“Oh J-Jake it's...you...and Jeremy isn't my b-boyfriend!” Michael rolled his eyes as he went back to trying to wash his bag. He didn't know why he felt a tinge of pain from that last sentence but that wasn't important.

“I thought I told you not to wash that off.” Jake grabbed the bag and Michael sighed, not even attempting to grab it. “Now I gotta rewrite it.” While he was distracted, Michael went over to the stalls and tried to hide in one but Jake grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back. “Nope. You aren't a girl, you aren't hiding in the stall.”

“Oh...okay…” Michael internally scolded himself for being so weak.

“You know, lookin at you right now, you look as pathetic as I did freshmen year.”

“What's t-that supposed to mean?”

“Well, nobody recognizes me from then. Not even you.”

“But you didn't go h-here!” Jake laughed, letting Michael's arm go.

“Y'all wanna bet.” Jake's voice suddenly got a thick accent and Michael stared in shock. They lived in New Jersey! New Jersey!!

“What?”

“Yeah that's an accent everybody forgot and it's gonna stay that way. Look, I realize that we aren't too different. I was just like you at one point. No friends, no girl cared about me, and nobody wanted to talk to me. Also people thought I was gay too.”

“O-Oh uh...are you?”

“NO! I'm straight! I literally just mentioned girls in that sentence!”

“I-I was just asking b-because some people use a straight front s-so people won't find them o-out.”

“Well that isn't me. And I know it isn't you. You want Jenna right?”

“I- wait how did you-”

“It's a thing called a Squip.” Jake held a pill out and Michael went to grab it, but Jake pulled away. “It told me.”

“A...S-Squip?”

“Yep. It's a pill with a computer inside. It tells you how to behave to get what you want. And for you that is…?” Jake held his voice out and Michael sighed, knowing the real answer to that.

“...Jenna.”

“Exactly. And now, you can get her. You just gotta get one of these.”

“A-And how do I do that?” Michael asked, and Jake’s eyes seemed to glow bright orange for a second before returning to their usual hazel color.

“Just, on Monday, bring me 600. This guy at Payless is handin' em out for that much."

“W-Wait….Dollars??”

“Yep. Bring me that and I’ll help change your life.” Jake put a hand on Michael’s shoulder, which sent a cold chill down the shorter male’s spine. “Promise you that.”

“O-Okay I-I’ll see what I can do.”

“Trust me, you won’t regret this. Oh uh...also sorry for treating you like literal garbage, my Squip told me to. It’s saying maybe now, you’d want one, which is why I’m telling you this.”

“Oh uh...okay…” Jake threw michael his bag back before leaving the bathroom. “He...He d-didn’t even wash his hands….ew…” Michael muttered under his breath before heading back to clean off his backpack, still not completely erase the BOYF. “God I-I am n-never going to escape this lie am I? H-He isn’t my boyfriend...he doesn’t even like me that w-way….he...he doesn’t love you...God Michael y-you’re pathetic…” Michael slid to the floor and sighed harshly. He hated his emotions for cursing him this way. What he didn’t know was that he wasn’t alone at that moment.

Outside the door, Jeremy had come to pick him up, quickly realizing where he was, and heard everything he’d just said.

“B-But I do love you...more than you could know…” He whispered, ignoring the pain his heart felt knowing his feeling were at least somewhat reciprocated. He sighed, sucking up any tears he had and knocked on the bathroom door. From inside, Michael sat up quickly, grabbed his bag, sucked up his tears as best he could and walked over, opening the door slowly and feeling a tinge of pain but also happiness from seeing Jeremy. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah just...overwhelmed i-is all.” Michael wiped his eyes a bit and Jeremy wrapped an arm around him and smiled.

“I know what’ll get your mind off things.” Michael instantly knew Jeremy was referring to Seven-Eleven slushies and then some video games.

“N-No doubt you do. You’ve k-known me for 12 years a-after all.” 12 years and Michael couldn’t even tell Jeremy the one thing he’d had on his mind for majority of that time.