Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 22:19:18 EST
From: Double A
Subject: Raven Hair (Part 2)

Disclaimer:

     After a hiatus of sorts, I am back with another story! Yay!
Anyway, due to personal problems, I've been unable/unwilling to write much
of anything for a long time. Here is a new story from me to you. For those
of you who know my style and enjoy it, you should really like this one.
Like I said, though, I haven't written anything for a while, so I may be a
bit rusty. For those who don't know my style, I tend to use a lot of
build-up and "storyline".  So, if you came on to find a story for a quick
jack-off, then this probably ain't for you. However, if you want to take
the time to read a beautiful tale of young love, then sit back, take a sip
from your glass of wine, and enjoy!

And remember...Always stand up for what you think is right, don't listen to
bullshit, no matter who is saying it, and always speak with your fists and
swear a lot to be heard!

******************

Part 2:

	Of course, being in the same homeroom didn't mean that you had all
the same classes together, and David was happy to find out, over the next
couple of weeks, that he had a few classes with his two friends. Matt was
in his Bible Studies class and Michael and him shared a French and Hebrew
class.

	However, it turned out that Aaron was in the same French class as
Michael and him, much to Michael's disgust. Right away, David learned one
of the big things that Michael hated about Aaron. David worked really hard
in French class, handed in his homework early, sat in the front row of
class, and yet the teacher hardly noticed him when he raised his
hand. Aaron, on the other hand, always sat at the very back, a passive look
that was quickly becoming his trademark, plastered on his pale face. By his
sheer disinterest, the teacher constantly called on him to answer questions
and, somehow, he always had the answer. Moreover, he'd hand in his homework
right on the day that it was due, and he'd always end up scoring higher
than David.

	Aaron was one of those people that David had loathed all through
grade school; the type of person who never had to work hard to get A's
across the board. David would sit in class, fuming, and every time the
teacher called on Aaron and he got the right answer, David clenched his
fists tighter and Michael turned toward David and shot him a look that
said, "See! I told you what an Aarhole he is!"  He'd only known him for two
weeks, but David, by every right, felt that he should hate Aaron as much as
Michael did.

	He didn't, though. He didn't, because, besides sharing a French
class, David also shared PE with Aaron. Right from the first PE class,
David had found out the true person behind Aaron Sternzus.

	Firstly, he found out why Aaron was rarely seen without his baggy,
purple-tinged white sweatshirt. While most of the kids who attended Bialik
came from a rich upbringing, with their expensive clothing, Florida-tanned
skin, toned bodies, and chin held high, Aaron turned out to be just the
opposite. Where David had thought that Aaron wore the clothes he did to
seem mysterious and relaxed, David had found out the truth when Mr. Sousan,
the PE teacher, had forced Aaron to wear a gym kit. Aaron refused to change
in the locker room with the rest of the people, and always headed to the
bathroom to change before each class. Even David, uncomfortable as he was
with his new environment, changed in the locker room.

	With the white T-shirt and grey shorts that was the uniform for
Bialik gym classes, Aaron's pale skin was even more noticeable, as was the
chubbiness of his stomach and lack of muscular definition. He wasn't fat,
by any means, but, like David, he looked like the anti-image for Bialik
High School.  Despite his calm attitude, without the black clothing and
baggy sweatshirt, Aaron suddenly looked very insecure. This was compounded
when they went out into the gym and began class. Aaron couldn't quite reach
his foot when they did hamstring stretches, he couldn't run the 2.5
kilometres around the track in the required twelve minutes or less, and he
wasn't any good at basketball, floor hockey, or rugby. David couldn't do
the warm-ups very well either, nor was he any good at the sports, but
knowing that there was someone in his class who was in the same position
made him feel better about it.

	Without meaning to, David found himself timing his movements by
Aaron's.  When Aaron failed to quite reach his foot on a hamstring stretch,
David faltered in the same way at the same moment. When Aaron failed the
hit the birdie over the badminton net, David failed to return it over the
net. David even found himself jogging beside Aaron on their last lap, while
the rest of the class waited impatiently for them to finish. It was during
those laps that, between gasps of air, David managed to gain small tidbits
of information from Aaron.

	By the second week, David knew that Aaron had come from Akiva, a
very orthodox Jewish school in Montreal-West. As such, Aaron was in the top
Hebrew and Bible Studies classes, and was nearly fluent in both Hebrew and
Yiddish. Aaron had grown his hair long to piss off his mother, who lived in
Toronto, while he lived in Montreal with his dad. Aaron was originally born
in Los Angeles, California, but his father had moved to Montreal to take a
professor job at Concordia, a university in Montreal. It made David feel
good knowing that Aaron's parents were divorced too.

	Through these brief, breathless exchanges, David found himself
looking forward to PE, and even nodding at Aaron, when he saw him in the
hallway.  Aaron's constant correct answers in French class got less
annoying, and David stopped returning Michael's glances of condescension
toward Aaron.
	David still didn't consider Aaron a friend, though. Outside of PE,
Aaron still acted very aloof toward everybody and he still did his best to
cut himself off from too much human contact. Also, he always seemed to wear
that sweatshirt and David found it quite weird. He didn't say much to
Aaron, outside of PE class, and so David was confident that nobody would
find out about his contact with the boy. Especially, Michael.

	Bialik offered a cafeteria lunch every day, but students had the
option of bringing lunch and going outside the school. Matt usually brought
a small lunch, his mother being a total healthy freak, and so by the time
David worked his way through the crowded hallways and into the lunchroom,
Matt was done and on his way to the library. Michael, coming from a rich
family, always bought lunch and ate by himself, until David arrived. One
day, near the beginning of October, David and Michael were sitting in the
cafeteria, talking about the upcoming Comedy Night that Bialik had every
fall, when David spotted Aaron work his way through the crowd and appear to
be coming toward his table. Michael leaned his head in closer and
whispered, "Pretend like you're talking to me. Maybe he'll just think we're
busy and go away."

	David shrugged, and was just asking Michael if he was enjoying the
crispness of the weather, when Aaron slowly sat down on the bench, next to
David, and, turning to him, said, "Hey, David, you wanna go to the mall or
something?"

	"Why don't you just get the fuck away, Jesus?" Michael sneered at
Aaron.

	Aaron and Michael shared a Yiddish class, and a week or so ago, the
teacher had jokingly commented that, with his long hair, Aaron sort of
looked like Jesus. It was only mildly funny at the time, but Michael began
attempting to get the name the recognition that "Aarhole" had, back in
Akiva.

	"It's a free country, Michael." Aaron retorted calmly, "Besides, I
wasn't talking to you. I was talking to David."

	Turning to David, Michael inquired, "You don't really want to do
anything with Jesus, do you?"

	David turned to Aaron and felt very conflicted. Michael was a good
friend for several years and David was embarrassed to show any compassion
toward the guy who Michael was quickly turning into the most unpopular kid
in school. Then again, David saw a look on Aaron's face that he had never
seen before. Aaron always tried to keep a calm, uncaring appearance, but as
David looked at his face, he could see the way his teeth nibbled at his
bottom lip and the way his forest-green eyes looked at him. David could see
that, despite his attempt to seem indifferent, Aaron genuinely wanted him
to go to the mall.

	David turned back to Michael, who regarded his hesitation to answer
with an ever-increasing look of disgust, and replied, trying to hide the
guilt from his voice, "No...No, of course not."

	Michael smirked and, turning to Aaron, remarked, "Piss off,
Jesus. Nobody likes you."
	David tried to suppress the painful stabs of regret in his gut, as
he turned to Aaron and nodded in agreement. Aaron stopped nibbling his
bottom lip and, his lips parted slightly, David could hear him softly sigh,
before standing up and mumble, "Asshole." and then walk off.

	While Michael continued talking about Comedy Night, as if nothing
had happened, David tried to shoot quick glances behind him, casting
glances at Aaron standing on the other side of the room, leaning against a
wall.

	David had a lot of trouble sleeping that night, as he went over the
scene again and again in his mind. He kept wondering why he felt so awful
about siding with Michael against Aaron. He wondered why he felt so weird
and his stomach felt so painful, when he thought about Aaron's look of
despair and that faint sigh that he'd uttered when David had turned down
his request.

	He worried about it so much that he vowed to do something about it
as soon as possible. That time came three days later, when he saw that
their once-a-week PE class was the period before lunch.

	"What luck!" David thought, as he pulled on his gym
shorts. However, Aaron had been ignoring him ever since that thing in the
cafeteria and this time was no different. When Aaron entered, fully
changed, into the locker room, he strode right by David, without so much as
a glance. David quickly stood up and called, "Aaron, hey Aaron!" after him,
but the boy didn't slow down.

	After an uneventful game of floor hockey, it came time for the 2.5
kilometres around the track. David tried to run beside Aaron, but it seemed
that Aaron was so bent on ignoring David that it gave him extra speed that
allowed him to always keep ten metres ahead of him.

	"Good hustle, Sternzus!" Mr. Sousan called to Aaron, as he noticed
his new burst of speed.

	For the first time since they began PE, Aaron actually managed to
finish the 2.5 kilometres in the appropriate time, trying to keep away from
David, and David had done it, trying to catch up to him. Totally out of
breath, the two boys walked back into the gym and Mr. Sousan called, "Great
work today, boys! See what happens when you don't spend time talking to
each other on the track?"

	The students walked wearily back through the gym and into the
locker room, with Aaron grabbing his gym bag and walking into the bathroom
area.

	"I hear his dick's the size of my pinky and that's why he doesn't
want to change here." David heard one of the students remark to another, as
he walked into the locker room.

	Still catching his breath, David unlocked the locker, grabbed the
gym bag and walked into the bathroom area. Once entering the bathroom area,
David checked which stall Aaron was changing in and entered the one right
next to it.
	Unzipping his bag, David pulled out his shirt and jeans and said,
"Why don't you change with the rest of the guys there?"

	David heard Aaron zip his bag closed and open the stall door. David
quickly stuffed his clothes back into his bag and ran out of the stall,
grabbing Aaron as he walked toward the exit.

	Aaron violently shrugged off David's hand and said, "Get the hell
off of me!"

	"I'm sorry I told you off in the cafeteria a few days ago." David
said, trying his best to look into Aaron's eyes so he'd know he was
sincere.

	"I don't know what the heck you're drooling about." Aaron said,
reaching for the bathroom door and pulling it open.

	Speaking a little softer, now that they were back in the locker
room, David said quickly, "You wanted to go to the mall with me, but I said
no. I'm sorry about that. I was wondering if you wanted to go today at
lunch? I mean, I brought money today, so I can buy something there."

	Besides the fact that the last sentence sounded pretty retarded,
David thought he'd done a good job of apologizing. Aaron stopped for a
second and, putting his free hand into the pocket at the front of his
sweatshirt, said, "Um...Okay, meet me by the cafeteria entrance."

	With that, Aaron quickly tossed his bag into a free locker, not
even bothering to close or lock it, and jogged out of the locker room. Now
alone, David shrugged and, to nobody in particular, said, "Cool."

	After placing his bag away in a more secure fashion than Aaron did
his, David left the locker room and made his way down the hall to the
cafeteria.  As he said, Aaron was waiting nonchalantly by the
entrance. When he saw David, he actually smiled somewhat and made his way
over to him. Silently, they walked down the hallway, up the stairs and out
of the school.

	The Cavendish mall was a five minute walk down Kildare street, so
the two boys took their time in heading there. They didn't actually talk or
anything, but David could feel the tension between them lessening. He felt
more comfortable than he had for the past few days, because his guilt was
gone. He still hadn't figured out why he felt so hurt about what he had
said to Aaron, but he was glad he got Aaron to forgive him. At least, he
hoped Aaron forgave him.

	When they entered the mall, they headed straight for the food court
and began looking around at the various stands.

	"So, where do you want to go?" David asked.

	Aaron shrugged and, indifferently, said, "Dunkin Donuts cool with
you?"

	David nodded and the two of them waited in line. David ordered a
smoked meat sandwich on a kaiser roll, with a double chocolate donut and a
Coke.  Aaron ordered the same thing, only roast beef instead of smoked
meat. They quickly found a seat and began eating. Slowly, David looked up
and asked, after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich, "So, what do you like
to do with your time?"

	Aaron shrugged and took a sip of his Coke and replied, "I
dunno. Computer games, movies, Super Nintendo stuff."

	David and Aaron talked back and forth about their own
interests. David found it cool to know that Aaron's favourite computer game
was Monkey Island, just like his, and Aaron's favourite video game was
Final Fantasy 2, just like his.

	"So, I have a really weird question for you." David stated, after
finishing off his sandwich.

	"Shoot." Aaron said, still somewhat indifferent but sounding a lot
more upbeat than before.

	"Well," David said, "I was always wondering, how do I pronounce
your first name? I mean, guys usually pronounce it Aar-on, but I heard
Michael call you Air-on, like the girl version of the name."

	Aaron shrugged and said, "Well, I pronounce it like a girl's name,
I guess..."

	David nodded, taking a sip of Coke.

	A sneaky smile on his face, Aaron continued, "But you can call me
Squinky."

	That line was from Monkey Island and, while it wasn't particularly
funny in the game, Aaron's delivery of it caused David to break down, and,
unable to control himself, he burst out laughing, spraying a mouthful of
Coke into Aaron's face.

	Tears running down his face, as well as rivulets of soda, David
laughed hysterically. A look of disgust came over Aaron's face, as he
surveyed his clothes, now covered in Coca-Cola. However, as he looked up at
David's hysterically laughing face, he began to smile, then giggle, and
within seconds, he exploded into laughter like David. His cracking
pubescent laughter only made David laugh harder, and the whole place was
now turned around and watching the two thirteen-year-olds crying with
joviality.

	After several minutes, both boys finally wiped their eyes and
calmed down.  A smile on Aaron's face, he said, "I'm not doing anything
this weekend.  Would you like to come over?"

	David sniffled and, still smiling from their laughter, replied,
"Sure."