Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 17:57:11 +0000
From: Danny writing <danny2017writing@outlook.com>
Subject: Even If We Tried - Part 10

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a little charity for nifty's awesome service.

***

Feedback would be very appreciated, if you would like to send
me an email. I'd love to hear everyone's opinion as all
feedback is read; and I do try and reply to all of them also.

I want to say a particular thank you to hunter, the writer of
Open Hearts. He is an amazing writer and friend; so, thank you
for the help and feedback. Do check out his amazing story.

I wish to thank all the fellow readers for sticking with me
and the couple of good friends I have made.

Please don't alter or reproduce my work without first
contacting me.

These following words are in the story; and people may not be
familiar with them.


Banter - the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks.


If anyone is interested there is a soundtrack for every
chapter I have written of the story. The songs below are the
songs I used while writing this chapter. In order of the
scenes; I have included ***** in the story where each segment
of the music ends and the new music begins.

Almost Over by Aquilo - Song 1
Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars - Song 2
Kill Em With Kindness - Acoustic Version by Selena Gomez -
Song 3
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers - Song 4
Moon by Sleeping At Last - Song 5
Somewhere In Between by August Wilhelmddon - Song 6


In The Last Chapter: The events of the last chapter have left poor Sams
head in a awkward place. Ethan is not talking to him, because he maybe
jealous and Austin is trying to to further there relationship. Sam feels a
little trapped in his everyday life, and now with Nash on the horizon
everything is about to go sour; Find out in this chapter of Even If We
Tried.

Even If We Tried - part 10

******************************
Song 1: Almost Over by Aquilo
******************************

Sent: "Ethan, I'll stop being friends with Austin if you'll
talk to me."

I knew I was lying of course, but I did want Ethan to talk to
me, so I figured a little white lie as mom called it; wouldn't
hurt all that much, considering what was going on.

Received: "Leave me alone!"

That was the last message I had sent to him. He hadn't
bothered to try and message me since yesterday. I think the
word was getting around the school, because I was getting
quite a few messages from people who were saying
"congratulations Sam or is it true Sam, that your gay." It was
getting out of control and I could not quarantine the problem.
It was like a disease that was living on my back and I
couldn't shake it off. It was just there and had no purpose
other than to ridicule me; 'I wondered how Austin put up with
it the first time it happened to him.' Then I remembered I'm
not the only one in this predicament and I messaged him that
morning and made arrangements to walk into school together. If
we were going to be ridiculed at least let us show our dignity
and face it head on.

After I showered, I headed down for breakfast, it was the
quietest breakfast I had ever had. My mom didn't really speak
much this morning which was weird too, but she did down three
cups of coffee since I got up, so maybe she was suffering from
some sort of exhaustion. Gloating from the kitchen table I
washed my bowl out and left it on the draining board. Giving
mom a hug I then slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed
out the patio door and wheeled my bike out to the front. Doing
the same ritual as every day, I hopped on and cycled for
school.

Arriving at school I dismounted at the curb side and pushed my
bike into a free slot in the bike rack.
Digging into my bag for the bike lock, I put it around the
wheel and through the frame of my bike and onto the mount of
the bike rack just like any other day. When I finished zipping
my bag up, I heard Austin say "Good Morning." Come to think I
was getting used to hearing his voice; so much so that I
recognised it without even having look at him. It was the
little details that drove me crazy about this boy. I know I
couldn't exactly give him up, but I wanted to try and win my
friend back. There was only two other people; I could honestly
say that I knew their voices without having to look at them.
One being my mom of course and the other being Ethan. I had
spent a great deal of time when I was younger with Ethan, so
it was a natural thing to know his voice. Although I spent
quite the amount of time with my little sister, I guess you
could say I sort of knew her voice, but I wasn't as clued on
it as the most important ones.

Turning around to Austin I gave him and smile and a small wave
as I strode away from the bike rack and waddled over towards
him. Slipping my backpack strap onto my shoulder I now stood
in front of him. It was then that he said in a sarcastic but
soft tone.

"Do you have a sore throat or something?"

It was a weird question but then I realised that I never said
good morning back to him so I quickly caught on. "Oh... I'm
sorry your lordship. Good Morning" I stated dryly.

He gave a soft smile and then looked down at the pavement and
then caught my gaze. "How are you today?" He asked with
sincerity. I thought about telling him how yesterday went. I
mean it didn't exactly go the way I wanted it; but I guess it
was going to be the best I was going to get for now, or
possibly forever. 'That is kinda sad I thought, what if I'm
losing Ethan forever.'

It would be something that I could get over, sure. But it
would all be new to me because I would be navigating in an
unknown fog without him. Just without him things are a little
cloudy in my life; 'like seriously where's the sunshine. It's
depressing down here.' Snapping out of my trance I became
aware of Austin eyeing me up with curiosity.

Pointing for the school building the both of us started to
break into a small walk. I jumbled the thought's around in my
head and contemplated about how to start this conversation.
Once I reached my conclusion I slowly braced myself for the
muddled mess I was about to try and embark on.

"Well, I tried talking to Ethan yesterday after school... I
don't think he wants anything to do with me anymore. I mean I
said sorry a couple of times. I even said that I would play
Lacrosse with him. I don't know what else to do."

There was a subtle pause from Austin as we reached the front
door. I pulled open the glass door for him to go first. It
felt like the natural thing to do. I guess I'm not what you
call a proper gentleman, but I do have manners I guess.
Watching Austin slip through the open door, I then shifted the
palm of my hand to the middle of the steel framing and slipped
though it myself. Then Austin said with his right eyebrow
arched and coy smile.

"You got Lacrosse?" He asked with a content and merry ring to
it. He was certainly happy compared to the last couple of
days. It was like his mood had completely shifted and it was
not like how he had been acting previously. I found it both
weird and intriguing at the same time.

Heading down the semi busy hallway, I looked around in hopes
that Ethan was here. I just wanted to see him. That would make
me feel at ease. But for the meantime I decided to get back to
Austin's question. Digging deep into my thoughts I became
aware that I had told Austin about me getting Lacrosse.
I also noticed that a couple of people were looking at us as
we passed them; 'it was such a negative stigma. Can I not even
walk with someone without being judged; it's ridiculous. I
contemplated about the day I'd leave this scandalous place.'
Playing around with the thoughts in my head I tried to wrap my
brain around what everyone's problem was... "Are you there?"
Austin teasingly mocked.

Coming back to reality, I turned to him and gave him a soft
smile. Looking over at him I found myself admiring the life
size puppy in front of me. I mean literally he was cuter than
a puppy. But that's the only way I can say how cute he really
was. His small snub nose and brown eyes were so dreamy, this
was made clearer by his freshly washed and soft ruffled hair
that fell into place on his forehead and below his ears. He
was so kissable, but then the ambient noise of mumbling faded
the soft silence away and was replaced with talking, laughter
and slamming locker doors.

"Em... Eh... Yeah" I quickly shot back trying to show that I was
actually listening.

"Really?, then what did I say?" He knowingly mocked, as he
gave a toothy smile. Blushing I shrugged my shoulders and
decided to go with the casual approach. "Em... Gay stuff" I
sarcastically teased.

He sniggered and gave me and playful push, as we stopped
beside my locker.

"No seriously" He asked with all joking aside.

"You said something about Lacrosse, right?" I asked hoping
that he was actually talking about sports. He gave a slight
nod in agreement and then started walking towards his locker.
Stopping in front of my locker, I gave the dial a few twists
and entered my combination. The locker door was getting old
and stiff so I had to push up on the handle as I opened it,
this was the only way to get it to budge. I gave it a firm
yank and the locker opened without a problem.

"So how come you didn't tell me?" Austin asked while he stood
at his locker. Rummaging in my cuby-hole, I found my
coursework that I needed to submit and then leaned slightly
out from the locker to look at him.

"I'm sorry; it never crossed my mind. Besides I'm doing
Baseball with you." Sighing on the inside I thought I was free
from further interrogation but I guess that would have been
wishful thinking. He turned and looked in my direction and
said "Yeah your right, but it would have been cool to know
that you got both."

I felt a little agitated by his comment, I mean did he have to
know every little thing I did. I know it was not that big of a
problem, so why was he digging into it. I was now conflicting
with my decision. I'm probably becoming a narky or impatient
person; I like have a low estimate for bullshit now. Not that;
that is a bad thing or anything but it would probably make me
unapproachable right. Who am I fooling, I'm already
unapproachable so what would be the difference.

'What if me and Ethan started talking again; would that make
things worse or better. Like right now I'm not talking to him
which is annoying and driving me insane; but what if we never
talked again. Would it be unfair to say that I'd have that
free time to do whatever I wanted? I know that free time would
be cool, but it's never that appealing for that long, like
it's maybe cool for a couple of weeks or months but when it
finally gets to years it would be very lonely. Sure, I'd have
Austin, and as much as he is perfect in every little way, I
don't think I could be around him all the time. I mean I like
doing my own thing sometimes. Austin has really helped me see
some things for what they really are; I maybe blind sometimes,
but he has taught me to see the bigger picture. Sighing, I
admitted to myself silently that I would be honest to Austin
from here on, he at least deserved that much.

"I promise, I'll tell you everything from now on." I stated
softly and locking eyes with him. He gave a bashful smile and
a small nod and then continued to do his thing at his locker.
I decided that I had everything I needed for the day, and
opted to run to the bathroom while I waited for Austin to
finish with his business. Closing my locker door, I rotated
the lock dial and turned to gawk at Austin. I then thought
about what had happened with the bully in the hallway
yesterday and I had second thoughts of leaving him; but my
doubts where extinguished when Ms. Campbell took her post in
the middle of the corridor and stood there like most Wednesday
mornings and observed that there was no messing going on.

Deciding to throw a little humour into the equation I stated
with a merry ring to it.

"Austin I need to take a shit."

He turned to me and cracked a smile before throwing his head
back and started a hearty chuckle. I think that moment got to
him because he started going weak at the knees and I watched
him try calm himself before he decided to respond. He went to
speak, "Alri..." He managed to get out before erupting back into
another fit of laughing.

I then had the sudden urge to go the big toilet as was nearly
ready to explode. I really needed to go, I then started slowly
trudge; backing away from Austin.

****************************************
Song 2: Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars
****************************************

"I really need to go, I'll catch up with you in class." I
mocked, flushed with embarrassment. He closed his locker and
laughed and finally said "Alright, if your more than thirty
minutes, I'll send out a search party." Cracking a smile at
his sarcasm I turned and headed for the bathroom. I pushed
open the door impatiently for the cubicle and locked it
quickly behind me. I then coated the toilet seat in layers of
toilet paper, unhitched my belt buckle and sat down.

While I was sitting on the toilet I heard a couple of people
come and go, the toilet door opened a few times and was
accompanied by the swift banging of it hitting the wall behind
the door or the ruffling sound it made before it closed, and
returned the bathroom to silence. I heard a conversation
between two people about one of them having to redo thier
driving test for their licence. But other than that, they soon
exited as I began wiping you know where. Once I had finished,
I pulled my pants back up and redid my belt; when I heard the
door open again and then close shortly behind it. Unlocking
the bathroom door, I went for the sink bank and pressed the
facet for a flow of water. Rinsing my hand under the lukewarm
water, I turned to the paper towel dispenser when I noticed a
boy standing at the urinals on the far end of the bathroom.

I could swear it was Ethan, but I didn't want to say anything,
again panic set in as I thought it could have been him. I mean
I've spent so long with him you'd think I'd know him when I
saw him. Pushing forward for the paper towels, I tried not to
look at the boy I thought was Ethan and reached for the
dispenser. He then shook himself and I pulled for the paper
from the fixture when the boys' head shifted positioned and
looked over his right shoulder. It was Ethan, but as quick as
he looked he was shocked that it was me, he hadn't planned to
be in an isolated area with me. He quickly returned his gaze
to the front and zipped himself before turning around and
walking for the sinks and completely bypassing me. He pressed
down on the facet and washed his hands. He stopped as soon as
he seen that I was right beside the towel dispenser and after
couple seconds he sat back on the counter and sighed.

"Are you going to talk to me?" I asked in a moment of hope.

He kept his head bowed and directed forward towards the
cubical, and tried to say uncomfortably.

"I know Sam; about... you know" He uttered in a gentle but
diminished voice.

I thought about what he could have possibly been referring to;
I had a good idea that he was talking about me being gay. I of
course denied it.

"You only know what I want you to know!" I asserted.

"I know everything, you don't want me to know." He confirmed
with his suspicion, and declared it bluntly.

I felt quite small on the spot, I couldn't deny what I was;
and if Ethan could sense it then there was no telling him
otherwise. I felt a soft whimper come from inside of me and I
mumbled as I steered at the floor in humiliation.

"I can't change, I want to; but I can't."

I then sensed Ethan take a step forward and place his wet hand
on my shoulder, through my sniffling; I heard him blunder his
way thought the next sentence,

"Sam...," He said gravely "I... em;" He then sighed and leaned in
and chickened out; he gave me a small peck on my cheek. I
froze in the sudden heat of the moment. He then leaned back
and became a little flushed, but he didn't say anything. His
kiss was soft, it wasn't wet like Austin's, it was nice but it
felt weird at the same time. But then the door for the
bathroom opened again, and in walked two students.

That's when Ethan lightly shoved me and I hit the paper
dispenser behind me. "What the fuck, faggot!" He shouted while
he turned and scrambled towards the door, all I could do was
blink from shock. The students looked at me as I licked my
lips and slowly stumbled towards the door and pulled open the
heavy wooden fixture and started walking for my English class.

Navigating around desks, I sat down beside Austin and he
teasingly said "I thought you fell down the toilet."

"Nooo" I said with almost no enthusiasm in it.

Then our English teacher arrived and she began with the
lesson, as I went about the morning from class to class the
current replay of events aired in my brain on a loop, that
really hurt. Ethan had really hurt me, but why did he kiss me,
I'm confused like seriously. Why would he do that and then say
something like that, it didn't make any sense at all. Ethan
sat across the classroom, he had moved his position today. I
think he felt a bit embarrassed and bad for what had happened
because every time he would occasionally glance over at me his
eyes would wander all around the classroom and stop on me with
this saddened expression. I wondered if this was nearly over,
because I know that we're not who we used to be anymore.

I gave Ethan all my time, all my trust and honesty. I was
pretty much reliant on him, and I think between the morning
and lunch time something just clicked. I got a sudden feeling
that I was almost under water, like drowning. so, I have to
breathe I have to make myself be heard. I didn't want to feel
like I was drowning anymore. I waited for the moments on the
clock to tick forward as it neared lunch.

When the bell chimed, everyone shot up as the teacher shouted
out over the class and mentioned about assignments that where
due. I could see from the side of my peripheral vision that
Ethan just vacated the classroom as quick as he could. I
waited for Austin to pack up his things and the two of us made
our way to the cafeteria. We both cued at the lunch counter
and then made our way to an empty table.

Placing the tray on the table I unhitched the straps of my
school bag and tossed it under the table, in the same motion
Austin did the same and then we both slid into the table at
the same time.

***********************************************************
Song 3: Kill Em With Kindness - Acoustic Version by Selena
Gomez
***********************************************************

Sitting at the table I wanted to eat, but I couldn't. I had a
clear view of the traitors. They were eating and all seemed so
content. Ethan had seemed to have livened up a little since
this morning and was starting to smile and that was slowly
starting to eat away at me. How could people be so susceptible
to changing moods; there was seriously something wrong with
them. I mean that can't be normal, can it? But then it just
got to a point where I couldn't take any more of these mind
games they were playing. I think Austin could sense it, but
then it became evident when I shot up from the table. Anger
brewed deep down and I charged over to the table where they
all sat. Towering above Ethan; I gave Nash a sinister looking
glare until he felt so uneasy that he broke eye contact with
me and the entire table's banter subsided. Ethan turned around
and squinted up at me out of curiosity and become uneasy once
he had seen it was me. He quickly dipped his head down at his
lap out of disappointment until Nash stated sarcastically

"Do you want something?"

Fuming from annoyance; I was not really in control with what
was going to come next. I just saw my opening and I decided to
lay the rules of law down for everyone to understand.

Stating back in a sour tone I said

"I'm just here to say how everything really is."

Everyone looked down at the table except for Nash who looked
baffled at the amount of balls I must have been showing to
confront him, he thought he was this untouchable character up
there because he was rich, he pretended to be nice but he was
no different from any of the clich‚ school bullies. He was
just someone who thought he could abuse his power however he
saw fit, but I was about to shoot him down from that high
pedestal he was flying high on.

"Starting with you Nash; You're a manipulative, confused
bisexual with nothing to bring to the table other than
poisonous words and your daddies wallet. Deep down you're a
prick; Unworthy of anybody's trust and you're a callous human
being, to be able to be to operate normally after treating
your cousin like that."

I then turned to Blake as I was now clearly ready for a spree
of complete honesty.

"And you Blake; You were supposed to be my friend. I thought
you'd be better than that, to believe whatever an unstable
individual could tell you, was true without even looking into
it. I never thought you could turn out to hate gay people
considering your dads just got married."

Lastly, I shifted my position to Ethan who had a slumped
posture below me and looked frightened to death of what I was
about to say.

"And what was that, if you cared you wouldn't have done what
you did this morning, especially after; you know... I've known
you all my life, we went everywhere together and spent every
day together in the summer. I broke my arm when I fell from
that bridge our hideout was under; do you remember coming to
my rescue, just like the time I had your back when you got in
a fight with Brice Hartwell. He hit you and I took him clean
off his feet for doing that, did that not mean anything to
you.

I then looked around the table and directed my anger at
everyone that was sitting in front of me, none of them dared
to say a word, and Austin was just frozen beside me, at some
point he must had followed me over and he couldn't bring
himself to say something either.

"If you have a problem with me and Austin; Don't go behind my
back, if you want to fuck with someone have the decency to do
it to their face. Half the people at this table are
fudgepackers, so what the fuck is the problem. Just grow up.

Finishing my rant, I felt Austin's small hand on my shoulder
as he tried to guide me away from the table, but I felt that I
hadn't gotten everything out of my system. Just as I had
started to turn I stopped and took a step back towards the
table, towards Nash. I sucked all my saliva into the centre of
my mouth and spat at him across the table. My spit landed on
the top corner of his nose and started rolling down the side
of his nose and into his right eye. He just sat there as he
wiped away the spit with his hand and I coldly stated "That
was for Austin!" With that I turned and started navigating
with Austin, back to our table.

The cold screech of metal, tunnelled through room, not long
after I heard a faint bang from behind me. Turing around with
a gut feeling that Nash was getting up, I spun around and seen
Nash trying to get through the narrow passage between his
table and the table that was nearest to him. I thought that
was it, I was going my first black eye in school from a
flower-power. But before he could get any further Blake and
Ethan clung onto his jacket and arm to stop him from making
his way to me. "Your dead Twomey!" He declared.

I ducked below the table I was sitting at, still fuming and
gripped onto my school bag and made a break for the cafeteria
door with Austin and didn't bother to look back. I was
surprised that no teacher had caught me, but I was sure that I
would hear something soon, I knew I would.

We headed out into the courtyard and went through the small
archway and decided to take a walk around the school to cool
down. I was content walking along with Austin. He was all I
needed for support; fuck Ethan, that's right, fuck all of
them. They were getting on my case, I want to just be me, and
show Austin that I was okay with how everything was between
us, and more importantly that I valued the ground he walked
on.
A couple of minutes of fresh air, clear blue skies and
sunshine was all it took to change and heighten my mood.
It almost felt that Summer was here with the high temperature
that it was reaching today. It was even better spending time
with someone who understood me and I knew that I was not going
to be bullied because of it. Walking on the tarmac path around
the school building, Austin finally broke the silence by
saying with a burst of energy that he obviously could not
contain any longer.

"Well, that was awesome."

Looking over at him with the school building as a backdrop I
smiled at him; but then I knew deep down that I didn't help
anything along in the matter. It seemed like a good idea at
the time but I knew it would surface problems later on.
Letting out a sigh I shrugged my shoulders and said with
uncertainty "Really; I don't think I made the situation any
better."

He just let out a scoffed laugh and lively said "Screw 'em,
they deserved it." Nobody else was around us and it was
becoming a peaceful stroll with just him and nobody else.

"Maybe" I added as I just looked down at the tarmac that had
flakes of the freshly cut grass across it.

Then he came back again with an animated gesture as he re-
enacted the motion of me spiting at Nash. "That spit though."
he retorted, before chuckling and showing his sweet smile.
I felt somewhat at ease because of his care free nature and I
guess that was all it took for me to smile about what had
happened. I gave us a voice, maybe not the voice I was
expecting but I defiantly said something.

"Yeah; did you see it rolling down his face" I then erupted
into a phlegmy laugh as I struggled to clear my throat. For a
couple of minutes everything was quiet and nothing was said
until Austin came back with a question.

"Em Sammy?" Austin gently asked.

"Yeah Aussy" I added as I looked around us.

"Nawh! That nickname won't work" He returned, with a serious
sounding tone.

Looking over at him I broke into a small chuckle because his
face expressed a quizzical expression, but his voice suggested
a serious nature. He then thought for a second before
proceeding.

"Call me your precious" He wittily replied as he increased his
vocal registry when he got the 'Precious'. It appeared that he
was trying to imitate Gollum from The Lord of The Rings.
Smiling at his choice of words and effort at Gollum. I then
tried my hand at imitating Gollum myself.

"Okay, my precious. What do you want?"

He gave a light chuckle after I tried to copy him and then
bluntly stated "Em... what did you mean with Ethan, about this
morning?"

I never had thought about this and never thought about telling
him. It wasn't like I was hiding it from him, I just never got
the chance to process it, but since I made him a promise to be
honest with him, and if I was, well, dating him, I'd tell him
the truth. Actually, come to think of it, what are we? Are we
a couple or are we friends or just friends who really like
each other? I have the balls to stand up to Nash and risk my
reputation, but I can't ask a boy I like if he is my
boyfriend. It will stay that way until I can figure out how to
bring that up in a conversation. I want to be able to escape
if I don't feel comfortable.

"Ah-ha, yeah that" I bashfully cried on the inside.

Figuring out where to start I decided to start after I came
out of the toilet.

"Well, when I went to the bathroom. I met him when I was
coming out of the toilet to wash my hands. I didn't know it
was him at first, but I had a gut feeling that it was him if
that makes sense. No pun intended." I mocked to inject some
humour into the moment, but he didn't really laugh at it, I
guess my jokes are really that bad. We kept on walking towards
the front of the school building as we were about halfway
around the building at this point. "But anyway, once I saw
that it was him, I asked him if he was talking to me; while I
was drying my hands. A couple of seconds passed without him
saying anything to me and then he suddenly had one of his
hands on my shoulder. I told him that I was gay, but he didn't
really react, he just stood there. I thought he was going to
say it was okay and everything would be fixed, but then he
leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek that was totally
unexpected. I didn't know what to do, I mean he has never done
anything like that before, so I just kinda froze I guess."

Austin was looking at me with a serious glare; all the
giddiness was gone and he asked with a hint of suspicion
"A peck."

I felt my heart sink. I looked at him with expressive eyes. I
was like please let me finish.

"I'm being honest; please." I asked nervously and cautiously
before continuing.

He gave me a weak smile, but it was enough to reassure me that
he was not mad at me, yet. "Okay continue" He stated as he
smiled a wider smile.

"Before I could get a word in to ask what that was for or why
he did it, the bathroom door opened and two other boys came
in."

"And..." Austin cut in clearly getting inpatient.

"He pushed me away and shouted what the fuck faggot and
stormed off."

He was still listening closely and he let me get what I had to
say off my chest.

"Then I returned to class and you asked did I fall down the
shitter." Austin then smiled a white toothed grin at that and
I knew that he was just listening to what I had to say and
that he was not angry at me. The crinkles under his eyes
become prone when he smiled and that was one indicator to me
that he was content deep down considering he had such a baby
face.

He then sheepishly said "So you didn't like; kiss him back."

I was definitely a little surprised by the frankness of his
question; it was a little worrying to think, that in the
future would he jump to conclusions before I've reached an
evaluation even. Shaking my head at his question I said in an
earnest manner that I had nothing to hide

"No..., why would I, he's a jerk. Besides I have a precious."

He then smiled at my honesty and I felt relieved for getting
over that obstacle. "Thanks for not lying; it means a lot" he
said as his expression told me a sincere apology for having
jumping to conclusions.

"I promised, remember" I said knowingly.

"I know it just means a lot to me though." He said again
looking at me proudly.

"And you where em... pretty cute; when you got annoyed" He said
with a subtle but flirty tease to his statement.

I did feel myself starting to blush; I think he could see it
and started to blush himself. I could feel the heat of the
moment rise between the both of us and quickly shot back
"No... never."

"Eh; yeah totally" He said as he bobbed his head up and down
indicating that his word was the only word I should be
accepting.

Feeling the butterflies in my stomach flutter and the blushing
intensify I said "You're the cute one."

Teasingly, he coyly returned the response to me "Nawh you
are." He then curled his bottom lip out into a small pout and
declared "I'm always right." Just then he gave me a playful
dig on the upper part of my left arm. Flinching from the
impact I quickly shot back "Oh! That hurt." He gave a hearty
chuckle before replying back wittily "Good; now shut up and
look cute." I knew I couldn't compete with his little game, he
was being so damn cute that I decided to back down and play it
safe while he was happy. ' And yes his punch was pretty hard.'

A couple of moments passed and he calmed down somewhat, he
looked over at me with puppy eyes as we reached the front
entrance of the school and asked "do you maybe want to meet up
tonight?"

"Do I; hmm" I teasingly questioned. He gave me another dig in
the same place he had given me the first time, and said
optimistically "Seriously; can we, like meet up tonight."
Nodding my head and saying "Yes" I knew the deal was set; like
how could you say no to that, he was being totally sweet.

Navigating back inside the school for the second half of the
school day I made my way back to my locker with Austin. I had
art in the afternoon and I needed to get some of my art
supplies. Turing onto the corridor that houses our lockers I
seen a rather large crowd clump around in the middle of the
corridor and walked ahead with my heart pumping faster. I
could sense an anxious feeling work its way up through my
chest and it almost felt as if my heart was in my mouth.

Approaching the backs of the crowd I drove through the people
that where gathered around where our lockers were supposed to
be. Was there a fight I questioned myself, but when I had
broken through to the far side of the circle there was no
focal point; no fight. I looked around in confusion as I felt
Austin's hand prod my hip. Turing around to him he bobbed his
head towards the lockers and that's when I had seen what was
written across my locker in thick black marker "Cum Guzzler."
I thought I could sense what everyone was talking about, I
thought they were laughing at me.

I never felt so humiliated in all my life, but I couldn't
react. I felt myself welling up when I felt Austin try and
pull me away from the situation but I refused to move. If
anyone had seen from afar they would probably think I was not
fazed by this, but I was mortified, I was crushed. I had no
words to offer. I rubbed my arm nervously as I looked down at
the ground and then back up, that's when Ethan caught my eye.
He would have been going to his next class and we would
usually meet up and talk for a few minutes here before heading
to class, but he didn't say anything, he just looked from me
to my locker and back at me and Austin.

He looked guilty, but before he did anything else he just
gripped the straps of his backpack firmer and dropped his head
as he pushed his way out of the crowd on the far side and
disappeared. Austin walked over towards my locker and started
to try and rub it off, but it was no use. I could feel people
sniggering at Austin, so that's why I turned around to him and
grabbed his hand to tell him to stop. Then I heard a familiar
voice raise above everyone it was our principal, the people in
the immediate area started vacate as she cut through the crowd
and seen us since we were the focal point of the circle. She
observed how quiet I was and then noticed the words on the
locker behind my head, where Austin was standing with a smudge
of black ink on his hand where he had been rubbing the locker
door.

She then said in a serious tone "What happened boys."

I was about to tell her that I came back from lunch and my
locker was like that but before I could get out "I came back..."
I started to whimper and break down in the hallway from
embarrassment.

She sensed this and said in a more caring way "Oh sweetie"
Before pointing at Austin to get the classroom door that was
across from our lockers. Doing so Austin ran and opened it for
us and we went inside. She told Austin to wait outside, but I
quickly snapped "I want Austin." She then nodded her head and
told him to "Close the door." by this point I was starting to
hyperventilate.

Austin looked scared and looked like he was on the verge of
crying himself but then the teacher said in an understanding
way "boys take a seat." Doing so I slipped into a seat as the
teacher and Austin did also, she tried desperately to get me
to come down from my frantic state. It was working somewhat
and when I finally stopped hyperventilating, she marched up to
the teachers table and grabbed a box of paper handkerchiefs
and placed them on the desk in front of me. I played with my
wrist band as I clearly distraught with what had happened.

She looked from me to Austin, she was trying to understand
what was going on. "Sam; everything's going to be okay" Austin
added with a softness that felt so soothing to me.

"It will" Ms Daly added before she asked "Boys, do you want to
tell me what's going on when you're ready."

Before I got a word in Austin started talking for me on my
behalf. "We came back and Sam's locker was like that."

"I see." She said, "How come your hand is all black," She
finally asked as she had noticed it.

Austin stumbled on his words and that's when I spoke for him
as I sniffled "He was trying to rub it off my locker."

I then started to snivel again and that's when Austin reached
out and put his arm around me, "I'm sorry Sam" He said
despondently. Eyeballing him with teary eyes; I leaned in to
him forgetting that our principal was actually in the room and
talked muffly into his chest and hoodie that he was wearing.
His embrace was heaven, and his sweet smell made me forget all
about this defective place for a couple of moments.

"Don't be" I cried, then the teacher reminded us of her
presence. "Boys do you know who did it" she questioned.
I was about to say yes, but Austin confirmed what I was about
to say. All I had to do was just establish what he had said;
was inherently true, when the principle asked me if his
statement was accurate. I added that it was someone from my
old group of friends. I knew it was not a lot to go on but it
was all that I could give, I list of suspects but not a
particular individual; beside that I was not rat.

She then asked "Have you guys been threatened?" When the both
of us shook our heads no, she sighed. Evidently, I was
threatened but I didn't want adult getting involved because
they screw everything up.

"I'll get the caretaker to clean the locker immediately, okay
Sam." She told us, she then stood up and said to us to "wait
here" as the class had nobody scheduled to be in it and left
the room.

Austin didn't say much but I could sense that he was as
distraught as I was. I've had embarrassing things happen to me
before but this was; this was... sigh. Austin then leaned in
again and hugged me, he clearly had no idea what to say other
than comfort me. It was nice of him, but the way he kept
clinging onto me was starting to agitate me, but before
anything else could annoy me the principal returned and gave a
warm smile as she closed the door behind her. Austin sat up as
she looked over at us. "Okay well Sam, the janitor is cleaning
the locker as we speak. Are you okay hunny? Do you want to go
home?" She asked trying to console me, like Austin was doing,
but I was somewhere else, all I managed was to cry and nod
that something was wrong.

Shaking my head I indicated that I wanted to stay in the
school as I started to wipe my tears away and attempt to be
brave.

She then asked again for reassurance and once I said "Yes" she
was content.

She asked me nervously as she reached for my hand, "Do you
want me to have a word with these people. If so you can tell
me their names." I knew there was no way in hell that I was
going to tell her what their names where. I didn't want
anything worse to happen. I guess you could say the worst has
already happened but I doubt the worst has hit because as they
say, no matter how bad you think something is; it can always
get worse.

Shaking my head again as a no, she nodded in confirmation and
turned to Austin. "Are you okay?" She asked.

When Austin said "yes" she said that she would write us notes
as to why we were late for class; she reached around to the
teacher's desks and grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and
started writing two identical notes and teared them into two
separate pieces and handed them to us.

Standing up, we all started to walk for the door when the
principal stopped us before she opened the door and said
confidently. "Don't let other people win the power of
influence with whom you want to love."

She then smiled and both me and Austin let out a sigh of
relief and exited out into the corridor.

The janitor had been at my locker and it was cleaned freshly
already, it was remarkable at how quietly Ms Daly had dealt
with everything. I went to my locker but heisted to open it, I
felt a little sick and paranoid of even touching it
considering what was written on it not too long ago. But I
quickly broke that barrier when I looked at Austin who was
enough influence to cross that barrier. Fumbling the right
digits on the lock. I took my art materials from the locker
and then closed it. I looked at Austin with a hopeful
expression and leaned in for a hug, before we both parted ways
for our classes.

The rest of the evening was as eventful as you could possibly
verbalize. I had the dignity to finish my day. A couple of
people asked about the locker but when I retreated into my
inner sanctuary I think they got the memo when I didn't
respond to the locker incident. When mom picked me up she
didn't say much until we were nearly home. Since Lauren
decided to get the bus she obviously took the option to talk
about what had happened today.

"Sam, I got phone call from your principal today." She said
right off the bat. "You can talk to me if you want to; what
happened Samster?"

Looking out the window, I decided to evade her question and
ask about Johnathan's graduation that was coming up. She took
note of it and changed the conversation with me, but I knew
she would come back to me with what was happing at school or
with my friends.

That evening I moped around finding it hard to concentrate, I
tried drawing, I tried exercising, I tried jacking off but
nothing would work to put me at ease. Around midnight I fished
out my phone and went to Ethans chat log and started to type a
message."

Sent: I guess were not friends anymore, so it's something I'll
have to learn to live with it. I really looked up to, I could
have never imagined myself without you, but were finished.
When you walked by today like you didn't know me, it was the
end of everything. I thought you were my friend, and friends
don't do that, you kissed me and then said some horrible
things, they hurt. Do you think I'm impenetrable, I can only
put up with so much stuff before it breaks my respect for
someone? I hope that you are happy with your new friends,
because you can go fuck yourself Ethan.

I then went to my Facebook account and deactivated it, along
with Twitter and Instagram, before I rolled over and fell
asleep feeling emotionally drained. I knew that with what had
happened today, me and Austin had made arrangements to just
skip meeting up tonight and that was enough for me to just
forfeit and give in for the sake of peace.


The next morning, I crawled around the house with not much
ambition to do anything. My mom decided not to call me for
school, and I soon found out a little later that Austin didn't
go to school either. Heading down for a late breakfast, I
poured myself a bowl of cornflakes and added the cold milk and
dug in. Eating at a slow pace I just sat in the silence as my
mom went around cleaning the house, I must have been sitting
there for a quite a while, because she came in and out of the
kitchen about ten times before she finally asked "Sweetie are
finished with your bowl."

Moving the bowl out into the centre of the breakfast bar; I
layed my head down on the counter, and started to cry. Within
seconds I felt my mom's hand cloak my back as she pulled my
head up off the countertop and held me close to her chest.
She had such a delicate touch, it was so nurturing. In a raspy
voice, I said "Mom, I'm really confused" as I wiped the tears
with the cuff of my pajama top. She loosened her grip a little
as she looked down at me, with one of her hands, she ran her
palm over my eyes; wiping the tears out of my sunken sockets
and she also brushed my messy hair up off my forehead.

"Shh;" She whispered before saying "Sam, talk to me honey."

With a muffled sob, I said "Ethan won't talk to me."
Mom just drew in a relaxed breath and said with a nurturing
tone "Sometimes friend's fallout hunny."

"No" I declared and nervously rushed through the next thing I
was about to say. "He won't talk to me because... because I like
someone."

"So; do you think he's jealous?" mom offed in a hushed tone.

Confused with her question I asked "What do you mean?"

Giving a small smile she then returned to my question "With
you having other friends." As this point my crying had
subsided a little and I could feel the cool air from the
streaks that where left along my cheeks where the tears had
descended.

"No mom; sigh. Ethan tried to kiss me, and then he pushed me
and called me a faggot."

"Ethan kissed you?" She asked with a curious melody to it, so
much so she was almost blushing for me.

"Ugh... no, mom... eh. Why would he do it, then call me that." I
said all one go almost running out of breath.

"You said you liked someone' if that's not Ethan, maybe he
feels rejected.

"Rejected? For what?" I asked, now feeling content enough to
open up about the sensitive issue.

"Maybe he is your best friend; but have you considered that he
may have a crush on you."

Then something I hadn't thought about suddenly started to be
pieced together, I never thought of things this way but it
became evident now that my mom had pointed it out. Why did
things have to be so muddled and awkward.

"So... So..." I struggled trying to find the words with my new-
found discovery. "You thin... You think," I stumbled trying to
pronounce the syllables, in a state of cringe I covered my
eyes in disbelief and squealed "Oh man!"

Drawing my conclusions in my head I then asked "So how do I
tell him I want to be friends?"

My mom then added teasingly "You say you just want to be
friends." As she gave my arm a gentle nudge to try and cheer
me up, it did make me crack a slight smile, but I don't think
it was enough to completely cheer me up.

Turning to her to where she leaned against the countertop to
take the weight off her feet I asked "But what happens if he
doesn't want to be friends, like how can you be sure. He said
he likes girls."

"Maybe he was trying to act normal, so he could better
understand his feelings before he told you anything. Or maybe
he just loves you."

Cringing and flushing with embarrassment I stated "Love is a
big word."

"I know hunny, but you can't deny, what the heart truly
wants." My mom offered back to my statement.

Thinking of what to say next I thought about bringing up the
locker incident, but decided to skip that, I just went
straight for the kill.

"Mom..." I weakly stated.

"I'm being bullied."

"By who?" She probed, turning to face me with a gloomy stare.

Drawing in a breath and letting it escape in a puff I said
"Its happening in school."

"Do you know who they are?" She asked clearly wanting to know.

"Yeah, but I don't want to name anybody" I stated gravely.

"Okay hunny, will you promise me that you'll tell me when
you're ready?"

Taking a moment to think, I clearly said "I promise."

She cupped my chin, and raised my head to meet her eyes and
proudly said "encase you think that nobodies on your side; I
just want you to know... that I'm your biggest fan."

Smiling softly, I felt my heart melt in my chest. I stepped
down from the stool and gave her a proper hug and then stepped
back, and looked up at her. "Mom can I meet my friend Austin,
he's out of school too."

"Is his mom home?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I think so, I can call and ask."

***********************************************************
Song Four: Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers
***********************************************************

Just liked that; she nodded and I ran upstairs to my room and
got my phone. I called Austin and in a couple of seconds we
were talking nonstop. It was good to hear his voice, it was an
extra layer of assurance that I had another person on my side.
I asked was his mom around and he said that she was; Within a
few minutes my mom had asked could she speak to Austin's
mother, and the two them took our phones and chatted for a
good portion of fifteen minutes. My mom motioned for me to go
get ready while she was on phone.

I ran up and jumped in the shower. I wore something good,
because you know I had a standard to keep up with if I wanted
Austin to still like me. I styled my hair and brushed my
teeth, after gargling with some mouth wash, by the time I
arrived downstairs and my mom was ready to take me to Austin's
house. In the car, we had talked about what she and Austin's
mother talked about, she didn't really give much details away
but she said that her son Austin has mentioned me a lot. Which
made me nervous, I think my mom possibly had made a friend
because she started babbling on about some recipes that she
talked about with Austin's mom.

Before I knew it, I was at Austin's house and I was being
dragged indoors; and to the kitchen, where his mom had
prepared a light lunch for all of us. After lunch, me and
Austin sat on the coach in the living room as the women
laughed and talked for another twenty minutes until my mom
decided to say she was going.

While Evelyn; Austin mom was waving goodbye to my mom, Austin
turned to me on the sofa and said "I'm taking you out to have
some fun" and with that he gave a goofy smile.

"Really, where?" I asked with surprise.

When his mother arrived back in the living room she asked "Are
you ready boys?"

"For what?" I asked looking around to her behind the sofa, she
had car keys in her hand and a pair of sunglasses.

"I'm taking you Go-Karting" Austin cut in with a giddy tremble
that could be felt on the sofa, as he could hardly control his
excitement.

Just like that I shot up putting out my hand to pull Austin
up, and his mom looked at us and smiled. Just like that Austin
gripped my hand and pulled himself up off the sofa and we both
walked on ahead of his mom towards the front door.

On our way to the Karting track me and Austin cracked jokes in
the back of the car, the sun beamed through the sunroof and
the windows of the land rover. The radio played a couple of
chilled songs and everything seemed happy for the moment,
everything else didn't matter because I was here with Austin.
His mom started singing a piece of the song Something Just
Like This by The Chainsmokers that was currently on the radio
and then Austin joined in, it such was a cute moment. I didn't
sing of course, I'm not that sort of person that usually
sings, but I just looked on and smiled at the two of them as
they seemed relatively happy.

When we arrived, Austin shot out of the car ahead of me and I
was just behind him, as soon as I fumbled awkwardly to get my
seatbelt off. Opening car door, I got out and ran around the
land rover as he was standing against a steel chain link fence
that was on his side of the car. Peering through you could see
people racing around the tarmac track. Austin was so animated
with all the emotions he must have been feeling. It was kinda
awesome, the two of us where off school and we were out
karting. 'Em was this a date I asked myself. Nawh, it was just
a day out; right.'

Austin turned to me and said "Are you ready?"

Giving him a small nod, Austin reached out and pushed his open
door closed and the both of preceded to walk for the archway
that led into the track. His mom caught up with us after she
had parked the car. Standing under the forecourt area, we
walked up the young man that was sitting in the small
admission booth that was made into the wall. She paid for our
admission and then we both pushed through the barriers and his
mom followed closely behind. We waited around for a little
bit, and ate some junk food with the money Austin's mom had
given us. She said if we needed anything to come find her at
the food court area, and with that we both set off doing our
own thing. When we found, ourselves getting a little board of
hanging around we decided to actually try racing this time
around.

Queuing up at small line, we waited about five minutes so that
we could both be on the same track at the same. After that
time had expired the both of us made our way towards the go-
karts that where stopped on the finish line. Arriving at my
go-kart I reached in and pulled out the helmet that last
driver had tossed onto the seat when he was finished. I
quickly put my helmet on and sat into the seat in the kart. I
adjusted the straps so that the helmet was a little tighter.
I then was all ready to go, I glanced over at Austin to see if
he was ready. But to my surprise I found him in a cute
predicament; he was having problems with his helmet. The
fastener wouldn't close, so with I hopped out of my kart and
strolled the couple of feet towards him. Smiling I slapped my
hand down on top of his helmet, and he looked up with a
bashful smile.

"Are you having trouble?" I wittily asked.

I then crouched down and brushed his hands out of the way,
where he was trying to close the grip. I then readjusted the
straps and made sure it was secure on his head before
fastening it. "There" I said "We gotta make sure you don't
break anything."

We both chuckled, at that and I then returned to my kart and
sat back in the bucket seat. I glanced over at Austin, who
gave me a giddy thumbs up, it was almost like he was on a lot
of sugar. It was so funny to watch, but adorable at the same
time. "Thanks" He said as he returned to a second of
sincerity.

Locking the six-point harness, I then heard the young woman
who must have been about twenty that was watching over the
people on the track asked "Are youse ready?" When the both us
gave the okay, she then pressed the lighting system that
emulated the traffic lights on either side of the yellow
barriers. The barriers where a multitude of lumber and rubber
tires that held the track together, they were all painted in a
high visibility yellow paint, and the traffic lights only
housed two colours; green and red. The two of us paced
ourselves as we were waiting for the light to turn green and
with the blink of an eye, the bottom light shun a bright
glossy green and I pressed my foot down on the accelerator.

The perpetual motion, jilted me forward, however Austin got
the lead for the moment. I tailed quickly behind him, hearing
the roar and shutter of the engine behind my seat. I pushed my
foot down on the peddle hoping that I could go faster. I don't
think it quite worked but after I did that I caught up with
Austin and grazed the black bumper of his kart and he skidded
slightly but got control back. I used his momentum to break
the wind that would have slowed me down from overtaking him,
and on one of the final bends I navigated into the dip in the
road where the sharp turn was and over took him, "Hey" He
roared, while he smiled. I could feel the wind rush by me.
It struck my face made my eyes water up on the second lap
around the track.

We did ten laps, and then we stopped. I had won six of those
races while Austin had won the last four. It was fun, just
messing around with him, and nobody to tell us that we
couldn't have fun. I was the first one out of my go-kart, and
I unbuckled my harness and got out of the seat and dropped the
helmet back in the kart. Walking over towards Austin who was
stepping out of the bucket seat. He reached to unhitch the
helmet and when he took it off, his hair was a little flat and
it stuck to the sides of his temples, it was noticeable that
some heat had built up inside the helmet and made his hair a
little damp and it hung loosely and freely now.

He pushed some the hair back, and he took in a deep breath
before adding "That was fun" He then lead on and I followed
him back out the gate he had come in and started walking in
the direction we had left his mom. "I had a lot of fun today,"
I added "Thanks for a great day Austin" I offered gratefully.

He looked over at me and squinted as the sun was beaming down
on his face. His face looked list moist, and I could see a
small light patch between his nose and upper lip. I assumed
that it was the start of his moustache that was growing, you
know like peach fuzz. It made me wonder how come I hadn't
noticed any of this on myself. I mean, I never shaved yet. I
don't think I even know how. I wondered if Austin knew how to
shave.

We looked around for his mom for a couple of minutes and then
we seen her sitting in the shade at a table under an umbrella,
be a large hedging. Panting a little the both of pulled two
chairs and sat down on them when we got to the table. "How was
it boys" His mom asked as she looked back and forth between
the both of us. Austin looked beet, he looked like he was fit
to sleep, I didn't feel all that tired but I did feel
incredibly thirsty.

Austin just rubbed his eyes a little before he said "It was
good" After a couple of seconds, he asked "Can we have some
money for something to drink." His mother smiled and she then
dipped into her handbag and pulled out her purse, she clicked
it opened and took $10 dollars out and handed it to Austin.
At this point Austin was slumped in the chair; and he looked
like he was contemplating using the remaining energy he had
left to buy drinks. But out of nowhere he squinted over at me
and had suddenly he had another lease of energy. He asked

"What do you want Sam?"

I said I'd go look at what they had to offer and while I
walked with him I had a sudden thought to try and buy the
drinks with my own money; Since he spent money on me, or well
his mom did, I thought it couldn't hurt to show a little
appreciation. That was until I heard him say "This is all I
have to my name; ten dollars, make it count Sam" He chuckled.
We had finally arrived at the counter, and I was looking at
what could be bought and then I seen the homemade smoothies
sign on the wall behind the person who was at the till.

Smoothies seems like a viable option. The price said $5.60,
then I asked Austin. "What do you want to drink" with a
curious tone to it. I then placed my hand across my chest and
"said my threat."

"But... But" Austin stuttered. it was safe to say that I cut
in over him and said "But I'm buying."

He smiled and seemed to have gave in and he softly mentioned
"Can I have a strawberry milkshake."

Looking up at the milkshake prices they were the same price as
the smoothies. Digging into my pocket; I pulled out to be
exact $8 dollars even. I became aware that I wouldn't be able
to get one or the other; but I knew that the right thing to do
was to treat Austin to this So I said to the middle-aged woman
behind the counter "One strawberry milkshake and a bottle of
water," I decided with the water because the water was the
cheapest weighing in at $2 dollars. Austin was quick to ask
"Are you only getting water?" But I was persistent, I wanted
him to have the milkshake so I nodded my head and confirmed I
only wanted water, even though I would have though I would
have liked the smoothie.

The woman then handed the bottle of water over the counter to
me after I paid and she started making the milkshake, after a
minute or so Austin was walking away from the counter with me
and bearing a straw in his mouth, savouring the sweet taste of
a strawberry milkshake.

Returning to our slumped positions on the chair I watched as
Austin drank all the milkshake and I took little sips of my
water. Once we finished that we ordered a 16-inch margarita
pizza and ate till our stomachs where about to burst.
Afterwards we packed up and headed back to the car and drove
back towards my house, every now and then his mom would ask
what turns she had to take and I gave her the directions.
After twenty minutes or so we stopped outside my house and we
all go out and huddled inside.

My mom was glad to see that I had a good day, she was also a
little more curious as she eyed up Austin. I think she was
starting to suspect the way I acted with him, and how I was
acting right now. She didn't say anything of course but it was
all sensed, while we left the adults to the boring adult
things me and Austin headed up to my bedroom and chilled for a
little while they talked it out and where becoming quick
friends. I sat on my chair as Austin looked around my room
more promptly this time, he was taking everything in. The
first time he was here he didn't really have time to take in
the surrounding, he asked about the PlayStation and I ran
though the games I had, and he agreed to add me after I added
him using the PSN app on my phone. We started talking about
his vacation he would be taking up to Seattle and then one
thing led to another when he dropped a rather awkward
question.

"So... where's your dad?"

Not sure on how to approach the subject, I tried my best to
try and explain. "My dad you see never really showed much
interest or invested time in me , he just up and left about a
six years ago. I can still remember him, but all the memories
I have of him are kinda foggy; I remember him being somewhat a
typical dad, he didn't drink, or smoke. He wasn't abusive, I
think something just clicked and he wasn't my dad anymore and
he walked out on us. I did want to see him at first; but I
become aware that he didn't want to see me, I found out that
he got remarried and started a new family."

"I'm sorry" Austin said as he looked down at his scuffed
shoes.

"What about you; where's your dad? I asked.

Just like that Austin gave an animated answer "He's cool, he
plays sports with me in summer, to help me practice. He
thought me how to play baseball." But then Austin voice
dwindled and the lively voice settled down. "He always busy
though, I'd like if was home more often, even one night a
week, maybe would could watch movie as a family or something,
but he usually gets in when I'm asleep."

Understanding what he had said, I didn't offer any suffice. I
just nodded understanding how it feels to not have a dad in
your life. A couple of minutes later his mom called from down
stairs announcing that they were going and I walked him out to
the curb. Watching him get in the car I said "I'll call you
later," and with that he got in the car and shut the door not
breaking eye contact with me, when his mom started up the car,
he rolled down the electric window, and smiled. Then the car
rolled forward and down the street with his mother beeping the
horn. I waved at the car for a few seconds, I wished that I
had leaned in a kissed him or even hugged him goodbye.

Around 6 pm I finally let my mom let me out without her having
to baby or worry about me. I knew should of course but assured
that I'm okay. I wanted to go for a little walk to clear my
head and catch some sun before it completely disappeared. She
agreed and let me out. I strolled the neighbourhood for a
little bit enjoying the cool warm evening that was on offer,
but then I had a sudden urge to drop by Ethans house. I don't
know why, but I found myself walking the direction towards his
house without actually thinking about it.

I ended across the street from his house and even though I had
come this far I hesitated from walking across the street and
knocking. After about fifteen minutes I persuaded myself to go
across the street and knock, I don't know what I was thinking
but I had to knock, it was like rational thought was no longer
working these last couple of days. Lifting my index finger up
to the doorbell, I pressed the white button, and then the bell
chimed. I waited nervously for a couple of seconds until the
door opened and a woman, the same age as my mom opened the
door. She had dark brown hair that was starting to fade in
colour and soft green eyes. "Hello Sam" She said with a
melodic melody to it.

Smiling a radiant smile, she said with a little pithiness to
her tone "You just missed Ethan, Sam. I can tell him knocked
if he comes back early." She then offered.

Looking down the ground, and back up at her with
disappointment I said lowly "No thanks" and little by little I
wilted away from the door and started down the driveway.

Soon after that I was home and went to bed, I didn't go to
school Friday either. I stead home. I'm not sure about Austin
because we talked last night and he didn't bring it up, so I'm
assuming that he did his own thing. I had told him how bummed
out I was with Ethan though. I stead home and played
PlayStation most of the day. I mean, I knew the exhibition was
coming up but that was least of my worries. It was on Monday
anyway, I had plenty of time to get ready for it. Come Monday
the following week Austin would be in Seattle, I quickly found
myself thinking what I would do with myself while he'd be
away. It would be the longest week of my life.

***********************************************************
Song Five: Moon by Sleeping At Last
***********************************************************

Around 5 pm I got a message from Austin, it read,

Received: "Do you want to reschedule that appointment we made
on Wednesday."

Just like that the thought of sneaking out with Austin again,
trilled me. I quickly found myself guessing what we'd do for
the night. But I quickly sent back what was on my mind. I
found myself wanting to really meet up with Austin and hang
out, he like a drug now, I couldn't get enough of him.

Sent: "What will we do"

After a couple of minutes, Austin sent back

Received: "Something Mischievous; Meet at 11, outside school."
And with that the arrangements were made and I waited eagerly
for that time to hurry up. I showered and dressed, and made it
look like I was going to have an early night to mom; but I
quickly threw on a hoodie and pair of cotton track pants, and
snuck down the stairs and out the back yard when the time
came. Just like countless times before I struggled to free my
bike as it had become tangled in the garden hose that was
attached to the outside water tap. But once I got it free I
wheeled the bike out under my arm and mounted it in the front
yard. Pulling out my phone, I cheeked the time, it was 10:32
pm, and I went to Austin's chat log and started typing.

Sent: "On my way"

And with that I pushed away from the curb and started my
journey to the school to meet up with Austin for the second
time.

Pulling into the bus depot outside of the school building; I
skidded to a stop just short of the curb and dug into my
pocket to get my phone out to inform Austin that I was here,
but I stopped when I scene a familiar figure coming down the
hill in front of me. I swung out of the bus depot and started
cycling towards the person on the bike and the both of us
stopped right beside each other. Austin stopped facing one way
and I stopped facing other. He was panting again, and he
smiled across at me as he pulled his hood down. His eyelashes
protruded from his face against the street light and it made
him irresistible in the current lighting. He had one foot on
the pavement between the two of us. I had both of mine on the
ground for stabilisation; His other foot rested on the pedal
of his bike, he looked so cute and so snug, I couldn't hold
back so I shifted all my weight to my left leg and stood up.

Leaning in I brought my lips to his and gave him a kiss under
the silent streetlights that surged with power and the faint
buzz from the electrical current that passed through the
transformers, high above our heads.

Shifting my weight back to my bike, I leaned back and he
looked down at the crossbar between his legs and smiled but
didn't say anything. While I was looking at him I noticed that
he had a rather large duffle bag hanging from his torso on the
far side of his bike. "What's the bag for?" I questioned.

"I... Ugh, for fun" he stuttered, in an adorable way, he had
returned to his soft facial expression, however you could tell
that his soul was smiling from his eyes.
"Okay so what are we going to go" I asked looking around to
make sure no police where around. Austin then shuffled a
little and brought the duffle bag over his head and place it
on the cross bar between his legs. "Where's Ethans house?" He
asked as he unzipped the bag. 'Ethans house? Why would he have
a need to know that; I found myself wondering."

"Why?" I asked coyly, at the oddness of his question.
He then put his hand into the bag and pulled out a paper
toilet roll, and tossed it at me. It hit my chest and fell to
the ground in between the two of us. I think I knew what he
was suggesting. I thought it was quite a rebellious idea, but
I found that It was a little cruel to just target Ethan in
specific, but maybe this could be something we could do and
target each one of the bullies on by one. It would be a fun
little rebel adventure to embark on with him at night. There's
just something about being out after dark that that gives you
this free feeling, you feel like you're not following the
rules, that everyone else is following. I mean it felt bold
and mystical, like we are not going to be held back by a
curfew or a few simple rules. It is after all, a free country.

"Are you thinking; what I'm think?" I suggestively asked him.

"No there not for your ass Sam" He shot back, that I started
to chuckle along with him.

"Are we going to TP Ethans house" I asked a little curious as
I tried to uphold my moral principles.

"We can if you want to" He innocently said as he leaned down
between the two of us and picked up the roll that was on the
ground.

Thinking about what was right from wrong, I found that this
was equally a healthy balance at getting back at Ethan, even
if it wasn't a huge thing. I mean we weren't hurting anyone or
damaging property, so I confirmed by giving an approving nod
at Austin and offered "I'll do it if you want to do."

He threw the toilet paper back in his duffle and started to
zip his bag up. While he was doing that I took the que, and
stood up on my bike and gripped it by the handle bars and
turned it around the same 90 degrees as Austin.

Looking over at him, I waited for him to put the bag over his
shoulder. He said giddily when he was ready "Where to Siri?"

Smiling at his sarcasm, I started making a stuttering
enactment of a satnav "Re... Re... Rerou... Rerouting." He sniggered
and I placed one of my feet on the pedals to start cycling.
Pushing down on the thin pedal, I moved slowly ahead of him
and said "After 1 mile, turn left." He started laughing as he
started to catch up with me. We both cycled down the remainder
of the hill I had cycled up to meet Austin. Turing left at the
deserted intersection, we cycled down the main road that lead
into Spokane. After about five minutes of cycling I darted
right and Austin followed beside me matching my pace. I was
now on a small suburban road that had small bungalows on each
side of the road. Cars hugged the curbs, which tunnelled us
into the middle of road. Hitting the next intersection, I went
straight and before we knew I had stopped outside of Ethans
house.

The mint green Tudor style bungalow, looked uninhabited; All
the lights where out and all windows where closed, everyone
must have gone to bed early; I found myself making the most
plausible conclusion. Sighing I stepped off my bike and
wheeled it up on the curb and silently let it fall to the
ground. Austin did same, and he quickly dismounted his bike
and followed after me.

"Is this it?" Austin asked, not too long ago I was standing in
this very driveway talking to Ethans mother. His mom had
always been a nice me, she never had anything to bad to say
about anyone, and Ethan even if he was being a jerk, I knew
deep down in my heart that he was lost. I don't quite know how
to describe it, but it seemed like he was lost or something.
Maybe it was because, 'well...' what my mom said, maybe he's
confused like I am. Well I don't think I'm confused but, it
does explain a couple of things if he doesn't want to talk to
me because I'm hanging out with another boy who is in all
retrospect the same as me, and possibly Ethan.

Austin cut in and mischievously said "So do you want to do
this?" Gawking over it him a slight grin crossed my eyes and
formed dimples. I knew that I wanted to do it of course,
Austin dropped the bag on the grass in from of him, and bent
down to open it. For the first time, I found myself looking at
his butt. I had never really looked at it before, but
something drew me to it. I don't know how to describe it, it
was like plump and round I guess, it looked; I don't know,
good. Then he turned and looked up at me and handed me two
rolls. I think he sensed I was looking at his ass, but he just
smiled and took two rolls out for himself.

Sighing from relief that he didn't say anything about me
looking, I felt myself picking my brain. Did he think that was
weird, me looking I mean? Did he like me looking, I mean I
liked looking, I think? But did he find it uncomfortable and
just smiled out of nervousness.

Standing back up he turned and nudged me "Ready?" He asked as
he started unravelling the toilet roll; with a nod. I watched
as he started running at the house quietly and tossed it over
the porch section of Ethans house. He quickly ran to the far
side of the porch and plucked up the roll, some of the roll
was spewed out across the roof of the porch section of the
house. Austin then picked up the roll again and hurled it at a
tree and started running for the roll. I then felt the
adrenaline rush kicking in and I stepped forward towards the
two cars in the driveway. I started opening the toilet paper
out and started wrapping it around the wing mirrors of the
coupe and then tossed it under the belly of the car, jogging
to the small gap between the coupe and minivan I gripped the
squishy roll and tossed it back over the roof of the coupe.

I did this a couple of times before moving onto the minivan. I
glanced at Austin who had sprinkled the tree in the front
garden with layers of toilet paper. He was now focused on the
number of small garden ornaments that where close to the
house. I then went back to the bag and fished out another
roll, reaching into the bag I became aware of the amount of
paper there was in the bag. I chuckled at the rebelliousness
of this deed and threw a roll over the roof that landed just
short of the side entrance gate. I looked at Austin who was
still running around the garden doing his thing. I could see
the caustic rays flooding through the gate. I knew it was the
floodlights from Ethans swimming pool in his backyard. I
reached for the bottom of the gate and hoisted it up, just
like always the lock popped and the gate opened.

I could see down the narrow opening between the house and the
garden fence. I turned to look around for Austin, he scared
the crap out of me as I wasn't expecting him to be right
behind me when I turned around.

"You almost gave me a heart attack" I declared.

"Don't take one of those" He mockingly chided.

***********************************************************
Song Six: Somewhere In Between by August Wilhelmddon
***********************************************************

Looking back down the side entrance I could see some of the
shrubbery and the glow from the pool emanating and flooding
out onto sandy gravel path.

Austin cut again and said with a sinister sounding voice

"What did you find?"

Before I could say anything, he brushed through and started
walking ahead of me. Looking back out onto the street, to see
if anyone was around I called hushly "Austin I don't think we
should." I started to cautiously take unwanted steps towards
the corner that Austin had just disappeared around.
When I reached the corner. I had a clear few of the swimming
pool that me and Ethan spent many summers in just messing
about and nearly drowning each other as we wrestled around.

I seen Austin trying to pull a large ceramic flower planter
away from the small rockery wall that had held the shrubs on
the left towards pool. "What are you doing?" I asked quickly
trying to catching up to him but before I could get to him he
edged the planter off the into the pool and it sunk to the
bottom making a dull thud and large splash. Within second's
the contents of the flower planter spewed across the freshly
chlorinated pool. The surface of the water turned a dirty
brown colour as the moss peat rose up to the surface. Pieces
of the flowers bobbed on the top of the water and Austin
started to snigger.

"That's awesome, let's do it again." He announced turning to
find something else. In shock at the damage that he had done I
turned and grabbed on to his arm firmly and asked in
disbelieve. "Why did you that?"

"Let go of me; that hurts." Austin squealed as he tried
pulling away from me, I didn't realise that I was holding him
that tightly. Letting him go in shock, I froze.

"I'm sorry" I admitted as I sat down on one of the sun
loungers behind me. Austin looked a bit scared of me, I think
I was to domineering. I should have handled that better Sam I
scolded to myself. Austin rolled up his sleeve a little and I
could see from the reflection of the pool and flood lights
that there were red impressions of my fingertips imbedded into
his skin. I almost heaved at the very prospect of having hurt
Austin. I keeled over and Austin caught me.

"Sam..., now's not that time to sleep on the job" he wittily
retorted nervously. I knew he was trying to defuse the
situation. But that didn't change the fact that I manhandled
him, it was not my attention, I swear I didn't mean it. It was
in the heat of the moment. "I'm sorry Austin." I submissively
said. I was prepared to do just about anything to amend my
mistake, I didn't want anything to come between us.

He still held me none the less, "It's okay don't worry about
it" He whispered looking from the me to the patio doors of the
house.

"I'm really sorry for grabbing your like that." I offered
again.

"I'm fine honest, it just happened" He quietly said looking at
me. Lifting my head up to meet his, I think he could see that
I was sorry; I truly was.

"Are you going to leave me to do this on my own?" He asked, I
knew that he wanted to do this, and I felt the only way to
make up for it was that I had to do this with him. I had not
planned on damaging my best friends garden, but now it
definably became and an option. Weighing my options and
suppressing my guilt.

"I'll do it" I told him and he gave me a warm smile. Standing
up off the lounger I put my foot on the side of it and started
pushing it towards the pool. The cushions fell off the sun
lounger and floated effortlessly on the top of the water and
the wooden lounger submerged beneath the water line.

Looking over at Austin I gave an apprehensive smile and he
then returned a cheeky grin; before picking up a small statue
and flinging it into the water that made a loud splash. He
then moved to the left and me to right and we both worked at
throwing everything we could see into the pool until we both
met with each other on the far side of the patio.

"Hey there" Austin offered as I looked around to see was there
anything we missed. Coming to the conclusion that I had
probably costed Ethans parents a couple of thousands worth of
damage. I slowly shrunk to my knees as I was starting to feel
queasy. There was nothing left to throw in pool, everything
that could be lifted had been dumped into the water. You name
it seating, BBQ gear, flowers, the outdoor gas heater, and
parts of a small marquee.

"Are you okay?" Austin asked hunching down to my level. I
decided to just say "Yes" to him so that I didn't have to
explain why I was feeling bad. He didn't appear to be feeling
bad, but I certainly was. Deciding to vacate as quickly as
possible we went back outside to the front yard plucked up our
bikes and duffle and cycled away like nothing had happened.
We didn't want to go home just yet, and I couldn't think of
any other place for us to go so I brought him to mine and
Ethans hideout.

Stopping at the top of the hill, we wheeled our bikes down the
slope and laid then on the grass in the natural dip. Turning
Austin, I could see that he was still having and ball, and I
was now aware of a rebellious side that I had never seen
before. I just hopped that I was not getting in, way over my
head with this. I defiantly knew I would be hearing back about
what he just did tonight, but for now I just decided to take
the tranquillity before the police came knocking.
Sitting down on the grass I gazed up into the sky, as Austin
sat down beside me. We sat like that just listing to the water
flow effortlessly under the bridge and down the river. I
thought of all bad deeds that I had ever done in my life and I
can defiantly tell you I never felt so guilty. Ethan may have
deserved some trash talk; I guess but not what I had done.

The night seemed young and the cold was slowly starting to
descend but as the early hour only started to creep in. I had
lay down with Austin and started talking about poetic stuff
that was wise beyond our years. I pointed to the stars and
talked about our zodiac sign. I explained what it was like to
be an Aquarius, and how the rebellious little Aries, I lay
next was so fiery; He reached up and cupped my hand as I
explained the stars as I pointed up at them. It was a vast
world out there and I couldn't think of anyone better to
explore the galaxy with. All I needed was his hand holding
mine, like he was right now.

Glancing over to Austin I found myself smiling for no
particular reason; As the boy I was being slowly driven insane
by had fell asleep. Yet he still held hand, so that was enough
for me to be able to gaze up at the beautiful night sky and
watch it slowly fade as my eyes shut and everything went quite
around me.

'Everything Went Quite'

The End Of Part 10

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. Please
comments are welcome. I'd love to hear what people do think.
I'd be grateful to hear an acknowledgment that people are
reading my stories, thanks again. I know this chapter has
taken a little longer than usual, my apologies.

If you wish to read my first story it's called Spring-Tide

Email Me at danny2017writing@outlook.com

Stay tuned for the next instalment

Your Writerly friend
Danny



2nd May 2017