Chapter Five:

Somehow I survived my first week of school. I don't know how, or why, but I did.
It wasn't like it got any easier either. People still called me twig and made fun of my appearance however I had learned to ignore their constant jabs.
But it still hurt a lot.
I hadn't even tried to talk to Crete again, either. He still sat behind me in science and he was always tapping his pencil, or putting his feet on the back of my chair. I really wanted to turn around and comment on it, not in a rude way, just in a playful, fun way. But every time I got the courage to, the bell rang and I'd be forced to scurry out of the room to make it to my next class on time.
Banjo hadn't helped much. I'd see him walking from class to class with Kazooie but he never bothered to acknowledge my existence. Kazooie however would always stop and hug me or high five me while she walked by. She was always so nice.
I watched the clock tick until it finally ticked over the twelve and the bell rang. I quickly gathered up my things and raced out of the room. Another Monday over, thank god.
However, as I walked down to my locker, I saw Crete walking up the stairs. He usually never went this way since his locker was all the way on the other side of the hallway so I wondered what he was doing on these stairs.
"Hey, twig, you got a second?" Crete asked me.
I was shocked for a moment. He talked to me? I didn't have to start the conversation this time? Maybe it wasn't Crete, just someone that looked a lot like him.
But, he walked over to me and I realized that it was defiantly him.
"Um... My names not twig," I muttered, realizing afterwards how stupid that sounded. Obviously he knew my name wasn't twig.
"I know. But the nickname suits you nicely. Your names Oliver, right?" Crete asked.
"Yeah," I said, nodding to assure him.
"Yeah... Your dads... They're, like, famous," Crete said, smiling.
I instantly felt my happiness dim. He didn't care about me. He cared about my dads fame and that's it. He probably didn't even want to talk to me, he just wanted the deeds on my dads.
"I don't have time for this," I muttered rudely and began walking away.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Crete asked, following me.
"I don't need another stalker trying to figure out my dads secrets," I growled, sending him a glare.
"That's not what I was gonna ask. I was gonna apologize for my behavior during our first conversation," Crete said.
I stopped in my tracks and thought for a moment. Was he serious? If so, then maybe this was my second chance at a friendship.
I slowly turned back around and gazed at Crete. He gave me a lopsided smile and took a few steps closer to me. I felt a subtle blush rise in my cheeks and my heart begin to beat faster.
"You see, I'm usually not that awkward around people. But, when it comes to cute boys, I tend to forget my manners," Crete said, smirking a devilish smirk.
My blush became stronger after that statement and I knew that it was present on my cheeks. I clutched onto my books tighter and looked up at him nervously.
"I'm not cute," I muttered, almost childishly.
"Oh, yes you are, sweet Oliver," Crete purred. He quickly pinched my cheek and walked away, greeting some of his friends down the hallway.
I stood there for a while, trying to gather myself after what had just happened. Crete called me cute. Whether it was in a joking matter or not, I couldn't tell. But, the way he acted, there seemed to be some truth to it.
When I noticed the halls beginning to empty rather quickly, I instantly went to my locker, seeing Cree already standing there.
"Hey, where have you been? I was about to search the bathrooms to see if you were... Eh hum... Playing with-," Cree started however I slapped my hand over his mouth.
"I don't need to hear the end of that," I muttered, taking my hand off his mouth and doing my combination.
"What? I was just gonna say playing with your bow tie. What did you think I was gonna say?" Cree said, gently bumping my side with his elbow.
"You and I both know what you were going to say had I not stopped you. Those words don't need to be uttered in such a public place, Cree," I told him, giving him a side smirk to show I was joking.
"Yeah, yeah. So, what did Crete want?" Cree asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious to the question.
"Please, Oliver, I saw you talking to him on the way over here. You seemed pretty flustered," Cree said, winking suggestively.
"I don't know what you're suggesting. He just apologized for how terrible our first conversation was," I told him.
"Well, if it means anything to you, Crete's openly bisexual," Cree told me.
I stopped putting my binders in my backpack. This piece of information made my heart leap. But why? Crete's sexuality should mean nothing to me, yet the beating of my heart said otherwise.
"Why would that mean anything to me?" I asked Cree, hearing my voice waver while my nervousness settled in.
"Because you seem to be questioning your own sexuality," Cree stated simply.
I ended up dropping my calculator from the abruptness of his statement. I instantly bent down to pick it back up, trying to recollect myself as quickly as possible.
"Do you think that's what I'm doing?" I asked him curiously.
"Well, yeah, it's kind of obvious. Whenever you talk about Crete it's like you're a lovesick puppy. I'm okay with you not being straight, Olliepop. I kind of figured you weren't," Cree told me.
Is it that obvious?
No... No, it's not. Because I'm not gay, or bisexual or anything. I'm straight and that's that. I just never really liked anyone before. I just have to start noticing girls, that's all. Girls...
"Yo, Ollie, you okay?" Cree asked me.
"Um... Yeah. Come on, my brothers gonna kill us for being late," I muttered, throwing my backpack over my shoulder. Cree gave me a disbelieving look but followed me as we walked through the freshman hallway.
Once outside, I saw Banjo lounging on the hood of his car with Kazooie tucked under his arm. I watched as he tilted her head towards his and kissed her sweetly. I smirked a little, having something else to use against him one day.
"About time you two showed up. I was about to leave without you," Banjo muttered, sliding off his car.
"Yeah, defiantly looked like you were about to leave," I said, opening the car door and throwing my backpack inside.
I felt Banjo lift me up and slam me against the side of the car. He laid his forearm over my neck and I rolled my eyes, lifting up my knee to kick him.
"Banjo, we both know which one of us has the advantage," I choked through his hold.
"You're such a sissy. That's a real girl move, Oliver," Banjo growled. After he said that, Kazooie came up behind him and pulled his hair, growling menacingly for him to take what he said back.
"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" Banjo said, backing off me. Kazooie let go of him and pointed to the drivers seat, glaring at him playfully.
We all climbed into the car and began the drive home. I stared out the window the majority of the time, thinking about the homework I needed to get done over the weekend.
However, I also thought about what Cree said about my sexuality. He figured I wasn't straight. Cree knew me better than I knew myself so could he possibly be correct with that statement?
No, Oliver. Stop it. You're just gonna give yourself more stress.
I sighed and turned back to everyone else in the car. Cree was again giving me a worried look but he quickly hid it by sending me an adorable smirk. I rolled my eyes and tried to mimic the smirk, causing Cree to laugh at me.
"That was terrible, Oliver. You looked like you were about to murder someone," Cree said, still giggling.
"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't born genetically adorable," I huffed, sending him a playful smile.
Cree and I continued to talk about whatever we could. When we got home, we immediately went up to my room and continued to talk about things, ranging from schoolwork to people to how terrible Daddy was at hosting a podcast.
"We should've went down to the building and messed with the podcast," Cree said, giggling.
"I would've been grounded if I did!" I retorted.
"No you wouldn't have! Your dads couldn't ground you even if you burnt the house down," Cree said, shoving me off my bed.
I giggled and grabbed my phone as it fell off the bed next to me. I opened up Twitter and began to read the comments left on a post Daddy sent out at the start of the podcast. Many of them were just a bunch of questions that the viewers wanted them to answer however a few stuck out to me.

Does anyone else notice how Gavin and Michael are literally avoiding each other? Or is it just me?

OH MY GOD! WHY IS MAVIN NOT SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER?!?!?!

Doesn't Gavin look depressed? He keeps looking at his wrists. I SWEAR TO GOD IF HE'S GOT MORE CUTS, IMMA CUT A BITCH.

I knew not to read into the comments too much. My dads had always told me that the viewers sometimes overreacted about things. But as I looked up and watched the podcast play out, I realized that those comments were true.
My dads were not sitting next to each other like they always did. Instead Dad sat at one end while Daddy sat on the other, as far away from each other as possible. Dad would avoid any conversation with Daddy and visa versa. And as I kept my eyes locked on Dad, his eyes did flick down to his wrists more than five times in ten minutes.
There was something up with them. Something huge.
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Alright, so this is when shit's about to get real. I have a lot of exciting things planned for the future and it's gonna be great, I promise.
Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I know it's not too exciting, of which I apologize for, but I needed a chapter to lead into the real story.
Thanks for reading!