Chapter Eight

Casper realised he knew the insides of his evil friend's mind all too well but still managed to find himself bending to her every whim.

He knew that she would bring him here, he bloody knew it. Where else do they go on a Saturday if not someone's house? Ever since they were old enough Casper and the gang had went to the only club in the city where they could fit in. Meaning almost everyone that went there had at least three piercings, their hair was not the colour they were born with, their wardrobe consisted of the colour black and ran out of eyeliner every other week.

Over the few years they had went, The Fishbowl had became one of the most consistent of hang outs and the one with the most memories- in fact, Casper and Darla had met here and Hedgehog and Daisy had shared their first kiss plus it had meshed them into the people they were today; whether that be a good or bad thing Casper couldn't be sure.

So Darla bringing him here wasn't the problem, it was why she had brought him here.

It wasn't a secret that practically everyone that went to the Fishbowl either was totally gay or was straight but wouldn't mind a quicky with the same sex now and again, it's just that Darla knew the difference. Casper guessed it was like another trend, you see your friends and everyone else around you do it too- he would be lying if the choice of his hair colour was all to do with him. Even so, it meant that any guy in the club was a possible candidate for Darla's "fool- proof" plan of Casper's apparent gay crisis.

Casper saw it coming and still he did nothing. He only had himself to blame.

Now he had to stand around and pretended to scour the sea of people, trying not to look like he was actually checking out people while Darla did all the work of pointing out boys. How did she even know this many people never mind their sexuality?

"Who even said that I wanted to get with a guy?" Casper grumbled into his hand. Honestly, no one mentioned this ever. Ever. Not to mention he had to wear this stupid tight shirt which kept annoyingly riding up his stomach and was making him all stuffy.

"Casper Dearie," she started, mildly exasperated."I know you better than you know yourself."

Casper stared at her, his face incredulous. "Right."

"Oh!"Darla would exclaim after a few minutes of scanning the darkened room."There's Gary Patterson. What about him? He may not look like much but wait till you get him in bed." She would laugh and wink and Casper would sigh and shake his head. This continued on for most of the night until Darla started to get sick of Casper rejecting everyone she put forward. "I'm just going to go piss. I'm bursting."

"Lovely Darla." Casper replied, scrunching up his nose in mild disgust as she stood and walked to the other end of the room where the restrooms were. Seriously why couldn't she be like other girls and keep certain things to a minimum?

Casper sat alone and awkward, shaking his fringe a little, self conscious that it was sitting weird. He watched as people danced on the wooden square in the middle of the hall and laughed as the voice changed in the song to scream the chorus and the instruments started going a little crazy which in turn made those dancing start to thrash wildly and others automatically stood out of the way until there was only a few left of them flinging their arms about and beating their heads with the music.

Casper didn't really understand mosh pits, but then he didn't really like the idea of getting physically hurt in the first place. He didn't like fights, didn't like violence much either. Even fights between other people made his stomach clench; one time he was even sick when he heard the crack of a boys jaw. He wasn't a violent person; he cried more than lifting his fists. The only time his "warrior streak" seemed to appear was when James riled him up... weird how one person could complete change you in the matter of seconds.

"It's definitely because I really hate him," Casper murmured into his thumb nail.

"Hello." A soft voice interrupted his thoughts, Casper looked up and flushed. Please tell me he didn't hear me talking to myself. The voice belonged to a smiling face that showed nothing to say that he had heard Casper. His smile was friendly and warm rather than teasing, his eyes dancing with the strobe lights of the room.

"Hi?" Casper answered uncertainly.

The smile grew wider, his eyes shifted to the other side of the room," seems your girlfriend is taking a long time."

Casper, confused, looked over to where the boy was looking to and noticed the neon sign of the toilets and it dawned on him. He laughed," oh, Darla isn't my girlfriend. Just my friend. Best friend. She is just helping with getting over my g-"Casper gulped realising what he was about to share that he was having a gay crisis with the stranger. The boy looked at him, waiting on Casper continuing, "Never mind."

"Not your girlfriend," the guy grinned," got it."

The shared a small silence watching the newly formed mosh pit thrash and swing.

"Not to seem rude or anything but," Casper started, eyeing the guy," did you want something?"

He looked to the ground sheepishly." I saw your... friend leave and you looked a little lonely." He shrugged and Casper grinned.

"Believe it or not I actually come here a lot but it seemed that there's no one here that I know today."

"Well let me be the first," he said," my name is Daniel by the way."

"Casper."

"Like the ghost." Daniel tried to joke.

"Yeah like the ghost, but make that joke again and you'll see that I'm not that friendly." Casper warned mildly, breaking into another grin as Daniel burst out in surprised laughter.

They talked a lot after that, learning they had so much in common to the point where Casper seriously looked at him as a new friend. They even danced a little to the obvious songs; like when the first few beats of The Bad Touch started playing they just looked at each, grinned and jumped into the crowd. Daniel even seemed knew the dance moves he and the gang made up and that made his good mood soar even more because that meant something he was part of it was trending. He actually started a trend and his new friend was in on it. It wasn't until later on, when The Fishbowl was near closing time that he noticed Darla still hadn't returned from the toilets. He quickly typed a text to her. No more than a second later he got a reply:

Sorry babe met sum1 on da way xx Got a bit busy ;) going back to his place he has got the fittest arse omg x

Casper gave out a cry of frustration, though he should have predicted this. Typical Darla and her antics.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, surprised with his sudden outburst.

"It's my friend she's... left me to get home by myself," Casper growled, typing an angry response.

Casper didn't notice Daniel shuffle slightly and running his hands through his hair as he frowned at the ground, as if thinking deeply about something before blurting out," I could walk you down if you want."

Casper looked up from his phone, his eyes light up and a gigantic happy smile on his face. "Really? That'd be awesome. Yeah, cool."

Both boys made their way out the club and started to talk more again.

It was weird to think of him as a friend already when Casper really didn't know what his face looked like due to the darkness of the club with only a feed of the disco lights flickering on his face each second to make out what he looked like. Casper was grateful for a chance of to accomplish that small curiosity while walking to the train station.

He knew already that Daniel was taller than him, most guys were. Casper had always been small for his age, his mum was determined that he was still yet to shoot up like most boys his age but really he'd just given up on the idea after a while. He was quite comfortable with his height now, just got a little self conscious when James decided to bring it up again. But Daniel was real tall, maybe even taller than Logan, but unlike Logan he was all limbs and straight like a bean pole. He had a slight skater look about him, with his gray beanie and dirty blonde curls sticking out and curling around his ears and the nape of his neck, a slight stubbly goatee on his chin. He couldn't make out much from the dimness of the street lights but he was sure his eyes were brown.

Casper found that Daniel was, in fact, a skater. Or had a board and could actually stay on it and travel with it unlike Casper who had tried it once, fell off and bleed so badly he vowed never again. Casper was slowly reconsidering the hasty pledge he made all that time ago as he watched Daniel talk of his hobby with great enthusiasm. His excitement was making Casper excited for it. He was infectious.

As they stepped into the train station and walked to the board Casper noticed his train was already waiting on platform 3 and was leaving in the matter of minutes.

He felt a surge of disappointment; he was enjoying Daniel's company. He liked him and wanted to stay with his new friend for a little longer.

"Well I guess that's me," Casper said, edging towards the gate awkwardly." My train leaves in three minutes so I guess I should get going..."

Daniel's all-smiling face fell, as if he was truly downed by this fact, his big brown eyes sad. He looked up at the board as Casper edged even further, wondering how to get out of this one when suddenly he noticed a slight perk in Daniel's features which made him stop.

"Are you getting the Campbell train on platform three?" he asked with hopefulness in his voice.

Casper could feel the disappointment quickly vanish and replacing itself with excitement and relief as he replied, " yeah, yeah I am."

Daniel's smile became so dazzling in that moment that Casper averted his eyes to the ground," Me too."

Casper's head lifted quickly smiling in return in mutual happiness. Together they made their way through the gates, onto the train and found seats with a table so they sat across from each other.

"So where you getting off?" Daniel asked, eyes shifting from his hands to Casper's face.

From the better and bright lights of the train from those in the Fishbowl and the street Casper was able to finally see the face of his new friend. His face was slim and angled like the rest of his body but still looked cuddly and warm, but maybe that was his big puppy brown eyes and the splatter of freckles decorating his cheeks that made his sharp cheekbones look that less bit dangerous.

Casper supposed he was quite good looking, for a guy that is.

"Emm..." Casper replied intelligently." First stop. Crawford."

"Aw yeah, me too."

Casper eyes widened." That is so weird. Where abouts do you live? What school do you go to?" he questioned, wondering why it hadn't come up before now.

"I live round about Fernhill road and I go to Crawford Academy," he replied." You?"

Fernhill road was only a short walk away from his street.

"St. Catherine's."

Crawford Academy and St. Catherine's were two of the three local high schools in Crawford and they were all in close proximity of each other. Crawford Academy was where Darla went to. Casper wondered if Darla knew Daniel already, if they were friends or just knew of each other. It was strange to think someone he was sure to have never met in his life, one that he had so much in common with and was such an interesting guy, had been so close this whole time.

"Do you know Darla then? Darla White. My friend that was with me." Casper asked," She goes to Crawford."

Daniel tapped his chin, slightly stroking his stubbly goatee before shaking his pointing finger in realisation," now that I think about it, yeah. I think she's in the year below me. She's sort of famous, well, infamous they all say she..." he trailed off awkwardly and glanced between Casper and the ground.

Casper gave of a laugh, "What? Sleeps around?" Casper laughed harder at the shocked look Daniel gave him," it's no secret. It's even likely most of the rumours are true, knowing Darla."

For a second Daniel was speechless at Casper's attitude towards his friend but then gave out a tense chuckle which then turned into a full out belt of laughter with snorts and everything which made Casper laugh just as hard until they were both breathless and keeling over themselves.

"Oh my God, "Casper gasped, clutching his stomach and tears streaming from his eyes." I'm going to die."

Which made them laugh even more.

Eventually, the laughs die down with only the occasional chuckle surfacing. They share a content silence, daring not to meet each other in the eye in case they started all over again. When they were sure it was safe they started talking about school and all Darla's different rumours so Casper could confirm those that were true and dismiss those that were total bullshit; it was embarrassing that most of them were truly classic Darla.

Daniel insisted on taking Casper home.

"It's on my way, honestly."

Casper knew for a fact that going towards Casper's street was the long way round to get to Fernhill Road which Daniel obviously knew. Daniel was going out of his way to spend more time with Casper, or so Casper hoped to think.

By the time the made it to his street Casper's small niggling sensation of fear was suddenly coming down in harsh waves. He didn't know what would happen once he got to his house. After learning so much about Daniel and having an awesome time with him he was dreading to think that it would be all over after this. That this promise of a great friendship would stop as soon as it started.

His mood just got worse as he saw James walking up the street ahead of them, his head down. He was probably walking back from Logan's, not that Casper cared. Daniel chattered away about his Labrador, Spike, not noticing Casper's sudden mood change and lack of focus on the story of how Spike once made the neighbour's dog pregnant. He did notice however when Casper stopped moving altogether, staring ahead at another boy who mirrored Casper.

He glimpsed between them both. Noticed how the guy ahead wasn't only looking at Casper but at him too. Daniel smiled a little and waved. This made the guy's eyes narrow into a glare.

Casper didn't know why he was staring at James; didn't understand why there was this sudden guilt weighing in his chest. He had done nothing wrong.

Shaking his head he turned back around to Daniel, trying to ignore James completely.

"Well this is me," he gestured to the house with his head; he vaguely registered the squeak of James trainers as he started moving towards his own house.

"Aw, cool." Daniel stuffed his hands into his pockets awkwardly, eyes fixed on his wrecked converse.

"It was nice meeting you then." Casper said, making no move to go.

"Yeah it was." Daniel looked at Casper and smiled, his eyes shining behind his curls.

"So..." Casper drawled out." Night then." He started moving backwards.

"Yeah, night."Daniel waved, also walking back onto the pavement and down the street before turning around.

Casper also did the same towards his door, trying to unhook his humongous ball of key chains from his belt loop to unlock the door with the key that was somewhere in amongst everything. He was aware of James two doors down doing the same thing. The idea had come from James actually. He was sick of getting prodded in the ass every time he forgot he had put his keys in his back pocket and found the solution to his problems by one day jiggling about like mad at his epiphany and Casper was quick to follow, even when he begrudgingly admitted that it was a good idea when he caught James staring at the ball of key chains it was worth all the teasing and gloats coming for James that lasted weeks (literally weeks) after that because his keys were a pain in the ass, not as literal as James', but a pain all the same. He'd have to ask Daisy all the time to put them in her bag whenever they were out because she would be the only one that would carry one most of the time and more often than nought he'd forget to ask about them at the end of the day and he would be locked outside, and when she didn't or wasn't there they were too big too big to fit in his pocket so he'd have to carry the big chunky, embarrassing things about with him. Soon everyone was doing it and Casper wondered why nobody he knew had thought of it before, it wasn't the most mind-blowing idea in the world but it was efficient.

Casper had just started to slide them out of the loop when he heard Daniel's voice again and the sound of footsteps, that weren't quite running but not walking either.

"Casper," he said as he approached yet again. His cheeks were flushed and it couldn't of been from the short jog back." Would it be any trouble if I could get your number?"

At that very moment James dropped his keys with a loud clatter and he swore but Casper was too preoccupied being dumbfounded and looking like an idiot staring with his mouth open like a freaking fish or something.

At Casper's silence Daniel started to squirm."To- to talk later and maybe meet up another time?" Daniel sounded unsure," because this was fun-wasn't it? Great fun. And you're an awesome guy and I think we could become friends but maybe you don't want to and o-"

"No," Casper said, out of his fish-like state, "NO." He repeated a little louder then flushed and coughed. "Here." He pulled put his phone because no matter how hard Casper tried he could never memorise his number for the life of him. He heard Daniel let out a breath and Casper smiled into the light of his phone, at least he wasn't the only one making a fool of himself, but it was funny- cute even.

And Casper totally could call other human beings and males cute because he was a real man dammit. Totally not gay whatsoever. Nope.

Plus there was nothing else he could describe it as. Daniel was awkwardly hilarious and it was adorable. Like a puppy. Yeah. Daniel was like a little cute puppy, who could deny him that?

Casper quickly gave him his number by reading aloud, and Daniel mess up like twice and they stood and laughed about it until he got it right and they parted ways again.

Casper just managed to get into his house when he got a text from an unknown number

So glad I met you. Hope to see you soon (: - D

Casper bolted up the stairs with the biggest smile on his face. And his phone clutched to his chest.