“What are you watching?” Delano asked, peeking over to Melmarc’s side of the chair and trying to see his phone.

Over the past hour of the bus ride a few things had happened, most of which involved Delano falling asleep. There’d been a heated argument in the front seat between two boys that had almost come to blows. One of the teachers had been forced to change their seats to end it.

There were still chatters and conversations here and there, but nothing important.

During that time Melmarc had slipped his earbuds back in his ears and turned on a video of another chess game. He’d watched a quick chess match online before downloading an app for it and was now playing against someone somewhere on the other side of the world.

“Are you playing chess?” Delano asked. “Since when did you start playing chess?”

“I’ve always known how to play chess.” Melmarc took a risk and moved his bishop to a precarious spot.

Instead of claiming it, his opponent made a different move. It messed up his entire plan and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“How long have you known how to play chess?” Delano asked.

“I learned as a child.”

“How come I’ve never seen you play chess?” Delano looked around his chair at Eroms. “Did you know Marc could play chess.”

Eroms’ answer was simple but muffled. “No.”

Delano turned back to Melmarc. “See. We’re your only friends and none of us knew that you—wait a gawddamn moment. Just one moment.”

He turned back to look behind his chair. “Where the hell did you get sandwiches, Eroms?”

Melmarc winced as his opponent took his queen. At this rate the game was already up. He didn't have enough confidence to keep playing a losing game without a queen on his board. His hand hovered over the restart option but he hesitated.

What’s another loss, he thought, then made his next move rather than restart.

“I’m sure he must’ve gotten it from his food bag,” he told Delano.

“Not possible.” Delano didn’t turn away from Eroms. “I helped him pack his food bag. Most of his food came from my house. There’s chips, fruits, bananas, fruits—”

“You already said fruits, D.”

“Biscuits,” Delano continued, undeterred. “Some bottles of water. A pack of gravy for reasons I don’t know. But no sandwich. We didn’t pack sandwiches.”

“Where did you get sandwiches?” Delano repeated, asking Eroms.

“Uh,” the girl beside Eroms chipped in. “I gave him the sandwich.”

Melmarc chuckled, and Delano sighed.

Delano ran a hand down his face. “Tracy… You’re Tracy, right? Can I call you Tracy?”

“I’m Tracy,” the girl confirmed.

“Good. I remember you because we take some classes together. So, Tracy, I know you’re a nice person so I’m going to ask why exactlyyou chose to give my good friend over here a sandwich.”

“You just said she was nice,” Melmarc offered, while he struggled with a losing game.

“Not now, Marc,” Delano shushed him. “Now, back to you, Tracy. Why?”

Melmarc rolled his eyes.

“He just seemed hungry,” Tracy answered.

“He seemed hungry?”

“Yes.”

Delano chuckled lightly. He turned to Melmarc. “She said he seemed hungry. Can you—aaannnd you’re not even listening to me.”

He turned back to Tracy.

“You know what? Never mind. Just...” He sighed and sat back properly. “Never mind.”

“You’ve really got to get used to the fact that everybody just likes Eroms now,” Melmarc said absently. “I mean, what’s not there to like? He’s like a big, quiet teddy bear.”

“And that’s the problem. He’s not a big, quiet teddy bear. It’s all a ruse.” Delano picked at a loose thread on his chair. “Behind all that big and quiet is a devious mind that bites my leg and likes to remind me that I’m short.”

Melmarc turned to him. “I don’t see it. But is that really what he’s like?”

“When you all are not around? Yes. I grew up with him so I know.”

Eroms reached forward and flicked Delano’s ear, startling him.

“See?” he laughed. “A menace!”

Melmarc shook his head and turned back to his game. This wasn’t the first time he was hearing the Eroms conspiracy theory. No matter how many times he heard it, though, it never bothered him because Eroms and Delano always treated each other right.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The first time he’d met them Delano had been getting beat up because he started a fight with a guy who’d called Eroms fat.

“Anyway,” Delano continued. “You said you learned how to play chess when you were small. Why the renewed interested?”

How exactly do I do this? Melmarc wondered.

He wasn’t necessarily keeping the fact that he was Gifted from his friends, it was just that since he wasn’t necessarily gifted yet, he didn’t really feel like there was anything to tell.

Faced with the question now, he figured if anyone else had to know, his friends weren’t a bad start.

It’s not like they’ll start treating me differently… right?

“School bus to Marc.” Delano snapped his finger between Melmarc and his phone. “We kinda lost you there for a second, champ. So why the renewed interest?”

Melmarc swiped his game up, minimizing it. “Where’s your phone?”

“My pocket. Why?”

“Take it out.”

Melmarc opened his messaging app while Delano retrieved his phone and typed: I heard that learning new things increases the chances of getting better skill offers as a Gifted.

Delano stared at his phone, clearly reading it. Then he looked at Melmarc, nonplussed. After a moment he turned back to his phone and typed a response.

When it came, Melmarc was already back to his losing match. The messaged slipped down at the top of his screen.

He swiped it down, expanded the notification to read it.

What does that have to do with anything?

Melmarc stared at his friend like he was stupid.

You spend most of your time looking for Class secrets and conspiracy theories but couldn’t understand that? He thought.

He typed his response. It was quick and not really new.

I heard that learning new things increases the chances of getting better SKILL offers as a GIFTED.

Delano read the new message, then read it again.

Melmarc saw the moment it clicked. His friend’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Delano's smile was too wide. His voice was also too loud. “My friend’s a fucking—”

Melmarc abandoned his phone and moved quickly. All those self-defense lessons brought themselves to good use.

His phone fell to his laps as he reached across. In his excitement, Delano’s arms weren’t rested. So Melmarc pinned the arm that would get in his way with one hand, and clamped the other over Delano’s mouth.

It muffled the rest of his friend’s words.

A few eyes turned to them, but none too serious. The others were back to their business and noises soon enough.

“You do understand that there’s a reason I sent it as a message, instead of saying it, right?” he whispered.

Delano nodded slowly, his mouth still covered by Melmarc’s hand and one arm still pinned down. In their sockets his eyes moved slowly. First it looked around, then at Melmarc before it blinked.

I think he gets it.

Still, when Melmarc removed his hand, he was slow and intentional about it, ready to pin his friend down again if he had to.

Delano reached up and rubbed his jaw. “Quite the grip you’ve got there. You must really be coming into it.

“Delano.” Melmarc glared at him.

“It’s alright. I’m just joshing.”

Melmarc let out a tired sigh and returned his attention to his game. Between his lost queen, his steadily inevitable loss, and Delano’s shenanigans he was already getting tired.

He made another move, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

Maybe I should just quit and watch another game.

“So how long are you going to wait?” Delano asked. “And when are we telling Eroms. We’re telling Eroms, right?”

Melmarc gave him a side-eye.

Delano shrugged. “Personally, I wouldn’t care, but if we don’t tell him, then he could find out we’re keeping a secret and he could just sit on me.”

Melmarc cocked a brow. “Is that a fat joke?”

“Nope. That’s actually a true life story. One time, when we were kids he came to my place when I was asleep and my mom let him in. There was a girl he was crushing on and she was crushing on me. So he came into my room and just… sat on me.”

Melmarc laughed.

“I’m serious,” Delano insisted. “Do you know how traumatizing it is to have your life flash before your eyes when you’re not even ten yet?”

Melmarc kind of knew. He couldn’t look at a ring light without being slightly worried. No one knew that, though.

And no one’s going to.

Delano nudged his knee. “So when are we telling him?”

“When we get to our destination,” Eroms said from the back. “You don’t tell secrets on a moving bus.”

“What secret?” Tracy asked.

Delano sighed. “Melmarc has something on his big boy parts he doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

Melmarc glared at his friend.

“Oh.” Tracy sounded worried. “You should use protection every time. If it’s that bad, I can call my mom. She’s a nurse so maybe we can stop by a pharmacy and she’ll tell us what to get.”

With a frown, Melmarc quit the match he was playing and typed furiously on his phone.

Why the hell would you tell her that? He sent. Now everyone’s going to think I’ve got some kind of disease!

Delano looked at the message and his face twisted in horror.

Melmarc saw it and realized the boy hadn’t been thinking. A new message popped up on his phone.

I’m so sorry, it read. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll fix this.

Delano turned and propped himself up on his knees so that he was looking over his chair.

“You’re sweet, Tracy, but I was lying. You know Melmarc takes self-defense classes, right?”

So he’s plan to fix this was to tell more things about me. Just great.

Tracy’s answer surprised him.

“Everyone knows that. They say it’s because he uses it to defend himself from his brother when he gets angry. Personally, I don’t think that’s true.”

What the hell?! Everyone knows? And why would they think I’ll need to defend myself from Ark?

“It’s not,” Delano confirmed. Then he paused and looked at Melmarc. “It’s not, right?”

Melmarc had a very short full body tantrum. “Of course it’s not.”

“Okay, good. Just checking.” Delano turned back to Tracy. “The secret has something to do with the dojo where he’s learning the whole self-defense thing.”

“Do you lie a lot?" Tracy asked Delano.

Melmarc could hear the frown in her voice.

Delano let out a sigh. “Marc, please tell her you’ll tell her the secret. Something tells me she’ll believe it if it’s coming from you.”

“I think you’re going about it the wrong way. You should be asking if she even wants to know the secret.”

“Do you?” Delano asked her.

“Is that a trick question? Everybody wants to know a secret.”

Melmarc adjusted on his seat so that he sat lower then put his head back, losing interest in the conversation. He tapped a few options on his phone and in a matter of moments a slow instrumental was playing his ear. It was the work of a famous violinist who’d gone on a world famous talent show once and had lost horridly.

She was famous now for her work, so he guessed that was a win.

As the slow violin played in his ear, he thought of skills and classes and what he would do if he hadn’t gotten something he liked in a week. The last thing he wanted to do was end up like Bob Slater.

Unwilling to conjure up a lie, he closed his eyes or further interest in the conversation. “Wake me up when we get there, Delano.”

Delano made a move he didn’t see. He only knew he’d moved because of the sound of the chair he was seating on.

“I was already getting worried that you were still awake, normally you’d be asleep by now.”

Melmarc would’ve liked to respond to his friend but he was too busy being lulled to sleep by the moving vehicle and the song in his ear.

It would really be cool if he could get a skill he liked sooner than later.