Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 15:04:58 EST
From: Double A
Subject: Raven Hair (Part 4)

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 4:

	The nausea that David had around Aaron got stronger as he sat on
the bus, on the way home.

	"Just my luck!" David thought, "I get sick around a guy who is
actually kinda cool. I looked like a total jackass, and that's why he
probably wanted me to go home."

	David continued to get sicker as he thought about how Aaron had
made it a point to tell him that he was not invited for dinner. David
wondered what he said or did that made Aaron feel that way. Suddenly, it
occurred to him what it was. "He probably caught me staring at him in the
basement and thought I was fruity or something."

	That thought just made David more worried and more worried he
caught, the sicker he felt. By the time he arrived home, he ignored all
questions about his day from his mother, kicked off his shoes and tossed
down his jacket on the vestibule bench, and went right into his room and
locked the door.  Falling down on his bed, he looked up at the blue ceiling
of his room and swallowed hard.

	He had two sensible friends, he thought, so why did he feel this
way about Aaron? Matt was smart and loyal to the core. They'd been friends
since they were both 4 years old. David's mom and Matt's mom were great
friends and they went over to Matt's parents' house every Passover and had
both Seders there. Every spring, Matt's mom and dad took both of them up
north to go sugaring off. Every summer, they went out to the country
together to pick raspberries. Michael was David's friend since grade six,
and, even though, they didn't see each other much because Michael's parents
were two huge snobs, David still really liked Michael and they'd sometimes
go shopping for comic books

	"Yeah," David thought, "but Matt's mom always makes him cut his
hair really short and Michael has tight curly hair. It isn't long like
Aaron's. Matt and Michael also both wear glasses, but Aaron doesn't."

	With an almost involuntary sigh, David added aloud, "And Michael
and Matt both have braces and little bits of peach fuzz, but with Aaron, it
looks...it looks...."

	David shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was about to
say. Aaron was so weird, and so boring, and so strange, but so...so....

	David didn't know quite what he wanted to say, but did know he was
feeling really sick, but it wasn't a "stomach flu" or a "bad meatloaf" type
of sick.  It sort of scared David as he felt tears begin to run down his
cheeks. He quickly sat up and wiped his eyes.

	"What's wrong with me?!" He thought out loud, "Why the fuck am I
crying?!"

	David turned and buried his head in his pillow, wetting it as he
began to cry harder, both from the feelings burning in his stomach and the
unknown pain that he felt.

	On Sunday, David called Matt and they went to Lazer Quest, a laser
tag place down on St. Catherine street. Matt was amazing at it, but David
was so preoccupied by how Aaron hated him, that his score was unnaturally
low.  After the game, both boys emerged sweaty from the labyrinth and
looked up at the scoreboard. Matt ranked number 4 in the game, with 765
points and David ranged 18, with 112 points.

	"Jeez, you really sucked today, Dave." Matt joked.

	Dave wiped his brow and pulled the sweaty shirt off his torso to
make his less-than-trim build less noticeable, then nodded, "I dunno, I was
kind of distracted today."

	Matt nodded knowingly, "I know. I kind of am too, but the Bible
Studies test coming up on Monday shouldn't be that hard. I mean, Rabbi
Schwartz gives some hard tests sometimes, but if you study, you'll do just
fine."

	David nodded, "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Thanks...I'll
try and study a lot tonight."

	That evening, David did do a bit of studying, but he was also
really worried about Monday for a totally different reason. He didn't know
how he was going to face Aaron, after he made so many mistakes on
Saturday. This caused David to worry even more, because he'd made a total
ass of himself many times in front of Matt and Michael, but he never felt
as worried as he did of failure, as he did around Aaron. "He's such a jerk,
though!" David thought and, for the sixtieth time that weekend, asked
himself, "What's wrong with me?"

	Monday morning, David had Hebrew class first. When Michael asked
how his weekend was, David lied and said, "It was okay. I didn't do too
much. Mostly just sat around and did nothing."

	Michael took up the five minutes before the Hebrew teacher arrived,
telling David about how he'd gone out with Lauren Segal, a girl he swore he
was just friends with, to this amazing comic book store and bought a new
AD&D book for his set. David listened with boredom, which was funny because
he always used to find Michael's story at least vaguely interesting. Come
to think of it, he'd always used to listen more to his mother, the
television, Matt...pretty much everybody, but suddenly everybody seemed
really dull.

	Hebrew class followed suit with Morah Fleischer trying to be funny
and David getting really antsy with boredom. David was an A student in
Hebrew and he normally was a huge teacher's pet. So much so that after the
class was over, Morah Fleischer approached him and said, in Hebrew, "David,
I noticed that you weren't listening too much today. Was I that boring?"

	David shook his head and, in English, replied, "Sorry. I'm feeling
a little bit sick today."

	She nodded and, putting her hand on his shoulder, said, in English,
"Tuvia," Tuvia, being my Hebrew name, "I've been your teacher for several
weeks now, and you've always made an effort to try hard in my class.
Something else seems wrong."

	David walked away from his teacher and, without facing her, said,
"It's nothing, Morah," Morah, being `teacher' in Hebrew, "I've just got a
lot on my mind."

	She smiled and replied, "Would you like to talk about it?"

	David shrugged, "I'd like to, but I just can't."

	She nodded, "Okay. Just remember, Tuvia, that I'm here if you ever
need someone to talk to."

	David nodded and, gathering his books, left the class. Michael was
waiting for David outside.

	"What did she want, Dave?" Michael inquired.

	David shrugged, "Nothing really."

	Michael shrugged and smiled, "She kept you for ten minutes, about
nothing?"

	David shook his head, "Well, it wasn't really nothing. Just
something about my work."

	Michael nodded and said, "Okay, if you don't want to talk about it,
it's cool with me. So, what class do you have now?"

	David opened up his agenda and looked for his schedule.

	"Come on, Dave. We're going to be late."

	Michael and David both looked up to see Aaron standing in front of
them.

	"I thought I told you that nobody likes you, Jesus!" Michael
insulted.

	Aaron shrugged it off, though, and, looking at David, said, "Are
you coming or not?"

	"David can go down to class by himself!" Michael retorted, then
turned to David and said, "I thought we already made it clear that you hate
him, eh, Dave? Some people never learn."

	David bit his lower lip, much like a certain someone does when in
thought, and, turning to Michael, said, "I'll see you later, Mike." then
turned to Aaron and said, "Let's go."

	David saw Michael look up in disgust and shake his head, as he
walked down the hallway with Aaron.

	"Michael's such an ass, isn't he? I don't like him much." Aaron
said in his typical monotone voice.

	David shrugged, "I thought...I mean..."

	Aaron turned to David, "You thought what?"

	David shrugged, "I thought...Well, I thought that you didn't like
me much either."

	Aaron smiled, "Why?"

	David shook his head and, seeing Aaron's smile again, laughed, "I
don't know. I guess I'm just an idiot."

	Aaron nodded, "Yes. Yes, you are."

	They walked in silence, to PE class. When Aaron left to go change
in the bathroom, David smiled and followed him with own bag. David felt
suddenly embarrassed about changing in front of all the strange
people. Once changed, they entered gym class and began warmups.

	They both laughed as they fumbled with their stretches, giggled as
they kept missing the basket in basketball, and smiled wearily as they ran
beside each other around the track. Mr. Sousan just shook his head at the
two boys, as they finished the 2.5 kilometres in a record time of twenty
minutes, due to frequent breaks for resting and conversation.

	After changing back in the bathroom stalls, David and Aaron were
laughing at their performance and talking all the way up the French
Class. The topic of why Aaron had told him to go home before dinner never
even came up, and though David had that same, inexplicable feeling of
nausea in the pit of his stomach, it was bearable when he was around Aaron
in such a friendly manner.

	Waiting by the door of the french class, his arms crossed like an
impatient mother, was Michael.

	"I'm so happy to see you two are getting along great." He said to
David and Aaron with totally unhidden sarcasm.

	Still laughing from before, Aaron just shook his head and said,
"Fuck you, Michael."

	Suddenly, Michael lunged forward at Aaron, a look of malice on his
face, and speared Aaron against a locker on the other side of a
hallway. David just stood in shook, with an involuntary smile on his face,
giggling nervously, as Michael and Aaron rolled around on the floor,
flailing fists at each other. It only lasted for a few seconds, before the
french teacher ran out of the class and, with the help of the Geography
teacher down the hall, managed to separate the two boys. Michael's glasses
lay in a cracked, bent mess on the floor and as soon as he saw them, he
tried to break away from Madame Desjardin's arms and screamed, "You fucker!
You broke my glasses! I'm gonna fucking sue you!"

	Aaron didn't reply, but instead, clutched his hand over his
nose. Blood was already seeping through his fingers and he looked up at
David. Even though his mouth was covered by the bottom of his hand, his
eyes told David a simple message..."I'm sorry."

	David's smile had long since dropped, and he watched as Michael and
Aaron were both brought down the hallway, presumably toward the office. Not
knowing what else to do, David slowly walked into French class and sat
down.  A few minutes later, Madame Desjardin returned and, like nothing had
happened, sat down at her desk and began the lesson.

	After class was over, David went over to her and, meekly, asked,
"Qu'est que ce passe a Aaron et Michael?"

	He wasn't sure if that was how he asked where Michael and Aaron
were, but he hoped she'd understand, because he wasn't in a good enough
mood to try and find the right words.

	Looking up only briefly, she replied, "Michael avait un detention
apres l'ecole aujourd'hui et Aaron est a l'hopital. La maitresse a pense
qu'il a casse sont nez."

	David didn't understand much of that, but he did understand the
part about Aaron being at the hospital. As he walked out of the class, he
was miserable.. It was all his fault, after all. If only he'd have listened
to Michael and stayed away from Aaron, he wouldn't have gotten Aaron into
this mess. The more David felt about it, though, the more he knew that he
didn't want to stay away from Aaron.

	David went up to the office and said to the secretary, "I'd like to
go home, please. I'm feeling really sick."

	He wasn't lying, either. As soon as he heard that Aaron was in the
hospital, he felt all his major organs fall into his Nikes.

	"Well," the secretary said, "We'd have to call your mother and ask
her if you can come home."

	David hesitated for a moment. He had about a 50/50 chance of
catching his mother in a good enough mood to let him come home. Still, he
had four more hours of school left, and he just couldn't bear to go through
with them.

	He called his mother and explained that he was very close to
vomiting all over the school floor. That was a lie, though, because his
sickness was more the dull ache of depression, instead of nausea of a
stomachache. However, she grudgingly agreed to allow him to come home. She
was a really stupid, despicable woman and he hated her, but she could be
okay sometimes, too.

	On the way home, after she'd picked him up, she turned to him and
said, "Now, I want you to get into bed as soon as you get home. I don't
know whether you're faking or not, but I'll be damned if you're going to
sit and play computer games, when you should be sick."

	David nodded. He had every intention of getting into bed as soon as
he got home. He didn't have the desire to play any computer game. Not with
the possibility of Aaron being hurt.

	Number sixty-one hit, as he said to himself, "What's wrong with
me?" and added, "Why am I so useless when Aaron's not around. I was never
this way before with any other friend."

	Sure enough, as soon as David got home, he took off his clothes and
got right under his covers. He didn't want to even read a book, he just
wanted to sleep and make the day go away quicker. So, not thinking about
the test he was missing or the four hours of work he was losing out on, he
closed his eyes and, after about an hour, finally dozed off.

	When he woke up, his LCD alarm clock said it was five thirty-two in
the evening. David pulled on his jeans and T-shirt and went downstairs. His
mom was making dinner, and she looked up at him as he walked it.

	"Gee, I guess you really weren't feeling well."

	David nodded, smiling and went over and picked up the phone. Hoping
he remembered the number right, he called and was glad to hear the deep
monotone voice of Aaron's brother.

	"Hi!" David said, trying to sound as non-worried as possible, "Is
Aaron back from the hospital yet?"

	"Yeah, wanna speak to him." came the response.

	"Please." David said.

	A few seconds later, Aaron got on the phone and his monotone voice
immediately gained feeling as he heard it was David.

	"Hi!" Aaron said, "How was school today?"

	"I dunno." David said, slightly embarrassed, "When you went to the
hospital, I went home." Then, trying to get off that as quick as possible,
David added, "How are you by the way?"

	"Fine." Aaron replied, "It was just a little displaced cartilage.

	"David," Aaron's mother called, "is that your friend Matt on the
phone?"

	"Hold on." David told Aaron, then turned to his mother and said,
"No, this is another friend named Aaron."

	"Oh." David's mother said, then told David something that he very
nearly kissed her for. Going back on the phone, David said, "Aaron, are you
busy tonight?"

	There was a pause, then, "Umm, not really. Why?"

	Smiling with a feeling he was totally unsure of, David said,
"Because my mother wants to know if you want to come over for supper?
Afterwards, we can go swimming in my grandma's pool and you can sleep over
and go to school with me tommorow. I mean, if you can go to school
tomorrow."

	There was another pause and then Aaron replied, "Yeah, my dad's
making me go to school tomorrow. Could you hold on one sec?"

	David waited on the line, while his mother kept saying, "Well? I
need to know if I'm making more tuna casserole or not!"

	Finally, Aaron back on the phone and said, "Yeah, okay. My dad said
it's cool. I'll come...when? Now?"

	"Yeah, now's okay." David said.

	"Cool." was Aaron's response, then he hung up.

	Before she asked again, David replied, "Yes, mom, Aaron's
coming. Please be nice tonight and don't act like an idiot!"

	"Excuse me?" She said, putting down her mincer and giving David a
stern look.

	"Nothing." David said, walking out of the kitchen.

	Walking into the living room, David stood there for a few seconds,
then broke into a few dance steps that he'd never seen done before, but
they seemed appropriate for this circumstance. Then, David stopped, got a
confused look on his face and, number sixty-two, said out loud, "What's
wrong with me?"

	"What's that, David?" his mother asked from the kitchen.

	"Nothing, mom." David replied.