Manifesting

Chapter 2

The next day at school, Matt is nowhere to be seen. I would lie if I said I don't feel responsible. I have no memory of what I've drawn on my notebook. I remember the anger, the envy... but nothing else. I catch Devon in the main hall, by his locker. He looks worried too, he's staring at his phone.
He was a dick to me yesterday, but now I need all the information I can get.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“Yo, Louis! Yeah, yeah.”
“Have you talked to Matt?”
As he hears his name, his eyes widen. He nods and flies away. I try to keep pace with him and, as we're cross-fitting along the corridor, I ask him how it went.
He answers without even looking me in the eyes: “Oh, he's not interested, sorry man. He has a boyfriend already.”
I take advantage of the fact that Devon's giving me the shoulders, so I squeeze my eyes to focus on his phone's screen. He's wall-texting Matt.
“Are you sure you're okay? You look pale” I insist.
“You're one to talk. You look worried too.”
That's because I'm worried I fucked up Matt's life. Did I kill him? I was never a big fan of Death Note, though.
“I'm just sad. I like Matt. Have you seen him?”
“Yeah, no, like- he didn't come to school today because he's... he's just very... busy. We have that big scholarship ceremony tonight. He's probably going to show up then.”
“Oh, congrats man. You're both going to that sport college in Boston, aren't you?”
“Yeah, yeah” he says, still worried. He's hiding something and it's quite obvious. “Listen, Louis, catch you later. I really have to go, I'm sorry it didn't work out with Crawford.”
I stay silent. Reflect. And ask.
“Do you think I could come to the ceremony?”
“What? No! You're like the most anti-sport person ever.”
“I wanna support you, guys.”
“You don't even know us.”
“Fifty bucks. But you won't tell a soul.”
He grunts.
“Fine. I'll give you a ride, I have a plan to let you in.”
Hopefully fifty dollars is a good price to know more about what the fuck is going on with Matt Crawford. But Devon is not really reliable when it comes to plans. We'll see, I guess. I'm going to repress this anxiety as much as I can.
As Devon leaves me in the middle of the corridor, I glimpse at a very annoyed Billy on the other side of the hall. He glimpses back at me with anger in his eyes, as if I killed his boyfriend. Which, to be fair, maybe has happened.
Fuck, I need to stop saying that.