Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2012 16:54:49 -0500
From: Jayson Vascardi <jaycolin25@gmail.com>
Subject: Tale of Three 7

A Tale of Three
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Legal Disclaimer: This story is fictional, as are the characters featured
herein, which are solely the product of the author's imagination. Any
resemblance to actual persons, either living or dead, is entirely
coincidental. If you are under the age of eighteen, offended by male/male
material, or if such material cannot be legally viewed where you live, then
you should be leaving now. Otherwise, please enjoy the story.

Character Profiles: http://jayson.worldofslash.com/a-tale-of-three/profiles/index.htm
Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/storiesbyjayson
Writing Journal: http://jaycolin.livejournal.com

This story is ©2004-2010, 2011 by J.C. Vascardi. This story is the sole
property of its author and may not be copied, in whole or in part, posted
on any other website, or included in any form of book or media, without the
explicit written permission of the author.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Seven, Part One
James' Perspective
Thursday, January 6, 2005

-o-0-o-

There are times when I just can't help but think that Drew and I can be way
too nice sometimes. It was bad enough when Kevin and our step-cousins
showed up unannounced on our doorstep, but then for us to do what we did
next was probably being just too nice. Kevin had made some calls and was
unable to find any suitable lodgings. Kevin's definition of suitable is a
five-star luxury resort, preferably the Ritz-Carlton. There is no
Ritz-Carlton in Wilmington and, try as he might, Kevin was unable to find
any resorts in Wilmington that lived up to his incredibly high
standards. So, reluctantly, Drew and I offered to sleep on the sofa bed in
our living room, thus allowing Tiernan and Tristan to take Drew's room and
Kevin and Trevor to take mine.

If they felt at all strange about staying in our hovel of an apartment,
they didn't say anything, possibly because of the fact that despite the
outward appearance of the building and the low rent, Drew and I have
furnished the apartment with many of the luxuries that Kevin and the
triplets are used to. For example, feather beds with
three-hundred-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. Drew and I have never
thought of our apartment as a hovel, but we both knew that Kevin and our
cousins did, because they've always been stuck-up spoiled brats. Of course,
that isn't really their fault I guess.

I've mentioned that I slept with Kevin, but it was after our night of
passion that we fell asleep in the bed and he had a nightmare. After I woke
him up and comforted him a bit, he told me about his dream, and I have to
admit that I think I would be pretty messed up myself if I had lived
Kevin's life. You see, the dream was actually a running collection of real
events that happened throughout his life. What could possibly be so wrong
with Kevin's life? I mean, one look at him and you think, "He has
everything anybody could ever want." Of course, that's not actually true,
because one thing that he desperately wants but has never gotten is the
love and approval of his parents. From early on, Adam and Gladys Perry have
told Kevin point blank that they never intended to have children and that
they consider him to be one of the biggest mistakes of their lives.

As for my step-cousins, they spent their entire childhood being raised by
nannies. To say that Victor and Blanche Carmichael were loving and caring
parents would be the biggest lie of the century. My uncle has always been
consumed with making money and running all of the family businesses, to the
point that he probably spends half an hour or less a month with his
kids. They're twenty-three years old and, to this day, Victor can't tell
his own children apart. As for their mother, well, my Aunt Blanche has
always been much too busy hanging out at the country club with all the
other society wives, sipping cappuccino, playing bridge, and exchanging
gossip. To be honest, I think my aunt feels that she did her part in
raising Tiernan, Tristan, and Trevor by carrying them for nine months and
giving birth. After that, she basically just pawned them off on a nanny
because actually raising her children couldn't possibly have been her job,
could it?

Growing up the way that they did - Kevin being told from early on that he
was a mistake and the triplets being raised by nannies - I suppose it isn't
all that hard to understand why they grew up to be spoiled brats. The only
thing their parents ever really gave them was their monthly trust
allowances and the occasional lecture on making sure to not embarrass their
respective families or they would regret it. Eventually, even having them
in the same house became too much for Victor and Blanche and Adam and
Gladys to deal with, so as soon as they turned thirteen they were all
shipped off to boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were never
given a choice in the matter, and their parents didn't even say goodbye to
them, but considering the lack of interest they'd shown previously, why on
earth would they have shown any interest then?

It's really a miracle that Drew's and my step-mother, Victor's younger
sister, Veronica turned out the way that she did. Unlike her brother, she's
always taken an interest in Drew's and my lives and has done her best to be
a good step-mother, in the absence of our late mother. Although she can
still be a royal pain in the ass when she wants to be, such as her being
upset with us for not coming home to Atlanta for the annual Yuletide Ball
this past Christmas. Our dad was often busy at work, although he did still
make a whole lot more time for us then Kevin and our cousins ever got from
their parents. When Drew and I decided that we wanted to go away to
boarding school, the same school that Kevin and our cousins went to, our
dad and Veronica fought with us. They didn't want to send us out of the
country, but eventually they did because they knew it was what we
wanted. We were very happy in Atlanta, but we were also like so many
teenagers who desperately wanted to get away from their parents and have a
little more independence. This was also around the time that Drew and I
were coming to terms with the fact that we were both gay, so the idea of
attending an all-boy boarding school was extremely appealing.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that despite the fact that Kevin and our
cousins come off as being stuck-up and spoiled, I understand why they
turned out that way. That isn't to say that I don't find them to be royally
annoying at times, but both Drew and I tend to cut them a lot more slack
then the average person would. I know that some people would say that a bad
childhood is no excuse for acting like stuck-up and spoiled brats as
adults, but most of those people probably never had childhoods or parents
like theirs.

I woke up around a quarter to eight, sat up, and stretched. Drew was still
fast asleep, although I had to wonder how he managed to sleep so soundly on
that sofa bed. Even having furnished our apartment with very nice furniture
that, as Kevin had said the previous day, "fit our social class," the sofa
bed was never that comfortable. Of course, they're not really supposed to
be comfortable, because one has to remember that the mattress of a sofa bed
does have to give up some comfort in order to be thin enough to fold into
the sofa. Between the two of us, Drew has always been the one who can sleep
through almost anything. We may be identical in appearance and share many
of the same personality traits, interests, and hobbies, but that doesn't
mean that we're exactly alike in every way. Drew is a sound sleeper while
I've always been a light sleeper.

Swinging my legs onto the floor, I reached down and quickly pulled on my
discarded socks before standing up and going down the hall to the bathroom
to take care of business. Usually both Drew and I sleep completely naked,
but since we had guests and were sleeping in the living room, we went to
bed wearing sweatpants and t-shirts. Before heading into the kitchen to
start making breakfast, I couldn't help but press my ear against my bedroom
door and listen for a moment. I was happy to hear no noise coming from
inside my bedroom, because quite frankly the thought of my step-cousin
Trevor and my ex-lover Kevin having sex in my bed wasn't very appealing to
me.

About half an hour later, I had finished making breakfast, which consisted
of apple cinnamon muffins, ham and cheese omelets, and assorted fruit, with
fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee to drink. The smell of food woke
Drew up and he set the table while I went over to my door and, after
pounding on the door, said, "Breakfast is ready, so if you're hungry get
out here and eat."

I was just about to go a little ways down the hall to pound on Drew's
bedroom door when it opened. Tiernan and Tristan walked out of the room
clad only in black silk boxers and black ribbed athletic t-shirts. They
nodded to me when they saw me and then followed me into the kitchen, where
we all sat down at the table to eat breakfast. Kevin and Trevor appeared a
few minutes later, with Trevor, as usual, dressed like his brothers, and
Kevin wearing his customary black bikini briefs, opting to not wear a shirt
so as to leave his muscled chest showing. I'll certainly say one thing for
Kevin and even my step-cousins - they certainly were endowed with nice
bodies. Now, if only they had nicer personalities to go along with their
good looks, they might actually stand a chance of getting a
relationship. Well, Tiernan and Tristan might anyway, considering that from
what I could tell, Trevor and Kevin were, and still are, totally devoted to
one another.

After breakfast, Drew and I cleared the breakfast dishes and loaded the
dishwasher before we came into the living room to find our guests all lying
on the pulled out sofa bed watching television. Not having anything better
to do, Drew and I sat down in two nearby armchairs and began watching
television as well. At some point over the next hour or so, Kevin and
Trevor lost interest in the movie that we were watching and began kissing
each other passionately. I was just about to say, "Get a room you two,"
when the phone rang. A voice in my head then said, "Saved by the bell,
because had you said that, they'd probably have gone and done it in your
room."

Drew reached over and answered the phone. After a brief exchange with the
person on the other end, he put his hand over the receiver and said, "Hey,
Tech, Alex, Will? Your dad is on the phone - says he wants a conference
call. I'll transfer him to my private line in my bedroom so you guys can go
in there and have some privacy."

"Thanks," Tiernan mumbled as the three of them got up from the sofa and
headed into Drew's bedroom.

I could tell that none of them seemed very enthusiastic about talking to
their father, but then again, since they only see him for half an hour or
less a month, it would stand to reason that they really aren't that close
to him. In fact, if it wasn't for his blood running through their veins,
one could even call them total strangers.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Seven, Part Two
Tiernan's Perspective
Thursday, January 6, 2005

-o-0-o-

Tristan, Trevor, and I walked into Drew's bedroom and I began readying the
phone as they sat down on Drew's bed. This particular telephone was
actually developed by a subsidiary of Phillip Carmichael Industries, of
which my father, Victor Carmichael, is the Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board. The phone is like any normal telephone, except that
it includes five jacks in its base that can be used to plug in a variety of
components such as tape recorders, answering machines, or Caller ID
displays as well as supporting the use of headsets, thus allowing up to six
people to talk on the phone without the inherent sound distortion problems
of a speakerphone.

Even though it's just the two of them living in the apartment, Jay and Drew
bought enough of the headsets so that every phone in the house would have
three of them at the ready. It might seem like a wasteful way to spend
one's money to some people, but considering that Jay and Drew's family was
worth close to three billion dollars at the time, it wasn't that big of a
deal. I plugged the three headsets into the phone, placing one on my head
before handing the other two to Tristan and Trevor, and then pressed the
button on the phone to initiate the conversation.

"Hello Father," I said as I sat down in Drew's desk chair.

"Are all three of you there?"

"Yes, Father," Tristan, Trevor, and I replied in unison.

"Good, I don't want to waste time having to repeat myself," Victor
replied. "I'm calling to inform you of some changes which are going to
affect you three in a major way."

"What kind of changes?" Trevor asked.

"Well, you may remember that I mentioned something about it already,"
Victor replied. "Although the three of you probably thought it was an idle
threat that I made after having a bit too much to drink, I assure you that
it wasn't."

"You cannot be serious," I remarked, remembering our father's threat to cut
us off completely unless we went to college and got jobs.

"If there's one thing you three should know by now," Victor asserted, "it's
that I don't make idle threats."

At that point, I honestly felt like saying, "We've only seen you for about
a hundred and thirty hours in twenty-three years; how in the hell do you
expect us to know anything about you? You sure as hell don't know anything
about us - you can't even tell us apart for crying out loud!" However, I
knew that if anything would make Father angry it would be that, so I didn't
say it because I figured that if he became angry he might do something
worse then cut us off, although at the time I couldn't think of what could
possibly be worse.

"Yes, Father," Tristan, Trevor, and I droned in unison.

"Effective immediately, the three of you are officially cut off," Victor
continued. "This isn't necessarily a permanent situation, but I sincerely
doubt that three lazy playboys like yourselves can meet the conditions to
have access to your trust funds reinstated."

"What are the conditions?" Trevor asked.

"Find gainful employment and maintain grade points of 3.5 or higher in
college."

"So we're supposed to get jobs and enroll in college in the fall?" I asked.

"No, you're supposed to get jobs," Victor replied, "and start college four
days from now. I called in a few favors and got the three of you enrolled
for the spring semester at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington
campus. That's where you are right now, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's where we are," Tristan replied, even though he knew that
father considered the question to be rhetorical. "Visiting James and
Andrew."

"So where are we supposed to live?" I asked.

"Well, at first I was tempted to tell you to stay in a hotel," Victor
replied, "but that would be more expensive in the long run, so I decided to
be nice and take care of the security deposit, first, and last month's rent
on the four bedroom, four bathroom apartment across the hall from James and
Andrew's apartment."

"Doesn't James and Andrew's father own this building?" Tristan asked.

"Yes, he does," Victor replied. "Don't expect to get free rent though
because you won't. James and Andrew don't even get free rent. Now, I have a
board meeting to attend in a few minutes, so I want to wrap this up. I've
bought each of you a laptop computer, which will be delivered in a day or
so. Everything else you'll have to buy yourselves and, to prove that I'm a
nice guy, I will be wiring you each $5,000 in cash to buy furniture and
other necessities."

"What about college tuition and books?" Trevor asked.

"Money from your trust fund will pay for your tuition," Victor replied. "As
for books, I will pay for your books this semester, but after this I expect
you three to pay for them yourselves. You will also have to buy all your
own food and clothes. For clothes, you can keep whatever you took with you
to Wilmington, but everything you left at home is being packed up and
donated to charity. Oh, and I'm selling your cars."

"You can't sell our cars!" Tristan said before asking, "How are we supposed
to get around?"

"Actually, I can sell your cars," Victor answered, "because they were never
yours to begin with. I bought them and, while I did allow you to drive
them, I never put the titles in your names, so I'm well within my rights to
sell them and get back close to half a million dollars. As for how you're
supposed to get around, I'm sure Wilmington has a bus system. Use it. I
have to go for my board meeting now. Goodbye."

Victor hung up without even giving Tristan, Trevor, and I the chance to say
goodbye. Removing the headsets, Tristan and Trevor handed theirs back to me
as I took mine off and placed them back on the rack that Jay and Drew had
them on.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"Well, as much as it sickens me to even say it," Tristan replied, "I guess
we should start looking through the employment section of the newspaper and
start applying for jobs."

"Jay and Drew live here in Wilmington," Trevor added, "so maybe they might
have some idea of what's available."

"Yeah, that's true," I said. "I hate the thought of even telling them that
we've been cut off, but we probably don't have a choice because they'll
know as soon as we show up for college classes and move in across the
hall."

"Damn Father for doing this to us," Tristan said. "Of course, we're not
totally out of money because I'm sure Kevin will help us out."

"Yeah, thank heaven for Kevin," Trevor said. "I don't know what I'd do
without him, and I'm sure he'll help us out."

"Actually, I won't be."

The sudden voice startled me a bit as I turned around to see Kevin standing
in the doorway with a letter in his hand.

"What do you mean?" Trevor asked.

"While you were in here the mailman came with the mail," Kevin
replied. "Usually he'd just put it in Jay and Drew's box downstairs, but
because there was a registered letter requiring a signature he had to bring
it up. The letter is from Lord and Lady Perry and they've cut me off
without a cent, saying that I have to get a job and go to college. They
said I'm supposed to move into the apartment across the hall with you and
that they were nice enough to buy me a laptop computer even though I don't
deserve it, since I'm the biggest mistake of their lives and have brought
them nothing but misery since the day of my conception."

"The letter actually said that?" I asked, noting that, as usual, Kevin
referred to his parents as Lord and Lady Perry, the titles which they
bought the right to use, instead of calling them Mom and Dad.

"Yeah, Tech, it did," Kevin replied as he handed me the letter. "Here, read
it yourself."

Tristan and Trevor leaned over and read over my shoulder as I read:

Dear Mr. Perry:

This letter is to inform you that, effective immediately, your trust fund
is officially frozen for at least one year. In that time you are required
to get a job and attend college at the University of North Carolina in
Wilmington, starting in the upcoming spring semester, where you must
consistently maintain a 4.0 grade point average. If after one year's time
you prove that these goals are possible, you will begin receiving a monthly
allowance from your trust totaling $250 a month. If, however, you are
unable to meet these goals, your trust fund will be frozen to you until
your thirty-sixth birthday.

College tuition will be paid for by your trust fund. In terms of living
arrangements, you will be sharing the apartment across the hall from James
and Andrew Matthews with Tiernan, Tristan, and Trevor Carmichael, who are
now under the same restrictions as yourself.

You will have to pay for all food, clothes, college textbooks and
transportation costs yourself. You should also know that we are selling
your Ferrari, which was never really yours to begin with. You may keep any
and all clothes that you took with you to Wilmington, but everything you
left at the house has already been boxed up and shipped off to charity.

Signed, Lord Adam Perry, Esq. and Lady Gladys Emerson-Perry

P.S. Even though you don't deserve it, seeing as how you are the biggest
mistake of our lives, we were nice enough to buy you a laptop computer
which will be delivered in a day or so. To be perfectly honest, we fail to
see why we're being so nice to you, seeing as how you are a lazy bum that
has brought us nothing but misery since the day of your conception, but you
will also find enclosed a check in the amount of $5,000, which is to be
used for furnishing your new apartment and buying other necessities.

"Sheesh, can you get anymore impersonal?" Trevor asked. "Our father at
least took the time to call."

"Yeah well, your parents may not seem to care about you," Kevin replied,
"but at least they haven't been telling you that you were the biggest
mistake of their lives ever since you were three."

"If it's any consolation," I said, "our parents rarely take the time to
talk with us at all."

-o-0-o-

Chapter Seven, Part Three
Taylor's Perspective
Thursday, January 6, 2005

-o-0-o-

Unlike my brother Matt, I chose to live on campus since I didn't have a
girlfriend and hence had no real need of privacy. Of course, a need for
privacy is not the only reason that Matt lives off campus. The main reason
is because cohabitation is not allowed in any of the university residences
and Matt was certainly not about to give up having sex with Jordan and Kyle
for their entire college career. I can certainly understand that, because
while I'm straight and thus not into men, it didn't mean that I couldn't
appreciate that my brother's boyfriends were good looking.  I also knew
that they were more than willing to have sex pretty much whenever Matt
wanted, so, I couldn't blame him.  At least one of us was getting laid
regularly.

It was about noon and I was on my way down to the Hawk's Nest, one of the
on-campus dining areas in the student union, when my cell phone
rang. Quickly pulling it out of the pocket of my khaki shorts, I took a
quick look at the Caller ID display before answering. "Hey John."

"Hello, Taylor," said the voice of Matt's and my older half-brother,
Dr. John Alexander Lawson, an obstetrician/gynecologist who lives with his
wife and young son in Asheville. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."

"You didn't," I replied, "I'm just on my way to the Hawk's Nest for
lunch. What can I do for you, bro?"

"Well, Matt invited us down for the weekend," John answered, "for Jake's
birthday party."

"Oh, cool," I said. "It'll be nice to see you."

"Well, unfortunately you won't be," John remarked. "I tried calling Matt,
but I keep getting the answering machine at his apartment and his cell
phone must be turned off because I keep getting his voice mail. Anyway, I
have a full schedule of appointments this weekend, so I really can't get
away. However, Alexis and Zane are going to drive down for the weekend."

Alexandra, or Alexis as she prefers to be called, is John's wife and Zane
is their nearly three-year-old son, whose first name is actually Nickolas,
but we all call him by his middle name.

"Well, you'll be missed of course," I noted, "but it'll be nice to see
Alexis again and I'm always up for seeing my nephew."

"Well, he's certainly anxious to see his Unca Tay," said John, saying Uncle
Taylor the way his son would say it, "not to mention being anxious to see
Unca Matt, Dan, and Ky. He's a regular ball of energy, that kid."

"You don't have to tell me that," I said with a laugh. "He's a spitfire all
right. He must get it from Alexis 'cause you certainly never were that
hyperactive as a kid."

When I said that a rather long silence followed and I couldn't help but
wonder if I had somehow upset John, but then he said, "Yeah, that's true. I
wasn't, though from what her parents tell me, Alexis was quite the ball of
energy as a child, so you're right - Zane must get it from her. Anyway, I
have to go now because I have a patient in a few minutes."

"Okay, nice talking with you, John," I said as I pressed the end button on
my cell phone, put it back in my pocket, and headed into the Hawk's Nest,
deciding to get a chicken sandwich and waffle fries from Chick-fil-A.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Seven, Part Four
Nick's Perspective
Thursday, January 6, 2005

-o-0-o-

It was pretty strange, but the day seemed to go by a lot faster than
normal. Usually when I was in school, the days seemed to drag by and take
forever to end, but before I knew it the bell signaling the end of classes
for the day was ringing. I hung back with Aaron in our last period study
hall, waiting for the mad dash of students in the hallways to subside a bit
as they all rushed to get to their lockers, get their stuff, and get out to
their respective busses or cars to go home for the evening. Normally Aaron
and I are among the crowd of people racing to go home, but today we both
had to stay after school because it was Thursday, which meant it was time
for the weekly meeting of our high school's Gay-Straight Alliance, which
Aaron and I were founding members of.

Usually the meetings dealt mostly with discussing matters having to do with
sexual orientation, providing a safe haven for the gay, bisexual, et cetera
students of the school; educating the staff, parents, and students about
orientation issues; and working to end homophobia in the school. At our
last meeting before winter break, however, we were told by our faculty
advisor, science teacher Mrs. Beverly Armstrong, that she was planning
something for this first meeting of 2005 which she hoped the entire group
would enjoy, even though it wasn't in the realm of what we normally did at
meetings.

"So what do you think this new activity is that Mrs. Armstrong has
planned?" I asked Aaron as we stopped at our lockers to put our books away.

"No clue," Aaron replied as we entered one of the stairwells and started
walking up the stairs to the third floor.

"I suppose one of these days Mrs. Armstrong will probably have to go on
maternity leave," I pointed out off-handedly as we reached the second floor
landing.

"Yes, I suppose she will," Aaron said. "To be honest, I'm a little
surprised she hasn't already. She is eight months pregnant now, so I have
to wonder what's going to happen with the GSA after she goes on leave? I'm
sure you'll remember that it wasn't exactly easy to find a teacher who was
willing to serve as our faculty advisor."

"Yeah, I remember," I said. "They were all either too busy conducting
after-school tutoring sessions, running other after-school clubs and
activities, or they just didn't want to for whatever reasons. We had just
about given up hope of even finding an advisor when Mrs. Armstrong
volunteered."

"Well, she's always been very dedicated to the group," Aaron remarked as we
reached the third floor and exited the stairwell, heading down the corridor
to the library. "I'm sure she has been making inquiries with the staff to
find herself a replacement for when she goes on leave."

"You're right, I'm sure," I agreed, "and I'm also sure she won't give up
until she finds someone. Just like she wouldn't give up last November when
we had to move our meetings from the science office to the library due to
increased interest and membership. I remember the fight the librarian put
up because she didn't want us meeting in the library, but eventually
Mrs. Armstrong convinced her."

"Yeah, that's true," Aaron said "although that was only after
Mrs. Armstrong secured Dr. Webber's help."

"Well, whatever works," I said as we reached the library. "It's pretty nice
to know that we have the school principal on our side. I mean, having one
of the administrators on board is something every GSA should have in order
to survive, but it's a very nice coup when you can get the principal on
your side."

"Yeah, that's definitely true," Aaron admitted as he tried the doors to the
library, which were locked, but that was normal because the library was
always closed during the last two periods of the day on Thursdays. It's
when the librarian and her assistant put returned books back on the
shelves, checked the computer for overdue books, and wrote reminders to the
students who had checked them out that if they didn't return them by the
end of the year, they'd have to buy them.

"I guess we're the first ones here," I said as I leaned against the wall
outside the library door.

"Not for long," Aaron observed as he pointed down the hall to where our
good friend and fellow senior Jayden Travis had just come around the corner
with three of our more recent members who had just joined up before winter
break: a freshman boy by the name of Phillip and two junior girls who had
transferred to our school last October, Katie and Alicia.

"Hey Aaron," Jayden said as he reached us, "and Nick."

"Hi JC," Aaron replied, calling Jayden by his nickname.

The six of us stood around making small talk for the next several minutes
as more of the members arrived, including Aaron and my friends Caroline
Jenkins and Brian and Antonio Foster. At around ten minutes past three, the
elevator doors opened and Mrs. Armstrong got off, walked over, and said,
"I'm so sorry for being late. I was in the middle of my prep period seventh
hour and I started having contractions, so I went to the hospital. Turns
out it was just Braxton Hicks, but I figured I had better head to the
hospital just in case."

Mrs. Armstrong pulled out her keys and quickly unlocked the library door
before ushering everyone into the large room. The nice thing about the
school library is that a school alumnus from a few years back had donated
money to make the library look and feel like an upscale bookstore with
comfortable sofas and chairs dispersed throughout the room. Originally,
when we had outgrown the science office, there had been talk of moving our
meetings down to the cafeteria in the basement, but Mrs. Armstrong really
pushed for the library because it was so much more comfortable then the
wooden benches in the cafeteria.

Once everyone sat down, Mrs. Armstrong started the meeting by saying,
"Okay, well, as most of you will remember, before we went on winter break I
mentioned that I was making plans for an activity that we could do as a
group which I hoped everyone would find enjoyable. I suppose the suspense
of wondering what that is for the last week has been quite hard on some of
you."

"Yeah, I have been wondering," Antonio said. "I'm sure we all have. So,
what's up?"

"Well, as those of you who went here last year know," Mrs. Armstrong began,
"one of the history teachers, Mrs. Bates, retired last year after nearly
fifty years of teaching. She was also the chairman and faculty advisor for
the student committee responsible for planning the Junior/Senior Prom. When
she retired, I was offered the position and, not yet knowing that I would
be on maternity leave come prom time this year, I accepted the job."

"So what does this have to do with the GSA?" Jayden asked as he looked up
from the notebook that he was recording the minutes of the meeting in.

"As some of you may have heard or know from experience," replied
Mrs. Armstrong, "in years past the prom has never been open to the gay and
lesbian population of the school because of the fact that Mrs. Bates was
homophobic and in turn would always select homophobic students to be on the
prom committee. Now, this is where you come in, because this year instead
of issuing a school-wide announcement that anyone wishing to join the prom
committee should come see me, I'd like all of you to join and help me in
making the Junior/Senior Prom open to the gay and lesbian students for the
first time in this school's history."

"Wow," Caroline said. "I'd love to take part. I think planning the prom
would be fun."

"Well, I can't even go to the prom," Phillip said, "without a junior or a
senior as my date."

"While that is normally true, Phillip," Mrs. Armstrong explained, "when I
got clearance from Dr. Webber to do this, I also asked her for permission
to allow any and all members of the GSA who were not juniors or seniors to
attend the prom without junior or senior escorts. I'm happy to say that I
did get clearance for that, so you can attend the prom without the normal
requisite escort."

"Count me in then," Phillip said with a smile.

Within the next ten to twenty minutes each and every one of our GSA's fifty
members had expressed an interest in helping to make the prom inclusive to
the gay and lesbian students of the school. Personally, I was very happy by
this turn of events because, while I do consider myself to be bisexual, I
tend to have a preference towards men, so I remember being pretty upset
last year when Aaron and I were barred from attending the prom when we
expressed interest in going together. Aaron and I are as close as brothers,
so we could never get romantically involved, but we had thought it would be
nice to attend the prom together as friends. Mrs. Bates and the planning
committee however said that only male/female couples were allowed to attend
and refused to sell tickets to Aaron or me.

"All right now, before we adjourn for the day," Mrs. Armstrong said just as
the meeting was winding down, "I want to make a quick announcement. As all
of you are well aware, I am very much pregnant.  I had planned on staying a
bit longer, but with this most recent bout of false labor, I've decided
it's time to start my maternity leave, so tomorrow will be my last day.
That means, of course, that I will not be around for the next few months
for prom committee or GSA meetings. Now, I have been actively making
inquiries with other staff members about a replacement and I have found a
teacher who is willing to take on the responsibilities of both prom
chairman and faculty advisor to the GSA."

"Who?" Brian asked.

"Mr. Bradley," Mrs. Armstrong replied as my heart began doing flip-flops,
"the US History and World Geography teacher."

Aaron immediately looked at me with a concerned look on his face, knowing
that the thought of having to spend even more time with my crush would be
very hard on me, and oh boy was Aaron right.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.