Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2016 22:31:32 -0800 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: Rough Edges Chapter 44 Welcome back for another chapter. Like boys everywhere, the Wonkeys seem to grow up fast as they suddenly find themselves transitioning from middle school to high school. The story is mine, so please don't copy or post it. Be safe always. And please do donate to Nifty to keep the stories rolling. I love getting reader email. It is my salary. Douglas. thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 44 MIDDLE TO HIGH "I can't believe you guys really did it," Q remarked the week after Phil and I made love for the first time—not to mention the second, third, fourth, fifth— well, you get the picture. Q and I were naked on my bed, facing each other and jerking each other off. And yes, Phil would bottom for me, but it would take him awhile. I found myself being surprisingly patient with my reluctant boyfriend. Maybe that was indicative of how much I loved and trusted him. "Why didn't you think we would do it?" I asked Q as I picked up the pace on his boy tool. "Because you two swore a few zillion times you'd never fuck." "We just needed to find the right time," I muttered. "Now, we can never trust you again." He started picking up the pace on me as well. We were getting close to the natural outcome of what we were doing and the time for chatting was about over. "Why not?" "If you lie about not doing sex, you'll lie about anything," Q smirked. "How many times have you guys done it since?" "None of your beeswax, but it was more than twice, okay?" I didn't want Q to think that after all of this time saying we weren't going to fuck that Phil and I had suddenly become total sex fiends, even if it was true. Of course, it was unlikely that he or any of the Wonkeys would care—after all, the whole group of us were sex fiends. "When are you and me going to fuck?" Q asked. "Phil and I want to keep it private." "Yeah, like that's going to last." Q quit jerking my cock and rolled me over on my back. "Well, even if I can't fuck you, I can still hump you." He surprised me by placing his lips on mine and starting to French me. Of course, I was more than willing to take his tongue and kiss him back. Q said he was straight and no longer kissed boys, even if he was still cool with having sex with them, which is why I was surprised by the sudden, passionate kiss. I couldn't ask him about it, though, because it was time to hump, kiss some more, feel each other's bodies and cum all over each other as we have done so many times. We rolled back onto our sides, our bodies sticky with sweat, spit, and semen. As we came down from our highs and regained our breath we went back to chatting. "When are Jung and Perry going to pay off their bet?" Q asked. Jung and Perry said they would fuck in front of us if our first fuck was before the end of eighth grade. If we waited until after eighth grade, we'd have to do it in front of them once we lost our virginity. Since eighth grade wouldn't even be starting for another week-and-a-half, we didn't feel squeezed by a deadline. "Next Monday, at Perry's house." Monday started our last week of summer vacation. "Are they doing it there so his brother can watch?" "They're doing it there so Jung's sisters can't watch. Besides, Dean will be at football practice, so it will be private." "It's not like you haven't seen those two fuck before," Q pointed out. "Hey, they made up the bet. Besides, none of us have seen them fuck outside on the back deck." "Now, this is interesting. Can I watch?" "It's good with me." I gave him the time we planned to meet and he said he would be there. "I might even bring a Wonkey or two," he told me. "You guys should just fuck next to them side-by-side just to make it all official." "No way, won't happen." "Hmm, I seem to have heard those words before." Since my mom was due home from work soon, we put on what little we had been wearing and made our way downstairs. I wasn't about to tell Q this, but the idea of fucking out on Perry's back deck next to him and Jung got my cock hard again almost instantly. Larry and I had said we weren't going to fuck anybody else for the time being, although we both knew it was going to happen eventually. It was all still really new to us and we wanted to enjoy the experience one on one, at least for starters. We did make one exception, however. Larry said he was cool with Troy fucking me. He emphasized the word "fucking", saying only he could "make love" to me. I so loved him for saying that, although I would say that Troy going all the way with me probably fell someplace in between. We had told Q about us losing our virginity a couple of days after it happened. We said we were cool with him telling the rest of the Wonkeys, but like all of our sexual business, the news was to travel no further. Before Troy and I did our thing, however, Jung and Perry came over to Larry's to pay off their bet. Q, Ben, and Devon also showed up. Tyson and Daniel were both away with their parents. Jung and Perry got naked in the rec room and the rest of them followed them out onto the deck. We didn't get naked because we thought all of us being nude would attract too much attention from somewhere. I guess we thought it was the brilliance of our skin or something. But watching Jung stick his five inches into Perry's white freckled ass had us whipping out our cocks and jerking off furiously. Those two were experienced lovers and they went right at things very hard and very quickly. "We'd make out first," Jung told us, "but this is to pay off our bet." "Besides, Perry's buns might burn in the bright sun if we don't go quick," Q giggled. Things got racy real fast. As Jung hammered Perry, little Devon got down on his belly and placed Perry's four-something inches into his mouth. Q got down on his knees and had my cock in his mouth before I could stroke it a half-dozen times and Larry went down on Ben. The cream started flowing fast as a grunting Perry became the first to blow his load, giving ten-year-old Devon a treat. I was next, shooting my still clear emission into Q's mouth. Before Q could react, Devon, still on his belly, started to work on the big thirteen-year-old. Ben filled Larry's mouth within seconds, and Q was close behind filling little Devon. Troy fucked me, or made love to me, or whatever a brother does with his brother, on Saturday night. He was wonderful. I found out how good it felt to get something big rubbing my insides and scratching my prostate. I had an earthshaking orgasm. Okay, maybe bed shaking was more like it, but you get the picture; it was one of my best ever. That was not the last time Troy would hammer my ass. He let me do it to him a couple of times, but he was the big brother which should make him the top, just like me as the catcher should be the top with Larry, the pitcher. And in case you want to know if Larry and Troy did it, the answer is yes. Once was in early October and the other time was over Christmas break of our eighth grade year. Both times Larry was the bottom, and both times he said it was a great experience. But, his feeling was that sex with Troy should be done by me as an act of brotherly love. Not that Larry was a disappointment. The sex between us was as loving as it could be between two rutting young teenagers. In essence we treated sex the way we treated athletics—we played hard and our sex was hard and fast. But still, I could hardly wait for Larry's cock to grow to full size. After school started, the dynamics of the Wonkeys changed some. They all became girl crazy. Even Perry tried his hand at being a lady's man. Q, Tyson, Jung, Ben, and Daniel had all ended up naked in bed with at least one girl by Halloween, although Ben and Daniel didn't go all the way. Perry had some heavy make-out sessions with a seventh-grade girl who lived near him, but taking their tops off was as far as they went. On the Friday after Thanksgiving Larry and I had our chance with the opposite sex. Margie Kelly and Carly Mauer had the hots for us. Larry and I weren't sure which one of us each girl really liked. While we didn't care much for either one in a "going out together" way, we did like them because they were nice girls. They invited us to join them at Margie's house. They didn't tell us that Margie's parents would be gone all day, nor did they tell us that Margie wasn't supposed to have any boys at the house unsupervised. "Did you guys ever make out?" Q asked at an afterschool homework session at my house on Monday. Phil, Jung, Perry, and Daniel were also there. "Gentlemen aren't supposed to kiss and tell," Larry said with a slight smirk. "That means they made out," Perry said knowingly. "And since when did we become gentlemen?" Q asked. "We're all fucking thirteen—everybody tells us we're just a step above a wild animal." "Did you get naked?" Jung asked. "Jeez, Jung, they're nice girls," Larry told him. "That also is a yes," Perry said. "Talk about being a step above a wild animal, you guys have nothing but sex on your minds," Larry muttered. "Shit, Perry, how is it you know so much?" I inquired. "I mean we could have just sat and watched television." "Yeah right," Perry smirked. "Let's see, Margie's parents weren't home, you were invited over even though she wasn't allowed to have boys in the house, and you had all day to be there. It don't take a genius to figure that shit out." "Okay, so we kissed a little," I admitted. Everybody looked at me like I was supposed to say more. "And maybe we felt up their boobs some." "With their tops on or off?" Jung asked. "We already figured out they were naked," Perry reminded him. "You said it, not us," Larry pointed out. "They had their tops off and we had our shirts off," I told them. "Satisfied?" "I thought you guys were like gay and boyfriends and everything," Q said. "We are," Larry replied, "but we're thirteen and we do need to, you know, figure shit out." "Which means you're not sure you're gay?" Daniel asked. "We're sure," I told my fellow Wonkeys, not for the first time. "We just wanted to be really sure." "Lots of guys and girls say they're gay," Jung said, "and then they end up being all straight in high school." "Yeah, like my brother," Perry said. "He still likes to fuck me, though." "Did you fuck them?" Q asked. "Damn, Q, a gentleman...," Larry started out. "I know, a gentleman never tells, which Perry says means yes." "The answer is no, okay?" I groused. "Besides, they're as queer as we are," Larry added. "No shit?" Q asked. "You mean they're lesbos and have sex together?" "That's exactly what I meant." "Did they do sex in front of you?" Jung asked. "I've watched my two sisters do stuff together—It's really hot. I jerk off watching them do it." Jung was referring to his two younger sisters, who were sixteen and ten at that time. "They kissed and sucked each other's boobs and fingered each other's pussy," Larry said. "This is now getting officially interesting," Q mused. "What took you so long to tell us this shit?" "I dunno," I told him. It was the best answer I could come up with. We had long ago forgotten our studies. We'd retired to Larry's room, pulled down our pants, and were beating our meats as Larry and I told Q, Perry, Daniel, and Jung about the four of us finally getting naked after we'd made out for a while. They were interested in hearing how they played with our cocks. This was not only their first time playing with a boy's erection, it was their first time seeing one. When we finished telling everybody about the two girls watching Larry and me doing a sixty-nine while they kissed and fingered each other we were all ready to shoot our wads. We came like one of those fountains that have nozzles that spurt one after the other. Perry shot first, followed by Q, me, Jung, Larry, and, as usual, Daniel was last. Jung and Daniel cleaned off what cum had landed on their bellies, but the rest of us were happy to leave it on us. Perry shot some wads on his t-shirt and didn't bother to clean it off. "We'll see if Dean notices it," Perry said, referring to his brother. "He usually does and then wants to hear the story of how it got there. That makes him all horny and then he fucks me." He looked at us as we pulled up our pants and undies. "Anybody want to fuck me now?" "Perry is the ultimate horn dog," Jung said. "I'll fuck you if you want it so bad." He glanced at Larry. "If it's okay with you." "You have to quit if mom or dad comes home, which should be soon." "I'll cum first," Jung said as he pinched Perry's smooth, white ass. We had a second round of jerking off and cumming as Perry and Jung got naked so we could watch them rabbit fuck. More and more our study sessions were being controlled by our hormones. "Now I am all prepped for Dean," Perry informed us. We all finished dressing just as mom and dad came home within minutes of each other. I opened my window to air out the room and the six of us headed downstairs to greet my parents. That wasn't the last time we played around with Margie and Carly. It's not like it was a regular thing, but we were horny young teens eager to explore—I'm sure you get the picture. While we talked about experimenting with intercourse, the four of us were a bit nervous about going all the way. We never went beyond making out and masturbating each other. While we watched the girls engage in oral sex and they watched Phil and me do the same, we also never crossed the line of having oral sex with each other. Margie and Carly were truly nice girls and we remained friends through high school. Sadly, Phil and I lost contact with them after college. It would have been great to have one or both of them at our wedding. They enrolled in the same college and were roommates as freshmen. I know they were still partners when they graduated from college. Eighth grade provided some other high and low points. Some of the Wonkeys, including me, got drunk on our asses for the first time at Tyson's house. Jung, Q, Ben, Devon, and I were the rookies. Phil and Tyson had been there and done that, and on that particular night, did it again. All of us, except Tyson, agreed the next day that drinking parties weren't our thing. Devon and I both got sick that night and weren't a lot better the next morning. We were all trying to figure out how to sneak home without our parents detecting our hangovers. All of us, except Ben and Devon, succeeded. They were both put on restriction for a month, and Ben got a royal chewing out for not doing a better job of watching out for his preteen brother. Phil and I went the booze route one more time and that was in ninth grade, our first year in high school. We went to a jock party a month or so after school started, and once again got thoroughly wasted. There was booze, sex, and drugs aplenty. It was the only time I tried pot, and it wasn't much of a try. Phil got drunk and stoned. I also dipped my dick into a pussy for the first time, but the act of fucking made me start to feel sick and I eventually pulled out. I never did get off that night. That was the one and only time I drank in high school. While I enjoyed a beer or two at times in college, I never got drunk again. I went to the jock party with Larry determined not to get drunk. I'd just have a couple of beers and watch everybody else get drunk. I not only got drunk, I got high on weed. Then I sucked the dick of some senior who thought it was hilarious to have a freshman service him. Fortunately, underclass jocks sucking the cocks of upperclass jocks was not that uncommon, so the homo words never came into play. The party had been on a Friday night, and when I stumbled home Saturday afternoon, Keegan was the only one who was home. "You look totally hung over, bro," he said. "No shit, Sherlock," I moaned. I wanted to go to bed and sleep off the party. My fourteen-year-old body had taken all of the abuse it was going to take, or so I thought. "Don't go away," he said and he took off for his bedroom. "Where the fuck would I go?" I asked, wishing that Keegan had been away at somebody's house sleeping off a hangover of his own. It was rare to see him on a Saturday when he wasn't hung over—in fact it was rare to see him around the house on a Saturday at all. He returned carrying a bottle of vodka in his hand. "From my own private stash," he bragged. "If you're gonna make it through high school bro, you gotta learn how to drink. The first thing you learn is that mixing some of this shit with tomato juice will cure your hangover." Keegan went into the kitchen and made what passed for a Bloody Mary. He handed it to me and I drank it eagerly. It burned going down my throat; he had made it very strong. I saw he had one of his own, and he swallowed his faster than I had. "Fuck, I never thought I'd be drinking with you ever again," Keegan said as he took a second gulp. In a nutshell, Keegan and I both got drunk. I ended up naked on the living room sofa with him, but I didn't give up my ass to him, although I would have if he'd asked. For some reason he didn't, and for some reason I didn't bring it up—maybe it was the booze. But we did suck, and hump, and yes, kiss, and shot our wads over each other. Troy came home just before dinner and found us passed out on the floor, our naked bodies sweaty and cum covered. He got us up and took us to our own beds one at a time. Even in my drunken state, I knew he wasn't happy. But Troy understood this wasn't the time to chew ass. He was putting me down on my bed when mom came home. He told her what happened and I heard her say, "Bad enough I got to deal with Keegan...now I gotta deal with Phil and drinking too? When will this all end?" The next day mom chewed me out and told me she didn't want me drinking any more. But there were no consequences for what I'd done. As much as mom loved us, she was not very good at laying down the law and following through on any threats she made. It was Troy who got to me. We sat on his bed after eating some sandwiches for a Sunday lunch. "I was just going to have one drink," I whined. "Did you drink at that party on Friday night?" Troy asked, ignoring what I said. "Just a couple." "A couple?" "Okay, I got drunk. Like I said, I was just going to have one, but guys kept giving me more. And then I got home and Keegan said he could cure my hangover and I had more than I planned." "And then you and Keegan had sex? Did you fuck?" "That's none of your fucking business, but the answer is no we didn't." "Phil, dad is an alcoholic, Keegan is an alcoholic, and I am an alcoholic. What makes you think you're immune?" I took a bite of my sandwich while looking down at the floor. I didn't have a good answer, because even at fourteen I was suspecting I might have the same problem as the rest of my family. The result, after that talk and a couple of others, was Troy taking me to an AA young person's meeting. He introduced me to Kenny Lang, who was a high school senior, and had him take me through the Big Book as I attended more meetings. I went to meetings on and off through high school and college, but drifted away from AA after earning my master's degree. The drunk with Keegan was the last time I ever drank alcohol. It wasn't the last time we had sex, however. Larry drank a little bit in college. He was a normal person who could enjoy a beer or two. After we finished college, lemonade was as exotic as we got as far as drinking went. Alcohol is simply not a part of our lives. My time in AA gave me an understanding of what Marty was going through. When he was a senior, I told him my story. His reaction was to call me on my shit. "Maybe it's time you go do some meetings, coach. You don't grow if you're standing still. It won't hurt for you to work on your sobriety instead of taking it for granted and waking up one morning wondering where it went because you slipped. SLIP-Sobriety Loses It's Priority." He was right, of course. Since then I make the noon men's stag meeting in Centralia at least once a week, and found it helps my outlook on life and helps ensure I will follow the path of my brother Troy rather than my brother Keegan. Eighth grade saw Evergreen Middle School win the Valley League championship with an 11-1 record. The team was heavy on Wonkeys, with Phil, Perry, Jung, Q, Daniel, and me all playing. Ben didn't play baseball and Tyson broke his ankle in practice before we'd played our first game. Phil and I, along with Q, Jung, and Perry, swore that Coach Marsh, the varsity coach was into boys. We'd heard rumors that he was palling around with a former Evergreen player who was now a junior. We made it our goal to be sexy around him to see what he would do. It wasn't unusual for some of us to linger in the locker room with our junk on display, often in an erect position. I remember after one practice Perry decided to shower. His cock, which was now pushing five inches, was so hard it was as red as his pubic hair. I decided to shower with him—it was rare that anybody showered after a baseball practice. I was hard as Perry was. We stroked ourselves a bit while we showered and then pranced by the coaches' room. As with all PE offices, the locker room and showers could be viewed through a window. When Coach Marsh didn't acknowledge us, Perry knocked on the door. I was horrified—it was one thing to walk around with a hard-on; after all thirteen-year-olds were essentially walking hard-ons. But to actually knock on the door and show it off was another matter altogether. Coach Marsh opened the door. He was wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a t-shirt. "Yes, Perry?" "Um...coach...I was kinda wondering...um...," Perry stuttered. He obviously had not planned on what to do when Coach opened the door. He down looked at Perry's boner, looked back up at Perry's face, and said, "Be careful, or you'll put an eye out." He closed the door, leaving Perry dumfounded and me and Q rolling on the floor. That was the last time we tried to be sexy boys around the coach. The whole affair did give me a bit of an understanding of Korey and Chandler and their sexual hijinks in the locker room. Winning the middle school championship was a real highlight of my three years at Evergreen. The whole business of trying to be sexy around Coach Marsh was fun, but he pretty much let us know it was dumb after Perry's knock on the door. We gave Perry a lot of good-natured grief after that little incident. "I guess he meant you'd put your eye out while you sucked your own cock." Q said. "He was talking about my manliness," Perry insisted. "I think he wanted you to be careful when you fired out your cum missiles," Larry chuckled. Perry kept trying to talk us into going back to showing off our wares, but the rest of us decided we had better things to do with our time, not to mention our cocks. We all had a bit of a crush on Coach Marsh, especially after hearing some of the rumors, but, except for Perry, I think we would have genuinely freaked if Coach had taken our sexual hints. I truly believe Perry was genuinely hoping to be seduced by Coach Marsh—or was trying to seduce the coach, depending on your outlook. Before we knew it eighth grade was over, and along with it our middle school careers came to an end. We went through all of the appropriate ceremonies and had fun, but we all were eagerly looking forward to starting high school. Summer saw us win our travel league title along with a couple of tournaments. We had no doubt by the end of summer that we were a talented team. All of us would be attending Daniel Evans High School, and we had high hopes for success. Not long after eighth grade ended, we had a Wonkey party at Q's house. It had the most fucking of any party we'd ever had. All of the Wonkeys were there. I fucked and was fucked by Perry and I also took Tyson's ass. Larry was fucked by Ben and Jung. Maybe the most interesting match was seeing twelve-year-old Devon take Tyson and Daniel's big cocks up his tight little ass. I knew it was tight, because I'd fucked him at his house with Ben watching. Devon was a hot little fucker—Ben now took him regularly and sometimes let his little brother return the favor. One of the fun things we did that summer was have a Devon pubic hair betting pool. After pooling our bets we had twenty dollars. The first person to spot a Devon pubic hair before school started would win ten bucks and Devon would then get the other ten. Ben wasn't eligible, but Devon said he'd split the money with his big brother. Nobody got anything by the start of school, and it wasn't until between Thanksgiving and Christmas that we had a winner—who was me. Devon was instructed not to tell anybody if he saw one sprout, and he was very good about it—an honest Wonkey, just like the rest of us. I spotted his new possession while burying my face into his bare pubic area while sucking his dick on his bed. His face lit up when he realized I'd seen the thin little stray growing to the right of center on his mound. We all saw Devon have his first wet cum before school started, however, which was an even bigger occasion than him sprouting his first hair. High school was a lot more fun than middle school. Troy told me that's how it would be. He was going to start junior college in the fall, but would still be living at home, which made me happy. It not only meant some fun times in bed at night, he was also around to save me once again from following Keegan's slippery slope. While we had sex together a lot, intercourse was rarely a part of it. But, when Troy fucked me it was really good. And, like Ben, he was willing to let little brother get his ass on occasion. A month into high school, Larry and I agreed to have anal sex only with each other. We made two exceptions—I could still do it with Troy and he could still do it with Q. I think I got the better deal there. Q was so much into girls that Larry and Q rarely had any sex together. We finally changed it so he could do it with Devon on occasion. Yes, Devon was quite the middle school horn dog, something he made sure we knew. Larry and I both made the honor roll at the semester. We played three sports: football, basketball, and baseball. The football team went 3-3. Larry went from backup to starting quarterback for the last three games. I was a running back and defensive back. We were pretty good in basketball, going 10-5. But it was in baseball that we shone. We went 14-1 in the spring, winning the freshman championship in the Valley League. The head coach said we were the best freshman team the school had had in the ten years he'd been head coach and that if we worked hard we could accomplish great things. The transition from middle school to high school was like going from night to day. Expectations became higher as our perceptions of the world matured. Still, we were fourteen, which meant we still had some exploring to do. As a group, the Wonkeys had mellowed out some. The depth of our friendship was becoming more important than seeing who could suck whose cock or fuck whose ass. Yes, Larry and I had restricted our anal sex, but that didn't stop us from getting turned on watching others do it. But our relationship as friends was as satisfying as doing things in bed. Our sexual encounters became more one-on-one than group sex. I loved Perry's wildness, for example, and once had three-way sex with him and Dean. Jung was a favorite bed partner because he could go from being gentle to being a madman when having sex. Jung was also a great person just to chat with—his intelligence, his good humor, and his ability to express himself made him a special friend. Q was outgoing and friendly and now so into girls. None of the Wonkeys were virgins when it came to anal sex by the time we started our freshman year, but Larry, Perry, Ben, Devon, and I were virgins when it came to girls. "Look, I know Larry and Phil are gay," Q said one Friday night as we had a pizza party after attending the varsity football game. "But you guys should still try fucking pussy at least once, just to say you experienced it." "I'm gay, too," Perry pointed out. "But you've made out with girls," Jung reminded him. "Well, yeah. Dean's got them over all the time when the `rents are gone, so what the fuck am I supposed to do with them? I still haven't fucked one, though." "You are on the cusp of heaven," Jung said with a leer. "Whatever. Have you fucked anybody other than your sisters?" "Who says I've fucked them?" "Come on Jung," Daniel said, "you know we know the score." Daniel had lost his cherry the weekend before to Jana Keller after Q set him up with her. He'd been trying to set Larry and me up with her as well, but we passed. Jana was a fag hag, a term we didn't know at the time. She liked fucking virgin boys who might be gay because she could enjoy sex without making a commitment. Sure, she was kind of a slut, but she was a nice looking girl as well as friendly and smart. She married while she was in college and ended up with three sons, two of whom claim to be gay. It wasn't that Larry and I didn't like Jana, we just weren't interested in sex with her, which didn't stop Q from trying to get us in bed with her. Ben hadn't lost his cherry, because when push came to shove, he was shy and insecure. Devon was not interested in girls, although that would change in a hurry as puberty started hitting him hard. In spite of his insecurities, Ben lost his cherry before the end of ninth grade. He simply found a girl he liked and who really liked him. They ended up naked in bed one afternoon after school, which led to the inevitable. It was during this time that Daniel and Devon really got serious about their relationship. Devon might have been a preteen, but he knew what he wanted, and Daniel was it. We kidded him that he liked Daniel's big cock up his cute little ass, but he said he liked Daniel "a lot." "I want to be his boyfriend someday," he confided in me after we had enjoyed sex in my bed right around spring break. The twelve-year-old was still a tight fuck. "Then maybe you should quit being my fuck buddy and put all your energy into showing Daniel that you're serious." "So, does that mean you want to break up with me?" he asked sadly. "Devon, I have a boyfriend—his name is Phil. I hope you didn't think that we had something going, cuz if you did I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea." "Oh, no, I was just joking. Ben made sure I knew what was going on. It's just, I don't know if Daniel really likes me. I think he still has the hots for Ben." "So ask him," I said. I was giving him what I thought was sage advice. He must have been impressed by my wisdom, because that is exactly what he did a few days later. The seventh grader took the middle school bus to the west side, got off close to Daniel's house, and waited for the lanky ninth grader to come home. Devon was far more outgoing than his older brother, and in this case it paid off. Devon asked Daniel to go out with him, and much to his surprise and pleasure, Daniel agreed. The high school and middle school boys became very clandestine boyfriends. Even as we cut our ties to middle school, middle school could still have a hold on some of us, as Daniel discovered when he fell for a twelve-year-old boy. But, high school is what had the tightest hold on us. Phil and I became more secure in our relationship every day. While we couldn't walk down the halls of Evans High holding hands, the way the gay boys could at Mayfield High over two decades later, we still found ways to touch each other in an intimate fashion. Most of the boys walked down the halls with their girlfriends. Phil and I had each other. While we didn't advertise our relationship and our gayness, there were some people who either knew or suspected what our friendship was really about—people outside of the Wonkeys I mean. Our relationship had grown from sexual infatuation, to a kind of puppy love, to a deeper kind of love where just being in each other's presence made us feel warm right down to our souls. Next: Keegan