Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:32:23 -0500 From: Chase Subject: Darek's Story Your birthday is coming up soon, right?" he asked, "Your eighteenth?" "In two days," I replied. He smiled, the kind of grin that made me wonder what he was thinking. "Well," he said, "I will have an extra special gift for you." I couldn't help smiling back, "Is that so?," I responded cheekily, "Out with it then, what is it?" "You will have to wait and see." He answered, it was clear he would not tell me now. I chuckled and shook my head as I slung my back-pack over my shoulder. I raised a salute and turned away heading for home. "Darek...." James called after me. I turned to face him, "Yeah?" He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "N...no...nothing. See ya!" He stammered. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued down the sidewalk, homeward bound. **** James stood at the bottom of the school steps, watching Darek walk away. "I love you." He whispered. CHAPTER ONE I had no idea, that first day, that the boy sitting beside me in homeroom would become my boyfriend. Hell, I had no idea I could even fall for guys, it was never something that had affected me before. I had the same problems any 17 year old would have -- bad hair days, which Ralph Lauren polo to wear the next day, morning wood (and all the wood in-between) -- a pretty regular life. To be perfectly honest, that first day was pretty fucked up until he started talking to me. Starting at a new school is never easy, but I was used to it. My parents were what you would call corporate climbers, always chasing after the next promotion. Moving cities was standard stuff to me from around the third grade.