The remainder of the school day was entirely ruined for Freddy. As the last few classes went by like a blur, all Freddy could do was ruminate in his anger. He was pissed that Diya spoke that way to him. He was pissed that she humiliated him in the front of the entire student body. He was pissed, period.
“I didn’t do anything wrong” Freddy thought to himself. “She had no right to talk to me like that. And why didn’t Michael stick up for me? After putting myself out there to stick up for him, that’s the thanks I get?”
Freddy knew that he wanted to confront Michael about all of this this afternoon. Freddy felt Michael should feel a bit more gratitude than he showed him for how supportive he was to him. Especially considering he was the one dealing with an inconvenient curse, Freddy thought Michael should do more to be supportive of him in return. They needed to talk. They were going to talk.
When classes finally let out, Freddy managed to gather his things and headed out the main doors. Less people went up to him than earlier in the day, but a fair amount of people wished him a good night which calmed him down slightly. As he began to leave to go home, Freddy heard a voice call out to him.
“Freddy wait up!”
Freddy turned around to find Sofya coming towards him.
“Oh shit” Freddy thought. “Not now.”
As Sofya approached him, she had a smile on her face.
“Freddy! I’ve been trying to talk to you all day. Why have you been rebuffing my advances?”
“Now now, Sofya.”
“Come on Freddy, let’s talk.”
“No, I’m going home.”
Freddy began to head out before Sofya grabbed his arm with a surprising amount of strength and turned him back around to face her.
“We should talk” Sofya insisted.
“What is there to talk about?” Freddy asked coldly.
“You ran out of my house in a huff yesterday and you didn’t even say goodbye. And today, you ignored me all day on my first day at a new school. You had your friend play buffer between us in the only class we shared together. What’s up with you?”
“Sofya, I don’t think it’s a good idea for the two of us to be alone together right now.”
“Is it about what we did yesterday?”
Freddy looked at her in shock before his cheeks started to turn a bright red. He looked down briefly before looking up again to face her.
“It is, isn’t it?” Sofya asked again.
“Yes, Sofya, it is” Freddy replied.
“Freddy I—“
“Save it!”
Sofya took a quiet step back as she looked on with a surprised expression on her face.
“You came onto me yesterday against my will” Freddy continued. “You forcibly tried to kiss me and made me feel your breast. I told you I wasn’t interested in girls and you didn’t listen to me. If Michael hadn’t come by…”
“…we would have had sex” Sofya interjected.
“Huh?”
Freddy had a genuine look of confusion on his face.
“I felt your erection, Freddy. I didn’t prompt you to feel my nipple. You did that yourself. I knew you had the hots to me. You can deny it all you want, but I know what I felt inside and you felt it too. Maybe you don’t have romantic feelings for me after all, but you certainly wanted to bang me right there on the couch. And if Michael hadn’t interrupted our little play date, we would have and you know it.”
“You would have raped me, Sofya. I didn’t want it.”
“You didn’t say no.”
“I didn’t say yes, either.”
Sofya put her hand to Freddy’s face and he swiped it away. She did it again and this time Freddy didn’t move it.
“Freddy, don’t deny it. You know you felt it ever since we met a few days ago. You know it. I know it. Michael might be mad about it, but he felt it too. I’ve known many a jealous lover, Freddy, and he gives off all the tell tale signs. He admitted to me yesterday that you two are having trouble.”
“Wait, what?” Freddy asked, confused by this revelation.
Sofya removed her hand from Freddy’s face to stare at him intensely.
“He didn’t tell you?” Sofya asked.
“No” Freddy responded.
Freddy may have heard part of the conversation as Fido, but he didn’t hear all of it. Although he had wanted Sofya to go, now he wanted to hear what she had to say. He knew there’d be lies peppered in there, but there would be kernels of truth in there as well.
“He told me you’re having trouble” Sofya began. “You’re not in a good place right now. He said you were stupid and that you were impulsive.”
Although Freddy knew this wouldn’t all be accurate, but after hearing what Diya had called him at lunch to the entire student body, he wondered what Michael might have been saying about him behind his back.
“He admitted that he suspected you had cheated on him in the past. He thought maybe you had feelings for girls in the past.”
“That has to be a lie, Sofya. I’ve never had any feelings for girls.”
“He doesn’t feel like you’ve told the truth about that. And with the passion we felt yesterday…”
Sofya rubbed her hand again against Freddy’s cheek, which he swatted away once more.
“…it’s understandable why.”
“I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic you used on him, Sofya, but I know for a fact that you lied to him about several things that happened between us at your house yesterday. You said I had been in a previous relationship, which never happened, and you said I said I liked girls when I specifically told you I didn’t.”
“I don’t know where you heard all of this from, but that’s not what I said at all. I said you didn’t say one way or the other whether you liked girls.”
“I said I didn’t like girls!”
The straggling students stared at the two of them for a moment before they resumed leaving to go home.
“How did you even know what I told Michael anyway?” Sofya asked. “You weren’t there when we spoke.”
Knowing the jig might be up, Freddy scrambled to come up with a legitimate excuse.
“Diya told me about it this afternoon. I confronted her about Michael and she told me all about what you said to him.”
“Well, that nerdy girl’s information is not accurate.”
Freddy thought to defend Diya from such a comment, but after the way she treated him at lunch, he held his tongue.
“Michael may be talking out of emotion” Sofya continued. “So he doesn’t have all the facts either. Trust me, Freddy, things aren’t good between the two of you right now and it has nothing to do with me.”
Sofya started to walk towards the neighborhood before she turned back towards Freddy.
“Why don’t we talk this over in private?” Sofya asked. “Friday night works for you?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be alone with you anymore” Freddy replied.
“Bring Michael too.”
What was the harm in going? If Sofya’s father was actually the wizard, they still needed to find a way to defeat him. As much as he felt a sense of dread doing this, he knew he’d have to agree on behalf of the both of them. There was no other choice.
“Fine” Freddy answered. “If Michael gets to come too.”
“7 work?” Sofya asked.
“Ok” Freddy replied with a bit of hesitation.
“Then it’s a date. Don’t be late.”
Sofya smiled and waved as she caught up with a group of girls who began to chat with her. They made their way off the front lawn and to the street in front of them. Freddy waited a moment before he began to head out as well. Before he could do so, he saw someone walk past him in a huff. When he went to take a look to see who it might be, he saw an angry Michael storming out into the street. Freddy ran up to Michael and grabbed him by the arm to turn him around to face him.
“We need to talk!” the two of them said in unison, startling each other.
A moment of silence fell before Michael spoke up.
“I’ve been looking all over for you since lunch. We need to talk.”
“We do” Freddy replied “but not here. Let’s go to my place.”
“My parents won’t be home tonight. Maybe it’d be better to do it at my place. We’ll have more privacy.”
“I’d feel more comfortable doing it at mine.”
Michael saw that Freddy meant business, so he went against his instincts and nodded in agreement. Freddy grabbed Michael’s hand and the two started walking home from school in silence. The air between them was so thick, you could cut with a knife. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the two of them managed to arrive at Freddy’s house with a noticeable lack of car in the driveway.
“See” Freddy pointed out. “We’re alone.”
Michael nodded before Freddy let him in the front door. The two took a brief look around to make sure no one was around before they headed upstairs to Freddy’s room. When they shut and locked the door, they began to talk.