Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:32:34 -0700 (PDT) From: John Meyers Subject: The Tragedy of Daniel and Jake-11 The Tragedy of Daniel and Jake Chapter 11 By John Meyers Disclaimer: Hello good people who read my story, as I'm sure you know by now; you shouldn't be reading this story if it is illegal where you live, you are too young to read it, or if you find stories about gay teenagers offensive, although admittedly the chances of that are pretty slim. It has been raised to my attention that my title may confuse some readers. While I can say, in retrospect, that I should have named the story something different-if only to make it make more sense-there's not a whole lot I can do about it now. I realize that so far, Eli has played a much more active role in the story than Jake has, but let me justify that by saying that my decision to add in Eli as a love interest was, in fact, COMPLETELY SPONTANEOUS! Never when planning the story out did I think to make Eli a pivotal character in the story, it almost seemed to happen by itself, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It seemed almost as if my story began telling itself on its own. What you can compare this to is to look at tons of other stories with the names of characters in the titles and see how eventually the couple hits rocky spots and probably fights and breaks up and maybe goes out with someone else. Think of this story like those ones, just in reverse. Instead of starting out with the namesake relationship, it'll end on the namesake relationship. Nevertheless, what has happened has happened and Eli's in it to win it, but that doesn't mean that the title is null. The story is still very much about Daniel and Jake, however with Jake in the hospital, Danny being hurt and vulnerable, and Eli staying at Danny's house, also vulnerable; it almost seems as if the outcome was certain without me even being aware. I will set aside concerns however that despite how much it may suck, the story is about Daniel and Jake, and that means that the story will have to get to them. I'm not even entirely sure how yet, though I have some ideas. To be honest, I kinda started ad-libbing the story after I threw Eli in there. At that point the whole thing became about keeping the story going. Anyway, long story short is that the story will focus on Daniel and Jake, "together" in the near future. I just have to work out how to get there. Now, how bout you start reading this chapter... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Danny's POV Slowly, feeling returned to my body as I awoke. My mind was torn between being delightfully fuzzy and inexplicably clear. I felt for a moment like I'd taken an anti-depressant coupled with a sleeping pill. When I opened my eyes and the same golden light was filtering through my curtains, the same golden light that was shining just twenty one days ago on my sixteenth birthday, I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. Eli was lying next to me, his face perfectly slack and emotionless. He was drooling on the pillow, but I didn't care. Everything about him, about us, about how I woke up, and where we were filled me up with bubbly exuberance. There was a feeling in my heart that I had a great deal of difficulty placing. I've never been OVERLY emotional in my life, but something about Eli and about us just left me feeling like I could cry, but not tears of sadness. Any tears I'd cry would be from... inexplicable joy. Right now there is nothing more beautiful to me than his face and this moment. Eli's face began to react and he let out a tiny moan as his eyes opened sleepily. He blinked twice while looking at me, his sparkly hazel eyes seemingly having trouble with what he was seeing... And then he smiled. The corners of his mouth came up and he flashed me that pearly white smile that borderlined on little-kid-on-Christmas and cocky-smirk. It was Eli's smile, plain and simple. "Hey you," He said quietly, smiling while his fingertips brushed along my abdomen, right below my chest. "Hey," I whispered back, the fingers of my left hand running through the locks of his hair. We didn't say a whole lot after that, not for a while. We just laid there and looked into each others' eyes. I thought for a brief second that Eli's hand was lightly tracing it's way down my stomach to initiate round two, but he began tracing circles back up my abdomen, leaving my skin tingling where he touched it. We must have laid there for, realistically speaking, about ten minutes, but if felt like hours. We just looked into each others' eyes and smiled. It's very difficult to place this feeling in my heart. I don't quite know what to call it, but I suppose it's just a deep affection for this marvelous boy beside me. We probably could have stayed there a while longer, but my phone beeped, a tone I only get when Tyler texts me. "Of course," I sighed exasperatedly, sitting up and leaning over to get my phone. Normally I probably would have ignored it, but Tyler rarely texts me, so it must be important. I checked my phone and I had eight messages from Tyler, starting at seven thirty this morning and continuing periodically up until now, ten fifteen. Every one of them said the exact same thing: Can you come get me? -Tyler I sighed deeply and Eli sat up beside me. "What's wrong?" He put his hand on my arm and gave me this concerned look. "It's just my brother. He doesn't want to be at my dad's. He hates that I don't go." I sighed again, thinking about how I should go get him, but really don't want to, for more than one reason. "Why don't you go?" The question caught me off guard for a second and I had to blink twice before I realized Eli was talking to me. "Uh, well. It's just..." You know how there's just some crap you don't want to get into? This is some of that crap. "My dad... He's, well... He's a little bit more conservative than my mom. He didn't really take it as well as she did when I came out," I felt an all too familiar weight beginnning to sink in my stomach as I thought of my dad. "I'm sorry," Eli took my hand in his and I could feel a pain in his voice. It was a pain we both shared, though Lord knows I hate showing it. "It's fine," I waved off his concern. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how much it bothers me. A part of me is hurt, but another part of me... Just doesn't care," Eli seemed confused, but then again, I didn't know how to explain it any differently. I sighed deeply and got off the bed, looking for my underwear. "I'm going to go get Tyler and then I'll be back," The soft waistband of my underwear slid up my hips and I picked up my shorts off the ground. When I turned, Eli had his head propped up on one arm and was looking at me oddly. "Do I get to come?" He pouted, pushing out his lower lip in a cute puppy dog face. "I believe you already did," We both laughed at my pun, but then the weight returned and I got serious again. "I suppose you can come with me if you want, but..." I trailed off, my voice catching. "Just... promise to stay in the car. Okay?" Eli got off the bed and walked up to me, bringing his lips to mine lightly. "I promise," He gave me his signature smirk and began putting on his clothes. I pulled my shirt over my head and headed downstairs, searching for my keys. Eli came down from my room with them, dangling them in one hand. I noticed he was wearing the silver heart chain I got him. "Looking for these?" He tossed them to me and I caught them with one hand. I mumbled a quick thank you and held the door open for him. "Always the gentleman," He remarked, smiling as he walked out the door. The door slammed behind me (it's the only way to make sure it closes, but I won't deny that it felt good to slam something) and I unlocked the car. "So where does your dad live?" Eli asked as he buckled his seatbelt. The engine came to life as I twisted the keys and put on my seatbelt. "Not far, just up Highway Seven." We set off, not even turning on the radio. All I could think about was my dad and how much I DID NOT want to see him. He wasn't abusive or anything, but he just had this way of making me feel terrible about myself, no matter what I did. Eli and I rode on in almost complete silence. I was wrapped up in my thoughts and Eli was probably wrapped up in his. This isn't exactly how I planned for the weekend to go. It didn't seem to take very long before we pulled up to his house. It was one story, spacious. It was a cookiecutter house and looked perfectly ordinary from the outside. There my brother came, not two seconds after we pulled up. He came running out the front door as I opened mine. He ran up and jumped into my arms, his bag swinging around in his hands to smack me in the back. I hauled him in one arm, laughing, and opened the back door. Taking the bag from him, I threw that in the back and sat him in the back seat. He buckled himself in and started talking to Eli as I shut the door. I turned, knowing I'd have to talk to him... and sure enough, there he was, coming down the steps with a smile on his face, though the intention behind it could not have been darker. "Hey! Danny boy!" I hated when he called me that. He gave me a strong armed hug and kept his hand on my shoulder as he looked me up and down. "You're hair's gotten longer! My gosh son it feels like forever since I seen ya'!" He laughed at some unknown joke. "Yeah, I've been really busy with school and stuff," Remove your hand from my shoulder! I yelled inside my mind. He patted me on the back fiercely. "Too busy to come see your old man?" He laughed again, his grin spreading from ear to ear. Then he looked at the car. "And who's this?!" He bellowed, smiling and laughing and marching over to the passenger side window. Eli got out of the car, something that sent goosebumps all up and down my arm. "Uh, uh... I'm Eli, Mr. Hastings," Eli said meekly as my dad vigorously shook Eli's hand, his smile never fading. "So you're the infamous Eli!" My dad was smiling and laughing like a pro and Eli was desperately confused while giving my dad the most awkward smile I've ever seen. "Tyler talks about you all the time! You'd think you were Jesus himself the way he talks about you!" He leaned in closer and said to Eli in a comical, whisper voice, "I hear your a pretty darn good cook!" He busted out laughing and Eli's defenses started to go down. There it was, right on Eli's face: a real smile. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty good," Don't respond to him! I shouted to myself. Instinctively I felt myself walking over to them, ready to intervene on Eli's behalf. "It all comes with practice." "I'm quite the cook myself. Ask Danny and Tyler; my wife barely cooks at all, though of course, I don't mind!" He laughed again and so did Eli. I gave a half-hearted chuckle to make sure my dad didn't make a comment to me. I noticed my dad's eyes catch on Eli's chain and the silver heart. "Oh-ho! What do we have here?" He gestured to the locket, smiling. "Gift from the girlfriend, Eli?" His smile never faltered, never faded. It was a mask, but I was the only one who could see it. Eli blushed and stammered, "Oh,.. No sir..." Eli, caught off guard, didn't know what to say. His eyes flicked to me. It was barely noticable, gone in a flash, but I know my dad saw the look. He saw Eli glance at me. I know he made the connection. "Oh, but I don't want to keep you! Y'all probably got a big day ahead of you, so I'll just let y'all get back to it. Try and remember to come see me sometime Daniel. I miss having you around," I mumbled a half-hearted promise and we hugged. He also gave Eli a one-armed hug around his shoulders, telling us both to be good. Then he was gone; walking back up the steps to his porch and through the door. We both got back in the car and I backed out, my dad waving to me as I did so. Damn it all, that was awkward. Tyler was jabbering away in the backseat and I couldn't even summon up enough enthusiasm to pretend like I was listening. He talked the whole way home, I was wrapped up in my thoughts, and Eli was giving Tyler nods and comments, but I don't think he was listening. When we pulled up, Tyler leapt out of the car and ran for the front door. Eli and I were somewhat slower, me because of what just happened, and Eli because he was waiting on me. Up in my room, after we got in the house, Eli was the one who broke the silence. "So..." He left it hang. "That wasn't so bad," ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dakota's POV I laid over on my side, breathless, a light sheen of sweat covering my body. Looking over to admire the face of Tommy, my boyfriend, I wrap my left arm around his shoulders and he scoots over and lays against me. For a moment we laid there, savoring the glorious afterglow that was post-orgasmic bliss, and gazed into eachother's eyes. The chocolate brown orbs gazing at me were alight with mild happiness, a kind of gentle content. We laid there, my hand lightly stroking his hair, his left hand tracing circles on my naked chest. This moment, the afterglow, the lack of caring for anything except this boy, this marvelous boy laying next to me, was beyond perfect in every way. Tommy's hand stopped tracing circles and he wrapped his arm around my stomach, laying his head on my chest. We didn't say much. Nothing really needed to be said. For the moment we were both content to listen to the other's breaths. We were laying there, I was probably about to fall asleep, but then I heard a loud, 'groowwl'. Tommy looked up at me, smiling sheepishly. "Hungry much?" I asked jokingly. He laughed, sighing. "A little, how 'bout you?" Tommy rolled over and stretched. His body was remarkably thin, not in an unhealthy looking way, rather in a lanky way. His hands, which were perfect, gave way through his wrist to lightly tanned skin and lightly dusted blonde armhair. His body was sprinkled with freckles and he had light muscle definition. His nipples were barely bigger than dimes and he had no hair on his torso. His legs were long and slender, again only lightly dusted in blonde hair. Everything about Tommy was light, from his actual weight to his accumulation of body hair. His cock was, all in all, average in size; about six and a half inches give or take. He had a very light patch of light brown pubic hair, almost so it seemed like there was no hair there at all, and a perfect set of balls. Slapping my chest, Tom rolled off of his bed. "Come on, I'm hungry," He walked over and picked up his underwear off the floor. I propped my head up on my elbow. "We don't have to put clothes on to eat something," He threw my shirt at me, which landed on my face, obscuring my vision entirely. Tommy snickered as I slowly pulled my shirt off of my head. "Yeah we do, we're not eating here," He slid on his pants and grabbed his shirt off the floor as well. Groaning, I hopped up too. "Fine, we can eat somewhere else, but I get to pick," Tommy looked at me cautiously, a hint of fear in his eyes. "Don't worry. I know a good Italian place outside of town where I can guarantee you no one you know will show up." You see, Tommy's still in the closet, so he is deathly afraid of someone finding out about us. "Are you sure?" Tommy knew I wouldn't take him anywhere in public (as a boyfriend) if I thought we may run into someone we know, however the thought must still have been scary. "I am one-hundred percent positive," I laced my arms around him, resting my chin on his head. "It is absolutely impossible for us to run into anyone we know." ................................................................ There we sat, dimly lit Italian restaurant, cheesy italian restaurant music, blonde waitress who was just a little too happy. The entire scene couldn't have been more complete if it'd been out of a movie. To be honest, I more or less just played with my food while Tommy ate. I wasn't all that hungry, though lord knows it's not because the food sucks. Tommy could testify to that, I think. He looked up at me to see me watching him. His cheeks flushed a deep red and he quickly swallowed. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" He looked away sheepishly. "I didn't say anything, although now that you mention it, is the food good?" I laughed lightly while he blushed. "You're incredibly cute when you blush, you know that?" This just made him blush harder. "Uh, thank you." He shifted in his seat nervously. "Are you okay?" Is something wrong? "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess it's still a little weird for me. I mean, until I met you I've never had a..." He trailed off at the word and took a deep breath. I almost finished the sentence for him, but I decided it'd be better for him to say it himself. "Until I met you I'd never had a... boyfriend, before." "If it makes you feel any better, the whole idea is a little weird for everyone at first." I smiled to ease the tension. "Preaching to the choir." He (a little too carefully, now that he was more aware of my presence) lifted more alfredo to his mouth. Quite frankly it's almost torturous to watch the hot, white noodles disappear into his mouth. It's especially torturous to see him lick a drop of sauce from the edge of his lip, his tongue gliding across his soft, pink lips. I ate some of my food as well, though most of it would probably be taken home. I was just about to ask the waitress for our check... When in walked Racheal, Jake's ex. She was with one of the football guys and for a brief moment I thought I was going to have a panic attack! But then the host ushered them off to the other side of the restaurant. The bar and kitchen seperated the two sides, so we were safe for now. "What? What's wrong?" Tommy craned around in his seat to look at the door. She was already gone, so he didn't see her. When he turned back around to look at me, I had a predicament. If told him about Racheal, he'd want to leave and that would pretty much ruin our date, but if I didn't I ran the risk of us being seen, and if he knew we were seen, he'd know that I saw Racheal come in, know that I lied to him, know that I allowed us to be seen... So the decision made itself, pretty much. A deep sigh escaped my lips and I told him I saw Racheal walk in. "As in, Racheal from school?" He looked behind himself again. "Yeah. We can go if you want." I went to motion for the waitress again. "No. It's fine." He pulled my hand down, sending tingling sensations up my arm. He blushed again and smiled at me. "I've been thinking... And, I don't care if people see us." He squeezed my hand reassuringly and I felt elation spread through me. "Are you sure?" He winked at me, before he leaned across the table and kissed me lightly. "Absolutely." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A few days earlier... Here is Danny, standing in front of me, looking at me in a whole new way, though of course, the looking was mutual. I'd always known that whoever wound up with Danny would be one lucky guy, but I never really considered that it might be someone I was so close to. To add to that, I NEVER, not in a million years, thought that Danny would be coming to me for advice regarding said person. "Well, uh, Danny, if you... I mean..." Good God why does he have to come to me for crap like this?! "I don't really know how to answer you. It's not really something I can tell you." Danny's eyes were pointed down and to the left, a sign that he was deep in thought. He blinked himself out of it though. "Look, I know you and Eli were... Involved at one point, but I just needed advice. I don't know how to go about this. I've never done this before and I'm under the impression that 'you' have." Danny looked at me with those eyes; eyes that got me. "Alright, with Eli... He's not expecting some grand gesture. He's not expecting to see rose petals on the bed and scented candles providing the only light in the room. He's pretty down to Earth," Ugh, I hated thinking about this. "I just don't know what to expect. I mean, I really want his birthday to be special, but I'm not sure what I'm feeling, and what he's feeling. I want everything to be special, but at the same time I don't know how to... You know, MAKE it special. And on top of that I'm not quite sure if I'm... there yet." Danny sat on my bed, exasperatedly. "Danny, if you're not there yet, then the whole things moot. If you're not ready then don't rush anything, because it'll only come back to bite you later. I understand that you want the night to be special for Eli, and for "you and Eli", but if you're not ready than there's not an issue." Danny's eyes had drifted back to down-left and he looked like he was only half-listening, probably overthinking it more. "Danny, listen to me!" He snapped out of it, eyes growing wide in shock. I sat down on my bed next to him. "Eli is patient, and I can guarantee you that he is in this relationship for the long term. He's not someone who's just looking for a good time. Eli cares for you... Deeply, if I'm any judge of how you two look at each other, but I know him well enough to know that he just wants to be with you. I understand where you're coming from, but you have nothing to worry about. Your problem with this is that you're overthinking it. You're wanting it to be special, which I get, but you're also taking it too far." Danny took a few deep breaths and seemed calmed down. "Thanks Dakota, you're a good friend." Danny smiled at me. "No problem Danny," I smirked as something came to me. "Would you like me to give you some 'real' advice?" He seemed confused, but just said, "sure". "Alright, well, when it comes to Eli, make sure that you're prepared for 'quite' the show." I laughed while Danny looked at me, confused. "What do you mean?" He was puzzled. Oh, innocent Danny. "I mean that Eli is DEFINITELY not lacking in the cock department." His eyes widened in disbelief. "Wow." He said in shock. I laughed lightheartedly. "That's exactly what I said when I saw it the first time." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Jake's POV Slowly my ceiling came into focus as I awoke for the first time in weeks in my room. I was still bedridden, but at least I was home. I seemed to remember everything about my house and my family. In a week I'll be going back to school. It'll be the first monday in March. I remember most of what's been going on in class well enough, but the doctor said it may take a while for anything recent to be fully recovered. A few days ago, I had a bad reaction to some medication. The doctors said it was a near miss, but the only side affect was a little more severe memory loss. In all honesty, I cried at first. I mean, those memories, those experiences, whatever they were, gone forever? The thought scared me. The thought broke me. But then... Then I started thinking... There's nothing I can do about it, so there's no point in moping about it. I don't even know what I lost, so when I think about it, it should be hard for me to feel sad about it. I don't even remember the crash. The last thing I remember is going to the mall on Danny's birthday, and then the hospital. Everything in between... It's not even a blur, it's just gone. I've got a few flashes of Danny in between and I think we talked... but I don't remember about what. I'll have to remember to ask him sometime. I can see flashes; Danny's smile with perfectly white teeth and his eyes lighting up with that innocence. Everytime I see him... I feel odd. I think something may have happened between us. Something that I don't remember. Danny had been by to see me a few times. He came up to my room, and started talking about all the fun things we did when we were younger. We weren't super best friends when we were younger, but we were pretty close. He talked about all the video games we played and all the nerf fights we had, running around my house, shooting eachother. For my last birthday party, Danny, Mark, Isaac, Devin, Alex (before he was paralyzed), and I all went out in my backyard and set up this big paintball field. We played all day and were totally drenched in paint by the time we were through. I wasn't sure if Danny would like it, because he's not super violent, but he turned out to be better than I was, AND IT WAS HIS FIRST TIME PLAYING PAINTBALL! Later that night, we all went outside and played again. It was pitch black out, so we all had little glowsticks around our necks. It was only fair we be able to at least see something. Danny's stepdad is the one who gave us the glowsticks. Being in the army, he had access to stuff like that and we had like thirty of them in all different colors. After we were done playing, we took a pickaxe that my dad has (don't ask me why, I have no clue) and we busted them open. We all looked like we'd been stabbing aliens because we were splattered with the glowing stuff. We got a picture, but you really can't tell who's in it. It's just a lot of colored dots, more or less. Anyway, Danny was telling me about a lot of crap I'd forgotten about. He told me about Alex's handicap, because I didn't remember that after my reaction. He told me about all the new kids who kept showing up. He told me about him and Eli... When he started talking about him and Eli being a couple... I felt... Jealous. I don't know why. Danny and Eli make a great couple. But, I felt myself getting jealous of Eli. Danny was just... Danny. He was everything someone should be. I couldn't help but think that no one deserved him. He was too good of a person. But that wasn't the whole thing, was it? There is something more. There's something more going on with my jealousy than simple idolization of Danny. I just can't remember what the heck it is... --------------------------------------------------------------- Eli's POV Danny and I were sitting in Spanish, not really talking. I was insanely tired and my head kept falling down, only for me to jerk it up as I fell asleep. At least, it was until HE walked in. Five minutes after class started, there was a knock on the door, and in walked this absolutely adorable kid. There was an audible, dreamy sigh that was let out in the room by all the girls, and I was about this close || to sighing with them. He is gorgeous. He even blushed when all the girls sighed, so he KNEW that he was attractive, but he was still embarassed. He looks like a sexy cowboy. He's shorter than me by a full head, but that was offset by the tan cowboy hat he was wearing, which he took off as he entered the room, showing that he was a perfect gentleman. His eyes were electric blue and his skin was perfectly clear, not a pimple in sight, with a splash of freckles, just barely noticable. His hair was short and wavy, pitch black, and it shone in the light. He was wearing a long sleeve, light blue button up shirt with embroidery on the sleeves that resembled his cowboy boots, which were dark brown leather and very shiny, like they'd never been worn. His pants were a dark washed pair of Levi's or Wrangler's (one of those two I'm sure) and they fit him perfectly in all the right places! "Excuse me ma'am, is this Spanish?" He has a very thick southern drawl, but somehow that only makes him cuter. His eyes were wide and hopeful, as if he'd been told, "no," several times already today. "Si senor," The Spanish teacher began, "Tu hablas espanol?" Here we go, I thought bluntly to myself. I zoned out while they talked, but I returned to full mental faculties when he was told to sit in front of me. He sashayed his fine ass right up the aisle and sat down, pulling his bag next to the desk and dug out his stuff. It took him three seconds to put his hat under the desk and pull out a white binder that had a yellow lable attached to the top of it that said, "Spanish" He opened up an impeccably clean and organized binder that made mine look like crap and he locked his eyes on the teacher, not looking back once. As soon as the bell rang I crammed my stuff back in my backpack and zipped it up so he couldn't see what it looked like, and said, "Hi." The kid looked up for a second, like he hadn't quite heard me. I was frozen as his electric blue eyes pierced me. The right corner of his lips pulled up in a half-smile that made my heart stutter. "Howdy," He stood up and put out his hand for me to shake. I took it, savoring the soft texture of his hands, and he gripped it forcefully. "I'm Austin," He picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "I'm Eli," I pointed to Danny. "That's Danny," Danny didn't seem as affected by this kid as I was. They both shook hands. "Uh... uh... Do you-" I had to swallow because my mouth had gone dry. Good God I was blushing! "Do you need any help finding your other classes?" The three of us started walking towards the door. Austin's smile never faltered. "I'd appreciate that. Thank ya'," Danny held the door open, an oddly blank expression covering his face as we walked through the door. DAMN! He has a nice ass. I stopped outside in the hallway to wait for Danny. When he came out of the room, his eyes were looking away and down to the left, a physical sign that he was busy thinking away. He almost walked right past us but he caught himself at the last second, smiling awkwardly as we continued down the hall. "What do you have next?" Danny asked, breaking the silence. This kid was just too cute as he pulled out his schedule from his pants pocket. "Calculus," He said, handing me the paper. "Oh, cool. I have that next, and you have AP Enlgish fourth. That's cool. Another new kid. We've gotten three like, in the past two weeks," My hand reached out to return his schedule and our fingertips brushed as he took it from me, an electric feeling buzzing up my arm at the contact. My eyes flashed up to Austin's for just a second, and I swear I got a signal... Like telepathy. We both looked away while walking, blush creeping up into both of our faces. Danny was standing about seven feet away, looking at us impatiently. "Come on, let's go!" He snapped his finger at us playfully and we started walking down the hallway again. "Well, this is my stop. See y'all in English." Danny paused for a second, shooting the kid a glance for just a millisecond before he said to me, "See you in English, Eli," Then he leaned in and kissed me! Oh my god! He kissed me! It was just a peck, over before I knew what was going on, but he kissed me! IN SCHOOL! Blush filled my face with renewed vigor and I could feel heat from embarassment flare up through my whole body. "Bye..." He shot me a shit-eating grin and walked through the door to APUSH. I shook my head, attempting to clear the confusion from my brain, to no avail. "Uh... Shouldn't we get to class?" I'd forgotten that Austin didn't know where the classes were. "Oh crap! Sorry!" I took off down the hallway, yelling for him to hurry. The bell rang right as we were ten feet from the door and we barely made it through the doorway before the bell stopped ringing. "Sorry Mrs. Julie! I was trying to show Austin all of his classes," Please, please believe that! "Goodness gracious, ANOTHER new student! My word it's amazing how many of you have shown up in the last few weeks. Take a seat beside Eli Mr....?" She left it hanging. "Just call me Austin, ma'am," Austin smiled, his perfect white teeth lighting up the room. As I walked to my desk, I caught most of the girls staring dreamily at him. Damn! When did subtlety go out the window? Although, considering I stuttered and blushed up a storm earlier, maybe I shouldn't be saying anything. It was about ten minutes into class when he asked me a question that shook me. It was innocent enough, but I felt something odd in me when he asked; "So. You and Daniel, huh?" He was smiling a friendly smile. The answer, though, made me realize that I had a real problem because when I said, "Yeah. Me and Danny." When I said that... I realized I really didn't want to. I'm in trouble. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, I know it was a short chapter, but what do y'all think? I was trying to get it up fast so I could avoid anymore long pauses between chapters, although to be fair, it has been almost a month. Anyway, review to johnmeyerz36@yahoo.com