Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2012 23:28:51 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 42

Welcome back. In the high school story line in this chapter you will
learn who gets the awards at the much delayed Mustang team
banquet. The seventh grade story line will focus on the Halloween
dance and the conflicting emotions and sexual feelings of many of the
boys.

This story is mine and is fiction. It has minors in sexual situations.
Please be 18 and please, please, be safe always. Remember to
donate to Nifty to keep it alive and well.

Douglas. Thehakaanen@hotmail.com


CHAPTER 42
HALLOWEEN DANCE


<Senior year, Friday, June 22, The Roadside Inn>

Our team banquet might have been a little late, but that didn't stop it
from being a huge success. The Roadside Inn banquet room was
packed and the restaurant t put together a good meal of chicken,
mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables, along with a salad and
cake and ice cream for dessert. The team sat at the front tables. A
long rectangular table was set up at the head for all the big wigs, from
the mayor down to the assistant coaches. Somebody in town had put
up money for the Roadside Inn, so we ended up not having to use the
school cafeteria. This was a way better place for the State Champs to
have their banquet.

There were short speeches and reminiscences by various adults at
the podium. The concept of the Go to State Team and the work put
into it by us Mustang boys was a constant theme. The head coach at
Washington State was the keynote speaker. He was going to be
Marty's coach next year. He gave the usual coach talk about hard
work and commitment, but he was funny and entertaining. We each
received our individual championship trophies and finally the special
awards were presented.

Marty was the Team Captain, as well as the team MVP. Rodney was
the Pitcher of the Year. I received the Most Inspirational award. A
great deal was said about my role in the Go to State Team during the
presentation. Noah won the Coaches' Award, giving him and me
each a trophy. The Coaches' Award was voted on by the coaches,
and only for a team that had won a championship. It was the most
prestigious award an athlete at Mayfield could earn. Two of the
players on the Mustangs, Marty and I, had been winners in middle
school, and we both knew exactly how proud Noah had to feel to win
the award.  Each of us four winners had to give a little speech. Marty
was the only one to be able to prepare a speech in advance since he
knew he was the captain and was going to get that award.

I talked about all of the work everybody put into the Go to State
Team, from us players to the coaches to the school administration to
the adults in the community. I don't know if my speech was any good
(Noah said it was great, but he's prejudiced), but I do know it came
from my heart.

As good as the banquet was, I made a mental note to push for
holding next year's banquet before the school year ended no matter
how the team did.

<Senior year, Saturday, June 23, Mayfield High School Baseball
Field>

If we were looking for something to give us a boost of confidence, we
weren't going to find it on Saturday. Chandler started the game and
pitched like he didn't belong on the field with the rest of us. Seeing as
he's only a sophomore, he very well may not have belonged there.
He was hit hard and gave up five runs in the top of the first inning to
the team from Elma. It didn't get any better in the second inning and
Coach Miller had to replace him with Hunter. Chandler looked totally
intimidated on the mound. Since Chandler is one of those athletes
who usually boils over with self-confidence, that in itself was tough to
observe.

Hunter was improving a lot as a pitcher, as he became better and
better at changing the speed and location of his pitches. He doesn't
throw real hard, but he throws strikes, and he's learning to pitch
smarter.  Throwing strikes is often all a pitcher needs to do to be
successful. He managed to stem the bleeding, but it wasn't enough to
keep us from losing eleven-1 in a game shortened to five innings
because of the ten run rule. Getting ten-runned is always humiliating,
and having it happen to us less than a month after winning a state
championship made it doubly humiliating. It's not the first time we'd
been ten-runned, it can happen to anybody, but the last time went
back a few years.  And for some reason, this one didn't feel like a bad
game by a good team, it felt like another bad game by a bad team.

As I walked off the field I ran into the Hurricane, who was with Nicky,
and another kid I didn't know, and a kid I did know. The kid I didn't
know  looked a little younger than the other two, but the same age of
the kid I did know. He was about 4'6, slender, with a beautiful clear
face and jet black hair under a Mayfield Parks baseball cap. The kid I
did know was Lars's brother Alex. He was about the same size, but
with golden blond hair like his brother. Somehow it didn't surprise me
to see Alex hanging with Jeff and Nicky, the wild boys.

"You guys really suck," Jeff said. I decided then and there that the
next person who said that to me was going to get clocked.

"Tell me something I don't know," I said.

"I'm the sexiest gay boy in the seventh grade."

"Huh?"

"Well, you told me to tell you something you didn't know. Now you
know, and it's a fact."

"And we all know I'm the sexiest gay boy in the eighth grade," Nicky
said. That didn't surprise me, since Nicky liked to bounce between
being bi and being gay, depending on his moods and who he was
with. But I could also tell that he and Jeff were becoming really tight,
even with the one year age difference.

"What does that make you two?" I asked the boy I hadn't been
introduced to yet. His clear skin turned a deep shade of red.

"Oh, this is Carter," Jeff said pointing to his left. "And that's Alex." Jeff
then pointed to his right. "And we're trying to convince them they're
the sexiest boys in the sixth grade."

"Not the sexiest gay boys?" My question caused Carter to blush even
deeper.

"I didn't know we were gay," he muttered. "I just thought we were
sexy." It appeared that Jeff and Nicky had revealed new information
to Carter.

"I knew we were sexy and gay," Alex volunteered. I happened to
know that Alex was an eleven year old cock hound. Apparently Jeff
and Nicky had just discovered him.

"One step at a time," Jeff said. "Since we all know my brother Sammy
is the sexiest boy in the fourth grade, we just need to find the sexiest
fifth grader. Then we can have our picture taken for prosperity."

 "The word is posterity," I said. "So, Sammy isn't the sexiest gay boy
in the fourth grade? He's just the sexiest boy?"

"You can't be called gay until you get to middle school, otherwise
you're too young. And you can't be called gay unless you really are
gay."

"Which means Carter isn't gay then?" Marty had told me to be careful
about the discussions I got into with Jeff, because he was very likely
to talk me right into a deep black hole.

"It means he isn't saying yet," Jeff said. "Him and Alex don't start
middle school until September. But Alex says he's gay like his
brother, but it's not official until the first day of sixth grade."

"Is Carter able to speak for himself?" I asked.

"It means I'm cool and the girls like me," Carter said, his voice a
beautiful, smooth soprano. I couldn't help but notice the long, hairless
tanned legs sprouting from his shorts. "Everybody says you're gay,"
Carter told me in the same manner he would have said, "Everybody
says you're blond."

"Yeah, I am."

"Cool. Now I know three gay guys." Carter seemed a bit more
assured now than he had been a few minutes ago. "And I just found
out about all of them being gay."

"Well maybe you know four gay guys," Alex said, tired of being left
out. I didn't know if Alex was gay or not, but I know he'd been saying
he was gay ever since Lars came out. It was as if he was trying to
emulate his big brother. From all I'd heard, he was certainly
succeeding in bed.

"See ya later, Eric," Jeff said. "We gotta go. We got things to do.
Unless you want to mess around with us?"

Admittedly, that little allusion to what their plans were made my cock
stir, but I had plans to head with some of my teammates to Noah's
house for some swimming. "Maybe some other time guys," I said, not
wishing to shut the door on another invitation.

"That better be a promise," Jeff said as the boys pealed off for the
bike racks next to the concession stand.

Quite a few of us went to Noah's house after the game. Scott, Noah,
Lars, the twins, Hunter, Danny, Carl, Chandler, and Korey all were
there. I couldn't help but notice it was the usual gang going back to
sixth grade days. Justin, Blaine, and Gavin didn't come, even though
they'd been invited. This little bit of separation was one of the things
that needed to be taken care of.

Noah's mother had some lunch ready for us, and after changing into
our swimming suits we sat on the deck and talked about the state of
our team. I think we were all in a state of shock at being 3-10 for the
year and 1-4 in league play. Our season wasn't that long and we had
a big hole to climb out of.

"We have our doubleheader tomorrow, then league games on
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday," Noah said.

"And then a tournament over the weekend," Scott added. "At least we
can pick up a pitcher for that. This is our busiest week of the summer
and we'd be dead if we couldn't."

We talked about Marty's idea of having some kind of sex with one
guy in the team who we'd never done anything with before—at least
not one-one-one.

"It's a great idea" Danny said, "although I can't see Blaine or Gavin
jumping into bed with anyone. But we just don't have much time to do
stuff. Before we know it the season will be over." Little did Danny
know what Gavin was capable of if approached the right way.

"It doesn't have to be done before the summer is over. It's something
we can carry over to bond us for high school," I said.

"Look at it this way," Noah said. "We'd be the only team in America to
plan a way to get into bed with each other."

"It's got to be the water in this town," Lars said, echoing what seemed
to have become our motto.

"Would this be something calling for an ad hoc committee from our
Go to State board to plan?" Lars asked.

"Oh, hell, why not? We've planned everything else over the years,
why not plan some sex," I said. "I appoint Kevin, Kraig, Korey, and
Chandler to be the committee. Find out who has and hasn't done
what with whom and set up a sex schedule." I was trying to be
facetious, of course, especially after appointing four of the biggest
horn dogs on the team to the committee.

"But how to we get those other three involved?" Lars asked, taking
me seriously.

"Have your boyfriend introduce you to the concept of social media,"
Noah said. "You'll be amazed by what can happen." As he did so
often, Noah had us cracking up. The afternoon was warming up and it
was time to get into the pool.

++++++++++

<Seventh grade Monday, Oct 22, Mayfield Middle School lunchroom>

The seventh grade girls were out in force. They were ready to snag a
boy to go with them to the first of the three night dances at the Middle
School. There were a few after school dances scheduled as well, but
for the most part the students showed up in the gym and then paired
off. The girls wanted to be grown-up and have a date for the night
dance, but the boys weren't quite as interested, at least not as far as
the seventh graders went.

Most of the girls knew which boy they wanted and which boy their
friends wanted. They just had to conspire to grab their prey, and
convince whomever they snagged that inviting them to the dance was
the idea of the boy.

Mary Alice had already talked Danny into asking her to the dance, so
she didn't need to sink her talons into him. Before he knew it, Carl
found himself asking Debra to the dance, not that he needed a lot of
convincing. Since he'd starting losing weight and getting into shape
the girls had been gossiping about how "fine" he looked. That alone
made all of the work worthwhile as far as Carl was concerned.

Two of the boys who were attacked were Scott and Hunter. Hunter
barely stood a chance as Cindy Cameron sat with him at lunch. After
all, she'd been naked with him, so he should be willing to take her to
the dance.

"I've got a really cool costume," Cindy said as she opened up her
lunchbox.

"I haven't decided what to be yet," Hunter said. He was still somewhat
uncomfortable about what had happened the week before in Cindy's
bedroom. Sure there had been sex, but the sex had been between
him and Kraig, which he had enjoyed way more than he cared to
admit. In fact, he always enjoyed his sex with Kraig, which is why he
wished he could find a way to not have sex with his friend any more.

"The dance is Friday, so you don't have much time." The school didn't
allow costumes to be worn during school hours on Halloween, or any
other day, so the school Halloween dance was the place to be seen
in costume.

"I guess not."

"You could wear the costume you and Kraig wore in my bedroom,"
Cindy giggled. "You guys looked sweet in your birthday suits."

"Yeah, right, and get kicked out the door before we even get through
it. You haven't been telling everybody what happened with us have
you?"

"I haven't told a soul," she said. "Well, almost."

"What does `almost' mean?"

"It means I told Tama that all three of us played strip poker, but I
didn't tell her about what you and Kraig did or what Kraig said about
him having a crush on you and everything."

Hunter knew that he was as good as dead if anybody found out what
had happened between him and Kraig in Cindy's bedroom. Why is it,
he thought, that every time one of us gets naked with a girl something
complicated always seems to happen?

"Don't worry, I won't go blabbing about that, especially if something
really special happens," Cindy said.

"What something special?"

"What do you think?"

Hunter thought hard. Being around Cindy and talking about what
happened in her bedroom was making him too nervous to think. But
he was smart enough to finally understand what she was after.

"Um...okay...I think I get it...um, do you want to, you know, like, go to
the dance with me?" Hunter asked. Cindy's talons had been sunk
deep into the unsuspecting twelve year old, and she had captured her
prey.

She gave Hunter a big kiss on his cheek. "Oh, yes, Hunter I would
love to go to the dance with you." Her face was glowing. "Now we just
need to figure out your costume."

Scott was sitting with Eric when he got snagged. He and Eric had
planned on going stag, but deep down Scott really wanted to go to
the dance with a girl, and deep down Eric knew what Scott's secret
desire was. Eric's suspicions were confirmed when Tama walked up
to their table.

"Do you boys mind if I sit with you?" she asked sweetly.

"Sure, you can sit with us," Scott said.

Eric wanted to tell Tama to fuck off. He knew exactly why she wanted
to sit with them—she was after Scott. Eric was getting his introduction
to hunting season and he didn't like it.

"So, do you guys have some cool costumes to wear to the dance?"
Tama asked. "I'm going to be flapper."

"What's a flapper?" Scott asked.

"It's what those girls were called like one hundred years ago in the
1920's or something. I can wear this funny dress and a weird hat and
lots of jewelry. It will be fun." Eric thought it would be more
appropriate if she dressed as a porn star, but he kept his flap shut.

"I'm going to be a bat," Eric said.

"You mean you're going to be Batman," Tama said.

"No, I mean I'm going to be a bat—like the mammal—but a vampire
bat."

"What about you, Scott?" she asked, staring at him like he was the
most gorgeous creature to ever grace the planet.

"I'm going to be a werewolf, I think."

"Noah is going to be a Hogwarts' wizard. Bobby is going to be a bum,
which will make them an interesting pair," Eric said. Although Noah
and Bobby had come out to their parents, they hadn't come out to
their classmates with a few exceptions. Scott and Eric were two of
those exceptions, along with the twins. However, there wasn't much
doubt among many of their peers about which way the wind blew.

"With his glasses that costume fits Noah," Tama said. "I see where
Danny is going out with Mary Alice. I was hoping he'd ask me to the
dance, but he's still mad about what happened last year." Tama was
referring to the time Danny was stuck naked in her closet when her
mother came home early.

"So you got nobody asking you to the dance yet?" Scott asked.

"Well, I have, but I won't say yes to just anybody," Tama said. In fact
nobody had asked her yet, and Scott was the first boy she'd decided
to stick her talons into.

"Well, good luck," Eric said, hoping she'd end up going to the dance
by herself, along with most of her busybody friends. What Eric didn't
realize is that Tama had just left her mark on Scott. All she needed
was for Scott to find a way to tell Eric that he wanted to go to the
dance with a girl.

At one of the other tables the topic of the day was Vickie getting
pregnant. All fingers, including Vicky's, pointed to Connor, who
refused to talk to any of the seventh or eighth grade girls. He did tell
his own small cadre of acquaintances that there was no way he was
her baby's daddy.

"I might have been really buzzed, but I know I wore a condom. Rory
fucked her before I did." The place where Vicky had lost her virginity
had been at Steve's party at the end of the previous school year.
Vicky had been twelve and finishing sixth grade and Rory had been
thirteen and finishing eighth. He was now a fourteen year old
freshman at the high school.

"Can't you like get some kind of test done?" Vince asked.

"Yeah, and my dad says we're going to do that."

"Is your dad pissed at you?" Randy asked.

"Nah. He said I was careful and shit. He says he fucked girls when he
was in middle school and never had no problem. He thinks Vicky is all
hot on Rory and doesn't want to get him in trouble, so she's gonna
blame me. She says Rory never fucked her, which is a lie."

"If they got tests like that, then she must be really stupid to think
nobody's gonna do a test," Randy said.

"Nobody ever said girls were smart, just sexy," Vince said.

Everyone at the table enthusiastically agreed with him.

<Seventh grade, Monday, October 22, George Bednarzyck's Mayfield
Law Office>

Marty, Rich, Noah, and Eric looked at the man Marty called Mr. B.
They had made their presentation to him about the contracts between
the school and the businesses for the ads on the school fence. Eric
gave him the copies of the standard contract that they had, plus the
copies of the signed contracts they had been able to procure. He
didn't really understand what they said, but he was certain the lawyer
could figure everything out.

Mr. B was Marty's sobriety sponsor and Noah had met him through
his father a few times. Noah asked Eric if he could be part of the
group meeting with the attorney. Eric was more than happy to have
Noah come with them.

All four boys liked the attorney and felt comfortable talking to him. He
didn't talk down to them or treat them like little kids, but he didn't
make everything complicated either. They were now awaiting his
response to the problem they had presented to him.

"Okay, gentlemen, here is what I think. First, I am very impressed by
the demeanor of the four of you. You did your research and came
here prepared. Second, I've inquired into the workings of your little
group, including talking to Noah's father. You have accomplished a
great deal and are obviously a very determined group of young men. I
hope that my sons can emulate you when they get older.

"That said, I am more than willing to offer myself as your
representative, pro bono, which means..."

"...free of charge," Marty said with a grin.

"Exactly. However, before I can tell you if there is anything I can do, I
will need to read the contracts, and make sure of all the facts as to
where the moneys are supposed to go. I will get back you boys as
soon as possible. From what I can see there is no rush, and we need
to make sure we are entirely in the right before taking any kind of
action."

"Do you know what you can do?" Eric asked impatiently. He couldn't
help but think that if the lawyer had been at the meeting with Coach
Collins he would want to something right away.

"Like I said, Eric, I need to study all of the facts first. Now, I believe
you are the president of the board for this group."

"Yes, sir," Eric said.

"Then I will contact you after I've looked everything over." He took the
papers Eric had given him and put them in a file folder. He set the
folder down on his clean, organized desk.

"A couple more things before you boys go."

The four looked at him with anticipation. While the entire setting of the
law office had made them somewhat intimidated, George's manner
had also helped put them somewhat as ease.

"First, I assume your organization has a set of by-laws."

"Yes, sir," Eric said.

"I would appreciate it if you could drop a copy off at my office this
week. It would help me to see how your group is organized."

"I'll take care of that, sir. Can I email it to you?"

Mr. B. blushed with embarrassment. "I really do have to remember
that kids understand computers. One more thing... even though I am
doing my work without a fee, it is customary when an attorney is used
to do various works for an organization that a retainer is paid to keep
that attorney available."

"You mean you still want us to pay you?" Noah asked.

"Just as a formality. I believe a dollar should be sufficient to retain my
services."

Eric was about to pull a dollar out of his wallet when it struck him
where this was going. "Um, I will have to get the approval of the
board before I can do that," Eric said.

"Which is as it should be—an excellent answer. I would be thankful if
you could have that placed on the agenda of your next meeting"

Eric nodded that he understood.

"Which brings me to my final point: I can't be employed by minors,
only by adults. So while your board may have to approve any
agreements, a responsible adult must sign any legal documents." The
boys murmured that they understood.

"Noah's father is our business manager," Eric said.

"Excellent. That will work just fine."

That ended the meeting and Mr. B stood up. He shook hands with
each of the boys, thanking them once again for being prepared and
for bringing a mature attitude to the meeting. He told then that he felt
their group had accomplished a lot in a short time and that he would
call them back after he'd done his own research.

It was dark when they left the office, but Noah had already called his
father to pick them up. Marty only lived a couple of blocks from the
town's little business district and said he would walk home.

"Do you think I could walk with you and talk to you?" Rich asked
hopefully.

"No." Marty's curt answer left no doubt that Marty would not tolerate
any debate on the matter.

"What's with him and you?" Noah asked Rich.

"It's a long story. I've pretty much forgotten him, but every now and
then I still think we can be friends. I know he treats me like shit right
now, but he was a great guy and a great friend."

"He's still a great guy," Eric said. "It's just that he doesn't want us to
know it."

The conversation ended when Noah's dad drove up. Both boys sat in
back as Seth headed for Eric's house to drop him off. "I wish you
could spend the night," Noah whispered.

"Really? Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Why? What about Bobby?"

"I dunno. I just wish you could."

Eric reached for his hand and squeezed it. He knew how much Bobby
meant to Noah, but he sometimes wondered what would have
happened if he and Noah had hooked up as friends from the time Eric
enrolled at Mayfield Middle School. What he didn't know is that Noah
often had the same thought.

<Seventh grade, Tuesday, October 23, Scott's house>

Tuesday had been a busy day for Eric and Scott. Eric had soccer
practice after school at the recreation center field and Scott had
football practice at school. It was getting dark early, so both practices
were short. It was also the last week of the season for both boys.

Eric had dinner with his parents and then walked the two houses over
to Scott's house to do homework, with maybe an added bonus on
Scott's bed.

Neither Eric nor Scott bothered to knock or ring the door bell when
they visited each other; they simply walked into the house and yelled
that they were there. If privacy was wanted by their parents then the
front door was locked. It was a good system that everybody
understood. Eric walked into the house and yelled out his arrival.

Scott's sister Lindy greeted him. "Hi, Eric."

"Hey, Lindy. Is Scott upstairs?"

"He's in the back talking to his new girlfriend," Lindy said, almost
reveling in presenting the news.

The effect of the news on Eric was exactly what Lindy thought it
would be as she watched his face drop. "Um, well, I'll go on back and
see him," Eric said, displaying a false sense of bravado.

"Looks like Scotty has a girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl friend and a boyyyyyyyyy
friend both."

"Shut up," Eric said over his shoulder with unusual vitriol.

When Eric entered the small family room in the back Eric was on the
phone. "Hey, Eric's here. Talk to you later." He set the phone down
on the coffee table and looked up at his friend. "Hey, Eric. That was
Tama."

"That's what Lindy said. She said you were talking to your girlfriend."

"Lindy's so full of crap," Scott said. He saw the look on Eric's face.
"She's just being Lindy and trying to stir up shit."

"Yeah, I guess." Eric was afraid he might burst out into tears, which
he absolutely did not want to do.

"Tama still wants me to go to the dance with her, so that's why she
called."

"Whatever, let's go get our homework done."

The boys passed Lindy, who was in the living room, as they headed
for the stairs. "Have fun with your homework," Lindy said. "If you need
any help figuring out what to do with your new girlfriends, call me and
I'll come up and show you."

"I don't have a girlfriend," Eric said sullenly.

"You will soon, If Scotty's got one now, you're sure to follow. I told
you that you guys weren't gay."

You can tell me anything you want, Eric thought, but I am gay and
there is no way I will ever have me a girlfriend. "I know what I am,
Lindy," was all he said, however.

As he often did, Eric helped Scott with his math. After that the boys
helped each other with English and Social Studies. They were almost
finished when Scott's mother came home. They let her into Scott's
room after she knocked on the door. She greeted them both,
embarrassing them as she gave each a big hug.

Ten minutes after she left they were finished with their homework.
Eric told Scott how the meeting with the lawyer had gone. Since Eric,
Rich, and Noah had already talked to most of the team at school, Eric
started the conversation more to skirt the real issue than to bring up
something new.

Scott saw that Eric wasn't going to bring up the topic of the dance,
which was the real issue hanging between the two of them. It
appeared that the onus was on him to do so. "Do you mind if I ask
Tama to go to the dance with me?" he finally asked.

Eric took a deep breath, and then another one. He had seen this
coming for a while now. Scott had dropped too many hints about what
his feelings were like. "Sure, I guess."

"It's nothing about us," Scott said, "I just want to go to the dance like a
normal kid."

"Are you saying we're not normal?" Eric asked, fighting his anger and
embarrassment.

"I didn't mean it that way. It's just, well, I'm not ready to go to the
dance with a boyfriend like you hear about on the internet and stuff. I
just want to go and dance without a lot of crap going on."

"I wasn't going to stop you from dancing with anybody, and I sure
didn't plan on us dancing together. Even Noah and Bobby aren't
gonna do that, even though a lot of girls danced together at the
afternoon Start of School dance."

"So you understand then? It's not like Lindy said, that Tama is my
girlfriend or anything. Even if I wanted a girlfriend, and I don't, it sure
wouldn't be Tama after what she did to Danny and Hunter."

Eric was sure he wanted to cry, but he stayed stoic enough not to. "I
said it was cool." Scott moved from the desk and sat on his bed. He
patted the place to his left, giving Eric an invitation to sit next to him.
Eric felt like being a jerk and refusing, but then he remembered the
way Marty had been treating Rich. He knew he didn't want to be like
that, so he took up Scott's invitation and sat next to him.

Scott put his left arm around Eric's shoulder and pulled him close.

"You could always ask a girl to go with you, you know. It's not too
late."

"I guess," was all Eric could say.

Scott turned Eric's head toward him and looked directly at him. Even
with the way he felt about being able to take Tama to the dance, he
had feelings for Eric and he still found him sexually attractive. He
pulled Eric to him and placed his lips against Eric's. Eric resisted
momentarily, and then gave in to Scott's kiss. The two boys quickly
had their arms wrapped around each other as they traded frantic
kisses.

They were soon lying next to each other on the bed, kissing and
hugging. Eric opened up and unzipped Scott's pants, as he pushed
his hand inside of Scott's boxers and felt his now rock hard
pubescent boner. The boys were pushing their tongues deep into
each other's mouths, letting them dart from one mouth and then into
the other.

Eric frantically opened his own pants and yanked them and his
boxers down to his knees. He then pulled Scott's down to his knees
and the boys put their young boners together and humped as they
kissed. Eric wanted to be naked, he wanted to kiss Scott all over, he
wanted to put his cock up Scott's beautiful ass, he wanted Scott to be
up his ass, he wanted Scott to say he was going to be his boyfriend
forever, he wanted so much that he knew he couldn't have.

The boys rolled on the bed with Eric ending up on top of Scott. Eric
humped Scott, their dicks side by side, lubricated by Scott's precum,
which had started leaking out in larger and larger quantities during
sex. Eric still had none as he had barely started shooting cum.

They kissed, they humped, they moaned, and they humped some
more and harder. Eric's sex was frenetic, almost as if this was going
to be the last time he would ever have sex with the boy he was sure
he loved and wanted to love for as far ahead as he could think.

"Oh, shit, fuck, I'm gonna cum," Scott moaned. He wasn't used to Eric
being on top of him. It was a position he didn't care for and he used
his superior size and weight to roll Eric over and place himself on top.
Now he wanted to have his dick inside of his lover's ass, but he knew
it was too late for that. Instead he pushed his cock hard against Eric's
smooth belly and fired shot after shot of his sweet preteen cum over
what little of Eric's belly was exposed, with much of it soiling Eric's t-
shirt as well as his own.

Following close behind, Eric pushed up against his heavier lover and
shot his much lighter cum over Scott's hairless balls and on to Scott's
larger dick and into his wisps of pubic hair. They traded more kisses
as they came down from their sexual highs.

"That was good," Scott said. "You're the best."

Eric couldn't help but wonder if Scott really meant it, but for now he
accepted it. He did note that Scott did not say, "I love you." Scott got
off of Eric and sat up on his bed. He reached for some tissues,
handing some to Eric, and started cleaning himself off.

"I better not wear this t-shirt when I say good night to mom," Scott
said with a chuckle. Eric couldn't help but smile at Scott's comment.
He wiped off what he could. His t-shirt had much more sticky cum on
it than Scott's did. He had some of his own clothes in one of Scott's
dresser drawers. He pulled up his pants and buckled up, then
changed shirts, throwing his soiled onr\e into the dirty clothes
hamper.

After Eric left, Scott thought about what had happened during the last
couple of days. Tama had been calling him since last spring, so her
coming on to him wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was how
badly he wanted to take her to the dance. He knew his taking her
would hurt Eric, but he also knew that Eric could find a girl to ask to
the dance. There were a lot of girls who thought Eric was cute and
sexy and nice. They would probably squeal out loud if Eric asked
them to the dance. Because of that he didn't feel totally sorry for Eric.

When Eric got home his parents were watching a movie on TV. He
told them goodnight and got ready for bed. He brushed and flossed
and washed his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and suffered
a rare crisis of confidence. He wondered what it was about him that
Scott didn't like any more. He looked at his face to see if he had
suddenly started becoming ugly. Eric usually looked in the mirror and
knew he was a much better than average looking boy. But tonight he
could only see splotches of ugliness.

Eric returned to his bedroom and took his clothes off. He looked into
his bedroom mirror. He usually admired his naked body, but this time
it looked wrong. He decided he'd seen enough and crawled under the
covers of his bed. He was about to turn off the light when he heard a
knock at the door. He knew it had to either be his mother or his
father.

"What?" he asked.

"May I come in?" It was his father.

"Yeah, I guess."

His father came into the room and smiled. "You're not sure that I'm
able to come in?"

Eric had no idea where his dad was coming from. "I know you know
how to come into my room, so why are you asking that?"

"You said you guessed I could come in, so I was just curious."

"Dad, that's just a way of talking."

Eric's father came over to his bed and ruffled his son's unruly blond
hair. "I was just yanking your chain a bit."

"Oh no! Am I chained to my bed? No, let me free!" Eric giggled with
delight, his depression momentarily forgotten. His father was pleased
he was able to get a smile and some laughter out of his son.

"So, tell me what's eating at you tonight? You didn't look happy
coming back from Scott's, and your sour mood really showed when
you told your mom and me goodnight."

"Nothing's wrong, I guess I was just in a bad mood."

"You and Scott have gotten pretty close since we moved here,"

"He's my best friend."

"That's easy to see. And best friends can have arguments. And
sometimes other kinds of disagreements can sprout that aren't really
arguments, but maybe a different way of seeing life."

Eric had a pretty good idea of what his father meant, but he wasn't
about to acknowledge it. "We didn't have an argument. Our day
ended pretty good together, I guess."

"Then what put you into a grouchy mood? It's not the first time you've
been a bit testy after being around Scott."

"I dunno. Maybe we just aren't seeing some things the same, like you
said." Eric was beginning to wish his dad would ruffle his hair again
and say goodnight. "I mean we're still best friends and everything."

Eric's dad had a good idea as to what was going on between the two
boys, but he didn't want to paint his son into a corner. However, he
did want his son to know he could be a good listener if he needed to
talk things out. "Sometimes boys of your age get to liking each very
much in ways they never thought of before. After awhile attitudes can
change and it can lead to bad feelings in a friendship if somebody
doesn't understand what is going on."

Eric trusted his dad, but his dad was still his dad and he wasn't sure if
he should tell him everything. Still, he decided to drop a hint as to
what was bugging him. "Scott has a date with Tama to the dance on
Friday and I don't have a date. I kinda thought we were going to go
together as friends and then see what happens."

Dennis, Eric's father, was sure he knew exactly what happened and it
fit his theory. His son had a big crush on Scott; it was most likely a
sexual crush, Scott had gotten caught up in it, and now he suddenly
has discovered girls in a big way. He didn't agree with kids dating at
age twelve, but he wasn't going to go there now as it wasn't germane
to the purpose of his visit.

"Just remember, son, that your mother and I love you and always will
love you. You can always talk to us about anything at anytime."

"Thanks dad." Eric wanted to talk about lots of things, but he simply
wasn't ready yet. For him there were some things in his life that were
private and were his own special secrets. They were things he would
have to deal with on his own. "I'm tired and want to go to sleep now."
He turned on his side, his back to his father, hoping he would get the
hint.

Dennis ruffled his son's already disordered hair again and bade him
goodnight, just like Eric had hoped he would. Eric kept his back to his
father, hoping to hide the tears dripping down his cheeks.

<Seventh grade, Wednesday, October 24, Marty's house>

Marty decided to skip his usual Wednesday visit with George. He
didn't bother to call. He did finish doing the math homework he had
been assigned, which made him feel less guilty about not calling his
sponsor and mentor.

He had made up his mind to go to the dance on Friday, but he wasn't
going to wear a costume. He was going to dress in his grungiest
clothes, use makeup to put on some scars, put a lot of mousse in his
hair and spike it, and look as dorky as he could. He was hoping he
could find a couple of girls to dance with him.

After getting ready for bed he thought about jerking off. It was still
early and he didn't have anything else to do except watch TV or go
online. If he jerked off now, he thought, he might have time to do it a
second time.

He had two bottles of vodka he hidden in his closet and wondered it
is was time to try some again. He still needed to prove to his father
that he could drink like a man, and there was no way he could do that
if he didn't practice. He'd changed hiding places a week ago, moving
the box with the booze from under his bed to a little cubbyhole that
was to the side of the top shelf in his closet.

Fuck it, he thought, one glass mixed with some coke wouldn't hurt
him and it would make his jerking off better, too. He walked over to
the closet and moved a box with his old hats out of the way. The first
thing he saw behind it was Mortimer, his Teddy bear.

"Come on, Mort, you shouldn't be sitting in my way," he said out loud.
"You understand what I'm gonna do, right?"

The old, worn bear looked at him with its usual half grin. Voices
popped into his head as he started to move the bear aside. "Hi, drunk
boy, I'm Jeff...I love you, Marty...", "You can never drink again...do it
one day at a time...", "No son of mine is an alcoholic, he just needs to
learn to drink like a man...he needs to learn to be a man...you need
to get rid of that sissy bear..."

"Shut the fuck up, all of you!" Marty said out loud. He moved the bear
another notch over, putting it a little more out of his way. He was
ready to reach around for his box when his phone rang. "Shit, who is
that?"

He thought about ignoring it, but thought it might be Connor or Vince
calling about Friday, so he went back to his bed and picked it up off of
the nightstand. He realized as soon as he answered that he should
have checked caller ID first; it was Mr. B.

"Missed you tonight, Marty."

"I had homework," Marty replied, which wasn't really a lie, but he
knew he still had time to go to his meeting, or at least call and explain
why he wasn't going to be there.

"Calling might have been the prudent thing to do."

"I forgot."

"Jeffrey says to tell you hi and that he missed you."

"Tell Jeff I missed him, too." That was the truth, even though the
seven year old was one reason why he skipped the meeting. He
remembered his promise join Jeff on his bed when he read to him
and he was afraid of his feelings for the boy.

"I expect you will still have time to go to Olympia with Donald on
Saturday."

"Yeah, I'll go," Marty said, although he was already starting to think
up excuses to get him out of that trip.

"Call me tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"And this day is almost over. Finish it sober."

"Yeah."

Marty hung up and walked back to the closet. He started to move
Mortimer to his right, away from the cubbyhole. Then, with an
emphatic, "Ah, fuck it!" he moved Mortimer to the left. "Damn it, Mort,
that asshole takes all the fun out of getting drunk." As if you had fun
getting drunk before you met him, said a stray thought that raced
through his mind.

He put the box of hats in front of his bear and flopped on his bed, his
naked body stretched out on top of the covers. He started jerking
himself off and was soon thinking thoughts of his last night of sex with
Rich, and of his sex with Royce and Lance, and he shot his wad
across his chest and belly as he thought about petting the soft skin of
Hurricane Jeffrey.

<Seventh grade, Friday, October 26, Mayfield Middle School>

The gym was full of tweens, most in costume, but many not. A DJ
provided the music and the air was hot and charged with the energy
of the pubescent and young adolescent kids.

Horniness was rampant as boys were trying to find ways to touch
girls without being caught by chaperones, and girls were trying to do
the same to boys. There were also boys who were trying to touch
boys and girls who were trying to touch girls. The chaperones could
almost feel the hormones flowing though the gym.

Hunter had a good time with Cindy Cameron, but he found himself
wanting to spend more time with Kraig than he did with her. Danny
and Mary Alice spent the dance cementing the crush that was
developing between them. Carl and Debra enjoyed each other's
company, although both of the suffered form almost terminal
shyness. The twins and Lars came to the dance together, as did
Noah and Bobby. Eric joined their group and even surprised himself
by dancing with a couple of girls who worked up the courage to ask
him.

Scott had fun with Tama. They each worked up a sweat dancing the
fast dances and enjoyed talking while they gulped down cold drinks.
Scott found himself discreetly touching Tama during the slow dances,
his fingers dancing on her butt a few times. Tama liked putting her
head on Scott's shoulder and loved the feel of Scott's arms and
fingers on her. Scott found himself smitten by the girl who had been
so hard on Danny and Hunter, and wondered if he could find a way to
kiss her.

The kiss he finally received toward the end of the dance was a quick
peck on the lips. It was nothing like he experienced with Eric, but he
thought of it as a start. He thought that there had to be a way to start
going out with Tama and still keep Eric as his, well, bed buddy.

Danny managed to get a long deep kiss with Mary Alice, along with a
quick grope of her budding breasts, while Carl and Debby ran
interference by blocking the view of one of the chaperones. Danny
was pleased when Mary Alice told him he gave her the best kiss
she'd ever had. He could tell the kissing practice with Carl was paying
off.

Hunter never did kiss Cindy Cameron, although he wasn't sure how
he hadn't found a way to do so. He knew he liked Cindy and liked
dancing with her, yet he didn't feel like he was in sync with her. He'd
boned up a couple of times, but it wasn't because his thoughts were
focused on her. He left the dance full of confusion.

Scott walked home with Eric after the dance--Tama and Mary Alice
were picked up by Tama's parents. While Eric wasn't exactly down in
the dumps, he didn't have the giddiness that Scott felt. Scott wasn't
as cognizant of the feelings of others in the way the Eric and Noah
where, but he knew better than to bring up the topic of what a great
time he'd had at the dance.

Eric, on the other hand, noticed that while the other boys in their
groups who had a "date" with a certain girl found time to chat with
their friends, including Eric, he had only managed to talk to Scott
once. He couldn't help but feel that his relationship as Scott's
boyfriend was slowly unraveling. Like Hunter, he left the dance full of
confusion.

Next: In Denial