Chapter Four...Bitch Be Trippin' Balls!

Let it be known that I hate being stared at. In fact, in my opinion, the only thing worse than being stared at is when people stare at something else that's in my direction. Pisses me right the fuck off. So I guess sitting next to Mr. Slash (as he was known to Miss Priss Linda) during lunch wasn't the brightest of ideas, considering my reservations. But, whatever.

At the moment, just about the entire school's population was staring openly at Traci, who sat, surprisingly calm, even if a little red in the face, on the bench next to me. Adrian, being the lucky little fanboy that he was, got to sit on Traci's other side, while Quinn and Anthony sat across from us.

Suddenly, Adrian let out a delightedly evil laugh. Lowering the burrito she'd bought, Quinn raised an eyebrow and asked was his deal was. Adrian giggled once more, latching onto Traci's arm greedily, and announced, "Look at all of 'em over there. All those expressions on their faces." Smiling devilishly, he lifted his other hand and, which a flamboyant flair, ticked off: "Devotion! Depression! Disbelief! Jealousy! Shock! Anger!" He stopped abruptly and nuzzled Traci's shoulder, "All because of me! Because I get to sit next to and touch their precious Traci Slash!"

Traci let out an embarassed laugh.

"Oh, get over yourself," Quinn rolled her eyes.

"You do realize that if he sat at a different table, you'd be a part of the mob of idiots staring, right?" I added, laughing derisively.

"But he didn't, and I'm not," Adrian countered triumphantly. I followed Quinn's example and rolled my eyes before taking a sip of my chocolate milk.

Our group fell into an uncommon silence in which we could hear the jealous whisperings of our classmates around us echoing off the cafeteria's walls. Out of nowhere, a soft voice started singing, "I've got hundreds of people looking at me/ But I only see you... And I got hundreds of people yelling at me/ But I only want to talk to you...," Traci trailed off, blinking nervously when he realized our group was now staring at him, too. He cleared his throat, "Uh, sorry. Nervous habit."

"Don't worry about it-" Quinn started as I asked, "Is that one of your songs?", recognizing the beat, but Adrian's squeal of delight drowned both of our responses out. "I LOVE that song!" He flailed around in his seat and moaned for a second before turning to Traci again, who was looking at him with an expression of mixed concern and fear, "Sing some more! Pretty please?"

"Well... what do you want me to sing?" Traci asked, looking down at the table, but I could see excitement in his eyes. I wished he would stop being so goddamn shy. How was he supposed to survive the glorious life of a rockstar with that kind of attitude?

"Wait, what was that first song?" I asked before Adrian could choose.

Anthony at last spoke, spitting his hoodie strings out of his mouth, "'Eyes Only For You' by Unrequited Sin, album: Elektronik Chinchilla." Quinn raised an eyebrow. Anthony shrugged, "You have to know these things when you practically live with him," he said, nodding at Adrian before replacing the strings between his teeth.

Adrian smiled happily before answering Traci at last, "How about, ooh, I dunno, what about "Remember'? Or maybe 'Down The Street'? Ah, I know, 'The Fake Song'! No, wait, argh, I love all of your songs-"

"What about 'Want'?" I blurted out, suddenly remembering the music video I had watched with Sable this morning. I had only said it to make Adrian shut up, but it ended up making him squeal even more and agree loudly. Traci gave me a surprised look that turned into a pleased one.

"All right...," he acquiesced a moment before opening his shiny lip-glossed mouth and taking a deep breath, eyes closed.

"You're an ugly, beautiful creature/ Sitting on your throne of gold/ You're a fake, magnificant preacher/ As am I told/ You keep your distance from us down here/ So brave, so cold..."

I was by no means an expert went it came to this sort of thing, but damn, could Traci sing. He sounded like he was in the middle of a recording session, not a school cafeteria. I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised, but given his earlier shyness, it was like seeing a completely different person next to me.

As I observed all of this, Traci paused to take another breath. He glanced over at me with quirked lips, holding my gaze as he continued.

"I want to see the real you/ Tear off you skin and see inside/ Heart beating fast..."

Weird. My heart was beating pretty fast all of a sudden.

A high-pitched shriek made us both jump and snap out of our little impromptu staring contest. Sable groaned, embarrassed, as we spotted her and another girl standing at the end of the table. She tugged on her friend's arm, muttering, "Glitter, for Christ's sake-"

"Oh- my- gawd," Glitter ignored Sable's protestations, flailing in the same manner Adrian had earlier. It was by no accident that her nickname came to be Glitter. Everything, from her jewelry, her clothes, and even her skin sparkled with a fine dabbing of glitter as she moved. To add insult to injury, she was a very touchy-feely sort of person, so I had spent many a three-hour bath attempting to purify my body of that glitter. "It's so nice to meet you!" she squealed, running over to Traci and extending a shiny hand tipped with flamboyant nail polish. Adrian flinched instinctively away, not wanting to be accidently showered with the sparkles.

Traci shook hands politely. When they separated, Traci stared in poorly concealed horror at the mess made that mysteriously went up to his elbow. Glitter turned and addressed Sable, who had come to her friend's side, "See? I told you he was really here!"

"I never doubted you," Sable lied, and I could almost hear her mental plea for her friend to shut the hell up, "Well, all right. I doubted you," she amended.

Glitter pouted, "Would I lie to you?"

"Yes," Sable said, dead-pan. The family resemblance was truly uncanny, I thought, "But dearest Scott wouldn't, I know."

"Dearest Sable, I'm afraid that depends on the circumstance, time of day, and what dimension we're in," I retorted, smirking up at her. She laughed mockingly in response. Traci looked at the two of us, a questioning look on his face, "My sister," I informed him. He looked strangely relieved as he mouthed 'Oh'.

"My name is Sable actually," she threw in and added, "And this, as you may not be surprised to hear, is my friend Glitter."

"Hiya!" Glitter cheered, waving quickly.

"Hello Sable, Glitter," Traci replied, smiling kindly, "You're fans, I take it?"

Sable looked a bit flushed now. Maybe the shock of meeting a celebrity in the flesh was finally catching up to her. "Uh. Yeah. Band's awesome. And stuff," she gave a double thumbs up. I laughed at her unusual display of embarassment, to which she gave me a scathing look, "Right, so, I'm going to go eat lunch now. Glitter?" she looked to her friend.

Glitter blew Traci a kiss, a cloud of shining dust floating up from her hand, "Auf wiedersehen, mein leibe! Till we meet again!" With that, she flounced away, skirt flowing behind her, Sable following after a short wave goodbye.

A tiny pause, then Traci turned back to the table, saying, "Well, he was something else."

I looked over at him, shocked, "You could tell?"

Traci raised an eyebrow, "That she was a boy? Yeah."

Even Quinn looked surprised, "I couldn't even tell when I first met him. Her."

"I could tell," Anthony said.

Adrian giggled, curling his fingers in the hooded boy's direction, "So could I."

"Only because you have a freakishly accurate Gaydar, dude," Quinn crossed her arms, looking put out.

"Just because he crossdresses doesn't-," I started. Traci looked at me, evidently surprised.

"Doesn't make him gay," Quinn finished for me, not catching the look, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I meant."

"Did you know she was a boy when you met her?" Traci asked me.

I laughed despite myself, "Yeah. I kind of had to. He was in my PE class two years ago. That and he introduces himself as transgendered at the PFGBLT meetings."

Traci looked even more surprised, tilting his head in curiousity, "PFGBLT...?"

"'Parents and Family of Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Transgendered People'," Adrian explained, twirling a finger in the air, having gone to several meetings with my family and I in the past.

Traci looked between the two of us, his surprise becoming almost comical, "You go to those meetings?"

"Yeah," I answered, getting a little irritated. Why was this so goddamn shocking? Unless... Oh, yeah. Right.

"Scott's mom's a dyke," Quinn supplied, oh so elegantly, for me. Traci winced at the phrasing. I didn't really like the word either, but I knew Quinn meant well.

"Both of 'em," Adrian added.

"Ah, you have two moms?" Traci blinked, looking at me with a weird expression on his face.

"Yes?" I said, letting my irritation show through, "Problem?"

"No! No, of course not," Traci waved a hand, looking apologetic. I wasn't sure what for, though.

"Geez, way to be defensive, man," Quinn reprimanded.

"Huh? I'm not being defensive," I said, feeling thoroughly confused, "I'm just wondering why everyone's always so shocked by it."

Quinn shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "Oh, Scott, as clueless as ever. Not everyone has two moms, you know. Of course it's a little shocking."

"Not to mention, you don't really look like you've been raised by two women. Neither does Sable for that matter," Anthony mumbled from between his hoodie strings.

"See, that's the thing I don't get," I commented, "What the hell do people expect me to be like?"

"Knowledgeable in the ways of women, for one, Mr. Never-Dated-Anyone-Ever," Adrian answered, laughing. Quinn and Anthony joined in as I gave them a sour look.

"What?" Even Traci was laughing now, the bastard. "Never?"

Adrian shook his head, a mock look of remorse on his face, "He can't even tell when someone's flirting with him."

"Shut your face!" I half-shouted. Weirdly enough, I didn't want Traci to hear these things, though for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why, "I've just never had any interest in dating, okay? And no one's ever flirted with me."

"Really dear? No one?" Quinn asked skeptically, "I seem to recall a certain redheaded babe that ended up sharing a ski lift with you purely by coincidence twice last winter."

"Th-that was an coincidence," I protested, remembering the feel of the long forgotten girl pressed against my side through my snow gear.

"You're just like Traci, I swear," Quinn huffed.

"Huh?" Traci and I looked at each other, puzzled.

Adrian supplied an answer, "I think she means to say that in the same way Traci doesn't seem to realize how famous he is, you, Scott, don't seem to realized just how attractive you are." I stared at him, a little disturbed by my male friend telling me that he thinks I'm attractive. "Your personality could use some work though."

"I'd have to agree with that," Traci said, giving me a sidelong grin, "And not the personality thing, either."

Whatever I was going to say died in my throat as our gazes locked. Those enticing pink lips quirked again into an irresistible smile. My heart skipped a beat as my stomach did this weird flopping thing that I wasn't sure felt bad or not.

What the fuck?

A moment passed in awkward silence before I finally managed to swallow. "I have to piss," I announced gravely, hopping out of my seat.

"Gallant as ever!" I heard Adrian giggle as I walked away.