Dimitri’s lips were surprisingly soft. I reluctantly kissed him back, wanting to just get this stupid bet over with already.

Dimitri’s hand moved from my cheek to the back of my neck, pulling my head closer to him, his lips pressing against mine deeper. His lips moved just right, as if he was extremely experienced in the art of kissing.

I pulled away from him, glaring. “Time’s up.”

“Now was that really so bad little Theodore?” he asked, smirking.

“I knew you were gay,” I grumbled.

“Sexuality is such a tiresome thing. I prefer personality over gender,” Dimitri said with a shrug.

“Whatever. That was gross,” I said. Well, no. It had just been a regular kiss. But I certainly didn’t want anyone thinking I was questioning my sexuality, or that I actually enjoyed kissing Dimitri Ivanov.

“Oh, you enjoyed it. I can see it in your eyes. And trust me dear, no one has ever been disgusted with kissing me,” he said with a wink. “Or going farther.”

“Like anyone would ever want to go farther with you,” I said.

And suddenly, I found myself consumed with emotions I couldn’t quite identify as I looked at Dimitri. My mind conjured up images of him kissing others, holding them, touching them.

I directed those confusing emotions into anger, since that was something I could identify. I glared at Dimitri, hating him more than I had ever hated anybody and not even knowing why.

“Leave me alone! I don’t care if I lost at pool! Quit talking to me, and definitely quit hitting on me. I’m straight! I like girls! You know what excites me? Seeing Alek in short shorts. Not kissing you, you disgusting, overly flamboyant piece of shit!”

Thalia stared at me, her mouth dropping open. I could see the anger and concern mixed in her eyes. She was mad that I had snapped at Dimitri, but mad because she could sense that something was off with me now.

But Dimitri just kept smirking at me, a knowing look in his eyes. He pulled his vibrating cell phone out of his pocket and sighed dramatically as he checked it.

“How unfortunate. My mother needs me home,” he said, shaking his head, glitter fluttering down to the carpet from his hair.

“And don’t come back,” I snapped.

“Calm down Theo,” Thalia said, getting up and coming over to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder, frowning at me.

I slapped her hand off and shot them both a dirty look before turning and going upstairs. I dropped down on the couch in the living room, listening as Thalia and Dimitri came upstairs.

“Dimitri has to go,” Thalia said.

“It was very nice to meet you Dimitri,” mom said, and I could imagine dad nodding.

“Pleasure to meet the both of you,” Dimitri said, that musical voice of his floating into the living room as if it was determined to find my ears.

I got up as the front door shut and went to my bedroom. I fell back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling as my lips tingled.

“Theo?”

I picked my head up and glanced at Thalia. She was standing in my doorway. She stepped into my room with a frown.

“Why did you snap back there like that? Are you okay?” she asked.

“I lost a bet and had to kiss Sparkles. Yea Thalia, I’m friggin’ dandy,” I grumbled.

“Aw, calm down Theo. It was just a kiss. We’re not going to tell anybody about it,” she said, sitting on the edge of my bed.

I shifted so that I was sitting up. “That’s not the point, Thalia.”

“Then what is the point?”

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Hell, I didn’t know what the point was. I didn’t know why kissing Dimitri had made me so angry. Thalia was right; it was just a kiss.

“I just…I don’t want to talk about it. The guy freaks me out,” I said. “Now get out of my room.”

She sighed. “Whatever Theo.”

Thalia got up and left my bedroom, shutting the door behind her as she went. I laid back down and rolled over on my side, closing my eyes and trying to forget all about the stupid kiss.

***

“You’re going to have to face him this period,” Thalia said as we sat down in study hall fourth period.

“Shut up Thalia,” I growled. Maybe Dimitri wasn’t here today. I hadn’t seen him, and I sure as hell didn’t want to.

But then the bell rang, and I watched as the doors were pushed open a minute later. Dimitri stepped through, nodding his head along with music as he flicked through his iPod.

He was wearing a black and green checkered shirt with a bright pink vest over it. He had on that royal purple scarf with his initials and his usual make up. His jeans were an obnoxiously bright blue color, and he was wearing his rainbow Vans again. His arms were stacked with bracelets.

Dimitri made his way over to our table. I stared away from him, trying to pretend that he wasn’t event here.

“Are you ignoring me, little Theodore?” he asked, amusement in his voice.

“I told you to leave me alone,” I snapped, turning to glare at him.

“I tend not to listen well.” He grabbed a chair and sat down next to Thalia.

I noticed that instead of his usual nose ring, there was a glittering pink stud instead. His hair seemed to have more glitter than usual, too.

He looked up at me through his long, thick lashes. “You’re staring at me.”

“Because you look like a girl,” I said.

“Theo!” Thalia kicked me and I winced.

“No!” I said, rubbing my shin and shooting her a dirty look. “Not just because of the way he dresses. He really looks like a girl.”

Dimitri chuckled. “I’ve been told I’m a pretty boy.”

And he was. With his thick eyelashes, his thin lips, his smooth skin, his high cheekbones, and his delicate mixture of sharp and rounded facial features, he was indeed a pretty boy.

But he still disgusted me. From the way he dressed and talked, right down to the way he acted. He was a flamboyant disgrace.

“I see it,” Thalia said, studying his face.

Dimitri ran a hand down the side of his hair. The brown part, not that stupid looking purple fohawk. His hand came away covered in glitter, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes, it’s rather tragic. I’d rather be a tough-looking man like little Theodore there,” he said with a dramatic sigh.

“I hate you,” I told him.

Dimitri smirked. “No one can hate my fabulous self, little Theodore.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone does,” I said.

“You’d be surprised,” he said, his eyes flashing in amusement.

“Well, I can’t stand you and I need my books. Come along, Oliver.” I grabbed Oliver’s hand and dragged him to his feet.

“Ah, I almost didn’t notice him. The ever ignored best friend background character, there for support and comic relief, and nothing more,” Dimitri said.

“You’re bat shit crazy,” Oliver said and let me drag him out of the cafeteria.

“Let’s take our time. Thalia can put up with him since she’s the reason he started coming around more,” I said as we turned down the senior hallway together.

“You know, you never did call me last night. What happened when he came over?” Oliver asked curiously.

I stopped at my locker and began to put my combination in. “My dad invited him to stay for dinner. My parents liked him,” I said, shaking my head in disgust. “My dad this morning said that he was weird as hell, but seemed like a nice enough guy.”

Oliver groaned. “Great, now Thalia’s going to drag him around with us.”

The kiss flashed in my mind, and I forced it out of my thoughts. “Don’t remind me.”

I pulled my locker open and dug around for my books. I shoved them in my backpack and stood up, looking around my locker for any sign of my favorite pen.

“I just don’t want him around us. I really hate the guy,” I said in annoyance.

“Me too. He acts like I’m not important!” Oliver pouted.

I spotted my pen and grabbed it, stuffing it in my backpack and shutting my locker. Oliver and I slowly made our way back down the senior hallway towards the cafeteria.

“Maybe Thalia will get sick of him,” Oliver said hopefully.

I snorted. “I highly doubt that. You know how Thalia is. Besides, she finds him attractive. I told my mom that we needed to get Thalia’s eyes checked.”

“Theo, what if we refused to hang out with him? Like, whenever Thalia tries to bring him around, we bail? Would she give up?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I said thoughtfully. “She’s get the point, at least. Maybe she’s stop trying to force the guy on us. I like the way you think, unimportant background character!” I pat him on the shoulder, grinning.

Oliver glared at me and pushed my hand away. “Cut it out!”

“But we should have a codeword for when we execute this plan,” I said, letting my hand drop back to my side.

“Something he won’t notice,” Oliver said, rubbing his nonexistent beard with a thoughtful expression.

“I’ve got it!” I cried, snapping my fingers in excitement.

“What?” Oliver asked, looking eager.

“We say ‘The bunny crows at midnight’. He’ll never catch onto it. It’s so inconspicuous,” I said, cackling evilly.

“Your dad gave you coffee this morning?”

“Hell yea.”

“Or we could just, you know, leave,” Oliver said with a shrug.

“You’re so boring. But fine,” I said with a sigh.

We entered the cafeteria and sat down in our seats. Dimitri and Thalia were talking about math, and their conversation bored me to the point where I didn’t even want be alive anymore.

“Let’s have an interesting conversation. Math hurts my head,” I said, turning to Oliver.

“That’s because you’re stupid,” Thalia reminded me.

“Math hurts my head and my sister hurts my heart. It’s fitting that they love each other,” I said, slapping a hand over my chest. I glanced over and sighed. “And Alek hurts my dignity. I really need to talk to her already.”

Alek was sitting with her friends, working on homework. She had a puzzled look on her face as she began to flip through a textbook.

Unf. Gimme a piece o dat.

“It’s really not that hard to talk to people, little Theodore,” Dimitri said. “See, we’re talking right now.”

“We are not,” I said flatly. “I’m not talking to you.”

“Theo, you’re not five,” Thalia said, rolling her eyes.

“Honestly, you work too hard at disliking me. I think you secretly like me.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

That stupid kiss rose in my mind again, and I desperately fought it down as those unidentifiable emotions swam up. Hate? Disgust? Gah, why didn’t I even know what I was friggin’ feeling?!

“Oliver, plan,” I said, nudging him.

He and I stood up. “Adios bitchachos,” we said at the same time and strut out of the cafeteria.

“WE REALLY JUST SAID THAT AT THE SAME TIME WITH NO PRIOR PLANNING,” Oliver cried once we were out of the cafeteria.

“THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL BROMANCE,” I cried, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

“The most beautiful,” Oliver agreed with a nod.

“Can I tweet this moment? I’m totally tweeting this moment.” I pulled out my phone and tweeted the precious moment.

The bell rang and we both jumped in surprise. Grinning at each other, we made our way to fifth period.

When it was time for lunch, we sat at our usual table, waiting for Thalia. I glanced over and made a face as she, Dimitri, Kim, and Jordan moved towards our table.

“Aw hell no,” I hissed, elbowing Oliver and nodding at them as they neared our table.

Oliver pat my shoulder reassuringly. “We have a plan now to handle these situations, Theo.”

“But I don’t want to help her again! She’s clueless!” Jordan was saying as they stopped at our table.

“You’re stuck with her Jordan. Sorry,” Kim said, laughing at him.

“Oh, calm down Kimberly darling. Jordan, dear, I’ll take care of her,” Dimitri said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yes! Dimitri, you are a lifesaver. That girl wouldn’t know a logarithm from the law of sines,” Jordan said, sighing in relief.

…Math nerds.

“I never realized how hard it is to tutor people like her,” Jordan said, shaking his head.

Thalia glanced at me. “Oh trust me, I understand how hard it is to tutor math morons.”

I flipped her off, pouting. She chuckled and moved so that she could ruffle my hair. I swatted her hands away and whined, fixing my hair.

“Little Theodore, hello there,” Dimitri greeted, nodding at me.

“Do you hear something? Because I don’t,” I said to Oliver.

“I hear my brother pretending he’s five again,” Thalia said, flicking me in the ear. “Cut it out Theo.”

Dimitri opened his mouth to say something to me, but never got the chance to. Instead, some guy slammed into him, sending him stumbling forward.

Dimitri caught his balance and glanced at the guy who had run into him. He smirked, his eyes lighting up. I was again reminded of sun reflecting off of glaciers.

“Nice to see you again Mark,” Dimitri said pleasantly.

“Don’t pretend we’re friends, you fucking scumbag,” Mark said. I recognized him now. He was a super senior. Mark O’Dell, infamous for having a bad temper with people he wasn’t fond of.

“Such vulgarities,” Dimitri said, shaking his head. I watched as the glitter sprinkled out of his hair and onto the floor.

“Sparkly little faggot,” Mark growled, shoving him back roughly.

Dimitri caught his balance, looking unfazed. “I’m not too fond of the word faggot.”

“And I’m not too fond of you. You deserve to have the living shit beat out of you,” Mark said, clenching his fists tightly. “After what you did to my sister.”

“Oh Mark. Need I remind you that I was only doing what she wanted?” Dimitri asked, flicking a loose stand of hair out of his eyes.

“Yea? Fucking her and breaking her heart? You sick bastard.” Mark raised his fist to strike Dimitri.

“Hey! Stop it!” I said, jumping up, acting without thinking. “Don’t hit him!”

Mark glanced at me and his expression darkened as his eyes slid back over to Dimitri. “Who’s he, Dimitri? Your new toy? Huh?”

“While I’m sure little Theodore is quite affectionate of me, I wouldn’t call him a toy. I wouldn’t call anyone a toy, for that matter,” Dimitri said, pushing Mark’s hand down with an ease that surprised me. Dimitri didn’t look strong at all.

“Leave him alone, Mark,” Kim said, stepping next to Dimitri and glaring at Mark. “You act like Dimitri raped your sister. Danni consented. In fact, if I remember correctly, Danni wanted it. So leave Dimitri the hell alone before I get mad.”

“Oh girl, hold her earrings,” Dimitri cried, throwing his hands up.

“I will get you back for what you did, Ivanov. Maybe she consented to sex with you, but she sure as hell didn’t consent to you tossing her aside like she was nothing when you were done with her. And you’re going to pay for that,” Mark snarled before storming away.

“Drama keeps things so interesting!” Dimitri said brightly.

“Ugh, I hate Mark,” Kim said, rolling her eyes.

Dimitri glanced at me and smirked widely. “Why, my darling little Theodore defended me! How sweet.”

I blushed deeply and sat back down. “I’m trying to eat. I don’t need you getting murdered in front of me while I’m trying to eat,” I grumbled. I wasn’t actually sure why I had stuck up for Dimitri like that.

I had just seen Mark raising his fist to hit him, and…hell, I don’t know. Panic washed over me and I acted on pure instinct.

“You slept with Danni O’Dell?” Jordan asked in shock.

Dimitri sighed. “I don’t normally disclose that kind of information, but since Mark decided to broadcast it, yes, I did. But let’s keep that information to ourselves, shall we? The last thing I need is for Danni and Mark to both rip me apart limb from limb. Blood all over me so wouldn’t bring out my eye color.”

“Dude, you’re a math genius, and a now a legend. Danni O’Dell is freaking hot!” Jordan said.

“I’ll say,” Oliver said with a nod. “I was crushing on her hardcore sophomore year, and I regret nothing.”

“Can we just shut up about it? Who cares who Dimitri slept with?” I asked in annoyance.

“I agree with little Theodore,” Dimitri said, hooking his thumbs in his pockets and smirking.

“Still…I just can’t believe it. Man Dimitri, if you can get her, you can probably get any girl,” Jordan said.

“God, you people need to learn how to shut up!” I snapped, jumping up and grabbing my backpack. I stormed out of the cafeteria, not wanting to hear anymore about it.

I slid down against my locker, glad that the senior hallway was free of people at the moment. I rubbed my temples and sighed.

Why was I getting so worked up over this? What did I care about Dimitri’s sex life? He wasn’t my concern. He could screw whoever he wanted.

Surely I was just upset by Jordan’s words. I mean, what if Dimitri tried to get with Alek, my dream girl? Or even worse, what if he tried to sleep with my sister?

But…that didn’t feel right. It was part of why I was so angry over the issue, but I knew it wasn’t the whole reason. There was something else…something…