The Outside Lines (boyxboy) - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Noah's POV
We all stood in separate corners, waiting for each other to strike.
To my surprise it was Nathan who made the first move. He flung a spoonful of apple sauce at me with impressive accuracy. The sauce stuck to my red and blue t-shirt staining it. The sudden coldness of the apple sauce against my skin earned a gasp from me.
Both Nathan and I distracted, Taylor took this opportunity to strike the both of us. She flung some of the soft vegetables from her bowl of soup at Nathan and dumped the broth on my small frame, achieving her revenge tenfold. I hopped around gasping and chuckling at the same time. You know that feeling when stepping into a cold shower and you just start laughing from the shock of the cold? That's how I was currently feeling.
Scott eventually joined in, using my own bowl of soup as his weapon of choice. Soon enough we were running around the cafeteria screaming at the top of our lungs like dumb middle schoolers. Nathan retained his composure but was still laughing like a dork.
I split far enough away from Taylor using my trademarked speed that we ended up on different sides of a large cafeteria table. The table was still very much occupied with several other students. They just eyed us strangely, having no clue as to what was going on. I took cover on the other end of the table so she wouldn't be able to hit me with her sandwich. But instead of using her sandwich she just dumped another round of soup over the table, soaking my hair. That's the last thing I was expecting her to do. Not only did she further soak my body in soup, but splashed also splashed some of the bystanders. I slowly peeked up from the table, my hair dripping with the contents of the bowl. Several sets of eyes watched Taylor as if she were insane, myself included.
"What the hell?!" The girl sitting at the tabled yelled, flicking the soup off of her hands. She quickly sat up from her seat and scoffed.
I knew some of the people at the table, they didn't know how how to react when Taylor and I suddenly stormed over with the whole Chad and Rebbecca situation and all.
A thick silence swept the room as the air became tense.
"I wasn't enjoying this anyway." The guy right of me broke the quiet. He grabbed his bowl and began pelting all of his friends with pudding, yells and laughter following. They broke away from each other starting a food battle of their own. Suddenly the on lookers were in on it as well, the entire room getting involved. Taylor and I just looked at each other wide eyed. The madness spread like wildfire in a blink of an eye.
This wasn't the first time we've caused a full on food war. We've done it at least four times now, though the last being in middle school.
Both of us gave each other a devious smirk, signaling the continuation of our unfinished battle.
All the yelling and screaming made everyone sound utterly mad. There were dozens of participants, food flying everywhere, tables being flipped for cover, and the cafeteria getting  trashed. There were a hand full of people who didn't join in though, they sat on the sidelines just watching in amusement, Amber being one of them.
"What in the hell is goin' on here?!" The school coach showed up, his loud voice silencing a chaos rivaling that of the apocalypse. His glare burned through every soul in the room, including Kassandra's.
"Who's responsible for this mess?! Who started this?" He asked, aggressively gesturing to the disaster in front of him.
"If none of you answer you're all going to be punished." He threatened. Me being culprit I was surprised I wasn't ratted out on the spot. I'm confident that I'd be plucked out eventually though.
"Ugh who am I kidding, I definitely don't have time to deal with so many brats. Honestly you all act like your a bunch of middle schoolers." He shook his head.
"I am going to report this to the school though, so if anyone is willing to fess up it could save your hides." How typical of coach. I wasn't expecting anything less though.
Everyone lowered their weapons and returned the tables to their normal state. The room's atmosphere returned to normal when coach left the cafeteria. Loud conversation and laughter rang out across the room. It seemed like everyone enjoyed that little outburst of chaos. It was totally worth it!
We regrouped, meeting at our table.
"I'm gonna hit the showers before PE starts" I informed everyone, soaked head to toe walking like a crab.
"Sorry about that, I went a little overboard." Taylor apologized, wearing an apologetic look to match.
"It's fine! That was a crap ton of fun." I assured her, expressing my excitement with a solid fist pump.
"I'm gonna change. Nathan covered me in his sauce." Scott groaned looking down at his stained shirt. I repeated that sentence in my head, over and over again, but no matter how I looked at it it always came back dirty.
"Sorry, I got really into it." Nathan bashfully chuckled.
"Your shots felt like beebe gun pellets. They freaking stung man." Scott whined, rubbing his chest. Nathan just sat there listening to Scott's complaints wearing a toothy smile. It was annoying how the longer I would stare the tinglier my stomach felt.
I don't want to fall for a friend again...
Scott joined me in the locker room. We decided since PE was only a short ways off we'd just change into our gym attire. As I collected my clothes I caught a glimpse of Scott lifting his shirt above his head. His scrawny frame didn't match that of his appetite. I'd always see him gobbing down bags of junk food, yet him and I shared the same physique. He had Nathan's stomach and my body.
I stepped into the shower and quickly washed away the grimy food clung to my hair and the green substance stuck to my skin. The sound of the shower echoed across the empty room. I assumed Scott had already taken his leave, so I took the opportunity to sing in the shower.
I stepped out of the cleansing waters and put on a gray tank, a pair of black jogger pants and running shoes. I bagged my wet clothes and stuffed them in my backpack to clean later.
I roamed the crowded halls looking to regroup with the others. There were people leaning against lockers, people sat on the floor and some even playing catch. I wasn't judging though, That's totally something I've done before.
"Hey, Noah, who's that guy you're always hanging out with?" A shorter girl with dyed pink hair approached me from behind. We've talked a couple times before but I wouldn't consider us friends.
"Oh uh." I turned around, caught off guard. "His name's Nathan." I answered slightly uneasy.
"Can you introduce him to me?" She asked, poking my chest.
"I uh-" I froze, a feeling of conflict overcoming me.
"He uh, he's not looking to date right now." I lied. Was it jealousy? Was I... jealous?
"O-oh." A look of disappointment arose on her face. "Well we don't have to go out, I'd just like to get to know him a little better."
"Oh what's that? Sorry, I'll be right there." I looked over my shoulder, pretending to be called by someone. The poor girl looked over my shoulder, believing my little act.
"Sorry, I have to go, my friends are waiting for me." I apologized with a subtle wince, pointing behind me.
"Okay but can you at least put in a good word for me?!" She called out, standing on her tip toes as if it would help her voice reach me.
"I'll try!" Another lie escaped me as I continued distancing myself from her.
After running for a couple minutes I paused to catch my breath.
"Noah, there you are!" Taylor's voice suddenly rang out, almost scaring me off my tired feet. She stood beside Scott and Nathan. Amber was no where in sight. I came to the assumption that she left.
"Oh jeez, I thought you were someone else." I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"What's up with you? We've been waiting here for awhile." Taylor asked raising a brow.
"I got a little distracted." I answered in a slightly nervous chuckle.
"Well we're heading to field now." Taylor informed with a nudge of her head. I nodded in agreement and followed behind everyone.
The four of us walked through the school, reaching the gym as we had once before. This time though we exited the large glass and metal doors out onto the school's track field.
The brisk chill in the air enveloping our bodies as we pushed past the door was gone pretty quickly replaced by the sun's warmth. The view of the large track field and all of the benches faded into view as my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the sun.
There were plenty people out here already warming up. Though most were either just chatting or on the phone.
Nathan paced ahead of us, stretching his arms out to touch the sun. The gym clothes school provided looked good on him. The white Vivendell High branded t-shirt lifted with his stretch relieving the skin of his waist. My heart raced as my eyes landed on the clearly visible outline on the front of his shorts. I quickly averted my gaze before anyone caught me staring. I had to try my best not to get turned on during P.E. I would die of embarrassment if anyone saw me getting aroused.
"Alright you middle schoolers, listen up!" The coach yelled for our attention after everyone arrived. "Today we'll be doing basic cardio exercises since today marks the first mandatory day of P.E for many of you. You'll do a few laps around the field, and then form teams of two to compete in a baton race." He informed. Taylor and my eyes met as soon as he said teams of two.
"It's up to you to find a partner. Pairing you individually is too much work for my paygrade." He grumbled before disappearing off into a corner someewhere.
"Sorry Nathan, I'm borrowing Noah today." Taylor said, looking over my shoulder.
"That's fine. I'll be rooting for you two." His response and soft smile sent subtle chills across my skin.
We all did our individual runs. I was still the fastest in school, Chad held up pretty well though when compared to the rest. Instead of the compliments he used to pay me he just glared instead. I could tell he wanted to split me in half like a dinner clam, and not in the way I once wanted him to.
I sat off to the side under a large square umbrella with a few other people. Their loud voices attacked me ear as they cheered on their friends. I did the same, watching Taylor on the track. It seemed like she got faster and faster every time she ran. She wasn't the fastest out of the current runners, but she managed to snag third place.
"Woo! Go Taylor!" My voice cracked with my banshee like volume. She looked back and tossed up a wave.
Nathan and Scott were up next. AJ and Pablo were also in this batch of runners. Everyone bent over preparing for the signal. Nathan's shirt slid partially down his back as his butt lifted. I took this moment to admire his being. No one would notice I was watching him specifically at this distance.
Dang it Noah, you can't fall for him. I repeated in my head.
I think it's too late for that... Here I am, already fawning over his every action...
There's no way someone like him would be interested in me... is there?
There's a lot of evidence supporting his crush on me, but some how it just felt too good to be true.
If I ask him about it I could very well jeopardize our friendship like what happened with Chad.
...I don't want that.
The whistle was blown snapping me out of my head. The race started and everyone was off. Nathan didn't start off strong, several people charged ahead of him, taking the lead. He didn't lose pace though, in fact I noticed he was slowly picking up speed over time. By the third lap everyone tired themselves out, but Nathan was still running strong.
To my surprise there were a lot of people cheering him on. The girls next to me in particular were extra loud, they were practically fangirling over him.
I felt the need to cheer him on myself. I didn't want to be overshadowed.
He made it across the finish line long before anyone else. You know what they say, steady wins the race.
Scott would be considered a great participant if this were a race full snails. Watching him struggling to finish a lap was painful, yet highly entertaining. It was like watching someone trying to drag their obese demons.
Nathan jogged off the track, shaking his hair in the wind. His white shirt was soaked in sweat, but I hadn't expected him to remove it as he was currently doing. I swear he drew the attention of every girl within a two hundred feet radius.
It felt like every last drop of air had been pulled from my lungs, like I'd just been gut punch by the hulk when Nathan lifted the cloth over his head, revealing his bubbly chest and perfect torso. There were cat calls left and right. He flushed a cute shade of pink when he realized he had an audience.
I quickly shut my legs, my thoughts becoming indecent. Dang it, he's practically sex on legs.
Chad noticed all of the attention Nathan was getting as he eyed him from the distance. He proceeded to remove his own shirt trying to steal Nathan's thunder. There was definitely some attention thrown his way, but not nearly as much as Nathan's. I've grown considerably more attracted to Nathan than I have Chad. Seeing Chad's body didn't really do as much as it used to for me.
I thanked the lord when Nathan disappeared from sight. The baton race was going to be starting soon so I took this opportunity to get up and find Taylor.
Nathan's POV
The once tame sun was now a raging ball in the sky, the heat soaking my body in my own sweat. My shirt felt growingly heavy and uncomfortable. After jogging past the finish line and off the track I reached for the edge of my shirt, pealing it from my body. I hadn't gone shirtless in public in years, but now that I was finally okay with my body the thought didn't embarrass me as much.
I was startled as a slew of whistles poured in from every direction. When the realization that they were all for me set in I could feel my cheeks almost numb from the heat. I wasn't expecting to have so much attention on me. I was just glad it wasn't negative. I shot the on lookers a weak smile before stepping away to look for something to dry myself with, and a baton partner. Aside from Noah and Taylor, Scott would've been my first choice, but he'd already found a partner himself. Apparently it was someone with just as little interest in PE as him. The results should turn out interesting.
My quest to find a towel or something to clean my self with I ended in success. I noticed someone sitting on a small bench in the corner alone, amongst the water coolers and stacks of cloth.