Roots Ch. 01

Author's Note: all characters are at least eighteen years old.

*****

Chapter One

Friendship

I can't remember how we became friends. If someone asked, I would say that our parents were friends before, and we became friends by association.

If someone thought that my explanation was faulty, they would press me for a better answer. It just didn't seem possible that such a close relationship could occur by random chance. Divine intervention was certainly possible.

My response to them was always the same: I don't know.

More specifically, it didn't occur to any of us why we shouldn't be friends. Our intimacy just felt right. We were pieces to a puzzle that had only three parts. My first memory of our encounter was looking at Annie's and Travis's smile, and knowing that an identical smile plastered my face.

The origin of our friendship aside, what was important was that we were friends. Best friends. We did everything together: eat junk food, play video games, watch Netflix.

It must have come as a shock to everyone when, after summer break, we stopped speaking with each other. The people who were with us over the summer, and saw what we saw, were less surprised. However, they couldn't explain our separation to anyone who asked.

At the time, I blamed Annie for our separation. In hindsight, I blamed Travis. Sometimes, I blamed myself, but only if I were feeling masochistic.

***

I shook my flaccid penis, knowing that, no matter how much I flicked it, a bit of urine would roll down my leg when I returned my penis to my pants.

I revealed myself from the trees in which I had been hiding and made my way back to the main path. A bit of piss had dried on my inner thigh. I tried to ignore it.

As I approached the main path, I noticed a boy and a girl standing together at a distance from me. The girl had very blonde hair-almost white-knobby legs and arms, and an angular face. Because of the baggy sweater and sweatpants she wore, it was difficult to tell that she was a girl. This discernment was particularly difficult because she was quite tall for an eighteen year old girl-at least a head taller than Travis and I. When we were younger, and Annie's hair was shorter, people often mistook her for a man. Now that her figure has grown out (by just a bit; her tits were still very small), people recognized that she didn't have a dick.

Whereas the girl was tomboyish, the boy was effeminate. He had soft skin, manicured nails, a slight figure, full lips, long lashes, and although his hair was short, the short hair made him look more like a dyke than a man. Recently, a rumor had spread that Travis was a homosexual. Noting wrong with being a homosexual, of course-Annie said that often; however, Travis had a crush on a girl in his Physics class during the time the rumors spread. Annie and I were able to squash the rumors but we could not change the girl's opinion of our friend. She thought he was a sissy.

When Annie saw me coming, she grinned and waved her hand. "How was the piss?"

"Some dribbled down my leg."

Travis said. "The punishment of man for blaming women for the first sin."

Annie rolled her eyes. "And blaming women for every sin."

Travis and I exchanged a glance, suppressing a smirk between us. Over the previous summer, Annie had pored over some feminist blogs. She was now convinced that anything bad that happened in the world stemmed from toxic masculinity. Travis and I were smart enough to not disagree with her.

She must have seen the glance we exchanged, however, because she punched my shoulder. Then she punched Travis's. I'd like to say that it was just a playful punch, and it probably was playful from Annie's perspective, but she had a strong arm. It took all my strength to not say "Ow."

Travis groaned through the pain in his right shoulder, clutching it as if he had just received a fatal wound. "I barely touched you!" Annie said, putting her arms up.

"That's what scares me the most." Travis said.

We all laughed at that. Annie apologized and wrapped her arms around both of us as we continued on the path, her standing between us.

Earlier today, I had invited Annie and Travis over to study for a math test we had tomorrow. Well, only Annie and I had a math test tomorrow. As soon as math was no longer a required course, Travis had stopped taking it. I invited him over anyways, because it felt weird to invite one and not the other.

When it was time to go home, Travis and I had offered to walk Annie to her house. Travis and I lived in the same neighborhood, but Annie lived about ten minutes away, even if we cut through the park, as we were doing now.

Trees rose on either side of us. A wind slipped through the leaves and curled around us. Annie let us go to wrap her arms around herself. Despite the sweater, she looked cold. It was only October, but Fall seemed content to making a bow early. Winter was coming.

We kept walking in companionable silence for a few minutes when Annie spoke. "Do you think we'll still see each other when high school ends?"

Travis and I stopped walking. Annie walked a few feet before realizing that we weren't following her. She turned around.

"Where is that coming from?" Travis asked.

She shrugged.

"You really did feel something from that Gravity Falls video." I said.

A blush spread from her neck and to her cheeks. She looked away from us, finding an interesting particle of dirt between her shoes.

Travis and I sighed. A Youtuber named Mike Inel had posted a video a while ago called "Twins Forever". It was a parody of Alex Hirsch's Gravity Falls. The video showed Dipper Pines asking his sister if they would be together forever. At the end, he confesses that, while he had many friends, Mabel was the only best friend he had. It was pretty damn heartfelt, if I was being honest. Annie had seemed indifferent by the end of the video, which was fitting with her personality. Although, it seemed like she had felt something.

"How am I not supposed to think of us splitting up?" Annie shot back. "We'll be choosing universities soon. If we all split up, then we'll barely have any time for each other. And we'll slowly drift apart."

I wanted to say something snarky. But for a reason that I couldn't describe then, I didn't. Perhaps it was because Annie was on the verge of tears. "We can just go to the same school then." I said instead.

"I like that idea." Travis smiled. He put an arm around my shoulder and Annie's, bringing us in for a hug. "Let's go to a university in a big city. Small towns suck."

Annie was trying to wipe her tears, but we were all so close to each other that she kept bumping her hand in my chin. Travis let us go and Annie wiped her eyes. "Do you promise?" She asked.

Travis and I exchanged a glance. We nodded.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." I said. And this was true. I couldn't think of a life without Annie and Travis in it.

We walked Annie the rest of the way home. Her parents both worked late, and so the house was empty. Annie invited us inside, but it was getting late-maybe another time.

When Travis and I were walking back to our houses, we were both silent. I couldn't be sure what he was thinking, but he seemed very serious. I asked him if anything was wrong. He shook his head, but there were tears in his eyes. I wondered if this was a day of mourning.

He said, "You and Annie are the best friends a guy could ask for."

I pushed him playfully and we ran the rest of the way home.

"Welp. I failed that math test." Annie said when she and I left the classroom.

"You don't seem bothered by it."

She made a gesture which indicated her indifference for the education system.

We met up with Travis in the lunchroom. He was sitting with a girl I didn't immediately recognize. Annie poked me in the rib cage. I jumped, a bit higher than I would have liked, and saw her pointing to an empty table. Confused, I followed her to the vacant area.

"Are you and Travis fighting?" I asked.

She looked at me the way I imagined our math teacher would look at her when we got our tests back. How could you be so stupid? "Travis is sitting with Victoria, dude." She said.

I blanked. Victoria was the girl Travis had had a crush on. She had had long hair the last time I had seen her-now it was short, which was why I didn't recognize her. Despite the haircut, however, she was easily more effeminate than Annie. Whereas Annie was knobby and tall, Victoria was short, a bit plump but in a cute way, and wore very light makeup. She had dark hair which framed Nordic features. She might have been Swedish.

Annie and I were sitting on the same side of the lunch table. Both of us had an unobstructed view of Travis with Victoria. Thankfully, Victoria's back was to us, and so she didn't see the two students staring holes in the back of her head. If Travis noticed us, then he did a good job of ignoring our stares.

"I thought she didn't like him anymore."

Annie took out her lunch bag. She always made her own lunch. Cooking was her only stereotypical feminine quality. She was pretty good at it. Today, she packed a quinoa fruit salad: cucumbers, baby tomatoes, lettuce and kale, green peppers. I suddenly felt very conscious of the leftover pizza in my lunch bag.

She took a forkful of lettuce, chewed, swallowed, and then turned to me. "Girls can change their minds, I guess." Another forkful of salad. "He looks pretty damn happy, though."

I turned back to Travis (I had been looking at Annie's meal). He sat too far away to discern any facial expression. But, when I looked under the table, I saw that his legs were crossed-an uncanny gesture he made whenever he was happy.

I took out the leftover pizza from my lunch bag. Annie eyed it. Frowned. And dumped some of her salad into my Tupperware container.

We kept watching Victoria and Travis until the former got up from the table. When she was out of eyesight, Annie and I packed up our lunches and rushed over to Travis.

He seemed to be expecting us, as he looked at us, deadpanned, the moment Victoria left.

Annie sat down first. She told Travis to tell us everything.

"First, how did your test go?" He asked.

Annie shrugged. "I only took math because my mom forced me to. It doesn't matter."

I sat beside Annie. I told Travis that I had done just fine, which didn't surprise him.

Annie slapped his hand, playfully but with a hint of impatience. "Fucking tell us what is going on. Why were you talking to Victoria?"

"Jealous, Annie?" Travis teased.

She snorted. I could tell that she was about to say something mean, but she didn't want to put a damper on Travis's day. He looked so happy. "I'm overflowing with jealousy," she said, sardonically. "Now tell us!"

I realized that Travis hadn't eaten his lunch yet. He had spaghetti, tomato sauce, and lots of cheese. All shoved inside Tupperware. He returned the container to his bag, smiling the whole time. "Last period is about to start, so I'll tell you after that." As soon as he said that, the bell rang, indicating that lunch had ended. Students from nearby started packing up their lunches and filing out of the cafeteria.

Amidst the throng of footsteps and voices, I heard Travis ask, "Wanna meet at Michael's house after school?"

We both nodded. My place was the base of operations for our trio. I didn't know why. I had on more than one occasion offered to meet up at Annie's place. However, my two friends preferred my house. Besides, Annie had said, walking me home is our little tradition.

We all had different classes last period. I had economics. Annie had creative writing. Travis had law. Economics was alright. There was very little math and the concepts were intuitive enough that I didn't have to study very hard.

It also helped that the teacher was attractive. She wasn't a bombshell, of course. Those types of teachers appeared only in porn videos and wet dreams. Still, she was cute. She had glasses, dark hair done up in a bun, and always wore jeans and a teeshirt with some weird catch phrase. Today, her shirt read

HOLY BAT-ARANG, BATMAN! IT'S DEADWEIGHT LOSS!

with a picture of Robin and Batman.

Ms. Fitzgerald had graduated only a few years ago, and had snagged a teaching job at our school when Kathleen Wynne was still in power. She had been lucky-a year later and she would have graduated under Ford's regime. No school would have hired her then.

Currently, she was equivocating about profit maximization or some such. I wasn't really paying attention, however, and the class ended pretty quickly.

As we were all leaving, I heard Ms. Fitzgerald tell one of the students to stay behind, a boy named Cody. Cody was kind of the class clown in our school. People thought he had ADHD, which might have been true. Last week, he had been giving a lot of trouble and had had detention every day this week. I felt kind of bad for him.

I found Travis waiting for me at the front of the school. We waved to each other.

"Just answer me one thing," I said to him when we were within hearing distance. "Are you fucking her?" Only half-jokingly.

Travis wiggled his eyebrows. "You'll just have to wait and see."

I punched his shoulder. He punched mine. We were silly boys.

We waited for Annie at the set of stairs in front of our school. After a while, Travis called her but got sent to voicemail. "Let's wait a few more minutes," I suggested. There was no need to say that, however, as Annie burst through the school's front doors.

And walked right by us.

Travis and I exchanged a worried look and trailed after her. She didn't talk to either of us for a long time. Which was fine. We knew that she was upset about something, and when she got like this, it was best to wait until she spoke first.

I figured she still wanted our company, though, as she was walking in the direction of my house.

Finally, when we were more than halfway to my house, she stopped. We stopped behind her. There was a grimace on her face and her cheeks were red. She was also baring a bit of teeth.

"Am I ugly?" She asked.

Travis was the first to recover. "No." He said, simply. I nodded in agreement.

Annie didn't seem to hear him. "Do you know who the fuck I saw today? Grace the Roach."

I arched an eyebrow. Grace had hung out with the three of us a lot in the first year of high school. She was pretty cool: funny, smart, and cute. Admittedly, I might have had a small crush on her.

I didn't know why she suddenly stopped hanging out with us-all I knew was that she and Annie had gotten into some huge argument. It didn't seem like Travis knew what the argument was, either, and Annie wouldn't tell us. She just confirmed that the argument was big enough to end their friendship.

Since the break-up, Annie would complain about Grace every now and again. Usually, however, she didn't get upset about what Grace said-only annoyed. Now, though, she seemed livid.

"What did Grace do?" I asked.

"I was at my locker, getting my shit before I met up with you guys, and then I see Jack." Annie said. "I'm talking to him-I can't even remember what about-when Grace comes along. Then, for whatever reason, she starts telling Jack about the time I had really bad acne in grade 9, and she had played fucking connect the dots with my pimples."

"No. Fucking. Way." Travis said.

"And then," Annie continued. "She and Jack are laughing at me, and she says how I don't look much different now, which made Jack laugh even harder."

I remembered when Annie had had acne. It was pretty bad, but her skin is clear now. Travis and I told her that Grace was being a bitch. So was Jack.

We made the rest of the trip to my house in a friendlier atmosphere. Annie was still smarting from the verbal beating she received from Grace, but she was feeling better now than before. She didn't say it, but I could tell that she was glad she could vent to us.

When we arrived at my house, I could hear my mom singing in the kitchen. She was singing "Amazing Grace" but stopped at 'wretch like me' when she heard the door open. She peaked her head from around the wall and smiled. "How did I know that you were bringing guests over?"

"Hey Mrs. P." Travis and Annie said in unison.

I told my mom that we were going up to my room, which didn't bother her. She just told us to be down in time for dinner. She always made extra just in case Travis and Annie came over.

Annie plopped onto my bed. I threw myself beside her, my head in the same direction as her legs. I heard Travis throw himself on the other side, his head in the same direction as mine. We looked at each other across Annie's feet-she had removed her shoes at the entrance to my house; so had Travis and I-and Travis scrunched up his face in mock disgust at the imaginary smell emanating from Annie's toes.

"I think I'm ready to hear what Travis and Victoria were talking about." Annie said.

"Spill, dude." I concurred.

Travis sat up. He brought his legs toward his chest, wrapped his arms around his knees, rested his chin on his arms, smiled, smiled, and smiled. "She asked me out."

Annie screamed in delight. Her scream must have been loud enough for my mom to hear in the kitchen because I heard a yelp come from downstairs. Annie jumped out of my bed and there was a huge grin plastered over her face. "You're a fucking liar."

"I don't lie, Annie."

"But, I thought she thought you were gay?"

Travis frowned. In her excitement, Annie must have forgotten that Travis hated to be reminded of that rumor. "I guess she got over it. I was waiting at the table for you guys when Victoria came over. We started talking a bit-about some random bullshit that I can't remember right now-and, out of nowhere, she admits that she had a small crush on me." The grin had returned to Travis's face now. "I told her that I had a huge crush on her, which got us both giggling. Anyway, she asked if I wanted to go out with her on Saturday. Obviously, I said that I would love that."

Another shriek from Annie. Travis and I laughed at her excitement. Although Annie would never admit it, she loved romantic stories. Once, I had found a bunch of Tami Hoag books in her bedroom closet. I told Travis about it, but we decided not to mention anything to Annie.

Annie went into a list of stuff that Travis would have to do on his date with Victoria. He needed to compliment her on her outfit. He had to win her a toy at the arcade. He had to maintain eye contact. Jokingly, Travis asked if he could check out her ass when she wasn't looking.

"It depends. Some girls might take it as a compliment, as long as you're not making it really obvious that you're staring." Annie said.

Travis wiggled his eyebrows. "Would you ever show me your ass, Annie?"

Heat rose to her cheeks. She looked at me, mouth agape. I was surprised myself. Travis wasn't usually so blunt with his words. Perhaps the date with Victoria had given him some courage. I thought he would try to backpedal after seeing how clearly uncomfortable Annie was-he didn't.

"I've peaked at it every now and again," he shrugged. "You've got a great ass."

"Dude, shut the fuck up." I said, glaring at him. He started. Annie looked at me, too. I was a normally peaceful guy, so it must have come as a shock to them both to hear anger in my voice. Travis opened his mouth to say something, but he thought better of it.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. At least he had the commonsense to look embarrassed. "I don't know why I said that."

Annie looked like she was debating whether to forgive him or not. She sighed, and I could see the tension in her shoulders relaxing. "I forgive you. I wasn't that mad, really. I was just kind of surprised. I didn't know you saw me like that."

"Of course. How could I not?" Travis said. "You have an amazing body."

Annie blushed, but she didn't seem upset. I wondered why Travis was being so forthcoming today. But, I couldn't disagree with him. Annie was less voluptuous than some of the other girls in our grade, but there was no denying her attractiveness.