"I'm telling you man, when I told her you would be coming home with me and staying for dinner she pulled out an entire French cookbook and made me sit there for like an hour and point out all the recipes I thought you'd like," Tyler explained as he dug through his locker.

"Doesn't she know I'll eat anything?" James inquired absent mindedly, his eyes looking past his friend to where Kalen was standing at his own locker with his brothers.

The triplets were standing behind the boy rifling through his locker, talking amongst themselves, ignoring all of the gazes on their backs. James found this to be helpful, since it meant he could examine Kalen from a distance without being caught.

"I would have said that, man, but I was afraid she'd make the whole damn cookbook. Honestly, you have no idea how excited she is for you to actually be eating with us. She was so pissed at me when I told her we got take out last week for like three days," Ty continued, ducking down to sort through the stack of papers at the bottom of his locker for his missing homework assignment. It was almost impressive how quickly his friend had mussed his locker. Books and papers were everywhere, leading James to believe that his friend had been careless when putting them in there in the first place.

"Why was she mad?" James inquired. Down the hall, Kalen finished putting his things in his locker and swung the door shut. He didn't turn to his brothers right away, instead closing his eyes for a long moment. When they opened, they moved quickly in James direction.

It took Kalen's eyes widening for James to process the fact that the younger boy was staring right back at him. Before he could even have a reaction to this fact, Tyler was rising back to his feet. "What are you looking at?" His friend inquired, and James eyes shot away from Kalen's, hoping he had done so fast enough that Tyler wouldn't catch him. Sadly, his friend wasn't an idiot, and Tyler only needed to turn his head in the direction James had been looking for half a second before turning and giving James a pointed look. "You want to be killed, right? That's what this is about?"

"It's not really a preference of mine," James admitted guiltily, shrugging his shoulders. Tyler's eyes rolled, and he turned his head to look the other way before his head whipped back around to stare at James with wide eyes.

"Shit man, they're coming over here".

James confirmed this with a quick glance over Tyler's shoulder. The triplets were on their way down the hall towards them with Kalen trailing slightly behind, seeming unsure of what was about to happen. "It's fine man. I've got this".

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler hissed, clearly panicked. "You don't got this. You most definitely don't got this, James. Oh my god. This is how I die. They're going to try to hurt you and I'm going to have to try to stop them, and they're going to kill me".

"Why not just let them hurt me?" James suggested calmly, hoping he could get his best friend to relax if he just spoke soothingly. It wasn't faked either. Perhaps it was due to James's lack of experience at the school, but he was unconcerned about the group of boys approaching, and as long as he stayed that way, they had nothing over him.

So much for avoiding the Bradfords at all costs.

"Don't be a fucking idiot, James," Tyler insisted, looking at him with an Are you serious? look on his face.

"Amore!" One of the Bradfords called, and Tyler's eyes got huge.

"Oh shit". His friend turned them, putting his back to James, who watched as the four boys slowed to a stop in front of them with raised eyebrows. Nervously, Kalen fiddled with his hands, which James found oddly cute. This would probably not be a smart thing to mention to Tyler.

He really had to stop thinking such things, since they caused Tyler so much stress.

"Hey guys," Tyler greeted, sounding far more calm than he had seconds before. "What's up?"

"Nothing man," Joe claimed, smiling in a way that would have been charming if his eyes weren't so serious. James noticed the way that Kalen moved forward until he was standing next to Joe, positioned to reach forward and stop any alterication if need be. It also made him the closest Bradford to James. "What about you? I caught you eye and I wondered if there was anything you wanted to share".

"Oh," Ty forced with a nervous little laugh. James eyes narrowed, his gaze focusing on the boy attempting to torment his best friend. "No. There's nothing. I just-"

James knew Tyler well enough to know a horrible lie was about to leave his lips, so he was quick to interrupt him, hoping to get the attention onto him and off of his friend.

He addressed Kalen. "Hey, so, I'll type up our lap questions and email them to you so we can both work on them before class tomorrow".

It fell quiet and James shot a cautious look over his shoulder at the people behind him, who were just staring at him with wide eyes. When he turned back around, he noticed Tyler, Kalen, and Michael all wore nearly identical surprised faces, while Joe seemed annoyed, and Daniel appeared downright livid.

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"We're going to be going now!" Tyler exclaimed loudly, slamming his locker closed with one hand and grabbing onto James's sleeve with the other. Before any of the Bradfords could react, James was being pulled down the hall after his best friend at a pace he found hard to follow.

"Tyler, calm down. I just wanted to take their attention off of you so you could compose yourself-"

"James," Tyler snipped under his breath. "Not now". People were looking at them, James noticed then, so he remained silent until him and Tyler were safely in his friends car, away from prying ears.

"I'm sorry. I just know you and you were on the verge of freakout mode and I know they scare you-"

"James," Tyler interrupted, running a hand over his face in clear stress. "You can't do shit like that. If you wanted to get the attention off of me, you should have interrupted me to introduce yourself, or literally anything other that addressing Kalen".

"Ahh". James didn't really understand the difference, but he nodded anyways. "Okay man. I'll do that next time".

"Ugh, James, you don't get it," Ty groaned into his hands. "I should have been more clear, but I didn't want to freak you out any more than I already had before school".

"What?" James inquired, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he looked at his friend. The only thing James had really been freaking out about was the the fact that his actions could potentially mean bad news for his father, but Tyler had dismissed that thought for him the morning before.

"James, if you piss of the Bradfords, you will get kicked out of school. All it takes is one word to their father, and you're gone," Tyler explained, finally raising his head from his hands to regard him. "It's happened to people before, for doing far less than speaking to Kalen in front of them. It's why you can't come out, and it's why you can't do shit like that".

That hadn't even been something James was considering, but now that he thought about the prospect of expulsion, it was something he desperately wanted to avoid. He couldn't even imagine his mother's disappointed upon learning he'd have to leave Edgewood, of his father's embarrassment that his son had been forced out of the school owned by his employer, who he was desperately trying to impress. It wasn't an option.

"Oh," he said softly, his voice very soft. Slowly, he turned to look out of the front of the car. "Okay. I get it now".

"Good," Tyler breathed with a sigh of relief. "You don't need to stay away from Kalen completely. You just can't show obvious interest in him, or any interest in him around his brothers, okay? He's your lab partner, and only your lab partner."

James nodded along as his friend spoke, and immediately agreed with a, "yeah". It wouldn't be hard, he was sure. He hadn't known Kalen long enough, or didn't know him well enough to actually be attached to him by this point. He could go back to his original plan of avoiding the Bradford's as much as possible, limiting conversation between him and Kalen in class, and ignoring the boy completely in any other situation. It would be easy, especially when he had his parents in mind. For them, he was willing to do anything.

***

It was with a sincere grin that James accepted a hug from Tyler's mother. The woman had been like a second mother to him for many years of his life, so the gesture was as easy to return as it would have been with his own mother. "Hello dear," she greated happily, pulling back and squeezing his shoulders. She was a very pretty woman, younger than his own mother by a handful of years due to the fact that she had Tyler right out of high school, and he was her only child. "How has school been going so far?"

"It's great," James answered, dishonest for the purpose of not causing her worry. "I'm really enjoying my classes".

"You're planning on going to school for chemistry, aren't you?" She asked, and he nodded. "That's wonderful! Have you looked at any schools lately? We took Tyler on some tours of schools this summer, but it's Tyler so he rarely shows interest in anything involving school".

James laughed at this, because he knew his best friend, and it was very true, and Tyler scoffed. "Mom," he groaned, flustered. He reached out a hand and grabbed James's arm. "We just got done with school so we don't want to talk about it right now. We're gonna go hang out in my room until dinner, alright?"

Mrs. Amore frowned, but agreed. "Alright".

Tyler was quick to pull James from the living room, making it all the way to his bedroom before his mother could get another word in. When they were safely inside, with the door closed behind them, Typer sighed loudly. "Sorry about that. She talks a lot".

"I really don't mind," James assured, moving to sit on his friend's bed. He pulled his navy vest over his head and threw it on Tyler's floor, sighing in content at the slight relief it gave him. "Why is it so hot here? Shouldn't it be colder than Florida?"

"You'd think," Tyler agreed, removing his vest as well and folding it neatly. "Just wait until it's winter though. You'd think there's no way it could get as cold as it does in winter, and as hot as it does in summer. It's amazing". Ty threw himself down onto his bed, forcing James slightly off balance. "Remember those summers we used to spend with your brother as kids?"

This surprised James, since it was the first time Tyler was initiating a conversation that had anything to do with his brother. "Yeah," James answered cautiously. "I remember".

Tyler turned his head to look at him. "Remember when we broke into Taylor's backyard when his family was on vacation to swim in his pool?"

The memory had a rough laugh forcing its way out of James's throat, and he dropped back down on the mattress. It was only a twin, so they were pressed close together, but being in close proximity of one another was something they had gotten used to over the years. "I do remember that. I also remember that you forgot your t-Rex shirt back there, that everyone knew belong to you, and I remember Taylor getting all of us grounded by telling our parents".

Ty groaned. "Ah shit man. He was so annoying. Why'd you date him again?"

"I'm not really sure," James admitted. "I think it was because he was the only one willing to date me". They both laughed at that. "No, but he wasn't bad all the time".

"Yeah, your right," Tyler agreed. "Just most of the time". Another round of laughing commenced. "I can't believe your parents caught you two".

"Ugh". James brought his hands up to cover his face. "Please don't remind me. It was literally the most embarrassing moment of my life". Tyler cackled loudly, and James wished he could find a similar joy in the situation to maybe take the edge off the humiliation he still felt.

"Your brother called me that night dying from laughter," Tyler claimed, which was something James certainly hadn't known. "So how far did you two get into it? Like, were you balls deep yet?"

"No," James grumbled. "Thank god. I was still wearing boxers at the time, but he wasn't. I was just about to put in the third finger". More laughter spilled from Tyler's lips, almost uncontrollably. "It's really not funny man. We were on top of the covers". Tyler lost it at this point, curling in on himself as he laughed hysterically. With a grunt of effort, James shoved his friend, causing him to lose balance and tumble to the floor.

"Hey man, ouch".

"What would you do if your parents caught you about to insert your dick into another person?" James inquired, leaning over the side of the bed to look down at Tyler, who grimaced at this thought. "See. It's terrible".

"Still man, I don't get why you were having sex with Taylor in the first place. You can literally do so much better than that". Tyler seemed content on the floor, making no move to rise, so James flopped back on the bed and gladly took up the majority of it.

He couldn't really explain his relationship with Taylor, or why it had seemed like a good idea at the time. James had always been easily influenced by the idea of love. It was something he had wanted to understand and feel for so long that it had been easy for Taylor to convince him that's what they had.

This would be embarrassing to explain to Tyler, who never seemed to care much about love and relationships before, so he changed the subject with a question. "Hey, why do the Bradford triplets make you so nervous?"

"Huh?" Tyler asked, though he had clearly heard what James had said. He repeated himself anyways. "What? They don't make me nervous. I mean, I'm nervous about them getting me expelled but I- I haven't done anything to them that would make them want me to leave or anything".

Once again, Ty was a really horrible liar. "So you did something to piss them off them?" James interrupted, receiving no answer in response. "And they don't know what you did yet, but they'll be pissed when they find out?" Still no response. "So... what did you do?"

"How do you do that?" Ty asked softly, making James grin. Ty had to already know the answer, since he had a similar power when it came it him, but James gave it anyways.

"I've spent the last twelve years of my life being friends with you. I know what you want to say to me when you say something else most of the time." He rolled over again to look down at Tyler, who stared up at him with narrowed green eyes. "Don't forget it".

"Ugh". Tyler squeezed his eyes closed. "I didn't do anything. I just don't get along with one of the oldest brothers, and sometimes we get in arguments".

"Which older brother," James asked, and Tyler grumbled a name under his breath. "What?"

"Pierce".

"The aggressive violent one?"

"Yeah," Tyler confirmed, seeming less than pleased. "Though he's never like... hit me or anything. We just argue a lot whenever we see one another".

"Do the triplets know about this?" James inquired. Tyler rolled onto his side, away from the bed.

"Yeah. Everyone knows. The thing is he doesn't really get along with any of his siblings, except for Garett. And Kalen, of course. They all like Kalen". James hummed, and Tyler pushed himself into a sitting position. "Me telling off their brother doesn't really concern them".

James's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Then what's the problem? If they already know and don't care, why are you so jittery around them".

There was a pause, and then Tyler grumbled, "it's kind of a difficult situation". There was a question that could be asked in response to this, but James got the feeling it wasn't wanted, so he didn't respond. "It's just... they could potentially decide to hate me at any minute so I'm cautious. They know who I am, which makes the situation more dangerous".

James hummed again, flopping down onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "They know who I am too now".

"Maybe," Ty confirmed. "If they don't, they're going to find a way to figure out". The room was quiet, and then, "Are you really going to email Kalen?"

"Yeah," James confirmed, thinking about his backpack in the backseat of Tyler's car. "It's for school. I have to email it to him, or he has to email it to me. Either way, there is emailing involved".

"You have feelings for him?"

"No," James answered, sighing loudly after the word was released. "Not enough time for that to have happened".

"Is it gonna happen?" It was clear his friend was just asking to assure his earlier point had gotten across, so James attempted to sooth him.

"Not if I can help it".

***

"I invited Mr. Bradford and his family over for dinner tomorrow night," his father said almost immediately prior to James entering the house. "I wanted to do it sooner, but I wanted to be completely unpacked first. Four of his sons are coming, which will be nice because you can get to know them better".

James didn't move from the doorway, his mouth parted slightly in shock, his fingers tight on the door knob because oh my god please be joking.

His mother turned on the couch too then to look at him with a large smile on her face. "Isn't that great?!"