Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 20:02:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Aaron Hull <wah.stories@yahoo.com>
Subject: One or the Other: Chapter Twenty-One

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	This is my first story that has chapters! My other stories are
Hayden's Story and Gavin's Got Game, they're here under the High School
section, I also have a story called The After Party, which is under the
college section. If you like this story then you should check them out
because there are some similarities except this one doesn't have sex. So if
that's what you were looking for I'm sorry. My shorter stories may have sex
but this story will contain no sex, there may be references to sex, but I
will not go into detail.
	If you like this story, contact me at wah.stories@yahoo.com. I
strongly encourage it. Also, If you want to be on my e-mail list to find
out when the next chapter comes out, please include that in the email!

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-Daniel's perspective-

	"Yo hoe!" Kurt shouted. "You and your new boy are invited to a
party tonight! Get your ass in gear!"

	I was on the phone with Kasey coincidentally. "Who's party?!" I
shouted back

	"Mason's! It's nothing big! Just a couple friends of his and you!"

	"Fuck off!" I went back to my conversation with Kasey then. "So,
how do you feel about going to a party tonight?"

	"Eh, I guess we can go. It's gonna be kinda awkward though."

	"Why do you say that?"

	"Mason's cousin is my ex-on-and-off-boyfriend."

	"You mean Brennan and Mason are cousins?" The two of them are polar
opposites. I've only met Brennan once and he seems to me to be the quiet,
small kid. Mason, on the other hand, is loud, in a good way, and
built. Brennan is a cheerleader. Mason is the star quarterback. Brennan has
medium length brunette hair. Mason has coal black short hair. Brennan is
one hundred percent white. Mason looks somewhat oriental, but mostly white.

	"I know, they don't act or look anything alike. They don't really
talk to each other though so I'm not sure if Mason knows about me and
Brennan."

	"We should still go though, it sounds like it would be fun."

	After a little more talking, we decided we would go. I was somewhat
excited because I hadn't really been out since the Halloween party. It
really sucks having to stay inside all day, but when you're only friends
are your boyfriend, your brother, his girlfriend, and the chick your
brother's girlfriend dislikes, you don't have many options to go and hang
out.

	I went out of my room and went into the living room. It was nice to
see there were no bottles all over the floor and to see Dad actually sober
and contributing to the world. Right now he was making plates of sandwiches
and chips. Dad has never been a cook, it's always been up to me and Kurt,
since mom's death, to do all the heavy cooking. Mom used to say that dad
could burn a bowl of cereal if there weren't others there to guide him.

	"Hey bud." He said to me.

	"Hey dad. You need any help?"

	"I think I have it this time."

	 The day after dad was violent, Kurt and I came home to find him
sitting in chair and crying. He explained to us that he remembered
everything from the day before. He then went on to explain that he was
going to start going to AA meetings and he'd stop buying alcohol because he
now realized he couldn't handle it.

	He's been going to every meeting and he's not gone back to
drinking. He does, however, have a coffee addiction now, so he's now
extremely energetic and loud, unlike when he was drunk where he was lazy
and sleeping.

	He also apologized for calling me a fag and that he loved me no
matter what. It was hard to accept the apology, but I did. Dad has tried
buying me things to make up for hurting me but I don't let him because
knowing he wants to make things better, actually makes things better.

	"Here," he handed me one of the paper plates. "I know it's not a
lot but at least it's better than me drinking all day. Go tell your brother
I have lunch ready."

	I walked down the hall and stepped into the spare room that Kurt
and I use as a second living room, dad normally used the main living room
as a recycling bin. "Dad made us lunch."

	"I'll be there in a minute. I'm on the phone with Macy right now."

	"Okay. Hurry up. Dad is really trying to make things better and we
need to spend as much time with him as we can."

	I left Kurt there and went back to the living room. Dad was sitting
down in his lazy chair and eating some chips and a sandwich. "Where's
Kurt?"

	"He's on the phone with Macy. He'll be in here in a minute." I sat
down on the couch. Dad and I watched about five minutes of TV before Kurt
finally entered the living room.

	"What were you and Macy talking about?" Dad asked Kurt.

	"She's just bitching about her parents. They're still mad at her
because she went to a party on Halloween instead of Jessie's house." Bothe
Kurt and I knew there was more to it, but we weren't sure Dad should find
out about it.

	"Are you two going out tonight?" Dad asked us.

	"Yeah. My boyfriend's friend's friend is having a party and we were
invited." I said.

	"Daniel. I may be okay with you being bi, but please don't do the
whole boyfriend's friend's sister's cousin's whatever you said." Kurt and I
laughed. Dad was starting to look and act his age.



	"Hey!" Kurt said as the four of us entered; him, me, Kasey, and
Macy

	"Hey, dude." Eric said to Kurt. He then went in for a hug, which
most basketball players don't do.

	Mason, Brennan, Spencer, and Tyler were there as well. Tyler and
Mason were talking while Brennan and Spencer were being all
lovey-dovey. Kasey dragged me over to the two and left Macy with the
basketball boys.

	"Hey, Bren." Kasey said.

	"Oh, Hey Kasey." Brennan said.

	"How are you?"

	"Good. If you all didn't know, and you all probably don't, Spencer
and I are kinda like dating now."

	"Really?" Kasey looked a little hurt. I have to admit, I was a
little pissed that he was hurt that his ex moved on.

	"Yeah. We are." Spencer said, but he was looking at me instead of
Kasey.

	"Hey dudes, we're gonna go out back and toss the pig skin, ya'll
wanna come?" Tyler said as he came up and rested his arms on mine and
Kasey's shoulders.

	"Umm...sure. " Kasey said.

	"I'll play too." Brennan said.

	"You go ahead, I'm not that good at football. I'll stay in here to
greet the others." Spencer said.

	"I can't let Spencer be alone so I'm going to stay with him." I
said.

	"You all sure? I know Spencer isn't that good, based off what Mason
has told me, but it's not like we're gonna play a real game." Tyler said
laughing. Both Spencer and I thanked him but both declined and insisted on
staying in.

	Macy and the guys all ran outside to go play football. From the
looks of it, it was Macy, Kurt, and Eric verses Mason, Tyler, Kasey, and
Brennan. I had my money on Macy dominating and tackling even Mason down to
the ground.

	"Why do you hate me?" I randomly asked. I didn't even think it, I
just said it.

	"Huh?" Spencer looked as confused as I did.

	"Why do you hate me?"

	"I don't?"

	"Then why do you refuse to talk to me?"

	"Because I'm not over you and it's hard to see you with Kasey."

	"Then why are you with Brennan?"

	"He's helping me get over you and I'm helping him get over Kasey."

	"You...you want to get over me?" In all honesty, I was still in
love with Spencer. Kasey was just a thing. Yeah I like him, but I still
love Spencer.

	"Well, you moved on from me."

	"I still love you, Spencer. I know it may not seem like it, but I
do."

	"If you love me, then why are you with Kasey?"

	"I don't know." I did. I just didn't want to say it.

	"It's because you don't love me anymore."

	"No it's not."

	"All you want is to fuck with me! You wait until we're about to
date, and then you go off and you fucking go with some other person. First
it was with Hannah and now it's with Kasey."

	"Have you ever thought that it's because I'm scared! I'm scared
that if we ever do date that I'll fuck everything up! I want you to be in
my life for as long as I can have you and I'm the worst boyfriend in the
world so I can't be with you that way! That's why I find someone to date! I
know I'll fall for you even more and we'll be together! I'm sorry we can't
have a fucking fairy tale relationship." I felt so good. I had finally come
to terms with myself. I also felt really bad because Spencer didn't look
too happy. Matter of fact, he looked like he was going to cry.

	"So you keep dragging me along just so you feel good? Have you ever
thought that I would still want to be with you if you screwed up? I love
you, Daniel. I've been your friend forever now. I know almost everything
about. There is very few things you can do that'll hurt me enough to make
me want to leave you. I wish you would have talked to me." Spencer then
turned towards the front door and left.

	I sat down on the couch and felt like shit. He was right. I've
known Spencer my whole life, he knows me so it's not like he doesn't know
what I'm capable of. I should have talked to him about this before I
started things with Kasey. It's probably too late to get with Spencer
now. There's no way he would want to be with me now since I don't trust
him.

	I began to think that Spencer had walked home. Hailie and Lily soon
entered, however, and asked me why Spencer was sitting out front all
alone. I was relieved that he was still here, but I didn't want to go out
there, I knew he would be pissed at me. I told the girls he was pissed at
me and asked them to not say anything to the others because I wanted to
handle it.

	Like all girls, they lied. Brennan soon came in. "What did you say
to him?"

	"Huh?"

	"Hailie and Lily said that Spencer is out front crying. What the
hell did you do to him?"

	"Let's just say that I ruined our friendship. He's out front if you
want to talk to him."

	"If I could I swear I'd kick your ass. You don't know what you mean
to Spencer. He's in love with you. He may not show it but I can see it in
his eyes." Brennan then went out to where Spencer was.

	I decided to put on my big-boy pants, go out back, and pretend
nothing happened. At first, Mason seemed upset with me, he was actually
very pissed because he took me down hard the first time I got the
ball. After that, everything went smoothly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Spencer's perspective-

	I can't believe Daniel! I mean, how could he think that I wouldn't
want to be with him? He knows what he means to me. I would never kick him
to the curb because of something he did. I really wish he would realize
that.

	"Hey." I was hoping that would be him, but it was Brennan.

	"Hey."

	"I wasn't going to come out here to you but I realized that I'm
your boyfriend so I gotta come." He sat down beside me and wrapped his arm
around me.

	"You can go back if you want."

	"I was just kidding. We may not be actually dating right now, but
we are friends and it's a friend's responsibility to help a friend when he
hurts."

	"Thanks." I rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm in love with him."

	"I know."

	"Yeah. I do. I can see it in your eyes. You're also in love with
Mason."

	"And you don't hate me?"

	"The only thing that I'm pissed about is that you probably won't
want to kiss me again." Brennan said.

	I lifted my head and kissed him on the cheek. "I like kissing you,
but I want us to stay just friends. I really like you, but the way I feel
for your cousin and for Daniel, there's no way you'll ever come before
either of them."

	"I guess I'll take that. It's kinda like how I like Kasey. But he's
horrible to me so I need to move on from him. Even though Daniel was an
asshole today, I can tell he's usually really great."

	"He is." We sat there for a while with nothing being said. It felt
so soothing being held and not having to explain my dilemma. "I want to
fake-date still. I also want to be the one who helps you get over Kasey."

	"Thanks. I really hope we can stay friends for a long time. You
seem pretty awesome."

	"I am." He and I then laughed.

	"Come on, we need to get back to the party. I don't want to miss
out on the fun and I don't want you to be all alone."

	I got up and went with Brennan to the backyard with the
others. Daniel was smiling and with Kasey and Tyler talking about
something. I hurt inside knowing that he didn't hurt that we were apart. I
know we have never officially dated, but it's hard to admit it.

	"You two are so cute together." Lily said. She and I have never
talked one-on-one before so this was a little awkward. Her friend Hailie,
who I had no clue existed until Brennan told me about her on our way here.

	"Umm...thanks?"

	She giggled. "I've been meaning to ask you for a long time now,
would you be interested in helping me start a GSA at our school? I know it
sounds weird but I really want to help students who are afraid something
like what happened to you will happen to them."

	"That sounds great. But what exactly would we do?"

	"That I'm not sure of. I'd like to help show others at our school
that `your kind' isn't all like Trey."

	"Why do you need me to help you?"

	"I've tried starting it before but the principal said there wasn't
a problem with homophobia here so we didn't need one. If you told him your
story, although he knows it already, I'm sure he'd have to change his
mind. I'm also pretty sure everyone but Mason and Tyler are homophobes on
the football team."

	I've been wanting to just forget what happened, I don't really
remember what happened, I only remember the pain I felt when I woke up and
the humiliation I felt in school with everyone watching my every move my
first day back. This, however, seems like a reasonable reason why I should
"man up" and help others. It also look good on college applications, if the
school is gay friendly.

	"So, what do you think?" Lily asked.

	"I think you should do it. I'd be right beside you." Brennan
said. He grasped my hand and gave it a light squeeze; I couldn't help but
smile at what he said.

	"I'll do it."

	Lily squealed and then hugged me. "Thank you so much, Spencer! I
know it sounds weird that a straight chick is so happy about a GSA, but I
really want to help people and this is a great step. I can get a lot of
people to join. By the time we're graduated, we'll have made GSA the
school's best club!" She then ran off with Hailie in toe over to Tyler.

	Brennan kissed me on the cheek. "Were you just being nice or do you
actually want to help her?"

	"I want to help her...it's just I don't want to be the poster boy
of what can happen with homophobia."

	"I'm sure that's not what Lily wants. I'm sure she just wants to
`exploit' you that once so you two can start the club."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


	After about another hour, Lizzie, Emma, Max, and Megan had
arrived. Megan mostly talked with Lily, Tyler, Max, and Mason, but she did
talk to me and some of the others. It felt like we weren't related
sometimes because we were so different.

	"Guess what!" Lizzie said. I really missed her big mouth. She and I
really haven't been that close since high school started.

	"What?" I asked her. Brennan, Emma, Macy, and Daniel were all
around us. The others were talking to other people or playing some kind of
game.

	"I'm polyamorous!" Lizzie shouted.

	"Poly what?" Emma asked.

	"Polyamorous. It literally means may loves. It's were you're in a
relationship with multiple people. It's like polygamy, but in a polyamorous
relationship, everyone is dating everyone instead of one person dating like
five people and those five are like sisters or brothers or whatever. It's a
web of love!"

	I could tell Emma was a little hurt. She's been talking about how
she doesn't want to be with Lizzie, but I think she truthfully did, she was
just scared she'd cause more damage to our group of friends, which seemed
to be repairing but with many others being included.

	"That's...nice." Emma said. "Excuse me, I gotta go to the
bathroom." I think everyone in the room, excluding Lizzie, knew Emma was
hurt. Lizzie has the tendency to be oblivious to other's feelings.

	"So, are you seeing anyone...or two?" Macy asked. That couldn't
help but make us laugh.

	"Yeah. There are these two chicks at our school. The crazy thing is
that they each have other girlfriends or boyfriends as well as me. It's
like there is no such thing as cheating."

	"I thought you said in a polyamorous relationship everyone is
dating everyone." Daniel said.

	"It is, but it's like how you have different groups of
friends. You're friends with everyone in one group and friends with
everyone in the other."

	Emma came back a few minutes after that. Her eyes were red, it
wasn't hard to tell that she was crying. Seeing her like that was enough to
make me tear up as well. I felt just like her. I'm in love with Daniel but
I can't do anything about it. I can see it in her eyes, she really cares
for Lizzie, but there's something in the way from her admitting it.

	"Hey Emma, guess what!" Lizzie said.

	"What?"

	"One of my girlfriends has a friend who is single. You wanna see
how it goes with him?"

	"I guess so." I could hear the "I love you, not anyone else, but
since you're not interested in me, I guess I should just move on" behind
those three little words.

	"Good. Gimme your phone so I can put his number in."

	For the next few hours I guess, I was able to talk to Tyler, Lily,
Kasey, and some of the others I really didn't know. Tyler seemed really
cool; he's also very cute. I kinda think he's bi because when Mason came up
to us and was right behind me, crouched down with his head resting on my
shoulder, Tyler started to glare at the two of us. Everyone else was used
to it I guess, but Tyler didn't like it.

	Lily and Hailie came up to me a few times and talked to me about
the club we're starting, Hailie really isn't helping start it, she's just
following Lily. To my knowledge, she's convinced everyone there to join,
even Mason. I was hoping he'd finally not be embarrassed around me in
public and admit that we're friends now. I may have never felt the way he
has about being scared about who I am, but I understand that he's not
really ready for people to connect the dots.

	"You gettin' hungry?" Mason whispered in my ear seductively. I knew
he was playing around, but I also knew behind his smile, he really was
being seductive.

	"Yeah." I whispered.

	Mason then stood up and announced to the crowd, "I'm gonna go get
some pizzas, who wants to come along?"

	Almost immediately, Tyler said he would tap along. I got this look
from Lizzie, Brennan, Macy, and Daniel, waiting for me to say I wanted to
go; I never did though. Lately Mason hasn't been himself and I really want
to keep our friendship. I know I'd ruin it if I let my emotions get in the
way, which is what'll happen if things get any further. Max decided he'd go
too, which made Tyler's expression go from happy to irritated. There just
had to be something going on.

	After they were gone, Kurt and Eric decided that they'd go out back
and play some more football. Daniel, Kasey, Brennan, and Lizzie also headed
out back to join them. That left me alone with Macy, Megan, Lily, Hailie,
and Emma. Macy was like glue and stuck to my side. The whole time we've
been here, she's been avoiding Emma. I think Emma tried talking to her
once, but Macy didn't say much and then found an excuse to leave.

	Megan turned on the living room TV and changed it to some stupid
show all but Macy and I watched. Emma would glance over occasionally and
have this pathetic look on her face. Macy never even looked at her. "Are
you still mad at her?" I whispered to Macy.

	"What gave you that impression?" Macy said sarcastically.

	"You need to get over it. Emma's life hasn't been that great
recently, I think she needs you to befriend her more than ever right now."

	Macy looked me right in the eyes. "I HAD a best friend, and then
she went and ruined it. If you haven't noticed, my life hasn't been so
great either, so why should I try talking to her?"

	"Because you're drop dead sexy and deep down you're a great person
who is dying to show some sort of compassion."

	"Damn right." Macy whispered with a smile. "I guess I should try
talking to her. You only live once."

	"Yolo" I said with a wink, which made Macy giggle, the other girls
looked over at us.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

	Mason, Tyler, and Max came back in about an hour with all the
pizzas, about ten in total. I got the football players, I was just in time
to see Lizzie tackle Kurt to the ground, which made me smile. They eagerly
came in and joined everyone inside for some pizza. Lizzie was covered in
mud, she took her shoes off before she came in so none was on the carpet,
but she made sure to give some people huge hugs, like me, covering me in a
thin layer of mud as well. Thankfully, and sadly, Mason had a shirt that
was my size, it was a football jersey from middle school.

	I rejoined the party to find about two pizza boxes empty. I quickly
grabbed myself to slices of cheese, I don't eat pepperoni. Brennan sat next
to me on the couch. We really haven't talked that much, but it was as if we
hadn't seen each other in years. He kissed me right as I swallowed my first
bite of pizza. I soon felt his tongue enter my mouth, I could taste the
pizza, which, to my surprise, didn't gross me out. We didn't do like we did
the first time, we stopped kissing about a minute in because Kurt and
Lizzie were cheering us on. Daniel had a close eye on me as Kasey sat in
his lap, who glared at me when he realized his boyfriend was interested in
me. Mason was also watching me, which made Tyler glare at me. I had a
"boyfriend," yet I was still mixed up in this weird love triangle, hexagon
thing.

	"It feels weird to be single." Megan said. I was with Brennan,
Tyler was with Lily, Kurt was with Macy, Eric was with Hailie, and Daniel
with Kasey. Max, Emma, Mason, Lizzie, and Megan were here alone. Max has a
girlfriend and Lizzie has girlfriends, but they're not here with them.

	"Well you've been with Jordan for what? Five years?" I asked.

	"Four. We met like at the beginning of my eighth grade year. We
didn't start dating until sometime around now." Megan seemed a little
emotional.

	"You should be happy. Jordan was a douche." Mason said.

	"I'm not sad about that asshole. Just upset I didn't see this
coming earlier. I wasted so much of my life with that asshole."

	"Don't worry, Megan. You'll find other asshole who'll waste the
rest of your life soon." I told her. Everyone laughed, even Megan.

	Night soon came. The party died down. Max, Macy, Eric, Hailie,
Lily, Lizzie, Daniel, Kasey, Emma, and Kurt had left. To my knowledge,
Tyler and Brennan were staying with Mason. Megan and I were still there,
Brennan didn't want me to leave.

	"Come on, bud, we need to go. Mom's been texting me for the past
thirty minutes wanting us home. You gotta tell your little boyfriend that
you gotta go." She nodded towards Brennan.

	"See ya." Brenna said, kissing me on the lips.

	"See ya."

	"Text me please."

	"Me too!" Mason shouted from the kitchen. He and Tyler were making
themselves something to snack on, they're fat people inside nice bodies,
they each had about a whole pizza.

	"I will. Bye!" Megan and I left.

	"So, you and Brennan?" Megan said as we got into her car.

	"Yeah."

	"Why are you kidding yourself?"

	"Huh?"

	"You don't like him."

	"I do like him."

	"As a friend. I'm your sister, I can tell when you like
someone. Right now, your eyes only light up when you see Mason, your eyes
begin to tear when you see Daniel with Kasey. When you see Brennan, it's as
if you're looking at Kurt or Macy or me. If that look is of lust then you
are one sick bastard for liking your sister."

	"I hate you." I tell her.

	"You're welcome."

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	Every time I read a story of Nifty, I never read the top part, so
just in case you are like me and only read the bottom portion if you liked
the story, here is my email again: wah.stories@yahoo.com. Also, if you want
to be on my email list to find out when new chapters come out, include that
in your email. AND if you email me, please state what story you're
referring to. Thanks for reading the twenty-first chapter of my story.
	I'd also like to give thanks John, my editor, and Trish, who now
helps me come up with ideas for the story. Without John, this story would
be LOADED with grammatical errors. He is sweet enough to look thorough it
thoroughly and find all those mistakes. Without Trish, my story would be
really bland right now. She has, and hopefully will later on, help me think
of great ideas for the story.
	For those of you who are unaware, I plan on ending this semester
with chapter 25. I plan to then pick up with the next semester and finish
Spencer's freshman year with chapter 50.
	I would like for all of those who actually read this to think of
John because he never emailed me back the edited version of this chapter
despite the fact I sent it to him a week ago and he normally responds
within a day or two. I'm not sure if something is wrong with him or if it's
just his computer, but I want you to keep him in your thoughts. He's become
a good friend of mine and the thought of something happening to him scares
me. Thank you guys.

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