Hello! I'm here with part 5, I hope you like it. I should tell you I know nothing about track meets so just pretend this is how they go. The only thing I did was look up the lengths of them. Also, I know earlier I said Minho was in cross country but I changed it so deal.
Untold Futures part 5
The next day in math Thomas noticed that Newt was on time for once and seemed to be paying a little more attention in class. Maybe I'm wearing off on him. Thomas laughed silently at the thought. After class finished Newt came up to him. Thomas couldn't help but notice the remnants of the cut still lingering on his cheek.
“All right?” The boy asked and Thomas thought he had missed something.
“Alright what?”
“It just means how are you,” Newt explained. Thomas might have been getting used to the blond’s Britishness, but that didn't mean it made any more sense to him than to the next guy. He had to admit though, Newt was being very patient with him and Minho.
“Well I'm good, how are you?” Thomas replied.
“I'm fantastic! We still on for chess tonight?” Newt questioned.
“Yeah of course. See ya at lunch!” Thomas called and he walked down the hall to his first honors class of the day.
•••
At lunch the three boys sat together in the courtyard, devouring their food.
“Our first track meet is tonight!” Minho exclaimed with a mouthful of meat.
“That's cool! Tommy, we should go after our chess thing. What time does it start?” Newt planned with excitement.
“It's from six to eight. You guys should totally come to it!” Minho answered.
“I don't know, I've got a history test I need to study for tonight…” Thomas stated. He was already going to be spending a few hours at Newt’s house, and he didn't want to waste any more time that he could be using to study. Not that hanging out with Newt, and teaching him chess was a waste of time.
“Oh come on Thomas! In all the time I've known you you've never gone to my track meets! I've never even seen you at a pep rally!” Minho blurted. Newt looked at Thomas with a surprised look flooding his whole face.
“You've never bloody been to a sports event!” Newt yelled more than asked.
“Well, sure I have. If you count that one time-” Thomas started explaining, but Minho cut him off.
“No, I don't count that!” Newt looked at Minho and back to Thomas with a confused looked that made one of his eyebrows lift.
“What time? What happened?” Newt asked no one specifically. Minho’s stare cut into Thomas, conveying a silent message. Newt only looked more confused and Thomas laughed to himself at the blond’s face.
“One time Minho-” yet again, Thomas was interrupted by the Asian boy.
“Thomas I will find you, and I will skin you, if you tell him. We promised never to speak of that again,” Minho said in a threatening voice. Thomas sighed, he knew Minho was only joking, as usual, but he left it alone. Seemly happy with Thomas’s silence, Minho relaxed his stare. “So, you two are coming? Sonya already said she’d be there and you guys could sit together!”
“I understood that reference. Nice usage. And yeah, we’ll definitely be there!” Newt announced, much to Thomas’s dismay.
“Hey, I never agreed to this! Newt, if I'm at your house all afternoon and then the meet all evening, I'll have no time to study,” he persuaded.
“Oh come on Thomas! It's one test, you'll do fine without studying!” Minho sighed.
“He’s right you know. Plus, you can always study during the meet,” Newt added. Thomas had to admit, they did have a point. He wouldn't be able to study as much, but it could be good for him to get out and do something with his friends for once.
“Alright, fine. I'll go, but only if my mom says yes,” Thomas quickly added the last part. If he asked her to, she could make up a reason for him to stay home. Thomas decided to wait until after school to text her. That way he could think about it.
“Ha!” Minho exclaimed, and he high fived Newt on the victory. “So, what's this date you two have?” Minho enquired with a smirk.
“It's not a date!” Newt yelled a little too quickly.
“I'm just going over to teach him chess,” Thomas clarified calmly. Newt clearly wasn't able to tell when Minho was being sarcastic yet. Thomas however had known the boy for years, and was unfazed by the comment, unlike Newt who was noticeably blushing. Minho and Thomas simply laughed at his reaction.
•••
After the last bell rang, symbolizing the end of the day, Thomas made his way to his locker. After exchanging the supplies he would be taking home, he walked over to where the tall blond stood next to his own locker.
“Hey, you ready to go?” Thomas asked him, and the boy jumped, unaware of Thomas’s presence behind him.
“Bloody hell Tommy don't do that!” Newt yelped.
“Sorry!” Thomas smiled. He had to admit, it was pretty entertaining to see Newt scared. “So, you ready or am I going to have to wait a few years?”
“Ha, very funny. Yeah, I'm ready!” Newt started walking towards the door and Thomas jumped to catch up. “So, we taking my motorcycle?”
“No! I am not riding that thing again! Plus, my chessboard is in my car. I'll drive us there and back for Minho’s meet. You can ride your motorcycle home after. With me staying perfectly safe in my car the whole time!” Thomas elaborated, and smiled to himself.
“Fine, be that way. So your mom approved of Minho’s meet?” Newt asked as they arrived at the old car.
“Oh shuck, I forgot to tell her!” Thomas whispered loudly. He pulled out his phone to text his mom.
“Hey, watch your language there Tommy! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Newt teased.
“Shuck is not a swear word Newt!” Thomas just rolled his eyes and got in the driver’s seat of his car. Newt gave directions as they drove, and in a matter of minutes they were outside the boy’s apartment building. Before getting out Thomas checked his phone for a reply from his mom.
Mom:
Of course you can go! Don't stay out too late, love you Thomas!
Text sent:
Thanks mom, I'll be home by 8:30. love you too.
Thomas sent his reply and looked up to see Newt was already at the front of the building. He grabbed the chessboard from the backseat and jogged to the waiting blond.
“What took you so long?” He asked when Thomas stopped next to him, and they walked inside.
“I was checking my phone, my mom said I could go,” Thomas explained. This was it, he was going. Newt led him inside and to the elevator on the other side of the lobby. They stepped in and departed for the second floor.
“You know, we could have just taken the stairs. It's only one flight,” Thomas suggested.
“Well, too late now. We're already in the lift,” the doors slid open and Newt turned left, stopping three doors down he took out a key. The door opened into a cozy living room and adjoining kitchen with a hallway leading to other rooms.
“Mom, we're home!” Newt called and he slung his backpack off and onto the floor beside a white couch. A tall women with short blond hair came out of the hallway and smiled.
“Hi Newt! And you must be the Tommy I've heard so much about!” Her voice was laced with an exent impossibly thicker than Newt's. Thomas swallowed. Newt talks about me?
“Ah, it's Thomas actually. It's nice to meet you,” Thomas offered his hand for her to shake. She laughed at his formality, but shook the hand anyways.
“It's nice to meet you too, Thomas. Well, I'll leave you two alone!” She smiled and disappeared down the hall again. Thomas looked at Newt, who was blushing slightly. He looks cute when he blushes. Wait, what!
“Sorry about that,” the Brit laughed nervously. “You want something to eat?” Newt quickly turned towards the kitchen and Thomas followed him. He watched as the Brit threw together cheese and ham sandwiches for them. They sat down at the table in the kitchen and Thomas attacked his sandwich with a hunger he didn't know was there.
“So Tommy, I've been dying to know what that thing you and Minho were talking about was,” Newt said between bites.
“What thing?” Thomas tilted his head and looked at the blond, trying to remember what he was referring to.
“The thing about a sports game, and Minho wouldn't let you talk about it!” Newt clarified.
“Oh that! Don't you dare tell Minho I told you, but last year he dragged me to a football game. But instead of paying attention,” Thomas started laughing as he remembered the night. Once he regained control of himself he continued the story. “So Min falls asleep, and starts drooling on my shoulder! Everyone around us saw him, and he got so embarrassed, it was great! I had to drive him home because I was afraid he would fall asleep behind the wheel!” Thomas bursted out laughing, and Newt joined him as the image of a drooling Minho sank into his mind.
“Wow, now that's funny. I can see why Minho didn't want you to talk about it!” Newt said as they calmed their laughing.
“So, ready to learn chess?” Thomas asked as he slid the game towards them.
“Oh yeah, of course!” Newt stuffed the last bit of sandwich into his mouth and dusted off his hands. He watched Thomas as he took out the pieces and set up the board.
“So, do you know what each piece is called?” Thomas asked as he finished setting up.
“Ah, I know this is the king. I think this one’s the queen, and these are Knights,” Newt stated and he pointed at each respecting chess piece.
“That's right! And these are rooks, bishops, and pawns. So, each piece moves differently, the pawn can only move forward one space at a time except on their first move when they can go two spaces. Are you listening to me Newt?” Thomas noticed Newt didn't seem to be paying attention to him.
“What? Yeah, I just zoned out for a second there sorry. You were talking about, um, what the pieces do,” Newt smiled sheepishly at Thomas's heavy sigh.
“So, as I said. Each pawn can move two spaces forward on their first move, but after that it's only one space.”
•••
“Ok, so I think I've told you everything you need to know. Let's play a game!” Thomas thought Newt had done more ‘zoning out’ than listening, but what could he do. Maybe he actually was listening, and Thomas didn't realize it. Either way, he would find out in this game.
“Alright, so who goes first again?” Newt asked.
“White does, so I'll go. Now, when you move a piece and take your finger off of it you have to keep it there. But if you keep your finger on it, you can move it back and play a different piece if you want. Make sense?” Thomas explained as he demonstrated.
“Yeah, sure,” Newt nodded his understanding.
“Good! Let's start,” Thomas put all the pieces back where they belonged and made his first move.
•••
“Wow. No offense Newt, but that… Was not the best I've seen a beginner do,” Thomas stated carefully after their game finished. Turns out he probably wasn't listening. He thought with a laugh.
“Well, I'll just half to practice then! Don't give up on me yet Tommy!” Newt said cheerily. A little too cheery if you asked Thomas.
“Newton!” The Brit’s mom appeared from the hallway, hands on her hips and pulled Thomas from his thoughts. “You better have a bloody brilliant explanation as to why you've been marked absent for second period again!”
Thomas looked from Newt to his mom uncomfortably before muttering “I need to use the restroom” And excused himself down the hall. Newt’s been skipping classes? On his quest for the bathroom Thomas stumbled upon what he assumed was Newt’s bedroom. A queen sized bed pushed up against the wall. Clothes spilling out of draws and pooling on the floor. One shelf, kept cleaner than the others caught his attention. It held a series of carefully lined up action figures, that Thomas didn't recognize. Not wanting to invade Newt’s privacy he continued on his way and found the bathroom.
On his way back to the kitchen table, Thomas stopped before exiting the hall. He didn't want to interrupt the conversation.
“Look Newt. I know you didn't want to move here, but I'm doing my best without your father here. You know I had to take this job,” Thomas heard Newt’s mom say. Her ’you're in big trouble’ voice replaced with ‘the concerned mother’.
“Whatever mom,” Newt sighed and Thomas could hear the eye roll in his voice. He took this as his cue to enter the room, not wanting to be caught spying. He found Newt and his mom sitting across each other at the table.
“Tommy, we should probably leave now,” Newt stated when he noticed the brunet.
“What?” What does he mean leave?
“To Minho’s meet. Remember? It starts at six!” Newt elaborated, seemingly avoiding eye contact with his mom. Thomas looked at his watch in supersize. 5:37
“Yeah, I guess we better go!” Thomas replied, and he moved to put the chess board back in its box. The tension in the room was almost unbearable for Thomas as he did so. Luckily it was broken off quickly.
“You boys have fun then!” Newt’s mom, back to her cheery voice again, stood from the table and left the room.
“Thank you for having me!” Thomas responded politely as he finished putting the game away. After the boys left the apartment, Thomas insisted they take the stars down. A little exercise and energy conservation never hurt anyone. They were silent as they got in Thomas’s car to make the drive back to school. Normally Newt would have filled the silence, but he didn't. Maybe it's something his mom said?
“Newt, you know you can talk to me about stuff right?” Thomas stated as he tried to break the awkwardness in the least awkward way possible, but judging by Newt’s response he had failed.
“Yeah Tommy of course,” he replied, followed by a sigh that Thomas didn't think he was supposed to notice. What happened in the five minutes I wasn't there? Before Thomas could think of anything to lighten the mood they arrived at the high school.
The parking lot was only half full of cars, all supposedly going to the track meet. Thomas grabbed his backpack from the backseat. Newt made fun of him but Thomas simply reminded him it was his idea. When they reached the track, Newt broke out of his stupor as they watched the many people milling about the bleachers.
“Hey, there's Minho and Sonya!” Newt pointed to the corner of the track that was closest to them, and sure enough the king of sass and his girlfriend stood talking.
“Let's go say hi!” Thomas chirped happily. They made their way through the small crowd and walked up to the pair. “Hey Min, Sonya!” Thomas greeted.
“Well, would you look at what the cat dragged in!” Minho responded as he gave both boys a hug.
“When Minho told me you were coming Thomas I thought he was joking, but I guess I was wrong!” Sonya exclaimed with a laugh.
“See babe, I told you miracles happen!” Minho smirked, and Newt laughed out loud. God I love that laugh…
“Alright, I get it. I don't get out much!” Thomas chuckled.
“You're right you don't, which is why you just lost me five bucks to Harriet!” Sonya whined. Thomas’s chin almost fell open as he looked at Sonya in astonishment.
“You-you bet on me?” Sonya nodded with a smile playing on her lips, which caused Newt to burst into a fit of giggles. The Brit’s laugh was contagious, and before long the whole group were laughing their heads off.
“Minho! Rap it up!” All four heads turned to see Minho’s coach standing with a group of teens who made up the track team.
“Good luck Minny!” Sonya squealed and she threw her arms around him in an excited hug. With a fist bump to Thomas and Newt, Minho turned and walked towards his team.
“Minny?” Newt asked Sonya, actually speaking for the first time.
“He pretends to hate it, but I know he secretly loves it when I call him that!” She shrugged.
“Hey, we should probably find a seat before they start,” Thomas suggested, and the three teens walked to the bleachers to find a spot. It didn’t take long before Sonya pointed out three empty spaces in the middle of the bleachers. Immediately after sitting down Thomas opened his backpack and took out his history textbook.
“Ok, I guess I should have seen this coming!” Sonya giggled at Thomas.
“Common Thomas we just got here! At least spend some time in the present. No pun intended,” Newt suggested.
“Fine,” Thomas sighed and he put his textbook away. Something he definitely wouldn't have done before. Maybe a little bit of Newt is rubbing off on me as well.
The three of them watched as all the participants lined up for the first event, Minho was not one of them.
“So where are Minho parents? Do they come to his meets?” Newt wondered once the teens started running.
“Oh of course they do! They're extremely proud of him, considering he's the best out of the whole team!” Sonya declared with pride.
“Wait, you're bloody kidding. He's not actually the best is he?” Newt inquired with an astonished expression.
“It's the truth! He may not be the fastest, but he's got unbelievable stamina, and he's placed in more events than anyone on the team!” She informed.
“Well that's fantastic!” He responded. Sonya and Newt continued to talk so Thomas sneaked his Textbook back out. However it was too hard to concentrate with the the noise around him.
Finally Minho’s first event arrived, a 300 meter sprint. Thomas put down his work and watched as Minho along with two other competitors for Glader High walked onto the track and eyed up the other schools. All the participants crouched down and awaited the starting bell. When it rang, they burst to life and dashed around the track.
Once they reached the last lap everyone could see it was between Minho and someone from a different school. Thomas, Newt, and Sonya started chanting Minho’s name and soon everyone around them joined in. When they reached the last ten yards Minho worked his legs incredibly faster and pulled ahead. He crossed the finish line with a triumphant fist held in the air. Sonya and Newt stood up and started cheering, so Thomas joined them as he watched the other competitors run across the finish line looking just as tired as Minho. The runners disappeared inside somewhere Thomas couldn't see, and the crowd calmed down.
“See Thomas, isn't this worth your time?” Sonya joked after they sat down.
“Haha very funny,” Thomas rolled his eyes. “But yeah, it is pretty exciting.” The events went on and Thomas ended up doing more watching than studying. Actually a lot more, as he had completely forgotten about his textbook. It was interesting even when he didn't know any of the participants.
Minho competed in the 800 meter dash and the 400 meter relay where each team member only had to run 100 meters. Placing second in both of them. According to Sonya he only had one event left: the 110 meter hurdles.
Thomas also found himself amused by Newt’s excited auditude. He was like a little kid in a candy shop. It got to the point where he noticed himself watching the blond just as much as the running. Why do I keep doing this? Thomas thought it all through in his mind, replaying the time he spent around Newt. The way he cared about how him, found his blush adorable, and his laugh enticing. How Newt was able to make him do things no one else could, like ride a motorcycle and go to the track meet. How throughout the whole week he couldn't stop just watching him.
Then realization hit him like a bulldozer. Did he like Newt? No, I must just be overreacting. But as much as he wanted to, Thomas couldn't think of any other explanation to his feelings.
“Tommy, are you ok? You look really pale!” Newt suddenly said with a concerned look painted on his face. It took a moment for Thomas to process his words, and he slowly nodded.
“I-I'm fine,” Thomas tried his best to make his voice sound strong but it came out as a quiet murmur. Thomas turned his gaze from Newt's expectant one to the track and tried to focus in what was happening, but he couldn't do it.
“I think I'm going to go home,” he said in a whisper. “I'm not feeling too well,” and it wasn't a lie, as Thomas felt his insides churn.
“Do you want me to drive you?” Newt offered, but that seemed like the worst idea to Thomas. He just wanted to be alone.
“No, that's ok. Tell Minho good job for me,” with that Thomas scooped up his things and made his way down from the bleachers and to his car. He turned the radio way up in his car as he drove home, trying to push away the thoughts that wouldn't leave him. But all he could hear was gay! Thomas your gay! Gay!
Thomas had no problem with people who were gay. Newt was gay and he was fine with it. His uncle had come out a few years ago and Thomas didn't even bat an eye. But he never even considered himself that way. He had never found himself attracted to another guy, but now that he thought about it there had never been any girl either. It was always just school.
Thomas pulled his car into the driveway of his house unlocked his front door, where he was immediately greeted by his parents watching tv.
“Thomas! What are you doing home so early? It's only 7:30! Is everything ok?” His mom cried when she saw him.
“I’m fine, I've just got a lot of homework to do,” he hated lying to his parents, but he hated the idea of telling the truth even more right now.
“Ok then. You push yourself too hard Thomas. Remember it's ok to take a break!” His mom smiled, and he simply noded in response before going to his room. It wasn't long after he open his math textbook until Thomas heard a soft knock on his door, which opened to reveal his dad.
“You know what I think about your homework excuse Thomas?” Thomas sighed, here it was.
“What?”
“I think it's a lie. What's up Tom? I can tell there's something going on in that brain of yours” thomas had expected anger but instead concern laced his voice, drawing Thomas’s eyes to meet his.
“I don't really want to talk about it,” Thomas wanted to tell his dad, he really did. But now just wasn't the right time, especially when he was unsure of everything. His dad sighed in compliance.
“Well when you do want to talk, I'm here,” his dad smiled and left Thomas to his thoughts. He turned back to his math book, and started copying the problems into his notebook.
Half an hour later he looked down and realized he had only completed two problems. No matter what he did his brain couldn't stay focused on what he wanted it to. A battle was taking place in his mind and he wasn't even sure which side he was on. Or what each side was even fighting for. Thomas decided to just give up on homework all together. There was no way he was going to get anything done while he was so distracted. He put his books away and went to bed.