A really big apology for keeping you all waiting for the next chapter. I'm afraid that sometimes life just gets in the way. But also a big thank you to those who have written encouraging me to continue. I hope you like this long overdue chapter. Let me know dandevdrew@sky.com

 

The Arrangement Chapter 9

Jake Fletcher

Of course my sister didn't believe a word I said. Truth to tell, I didn't really believe what Mike, my best mate, had said either. I mean, Dane o'Hanlon was many things, an arrogant git, a big show off and total wanker. But gay? No, I'd seriously doubt that.

And even if he were, the other part of Mike's story was that o'Hanlon was with Sam Baker in the library audio rooms getting down and naughty.

I mean, come on. O'Hanlon and his posse rule the school. Pass Baker in a corridor and you'd never even notice him. I just don't see how those two could have ever got together?

Don't get me wrong, I don't really know Sam Baker. I know he's a library rat. You know, one of those geeky guys who hang out on their own studying all the time. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him, because I think he uses the library as a sanctuary from the social side of school. How do I know this? Well he caught my eye a couple of years ago, I'd seen him almost every time that I had used the library at lunchtime or after school and wondered what his story was.

He's not what most people would call drop dead gorgeous, in the conventional term that is. Most people who go for looks alone would probably go for someone who looked like o'Hanlon, like Michelle for example. Me? I'd definitely give Sam Baker more than a second glance. But then, I tend to find quirky guys more attractive. So, I did some discreet asking around when I first noticed Baker in the library.

He always looked so lonely, even when engrossed in whatever book he was reading. Turns out that he's had quite a hard time of things from the other kids in his year because most people thought he was gay.

I guess I am lucky, I never got so much as a hint of bullying for being gay. But that's probably because I knew from a very early age that I had to hide it. Not so much from other kids at school, but from my own family.

My father is what you'd call an old east-ender who done good. Despite making a more than comfortable, borderline honest living, his attitudes to life are very firmly rooted from a tough inner city upbringing.

Most guys who say that they couldn't come out to their parents because on hearing the news they would probably kill them are talking figuratively. Me? If I came out to my father he really would kill me, and bury my body in Epping Forest along with the countless bodies of people who were `removed' by other east-end gangsters over the years.

So the upshot of that is my family don't really know me. Sure, they get to see the superficial side of my life and my achievements, but they don't get to see who I really am.

Maybe, that's one of the reasons why I dislike my airhead sister. She's got it so easy, she doesn't have to raise a finger for our father's attention. Aside from o'Hanlon, she can't put a foot wrong.

As far as I know, the only reason our father hates o'Hanlon is because no one would be good enough for his little princess. But I reckon that if it came to it and she turned round to our parents and said that she was going to marry the guy the reaction wouldn't be any way near as bad as it would be if I were to tell them that I am gay. That is to say that I am sure that over time they would come to terms with it and that Michelle wouldn't end up wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the river Thames.

I'm telling you this because you are probably wondering why I go round stirring things up between my sister and her boyfriend. The truth is simple, I thought it was about time that she stumbled over a rock in the road of her perfect life. Nothing more. Well that, and maybe because it gave me a macabre sense of pleasure that there was a possibility that she was dating someone who might not be into her as she though he was.

So when I told her the news that Mike has passed to me, she was not best pleased. She accused me of making it up and we had a bit of a slanging match. I knew I had no proof to back up Mike's story, but it was so good to see those seeds of doubt take root within her tiny brain. We left it with me just saying to her that I was only passing on what a mate of mine had seen and that I was only telling her because I cared about her and that she had a right to know.

How was I supposed to know that actual proof was just an hour or so away?

Sometimes coincidences happen.

I met Mike in town and we went off to the cinema as we planned. Of course I got the third degree from him about what had happened when I told Michelle what he had told me. I have never understood his obsession with my sister. He could do so much better. But you know what straight guys are like...

So we got to the screen of the film we chose just as the adverts were running. It was in one of the smaller theatres in the multiplex and as we opened the door I couldn't help notice that the couple sitting on the back row had just pulled apart from an embrace as we walked in weren't boy and girl.

Of course it was too dark for me to make out who they were, but I chuckled to myself, thinking that at least there were a couple of lads who were getting it on in this place. We sat down a few rows down from them and as my eyes got used to the dark I took a couple of discreet glances over my shoulder to see what those two guys were up to.

On the first glance I wasn't sure, but when the screen brightened up enough I took another look over my shoulder and there was no mistaking it, one of the guys sitting on the back row was Dane o'Hanlon. Who the other guy was? At that time I could only guess, as the only sign that someone else was there was a dark head shape bobbing up and down.

I nudged Mike in the ribs and told him not to look now, but there was proof just behind us.

Of course, when you tell someone not to look behind you their instant reaction is for them to do just that. Fortunately for us, if it was Baker going down on o'Hanlon, he was doing a good job and o'Hanlon's eyes were firmly closed, but the smile on his face do nothing to hide the pure pleasure that he must have been getting.

It's an instant reaction of our YouTube generation. Armed with phones capable of filming clips, we whip them out at any given moment when something interesting is happening. Of course I wasn't thinking about posting this on any net site and I doubt that Mike was either. But within seconds of realising what we were seeing we had our phones in our hands recording the scene.

Unfortunately, it was too dark for anything to actually come out that was recognisable. But as we were checking back our footage I noticed in the corner of my eye that a shaft of light had appeared and then was gone. I looked behind me again as saw that the row was now empty.

Again, I nudged Mike and pointed in the direction of the door. He was up out of his seat as soon as he realised what I meant, but I pulled him back down, telling him to wait a bit."

"Why?" He asked, barley containing his excitement.

"If they're going in there to do what I think they're going to do, then we should give them a few minutes to get it on. That way, there's a better chance that we won't be seen."

"Good point" He replied and sat back down.

So we waited, glancing over at the fire exit door every now and then until I figured that the time was right.

In the fire door was a small pain of reinforced glass, just a few inches wide and about twelve inches long. But it was enough for us to see what was happening.

I have to admit that my dick gave a bit of a lurch in my shorts as I saw o'Hanlon and Baker doing the nasty. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do not fancy o'Hanlon in any way. But it's hard not to get turned on by something that I usually only see on internet porn sites.

And yes, it has to be said that o'Hanlon has a good body, but the big surprise for me was Baker. I would have thought that he was going to be one of those skinny guys with no muscle definition. But I was wrong. Okay, so he was a long way from being an Adonis, but he looked pretty toned none the less.

From the looks of things as o'Hanlon was feeding his cock into Baker's butt this was not a first time occurrence. The jock who was dating my sister seemed to know exactly what he was doing and Baker looked like he was enjoying every second of it.

After Mike had pushed me out of the way so that he could get a look, he broke down in fits of giggles. So I pushed him aside and pulled my phone out and started recording.

Once I'd got a couple of minutes of hot boy on boy action on my phone Mike and I went back to our seats to review what my camera had recorded. Okay, so the images weren't exactly brilliant, but you could make out that it was o'Hanlon and Baker and there was no doubt what they were doing. Mike was keen to go back and see if he could get something better, but short of opening the door I didn't think it was worthwhile. Besides, if that was the best my phone could do then Mike's wouldn't be any better as my phone was superior to his.

"So are you going to show that to Michelle?" Mike asked.

"I don't know mate. If she sees this it's going to rock her world. She'll never forgive me."

"Yeah, but she's got a right to know."

"Maybe, but they do say that ignorance is bliss and let's face it, you can't get any more ignorant than my sister."

"Yeah, maybe. But she's fit and that trumps everything else in my book. If you show that clip to her she'll dump o'Hanlon and she will be mine. Mu ha ha!"

I sniggered at his attempt at an evil laugh and his eternal optimism that he will ever get my sister to think of him as anything else than her little brother's best mate.

"Mikey, like I said to you on the phone earlier, I've got more chance with getting with you, then you have with Michelle."

Mike and I had been friends since we were little kids. We lived a few roads from each other and went to the same play group as toddlers, where our mothers met and became friends. We grew up together, and he was one of a very few people who I had told that I was gay.

He was very philosophical about it, by saying that as long as I didn't want to bum him, he didn't care what I was. That was three years ago when we were both thirteen. I told him back then because I knew that he'd be alright with it. That was a week after he matter of factly mentioned to me that his older brother had just come out to his whole family.

I envied Mike and his family. They were much closer than my family are, and from the reaction by them to Jason's revelation was text book supportive family. I must have given Mike the 101 questions treatment, mainly because I couldn't believe that his family were so accepting. A week later when I told him that I was gay to, I went on to explain why I could never tell my family.

Mike had always hero worshiped his older brother, not that he'd ever admit it. But as Jason was five years older than Mike there was very little sibling rivalry between them. Instead, Jason was always someone who Mike could go to for help and advice. He let me know that if I ever wanted anyone to talk to about being gay or anything else, then his brother would be there for me as well. That was good to know.

But the best thing about Mike was that after telling him, nothing really changed between us. He didn't become stupid around me in a `backs against the wall lads' kind of way. In fact he was quite the opposite of that. He's spent the last three years being a total prick tease around me.

We had always had a good banter between us, but when we were alone there'd be an added element where he'd try to get me to admit that I fancied him or like the times when we'd have a sleepover at either of our homes and we'd be stripping down to our boxers and he'd remind me that he was off limits just as he'd almost be shoving his underwear covered arse in my face.

Okay, cards on the table. He was a good looking guy and if I ever thought he was serious he would be something that I would go for. But when it comes down to it, Mike's my best mate, that's more important to me than anything else.

There was, however, one night back when we were fourteen, when for a laugh we both got our dicks out and measured them when they were hard. It was one of those experimental moments that I think a lot of guys have. The morning after, without an ounce of embracement he told me that what had happened was down to him wondering what it would be like to be gay and that his curiosity was now fulfilled and that he definitely wasn't.

I took his words at face value and I'm really not the kind of person who perpetually whines about someone that they can't have.

So, going back to the cinema when I had just replied to him that I'd have more chance with getting with him than he would with Michelle, he really surprised me with his reply.

"I don't know. From where I'm sitting I'd say that the odds were even."

"Huh?" I replied wondering what the next bit of banter would be.

"Remember what I said earlier? If you help me with Michelle..."

"Yeah." I laughed. "If I remember rightly, you said that you'd pay me back in kind."

He turned his head from the movie screen that we were both looking at while talking and I saw a very serious expression on his face.

"You know, my brother once told me that before he was sixteen he had never thought about guys. That's why he didn't come out until he was eighteen and sure of his sexuality."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I'm 99% sure that I am not gay, but maybe it couldn't hurt to find out." He gestured with his head over in the direction of the fire exit and went on to say "Seeing those two at it wasn't exactly disgusting. I found myself thinking that they were lucky bastards; at least they were getting some, which is more than I have for ages. Maybe this is one of those experimental phases that they told us about in sex education?"

"So, you're telling me that it's open season?"

He just shrugged and settled back in his seat, then sprawled his arms out, one over the empty seat next to him and one around me then replied "All I know is that I'm feeling horny and right now I don't much care that you're the only one around who can do something about it for me."

"And this gay experimentation phase of yours, is it a one way street."

He moved his right arm from the chair next to him and placed his hand on the crotch of my jeans and replied "You know me Jakey, if I'm going to do something, I'm gonna do it proper." Then he leaned in and we were soon kissing. Meanwhile his hand was flicking the buttons of my jeans open and he soon had my hard flesh in his hands.

We spent the rest of the film playing with each other's dicks, which I don't care what he said after, I know he enjoyed.

As we left the cinema and headed out to the bus stop Mike started on again about showing the phone clip to Michelle.

I fished out my phone and started playing the clip of o'Hanlon and Baker again. Once it had finished I pressed a couple of buttons and the clip went off to my poor unsuspecting sister's phone.

"Nice one Jake."

"Hey mate, a deal's a deal. It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Yeah, well don't be getting any ideas. Cos, I'm not on the turn or anything."

"Okay, whatever." I replied,

***

 

Dane o'Hanlon's mobile:

8 Missed calls

3 Texts

3 Voice mails

All from Michelle Fletcher

Text # 1 sent 20:35

Dane where r u

Voice mail 1 sent 20:45

Dane where are you? I need to speak with you. Call me.

Voice mail 2 sent 21:14

Dane, my brother told me a load of bullshit about you. Please call me.

Text # 2 sent 21:27

Y RN'T U PIKIN UP?

Text # 3 Sent 22:19

PICK UP YOUR BLOODY PHONE!!!

Voice mail 3 sent 22:31

I know you're at the cinema with that queer mate of yours. I know what you've been doing. You make me sick. I don't ever want to see you again.

Dane

Up until I got those messages from Michelle I was having one of those nights that I never wanted to end. I can't remember the last time I had one of those.

I wasn't lying when I told Sammy that I was horny all day for him. Up till a couple of months ago I had never thought like that. If I was feeling horny it was because I was thinking of Michelle or even some other girl that caught my eye. Even during the times when we had our arrangements, I was only letting him do what he did because of them. Nothing more.

But now, I don't know, since getting back from Dublin at the New Year it's been different. I'd started to look forward to our times together and I don't mean just the times where we were studying, working out or running.

Sammy's `rewards' where as good for me as they were for him. What that guy can do with his mouth puts Michelle or any other girl I've ever been with in the shade. But it wasn't just about letting him do stuff to me, as I wanted him to feel good too. I think that was the biggest change in me. It hasn't been easy, I mean, it's not like I woke up one morning and thought "I know, I want to play with my mates dick today." It just kind of happened and I didn't not like it.

I suppose I've got Fel to thank for that. My half-brother, who up to Christmas I'd thought was my cousin. When he showed up at Dublin airport with this guy who he announced to the family was his boyfriend, I guess something just clicked in me. At first it frightened the hell out of me. I mean, we're so alike in many ways. Could I also be bi like him? It's not something you want to think about really. I mean, calling someone a homo is a pretty big insult in my world. Normally used on the football pitch when someone fucks up a pass, they get called it. That doesn't mean that people actually think you're gay, it's just, well the worst thing that people can call you.

So the realisation that I could be one, well, bisexual, but it amounts to the same thing, isn't easy to take in. It helped me to talk a lot with Fel the whole time I was in Dublin about it. We talk on a level with each other and while we constantly ruck and banter, it's only because we're close. He also helped take my mind off the other revelation that rocked my world, that my uncle was really my father.

He helped me to realise that it wasn't the worst thing in the world that could happen to me. Also that aside from admitting that I enjoyed the blow job that Sammy gave me the night before I left for Dublin, the signs were there even before that.

"Bullshit" I replied to Fel's statement.

"Ah, but they were. Just little things that made me think that you were going through the same thing as me." He stopped there and gave me an annoying smile, like he wasn't going to go on to tell me.

"You just gonna leave it there or do you have something to back up the crap you're coming out with?"

"That I do, but do you really want to hear it?"

I gave him a look that said if he didn't spill what he had to say, I'd punch him one.

"Okay, well I think the other night when we both got back to Dublin and got undressed for bed wasn't the first time I'd seen you check me out."

I was just about to protest, but Fel gave me a look that said "Don't bother denying it", so I didn't. After all he was right. I mean, not that I thought I was checking him out because I was queer for him, more like just comparison stuff. I said as much to him.

"Yeah, but that's not the only time I've seen you check out a fella."

I laughed and said that now I knew he was bullshitting me.

"Don't get me wrong Dane, I don't think you know you've been doing it, but you do. For the last few summers when you've stayed here and played for my football club, I've seen your eyes dart around the changing room as the guys were getting changed. Yeah, that could just be more comparison stuff and I only picked up on it because I was doing the same thing meself."

I felt confused by this, because up to that point I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, okay, but don't most guys take a bit of a look in the changing rooms?

"Ah sure they do, and truth be told, I first thought that when I saw you doing it. I'd have said something too, but I was going through me own shite at the time. Anyways, like I said to you the other night, you'd not have thanked me for saying anything to you. Especially if I was wrong."

I won't bore you with the rest of our conversations, because they just saw me going round and round in circles. I loved Michelle and I didn't want to lose her. But then, since coming back from Dublin, I'd been spending more and more time with Sammy and really liked that too.

As for that morning with the ribbon and the audio room. I'd been thinking about what Fel had said to me for the rest of that evening after we'd had our conversation over the phone, that I was as good as using Sammy. I knew that this wasn't true, but I also knew that I hadn't been very good at showing the guy that I cared about him either.

I woke up that morning after a very good wet dream which was all about Sammy and we were going much further than we actually had in reality. After I'd showered I spotted one of my little sister's hair ribbons on the bathroom shelf and I suddenly had a vague memory pop into my head about Japanese guys who would tie a ribbon around their cock on their wedding day for their wife, or something like that.

So I had this thought that I would do something for Sammy to show him that I care about him and the ribbon seemed like that was the answer. Then, after our aborted sex attempt I the audio room he joked about going on a romantic date and I thought `what the hell, why not?'

It's just a shame that it ended the way it did. I should have left my phone alone, then I wouldn't have been wondering why Michelle had left me all those texts and messages.

Fel was right about another thing. Michelle and I had gotten stale. We'd been going out for just over two years and I was in love with her. But I guess it was hanging out with Sammy that got me to realise that for the last year or so our relationship was just about sex. Don't get me wrong, it was good sex, really good sex. But aside from that there wasn't much else. When we talked it was always about her, when we hung out with her friends, I felt like she was showing me off like some sort of prize that she'd won to make her mates jealous. And if we were with my mates, she'd get all uppity if I didn't give her enough attention.

It wasn't until Sammy got me to open my mind up that I realised, aside from sex, Michelle and I had nothing. I once said to Sammy that if he were a girl he'd be my perfect girlfriend. It took three days and a lot of apologising before he would speak to me again. But Hey, in my defence, that was before I had even thought that I could have a proper relationship with a guy.

Now? I don't know. It's like I've become two people, the Dane that everyone knows and the Dane that only Sammy knows. I still don't know if those two very different people can become one. Maybe that's why I didn't want to break up with Michelle? Even though I knew that we'd run our course and that I was having much more fun with Sammy. If I let Michelle go then it would be like admitting something to myself and the rest of the world. That, I sure wasn't ready to do.

So when I heard those messages from Michelle on my mobile my heart dropped to the floor and blind panic took over.

I don't even remember saying good night to Sammy. I took off and headed over to Michelle's. I ran all the way, not knowing what I was going to say to her but her words from the last message kept on ringing around my head.

"I know you're at the cinema with that queer mate of yours. I know what you've been doing. You make me sick. I don't ever want to see you again."

She lived several miles away from my house, in the posh part of town. Large mock Tudor houses with tall iron gates to protect from the outside world. By the time I arrived it was gone midnight. The gate of course was locked shut, so I vaulted over it. I knew that I couldn't ring the door bell and risk her father coming down so I called her mobile several times, but she didn't pick up.

I sprinted around to the back of the house and started throwing stones up at her window. Eventually a window from the room next to hers opened.

"Fuck off o'Hanlon, she doesn't want to see you."

It was Jake, her shit stirring little brother.

"Just get her to come to the door will you?"

"Take a hint; she doesn't want to hear what you've got to say."

Ignoring him I yelled up at her window "Michelle. Please, we've got to talk."

Probably not a good idea as several dogs in the neighbourhood started barking and suddenly a bright floodlight come on to the side of the house. I looked around thinking that it was going to be her father coming down to have a go at me, but it was Michelle. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I told you I didn't want to see you again."

"I know. But I need to explain."

"Explain? Explain what?" She almost yelled.

"I don't know what your brother told you but it's lies okay."

"Do you think I'm that dumb? Now that you're all about going to university and a `levels. You think you so much cleverer than anyone else. Well Dane, newsflash. You're not. Have you two been laughing behind my back all this time?"

"I don't know what you're talking about? Of course not. What do you mean you two?"

"You and that dirty stinking queer Baker, that's who and don't deny it."

I saw red. "Don't fucking call him that."

"Why not?" She yelled, "It's fucking true and you're one too! It's disgusting, you make me sick."

"Michelle, you don't know what you're talking about." I don't know why, but somehow I thought that would calm her down.

"Of course I don't know what I'm talking about, cos I don't understand it. How can you be one of those? In the cinema, I mean, how could you?"

"Is that what this is about? Because I went to the cinema with Sammy instead of coming round to see you?"

"Don't even pretend that you don't know what I mean."

"Hey sis." Jake called down from his window. "Do you want me to chuck your mobile down so that he can see what you're going on about?"

Michelle looked up to the open window and saw her little brother with a wide grin on his face.

"What are you still doing there you git?" She yelled back at him

"Having a good laugh at the both of you."

"Well fuck off and mind your own business."

"So that's a no for the phone then. It's just that if he doesn't see what you've seen then we could be here all night while he makes more and more of an idiot of himself, and you come to think of it."

Michelle looked exasperated. Clearly not knowing what to do, she looked at me, then back up to her brother.

"I'll get your phone then." Jake replied with an even bigger smirk on his face, and left the window.

When he returned he dropped the phone and I caught it.

"Now fuck off Jake and leave us alone." Michelle called up.

"What? And miss the look on his face when he realises that you know. No way, I've got my phone ready to capture the moment." He laughed and pulled his own phone out to show us.

"Do as she says dipshit, before I come up there and break every bone in your body." I replied before Michelle could answer her brother back.

"Just watch the video you dumb prick, and then worry about what I'm going to do with it." Jake yelled back.

"Just fuck off Jake." Michelle yelled back. I guess he got the hint as he closed his bedroom window.

I looked at Michelle's phone and then at her, not knowing what I would find on it, but knowing that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on her phone. I almost collapsed on the floor as I felt like I had been punched in the gut and winded.

The sound was distorted, but I could hear a lot of muffled laughter in the background. The picture was slightly blurred, but there was no mistaking that the two naked guys fucking on the phone's small screen were Sammy and me.

When the clip stopped playing I felt like I was trembling all over. I slowly looked up at Michelle, not a clue what I was going to say.

She started crying.

"Michelle, I-I'm sorry."

I took a couple of strides towards her and tried to put my arms around her. It was a natural reaction that I would do if she ever started crying for some reason or another. But she took a step back and pushed me away.

"Don't even touch me, you could be diseased if you're one of them."

"What the fuck?" I yelled. "You're talking crap."

"Am I? Most of them have got stuff like AIDS y'know. You could have given something to me. Did you ever think about that?"

I couldn't believe the bile that was coming out of her mouth. Okay, so thinking about it she had good reason to be mad at me. But this?

"That's right, it's all about you." I angrily replied to her. "Well, don't worry, cos like with you, I used a condom."

"Oh, this is all a big joke to you. Well I'm not laughing. How could you? How long has this been going on? Have you been using me so that no one knows that you're a poof?"

I sighed and looked at Michelle, tears streaking down her face and despite myself I felt sorry for her. She didn't deserve this. My feelings for Michelle had changed, but if I had thought about breaking up with her, this was not the way I would have done it.

But still, all I could think of saying to her was "Sorry." And then added "I'm not a poof." As if that made a big difference to her.

She snorted at me with contempt.

"Michelle, I still really care about you."

"Care about me?" She snapped back. "You always said you loved me. Or was that a lie too?"

"No, course not. I did love you."

"Did?"

"I still do. But things have changed. Come on, you've got to admit that we've drifted apart over the past year."

"Yeah, and we now all know why, don't we." She snapped back.

"Even before Sammy came along we were only going through the motions."

"Well, you might have been, but I love you. I thought we were going to be together always."

"So did I, but things change. I'm sorry."

"Things change? What like you becoming a poof? Yeah, that's a pretty big change if you ask me."

There was a look of pure hatred on Michelle's face that went along with her venomous words. But then that suddenly softened and her lip started to tremble as she said

"I don't understand, was it something I had done?"

She sounded almost pitiful and I felt so bad for causing her this pain. Sure, we'd had arguments before and she'd turn on the water works, but I was always able to calm her down and charm her back. Even after all this, I wondered if I could do that again. I could give her a bit of time to calm down and she'd be okay. I could tell her that it was a one off and that it was stupid or something and I'd may be able to talk her round.

Yeah, I know that sounds conceited, but I know Michelle well enough to know that once she'd thought about how much she'd hate losing me she'd let me apologise and make things right between us.

Standing there though, watching her fuming at me one minute and sounding so sad the next, I felt my throat close up slightly and a tear fell from my eye. It was the dawning of the realisation that even though I thought I could talk her round, I wasn't sure that I wanted to.

I leaned against the wall of the house and looked up to the cloudless sky and saw half a dozen stars twinkling down at us. I suddenly remembered a few weeks before, when it was the half term holiday and still cold out, was the last time I really looked up to the night sky.

Sammy and I had been studying fairly hard for most of our week off school and I called him up on the Thursday morning and said to him that I wanted to do something different for a change. He thought I meant that I wanted to go off and see my other mates or something, but I told him that I thought that we could go out for the day, maybe somewhere in London or something.

"We could, or we could go on a magical mystery tour." He replied.

"And what's that then?" I asked a bit bemused.

"Well, when I've got nothing to do during the holidays I pack a bag and head in to London, pick a rail station at random and get on the next train that is leaving. I've been all over, sometimes I go for the whole journey, sometimes I end up at a station and get on another train, but if someplace looks okay I might just get off and spend the day there, or even find a place to stay and spend a couple of days. You've got a student rail roaming card right?"

"Erm, yeah. But I never use it."

"Okay, so meet me at mine in half an hour and we'll head out."

So that's what we decided to do, take a train out somewhere. It was great to do a spur of the moment thing and we set off with no clue as to where we were going to go. We packed our sleeping bags and his old tent and we just showed up at the station and bought a ticket to wherever the next train out was going.

We ended up in a seaside town called Seaford on the south-coast, which like almost all coastal towns in the winter, seemed desolate and grey. We wondered around town for most of the day, messing about in the one arcade that was open, and then ended up in the pub for the rest of the afternoon.

We found a great spot near the cliffs to pitch our tent for the night and spent most of the rest of the evening on the freezing cold beach talking and watching the cross channel ferries going in and out of Newhaven. At one point we had taken one of our sleeping bags down on the beach and were making out on it. When we came up for some air I rolled over and looked up into the clear starry sky and remarked to Sammy how that there were more stars here then there were where we lived. He explained that light pollution in Greater London blocked most of them out, and then went on by pointing out some of the constellations that we could see. Was there nothing this fantastic guy didn't know about?

"How do you know all this stuff?" I asked him.

"I donno, guess I've always been interested in space. I could name all the planets in our solar system around the same age as everyone else was learning nursery rhymes."

"So you were a geek as a toddler?"

"Yep." He replied proudly. Then went on to say. "I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in what's up there. Probably too many sci-fi films or something. I just hope that I get to see the day when we're properly exploring what's out there."

"What you mean like Star Trek and all that?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Stop laughing at me. It could happen one day."

I choked back my sniggers and replied "Yeah right Doctor Spock."

He looked at me like I'd just blasphemed and said "I'm not even going to bother to correct you."

A bit later when we realised that it was only the bottle of vodka that was keeping us from feeling the chill to our bones we went back up to the tent and I started zipping our sleeping bags together.

"That's a bit presumptuous of you." Sammy slurred, obviously the vodka had got the guy pretty drunk, because he had that twinkle in his eye that told me that he was hoping that we'd end up sleeping together for the night.

"Basic survival skills Sammy, we strip off and huddle together to stop ourselves from freezing to death."

"And they taught you that in the Catholic boy's brigade did they?"

I had once told Sammy that I was a member when I was younger. It's much like the boy scouts, but organised by our local church. It was a bit lame, but my parents were regular attendees of the church and they made sure that I, my brothers and sisters were involved in most of their youth activities. Some of them were fun, especially when they took us out for adventure weekends and a lot of my friends were there as well, so it wasn't all bad.

But Sammy found this funny as he put on a squeaky voice and said "Please Father, how will sticking your willy up my bum stop me from getting hypothermia?"

I chose to ignore his remark as it didn't deserve an answer, so I sat down on the sleeping bags and started taking off my clothes as Sammy stumbled and fell down next to me and started giggling. The poor guy really couldn't handle his drink. When he'd laughed himself out I looked at him and said.

"C'mon Sammy, time to go to strip down."

"Ooh, Dane o'Hanlon wants me to get naked." Again he cracked up in a drunken stupor, and then started wrestling his clothes off.

After several attempts at pulling his jeans off I leaned over and gave him a hand, which ended up with him in more fits of giggles. But sooner or later I managed to get him down to his underwear. Well, I say his, actually they were mine. I recognised the knee length compression shorts that I wore for football and exercise on him. While on me they're tight fitting, on Sammy they were loose on his thin body.

I still never got Sammy's obsession with underwear. From the very first day I caught him sniffing my shorts in the locker room to right then, when I was looking at him wearing a pair of my shorts I just don't understand how someone can get off on them? I mean they're just clothes after all.

That said, some of his choices for me to wear for him were pretty cool. Not the sort of thing I would have chosen to wear before, I mean briefs and thongs? Not exactly normal are they? But the funny thing was that I'd been walking about, kind of conscious of what I was wearing and sort of feel sexy. I sort of felt weird about that at first, but then, why shouldn't a guy be able to feel sexy?

I looked down on Sammy as he lay on top of the sleeping bag, the cold night air in the tent was making him shiver. He looked so small and vulnerable there. I made him move over and pulled the sleeping bag over us and zipped us in then spooning him, I wrapped my arms around and felt the pleasant warmth from his body on mine.

With my warmth around him, he soon stopped shivering and started breathing normally.

Sammy sighed, now sounding more sleepy than drunk. "This is nice, I like this."

He pushed back slightly so that his lycra covered butt was now against my lengthening cock that was straining to break free from the briefs that I was wearing.

His breathing started to get heavy and low as he slipped into sleep. I leaned over him and kissed his cheek then said "Yeah mate, I like this too."

Why am I telling you this right now, just as you're expecting me to carry on telling you what happened with Michelle and me? Well looking up at the stars reminded me that it was that night in Seaford when I realised how much I loved spending time with Sammy and how different it was with him and Michelle. It was like I felt truly alive when I was with him. Doing stuff that I would never have done before, and no, I don't just mean the sex. I mean everything. I knew I cared about Sammy a lot and that right there and then I knew that I wanted to be with him and not Michelle.

I took a deep breath and lowered my eyes to meet Michelle's.

"It wasn't something you did or didn't do. It just sort of happened." I finally replied to her question.

She snorted her disgust at me again, but I went on.

"And I'm not a poof, or queer like you said or even gay."

"That's not what that looked like." She retorted pointing at her phone in my hand. "If that's not queer than I don't know what is?"

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying that I'm not gay, but it's complicated. I don't know what I am."

"Save it Dane, I'm really not interested. If you don't think that you're gay then you go on believing that. But leave me out of it. I don't ever want to see you again."

"I know. And I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. I still care for you, I, er, still love you."

"Well if that's true, then you need to go and sort yourself out. Because I can't be with someone who wants to be with someone else, especially if that someone else is a bloke."

I went to hand her phone back to her, but looked at the screen that had the clip of me and Sammy frozen on it.

"What are you going to do with this?" I asked.

She dried her tears with her hands and then looked at me. The cold look that she's been giving me all night had vanished and she almost smiled when she next spoke.

"Delete it. I don't ever want to see it or you again."

"Are you gonna tell anyone about this?"

"Just delete it and go."

I deleted the clip and returned the phone to her and tried once more. "Michelle..."

"Dane" She cut across me. "After this, you've got no right to ask anything of me. Now please, just go."

I had no choice but to leave. My heart was feeling heavy as I trudged my way home not knowing if Michelle would say anything about me to her friends. If she did, then that would be the end of me as a lot of her friends know a lot of mine. Word would get around quickly about me and Sammy.

"This is a mess. A fucking mess." I said out loud to no one other than myself. What was I going to do?

***

 

Sam Baker

Sure, I'd be lying if I said that Michelle finding out about Dane and me didn't make me feel somewhat happy. But it was only a brief moment of elation as he repeated to me what Michelle said in her message to him on his phone.

Great, I thought, now she can dump him and we could finally be together. But the look on Dane's face made that moment pass very quickly for me. As Dane sped off in what I was sure in the direction of Michelle's house without even saying goodbye, I knew that things were not going to be that simple.

I mean why would they be? After all, all of this between Dane and I was hardly the love story of the century. I didn't even know what he really felt about me. Yes, I knew he cared about me, he'd said as much a few times. But did he love me like I loved him? Dane was never forth coming with his feelings, nor would he ever engage in a conversation about us beyond things like "We're having a laugh" or telling me that he liked me. That was the best I ever got out of him.

When I got home I texted him a couple of times to see if he was alright, but I didn't get a reply. So I went to sleep fearing the worst. If Michelle really did know about us what would that mean for Dane?

Would she out him to everyone in a fit of spite or revenge? If she did, that would devastate him and would surely spell the end for us. I knew that he was in no way ready to face the world with people knowing that he maybe bi. But then option two wasn't that much better, Michelle's not that bright and Dane can be a silver tongued devil at times and I've seen firsthand how he can talk her round.

If that happened and he had her convinced that she had made a mistake then nothing changes, Dane's still going out with Michelle and assuming that he gets over this near miss with someone questioning his sexuality, that leaves me no better off that I was before, having stolen moments with Dane, but nothing more.

To say I didn't sleep well that night was an understatement.

***

A typical day starts for me with my alarm clock screaming out at me that it's time to wake up. I silence the annoying sound by pressing the snooze button at least half a dozen times within the next hour. I hate having to wake up, I am not a morning person and it's not like I have anything to look forward to when I finally give up and accept that the alarm is right and I need to get up and out of bed.

I mean, school, I dread it each and every morning. It's not about the lessons; I can handle those, even the more mundane ones that send most people into a coma.

No, it's the other pupils that I dread seeing. True, most of the bullying that I have been subjected to all my high school life has to a large extent stopped since the beginning of the current school year. I am sure that is down to Dane telling his mates to leave me alone, but he never answered me when I asked him about that. I wondered if it was because he felt a sense of shame for what had happened to me over the years at the hands of his mates?

He once asked me why it was that I hated school so much and I told him exactly why, leaving nothing out. By the time I had finished talking I could have sworn that he was feeling choked up about it.

Even so, after years of physical and mental torture it was still very hard to motivate myself to muster up any sort of enthusiasm for school. Normally I was just doing my best to keep my anxieties under control, lest they manifest themselves into a full blown panic attack. I hated the power that place had over me.

I used to beg my mother to take me out of that place and send me to another school, but I never really told her of the extent of the bullying that I was subjected to as I didn't want to add to her problems, she would just tell me that I had to try to make the best of it because there was no better school in the area than the one I was attending.

Why didn't I tell her about everything that was happening to me? Because I knew that she would be straight up to the school's headmaster and demand that he do something about it. That in itself wasn't too bad, but I was smart enough to know that I would then be hauled in front of him and made to give him the names of the kids who were bullying me.

Then what? You may ask. I'll tell you. The most the school could do would be to suspend or expel the main culprits. But that would only leave them angrier at me and what could the school do if they then decided to kick the crap out of me when I was out of school grounds?

It's a no win situation, so like my mother said I just tried to make the best of a bad situation and pray that I could get through the day without incident. But seldom were my prayers answered, so I learned to become invisible by not drawing any attention to myself during the school day. I just got my head down and did my work and rarely put my hand up in class.

Luckily for me, in my second year of (year 8) my school hadn't succumbed to `modern thinking' and some of our classes were streamed according to ability. That meant that I and others like me could be educated without having to put up with the grunts emanating from the Neanderthals who hadn't worked out how to string a coherent sentence together.

But I still had to share a form room with these people, so like I said, I tried my best to become invisible. I would enter the class room and with making no eye contact with anyone slip into my chair and wait for the our form tutor to arrive, say what he had to say and then wait for the bell to ring for our first class. I judged my success by no one noticing me or at the very least not being tripped up on the way to my desk, having my bag snatched from me and its contents strewn around the room or not having been physically or verbally abused in some way.

So you can imagine the look of horror on my face when I entered the classroom that morning and heard someone saying "Ask Baker, he might know."

I stopped in my tracks and looked over to the where the voice that had said my name had come from.

It was Aaron Silverman, a guy who while hung out with the rest of the meatheads, was in a few of my classes. This meant that he was not as academically challenged as the rest of his mates and when not around them, was actually a good bloke. With his mates though, he acted as much of a prick as the rest of them. Were it not for that I only had eyes for Dane, Aaron would have been in my desires and featured in more of my wet dreams than he already was.

Yes it's true, I had in the past been unfaithful to Dane, as occasionally Aaron would enter my fantasies. Memories of him from the P.E. changing rooms would flood my head when wanking myself off in my early teenage years. He had one of the nicest bubble butts that I had ever seen in my life, and in my mind I was always the top when thinking about getting it on with him. That was in stark contrast with my fantasies with Dane, who was always in the active roll.

I think the reason for my thinking that Aaron would be a great bottom was not just because he had a great butt, but from an event a couple of years before when we were in our GCSE year. We were all in our form room waiting for the teacher to arrive for post lunchtime registration, when there was a sudden uproar of noise and laughter coming from the back of the class room. I had no idea how it actually started as I was not listening at anything that was going on, just concentrating on being invisible. But the noise broke through my thoughts and I turned round to see a laughing Tony Isaacs, simulating having sex with Aaron, who was bent over his desk trying and failing not to laugh at his mates antics behind him.

The class were in fits of laughter as Isaacs rubbed his trouser covered crotch up and down his mate's school uniformed butt, while shouting out things like "Take it hard boy" and "c'mon, you know you love it bitch."

It's funny how the whole class cracked up into fits of laugher at their antics. It's probably because not one of them thought it was anything other than them just messing about for the class's amusement. If either one of them had been thought of as possibly being gay then it would never have happened nor would have ever thought of as being funny. Whereas just because a lot of the class had unfounded reason to think I was gay, meant that I was subjected to their taunts and physical violence.

But as it was Silverman and Isaacs being best mates had never given anyone any reason to think that they were nothing other than heterosexual, they got to mess about pretending to be gay without anyone passing judgement. Isaacs had had a string of girlfriends and was known as a bit of a player, while his best mate Aaron Silverman was `married' to Becky Rosenthal, in as much as they had been inseparable since juniors I heard.

As Isaacs's fake moans got louder and his face more animated. I, despite myself, laughed along with the rest of the class. Big mistake, as Isaacs happened to open his eyes and focus them on me.

He nodded to his mates who were still cracking up and said "Look over there, Baker's loving this."

The rest of the class turned round and looked at me. I must have blushed up somewhat scarlet.

Isaacs moved away from his mate still bent over his desk and headed in my direction while saying "What's up queer boy, you getting off watching us? Were we turning you on, you fucking pervert?"

By this point he had drawn level to my desk and was grinning evilly down at me, and then to the rest of the class announced "I think Queer boy's getting jealous." The rest of the class roared with laughter as I tried to turn away from him and hope that he would just go away. He didn't. He just added "bet you want a bit of the action don't you. You want a real mans cock." He grabbed my head in his hand and shoved it towards his crotch.

I tried to pull back and break free from his hold, but he was too strong for me.

"C'mon, say it you poof. Say you want my cock."

Of course I said no such thing, but this didn't deter him from carrying on. He tried to twist my head so that my face was being pressed up against the spongy contents of his trousers, which felt to me not to be as soft as they should have been. No, I'm not saying that he had a hard-on down there, but he was definitely packing a semi. Whether this was because he was very much in the closet and getting off on simulating sex with his best mate, or because he was on a power trip over me and he was growing because of that I didn't know or care to find out.

I'm guessing that he must have realised what was going on in his trouser department as after several more thrusts at my face with his crotch he suddenly stopped and sharply pulled away from me. Fortunately for him his shirt was covering up his growing bulge so that the rest of the class couldn't see this. He looked down at me with a look on his face that was between a sneer and panic. Was I about to say anything to his audience?

To ensure my silence he slapped me around my head so hard that I almost fell out of my chair. I got the message loud and clear. And looking around at the rest of the class, who were still laughing, who would have believed me even if I had the guts to say anything?

And yes, during my ordeal I noticed Dane laughing along with the rest of the class. I hated him at that moment. But my hatred could never last long where he was concerned. After all, he barely knew me back then. I was just another face in the class, one who for some reason had been singled out by the worst elements in class as someone who it was okay to pick on.

I reminded Dane of that incident a little while ago. We had just got to my house from school and had chucked our bags down in the corner of my room. I was sitting on my chair by my desk and had just fired up my computer so that we could make a start on our homework. Dane walked up to where I was sitting and put his hand on the back of my chair and swivelled me around so that I was eyelevel with his crotch that was now tenting out his school trousers and then with his other hand he placed it at the back of my head and started to push m towards his bulge.

It was a brief moment of panic and I shook my head out of his hand and took a couple of deep breaths.

"What's the matter Sammy?"

I replied that I was sorry, but for some reason I got a flashback to the incident with Isaacs a couple of years before. He looked blankly at me so I reminded him of what happened. How Isaacs humiliated me in front of the whole class by shoving my face into his crotch.

He said that I didn't remember the incident, but was so apologetic for freaking me out, but at the same time couldn't understand why I had suddenly had that flash back as it "Wasn't exactly the first time that I had been down there." He pointed at his crotch.

"I know, and believe me, there is no place I'd rather be. But I just got this sudden flashback and freaked." I paused and then told him something that I had never told anyone before. "I sometimes get panic attacks. I still wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night after my mind had replayed something that had happened to me in the past, random memories surface every now and then and I just sort of freak out." I looked away from him as I could feel my eyes well up, also because I felt a sense of embarrassment having admitted to him that I was not as strong as I pretend to be.

Dane crouched down in front of me and lifted my face up by putting a finger under my chin. He smiled a sympathy smile at me and then pulled me into a hug, while saying how sorry he was about everything that I had been through.

"It's okay." I replied and then added "It's not like you ever started anything with me."

He pulled out of our embrace and kissed me, then said

"No, but I should have stopped those idiots from hurting you years ago. I'm so sorry."

I smiled weakly at him, but said nothing.

He stood up and started to walk over to where he had dumped his school bag while saying

"Maybe we should leave the studying for another day."

"Don't be daft, besides, we've got some unfinished business." I pointed at his crotch, which wasn't tenting his trousers out as much as it was moments earlier, but was still showing a noticeable mound.

He needed no further hint and dropped his bag and walked back towards me while unbuttoning his trousers and letting them fall to his ankles. He went to lower his Calvin Klein boxer briefs, but I stopped him by moving his hands away and lowering my mouth on his cotton covered hardness.

He was soon begging me to pull his shorts down and suck him off properly, but I was so intoxicated with the smell and taste of his shorts having been worn by him all day I was determined to bring him off and suck his cum out through the cotton material of his shorts.

***

Anyway, back to the present, and I had just walked into my class, heading towards the same desk I had sat in for all those years, when Aaron Silverman said something about that I might know something.

I sat down ignoring the sound of my name as I didn't think anything good would be about to happen if I were to be dragged out of my invisibility.

"Baker, you've been hanging out with o'Hanlon lately?" he called over to me.

"What?" Another voice replied in what sounded like disbelief.

"Yeah, didn't you know? Brain box over there has been tutoring o'Hanlon since the start of the year. They've been hanging out almost all the time lately."

Again, I said nothing. I had no idea of where this was going. But if what Dane had said to me just before he bolted the previous night, about Michelle knowing about us, then maybe it had already got out and everyone now knew.

Then Amanda Walsh approached my desk and looked down at me. "Is this true Baker? Then maybe you might know?"

Those were the most words that Amanda Walsh had ever said to me in our whole time in school. She was one of the prettiest girls in the school and she knew it. She had most of the boys eating out of her hand, following her around like lost puppies and she always used that to her advantage. But of course she had no interest in me. Why would she? I'm just a geek in her eyes. Not that I was in any way worried that I had no place in her life, but I was a bit shocked that she had lowered herself to speak to the likes of me in public.

She sat on the edge of my desk and put her finger under my chin so that I would look at her. She smiled her sweetest smile. Oh she knew how to turn it on did this girl. Shame her attention was wasted on me.

"Sam, have you been hanging around with Dane lately?"

Still mindful that I didn't want anyone putting two and two together about Dane and I, as I didn't know what was really going on in the class before I arrived, I stammered out that I was just helping him with his classes.

"Yes, okay." Her smile slipped slightly as she seemed to be getting impatient with me not having told her everything that she wanted to know straight away. "But he must talk to you, do you know?"

"Know what?"

"Rumour has it that Dane and Michelle have broken up. Do you know anything about it?"

How the hell did Amanda know about that? What else was on the rumour mill? This was first thing in the morning, if Dane had broken up with Michelle I doubt that he would have told anyone yet. So maybe Michelle had told someone? If so, had she told them what she texted Dane about knowing what he was up to? My heart sank as I realised that maybe our secret had got out. Maybe that's why Dane wasn't in class yet? Maybe he couldn't face his friends?

"Why would I know anything about that? Like I said, I just help him with his studies. We're not mates or anything." I shrugged like I wasn't in the least bit interested in what she was asking and turned my eyes from her in the hope that she got the hint that the conversation was over.

Oh how easily I lie, I smiled to myself.

But clearly she wasn't done with me yet.

"My brother is in the same year as Michelle's brother and he told me that he heard that Dane and Michelle have broken up."

Just as I was about to answer Dane's voice broke in.

"What's going on?"

I looked over to the classroom door and saw him walking through. He looked rough, like he'd barely slept. His face was a shade of grey and he had some serious bags under his eyes.

Before Amanda got a chance to answer Dane's question, Isaac's chipped in. "S'been goin' round school, that Michelle dumped you. We thought Baker might know something, seeing how he's your best mate now."

I looked up over at Dane, but he didn't even acknowledge me as he walked passed to get to his desk. When he sat down, he leaned forward and said to Isaacs "Don't be a prick."

Amanda left my desk and went over to Dane. "Dane, have you and Michelle split up?"

I looked over my shoulder to the back of the class, where he and his mates sat and saw him nodding to Amanda that they had.

I couldn't help notice that a bunch of girls in class seemed to get a bit excited at hearing the news first hand, as there was a sudden flurry of whispers from where they were sitting.

But if they thought that they had a chance with him, their hopes were dashed as Amanda was already staking her claim on him, and when he nodded at her suggestion that maybe they could go out one evening together, she walked away from his desk like the cat that got the cream. And I doubt that the looks of daggers from her friends as she went back to her desk would wipe the smile from her face anytime soon.

Me on the other hand? My heart sank. Okay, so I wasn't expecting Dane to announce to the class that he was seeing me, but that he so quickly accepted Amanda's offer of a date really pissed me off.

Throughout our time together I tried my best to deal with Dane seeing Michelle. I mean, after all, it wasn't as though we were doing anything more than `messing around' to use Dane's phrase. But in the past couple of months I really felt that we were getting closer and after our `date' last night and what we got up to in the cinema I really thought that we had a chance at being a proper couple.

Was Dane interested in Amanda? Or was he planning to use her as a cover? Either way it wasn't going to be good for me.

Things didn't get any better either. After our form room tutor arrived and took the register, then gave his announcements the bell rang for first class. As everyone was filing out I tried to catch Dane's eye, but he avoided my look. So out in the corridor I did something I rarely did and went up to him while he was in the company of his mates.

"Dane, can I talk to you?" I asked.

He turned round to face me and replied "For fuck sake Baker, homework can wait. I've got bigger things to deal with."

With that and not a hint from his face that he was sorry that he snapped at me he turned back and walked off with his mates, a few of them laughing at his put down of me.

I went to my first class fuming about what had just happened between us. How he just brushed me aside in front of his mates. And my mood didn't improve when I was in the library at lunchtime and Dane pulled up a chair next to me and slumped down in it.

"Sammy."

"Save it o'Hanlon. I'm not interested."

I went to get up but Dane pulled me by my arm to stop me from rising.

"Sammy, I need to explain."

I tugged my arm from his grip, but I remained seated, indicating that I'd hear what he had to say. He apologised for talking to me like a piece of dirt earlier. He then went on to tell me what had happened the previous night after he left me at the bus stop. How he went over to Michelle's and that she knew about us, and how we'd been seen and filmed having sex in the cinema by her brother.

As he told me the story I felt a wave of nausea wash over me. It was then that I knew that how bad I felt, it was nothing to what Dane was feeling. He went on to tell me that even though he deleted the clip from Michelle's phone, her brother still had the original. Apparently her brother is a nasty piece of work and Dane was now worried what the guy was going to do?

He also said that he didn't know if Michelle was going to say anything to anyone about us. My heart really went out to him. Right up to the point when he said

"So I think it's best that we stop seeing each other."

"What?" I almost shouted back at him with disbelief.

He held his hand up and gestured for me not to get worked up and then said

"What I mean is we should just cool things down for now. Not see so much of each other. People already know that you're helping me out with classes, but I don't want them putting two and two together.

There was almost a tone of panic to his voice as he spoke those words, as if he was at the same time imagining what his mates would do or say if they found out about us.

"Dane, I get that you're scared." He tensed up as I said that. "But why does it matter what your mates think of you? If they're really your mates then it shouldn't matter that you're gay."

"I'm not gay." He snapped back with venom.

"Okay, so bisexual then. This is the twenty first century, not the dark ages. If they're really your mates then it shouldn't matter who sleep with."

"You don't get it Sammy."

That was it, my blood boiled over.

"Don't get it? Don't get it? I've had seven years of hell from your mates and others like them to get it. I know how they are and what they think. But that's of me. If they found out about you..."

Dane winced at the thought.

"... I think it would be different slightly. I doubt that they'd all turn against you. And even if they did, so what? We've got less than two months left at this stinking hell hole then you'll never have to see them again. Would it hurt you so much to walk in my shoes for two months?"

Dane didn't answer and I took his silence as a negative, so I got up from my chair and grabbed my school bag, then looked down at him and said

"I know you're scared. I know you're worried about what Michelle or her brother may or may not do. And I know you don't want to face what your friends might think about you. I don't know if this means anything to you, but I love you. So yeah, I'll make this easy for you. I don't wanna see you again, I won't try to talk to you again in class or in front of your mates. You can just go back to not even knowing that I exist."

As I went to leave the seating area of the library I looked back at him. He looked almost dumbfounded at my outburst.

"Dane, if this is what you want, then you've got it." I heard my voice croak as I was near to tears. "But do yourself a favour and grow a pair, be the man I fell in love with and not some scared child."

***

After I left Dane I realised that I had nowhere to go. I didn't want to spend the rest of the lunch break in the dining hall and the playground was pretty much off limits to me, but I couldn't hang about in the library while Dane was in there. So I went over to Margaret, the head librarians' office, hoping that she wasn't there so that I could bawl my eyes out in peace.

Fortunately her office was locked as she must have gone off for lunch, so I took out the key she gave me and let myself in and plonked myself down on the arm chair that was in the corner of her room.

I stayed there until the bell rang to signal the end of lunch lost in my thoughts of what had just happened. My emotions went from anger to sadness and back to anger again. Why does life have to be so fucking complicated?

After the bell sounded I went to my form room for registration and true to my word I didn't even look at Dane as he entered the room and sat himself down with his oh so precious mates. There was the usual rowdiness in class before the tutor turned up, but it all went on around me, because I had become invisible again.

Dane and I don't have any classes together, the only time we are in the same classroom is for registration in the morning and afternoon. That changed this afternoon. It was almost like someone was having a laugh at my expense.

Because all our year were now in full revision mode for our A' levels. This meant that a lot of our actual class time was cut, and we were expected to revise at home or in the library, or during our timetabled classes. For my A's I took three science subjects, physics, chemistry and biology and now for the revision time they combined them all under the banner of science. We had to revise at our own pace and the teachers would set out various experiments and tests for us as and when was needed.

What I didn't expect though, was that they would combine all science students together as well. That also meant all students from Dane's sports science course as well. The general murmur from my group, the over achievers, or geeks depending on your point of view, was that we were not happy about our lessons being disrupted in this way and some of us worried that we'd even be held back by some of the meatheads that could barely string a sentence together.

That may seem a little harsh or even snobbish to you, but let me put it this way, they, the sports science students were so thick that they didn't even show up at the right science block. It was a good fifteen minutes or so before they all bowled in to the class, making a lot of noise as they did so.

Mr Southward, one of our better science teachers, seemed to share his students' worries about having this mob joining our class. This was probably because although he was a good teacher, he wasn't very good at class discipline. This was fine for my class; none of us ever gave him any reason to raise his voice. But from the look that he gave Dane and his friends as they arrived, you could tell that he was thinking that the next month until the exams was going to go very slowly for him.

Our classroom was very big as they had pulled back the partition doors of two class sections to make one big class. The desks were actually high tables each with a sink and a couple of gas nozzles for the Bunsen burners. Each table had two stools and I always shared my table with Brian Sinclair. We weren't exactly friends, more like acquaintances who studied together a lot.

Now I'm what you could call skinny and not overly tall. Brian makes me look over weight. Barely five and a half feet tall and even thinner than me, to look at him you'd think he was closer to fifteen rather than eighteen. Of course this meant that his time at school was as much fun as mine was. He was often picked on for his size or for being a geek and I heard him let out a small groan when Dane and his classmates arrived.

Mr Southward tried to convey his displeasure at the tardiness of the new arrivals, but was met with a lot of comments like `whatever'. Inwardly I was seething at the blatant disrespect for someone I happened to like. Outwardly I showed none of my feelings as I didn't want to be singled out for juvenile comments or worse.

Not that I thought Dane would do any of that to me, he might have been acting as boisterous as the rest of his classmates but I knew that he wouldn't direct any of that to me now. I saw Dane scanning the faces of my classmates until he found mine, then like the rest of his bunch he went to find somewhere to sit.

Despite Dane being the last person in the world that I wanted to see at that moment my heart gave a little flutter as he started to walk towards me. Everything went into slow motion as I watched him getting nearer and nearer. I wanted to turn away, to not even see him because I was still angry at him, but I couldn't. There was something so enticing with each step he took as the creases in his shirt moved about on his perfect body. My eyes darted down to the bulge in his trousers, which was more prominent than it should have been. This was because the school trousers he was wearing were perhaps a size too tight for him and I dare say that his mother hadn't bothered buying him new ones as in a couple of months when school finished; he would no longer need them.

When I say that they were tight, I don't mean that they looked like they had been sprayed on, just that they moulded themselves around his bulge quite nicely and that from the tale-tale lines at the top of his legs I could see that he was wearing a pair of boxer-briefs underneath.

My mind snapped back to reality as I was wondering to myself about what pair of pants he was wearing under his trousers as I heard him say:

"Oi, you. Get up, I'm sitting there."

Brian Sinclair went red and looked over to Mr Southward for help that wouldn't come, as it was at that moment when Mr Southward chose to turn his back on the class and start writing on the blackboard, so he looked over to me with eyes that seemed to be pleading for help.

"Dane, what are you doing?" I hissed. The perfect vision of him evaporated from my mind and was replaced by a renewed anger at him.

"I just wanna sit here, you're alright with that aren't you Sinclair?"

Brian cautiously nodded in agreement, clearly not wanting any trouble and started to gather his books together. There were a couple of snorts of laughter and general approval from Dane's classmates as they witnessed this blatant bit of bullying. I on the other hand was fuming. I couldn't believe what a dickhead Dane was being.

Brian got off the stool and went to find somewhere else to sit, then Dane sat down looking all smug with himself, like he'd won a prize or something.

"You can be a real prat Dane." I whispered in the harshest tone that I could muster.

"I just needed to talk to you." He whispered back.

"What about all the stuff earlier? That you don't want to be seen with a poof in case your mates think you're one too?"

At this point Mr Southward came over to our table and asked us if there was any problem?

"No sir." Dane replied with a huge disarming smile on his face.

"Yes sir, he." I pointed at Dane. "manhandled Brian out of his seat."

"Ooo, manhandled." One of Dane's mates echoed. "Bet you'd like to be `manhandled' Baker?"

The rest of Dane's mates laughed out loud.

Mr Southward ignored the outburst but looked over at Brian and asked him if this was true? Brian went red again and mumbled his reply that he was alright and happy to sit someplace else.

"Well that's that sorted out." Mr Southgate announced, clearly not wanting to have any trouble with his new intake of students. "o'Hanlon, try to knuckle down and actually learn something today."

"Yes sir." Dane replied and then added with his smile returning. "Baker's a good teacher, so the probability of my learning something is quite high."

"Jolly good, jolly good. Sam knows his science, just try to keep up with him and do what he says, then I am sure we'll have a peaceful study period."

And with that Mr Southward walked back to the front of the class. I got the distinct feeling that he was bullied back in the day when he was at school.

"There you go Sammy, I've got to do what you say. The teacher said so."

I shrugged my shoulders in exasperation and told him that I had a lot of my own work to do and that I wasn't here to teach him. I looked away from Dane down at my note book and went back to working out an equation that I was trying to solve before he and his mates burst into the class room.

"Okay, look Sammy, I'm sorry and I'm sorry for being a dick to your friend, but I need to speak to you."

Not looking up from my work I replied. "I thought we'd done all the speaking that we were going to do back in the library? You know, when you said you were ashamed to be seen with me in case people thought you were queer or something."

He placed his hand on my arm to get my attention and eventually I looked up at him and asked him through gritted teeth "What!" He pulled his hand away from me as if he'd been stung.

Dane took an anxious look around, but seemed reassured that no one was listening in to our conversation.

"Sammy look, it's been a bad day. My head's all over the place. I didn't mean for what I said to you to come out the way it did."

"But you did mean that you didn't want to be seen with me."

"Yes, no. I don't know. I panicked. I'm sorry. Can't we just forget about it and move on?"

"Dane" I sighed "I don't think you get it. I love you but it's tearing me apart. One minute I think that you want to be with me, the next you don't want anything to do with me. I don't even know how you feel about me?"

Dane shifted his gaze from me and suddenly found his hands in front of him on the desk to be very interesting.

"It's alright." I continued. "It's not like I'm expecting some sort of grand gesture from you or anything. It's not like I want you to walk around holding my hand in front of your mates or anything stupid like that. But I don't deserve being treated like this either."

"I know, and once again, I'm sorry. But I do like you a lot. Sometimes that scares me, like today. I mean, I can deal with breaking up with Michelle, because truth be told I'm almost relieved that we're over. I like you a lot and I don't want to lose you. But anyone knowing about us just freaks me out. I know it's stupid and it's not what you want to hear, but I can't help it."

He looked up at me again to see, I think, if I comprehended what he had said.

"Dane, like I said. I don't need everyone to know about us for some sort of ratification of our relationship. After all, none of these people are my friends and I could give a fuck as to what they think. But I know you do, and I know that you also need to work out what you want. Me? Michelle? Some other girl, or some other guy for that matter. So yeah, if you need to take some time out from us to get your head together and work out what you want, I can handle that. But don't run away because you think your mates will give you a hard time. I don't ever want to see you hurt. If someone finds out about us then it won't be because of me, but if they do, you've got to realise that it won't be the end of the world either."

Dane looked around the class once again as saw that no one was looking in our direction and slipped his hand over the desk until he rested it by mine. Then with his little finger he began stroking my fingers, which sent shivers of pleasure through me.This continued until Mr. Southward headed in our direction and I pulled my hand away from Danes just in time.

"o'Hanlon, why don't you have your books open? You're supposed to be learning from Baker, not distracting him with idle chit chat. Now get on with your work and do what Baker tells you to do. That way you might actually learn something.

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

As Southward walked away to the next desk down from us, Dane shrugged and pulled his bag up by its shoulder strap and rummaged around for his books and soon had them open in front of him.

"Sammy, you heard Southward, I'm gonna need your help going over this."

I sighed and looked at him. I knew that Dane was revising well lately, there were a few things that occasionally stumped him, but on the whole he could get by without my help these days. I looked over at his text book and saw that it was a subject that we had gone over back in the autumn, so he should have known what he was looking at.

"Well you know the price for my help." I replied. "So pay up or fuck off and let me get on with my work."

For a brief moment there was a look of horror on his face, but it faded once he realised that I was joking.

Then his expression changed to a mischievous grin. He kicked his shoes off then stood up and undid the button of his school trousers and let them drop to the floor. He was wearing a pair of Unico boxer-briefs that I had bought for him a while ago. They were a shiny bright yellow Lycra tight fitting pair of shorts and the way they are tailored at the front pouch, they really pushed your goods out. Check them out on any good underwear retailer website, they really are the most amazing shorts. But take my advice, buy a size up as they are really tight fitting.

Dane's shirt covered most of his shorts, but the prominent pouch put his package very much on show.

"o'HANLON!" Mr Southward's voice carried all the way to the back of the class where we were sitting and everyone turned round to see what was up and saw Dane standing there by the desk still with his mischievous grin on his face. Peals of laughter rang out from the class as Mr Southward made his way back over to our table.

"What on earth do you think you are doing boy?" Southward didn't exactly yell, but he did raise his voice.

"Just what you told me to do sir." Dane replied with the usual cocky attitude that he used for teachers who he knew he could get away with.

"What? What?" Southward blustered. "I never said any such thing. I've had just about enough of you boy. Report to Room 2."

"But sir, you told me to do what Baker said and he told me to get my arse out."

Several of Dane's friends roared with laughter. Not at Dane, but with the situation that Dane had put a very weak teacher in. Southward looked over at me as if to ask if this were true. So thinking quickly I replied with a smirk on my face as I said.

"Sir, you know what these knuckle draggers are like. I told him to get his arse out of here and cease pestering me with ludicrous questions; so that I can to do my own work and I don't think he listened correctly to the whole sentence. I think he might have got a bit confused with the long words that I was using."

There was a few brave souls in my class that laughed at my remark, but they soon died away when the sporto's realised that I was having a dig at them as well as Dane and shot dagger like looks in all directions.

"That's it, both of you to Room 2. I will not have this disruption in my class and I thought better of you Baker. Out, now!"

Southward had suddenly grown a pair. I had never seen him get so angry or flustered. He pointed at the door with a shaking finger and indicated to us that he wasn't joking that we were being sent to Room 2.

By the way, in case you need to know, Room 2 is where teachers send pupils who disrupt their classes. It's next door to the headmaster's office and is staffed throughout the day by teachers who are trained in dealing with unruly students. Now that most forms of punishment are illegal in schools the teachers have very little power to discipline. So the teachers who staff that room dish out their own form of torture, empathy. They try to understand why the pupil disrupted class and then try to get them to understand why it was wrong of them to do so. Thankfully it's a room that I've never been sent to. Anyway...

"Sir, is it alright if I pull my trousers back on now?" Dane laughed in Southward's face.

"JUST GO"

Dane stepped out of his trousers and started walking towards the classroom door.

"For God's sake put your trousers back on o'Hanlon."

By now all Dane's mates were howling with laughing and cheering and Southward was fighting a losing battle in trying to get the class under control.

"But sir, you told me to just go. I can't do both."

"P-put your trousers on now. Get out of my class before I put you in a weeks' worth of detention."

That earned Mr Southward a "Oooo" from Dane's mates, all looking very amused by the turn of events and all clearly seeing that this was a teacher that they could all have some fun with.

Then one of Dane's mates, Mike Lundy got off of his stool and dropped his trousers to his ankles and said.

"Sir, can I go to Room 2 as well?"

Then another and another followed his lead.

Did you ever see that film Dead Poets Society? The last scene when Ethan Hawke stands up on his desk to show his support for Robin Williams, and one by one the other boys did the same. The headmaster tried to regain control of his class but was clearly flustered by this blatant breakdown of classroom discipline.

Well this felt a bit like that. Half a dozen or so boys standing up with their school trousers down by their ankles while Mr Southward was desperately trying to get order back into his class. Even us geeks who would never normally disrupt a class found it funny, though none of us joined in with the impromptu demo.

Personally, I was having my own conflict. Here was a bunch of idiots, some of whom were responsible for giving me a hard time throughout the whole of my time in school. While on the other hand, here was a bunch of fairly hot looking guys standing around showing off their underwear.

This was too much for my brain to process and I shifted uncomfortable in my seat as a whole lot of blood flooded into my dick. I took tentative glances around the room. Simon Parsons was my closet view, being only one desk row down. He was wearing a pair of white boxer-briefs, probably from Marks & Spencer as there was no name on the waistband. I was also guessing that because they weren't as white as they could have been, that they were fairly old. That and because they looked a bit on the tight side for him. You could clearly see his pinky white butt through the tight cotton material.

Another great butt shot was from Mike Lundy, who was wearing a pair of almost knee length compression shorts, the sort that Dane wears when he's got football. The Lycra material exaggerated every muscle that it covered including the muscle in the front of his shorts.

But when it came to bulges no one, not even Dane, could compete with the package that Adam Millar had on display. How his black short CK trunks managed to hold all of that in place was testament to Calvin Klein's superior design ingenuity. Millar was nothing to look at in himself. While not exactly ugly, his facial features were more Neanderthal than human. He had the brain to match as well. A real knuckle head. Yep, Millar was not my favourite person in the world. However, that did not stop me from admiring the sizable bulge in his shorts.

Another of them who I could definitely say wasn't high up on my Christmas card list was Tony Isaacs. You may remember him from the beginning of term, the guy who Dane punched out and got suspended over. He had spent the rest of the term trying to get back into Dane's good books after that incident. At first he thought that he was the man, for picking on me. But when Dane had served out his suspension Isaacs was all but cut out of their group. It was quite pitiful really. Everyone took Dane's side, it didn't matter to them that he was defending me. What did matter to them was that Dane got suspended because of Isaacs, so everyone blamed him. I guess he got to like his own company for the next two months, because it was only now that he had started being accepted back into the fold as it were. He was almost as quick as Mike Lundy to pull his trousers down, wanting I am sure to show his gang that he was up for anything. Take out that he was a knobhead from the equation, he did have a fairly good body, however as he was wearing a pair of striped boxer shorts it didn't show off any assets that he may have that would have been of interest to me.

The other guy in boxer shorts was Joe Richards. Six foot, and built like a brick outhouse, and he looked older than the rest of us too. He'd been able to get into the over 21's bars without being I.D'd since he was sixteen. His biggest claim to fame was a verified account of being the first in our year to lose his virginity. At the tender age of thirteen he had Sharon Baxter in the bedroom of some party. The rumours went round the school like wild fire, so everyone got to hear that Richards was a stud and when Sharon eventually verified his story, got herself a reputation that she had never been able (or even willing) to shake.

Of course if you remember, I mentioned a while ago that I and my best mate Pete were messing around when we were 13. However I don't think that counts as being one of the first in our year to lose our virginities, because it was nearly a year before we moved onto full sex. And also because it wasn't exactly something that we were going to brag to anyone about.

If it weren't for Pete, or being in love with Dane, then the next guy who dropped his keks would probably have been the guy who I would have loved to have been with.

Aaron Silverman, tall and built along similar lines to Dane, he had a shock of wavy brown hair that went into a Jewfro when he let it grow out. His eyes were silver grey, which shone out against his olive skinned complexion. His face was chiselled and angular and he had a smile that could light up a room.

Aaron was a conundrum to me. While part of the ape crowd he was not as much of a bully as the others at least not to me anyway. We shared quite a lot of classes together, because Aaron, on the quiet was as accomplished academically as he was on the sports field. He kept his A grades very much to himself, and I am sure that the group of guys that he hung around with would not be too impressed with them. However, because he was so good at sports, his mates seemed to overlook this oddity on his part.

Actually, Aaron wasn't with the group of sports science students that came into the class. He was in the class already, because he was the only lad in that group who didn't need a naff course to persuade him to stay on into the sixth form.

He was standing there, near to the front of the class with his back to me, his shirt tail covering his butt. I could tell that he was wearing briefs, but it wasn't until he turned round to face his mates that I realised that he had on a pair of white CK sport briefs, tangas we call them in England, or string bikinis if you're from the States. Aaron went up a couple of points in my estimation as I saw him in such a skimpy pair of underpants.

The only person who I wondered if he was wearing anything skimpier was Lee Barrington. You may remember that he was the guy who Dane mentioned to me that was caught wearing a thong and never lived it down.

He was firmly welded to his chair. This was odd as he was the type of person who was easily led, so if there was something funny going down like this he would be in the thick of it. It was strange to me that he wasn't up with his mates, trousers around his ankles.

I saw his face as he turned round to see all his mates partake in their foolery. You could see the internal battle his mind was in. You could tell that he desperately wanted to join in, but for some reason he wouldn't. Did he have something to hide?

Since Dane told me about Lee, I had occasionally checked him out. What I mean is, to a trained eye you can tell if someone is wearing boxers, boxer-briefs, trunks or briefs by the lines they make through their trousers. But Lee always wore baggy trousers and always had his shirt tucked into them. I could never get a clear reading as to what underwear he had on. Was he a thong wearer? Or did he only wear the one that he was caught in the one time?

The final lad to drop trou was Kyle Ridgewell, and I wondered if he had also had an internal mental battle with himself as to whether he was going to join in with his mates or not, as when he finally stood up and let his trousers fall to his ankles he revealed a pair of white silky boxer shorts with love hearts all over them. This earned him some instant giggles from a few of his mates at his choice of underwear, which I am guessing was a Valentines gift from his girlfriend. After all, they weren't the sort of shorts that someone would buy for themselves.

The giggles at Kyle Ridgewell was soon snuffed out as he looked daggers at his mates, seeming to be challenging them to take the piss out of him. Ridgewell, wasn't someone that you'd want to mess with. Since a kid, he had anger issues and a wrong word or a wrong look would quite often be enough to set him off.

I think that Ridgewell had two major issues in his life, neither of which he could do anything about. Firstly, he was ginger and not just a bit ginger, but a real proper copper head. Secondly he was short, like shorter than me or Brian, who'd been sitting next to me before Dane had ejected him.

Two clichés, red heads are fiery and short men have hot tempers. Ridgewell had both, a real candidate for Napoleon syndrome. The thing was that despite his size, he could more than back up his bad nature as anyone who had ever been in a fight with him could testify. Definitely the last person who you'd want to mess with, that's why the giggles from his mates died out as quick as they started.

Personally, even though I didn't like the guy, I had to admit that he did look good in his shiny silk boxers and I sort of admired him for exposing what was a daring pair of underwear.

I looked back round at Dane, who seemed to be admiring his handy work. His friends were all sheep, following their leader. Then he looked down at me and quietly asked

"Grand enough gesture for you Sammy?"

Any residual anger I had left in me for Dane just melted away. I mean, it's hard to stay mad when you're pissing yourself with laughter.

"You're fucking mental." I replied.

Southward, now totally red in the face with anger and frustration ordered all of them out of his class. That just got a big laugh from them all and I seriously didn't think that he would ever be able to use his authority.

It turned out that he didn't have to. On hearing the commotion Mr Michaels from the class next door burst in and shouted at the top of his voice. The silence was immediate. Nobody messed with Michaels. He was one of those teachers who didn't take any crap from anyone.

He didn't have to say a word. The whole class went from raucous laughter to silence in seconds. Dane and his seven jokers just stood there, suddenly looking embarrassed that they had their trousers around their ankles.

Michaels looked over to Southward, who suddenly seemed to have the courage to bark out

"Right, all of you. Get to room 2." He pointed at all the guys standing up one by one.

"What? That's fucked up." Cried out Barrington, probably not realising that as he wasn't standing up showing off his pants, that he wasn't included in with everyone else.

"You can go too." Southward, who obviously wanted to show Michaels that he was in control barked at Barrington, then pointed at me. "And you Baker."

"What? What did I do?" I almost shrieked.

"Just get out. NOW!"

Almost as one, the boys pulled their trousers back up, all looking a bit embarrassed with themselves as the euphoria of the joke wore off. All except Dane, who went over to where he dropped his trainers and picked them up with one hand, while in the other he scooped his trousers up and slung them over his shoulder. Then he looked round at me and whispered "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Without hesitation I packed my books away into my bag and slung it over my shoulder, and then I picked Dane's bag up as he'd left it by the desk. I went to hand it to him but he was already halfway up the classroom.

Still not making an effort to put his trousers on, by the time he'd got to the classroom door Mr. Michaels looked like he was going to explode.

"O'HANLON!" He roared. "PUT YOUR FUCKING TROUSERS ON NOW BOY!"

"Sir? What, you mean disappoint the lovely ladies over there?" He pointed to the only girls in the room. There were three of them and they were more like me, i.e. brainboxes, rather than the girls that Dane was used to seeing. To be fair though, when Dane pointed them out they all giggled like, well, like school girls. I'd have expected better from them, but I guess the sight of a hot guy in just his tight shorts is enough to get their blood racing as well as mine. And you could tell that Dane was loving the attention.

Michaels practically pushed us all out of the classroom in exasperation at Dane's antics.

The fact that we'd all been thrown out of a class didn't faze Dane or his seven mates, it was all a good laugh for them. Me? I was mortified. I'd never been chucked out of a class in my life. Now it was going to be letters home to my mother, bounded over to behave, stains on my educational record.

The truth is that when you are at sixth-form collage the school has no legal right to keep you there and the only obligation you have to turn up is your own will. Of course the school would like you to pass your exams with flying colours as it helps them with the educational league tables. But if you cause any trouble it is much easier for them to throw you out than it would be before you're 16.

Yep, I was in full panic mode as we headed out towards the old building and room 2. I hung a bit back from Dane and his mates, I seriously doubted that having been chucked out along with them would afford me any sort of camaraderie with them. I didn't mind though, Like I'd said before, I'm used to being invisible. It wasn't all bad. I got a good view of Dane's arse moving up and down in his yellow shorts as he still hadn't bothered to get into his trousers and was walking along the playground with just his socks on his feet.

As we got closer to the old building the guys as one, with no verbal consultation between them turned the corner and instead of going into the building they headed off to the school gates.

"Erm, aren't we supposed to report to room 2?" I piped up, instantly regretting my lapse into visibility. Two of the guys mimicked my words out loud to the group, all of who fell about laughing. Well, not all, Dane didn't. Actually, he looked at me with a pitting look on his face then said.

"Where's your blue slip Baker?"

I hated it when he called me by my surname. But then, he and his mates never referred to each other by their first names, so I guess he was only obeying protocol. I still didn't like it though.

Anyway, blue slip? What was he talking about? I shrugged my shoulders at him.

"They've got to give you a bit of paper that gets copied into the report book and goes to the school admin. Michaels and Southward forgot to fill them out. So we've all been given a day off. You can hang out with us if you want? That is unless you'd rather go to room 2."

That got Dane a few snorts of laughter from his mates.

Did I want to hang out with Dane and his mates? Ordinarily it was a no brainer, no way did I want to hang out with his mates. Why would I? But there was a tone in Dane's voice that I recognised that said to me that I should take him up on his offer. So I just shrugged and started walking in the direction where the rest of them were heading, still slightly hanging back from them, because I didn't feel that I was in any way part of their group.

This was just as well, because they started bantering with each other and I didn't want to have any part of that, lest I become one of the targets. Insults went to and throw between them and then it was Dane's turn to get some flack.

"o'Hanlon, for fuck sake put your trousers back on," Joe Richards said, then went on "No one wants to see that." He pointed at Dane's crotch.

Then Isaacs chipped in "Unless you're Baker of course, I bet the batty boy is loving the sight back there."

The mood of the group changed instantly as Dane rounded on Isaacs, his nostrils flared and he looked like he was going to punch Isaacs again.

The last time that happened, Dane got suspended and Isaacs was ostracised from their group because of it. You could see that there were looks of fear in several of the guys faces as it looked like Dane and Isaacs were about to come to blows again. There were subtle shifts in people's positions around the pair, most of the lads seemed to turn their stance towards Dane, as if they were backing him up. The only one who seemed to be standing by Isaacs was his mate Aaron Silverman.

Dane got right up close to Isaacs, their faces were barely inches apart.

Then Dane almost snarled at him "I've told you before Isaacs. Leave Baker alone."

Isaacs took an involuntary step back, clearly not comfortable with his space being invaded by Dane. But this didn't stop him from replying

"Why? Is he your boyfriend?"

I think from the tone of his voice that Isaacs thought this would get a laugh from the rest of his mates, but when no one responded in that way the sarcastic smile went from his face as quick as it came.

Dane was silent for a minute. It seemed to me to be the longest minute ever. I had no idea how he would respond to Isaacs' remark. Would he punch him or would he laugh it off?

He looked around the group of his mates, one by one until his gaze hit me. His face had the most serious look that I had ever seen on it, it made me want to avert my eyes. But for some reason I couldn't. Then his face broke out into a huge grin and he winked at me. What was he up to?

Finally he looked Isaacs back in his eyes and still grinning he replied "Yeah, he's my boyfriend. Got a problem with that?"

 

 

Thanks for reading chapter 9. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know dandevdrew@sky.com Until next time, Drew.