Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:20:12 -0700 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Big Time Chapter 25 Welcome to another chapter. In the high school story line we learn what kind of person Connor really is. With the seventh graders Eric enjoys his twelfth birthday and gets a surprise present from Scott. Be 18 and be safe. This story is mine. Minors have sex here. Donate to Nifty. Enjoy the chapter. Douglas at thehakaanen@homail.com CHAPTER 25 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC I remember lying in bed with Noah the night after the assault in the bathroom. Noah might look like a little nerd with his small stature and wire-frame glasses, but he is a tough kid. He didn't cry in the bathroom when confronted by the two older students, and he didn't cry as he told me the story. Maybe the fact that things turned out better than Noah and I could have imagined helped keep the tears away, but I doubt that. Noah can be very hard-nosed. Oh, Noah could cry when things got deep and emotional, but he was also able to dig deep and battle his fears---except that one fear that was invoked by his little personal demon. He did admit he was close to bursting out in tears when Crawford walked into the bathroom. Here is the story of what happened from there. Crawford looked at Noah sitting on the floor his back against the metal wall of the toilet stall, his pants down at his ankles, his underpants still between his hips and his knees, his flaccid, hairless cock drooping to the side. Steve turned away from the urinal and stood in front of Noah, facing him. He had his hard six inch cock in his hand, a leer on his face. "Whoa, bro, what's going down here?" Crawford asked Steve. "Oh, just letting this little piece of faggot shit know that the real athletes at Mayfield don't want to play on a team with some little fudge packing nerd." "It looks like you hit him." "Nah, he fell and banged his head on the wall—was pissing too hard and it knocked him over." Crawford and Steve were close buddies and Crawford was unquestionably the follower in the pairing. "Okay, like I told you shit for brains," Steve said to Noah, "you aren't gonna be turning out for baseball when spring comes around and your faggot booooooooyyyfriend won't be either. As soon as you tell me what I want to hear I promise I won't touch a hair on your head, since you ain't got no hairs on the rest of your body." He laughed after saying that, the only one amused at his little joke. "And if you give this monster dick of mine a BJ when I ask for it I'll keep my hands off your little brother, too." Crawford said nothing; he just stood and stared at the scene, not feeling real comfortable about what he was seeing. But he also didn't want to piss off his friend, so he decided to just stay quiet and hope he didn't have to do anything. Steve's ability to create trouble without getting into trouble was working perfectly. Noah stayed sitting on the floor, looking up at Steve, who appeared even bigger from that angle. He fumbled for his glasses and put them on; the frame was slightly bent, causing them to sit crookedly on his nose. He then broke the silence. "Why should I let a moron like you tell me how to live my life?" Steve was about to kick Noah in the chest with the bottom of his foot when Crawford put his hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Not here, bro, it ain't worth it. Somebody could come in." Seeing how close he had come to being caught when Crawford had walked in, Steve could see Crawford's point. As angry as he was, he didn't want to find himself getting suspended or expelled from school because of the little geek sitting on the floor with his pants down. He put his foot back on the floor and glared down at Noah. "This is a small town, asshole. You are never going to feel safe. And if you take this to Kelly, I add your little pervert brother to the list." Mr. Kelly was the assistant principal who took care of discipline at the high school. "You're gonna wish you were back at the middle school your life is going to be so miserable." Noah glared at the two juniors and then calmly flipped them each the bird, holding up the middle finger each of his hands. Steve took a step toward Noah, but once again Crawford stopped him. "Later, kid," Steve said. "You are so dead." Even though Noah was sitting on the floor with his pants at his ankles and his briefs yanked down under his balls, he had managed to maintain a great deal of dignity. This was just one of many reasons I loved this boy so much. By next period Noah told me what had happened. I had class with Noah and could see that he had a bruise on the side of his head where it hit the stall wall and that his glasses were still a little bent. It wasn't the first time in his life he'd had his frames bent. He knew what to do to straighten them, but he hadn't taken care of that yet. Maybe he left them that way as a message to me that everything wasn't right. After he gave me the quick version of what had happened in the boys' room, I admitted I was surprised, not because something happened, but because of who had initiated it. I didn't know Steve all that well, having been in the same school with him only for the last four months of my sixth grade year, and he was without question an asshole. But I never saw him as being a bully. I guess that showed what I knew. I told Noah we'd talk about what to do about this at lunch time, although I admittedly didn't have a clue about what could keep Steve from making our lives miserable. At lunch we sat with the twins, Hunter, Marty, and Rich. Noah told them what had happened and there was some talk of murder and mayhem, but none of us were fighters and none of us had a plan. "I guess we could go to Kelly about it," Hunter said. "I mean you can't be walking around scared every day." "I don't want to rat him out," Noah said. "I don't think he's a total asshole and I'd like to see him stopped without getting kicked out of school or off the football team or whatever they might do to him. I mean he's an athlete." Noah often had this idea that because somebody played sports, or got good grades, or was active in school activities, or just said good morning in the hall, that he must have redeeming qualities. It was another thing I loved about Noah, even if it made him look naïve at times. "Noah, athletes can be assholes," Marty said. "Or the other way around." Before Noah could answer Connor came by our table. He was carrying an empty lunch tray. He had a slight grin on his face and I figured he was about to add fuel to the fire. I was not a big fan of Connor's at the time, even if he had worked hard as part of the Go to State Team and had been a good teammate. I just didn't like what I saw as his arrogance and standoffishness. "I hear the little dude had a bit of a run-in with some big bad juniors this morning," he said. Connor was a sophomore, but he was good friends with both Steve and Crawford. I was about to stand up and confront him. I was tired of his whole attitude already and the last thing we needed was a third asshole jock making our lives miserable. But it was Marty who spoke up first. "Hey, Connor, you..." "Stuff it, Marty, I'm doing the talking." Marty spluttered, but did as he was told. Connor was obviously worked up. I was now standing up, which meant I was standing up to his shoulder. He ignored me and ignored the rest of us. He looked straight at Noah. "Meet me at the breezeway right after school. Do not go to your locker, do not pass go, and do not collect two-hundred dollars. You can bring your asshole friends if you want, but be there." He walked away, not waiting for an answer. I sat down, madder than I had been the entire morning. "Just who does he think he is, bossing you around? He wants you to meet him at the breezeway along with the rest of us, because? So he can kick the shit out of the gay boys with a big audience watching? I don't think so." The breezeway was the covered walkway that connected the main building of the high school with the gym. It was Marty who calmed me down. "You guys don't know Connor like I do. I'll tell you guys this and then you can make up your own minds, but when Connor talks it really pays to listen. There's a reason I shut up when he told me to, and not because I felt like he was going to punch me out. You just gotta know his ways and I know some things you guys don't." And these days what he said about Connor was also getting to be true of Marty—when he talked, we listened. We all decided to be at the breezeway immediately after school. As we got up I noticed that Noah had straightened his glasses and they were sitting evenly on his nose. "I think everything is going to turn out all right," he said in his calm fashion. The entire group at the lunch table was there: Me, Noah, Kevin, Kraig, Hunter, Rich, and Marty. I think all of us but Noah were expecting a rumble---the gay haters against the gays and their friends. That thought became even stronger in my mind when I saw Connor standing a few feet away from the main building with three other sophomores: Jerome, Rodney, and Vince. I was completely surprised by who was there. I mean come on, Rodney was no fighter and certainly not homophobic---he was too busy getting the female population of Mayfield High School into bed to worry about who the gay boys were. Jerome was a surprise because I figured him to be on our side. Vince I didn't know that much about, but I didn't see him as somebody who would turn on us. All three of them, plus Conner, had been summer teammates of ours, not to mention middle school teammates. All of them had worked hard in the Go to State group. Just looking at who was lined up against us sent my attitude crashing down as low as it had been since eighth grade. I was about to suggest we turn around and walk away when Steve and Crawford came out of the doors to the main building. They were carrying their gym bags and obviously heading to football practice. That reminded me that just about everybody out here should be getting ready for football practice. Of the kids gathering at the breezeway only Noah, Kraig, and I didn't play football. Connor stepped in front of Steve and stopped him. "Hey bro, wazzup?" Steve asked. "We all need to talk. Like now," Connor said. "We all gotta get to practice, including you," Steve said. "We still got twenty minutes before we have to be on the field. This won't take long. We gotta talk to the gay guys and make sure we're all saying the same thing." My heart totally dropped when he said that. I looked over at Noah who was showing no emotion. Steve flashed a huge, almost evil, smile. "Sure, bro, me and Crawford can give that a couple of minutes. That's all it will take for them to get the score. I knew I could trust you when I talked to you about what went down this morning. What do you got to say?" "Down on the other side of the gym." Connor turned, walking away from the breezeway and down the grass slope that led to the far side of the gym. Everybody started heading in the same direction, including some uninvited guests who had seen the big conclave at the beginning of the breezeway. Vince and Jerome gently suggested they might want to go to someplace where they might be welcome. "Let's not go," I said to Noah. "I have a really bad feeling about this. I would like to go home with all my bones in one piece." "I'm going to go. It will all be okay. I just feel it." I usually trusted Noah and his feelings about people, but this time I wasn't so sure, mainly because of what I'd said earlier about his naiveté. He followed the crowd leaving me with no choice but to follow him. We were soon all gathered on the far side of the building. "We gotta make this quick before Kelly finds out we're all down here," Connor said. He was facing Steve and Crawford, who somehow had ended up with their backs to the wall of the gym. I could see the glare in Connor's eyes and the anger on his face. This was starting to turn out much differently than I had expected. Connor took a couple of steps forward so that he was inside of Steve's private space. Steve tried to step back, but he had nowhere to go. Connor had maneuvered him perfectly. "You had a lot of fun showing what a macho shithead you were this morning, didn't you?" Connor growled. "Hey, I was just having some fun. I told you that. What's this all about, Connor? You were cool with it when I told you." I thought I could detect a slight whine in Steve's voice. Everybody knew that Connor was a force you did not want to have pissed off at you. "See that kid over there?" Connor asked, pointing to Noah. "Do you fucking see him?" "Yeah, I see him." "Good, I just wanted to make sure you knew who I was talking about. Sometimes a shit for brains like you is slow to figure things out. Now here's what I want from you..." Steve then made the mistake of interrupting Connor. "How can you be taking their side? We're friends, dude. I mean I invite you to my parties and shit, and you're siding with a bunch of faggots..." Connor had given Steve some rope to start hanging himself, and then he slammed him against the wall of the gym, pushing him with more force against a harder surface than what Steve had done to Noah. The shove caused a loud grunt to whoosh from Steve's lungs. "Don't fucking interrupt me again, dickhead! Those dudes there are my teammates and my friends. Nobody fucks with my friends. NOBODY! You understand?" "Sure, whatever. But, how can they be..." "I said shut the fuck up!" I have to admit I was surprised to hear Connor say we were his friends. He had the strangest way of showing it. But as Noah would say later, he was being a friend in the best way he knew how. "If you ever touch my friends again they're gonna need a search party to find all your teeth and it's gonna take a whole army of doctors to put all your fucking bones back together. You hear me, asshole?" "Yeah...sure... no big deal, I'll leave them alone." "And their friends and their brothers." "Yeah, sure whatever you say." Connor pointed to the other sophomores in the group. "You'll deal with them and me. And now you also get to be their angel. "What the fuck are you talking about? Their angel? Whose angel? You're fucking crazy." Jerome answered those questions. "What he means is, if anybody, anybody at all, hurts those guys it will be just like you did it." Jerome was very happy to be a part of this, because he'd seen some racist vibrations come his way from Steve, which he'd dealt with in his own way. Steve had found out real quickly that it was not a good idea to push Jerome. "In other words," Marty said, "it's kinda up to you to make sure they never get hurt." Marty hadn't been totally sure where Connor had been coming from at lunch, although he had his suspicions. Connor had filled him in between a couple of after lunch classes, which confirmed what Marty thought—Connor was on their side. "Now you gotta apologize to my friend Noah," Connor said. "Go over and shake his hand and tell him you're sorry." "No way...you've gotta be shittin'..." Connor shoved him against the wall one more time, causing another loud grunt. "Do it, and mean it, and then never talk to him again as long as you live. Cuz you see, I got his back. We all got his back. I don't care if he's gay or whatever...gay ain't my thing, but he don't get messed with because of what he is. Now, go over and apologize and you get to keep your teeth." Crawford had said nothing through all of this. I'm sure he was wishing he'd never walked into that bathroom, but I imagine he was also happy that he'd stopped Steve from inflicting more damage. He was also happy for the moment that Connor had left him alone. But Crawford walked past Connor and over to Noah and stuck out his hand. "Sorry, dude. Really, I'm sorry." Noah took his hand and shook it. He knew that it could have been much worse for him if Crawford hadn't slowed Steve down some. "It's cool, and thanks," Noah said, acknowledging the help Crawford had been able to give him. "Hey, guys, Kelly's on the way," Kevin said, checking a text message he'd gotten from Kraig, who had stationed himself in the hall as lookout. "Do it," Connor said. "Do it now, cuz I don't give a shit what Kelly does to me if you don't." Steve walked over with a totally sour look on his face and held out his hand. "Sorry." Noah took it, getting a limp handshake in return. Noah then squeezed Steve's hand as hard as he could, which was fairly hard. Noah was small, but he was strong, mentally and physically. Steve winced and everybody knew who had come out ahead on the handshake. "Accepted," he said. Steve walked away, humiliated and knowing he could do nothing about it. Rodney stopped him. "You keep out of our way and nobody but us guys here will ever know what this was about. We won't go telling anybody else." The sophomores had all discussed this, figuring out they had nothing to gain and a lot to lose by having Steve lose face in front of his own classmates and the upperclassmen on the football team. "But you know what happens if you cross us. The whole world will learn what a piece of crap you are." Steve remained stone-faced, but we all knew the message had been received. We turned the corner of the building and were met by Mr. Kelly. "Is there a problem here, gentleman?" he asked. "No, sir," Rich said. "We were just talking football." Seeing Rich and Rodney, two of the "good guys", in the group, Mr. Kelly had to figure things couldn't have been too bad. Besides, he hadn't seen any blood anywhere. I think Rich being the spokesman helped the situation as well. "Well, then let's break this up. You boys are going to be late for practice." We all went our own ways. That night I stayed at Noah's house. Our parents didn't have an issue about who stayed where and on what night. They knew us and knew we wouldn't abuse the privilege. Noah and I were both surprised at Connor stepping up for us like he had. "He said he had our backs." Noah said. "I think he always has had them." "As much as he bitched and complained about how the Go to State was being run, he always worked his ass off when it came time to do work," I said. "I don't know if I'll ever understand him, but I'm glad he considers us to be his friends." And that is the story of why I would trust my life to Connor, at any time and in any place. Connor did things in his own way and kept his distance from us in many ways. But he had a deep down sense of honor that made him the most loyal friend and teammate you could ever ask for. After the incident at the commons patio with Eddie I asked Noah if he was going to say anything to Connor about it. His reply was typical Noah. "Nah. Connor would end up turning his brains to mush when what Eddie really needs is a complete brain transplant. He's going to be spending the next month grinding what few operating neurons he has trying to figure out what the antonym of winner is. All that thinking will give him a perpetual headache, which will be punishment enough." The assembly at the end of the day was all it was supposed to be. We all sat in chairs strung across the temporary stage that was on the south side of the gym. The building rocked with noise after the principal said a few words, and Coach Sanders said a few words, and then roared with more noise after Marty, as team captain, said a few words and held up the trophy that would be gracing the school's trophy case. The rest of us were called up one-by-one and given our own individual trophies. We were all cheered and we all waved back, even the usually gruff Connor, who somehow managed to break into a big smile. It was a great day. I spent the night at Noah's house and in Noah's bed. When we got to his house after school we stripped and went into the pool. It was another beautiful spring day. We were soon joined by Nicky, Shane, and Lisa, who were all naked. Seeing Lisa naked didn't bother me; after all she was just a girl, albeit a beautiful one. Shane and Nick were always a different matter, Shane was seventeen and incredibly gorgeous while Nick had just turned thirteen, his smooth, long-legged body breathtakingly sexy. Shane was straight, but Noah had gotten him comfortable with messing around with us on occasion. Nicky, on the other hand, was totally into sex with anybody and maybe anything, although Ikey, their dog, hadn't admitted to anything. In the overall scheme of things Nicky admitted to being partial to males and not just ones the age of him and his peers. He was a non-conformist and proud of it. (I do not call him Nicky to his face, but to me he is still the 8 year old I sucked off back when I was 11.) "Are you two gonna do it tonight?" Nicky asked Noah and me as we lazed in the pool. Like Noah, Nicky liked to get right to the point, only he was even quicker. "Wouldn't you love to know," Noah said. "Just wondering. I need it up my ass and I keep hinting and nobody seems to want to stick it there." "You can sleep with me tonight," Lisa said with a coquettish smile. I wasn't sure if she was serious or not. I know that she and Shane had been lovers since they were ten and had done the wild thing together up until they were fourteen or fifteen. I knew that she and Nicky have made out numerous times, but I also knew they'd never gone all the way. "Unless you got some kind of dildo to stick my butt you haven't got what I want," Nicky said with a slight pout. "That can be arranged," Lisa said with a leer. "Don't you have a friend to take care of your need?" Shane asked. "Yeah, I got a couple of them, and there's a teacher who I think would love to stick his pointer up my ass. But I need a large sized dick in me right now. I haven't been fucked in like two weeks." I am sure that had to be a record for him over the last couple of years. "You want large size? I guess you just eliminated Noah then," Lisa said. Noah stuck his tongue out at her like a little boy. We were all cracking up. "I'll tell you what," Shane said. "You show up in my room tonight and I'll fuck you until you pass out." "You promise? You didn't do it the other night when you said you would." "Things were weird then. But I promise this time. Come on in and try me." Nicky gave Shane a big grin and paddled over and gave his older brother a giant hug and a kiss on his cheek as well. "No kissing, though," Shane said as he wiped his cheek. Shane was cool with the playing around part, but he saw kissing another guy as being gay. Not that he had anything against being gay. I knew how much he loved Noah, Nicky (if Nicky was indeed gay), and me. But kissing and getting fucked were just two lines he had drawn when he agreed to get involved in boy/boy sex and in return we respected that. "Just fuck me hard and I won't kiss anything but your dick." Nicky pulled himself out of the pool, showing off a respectable, hairless four inch boner that was pointing at the sky. "So everybody is going to have fun tonight," Lisa said. "What am I supposed to do?" "That's what that black dildo is for," Nicky yelled back as he ran into the house laughing. Lisa was the next one to get out of the pool. "I need to call Jerome. Maybe he's ready to celebrate in bed." "Too bad he can't spend the night," Shane said. "All I need is a half hour," Lisa replied. "Damn, a giant pork-roll and no staying power. Go figure," Shane said. I often wondered if Noah's father and mother knew how much sneaking around between bedrooms went on amongst their kids. Whatever, as is so often the case, tonight was going to be an interesting one at the McCall house. ++++++++++ Lindy was sitting on the couch in the back room when Scott came into the house. He was dressed in just shorts and shoes, his smooth body wet with sweat. He'd been playing touch football at the recreation center and needed to take a shower before hustling over to Eric's house. Today was Eric's twelfth birthday and Scott was invited to go out for Eric's birthday dinner in Centralia. Since his good clothes were at his house the boys decided it would be best if they showered at their own houses rather than Scott bringing his clothes to Eric's house. In their minds it was a good idea not to get their parents to wondering about their showering together when Scott could have showered at home. "Hey, little brother," Lindy said. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt as she lounged on the couch watching television. "Hey yourself, dear sister." "You're a sweaty mess." "You would be, too, if you got off your ass and did something." Lindy stuck her tongue out at her brother. She'd actually had a busy afternoon and she wasn't in the mood to take Scott's bait and argue. "I gotta go shower. I have to be at Eric's soon." "Oh, can I watch?" Lindy was always coming on to Scott in a sexual way and Scott could never be sure how serious his fifteen year old sister was. She'd come into his bedroom naked a few times and even lay naked on his bed with him once. "You wish. I'll show you this much though." He pealed off his shorts and wiggled his white briefs clad butt at her. "You and Eric still have to keep your promise to let me watch you have sex." "I know, I know. We will soon." "And when is soon?" "Before school starts." Lindy gave him a long, loud laugh saying she'd believe it when she saw it. Scott showered, dressed, grabbed his present for Eric and left for Eric's house, once again passing his sister. "You look really sexy all showered and dressed up," Lindy said. "If I wasn't going to sleep with Eric I'd let you come in my bed tonight," Scott said mischievously. Lindy's eyes popped wide open. "You're kidding." "Nope, but the offer is only good for tonight, so I guess you lose." He dashed out the door giggling as his sister threatened him with various forms of physical harm. Scott, Eric, and Eric's family ate at an Italian restaurant in Centralia. Scott would be spending the night with Eric after they returned. Between the dinner and an evening watching a movie it had been a great birthday evening for Eric. "Since it's my birthday, can I top you?" Eric said as they got their naked pre-teen bodies into Eric's bed. "Only because it's your birthday." Eric grinned and the two boys got to kissing and feeling each other up. Since Eric had talked Scott into being the bottom he decided to see if Scott would let him rim him. It was something he'd only done a couple of times, but he wanted to try it again. "I don't care, as long as you don't think I'm gonna lick your ass," Scott said. "I won't think it—I know what you think of doing that. But I want to try it to you again. I can't explain it, but it gets me really turned on." Scott got up on his haunches, his head in a pillow as Eric licked his friend's smooth ass crack, giving his pucker extra attention. He kept poking at it with his tongue until he worked up the courage to stick his tongue into the hole. "Ohhhh...that feels really good," Scott said. "I still think it's the grossest thing in the world, but that don't stop it from feeling good." Eric didn't respond as he stuck his tongue in as far as he could. He knew Scott had showered before they left for dinner and his ass had an intoxicating combination of smells, ranging from freshly soaped to the smells of a boy's insides. The combination made Eric horny beyond imagining. "I'm ready to fuck you," Eric said. He picked up the lube that he'd placed on the bed and lubed Scott's ass as well as his rock hard almost four inch cock. After getting everything prepared he slowly penetrated Scott. He knew that while Scott liked finger fucking himself when he jerked off and that he liked putting things up his butt sometimes, he'd only been fucked the one time Eric did him. He knew he shouldn't push into him too fast, but he was so horny he also knew that he wouldn't last long and needed to get inside Scott as quickly as he could. Eric pushed himself in until Scott moaned and asked him to stop for a minute. Eric's version of a minute was ten seconds as he pushed some more. Scott didn't say anything this time so he pushed in yet again. Eric felt Scott's anus open up and invite his dick in, so he kept pushing until he was in up to his bald pubic area. Eric took a deep breath and started humping Scott's ass, slowly, then quicker, then harder, then having to stop when he popped out. He was not used to topping having done Scott once, Kraig once, and Noah twice. He got himself back in, but it only took a half dozen more strokes when he froze with his cock as deep in Scott as he could go. He started firing his clear cum into his boyfriend's bowels, grunting and groaning like the young buck he was. He finished and collapsed on Scott's back. "Oh, wowsers, that was so awesome." "Happy Birthday," Scott said. "Now I need to get you off," Eric said as he worked to gather his energy. Scott rolled over on his back as Eric got off of him. "Can I fuck you?" The idea of being fucked by Scott right after he'd fucked him appealed to Eric. "Yeah, do it." Scott got on Eric and did him doggy style, his twelve year old balls so ready to release their seed that it only took him a dozen strokes to fire his thickening cum into Eric's rectum. The two boys collapsed again, hugging and exchanging some kisses. "Was it good?" Eric asked. "Yeah, but I wish I could have lasted longer." "I didn't last long either." Eric turned off the light and the two young boys lay next to each other on the bed. "Lindy still wants to watch us," Scott said. "She'll never quit wanting to watch us, but we've done pretty good putting her off." "I told her we'd do it before school started." "Great, that gives us another date to miss. We just need to come up with a good excuse before then." "I kinda want her to watch though," Scott said. "Well, I kinda do, too, but I don't want her to watch even more than I do want her to watch." "That time she came into my bed with me didn't turn me on at all. But now it does turn me on when I think about it." "Scott, she's your sister." "I know. I think it's why it turns me on." "You're weird sometimes." Scott turned on the bed so his back was to Eric. "I know, but at least I don't lick a guy's asshole." Eric wasn't quite sure what to say about that. The next day Eric had his birthday party, a backyard barbeque, complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, chips, and all the pop you could drink. It was topped off by cake and ice cream. Nobody complained about there not being enough to eat, because there was plenty left over. The party was attended by Scott, Rich, the twins, Danny, Carl, Hunter, Jerome, Korey, Chandler, Gavin, and Rodney, along with Lars, Jerome, and Skip from the Centralia group of the Eagles. Eric's mother commented on the fact that no girls had been invited, but Eric said it was more fun with just a group of guys. "That will be changing soon," Eric's dad said. Nobody was staying the night, including Scott. Since Scott and Eric were leaving the next day for four nights in Tacoma, Eric's mother decreed Saturday after the party to be family time. Eric protested, of course, but this was an instance in which he had lost before he even uttered a word. "Live with it son," Eric's dad said. "Learning to deal with your mother is good practice in learning how to deal with women in general as you grow older." Eric noted that this was the second time that day his dad mentioned the topic of females to him. It was a topic his dad usually didn't bring up. Is it because I'm twelve and he thinks I'm growing up so I must be interested in girls? he wondered. He couldn't think of any other reason. But he was more aware than ever that he was gay, and that the topic of girls in his future wasn't one he needed to worry about. Eric finished packing for his trip to see his friends in Tacoma. Tomorrow he and Scott would be on the 10:02 Amtrak Cascades out of Centralia for Tacoma and for what he hoped would be a great reunion with his old buddies. Next: Greeting the Sun