or maybe more real, like Pinocchio becoming an actual little boy (I warned you I like animated Disney movies). Even his laugh seemed richer now.
Kevin caught me looking at him. The laughter froze on his face even as I immediately turned away.
It was funny how I'd been watching Kevin all these months out of the corner of my eye, but there were all these things I'd missed, obvious things that I should have seen. I'd been sneaking peeks at him, checking out the hang of his sweatshirt (or the bulge of his ass), but I guess I'd never really looked at him , not until just this week.
Gunnar had a dentist's appointment after school, so I headed for my bike alone, but I couldn't stop thinking about Kevin.
None of this made sense. Kevin had been a total jerk to me in the park that night. And yet now here he was going around the school looking all real and serious, even as he laughed in the library with Brian Bund. This wasn't the Elephant of Surprise—it was the Elephant of Fuck With Your Mind.
As I passed by the Dumpster, a head poked up.
"Wade?" I said.
"Russel!" he said with a smile. "I was hoping I'd run into you."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Wade was hoping he'd run into me?
"Really?" I said. "Me?" It was a little like one of those
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