Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 12:57:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Aaron Hull <wah.stories@yahoo.com>
Subject: One or the Other: Chapter Twenty-Two

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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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-Mason's perspective-

	Right now I'm on a bus with the rest of the football team on our
way to our final game, to claim the state championship. The team is now
divided up into two teams though; Mason's team and Jordan's team. Everyone
on the team knew about what happened a long time ago and slowly people have
chosen who they're going to "align" themselves with.

	"Who all is coming?" Tyler asked me.

	"I know Kasey, Brennan, Lily, and Spencer are going, I'm not sure
who else is though." Tyler looked somewhat disgusted when I brought up
Spencer's name.

	Ever since the party, Tyler hasn't liked Spencer so much. Each time
I bring up his name, he tries changing the subject immediately. "So, you
stoked about this game?"

	"Well duh. We're going to be state champions by the end of the
night."

	"Based off what we've been doing...we'll be lucky to be tied at
halftime." Tyler was right. Now that we're divided into two teams, we're
playing like it as well. There are times when one of tackles will
completely "miss" his target, making me get sacked.

	"I'm pretty sure they won't do that shit tonight." Tyler and I
started to talk about other things. For some reason, Spencer was on my
mind. Normally, he'd try to do anything to avoid football, but now he's
going out of his way to come watch me play, I'm also sure that he's coming
so he can see Brennan but I know that's not the only reason. And since
Spencer is on my mind, I keep bringing his name up by accident. I'll say,
"Oh yeah! One time Spencer and I..." or "I'm pretty sure Spencer would..."
and Tyler will get upset.

	To a certain degree, Tyler reminds me of Isabella; being jealous
for no reason. But overall, Tyler is nothing like her. She didn't care for
me, just her image. Tyler looks at me and likes me for who I am on the
inside. Isabella didn't care about how I felt, it was about her 24/7. Tyler
makes sure I'm okay with what we're doing, we haven't done anything sexual
though, he usually makes sure it's okay that he likes to be the little
spoon when we sleep or if it's okay that we don't announce our relationship
to the school or if it's okay he's still with Lily. Tyler genuinely cares
about me while Isabella never gave a fuck.

	"You know, you don't have to bring Spencer's name in every
sentence?" Tyler said with a smile. He was kidding, but I knew he was being
serious at the same time.

	"Sorry...it's just...I don't know."

	Tyler grabbed my hand, no one could see it because it was getting
pretty dark out, this game was at least three hours away, we're almost
there, and we left like an hour after school. He never said anything to
me. We just sat there holding hands. I liked it.

	"Okay guys!" Canyon said. Our normal head coach was sick, sadly, so
he couldn't come. Canyon had to step up and replace him for the game. He
was standing in the front of the bus as we pulled into the parking
lot. "Tonight I want to see some major ass kicking! And no not ours!" That
got a couple chuckled out of some of us. "We dropped from number one, to
number three in the state these past few games! Tonight, we are playing the
team that stole our rank! Tonight, we're going to go out there, toss aside
any shit going on," he looked at me then at Jordan, "and we're going to
play like a real fucking team! Tonight, we're going to win! Tonight, we're
going to party at my place after we finish kicking ass!" That got the whole
team shouting, and for the first time in a long time, guys who were on
opposite teams we're cheering together, shouting in each other's faces to
get pumped. The only two who still didn't see eye to eye on the team was me
and Jordan.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Spencer's perspective-

	Right now I'm in a van with Mason's dad, his mom, his two younger
siblings, Macy, and Brennan. They were nice enough to take us, Brennan's
and Macy's parents couldn't come and they knew Mason and Brennan would have
wanted me to come along.

	I'm pretty sure Daniel, Kurt, and Kasey are also going, Kasey
obviously is since he's a cheerleader, but I'm sure he was able to get
Daniel to go, who was able to get Kurt to go.

	"You all excited about this game?" Mason's dad asked.

	"Yeah!" Macy said. "It's been a while since our school has been to
a state championship game."

	"You make it sound like you've been going there forever, Mace." I
say laughing. Every else in the car, except for Garret and Alex, who are
always quiet, laughed.

	"Max is a junior and as far as I can remember they haven't gone to
state in like ten years. Our team sucked until Mason got here." Macy said
defending herself.

	"I'm sure there are other powerhouses on the team." Mason's dad
said. "I've seen him play and I'm sure he could go to any college he wanted
to with a scholarship, but he'd never hog the spotlight just to win a
game."

	"I wasn't saying that at all, Mr. McAlister." Macy probably thought
he was thinking she called Mason stuck-up or something like that. She
doesn't realized that's how Mason's dad normally talks, it's taken me a
while to get used to it. "There are definitely some great players out of
the field, it's just, before Mason, they didn't really play as a team. It's
like he's brought them together."

	"I don't know what games you've been watching here lately, missy,
but it's almost as if no one likes the other on the team anymore." If you
couldn't tell, Mason's family is all from Texas. They moved out towards
California after the wedding and after all of their schooling was done so
they could start a new life. Brennan's dad is also from Texas, he's Mason's
maternal uncle, Mason's mom's brother. He moved out here before he and his
wife had Brennan though so that's why he has to hint of an accent. Mason
doesn't either, but you can hear a little bit of it every now and then.

	"I haven't been in a while so I'm not sure how well they've been
playing. All I know is that it was good enough to get them to state."  Macy
said. I think it's sad that a girl has more to talk about with a football
dude like Mason's dad.

	"Let's just hope the other team isn't doing so great."

	We got the stadium place thing before the football team had
arrived. Mason warned me they'd be leaving an hour after school so we left
about thirty minutes before them so we could hopefully get some good
seats. Thankfully there were enough seats to sit us, there were people from
all over the state there. Plays from other schools were there, college
recruiters were there, families were there, it was like our whole school
was there too.

	Somehow in all the mess, Macy was able to spot out Kurt and Daniel,
Kasey and Brennan were already with the other cheerleaders. She yelled for
them to come up, and we all know a teenage girl can yell louder than
anything, so they heard her. When they came up to sit with us, the most
awkward thing was that Daniel sat beside me, there was an empty seat where
Brennan sat before one of the girls found him and dragged him down to the
field.

	Daniel tried talking to me, but it was futile; I couldn't think of
anything to say to him. He'd compliment me, and I'd reply with "Thanks,"
he'd try bringing up a new subject, I'd reply with "Cool," it was like I
was unable to talk to him.

	Thankfully our football team finally came out onto the field. The
crowd was cheering so loud, everything Daniel tried saying was blocked
out. I know it sounds like I don't care about him anymore, it's just it's
so hard talking to him. I love him. He loves me. He's with Kasey. There's
nothing I can do about it.

	By the time I had gotten over my situation, it was halftime
already. We were up by six, I'm not sure how the point system works so I
didn't know if that was close or if we were dominating. Macy pulled me out
of the crowd so she could go get a hotdog.

	"How are things going with you and Daniel?"

	I glared at her. "Shut up."

	"What? Can't your best friend ask about your relationships?"

	"First off, you're not my best friend because of the previous
comment, and we're just friends."

	"By the looks of it he's completely dead to you."

	"And?"

	"You should be nice to him. It's not his fault you two are too
scared to do anything together, besides make-out when you're both dating
someone."

	"And the drama between you and Emma is different how? Excluding the
whole Daniel and I are star-crossed lovers and you and Emma were just
friends. She messed up and you're ignoring her because of that one stupid
thing. If I were you, I'd be mad at Jessie because it was her who decided
to not talk to you anymore. If she didn't want to be around Lizzie or Emma,
she could have easily just hung out with me or you or Daniel or Kurt. But
no. It was her choice to leave us out. Not Emma's. In my situation, Daniel
made the decision to hurt me, that's why I'm upset with him."

	Macy hung her head in defeat. "I hate you sometimes. I never really
thought of it that way, but you're right. Emma didn't hurt me, she hurt
Jessie. Jessie's the one who decided to hurt me and the others because of
her pain."

	"I thought you were gay?" This random dude said to me. "Kurt's
gonna be pissed you're with his girl, dude!"

	I looked down to see Macy and I holding hands. We immediately let
go. "I am gay and nothing is going on between us. We're just friends." I
told him.

	"Whatevs." He went back over to his group of friends and they
started talking. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

	"Just ignore them, Spency. You and I both know nothing is going on
between us." She re-grabbed my hand and we continued on to the concession
stand.

	The line was pretty long, considering we were one of the last few
there because we were walking so damn slow while we talked. We got back
just in time to see the end of the cheerleaders' performance. Kurt was now
sitting in my seat, he smiled at me so I knew he was doing it to help me
out. I sat down between Mr. Glover and Macy.

	The game ended around midnight, it went into overtime and we won by
a touchdown. The stands full of Eagles fans were jumping, including mine. I
was one of the few who weren't going crazy as Mason threw Tyler the ball in
the end zone on fourth down, Mr. Glover was teaching me some football terms
so I didn't sound so stupid when I explained it to my mom.

	We only saw Mason for a minute, he had to ride the bus home since
that's the way he came. He gave me a huge hug, I was hoping he wouldn't let
me go. We soon found Brennan, who ran into my arms and kissed me, I think
he was enjoying our little game more than I was since he's the one who
always causes the scene. I then noticed Kasey not too far away, which
explained Brennan's happiness. We said goodbye to Daniel and Kurt, Kurt
hugged me and Daniel just said bye.

	We went back to the Glover's car and headed back home. On the way,
Macy, Brennan, Garret, and Alex fell asleep within the first ten minutes in
the van; Macy was resting on one of my shoulders while Brennan was on the
other. About halfway home, I joined them and fell asleep.

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-Mason's perspective-

	I had seen the team pumped before, but the mood on the bus after we
had one was out of control. At one point I was afraid the bus would tip
over from all the jumping and swaying that occurred.

	Canyon stood up and started to shout again. "Thankfully my sister
is out of town because I am sticking to my promise! All of ya'll who can,
you're invited to my place for a party! No alcohol though." You could hear
the known partiers groaning at that.

	We soon got back into to town, it was around three and we were
still as loud as ever. Most of the team had to go, but about a fourth of
the team, including me and Tyler, were able to go to Canyon's.

	When we got there, Canyon went into the kitchen and pulled out a
couple 24-packs of beer. "I guess I lied." He said as he started to toss
one to all of us. "If any of you assholes get me in trouble, I'll make sure
your life is a living hell." He chuckled.

	The party we were expecting was really just a bunch of guys kicking
back and getting wasted as they talked football. Despite the fact we had
just won a few hours ago, we were talking about college football teams we
were going for. Everyone was trying to tell me I was going to go pro, I
knew I could, I just wanted to do something productive with my life,
football is fun but I don't think I should get paid thousands of dollars
for throwing a ball 40 yards.

	Out of the one fourth that had came over, the ones who lives with
parents or siblings who were okay with them drinking were all gone. Tyler
and another dude didn't drink anything so they became the designated
drivers who had to take most of the guys home. At one point, the only
people who were not unconscious or gone were me and Mason. We decided to
take a risk and go for gay.

	"So, how's your love life going?" Canyon asked me. We were drinking
responsibly.

	"I'm kinda seeing someone now. Isabella and I are no longer a
thing, if you didn't know that already."

	"I did. So, can you tell me about this mystery person? Is it...you
know who?" He was talking about Spencer.

	"No, it's someone else. I think my feelings for that person are
getting stronger though."

	"Then why don't you go after them?"

	"It's complicated. They're with another guy. Someone close to me."
I wanted to tell him all about how I held Spencer that one night. I wanted
to tell him about how great it felt. I wanted to tell him I think I love
him. I couldn't though because I was scared that someone would hear me.

	"Ah. That sucks."

	"How's yours?" I decided to change the topic. I didn't want to keep
my mind on Spencer.

	"I'm actually seeing someone." Canyon was smiling now.

	"That's great! How long has it been?"

	"About a month. They're really great. I want you to meet them
soon."

	"Well, you know where I live."

	"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now."

	"Explain."

	"If everything didn't happen like it did last year, I'd still be
miserable conforming to what everyone thought I was. Because of you I
decided to get out there and by myself for once in my life. I could never
repay you for that."

	"You're welcome dude. And don't give me all the credit, you're the
one who made the decision, I just helped you realize it."

	Just then Tyler came in. "Hey, you done driving around town?"

	"Do you know how long it takes to take one person home in their car
and ride back with someone else so you can take someone else home? I think
I'm gonna stay here if you don't mind."

	"It's cool." Canyon said. "Are you staying, Mason?"

	"Yeah. I guess I will."

	"You all can take my room. I'll sleep in my sis's room. She'd throw
a bitch fit if she found out I let `strangers' sleep in her bed. Unless you
all don't want to share the same bed."

	"It's completely okay." I told Canyon. I think he understood the
message buried beneath what I said because he winked at me as I got up and
headed to his room. I got in the room and Tyler was already down to his
boxers.

	"We need to talk." He told me. Normally those words meant breaking
up, but I'm sure Tyler didn't strip down to break up with people.

	"About?"

	"You." I sat down next to him on the bed. I had never been in
Canyon's room before and it felt kind of weird being in his room with
another guy.

	"What about me?"

	"You like Spencer."

	"I'm pretty sure I told you that I like Spencer."

	"Yeah you did. But I thought you meant you like him, not love him."

	"I don't love h-"

	"Please don't lie to me. The minute you saw him, you ran up to him
and I just knew you were going to kiss him. Your self control got to you
first and you just hugged him."

	"Why are you bringing this up?"

	"Because. I want you to remember you love Spencer, not me."

	"I don't see why you're all over me for wanting to be with Spencer
while I'm with you. We've talked about you being with Lily. You've told me
you still like her but you also like me. I got over that."

	"That's because when I look at you now, it's the same look I give
Lily. When you look at him, they look is so different from what you give
me. I think we should just be friends." Apparently I was wrong about the
stripping down thing.

	"I jus-"

	"Wait, let me finish. You're probably going to say, `You shouldn't
want to end it because you're jealous.' Lately I've been pissed at you for
liking Spencer and have been thinking about ending it based solely off
that. But I had time to think about it and the reason why I want to end it
is because you love Spencer and you should go for him. Right now I have
Lily and I actually do feel like a douche bag for what I did. I'm going to
talk to her about it tomorrow and hopefully she'll forgive me despite all
the shit I've done. You and Spencer belong together."

	I wanted to yell. I wanted to cry. I didn't though. I just hugged
him. "Thank you. I hope you and Lily work things out too. Last thing I need
is for her to beat the shit out of me."

	He laughed. "I want to stay friends and I want to sleep in the same
bed."

	"I think both of those can be arranged." I smiled at him and pushed
him down on the bed. Instead of kissing up his chest though, I just crawled
up and cuddled with him. "I hope you're okay with friend cuddling."

	"I am. Just no kissing."

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-Spencer's perspective-

	The upcoming Monday, everyone was all over Mason. I was sitting
with Daniel, Lizzie, Emma, Macy, and Kurt, Daniel and I had kinda made up
as well as Emma and Macy, when Mason came in with girls all over him. Some
looked to be the sluttiest things in the school, I'm sure they were, they
just looked sluttier when they traveled in herds. I couldn't stand watching
them drool on him, literally not figuratively, so I turned away and started
talking to Macy.

	"Excuse me ladies, I'm gonna sit with my friends." I heard him say
from a good distance. A few minutes later, I noticed Mason sit down right
beside me. "Hey buddy!"

	No one at the table said anything. To my knowledge, no one in the
cafeteria said anything. No one in the school said anything. No one in the
damn world said anything. Mason Glover, the head jock and the school's
savior, was publically sitting with the gay nerd.

	"Hey?"

	"Did you enjoy the game the other day?"

	"Yeah?"

	"What's wrong?"

	"You're talking to me. And we're at school."

	"Yeah. Fuck those who can't get over the fact we're friends. I'm
tired of being someone I'm not. This weekend someone thanked me for helping
them realize who they really are, and I realized that I should be who I
want to be and not what people want me to be."

	"Dude gots balls." Lizzie said. That caused all of us to
laugh. Soon Tyler and Lily showed up and sat at our table. Brennan and
Kasey also joined our table later on. It felt good to have a full table
with people who I could talk to, excluding Kasey because I hate his ass
still.

	The bell soon rang and we all went our separate ways. For some
reason, I didn't feel like I was an outcast anymore. People actually talked
to me while switching classes, mainly because I was now seen with Mason
that morning. School ended after what felt like an hour and I was able to
get the hell out of there. I was surprised to see Mason standing at my
locker when I went to drop a couple books off so I wouldn't have to carry
them.

	"Hey Spence!" He said with a smile. I couldn't help but stare into
his eyes.

	"Umm...hey."

	"I don't have football practice anymore and I was wondering
if...you know...you wanted to go out and spend some time together?"

	"I don't kno-"

	"Please!" He stepped closer to me and closed the gap between us. "I
really want to be with you." The halls were now empty.

	"Huh?"

	Mason leaned down and whispered into my ear, "I want to feel your
naked body against mine while I show you how much you mean to me." He then
started to kiss my neck. I dropped my books and grabbed on to him before I
could fall. "Tell me you want me." He then moved in and kissed me on the
lips. It was nothing like the hospital kiss. This one...it was
sexual. There was love in it, but in this one, I knew I wanted him to be my
first.

	"Spencer?" Mason said. I suddenly realized we were at my locker and
the halls were still filled. I was daydreaming.

	"Huh?"

	"I said hey and you just stood there."

	"Oh. Umm...sorry. Hey."

	"So, I don't have practice today and I don't want to be alone but
Lily and Tyler are going out and your sister is tutoring. So do you want to
go out for some ice cream?"

	"Sure. Yeah."

	He smiled at me. "You're so cute when you blush."

	"Huh?"

	He laughed. "Come on, I don't want to stand here all day."

	I quickly shoved my shit in my locker and followed Mason out to his
car. He was telling me about these colleges that called him over the
weekend and how he was already being offered scholarships. I just sat there
and listened to him go on and on, I took mental notes on the colleges I
would look into so I could send him in the direction I would enjoy going
to.

	"So, you and Brennan are a thing?"

	"Yeah."

	"Honestly, I didn't think you and my cousin would hit it off like
you did. He's never been as happy as he is when he's around you."

	"I gotta tell you something."

	"Huh?"

	"Brennan and I aren't dating."

	"Excuse me?" He seemed confused. I explained to him about the whole
thing between Brennan and Kasey and how he wanted to get back at him and
how he's attracted to me but we just want to be friends now that we've had
some time to think it over. "Wow. I was going to say something about
Brennan using you, but you seem perfectly fine."

	"Not really. I hate being single. I know there's Brennan and it's
like we're dating, but there's this one guy...well two guys...who I really
like and I just...I'm not sure how I could end up with either them." I
couldn't believe I was basically telling Mason I loved him.

	"I'm sorry buddy. There's this one...person who I really like. I
just don't know how to tell them that I want to be with them. I know I'm
now okay with publically talking to you, but me telling this person that I
love them, it scares me."

	"You shouldn't be scared to say anything. Honestly, I think you're
perfect. If you didn't want to be public with your relationship, then I'm
sure they would be okay with that."

	"I'm sure the guys you like would also go for you. I think you're
perfect too."

	"Thanks."

	Mason and I really didn't say much after that. We got our ice
cream, had a little small talk, and he took me home. We said goodbye and he
was smiling, so I knew everything was okay. I just couldn't help but
feeling that the person he was talking about earlier was me. He had to ld
me he loved me once, but what if he was over me and was after Tyler. Life
is so confusing.

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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 twentieth chapter of my story.
	I'd also like to give thanks Joh, 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.

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