Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 02:43:16 EDT
From: VIHoa@aol.com
Subject: The Clique: Chapter 7

	Hey there, back for more?  Well, I've been getting a lot of e-mail
asking for character development, so since I do this for YOU, as well as for
me, I filled this chapter up with it!  You meet Brandon's family!  Yes, they
actually have parents and a home life...  They're not on their own like a lot
of you out there think.  Plus the addition of parents will lead to some
interesting story lines, don't ya think?
 	I also want y'all to know that the reason this chapter was so late in
coming was because I was developing a web page for this story and some other
works of mine.  They all revolve around the kids at Westfield High, one way
of another.  I have everything I want up designed with Netscape Composer.
Now I just need a server.  I don't know any HTML, or anything like that.  But
if there is someone out there that can't put my site up for me, please!  By
all means, contact me.  I really want to put this site up!  If you can help,
contact me at vihoa@aol.com


Chapter 7:  Acceptance

Dear Journal,

 	Love's a funny thing huh?  I thought after Kim, I was doomed to
remain single and unhappy.  I thought that if I couldn't make it work with
the most beautiful and popular girl in school, then I couldn't make any
relationship work.  But now, look where I am.  I have Phillip.  My companion,
my boyfriend, my lover, my soul mate.  Life just can't get any better.  He
was my first.  The one that I gave myself to.  The one that I felt
comfortable with.  All Kim ever thought of me as was a trophy.  Something she
can show off to gain popularity.  But Phillip is different.

 	I can remember the first day I saw him in English.  So quiet, so shy.
 I wasn't sure if he'd want to talk to anyone.  Then I did it.  I made my
move, and it was the best move of my life!  We clicked instantly.  He didn't
know who I was, nor did he care.  He liked me for me.  Then at dinner, after
he found out about my social ranking, but he didn't act any differently.  He
was just...  Phillip.  He saw me as a person and not someone who could make
him popular.  I felt so good around him.  Not once, did I feel like I was
being used.  He actually wanted to get to know me!  The only people that I
have acted so comfortably around were Angel, Dolan, Rob, Toni, and Linda...
the kids I knew since elementary school.  Phillip's special.  There's
something in the way he acts, his kindness, the way he smiles, the way his
hair sticks up, the way he bites his lower lip when he gets nervous...
Something that made me know that he was the one I wanted to be with...
possibly forever...

Brandon


"Brandon, Brandon!!!"  As I laid there on the couch, I heard a small voice
call my name.

"What?  Who?"  I lazily cracked open my eyes to see who was calling my name.
The voice became more familiar as the figure in front of me came into focus.

 	In front of me stood a five year old boy with platinum blond hair,
and the cutest smile in the world.  He was wearing my old Yankees Jersey, a
pair of blue jeans, and some Nike sneakers.  He was patting my leg trying to
wake me, still yelling my name. "Nice to see you too Will."  I said.  "How'd
you get home?"

"Mommy brought me, silly!"  Will said with the cutest smile...  Wait...
MOMMY!!!  PHILLIP!!!

I immediately woke Phillip.  "Phillip, you gotta get up!  My mom's home!"
Phillip jumped off my chest and sat up straight.

"Mom?  Oh yeah...  you got one too..."  He groaned rubbing his eyes.  I got
up and instantly turned my attention to Will.

"Where is mommy now Will?"  I asked frantically.

"She's in the garage.  Umm...  Brandon?  Who is he?"  Will asked pointing at
Phillip.

"He's my friend Will, a VERY special friend of mine."  I explained,
emphasizing the very, which cause Phillip to crack one of his trademark grins.

"Hi, I'm Phillip.  I just moved here.  And you are?"  He said as he bend down
onto his knees to be eye to eye with Will.  They look so cute together!

"Hi!  I am William Fairchild Lauderdale, Jr."  He said with prestige, doing
the courtly bow my parents had engraved in his
head.  This caused Phillip to giggle hysterically.

"Well, very nice to meet you William Randolph Lauderdale, Jr.  but is it o.k.
if I just call you Will?"  He said wiping the tears away from his eyes.  Will
nodded.  We all sat down on the couch when the door leading to the garage
flew open.

"WILLIAM!!!  BRANDON!!!  CAN YOU BOYS PLEASE HELP YOUR MOMMY WITH THE
LUGGAGE?"  My mom
called out.  We all jumped up.  Will immediately ran to the garage to help
our mom while I told Phillip to wait in the living
room.

 	As I ran to the garage, I saw Will lugging in a suitcase that was
twice his size, "Hey there little man, I'll take that."  As I reached over to
grab the suitcase, Will grabbed my hand and pushed it away.  Then in his
cute, little voice he said, "No Brandon.  I'm a big boy now.  I can do this
all by myself."  It was the cutest thing!

"Well all right then!  You go do your thing he-man!"  I joked.  Will smiled
and continued lugging in the suitcase.  Then my mom came through the door.

"Brandon dear, can you please lend your dear ol' mother a hand with the
luggage?"  My mom asked holding two suitcases in her hands and two under her
arms.  I ran over to her and grabbed the ones under her arms.

"Aww, mother...  you're not old.  You're just as young as this hear chair..."
puttin' my hand on what I thought was a new chair.  My mom dropped her bags
and gave me an evil stare.

"Brandon dear, that chair survived the burnin' of Atlanta during the Civil
War."  My mom said flatly as we both stopped.

"Oh, I mean this...  oh never mind.  Mother, you look marvelous."  I said
with the thickest southern accent I could muster.  Rhet Butler, eat your
heart out.

"Thank you dear."   She picked up the luggage again and we started towards
the back of the house.

"So mom.  Why are you back so soon?  Was Vegas THAT boring?  Didn't Will get
enough of Circus Circus?  Do we have to sell the house now?  Can I still go
to college, or does that money belong to the MGM Grand now?"  I asked
jokingly.  We continued walking into the living room as she began to talk.

"No Brandon, we don't have to sell the house now, and you are still going to
Rice like we planned.  You know it was all
business.  We would've stayed longer but the office called and...  Well hello
there."  My mom stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Phillip in the living
room.  "Brandon?  Where is that southern hospitality we taught you?  Would
you care to introduce me to your friend?"  My mom asked, chastising me with
her comment.

"Sorry mother...  Mom, this is Phillip Le.  Phillip Le, meet my mother, Lynn
Marie Lauderdale."  I said in my refined southern gentleman voice.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Lauderdale."  Phillip said as he extended his hand.

"Likewise, and please...  call me Lynn."  My mom replied graciously.  Phillip
cracked a smile and offered to take the suitcases out of my mother's hands.
"Thank you Phillip, just place them on the living room table, I'll take them
upstairs myself later."  Phillip took the suitcases and did what she said.
My mother then did the once over on Phillip as his back was turned.  "Phillip
dear!  When was the last time you've eaten?"  My mom will always see someone
as too skinny, although an exercise fanatic, she is convinced that people
today don't eat enough, especially the Clique.

"I had lunch at school, but nothing since then."  He said, turning around.

"School food does nothing for a growing boy like yourself.  What did you
have?  Pizza?  Chicken-fried steak?  Well, I won't hear of a boy your age
trying to get energy from such minimal portions.  Would you care to stay for
dinner?"  She asked in full "mother mode."

"YES MA'AM!"  I had to laugh at Phillip's eagerness.

"Good, I'll write up a grocery list and you and Brandon can go get them for
me."  She said as she ran into the kitchen.

"She likes you."  I whispered to Phillip.

"Mothers ALWAYS like me."  He said with a devilish grin.  Then Will came
running up to us with some action figure in his
hands.

"Look what I got Brandon!"  He screamed, showing me acouple of Power Rangers
action figures.

"That's cool Will."  I said, humoring his enthusiasm.

"Do you want to play?"  He asked.

"Umm..."

"Sure he does!"  Phillip interjected.  "We both do!"

 	Needless to say, Will's face lit up like a Roman Candle!  Phillip was
so good with him.  They both pretended to be Power
Rangers while I was the big bad evil space monster.  We had lots of fun.
Should I be jealous that Will had taken such a liking to Phillip?  Nah...
Having my little brother love my boyfriend just adds to his appeal.  My
little brother adores him so much!  Then my mom peered into the living room.

"You know what guys?  I don't think I'll be needing you to go to the store
anymore."  She said with a smile.

"Why?"  I asked.

"Because we have enough food here.  Doesn't look like you've eaten much at
home now does it Brandon?  Eaten' out again?"  She asked sternly, tapping her
foot.

"Yeah,  I've been going to the Sambuca."  I said lowly.

"Now Brandon, I know how small those portions are...  you are never going to
grow if you eat like that."  My mother said in a displeased, then nagging
tone.

"I know...  I know..."  I said flatly.

"Phillip?  No offense dear, but I see your family doesn't feed you much
either."  Mom stated, leering and eye towards my
boyfriend.

"My parents are away on business trips a lot so I don't eat at home a lot."
Phil said with Will flung over his shoulder.  It was the cutest site to see.

"Well, I know business is important, but you need food young man!  You're
almost as skinny as Brandon here!  I go on
business trips a lot too and I'm afraid the traveling has left Brandon
skinny."  Skinny?  I am not skinny!  Phillip, of course,
couldn't help but laugh.  "Do you like spaghetti and meatballs Phillip?"

"I love 'em!"  He said licking his lips.  Oh!  So tempting!  Does he know
what he does to me?  My mom smiled and went back to her cooking.  I turned to
Phillip to warn him of what he's gotten himself into.

"Phillip, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."  I said with a
smile

"What do you mean?"  He asked putting Will down.

"When you said yes to spaghetti and meatballs, you also said yes to vegetable
soup, salad, breadsticks, and dessert.  I hope you can handle all that in
large portions."  I warned with a smirk.

"Don't worry about me lover..."  He then leaned over and gave me a kiss on
the lips, making sure Will didn't see.  I liked what he did, but my
responsible side mouthed him the words, "Not now..."  He smiled and nodded.
Now I regret that "Not now" thing.  Oh well.

 	We played with Will for about another hour before my mom called us to
dinner.  She had everything set in the kitchen and told us to bring it into
the formal dinning room.  We always dine in the formal dinning room whenever
guest are over.  Even if it's my friends!  I think it's weird.  But refined
southern ways are hard to break sometimes.  I should know, I'm still working
on this damn accent.  Every one gathered at the table and sat.

"Well, before y'all dig in, I'd like to take this opportunity to excuse
Brandon's father.  He works down at the medical center
during the night so he doesn't get in 'til late."

"Oh that's o.k. Mrs. Lauderdale, I'm just happy to be here."  And with that,
my mother smiled and told us to dig in.  Oh, she really out did herself this
time.  The dinner she prepared was huge!  All through dinner I was amazed by
Phillip.  He knew every rule of edicate while eating.  He knew which forks to
use, and even how to use the finger bowl, which still to today puzzles me.
Needless to say, my mother loved him...  should I be jealous?

"So Phillip, you're new here aren't you?"  My mother asked.

"Why yes!  How did you know?"  He asked still twirling his spaghetti onto his
fork.

"I've met all of the Clique...  but I haven't met you until today, so I just
assumed.  Brandon spends most of his time with those friends of his, and only
brings a new friend home if he or she had been entered into the Clique.  Just
know that you're welcomed here anytime.  So tell me about yourself...  Like
where are you from?"

"Well...  Lynn, I came here from California..."

"Oh California!  We have a Californian in our mists.  Please dear tell me all
about California.  And while you're at it, I wouldn't mind getting to know
you as well!"

	Phillip continued on, telling us about what's it like to live in
California.  How it's different from here.  I took in everything that he
said.  Then he talked about himself and what he's learned and acomplished.
Four languages!  Good Lord!  He even impresed me.  And all through his talk,
he still kept his modest composure, which I found so attractive!  When he
finished, it was my mother's term to have her say.

"That's very impresive Phillip!  You know, I love all of Brandon's friends as
if they were my children but they can get rather...  for lack of a better
word, dull.  I'm glad you and Brandon became friends.  Maybe some of your
liveliness can rub off on him."  She said smiling.  Well, she WAS right.  All
everyone else talks about is superficial stuff, I'm hopping getting to know
Phillip will broaden their view on life.  Life isn't all about clothes,
money, cars, and what not.  There's so much more.

 	Dinner went on as well as I could've hoped for.  My mom absolutely
adored Phillip, asking about his life, his ambitions, his heritage, his life
in California, how he and I met, and how we became friends.  And he told her
everything, even about our dinner at Sambuca.  Although he did leave out what
happened after dinner, but that was for the best.  Didn't want to give my mom
a heart attack now.

 	My mom, as I'm guessing all moms do, told him all the embarrassing
aspects of Will and my life to Phillip.  She told him about the time she
found out me and Kim dated, and how relieved she was when Kim and I broke up.
 She doesn't like Kim that much, it's come to the point where she just
tolerates her.  She sees Kim as a stuck up, superficial, gold digger...
Which isn't entirely wrong.  She continued on and on about my life, and
Will's.  She even told him about the bed wetting problem I had in elementary
school and how I'd hide it by flipping the mattress, which caused me to
cringe.  God this was torture.  Phillip; however, got the comedy show of a
lifetime.  I'm glad he finds my life so amusing.  Wait 'til I have a talk
with Mrs. Le.  Then we'll see who's laughing.  Hehehe...  aww...  he has the
cutest laugh.  And his teeth are so white!  Very sexy.  All this time poor
Will had fallen asleep and rolled himself into a little ball, sleeping on the
seat cushion.

"Awww, will y'all look at that."  My mom cooed as she looked at Will.  "It's
getting late anyway.  I'm just going to take him
upstairs."  My mom then got up and bent down to pick up Will, as she stood
back up, she saw Phillip clearing his plates.  "Don't you dare!  You are our
guest!  Please let us, I insist."

"Oh I don't mind."  He said standing up.  Well, I wasn't going to let this
happen.  I ran over to him and took the plates out of his hand.

"Leave it Phillip, I'll take care of it."  He shrugged his shoulders and
looked at his watch.  Movado!  So very nice.

"Oh, it's getting late.  I should be heading home anyways."  He said with a
huff.

"Now?"  I whined.

"I haven't been home Brandon..."  He whispered noticing my mom going up
stairs.

"Alright, but let me walk you to your car."

"O.K.  Let's go."  He said with a really REALLY sexy smirk.  I placed the
plates back down on the table and followed him to the front door.  We walked
out to his car together, hand in hand as soon as the front door closed behind
us.  It was a clear night, with a full moon gazing down upon us.  His face
glowed in the moonlight like an Angel's.  I raised my hand and caressed his
face in my palm.  Tears filled my eyes as I looked upon my lover's face.
Feeling his soft skin, I was taken in by his exotic eyes, just like I was
that first night at the Sambuca.  God I loved him...

"What's wrong?"  He asked, noticing a tear glide down my cheek.

"I just love you so much."  I responded, not hiding the tears that followed.
He just sighed lovingly and took me into a tight
embrace.  We looked into each other's eyes and the world around us
disappeared.  He leaned forward and kissed my lips.
Soft and gentle at first, but building up with passion as the seconds past.
Then he slid in his tongue and I died in his arms.  I died and went to
heaven.  Our tongue wrestled between us as his arms rubbed up and down my
back.  Our breathing got heavier, and I was getting A LOT hotter.  I was
about to make love to him right there in the driveway!  My cock was ready to
burst out.  And as I began to unbutton my shirt, he stopped.

He smiled and looked down at my pants.  Seeing my raging hard-on, he winked
and said, "Down boy..."

 	What the hell was this!?!?!  Just leaving me hanging?!?!?  FUCK!!!
He jumped into the Beemer and close the door.

"YOU'RE JUST GONNA LEAVE ME HANGING?!?!"  I screamed, pounding my fists on
his window.

As he started his engine, he said, "Consider this payback for this morning."
And with a wink and a smile, he sped off.

"IF I DIDN'T LOVE YOU SO MUCH, I'D KICK YOUR ASS!!!"  I screamed at him at
the top of my lungs.

 	There he goes, the man that I loved.  My friends love him, my mom
loves him, my brother loves him, and they don't suspect a thing!  Life can't
get any better than this for me.  Now how do I get this hard on down before
my mom sees it?

The End

	I know it's been over week but there it is!  Chapter 7.  If any of
you are getting annoyed that you're not able to "get off" while reading my
story, don't worry.  I have a scene coming up soon.  Actually two!  One's
between Brandon and Phil, DUH!  But you'll just have to wait and see who else
is going to...  ahem...  shack up.  I don't think you're going to see this
one coming.
 	I also want y'all to know that the reason this chapter was so late in
coming was because I was developing a web page for this story and some other
works of mine.  They all revolve around the kids at Westfield High, one way
of another.  I have everything I want up designed with Netscape Composer.
Now I just need a server.  I don't know any HTML, or anything like that.  But
if there is someone out there that can't put my site up for me, please!  By
all means, contact me.  I really want to put this site up!  If you can help,
contact me at vihoa@aol.com