Page 2 of Elemasters

Ah, right. That.

The bonfire that the senior class had every year to celebrate the last vestiges of fall before winter arrived in earnest. It was a Kochiyama High tradition; even Dustin’s parents had done it back in their heyday. Honestly though, he’d completely forgotten about it.

“I don’t know, doesn’t really seem like my scene,” he shrugged, “I don’t drink, and I only smoke every now and then. Besides, the only friend I’d have there would be you,”

“I’m the only friend you have anywhere,” Bailey quickly corrected him with a giggle, “you should still come though! I bet James Zhang is gonna be there,”

Dustin stiffened, his cheeks flushing red.

“S-shut up!” he hissed, though it had no venom, “look, I gotta get to class. I’ll catch you at lunch, alright?”

“Fine, fine. But think about it, k’ Dusty?”

Dustin shot her a thumbs up as he continued making his way to his locker, trying to will away the blush still creeping across his face.

Dustin hit his locker, grabbed his AP History textbook and immediately headed to class; the entire time he’d been in the halls, he felt like there was a specter looming over him. An unspoken dread that he knew all too well. There was one particular person he had no energy to see that morning, and, at least so far, he was lucky enough to avoid them altogether…

At least, until he had to cut through the main lobby.

Right next to the giant trophy case, stood a few members of the basketball team; The Kochiyama High Orcas. Usually, it would be easy enough for Dustin to ignore them entirely, and they’d likely do the same to him.

But of course, right in the center of the group was someone Dustin couldn’t ignore… no matter how much he wanted to sometimes.

Chris Ying; his dumb ass twin brother, leaning casually against the glass case, running a hand through his freshly bleached hair for no other reason than to flex his arms in his Ed Hardy tank.

Dustin didn’t hate Chris. He couldn’t; not only were they twins, but there was a time when they were incredibly close. Before Dustin had Bailey, Chris was the one he shared everything with, and Chris championed him in return. He was the one standing up for him when the bullying started, the one forcing their parents to notice him when it seems they only had time and attention for one of their sons. And now, even though their social circles had diverged, Chris was always cheering him on… in his own way.

Dustin’s disdain wasn’t rooted in anger toward his brother, it was just… everything. The way he was so effortlessly confident, the way everyone gravitated to him like a human magnet. And most of all, the fact that they had the same face; the same high cheekbones, tired, but expressive eyes, and sharp jawline. Hell, the only difference between them was that Chris had a small scar across his upper lip; barely even noticeable, but the only real way to tell the two apart.

But somehow, everyone saw Dustin as soft, thoughtful, maybe even forgettable… but on Chris those same features looked model-esque and downright magnetic.

Dustin stopped for a moment, knowing he didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with any bullshit that morning.

But he still had to walk this way to get to class on time… so, he adjusted his headphones to reestablish the illusion that they were actually playing music, and prepared to walk right past the group like he hadn’t even noticed them.

But unfortunately, one of them noticed him; Spinner, the tallest one on the team, with the lowest IQ (if any of Dustin’s past run-ins with him were to be believed).

“Chris, bro, I cannot believe you’re actually related to that emo freak,”

Dustin’s shoulders tensed; slightly. Imperceptible. He’d heard worse than that a million times, he’d just keep walking and ignore that asshole.

Of course it couldn’t be that simple.

“I can’t believe it either man. Looks like God only had enough swag for one of us,”

Hearing that from Chris, who probably thought his words wouldn’t make it through the headphones, forced Dustin to stop in his tracks. He whipped his head around and shot eye-daggers at his brother, causing Chris’s face to go pale and his expression to drop immediately.

Before Chris could say anything, Dustin had already turned on his heel and started storming down the hallway, hoping to just get into his classroom and forget he’d ever heard anything.

But as always, Chris moved faster.

“Bro, wait! Dustin, it was just a fucking joke dude, chill,” he called out, grabbing Dustin’s shoulder the moment he caught up to him, “don’t take shit so seriously all the time,”

“Just because you’re joking doesn’t mean I have to think it’s funny,” Dustin immediately shot back, shrugging Chris’s hand off him.

“Alright, alright fine. Look, why don’t you come to the bonfire with me tonight? Me and Bailey will make sure you look dope as fuck, and maybe you can finally hook up with that dude on the swim team that’s always staring at your ass. What’s his name, Leon?”

Without hesitation, Dustin flicked Chris’s ear, causing the latter to dramatically recoil in pain.