Free Being True by Jacob Z. Flores Page B

more into the expression than there was. Javi didn’t like me in that way. He wasn’t even gay.
    Javi probably liked me as much as his lucky gym socks and not one bit more.
     
     
    E VEN THOUGH Claudia had wanted to discuss the matter further, I saw no reason to. I’d made up my mind she was either delusional or crazy. Telling her so had gone about as well as grabbing a hornet’s nest and shaking it like a tambourine.
    She’d buzzed in anger before zooming out of the lab, and I hadn’t seen her since. Although I hadn’t liked upsetting her, I’d stuck to my guns. It was ridiculous to think someone as popular and attractive as Javi would in any way be interested in a pipsqueak outcast like me.
    Besides, Javi could pick any girl from the packs of admirers who constantly swarmed about him. And with the way he flirted with them, Javi couldn’t be any more of a red-blooded American boy if he tried.
    “Will you call me after the game this weekend?” a girl asked Javi.
    I turned away from the bike rack, where I’d promised I’d wait for him after school so we could ride home together, and glanced up the front stairs. At the top, Javi was propped against the door, his backpack slung over his left shoulder, as his latest crush leaned into him.
    Her name was Leticia, and she sat next to me in economics. Nobody called her Leticia, though. Everyone called her Letty because, according to rumor, Letty let pretty much any boy do whatever he wanted to her.
    She was attractive in that slutty, low-class way that appealed to most guys. She wore blouses at least two sizes too small to emphasize her full, round boobs and had gotten in trouble at least twice that week for showing too much cleavage. Far too much makeup clung to her eyelids, cheeks, and lips, and whenever she bent over, which was far more frequently than necessary, her ass crack peeked out to say hello.
    If Letty had her way, more than just her butt cleavage would be making their acquaintance with Javi. She was practically molesting him right there on the front steps. She offered up her boobs while flipping her raven hair from side to side. I couldn’t help but notice how Javi resembled a rabbit caught in a trap. His eyes frantically darted from side to side as if he was looking for an escape route.
    I decided to give him one. “Hurry up, Javi,” I called, “or we’re gonna be late.”
    The panic in Javi’s eyes floated away when he saw me waiting for him. A grateful smile replaced the wide-eyed panic. “I’ll be right there,” he called.
    I nodded in pretend annoyance as Letty glared at me. If she’d had a knife, I’d be filleted and skewered.
    Javi gave Letty a hug, which she leaned her entire body into. I wanted to shove her down the stairs, before he stepped out of it and bounded down the steps.
    “You’re a lifesaver,” he whispered as he made short work of his bike lock. What was that about? Most teenage boys would have tripped over themselves for a chance with such an obviously easy score. But I didn’t have time to contemplate because a few seconds later, we were speeding away from school and Letty, who kept yelling for Javi to call her.
    For the first few blocks, we rode in silence. Javi breathed deeply and smiled as the wind buffeted his skin and blew through his hair. He resembled a child first learning how to ride more than a high school senior who should probably be driving home in a convertible. Most kids our age would hate being forced to pedal to and from school. Not Javi. His innocent smile indicated how much he was enjoying this.
    “No practice today?” I asked when he suddenly noticed me staring at him like Letty had earlier.
    He snickered. “Nope. Coach gives us one afternoon off each week. But that’s only before the season starts. Then it’s practice every damn day. But until then, I intend to take advantage of my freedom.”
    “What are you gonna do?” I asked after we cut through a particularly busy intersection.
    A lopsided