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Colin was ready for the day to be over. Between rugby practice, frog dissection, and unwittingly getting involved in some major drama, he was tired and just wanted to go home, finish whatever school work he could, and sleep. The halls were mostly empty now, and he had begun to wonder if Abby left school without him. Lost in thought, he crashed into somebody, dropping his homework.
“Sorry!” came an apologetic voice, “I hope I didn’t ruin your… frog… homework?”
Colin laughed, “yeah, we just started dissection in—” realizing who he had bumped into, Colin stopped mid sentence, shocked.
“Hey… Colin…”
“…Em!” Colin exclaimed, hugging his old friend.
“There’s the Colin I know and love.”
“Yeah I, uh, heard you were back.”
“I know about the drama.”
Colin sighed. “Hanniferjane told you?”
“Wow that name is really sticking, isn’t it? That’s not the point, sorry.”
“Look, Em, about all of that—”
“I get it. You and Abby are cousins. And from what I heard, remaining neutral wasn’t even an option.”
“…I had no idea about that stuff with Abby, I swear—”
“I believe you! Calm down! I understand. And we can still hang out. I mean if you want.”
“Are you kidding? You still owe me ukulele lessons.” Colin checked his phone. “Yikes, look at the time. I’ve gotta go but we’ll hang out?”
“Definitely!”
“Awesome dude. Um, not dude. Whatever the gender neutral version is.”
Em chuckled, “Dude works just fine. Later, Colin.”
2 days passed, and though Em was at the center of the drama hurricane, Colin had hardly seen them. He supposed they were bound to bump into each other soon. He was right; as he turned the corner, he ran into someone and his papers once again went flying.
“Colin, we really must stop meeting like this.”
“Sorry Em, I don’t mean to keep knocking you down, but it’s the only way I know how to reach you!”
Em laughed, “Well I’m here every morning long before school starts. And I’m hoping things are getting better after Sassé’s rant this morning?” Em cautiously asked.
“Yeah, that was epic. Tomorrow morning.”
“Ok, big guy. Well, I gotta go meet Sassé for lunch. See ya around!”
“See ya.”
Colin arrived at school a little earlier than usual the next day, looking around until—
“Colin! Over here!”
“Em! You’re actually here!”
“Of course! And look what I brought,” Em pulled out them ukulele. Colin looked at it like it was a magic wand. “Yeah, I figured I could teach you some chords!”
The two remained silent for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.
“So… You left…” Colin started, uneasily.
“Yeah, I… I did.” Em stared at the ground. “Do you mind if we don’t get into that now? I’d rather not—”
“Yeah, no, sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Colin looked away, ashamed. “So… What was your other school like?”
Em’s face lit up. “It was awesome! There were a lot of really cool musicians. Like, I was working with this group to write a song for music theory class and the vocalist was this guy who had this really soulful voice.”
“That sounds cool!”
“It was, except the drummer wanted it to be more energetic, so he was like 'Em, you should sing it’ and I would be cool with it but it really wasn’t my song so I said, 'but we’ll have to take it up an octave.’ And he was like 'so?’ And then I told him 'this will only lead to… TREBLE!’”
Colin stared blankly at Em.
“Get it? He was a percussionist… And he was trying to rearrange the composition… Treble clef… 'Trouble?’”
“… Oh,” Colin said, bursting into forced laughter.
Em sighed, “you don’t get it, do you big guy?”
“Nope.” Colin smiled apologetically. Suddenly, another voice interrupted their conversation.
“Hello fellow weasels!” Sassé said in a cheery tone.
Sassé hadn’t been there two seconds when Em announced they were leaving.
“But you said you were gonna show me some ukulele chords!” Colin pouted.
“Maybe later, big guy.” And just like that, Em was gone and Abby took their place.
“Morning Colin, you forgot your lunch again. Here you go!”
“Baloney!” He exclaimed, watching Em walk away. “Both literally and figuratively. Thanks Abs!”
That day at lunch, Colin sat alone, wondering where on earth Abby could’ve gone. Impatient, he almost texted her, then realized there was a much more pressing issue.
Hey, I know everything is a little weird but I still want to be friends. And I desperately want to learn ukulele. Just let me know what day, time, whatever works for you so that we can really hang out.
He had just sent the text when he realized he was no longer alone.
“You’re a little preoccupied, huh Colin?”
“Marcel! Sorry I didn’t see you.”
“I can tell. Who were you texting?”
Colin gulped. “Em.”
“Oh.” Marcel was caught off guard. “Do you like them?”
“What? No. I don’t.”
“Oh ok. Do you like anyone?”
“Like… Like like anyone?”
“Yes Colin. 'Like like like’ anyone.”
Colin realized he had started blushing. “Um why are you asking me this?”
Marcel shrugged. “So do you?”
“No…”
“Who is it?”
“Um… No?”
Marcel examined Colin’s red face. “You don’t have to tell me. I was just… Curious.”
Colin was speechless, but luckily his phone interjected. Em had texted back.
“Well, clearly I’ve lost you. See you later.” Marcel moved to leave but hesitated. “Colin… I was wondering… “
“…What about?”
“Well things are different now, and I think it might be time to bury the hatchet.”
“…Why are you burying something like that? Wait, are you really an international spy? I thought Sassé was joking–”
“It’s an expression Colin. For making up with somebody.
“Oh. That makes much more sense.”
“Anyway you’re good at the friendship and making up stuff so I wanted to get your opinion. Should I maybe…Talk to Em?”
Colin was taken aback by this display of real feelings, then nodded vigorously. “You’d like them.”
“Ok. I’ll think about it. Bye.”
“Bye.” Colin finally had things figured out with Em.
“Ok, and that’s G major. Now, with C, F, G, and A minor you can play almost any pop song, including every Glad Lads song. I still don’t understand everybody’s obsession with them.”
“Awesome! Thanks for teaching me!”
“No problem big guy.” Em looked uncertainly at Colin. “We should take some of this time and just catch up.”
Colin stopped strumming. “Yeah, sure.” He put the instrument down. “So… What do we talk about?”
Em shrugged. “I dunno. What about… Sassé. What’s the deal with them?”
“Well, they’re super cool but they’re also the nosiest person I’ve ever met. Like, I don’t know how much Hanniferjane’s told you—”
“Still sticking with that nickname?”
“But they were trying to figure out about you. Like, they went to extreme levels. Hanniferjane apparently told them I knew something and they started getting weird around me.”
“Well I can’t help I’m such an interesting topic.”
“But they’re also super friendly. They became friends with all of us on their first day, even Turkeyhawk I think!”
“Well it’s not that hard to be friends with Turkeyhawk.”
“And Marcel.”
“Now that’s an accomplishment.” Em said laughing. Em paused. “They’re kinda cute don’t you think? I mean, I’m not looking to date right now and I really like them as a friend, but they are cute.”
Colin was caught off guard. “Sure I guess.”
“Wait… do you like them?”
“No.”
“Do you like anybody?”
“Why are so many people asking me that?”
“Who’s asked you that?”
“Marcel.”
“…so, do you like anyone?”
“…how would I even know?”
“You’ve never had a crush before?”
Colin shook his head.
“Ok, then is there anybody who you want to spend more time with? Anybody who you find really interesting? Anybody you think is cute?”
“…oh god.”
“What is it? Who is it?”
“I’m gay… If it is a crush I have on—” Colin quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.
“On who?”
Colin realized Em may be the only one he could trust with this information. “…Marcel.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know, maybe I just—” he looked down, noticing the ukulele again. “So how do I play songs other than Glad Lads?”
Em smiled understandingly. “So this chord is E flat. It’s my favorite chord.”