Chapter Text
After that night, things had gone by quickly. No more secret meetings, no more late night drives, no more stolen kisses, no more swimming, and, most of all, no more Abram.
Fucking Abram.
Not even a last name, Andrew wasn’t even worthy of knowing that.
Only some tangled sheets smelling like a ghost.
And a note, with just five words.
‘Thank you, you were amazing.’
What the fuck was that even supposed to mean?
Who just leaves a fucking note? With no kind of explanation?
Now Andrew was left believing that it had all been a dream. A teenage fantasy to keep his mind busy while Bee was otherwise occupied. He laughed, imagining how telling her that he’d spent the entire summer hallucinating would most likely get him back on his meds.
Of course it had all been fake. Nobody that had made Andrew feel that way could actually have been real.
Abram must have not existed. He was just a figment of Andrew’s bizarre imagination, an unreachable pipe dream.
That is, until.
It was sometime during the second half of September. School had been back for almost a month, filling his empty days with piles of homework, way too much practice, sparring sessions with Renee, and the small reward of hanging out at Eden’s on the weekends.
Slowly, as the leaves fell down, he’d gotten back into his routine. Forgetting all about icy blue eyes surrounded by lies and secrets. He had too much on his plate now.
His mornings were always more or less the same, with his brother and cousin chatting, an annoying noise he’d unfortunately made habit of getting used to, the radio playing in the back of the kitchen, and lots and lots of sugars to begin his day.
He usually ate his overly sugary cereal in peace, tuning out Aaron’s and Nicky’s useless talking. But his brother was packing his bag early, had already finished his breakfast, and was basically about to run out of the kitchen.
“Where are you going.”
“School? You know, the place we’re supposed to spend the next two years in? Andrew, I get that you don’t give a shit about your education, but some of us do, and-“
Andrew throws some cereal in his direction, not bothered enough to try again when it doesn’t hit his brother.
“Shut up. Why are you leaving so early. Your classes don’t start until 10.”
“Well, principal Rhemann asked me to come early to show the new kid around. And I have to return a book to the library, and finish my bio-“
“Too bad you don’t own a car, and have no other way of getting there”.
“Good thing a friend is picking me up then.” Mh. Andrew could be sure that “friend” was a certain cheerleader Aaron was certainly not supposed to be with. Oh, if only Andrew had the energy to care about it so early in the morning. “I got told about it last minute yesterday - he’s a grade below us, Janie Smalls was supposed to do it since they’re both sophomores, but she had a family emergency or something - so now I have to do it”
He was about to tell his brother that he didn’t give a fuck, that he could shove the new kid up his ass for as much as he cared, but of course Nicky had to interrupt him. A new face meant gossip, so of course Nicky had to get involved.
Andrew began to wonder just how badly his criminal record would get by killing one of his family members. He’d gotten away with it once already, who says it couldn’t work a second time?
“A new kid? This early in the year?”
“The principal said he just moved here. I only know what I’ve already told you, his name, and that we share a class together”.
“Why would you share a class with someone who’s a grade below you? Aren’t you the best in that school?”
“That’s what I wanna know. Apparently Neil is in advanced Math, but all of his other classes are average”
Andrew really couldn’t care less about his brother’s need to be the best at everything he does, or about this Neil guy. He keeps on eating his cereal, trying to ignore the other two annoying voices in the room.
“So his name is Neil? And since when do you take advanced Math?”
If you ignore them, it’s almost peaceful.
“Since it’s required in most schools to enter Pre-Med. Also yeah unless he goes by Abram, his second name, by what-“
And splash. The spoon falls into the bowl, making milk with cereal spill on the table.
That is not a name he’d ever wanted to hear be pronounced out loud anymore. And yet. Aaron had said it like it was nothing.
Like it didn’t mean anything.
Which, of course, it didn’t.
Aaron sent a weird look towards his way, staring at him for just a few seconds.
Thing is, his brother wasn’t dumb. Unfortunately.
He’d noticed how Andrew was before going back to California. And how much things had improved, that week in July Aaron and Nicky had come to visit Bee.
Hence, he must have noticed that Andrew came back worse than he was when he’d left Columbia in May.
Anytime he’d try to talk about it, Andrew would do his best to ignore him. And it was working just fine.
Aaron looked as if he wanted to say something. But, as it always went with them, there wasn’t enough time. A car honked.
He briefly glanced at the clock, murmured a “Fuck. I’m late.”, took his bag and left.
Andrew ran upstairs, ignoring Nicky calling after him.
He was twenty minutes late to pick Kevin up. When he tried to say something about his tardiness, or maybe about Aaron’s disappearance, or something Exy related that would have made him crash his car onto the nearest tree, he just turned the radio at the highest possible volume and went over the speed limit.
He hated this Neil guy already.