1- Hype Boys

Dear readers, the first 2 chapters of this story start in 3rd Person pov for the backstory, but the rest is in first person, going back and forth between Harrison and Rhett.

3rd Person POV

It was the final basketball game of the school year, and the entire student body was gathered in the gymnasium to watch. The boys were getting prepared in the hallway outside the gym before making their dramatic entry to hype the crowd.

“You ready?” Rhett asked.

Harrison rolled his eyes at him. “You act like we don’t do this every game.”

They adjusted each other’s capes and nodded to each other before storming through the wooden doors with a loud thunk and hollering to everyone as they ran down the length of the basketball court. The crowd erupted in cheers and were brought to their feet as they saw the two boys with their make-do flag capes that sported the school’s colors of maroon and silver billowing behind them.

Harrison's curly, shoulder-length blonde hair was dancing in the wind as he ran around in laps, giving students on the bottom row of the bleachers high fives, his shoes squeaking on the polished wooden floor that reflected the fluorescent lights above. Rhett was shortly behind him, throwing his hands up in the air telling everyone to make some noise.

They were known as the “Hype Boys” in school. Every sporting event - or event in general - they would show up and be nothing but bundles of energy; jumping and hollering at everyone, wanting every person to have a good time, and making it a goal to make every person in attendance smile at least once. They wanted to spread happiness and cheer, and being best friends for the past ten years had certainly made that goal easy. Due to this fact, everyone knew them; and everyone loved them.

Once sufficiently hyped, the school’s basketball team and their rivals entered the gym and began some practice shots before the game officially started. The crowd cheered for their team and booed for their rivals. It was the last game for the seniors here, so they held back nothing. Insults were hollered and offensively-suggestive hand motions were thrown to the visitors, but the rival team was used to it by now and ignored them.

“I always break a sweat doing that,” Rhett said over the roar of the crowd as he and Harrison took a spot on the bleachers, running his long fingers through his short, brown hair and exhaling a much-needed breath after their laps.

Harrison laughed at him. “You’d think after so many years it would get easier, yeah?”

They started being the Hype Boys in middle school, and now in their junior year of high school, they could practically be called professionals. They started simple; an easy “We Will Rock You” at a game that got the whole crowd to stomp their feet and clap together, then they moved on to standing up and chanting, and once high school began and they officially passed puberty, they took off their shirts and began using body paint and props while running around like lunatics.

Yes, some people thought they were on drugs, but they were only a couple of happy guys who wanted to share their glee with others. High school can be a rough time for some people, and if Harrison and Rhett could put a smile on any of those people’s faces, it was worth any rumor or gossip about them. They knew it wasn’t true, so who cared? Certainly not Harrison Monroe and Rhett Langley.

“Don’t be such a little bitch about it. You’re not the one running with these gorgeous long locks. I should be the one complaining about being too hot.”

“Why don’t you chop off your hair if it makes you warm?” Rhett motioned to his own short, brown hair and told Harrison, “Much cooler when it’s short.”

“Hell no, dude. Have you seen the attention I get because of this beautiful hair?” He did a dramatic flip over his shoulder and smiled at a girl that he caught staring at him.

Rhett looked over his shoulder at the girl and then looked back at Harrison with a bored expression. “Really?”

“So I’m an attention whore, sue me.”

“You lead girls on, man. You smile and you flirt but you never make a move.”

Harrison shrugged. “No girl has ever intrigued me enough to make a move.”

“There have been rumors,” Rhett murmured, his eyes watching the game in front of them.

“Since when do I care what others think?” Harrison said with a smile, not making eye contact with Rhett and watching the game as he told him, “They’ve called me everything I can think of thus far, and we only have a couple of weeks left of this year and then graduation is just around the corner. So what if I get a few people calling me gay on top of all that? Why should I care? It’s not like I’m gonna be in this town forever.”

Rhett nodded his head in understanding, but a single glance from Harrison had him worried.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t want to be seen with me if people label me as gay for not having a girlfriend.”

“No! Of course, I wouldn’t ditch you for something like that!” Rhett turned his torso and placed his elbow on his knee as he looked at his best friend, trying to defend himself. “I’m just saying… I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about you. You’re my best friend and any girl would be lucky to go out with you! I don’t want you to miss out on anything when you’re at your prime!”

“Are you saying I’m going to turn eighteen and suddenly become ugly and gross?”

“Of course, that’s not what I’m saying and you know that.”

“You keep thinking that way and I tell you what, Rhett, you’re going to end up old and going after nothing but teenagers. You're gonna be put in jail someday.”

“But-”

“JA-IL,” Harrison enunciated the word dramatically with a lifted chin for his friend who glared at him.

They sat in silence and watched the game for some time, hooting and cheering for their team whenever something exciting would happen, both lost in their thoughts.

“I just don’t want you to miss out on anything,” Rhett hollered over the crowd after their team scored.

Harrison sighed and looked at the handful of cheerleaders that began dancing in front of the bleachers. He watched their petite bodies move with no reaction, but the sweat pebbling on the skin of his male peers as they ran back and forth on the court behind the cheerleaders had something inside him twirl. He mindlessly licked his lips.

“I’m not too worried about it,” he admitted.