“But Jay’s not gay,” Jeff pointed out, lifting his shoulders uncertainly. Chad shook his head and closed his locker.

 

“So not the point, Jeff,” Chad said, enunciating slowly as if Jeff were a three-year-old. “The point is that Jensen is. And he’s desperate for some dick, right? Anything in the male species should suffice, right? So, Jared just waltzes in and sweeps him off his feet, then breaks his heart when he dumps him and outs him to the whole school. We’re gonna make that little punk cry like the girl he looks like before we graduate, I guarantee.”

 

Jeff scratched his head thoughtfully.

 

“No way, Jared agrees to it,” Jeff said after a moment.

 

“Don’t worry about Jay-Red,” Chad waved his hand dismissively. “You’re the bait and he’s the little fishy. When he gets a whiff of big brotherly approval, he’ll do whatever we want him to do. Perfect plan.”

 

Chad started walking down the hall and Jeff quickly followed him.

 

“Why?” Jeff asked and Chad rolled his eyes.

 

“Why what?” Chad replied.

 

“Why not just get him to do our homework?” Jeff asked. “Why have Jared do all of that when we could just confront him?”

 

“Why is the sky blue?” Chad asked, irritably. “Why do birds sing? What the fuck, man. I have been wanting to fuck with that kid since junior high and no matter how hard I hit him or what I say, he never cracks. Not once. Jeff, my man, this is what is called the art of fucking with a person’s head. And the only reason why you do it, is for the sheer and perfect joy of it. Now…you in or what?”

 

“I’m in,” Jeff said. “Of course, I’m in.”

 

“Good, now let’s go find the Sasquatch,” Chad said.

 

***

 

Jeff’s arm came around his little brother’s shoulder just as Jared slammed his locker shut. Jared looked down to see his brother one side of him and Chad on the other. 

 

“Hey, Jay,” Chad said, slapping Jared on the back. “We got a task for you.”

 

“What?” Jared asked.

 

“There’s this kid that’s been fucking with me for like six years, man. Since, like sixth grade. I want you to help me get back at him.”

 

“Sure,” Jared said with a grin. Jeff and Chad really were letting him into their clique, talking to him in the halls at school alone was worth the reverence of just about everybody in the freshmen class.

 

“You the man, bro,” Jeff said approvingly at Jared’s easy acceptance.   Jared grinned from ear to ear.

 

“Yeah,” Chad lowered his voice. “It’s going to sound a little weird, but we want you to hit on a guy for us.”

 

Jared’s heart sped up in his chest and blood rushed up to his face. Did they know? No way. He had never said anything to a soul. No way they knew. Jared forced himself to breath easily. He didn’t even know for sure himself, right? There had only been a handful of times that he’d gotten hard thinking about other guys and that didn’t necessarily make you gay. And there was that one time he’d jerked himself and kinda thought about Saul from PE1 in eighth grade, but that didn’t count because he’d stopped halfway through and went and ate a sandwich.

 

“Hit on a guy?” Jared asked a little breathlessly.  Chad pushed him back against a locker and stared at him head on.

 

“Yeah, hit on a gay guy for us, kind of string him along until we tell you to stop,” Chad said and Jared grimaced.

 

“Why can’t you guys do it?” Jared whined and Chad frowned.

 

 

“No, not like I won’t do it or anything, but I’m just asking why,” Jared protested balefully. Jeff shook his head in apparent disappointment and Chad stepped back in, capturing Jared’s attention.

 

“Because, dipshit, he’ll know something’s up since we hate his guts,” Chad said. “You, he won’t suspect.”

 

“I have to hit on him,” Jared asked uncertainty in every word. Chad rolled his eyes.

 

“Yes, just get him to call for you, kid,” Chad said, firmly. “It shouldn’t be hard.”

 

“I don’t even know how to hit on a guy,” Jared said. “I don’t even know how to hit on a girl.”

 

“Just be you,” Jeff said with a grin. “You’re a stud, bro.”

 

Chad snorted and laughed and Jared sent him a hurt look. If Jeff said it, then Jeff meant it. Jared knew he was a little too tall and lanky, maybe too skinny, as well, but overall he wasn’t completely ugly. That much he knew.

 

“If the kid doesn’t think he can do it, don’t pressure him,” Chad said to Jeff. “It’s no big deal. We can get one of the guys to do it.”

 

“No, I didn’t say I couldn’t do it,” Jared protested and Chad quieted down. “I just…don’t…whose the guy?”

 

 

At least, it wasn’t someone from the football team. Jared bit his lip. He might be able to manage it.

 

“Well, what do I have to do?” he asked after a moment and Jeff took him aside and explained things to him quietly while Chad waited. Chad could barely hide the wide, helpless grin that pulled at his lips.