Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:58:40 -0700 From: No Name Subject: Three Simple Words 1 As usual, don't read if you're 18+, blah blah blah...and don't steal from me, ask me first for permission. I mean seriously, just ask. I'm pretty lenient about these stuff. (Refer back to "Prologue's" top for full complete details.) None of it is true, first attempt in writing, yadda yadda yadda...am I forgetting anything guys? Oh yeah... ****DON'T FORGET TO DONATE GUYS. IF EVERYONE DONATED 1 DOLLAR, WELL...I WOULDN'T BE ASKING FOR DONATION NOW WOULD I? SERIOUSLY, DON'T BE A CHEAP BASTARD AND DONATE, EVEN IF ITS ONE DOLLAR**** So, without further ado, here's chapter one. (Excuse the grammar mistakes >.>) =============================================================================== Three Simple Words Chapter 1- "Goodbye Summer, Hello School" Beep, beep, beep, beep, "Fuck...is it 7:30 already?!" I moan out and stare hazily at the alarm clock. Sure enough, the reincarnation of the devil flashes 7:30 in bright red with that obnoxious beeping sound in the background. I slam the snooze button and crawl deeper into my warm bed. Five more minutes shouldn't hurt. "Dylan! Are you out of bed yet?" I hear my mother shouting out in the hall. "Today's the first day of school, and I don't want to see you late you hear me?!" I pull the covers off me. "Yes Mom, I'm up." I sigh. There goes my 5 minutes of sleep. I push the covers and my extra pillow aside and walk to the restroom in nothing but my boxers. One of the downside of teen-hood, constant boners. I bend over and let go a miserable stream of yellow fluids in front of the toilet. Once that was out of they way, I commence splashing cold water from the faucet onto my face to wake myself up. Why does every morning have to be like this? Anyways, I get my toothbrush, put on toothpaste, and brush my teeth. After finishing my morning business, I walk back to my room, put on jeans, a red Hurley-X T-shirt, and a thin black jacket. Lastly, I put on my hood to keep my every messy morning hair down, and I walk towards the kitchen, where my mom is. I sit down on the island, since it's much easier to clean up a smaller area and put my head on the countertop. "Did you sleep well?" she asks while serving some toast with strawberry jam and a cup of orange juice in front of me. "Yeah I guess." I reply without pulling my head up. "Glad to hear. So, are you excited for the first day of school?" I raise my head and rest my chin on the countertop. "Since when was school ever fun?" "Oh stop being so pessimistic. Now hurry and finish up your breakfast while I go check up on your sisters. I swear, the two take forever in the restroom." I grunt, but my mom doesn't hear as she paces out of the kitchen. Finally, some peace and quiet. For those who haven't realized it yet, I'm not much of a morning person,. But then again, is any teenager? I finish my toast and gulp down my juice. Just as I'm standing up, the two little devils of nine and thirteen enter the kitchen with my mom not far behind. "Wow...just as if you couldn't look any worse, you two never seize to amaze me." I smirked at Teresa, the younger of the two. "Shut up Dylan, I wouldn't be looking like this if Jasmine here didn't hog the bathroom." Teresa shot out grumpily. Boy did she look like a mess. Damp hair flying all over the place, evil stare for the coming day, you name it. "Your own fault for not get up early enough. You know perfectly well that it takes time make myself look pretty everyday." Jasmine, age thirteen, replies as she sat down next to her. Teresa glares at her. "Ok, well you two have fun, I've got to get going." I chuckle as I walk to the front door. I grab my backpack, wallet, cell phone, and keys and head out. To be honest, I'm really glad I have siblings, although I wish I had a little brother. You know, someone to look after, teaching him little perks of life, all that shit. But, I guess I'll settle with the two imps. We get along pretty well. We have the "you leave my shit alone, and I'll leave yours alone" attitude. Nothing more, nothing less. And it also helps with us being four years apart from each other. For one thing, I don't have to see Jasmine at school since she's starting eighth grade. I know...eighth grade and already with the makeup...Nonetheless, when we each go off to college , my parents can also have a bit of leeway to recoup financially before sending the next one off. The two aren't bad, just...annoying at times, but that's to be expected from all family members. Nobody's perfect I guess. I get in my car and drive out onto the road and towards my death sentence known as school. My city is fairly small, so it only takes about ten minutes by car to get to the school. (And I live on the other side of the school district limits!) I arrive at the student parking lot with a few minutes to spare. I park my car, and walk towards the campus. As soon as I take my first step onto school ground, I see my unwanted fan- girl group. I try to dodge them, but to no avail. Man, are these girls persistent. Every single girl in that group was annoying and bitchy to the max. They all seem so fake with the shit load of makeup and slut-like clothing. My friends and I call them the attention whores. Well here they are, rushing towards me and every last one of them start badgering me with questions and comments. I turn and try to run, but too late. "I missed you so much!" one of them said, clinging on my left arm. "Well I missed you more." whined another who tugged on my right hand. "Ladies please, no matter how much you missed him, we all know that he loves me the most." Brandy, the popular girl on campus, cockily says. Oh god, here we go... Brandy's comment get the girls into a bickering mood. All of them start to argue as to whether who loved me the most. I just roll my eyes and pray the two girls let go. Sure enough the two girls let go of my arms, and I use this opportunity to escape. However, one of the girls notices me and shout, "Hey! Dylan's getting away!" "After him!" another shouts. "Fuck!" I mentally scream, and start bobbing and weaving my way through the crowd of students. I look back, and regretted to do so. I swear I saw some red in the girls' eyes. Fearing for my wellbeing, I slip into the boy's restroom, the ultimate safe haven from that swarm. "Open up Dylan!" Brandy says as she pounds on the door. "You know you can't hide in there forever!" "Au contraire mon frere. Today is the first day of class, and you know perfectly well how long that damn line is to get our schedule." I said to Brandy, "Or do you prefer the excuse of 'I had to go to the counselors to get my schedule conflict fixed?' I'll let you decide." Quick note, all students had to get their finalized schedule since it's the first day of school. The school "required" students to come to school earlier so that the line can move by quickly, but come on, who wants to come to school earlier, let alone come at all? Due to this "mishap," the staff members, according to the school, have to frantically run around trying to get everyone's schedule in place every year. To me, that's bullshit. The reason why there's a long line is because the school literally only has three people trying to roughly find 1800 students' schedules. So of course, the line's going to be huge. And to top it all off, students then have to go to the library to get textbooks for the classes. But whatever, it gives me an excuse to be late to class. "Well, if you say that Dylan, then we can all be late to class." Brandy replies. Damn that girl. "Why yes, yes you can. But wouldn't it be a least bit strange for the dean to find a group of girls standing in front of the boy's restroom?" Whispers among the crowd. Then, I hear Brandy's voice again, "You win this round Dylan, but mark my words, I will get you, even it's the last thing I do!" "Not if I get to him first!" another girl spoke out. "As if! He's all mine!" said another. This, again, get the group into a tantrum again, but at least they're moving away from the restroom as their voices become fainter and fainter. I sigh and nod my head. First day of class, and I'm already hating it. Maybe I should tell them that I'm taken already. No, Brandy'll just figure out that it's a lie. "God damn it, why is she so persistent!" I mumble to myself with frustration. I sigh again and cautiously open the restroom door, just incase the girls decide anything. "No one in sight" I think to myself. "Good." I walk out, and head towards the office to get my schedule. Again, stupid...Anyways, just as I'm turning the corner, BOOM, another person walks into me. "Ooof, sorry man, my bad" I said rubbing my back. I open my eyes, and right there before me, I see the love of my life for the past four years. The most adorable, sweetest, cutest, drop dead gorgeous, and sexiest boy you will ever met in my life. The angel that fell from heaven and is making everyone around him jealous of his looks. Wearing nothing but a simple navy blue jeans and a brown sweater over him, the angel Chris Tanner sat before me. My day just got better. "No...It's my bad...sorry Dylan" Chris whispers out. I get on my knees and get closer to him. "No Chris, it's totally my fault. I wasn't looking." Chris looks down and blushes. He whispers something out, but I couldn't hear it. I get up and offer a hand. He hesitates for a moment. I give him a reassuring look. Finally, after what seems like an eternity (a few seconds), he slowly reaches for my hand. Electricity jolts through my hand and up to my brain and heart. Damn he's sexy. I pull him up and ask, "So, did you get your schedule yet?" "...Yeah...I...already got it" he barley whispers out. "Oh.ok, well I guess I'll see you around" "...Sure..." And just like that, he takes off running like a cheetah, as if trying to get away from a trap that I've set up. I show disappointment on my face, but I decide not to shout anything towards his direction. I shake my head and think to myself. "You're such a horrible liar Chris. If you got your schedule, then why are you here and not in line at the library for books?" These thoughts continue to run through my head, but I decided to drop it. "I'll never be his boyfriend..." I whisper to myself. "I'm too awkward and shy around him, even if I don't show it explicitly." Nodding my head in disapproval, I walk towards the office to get my schedule. Just as I reach the line, a group of four pouncing donkeys run up to me and try to tackle me to the ground. Luckily, this isn't new to me and I sidestep out of the way. BOOM! and they come tumbling down. "I'm not sure what you guys are trying to do, but I don't think its working" I said trying to suppress my laughter. "No shit Sherlock!" Bryan, one of my best friends since kindergarten, replies. I bust up laughing while the four of them-Bryan, Joey, Matt, and Caleb-get off each other and stand up. "So, have you guys gotten your schedules yet?" Dumb question to ask, we never get our schedules on time. It's surprising enough to see us at school at all. Joey was quick to reply, "What do you think Sherlock?" "Yes?... No?... I don't know? Why don't you just tell me?! I just don't know what to believe anymore!" I exasperated dramatically. They all laugh at my horrible acting, but eh, whatever. Boys will be boys. "Come on!" Joey shouts at he flings his arm about me, "We should be good students for once and get in line." We all stare with a poker face at Caleb, then bust up laughing. No way that's going to happen! But we start walking towards the ever growing line anyway. While we're waiting (which is going to be a long time mind you), I guess I'll give describe my four best buds since forever. First up is Bryan. He's basically a brown haired version of me. Well, except for the fact I'm much sexier (go ahead, ask any girl, or guy for that matter). Same height, same eye color, just different hair color and style. He's the athletic one out of all of us, since he's in cross-country, track, baseball, and occasionally soccer. He's been my longest bud among our little pack, starting since kindergarten. We pretty much did everything together. But, we sort of drifted apart with him being in sports and me getting lazier and lazier. In regards to his grades, let's just say the day he'll see an A on his transcript is the day the world will blow up. He just turned 17 this summer back in July. Joey here, is the fish within our team. If Bryan's the master on land, Joey's the god of the sea. He'll dominate anyone in the water, whether its water polo, swimming, or water splash fights. Being in the water for so long, he's naturally the tannest among us, and has the whitest hair due to the bleach in the pools. His eyes are pitch black, which is weird, since neither of his parents have black eyes. He's unfortunately the shortest being only at 5'5", and we always somehow manage to tease him about it. Joey is average smart-wise. He's in that range where it's either a B+ or an A-, and half of the time, not even I can tell what he's going to get. Joey joined out pack during his ninth grade year (my sophomore year) and is currently 16 and a junior. Matt, here, is the silent, but caring type of guy. He's down-to-earth, and stands at around 5"8' (although he slouches a lot). He has black hair with green eyes (I know, weird combination). Matt is the bookworm in our group. Whether it's information for a project or a random fact that no one knows, go to him for it. 99 percent of the time, he'll have an answer. That remaining 1 percent...Let's just say that the library will be his second home until he finds the answer. Unfortunately though, he's hopelessly disorganized. Sure he's hella smart, but don't ever go into his room or backpack, you'll never escape that black hole. Out of all four of my friends, I'm the most compatible with him (sorry Bryan). If there's a pair work, the two of us instantly get together. For every project or paper, he'd get the info, and I'd organize and beautify it for the A. Unfortunately, he got too "smart" for me and had to move up in classes by the start of junior year. There goes my easy ticket out of researching. He joined our tiny pack way back during 7th grade. Currently, he's in the same grade as me, and is graduating high school with honors probably. And finally, we have poor Caleb, who joined our little group just last year. He's the youngest, being only a sophomore this year. He stands at 5"6' (poor Joey), but is still continuing to grow. He has a petite nose, with blonde hair comparable to Joey's. He's out-going and friendly. The downside? He's extremely hyper and horny too. Being at age 15, he'll constantly spring a tent in his pants, and one of us always manages to spot it before his can hide it. As usual, this leads to teasing and making the poor guy go red with embarrassment. Still, he's cool to around with (most of the time), just watch his temper at times. And again, unfortunately for Caleb, his grades are horrible. Every time he gets a C or better, we always play a horrible joke on him by kneeling down and thanking the lord for allowing him to pass. Of course, Caleb throws the finger, but busts up laughing. We, well mostly I, desperately try to help him just to pass, but his attention span is the size of an electron. Nonetheless, we still love him all the same. I'd go out with him if I wasn't desperately in love with Chris, but he doesn't need to know that. In fact, none of the guys know that I'm in love with an angelic boy. I'm sure that they'll be understand if I tell them, but I'm still scared. I mean, not even my parents know. I've been hiding it all this time for so long now. The existence of the fan-girls help hide my true identity even more. That's one good thing about them I guess...But yeah, sometime back in sophomore year, I made a promise to myself to come out once I get an answer from Chris. And as you can see, yeah...but I digress. "Oh look guys, we're almost half way through the snake" I said sarcastically. The others just groan. "Jeeze, how long does it take for the students to get a schedule and move!" Caleb whines. "Well, let's take into account that there's only three people working desperately trying to get through 1800 student bodies. While at the same time, assuming that there are no mistakes and the staff doesn't get tired, I'd say about one week" I joke out. "Nobody asked you smart ass!" Caleb grins and flips the finger. I shot back at him a look and say in a serious tone, "Oh, well if that's how you feel, you just lost your tutoring privileges Caleb." "What? No!! If my parents find out that I'm not passing again, they'll literally tan my ass for sure!" Caleb cries out. I couldn't hold my serious face for long, and start laughing at him. Caleb sees this, and gives me the finger again. "Be careful with that you do or say Caleb, I might be serious this time." "And besides," Matt adds, "Dylan might get to your ass before your parents do due to frustration." This got the others hollering with Caleb blushing. I look down and notice his pants having a tent. "Awww...someone has the hots for me" I say in a seductive voice and rub Caleb's shoulder. He gives me a questioning look, and I point down at his pants. Everyone looks down and we all scrunch over, laughing as if there's no tomorrow. Caleb just blushes even more and quickly adjusts his pants. Of course, he says his trademark logo, "Fuck you Dylan." I take deep breathes, and say, "Awww, wittle Cewab is embarwassed. Do wou want to be my bwoyfwend?" I go back to laughing. Joey joins in, "Nooooo Dywan, he just wants wou to spwank him." We laugh even louder now. The people around us even give us weird looks. "Fuck you all" Caleb shouts and just turns around, slumping his shoulders. Bryan stops laughing first and goes up to him. "Come on Caleb. You know we're just joking." Caleb pouts, and mumbles, "Dylan's isn't that hot anyways." I exchange places with Bryan and whisper to him, "Hey, did I hurt your feelings?" He doesn't speak and looks down. I continue, "You know I was just joking right?" Caleb finally speaks, "I know Dylan....It's just that, you always seem so calm and mature. And look at me, I can't walk two feet without making a fool of myself. You always seem to have a group of girls follow you around. Plus, Bryan and Joey both have girlfriends." "Oh...so you want a girlfriend, is that it?" I said, poking his sides. He giggles and pushes my hands away. "I don't know...maybe...I don't know what I want.maybe to be more like you" he said sadly. "Oh trust me Caleb, you do not want to be me. " "Why not?" "Just trust me on that ok?" I couldn't tell him that I'm gay, that'll have to wait for another day. "I don't know...I mean, you're smarter than Matt and more athletic than Bryan and Joey combined. Not to mention that you're basically the leader of our pack. What's not to like?" "You'll have to trust me on this Caleb, there's more to me than what meets the eye." "Ok...I believe you. BUT! You'll have to tell me your secret someday." "But you already know my secret to life." I said, "Plus, if it makes you feel better, Matt doesn't have a girlfriend either." We both giggle silently. "HEY! I heard that!" Matt shouts behind me. "You were suppose to dumb ass." I said. "Well, it's not like you have one too Dylan." Matt points out. "True." I rebuttal, "But do you have a fan-girl club dedicated to you? No, I didn't think so." Caleb giggles on the side at my remark. "Psh, it's not like you like them anyways," Matt said. "Yeah...I guess you're right...man are they bitchy at times." I look back at Caleb. "So, we cool?" "Yeah..." Caleb says. "Oh Dylan...thanks." "For what?" He gives me a hug. "For everything." I pat his back with my right hand, "Sure thing buddy...sure thing. Now, I believe we're almost up to get our death sentence." Four pairs of eyes look at me, and then we all laugh again. "Maybe this year will be better." I think to myself. In any case, not before long, we get up to the office stand, show them our school IDs, and get our schedules. Thank god that only took the whole school day (ten minutes) and that we had no mistakes on our schedules. As usual, we compare schedules and see who has the crappiest teachers, routes, etc. I luck out again this year. I have Spanish 4, Creative Style, Pre-Calc, then Teacher's Aid for a sophomore English class (shut up smart asses with your AP credits). And to finish it off, I have AP Economics (told you guys to shut up) after lunch. Yep, five classes, and you guys thought I was kidding about being lazy. Matt, of course, just had to try out for all AP classes. He has AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP Psychology, AP Physics, and lastly, APES (Environmental Science). "Fuck man, you sure you won't die?" Bryan asks to Matt. "Nah, I'll be fine. I've finished the summer work for all of them, so it shouldn't be too bad." "Whatever you say..." Bryan still isn't convinced, but he didn't argue, having his schedule look more like mine. Joey had all the boring teachers, and poor Caleb gets stuck with no one to talk to in his classes. But he'll be fine, he's outgoing. We start going towards the library to get our books. Thank god the librarian is smart, even though we call her Mrs. Dragon-Lady. Mrs. Murray, or the Dungeon Dragon, sat at a table, grabbing the schedules from students. Don't ever get in her way, she absolutely hates her job, everyone knows it, but we still have no idea why she's here. I mean, she's close to age 70; that's more than enough to retire. Yet, she's still here, nagging at students who ask the simplest of questions or making the simplest of mistakes. Anyways, the line was shorter since her system works better, and the fact that the schedule line is still abnormally long. We show her our schedules, and she gets the books from behind her. Then, she scans the books you need under your ID account, and we were good to go. All five of us finish in two minutes flat, with me and Bryan having the lightest load, and of course, Matt getting the most. "You sure you don't need help?" Joey asks Matt. "Yeah I got this." Matt struggled to say. "I'll just shove them in my locker." "All right. Well guys, see you at lunch." I said. "Same place?" Matt says. "Yeah, and hopefully, some pesky freshman won't try to steal our spot again like last year." Bryan said as he shot a dirty look at Caleb. "Hey! You know you couldn't resist my sexiness back then!" Caleb says as he waves his butt at Bryan. Bryan tries to grab him, but Caleb backs up just out of Bryan's reach and makes a run towards his first class. "Tough luck Bryan." I said to him. "Don't worry, I'll get him at lunch." He replies back. "Yeah, just try not to kill too many brain cells, he still needs those." Joey says. "Can't kill what isn't there" I reply. We all laugh at the remark and went out separate ways. After putting my books in my locker, I head off to class. Classes were boring. They always were on the first day of school. Mostly just teachers telling you what the class is going to be like, what to expect, blah blah blah...Borrringggg! At least it's only for one more year, then I'm out of here! Time flew by and before I know it, I arrive at my TA class. I hand my schedule to Mr. Fledging. He looks at it and directs me to his computer seat. "Well Dylan, seems you're pretty early. Half of the class hasn't arrived yet." "Yeah, I can see that." I remark. Mr. Fledging waves aside the comment and continues, "Well as you know, since you had me before, I'm an easy guy. Just do the work I ask, and we'll get along fine." "Sure, just one thing." I said, "Laptop, cell phone, and i-pad during class?" He grins, "Keep them on silent, hide them when the deans come, and we got ourselves a deal," he replies and takes out his hand. I grin back and shake his hand. He turns around and walks to the front of the class, leaving me to arrange the seating for students. I pull out a sketchbook and start doodling. Every so often, I'd tell a student where to sit. I just randomly pointed a spot with my pencil and tell the kid to go there, mostly away from "my" desk. About five minutes into class, I hear footsteps outside of the classroom. Granted, Mr. Fledging just gave the class the basic run down of how things worked and let them talk among themselves. "Probably just a kid running late," I think to myself. The kid enters, and as cruel fate would have it, it has to be THE one person I love, Chris. He walks in, spots me, and looks away embarrassed. He tries to sneak a look again, but quickly turn away noticing that I was still looking his way. He stiffly walks up to Mr. Fledging and shows him the his schedule. Mr. Fledging checks off his attendance book, and directs Chris to me. Chris hesitates first, but then grudgingly walks up to me. "Hey Chris" I said with a smile. Oh boy, this is going to get awkward. "Hey..." he replies ever so softy. Oh god, why is he so cute and perfect?! "So, where do I sit?" "Hmm, let me see...the only seats left are the two behind you" I tell him and point to the empty seats right in front of me. Chris gives a sad look and puts his stuff down the one further away from me. "Damn!" I thought, "now I can't see his cute butt of his!" He sits down and puts his head down. I decide not to push him to talk more. I mean, I have an entire year to worry about it, and I'm really awkward around him. Throughout the entire class period every time I glance at him, he never lifts his head. Then, I could've sworn that I heard him crying. I felt bad, and decide to go see what was wrong. I walk up to him, and nudge his shoulder. "Hey Chris, you okay?" His lifts his head up, and his eyes were all red and puffy. I was right, he was crying, but about what? I had to know. "Huh?" he sounds, while looking down. I sit down in the desk in front of him, "I asked if you're all right. You had your head down the entire class time." "Oh...I'm just tired..." Such a horrible liar, but I drop it again. I'm going to stalk him during lunch and see if I can find anything out about it. "Oh ok, just wondering, you know. You seemed pretty quiet." "Oh...well..." he starts to speak, but then the bell rings. "Ok class, see you tomorrow." Mr. Fledging shouts over the students' noise. I turn back around and see that Chris already finished packing and headed out the door. "Damn, he sure does move fast," I whisper to myself. I quickly shove my sketchbook and pencil into my backpack and held out the door. "See you tomorrow Mr. Fledging." "Bye Dylan, have a good lunch." Again, for a small guy, Chris sure can move. He was bobbing and weaving all over the place, with me tailing him a few yards behind. Finally, he reaches the back corner of the school (the school's outdoor style) and sits down. I hide behind a tree, and see what he's up to. I didn't even get to think of my next move before I see Chris hug his knees and having a river flow from his eyes. He puts his head down and sobs. I feel my heart being stabbed a million times just by looking at him. I had to do something! Working up the courage, I slowly, but silently, walk up next to him. I sit down to the left of him and drape my right arm over his right shoulder. I pull him tighter towards me, and he just let's go and bawls his eyes out. "I...I'm...sss..." Chris tries to speak, but I stop him. "Shh...it's ok Chris. Just let it all out. We can talk later." I hug him even tighter. He responds and hugs me. Chris continues crying for a whole ten minutes, and he was hugging me during the entire time! Wow did it feel amazing, even though he was crying. I'm such a conceded bastard...But I did reassure him that everything's going to be all right every now an then. Finally, he settles down, but starts having the hiccups. After a few more minutes of silence, I ask, "So Chris, think you're ready to talk?" Silence at first, then he whispers out, "I'm sorry." "Sorry? Sorry for what? You did nothing wrong." I'm determined to find out what was making my love's life miserable. "I ruined your shirt..." he looks down and I think wanted to cry again. Nuh-uh, no more crying. I lift his chin up with my hand. "Hey, don't worry about it ok? Now, tell me what's wrong?" Silence again. "It's stupid," he barely manages out. "If it's so stupid, then why are you bawling your eyes out over it?" I ask in a serious tone. Chris tries to put his head down, but I stop him. "Chris, just tell me the truth. I promise I won't laugh or judge you any differently. And whatever you do, don't lie. You always were a horrible liar." Chris looks at me shocked, probably from my last statement. "...I'm not a liar..." he whimpers out. "Oh really?" I grin at him. "Then tell me, where were you heading off to after bumping into me. You clearly didn't get your schedule, or else you'd be walking the other way towards the library." I poke at his hips. His body responds and squirms around to my touch. So he's ticklish. I make a mental note of that. He giggles and I continue, "And what about your English class? You claimed that you were just tired, yet I knew for a fact that you were crying." I poke his tummy this time. Don't judge, I rarely get to touch him. Chris giggles uncontrollably and talks in a normal volume for once, "Stop Dylan! I'm very squeamish." I couldn't help myself. "Ohhhh, so you're ticklish huh? So what if I rub your knees, or how about if I poke your ribs?" I said jokingly to him while still poking his sides. "NO!! Please don't!" he was laughing at this point. At least he's smiling now. "Ok, I won't do it to you if you tell me what's wrong." Still laughing, he manages, "Ok! Now please stop!!" I force myself to move my hands off him. "Ok Chris, start talking." He looks down, trying to gather his words. He then speaks in a quiet voice again, "...I hate my life..." I was shocked, how can he hate life? Not even I hate life, and I can be pretty pessimistic at times. "Why do you hate life?" I ask him. "Because...nobody loves me..." he states sadly. I can see that his eyes were getting puffy again. My mind and heart were screaming at me to tell him that that's not true and that I love him. But instead, I replied with, "Oh come now Chris, don't say that. Don't your parents love you?" He looks up at me, and I give him my best smile. He sighs and nods his head no. "They don't love me. They don't even have the time to spend time with me during Labor Day weekend." "Why's that?" "Because they're workaholics. Even on Labor Day weekend, they still decide to work, and leave me alone for the weekend." "Well, why does that make you sad?" He gives me a questioning look. "I mean, they're working so they can earn money to support you right?" Chris nods his head no again. "No...we're doing fine financially. We have more than enough to pay for my college tuition if I wanted to go right now...they just don't like spending time at home and being near me. They don't even say 'I love you' to me..." Again, I'm shocked. My parents always had time for me and my sisters, regardless of how busy they are.And they always tell us how much we meant to them, maybe a little too much at times. Chris continues, but in an even softer voice than before, "and today's the first day of school. Normally, I'd get through classes just fine, but then this morning, I bumped into you. You were so nice to me. No one ever helped me up before. I wanted to thank you, but I was too afraid at that time, so I ran away from you. But I still wanted to thank you. So I followed you. but then I saw you and your friends. You guys seemed so happy together. This unbearable pain crept into my heart, and I ran away. I tried to come down, but I couldn't hold it by 5th period, so I ran into the restroom and cried." "Is that why you were late to English class? " I ask. He was starting to sob again. I scoot behind him and cuddle him. While doing so, I secretly take in a deep breath to smell his hair. Strawberries, with a hint of raspberry. It was simply erotic to me, but he doesn't need to know that yet. Chris starts sniffling again, but it was more controlled this time. I keep telling him that everything's ok. He settles down, and we just sit in the cuddle position for about 10 minutes. I then break the silence. "So, you were stalking me huh?" "Please don't be mad at me..." Chris speaks out timidly. "What? Why would I be mad at you. I'm flattered that I'm worthy enough be stalked by you," I said and poked at his ribs again. He starts giggling again, and says, "Hey! Stop it, You promised that you wouldn't do that!" He was right. I did promise him, so I stopped. "So," I start again, "you're going to be alone during the weekend?" Chris just nods yes. "Ok. Do you have a cell phone?" Chris nods a yes again, and pulls out his cell phone. "Ok," I say, " Now call your parents." Chris looks at me in all confused, "Why?" "You'll see" I grinned at him. Chris starts dialing his mom's number. "Put it on speaker Chris while you're at it." He does. After ringing three times, the other side picks up. "...Hello? Chris? Why are you calling me at a time like this? Don't you have school? This better be important" Chris just shies away and leaves the phone where it sat. Sighing, I pick it up off the ground and speak into the phone. "Hello Mrs. Tanner. My name is Dylan Wolfe. I'm a friend of Chris and we were both wondering if I can stay at your place for the long weekend since you have your husband aren't going to be home?" His mom replies, "Hmm...Not to offend you Dylan, but I don't like having people who I don't know at my house." Ahh, so she's the paranoid type of person. I speak into the phone again, "None taken Mrs. Tanner. It's just that I think having Chris stay by himself for three days by himself is a bit too much. He might get lonely, and I was also thinking about his safety." "...What do you mean?" "I mean, having a kid in his house alone for three days is dangerous. The chances are small, but what if a burglar comes in and try to rob your house. I can't imagine what would happen to Chris." Silence on the other end, so I continue. " And not to mention if the police happen to cross by your house and peer into the building, only to see a minor inside." I look at to Chris. He just sits there, waiting anxiously and nervously for an answer. I give him a reassuring smile. Finally, Mrs. Tanner speaks again. "Do I have to pay you?" "Oh heavens no Mrs. Tanner. Just leave some food in the fridge, and I'll fix something up for Chris and me to eat." Silence again. Then, she speaks again. "Ok very well, but I'd like to meet you first Dylan. Can you make it tomorrow afternoon?" The news hit Chris and he drops his mouth in surprise. "Of course Mrs. Tanner. Would you mind if I stay that Friday night then?" "...Sure, I guess...Just be here at my house at 3:00 sharp ok? I have a tight schedule to fit." "Oh of course. Well, thanks for your time Mrs. Tanner, I'm sorry to have bothered you during your work hours." "It's ok Dylan. There's not much to be done right now. See you tomorrow." I shut the phone and smile at Chris. Chris takes back his phone with his mouth still wide open. "How did you manage that?! My mom never says yes to anything!" I look sheepishly to the left and right, then lean towards him, "You have to promise me that you will never speak of this to anyone ok?" "I promise," he replies. I shake my head no. "You have to pinky promise me?" I hold out my pinky. Chris gives me a confused look. I smile at him and mold his right hand into a fist with his pinky out. I interlock our pinkies and say, "Now you say, 'I promise.'" Chris blushes and chokes out, "I promise." I flash a smile as him and sit down next to him. "Only my closest buddies know about this. Well, I guess you'll so know about it soon enough." Chris gives me another one of his questioning looks. I sigh and continue, "I'm able to notice the tiniest details in people, and use that to my advantage. Take, for example, your mom. I only had a 5 minute conversation with her, and from that, I can tell that she's a workaholic, around 40 years old, and is paranoid about her things getting damaged, destroyed, or stolen. She does care about you Chris. It's just that she puts her work before you. She's extremely strict at times, but she can be lenient if you know when to ask. She also doesn't trust people and likes to judge on first impressions. Am I forgetting anything?" I think for a few seconds. "Oh yeah, she was on her lunch break. Those awkward silences, yeah...she was eating her salad while thinking about my suggestions. That's how I got her to say yes. She's lenient when she's eating." I wait for the information to sink into Chris's mind. I look at him, and he's seems to be deep in thought. "Can you teach me how to do that?" he finally asks. "Hmm...I don't know Chris. I've tried teaching my friends how to do it, but every one of them failed." "Oh..." he looked down. I couldn't say no to him. "Tell you what, we'll give it a try ok? No pain, no gain, right?" Chris looks up, and gives a timid smile. Just then, the lunch bell rang. I stand up and give Chris a hand getting off the floor. I ask him, "Where's your next class at?" "...German, in room 214" "Oh cool, my class is right next to yours. Walk with me?" He pulls a goofy grin. Yep, he's gorgeous no matter what face he pulls. I wanted to kiss him right there, but had to resist. I keep telling myself, in due time. We start walking towards our classrooms. We arrived with one minute to spare. Before we entered our classrooms, I tell him, "Wait for me after your English class. I've got a surprise for you." Before he could ask, I entered my room. AP Econ is the same as my other classes. The teacher gave a rundown about how the class worked, yadda yadda...Sitting in the back corner, I began daydreaming about my coming weekend with Chris. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and everyone piled towards the door. I managed to get out since I was the closest to the back door and waited for Chris to come out. Surely, not before long, he comes walking out and spots me. He looks away and blushes, probably still shy around me. I walk up to him and ask, "Do you have another class? Or are you done?" "I have study hall...I'm a sophomore remember?" he replies ever so softly. We're going to need to work on that volume. "Oh yeah...sucks man. Maybe I'll go volunteer as a tutor for that class or something." "You'd do that for me?" Chris's face lights up. "Who said it was for you?" I said jokingly. Chris looks down, "Oh..." "Oh? What do you mean by that?" "...Nothing..." "Oh come on Chris! Can't you take a joke? I'd like to know you better. Plus, my friend Caleb hopelessly needs help anyways. Might as well kill two birds with one stone." For those who don't know about my school, it started this program for all freshman and sophomore to have an extra period known as study hall some time during the day. It's used for the underclassmen to have a study break and use the time wisely to catch up on work. You are able to be excused from it after the first six weeks, but only if you can maintain a 2.0 GPA, only one D, and no F's by your first grading period. To make matters worse, if anyone, regardless of age has more than two D's or one F's, the school will give you another thirty minutes worth of study break, which cuts into your lunch hour. Sucks, I know, but hey, I'm not complaining. Chris finally looks up, "Thanks Dylan, I hope can get out of it though, I didn't like it last year." "Well, with my help, I'm sure you'll get out of it by the first six weeks." I reply back to him. "Now get to class before the teacher gets mad at you." He grins at me again, and runs to his next class. Damn he's a fast runner, maybe I'll get Bryan to pull some strings and let him on the track team or something. I start walking towards the parking lot. I get in my car, and drive towards home. Boy, do I have some explaining to tell my parents about my weekend plans. Eh, I'll think of something. I always do. ============================================================================= Wow, this chapter took forever due to finals. -_- I'm trying desperately to fit in time to write as much as possible, so please bare with me guys. Don't forget to send me emails guys at Amidoingthiswrite@gmail.com :D Otherwise, I'll get lonely and lose the will to write T_T. AND DONATE TO NIFTY IF YOU CAN YOU BASTARDS! (jk, love you all, except those who flame at me >:o).