The Chronicles of Trey

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Written by: Nicky Smith Edited by: JD Kaster

CHAPTER THIRTY: FINALE

TREY'S POV

*REACTION

I was silent waiting for Bear to say something. The silence was deafening. It was like the whole world has shut up to hear Bear's reaction, but that was probably all in my head. I chanced a look at Bear and if it were possible for every muscle in someone's body to be rigid, than that described Bear at that moment. His hands were balled into fists so tight that I thought he would break his fingers.

"I see," he said in a supposedly calm voice, but I could hear the... I don't know what, but I heard it.

"Bear, are you okay?" I found myself asking. He wasn't saying anything, but the very air around him was like it was heavy. I'd never experienced anything like it before then.

"I don't know," he said before stepping back onto the ground a few seconds later. He walked around to the side of his truck. I had stopped crying by then as I was worried about Bear's lack of reaction so I hopped down and tentatively followed behind him.

"Bear..." I said cautiously while keeping my distance from him.

"Dammit!" he yelled so loud that I worried that people in town could hear him.

"Bear," I tried again but took a subconscious step backwards.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Bear yelled again as he punched the passenger side of his truck over and over again. I was scared he'd break his hands so I rushed to him to stop him.

"Bear, calm down. You're gonna hurt yourself," I tried to get through to him.

"No!" he yelled as he pulled away from me and grabbed ahold of the side of the bed of his truck. "I will kill him, I will fucking kill him! He is dead! He is fucking dead!" Bear yelled again as he rocked his truck from side to side. I started to worry that with how it was rocking that he'd actually pull it over on us.

"Bear, please calm down," I told him as I again pulled his hands off his truck and to my horror his hands were cut and scraped, his fingers and knuckles were bleeding. I wasn't surprised though from how hard he'd been hitting the truck. I glanced at the door and it looked like someone had taken a bat to it.

"He is dead. I will kill him," Bear said in a hoarse voice laced with pain and rage as he held my face in his bleeding hands.

"Bear, he's in prison," I told him.

"I will find a way," he said in a chillingly cold tone as he looked into my eyes. Gone was the beautiful crystal blue and in it's place was that dark color that scared me.

"Bear, he's in prison for life. Just let it be," I told him because really, there was nothing that he could do.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked as he stepped away from me. That cold tone was still present and I no longer had his crystal blues to comfort me.

"Bear, I..." I tried, but I couldn't answer, especially since the Bear that I knew was gone at the moment.

"You remembered what happened the day that you woke up. That's what the look in your eyes was... and that's what Sean has been hiding from me. He knew," Bear said and I felt so guilty and stupid.

"Don't be mad with Sean. I told him not to tell anyone," I told him, but I'm sure he didn't care.

"Bullshit. He knew what happened the day it happened and didn't tell anybody. Those bastards that were there could have gotten more time because I'm sure they were there for that part," Bear said which was true. I didn't want to think about that though.

"Bear, I think..." I started but he interrupted me.

"No, you kept this from me all this time," he said, mostly to himself than to me.

"Bear, I'm sorry," I tried again to get through to him.

"I don't want to hear that! You kept this from me! All this time you kept this from me! What the hell were you thinking?" he shouted and I stopped being sad and I became angry with him. Before I could stop myself I was shoving him into the side of his truck and he looked back at me with a shocked look. I was shocked too, but I pushed that aside.

"Do you have any idea how hard this was for me? I came to you, the one person in the world who's supposed to love me and help me with the most shameful thing that has ever happened to me and you yell at me? I've been agonizing over this, feeling like dirt, like trash. Every time I look in the mirror I hate the person looking back and it's just like it was all those years when I had to hide who I was. I was right back there and now you have the nerve to yell at me and ask me what I was thinking. I was thinking that I couldn't stand the look of pity in everyone's eyes when they found out," I shouted to him. As my rant went on, Bear started to look more and more ashamed. I wasn't sure where it was coming from so I ignored it.

"Trey, I didn't..." he tried to say but two could play that game and I interrupted him.

"Then there's the inevitable person who'll wonder why I'm getting so bent out of shape, what I'm so upset about because I've been getting fucked by you so what's the difference if another guy does it? Well it does matter because I can't stop thinking about how horrible I felt when he was doing it. I can't stop thinking about how I can't erase what he did and that he took something from me, that wasn't his to take," I said before finally running out of steam.

"Trey, I..." he started again as he walked toward me. He stopped though and a look I couldn't decipher crossed his face. He then backed away from me, turned and walked away. I was stunned that he'd just walk away from me like that.

As I watched him get further and further away from me, I realized then that this had been my biggest fear. That Bear wouldn't be able to look at me the same way after he found out. He wouldn't want to be with me anymore knowing that someone had raped me.

I walked back to the tailgate and sat down and lamented on my decision to tell Bear about what had happened and discovered that I didn't feel any better, contrary to what Sean had said. In fact, I felt worse because I'd received confirmation that my deepest fear wasn't unfounded as Bear had walked away from me.

I knew deep down that he had to come back at some point because his truck was here, but rejection was not kind to one's reasoning abilities. As if my reasoning abilities needed any more messing with. I already had trouble doing what was logical even thought I was supposed to be a logical thinker.

As I sat there, I wondered what it'd be like without Bear and I couldn't even fathom it because he had become so much a part of my world that I couldn't imagine anything else. This was understandable since Bear had been a part of my life for almost all of it.

Then a strange though occurred to me. I replayed that line of thinking back over in my head and started to wonder if maybe that was an unhealthy way to be. To be so consumed with someone that what they think of you defines what you think of yourself. I'd found myself thinking that way about a lot of people, a lot of the time over the years, but no one more so than Bear.

I decided to stop thinking on that though as it was starting to make my head hurt and I already had too much going on in there so I decided to wait for Bear to come back. As I waited though, I found myself getting angry with Bear.

I had come to him with something that I had agonized with telling anyone. I know that he was supposed to be different because I was planning to spend the rest of my life with him, but I'd still come to him and he'd walked off and left me there. It was during this line of thought that I looked up and saw him dragging back toward me

He was looking down, but as he neared me he looked up and there was so much going on in his eyes, and there apparently must have been the same with me as he came to a brief stop. He looked at me for a few seconds before continuing on towards me.

"Hey," he said when he reached me and after standing awkwardly for about a minute.

"That's all you have to say?" I asked in a surprisingly calm tone despite how angry I was.

"I needed to get away from you for a bit and think. I know that you're angry with me, but I needed some time," he said and I sat there and digested what he'd said before responding.

"I see," I said in that same calm voice that as I replayed it back sounded kind of eerie in it's calmness.

"Trey, you can't be mad at me for being mad that you kept this from everyone, especially me. I mean, we're supposed to be sharing our lives with each other and you keep something like this from me? Of course I was mad, but then I did some thinking and I realized that my anger would have to be pushed aside for the time being so that I could see about you," he said and again I digested everything he said before responding because I didn't want to have the wrong reaction.

"You're right. I can't be mad that you were mad with me, but I am. I'm mad because I revealed something that was deeply personal and shameful for me to admit to you, and you just walked away," I said trying to reign in my erratic emotions.

"I know and that's why I walked away. I didn't want to say anything more wrong than I already had. Sometimes, my temper gets going before my brain and I say things that I may regret. I didn't want to say anymore than I already had. I'm usually a level-headed guy but when it comes to you, I love you so much that I just get really overprotective and it scares me sometimes," he said honestly which cut though my anger like a sharp knife.

"Damn Bear," I said while shaking my head.

"What?" he asked looking worried.

"Why do you say things like that? I wanna be mad with you because you walked away and left me here, but you're so dammed lovable that..." I said again shaking my head at myself.

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asked with a small smile before sitting back down on the tailgate.

"No it's not. How am I ever supposed to win a fight when you do that?" I asked not really expecting an answer.

"I guess you can't," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," I told him and he chuckled and so did I a little bit. He grabbed my hand and I tensed up for a second. He started to pull back, but I grabbed his hand and held it.

We sat there for a while just holding hands. His grip would tighten a bit ever so often and mine would too. I started to feel a bit of that relief that Sean said I would and I was grateful because it was like a weight was lifted off of me some.

"I have to tell my parents," I said before I could stop it. I didn't plan on saying that, especially out loud, but I guess my subconscious knew what I needed to do.

"Okay, I'll be there with you," Bear said and while I didn't want him there, I knew I needed him there.

"Bear, promise me you won't go and see Kent. It won't make you feel any better, trust me," I told him.

"You mean, you went to see him?" Bear asked. He didn't sound angry so I told him the truth.

"I had to go and see him, for me and Clyde. I had to see if he felt any remorse, any guilt for what he'd done," I said as I looked off in the distance.

"And," Bear asked.

"Nothing," I said in a cold tone and Bear sighed.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," he said before getting back on the ground. "Come on," he said as he pulled me down with him. I made him go by the emergency room to check and see if he'd done any real damage to his hands. They gave him x-rays and said he was fine, but they did wrap his hands and gave him some pain pills. We then headed back to the truck and he drove me home.

DEALING

Telling my parents went about as well as could be expected. Dad was angry, Mom was sad and angry. Dad blamed himself because this was yet another one of his sons that had been sexually assaulted.

I told him that there was nothing that he could have done and it wasn't his fault that Kent had decided to teach me a lesson for being gay by raping me. I probably shouldn't have phrased it that way because he actually picked up a chair and threw it across the kitchen. It hit the wall and shattered and I thought that the men in my life needed some counseling for their anger, even me.

I wasn't prepared for Bear's suggestion though and I wondered if my previous thought had contributed to it as he was so in-tuned to my thinking. He suggested that I indeed get some counseling and I immediately disagreed with this. I wasn't about to go to some shrink and let him all up in my head, despite my earlier thoughts.

My parents looked at each other though and then said that they agreed with him. They then told me that they had been thinking about that very thing, even though they didn't know that I'd also have a rape to discuss with this shrink.

I looked at them and I knew that the three of them were united in this so I really had no choice if I wanted any peace from any of them so I decided to reluctantly get myself some therapy. I agreed, on the condition that my parents never tell anyone else about what had happened to me, especially Zane.

All three of them looked at me like I was crazy and I know I was being hypocritical to not tell Zane what had happened to me when he'd told me what'd happened to him, but I had a motive for doing so. I didn't want him to risk his job to try and exact revenge against Kent. Besides, in my opinion, Zane owed me an explanation for why he'd attacked me where I hadn't done anything to him so I didn't owe him anything.

They reluctantly agreed to not tell Zane if I promised that I'd tell him someday. I told them I would when enough time passed and I wasn't worried he would explode and probably do something that would get him fired just so he could get to Kent. I realized the flaw in my thinking but I pushed that aside and prepared myself for the inevitable meeting with my new shrink.

"What are you feeling right now?" Dr. Manning asked. I was in my third counseling session with him but I wanted to be anywhere but there. I'd barely said anything to him during my first two sessions, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"That I don't want to be here," I answered truthfully. He looked slightly amused, but covered it up quickly enough.

"Fine, let's try this another way," he said before adjusting the thin glasses on his face. I wondered if he really needed them or if they were a part of his shrink persona.

"Try away," I said a bit snarky. He again looked slightly amused.

"Are you angry?" he asked.

"Am I angry? Yeah I'm angry. Damn right I'm angry," I said and he smiled briefly while writing something on his pad. He pissed me off every time he did that because I had asked him during our first session if I could see what he was writing and he said no.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"I'm angry because I'm here. That I have to be here, getting my head shrunk. Black people don't go to shrinks," I said. As I listened to myself I didn't like how grumpy I sounded, but he just chuckled briefly.

"Well just so you know, I've had quite a few black patients over the years," he said which made me wonder how old he was. He didn't look older than maybe his early 40s with just a touch of gray at his temples.

"How old are you?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. His eyes widened a bit before he again let loose a soft chuckle.

"I'm 52," he said and it was my turn to looked shocked. He certainly didn't look 52. He was in great shape and, well... he definitely didn't look over 50. I'm guessing my reaction pleased him as he sort of smiled shyly.

"Oh," I said.

"Do you have any specific anger that's not centered on me?" he asked again looking slightly amused.

"I'm not angry with you. I barely know you," I told him while trying to sound less bitchy.

"Okay, let's get to know each other," he said before taking off his glasses and looking at me again with an intent gaze.

"Fine," I said hoping I sounded more sociable.

"Do you find me attractive?" he asked with a calculating gaze and a strange smile.

"What? What kind of a question is that for you to be asking a patient, especially since you're married to a woman?" I asked. I had noticed several framed photos around his office of him with a dark haired woman and their 2 kids. I even saw one of him with what looked like his oldest kid, a son, with the both of then hold identical babies so I'm sure he was a grandfather which made more since with him being 52.

"I just want to know if you find me attractive," he said trying to hold back most of his amusement.

"I don't think your wife would appreciate you asking your 18 year-old male patient if he's attracted to you," I told him thinking that I'd chosen the wrong therapist.

"Okay, we'll come back to that later," he said and I looked at this dude thinking that I'd definitely chosen wrong.

"No we won't " I told him and he again chuckled before putting his glasses back on. His glasses actually made him look more... whatever, but I wasn't telling him that.

"Do you find Bear attractive?" he asked looking at me again. He'd met Bear at our first session and he'd had the typical reaction to him that most people did. I actually found it funny as that had been the only time he'd been off guard since this whole thing began.

"Of course I do," I said sounding offended.

"Good. Now, do you want to be naked with Bear?" he asked and that was the final straw.

"Okay, that's it. I think we're done here," I said as I stood up.

"Wait," he said as he held up his hand. "Please sit back down and listen," he said in a calm tone that was pissing me off but I begrudgingly sat back down.

"What?" I asked with not a little animosity.

"How do you feel when you imagine Bear being naked?" he asked and again I took offense to this type of question, but I took a more diplomatic approach to respond.

"I don't want to talk about that," I told him as calmly as I could.

"Okay, that's fair. Let's try one last thing for today," he said looking at me with that intent gaze that he'd obviously perfected.

"Fine," I said.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked.

"I'm not afraid of anything," I said feeling defensive.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he looked at me. He made me very uncomfortable, especially since I was starting to notice how good looking he was. I was silent for a couple of minutes before I mustered up the courage to say what I didn't want to say.

"I'm afraid he ruined me for Bear. I'm afraid that I'll never be able to be with him again," I said feeling truly horrible. I was meant for him and he for me, so it killed me that it was possible that we'd never be able to be with each other in that way again.

"And would that be such a terrible thing?" he asked and I looked incredulously at him before my mind started thinking of a thousand things, betrayal and stupidity being a couple.

"What..." I started to say before I decided to hold my tongue to keep from saying some bad things to this man.

"Before you get the wrong idea, I meant that it's possible for you and Bear to have a relationship without sex," he said and I thought on that for a second before I wondered how long it would take Bear to go looking for sex somewhere else.

"It's possible, I guess," I told him.

"But," he said urging me to continue.

"I don't think Bear could do it," I told him which was one of the secret fears I had.

"Has Bear been unfaithful to you before?" he asked and I was again offended, especially for Bear.

"What? No, he would never," I said with a scowl I could feel had formed on my face.

"Then what are you worried about?" he asked.

"I'm not worried about Bear cheating on me. I'm worried about him breaking up with me because he can't handle a sexless relationship," I said voicing more of my fears.

"Mm-hmm. Let's put a pin in this for now. I want you to try and be intimate with Bear. Nothing too involved, just something that you haven't been able to do since your assault," he said and I wondered if I could do it. I decided to mess with him though, just to be me.

"So, no hardcore gay fucking, right?" I asked with a smirk, but became annoyed when it didn't seem to phase him in the least.

"No, unless you feel comfortable with that, then by all means, do whatever feels good. I will say though that you could broach the subject of you topping for him if that makes you feel more at ease," he said and I'm sure I was blushing. I got over that though and decided to leave him with a lasting comment as I stood.

"I won't have to do much convincing since Bear loves it when I'm inside him," I said before throwing him a wink. I was delighted that I'd managed to trip him up as his eyes went wide a bit at what I'd said. I then gave him a mock salute before leaving.

I thought about what Dr. Manning had said, after trying to forget all the inappropriate stuff, and I decided that I'd try to jump on this thing as soon as possible so I shot Bear a text and headed for his house. When I pulled into the driveway, he was outside waiting for me so I just stopped and he hopped in.

"Hey baby," he said with the smile he had that I loved. I could tell that he wanted to kiss me, but was hesitant to do so as he was unsure how I would react.

"Hey big guy," I told him before I leaned over and kissed him. It was the same feeling as always and I was happy that at least that had returned.

"So what's up with the spontaneous meeting?" he asked after our brief kiss ended, but he was smiling so I guess he was happy.

"I just wanted to see you," I told him as I looked at him. He looked into my eyes likely trying to see what else was going on, but I didn't want him to know what was up so I looked away from him.

He wasn't having that though so he grasped my chin and brought me back to look at him. I decided to just dive on in so I leaned forward and kissed him more fully. He seemed startled at first but then joined in and we made out. As we continued to kiss, he leaned further forward towards me which pushed me back toward the driver's side door.

It was fine at first, but as he laid more of his weight on me, I started to feel uncomfortable, before the feeling increased and I started to feel trapped and held down, like I was that day. I tried my best to ignore it and keep going but it was starting to make me panic, which I also tried to hide.

Around this time Bear stopped kissing me and sat up. Looking up I saw worry in his eyes. I knew that he'd felt my apprehension and tenseness. I mentally slapped myself and reached up to pull him back down, but he pulled back and grabbed my hands in his.

"Don't," he said in a tone that I couldn't decipher.

"Why did you stop?" I asked trying to play it off.

"Trey, you don't have to do this," he said and the pity in his voice was what I didn't want to hear.

"But I want to," I said before freeing my hands from his and again trying to pull him back down, but again he resisted and grabbed my hands again.

"I know you want to, but all of you isn't cooperating with that want," he said and I hated Kent for what he'd done to me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked trying to ignore the beating of my heart and the impulse to push Bear away from me.

"Trey, look at me. I'm hard from just kissing you like I always get, but you aren't. Plus you were so tense that I was afraid to move you for fear I'd snap a bone," he said and I knew it was true and I cursed Kent.

"Dammit!" I shouted as I lost that battle to resist pushing Bear away from me as I did so and jumped out of my truck. I walked around to the back and leaned against the closed tailgate and just looked off into the distance. I vaguely heard the door on the passenger side open and close.

"Baby, you don't have to be so upset. I get that things aren't going right inside your head right now. I'm patient and I can wait as long as it takes before you are ready to do anything," he said and I hated that I was doing this to him. He was such a sweet and loving guy, not to mention patient, and I didn't deserve him.

"What if I'm never ready to do anything sexual again?" I asked him. He was quiet for a couple of minutes and I took that as my answer.

"I'll admit that it would be a struggle, but I guess I'll just have to develop a close personal relationship with my right hand," he said with a small smile.

"Bear, you have an insatiable appetite. You can't expect me to believe that you'd be happy with a sexless relationship," I told him which was true. In the back of my mind I knew that since Bear had been with me that he'd actually been having much less sex than he'd had before we got together and he seemed to still be interested in me, but I just couldn't let this go.

"Trey, I want you to listen to me because apparently, you haven't been. You are my destiny and I will never want to be with anyone else but you," he said, pausing to place my hand over his heart before he had continued. I was silent for a few more minutes before I spoke something that I'd never allowed before.

"There is another way," I said making sure I wasn't looking at him because I didn't want to see anything that would shatter my already fragile psyche.

"What?" he asked sounding especially curious and that was a hint for me that he would be open to it. I hated that, but I had to do something.

"We can have an open relationship. You would be able to sleep with whoever you want and we could still be together," I said still not looking at him.

"No," he said after a few seconds.

"What? Why not?" I asked not really sure why I was getting worked up because the guy I loved and that I didn't want to share with anyone was telling me he didn't want to be shared either.

"Because I know for a fact that I definitely don't want some other dude all up on you and I'm sure you'd feel the same way and so I'd never subject you to that," he said and I again thought that this incredible man was too good to be true.

"I'm gonna get myself back on track Bear. I promise that I'll get myself well so I can be everything to you," I told him and I meant it.

"You already are Trey. You have been all my life," he said before flashing me that beautiful smile that I loved.

THE GRANDPARENTS

I was feeling really good. I couldn't really make out what was happening, but I knew it was good. The one thing I could make out was that I was with Bear. I was with Bear and we were having a good time and it felt great.

"Son, wake up," I heard as I felt myself being lightly shaken.

"Huh, what?" I said as I awoke with a start. I realized that I was breathing heavily and I was sweating a bit.

"You were tossing and turning in your sleep and moaning," dad said and I tried to remember what I'd been dreaming about. I was able to vividly recall Bear and I naked on this very bed and we were... we were making out and then I realized that I had a raging boner, something I hadn't had since before I'd woken up in the hospital.

"Oh," I said and I felt my face get hot and I knew that I was blushing. I was also unable to meet my dad's eyes.

"Oh," he dragged out after looking at me for a few seconds. "Sorry I woke you. I'll leave you alone in case you wanna take care of... that," he said and then gestured toward my crotch with his eyes. I looked down immediately and saw that I was indeed noticeably hard since I only had a sheet covering me and my pajama bottoms didn't really do anything to keep my dick under wraps.

"Um, yeah," I said after I'd quickly reached behind me and grabbed a pillow to cover my traitorous prick. This caused dad to laugh before he turned and walked out of my room.

When he was gone I lifted the covers and lo and behold, I was still hard, even after that embarrassing scene. I also noticed that my pajama bottoms as well as my underwear were wet and sticky which meant that I'd had a wet dream, something I hadn't done since I was 15.

I tried to push all that information out of my head and I got up. I decided that a shower was in order so I headed for the bathroom and took care of business and hopped in the shower. As I was washing myself, Bear's naked body flashed into my head again and my dick sprang up to full mast within seconds. It was like I was entering puberty again with the uncontrollable, spontaneous erections.

I reasoned that it was probably because of the fact that I'd essentially not had an erection in about 4 months so I was hopefully coming around a bit. I tried to ignore it as I washed up, but he was insistent that I pay him some attention, especially since Bear kept flashing into my head.

I decided to try and see if I could keep this up so I imagined Bear as I gripped my hard dick and started some easy strokes. I picked up the pace and I was delighted that I was able to keep Bear in my head. I reached the climax and my last thought before I shot was Bear as he slipped that monster inside me.

I recovered from a powerful orgasm and I was happy to find that Kent didn't come to my mind once. I wanted to try and see if I could get something done with Bear now that I seemed to be moving in the right direction.

I finished washing up and hopped out of the shower. When I went to the sink to brush my teeth, I found a look in my eyes that had been gone for a while. It was hope and I smiled that I was getting better. I then laughed at myself for getting all giddy because I'd managed to jerk off, but that was big in my opinion.

I finished up in the bathroom and headed for my room to get dressed. After I'd gotten some clothes on, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to find my mother cooking. I looked at the feast and saw something crucial was missing.

"Morning sweetie," mom said as she waited for her kiss. I was distracted though.

"Where's the bacon?" I asked. I was in the mood for some bacon and weekend breakfast always contained bacon.

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked giving me the side eye as she scrambled eggs.

"Yeah, so where is it?" I asked. She looked at me for a few seconds before rolling her eyes at me, hard.

"There is none," she said and was she serious?

"What?" I asked after I gasped.

"Trey, stop being so dramatic. You really should consider theater for one of your college courses," she said with a sarcastic tone.

"Hey mommy," Carly said as she and Cara walked into the kitchen.

"There's no bacon," I said quickly and they both stopped in their tracks.

"Are we poor?" Cara asked sounding entirely serious and I almost laughed but there was a dire situation going on here.

"Girl, stop playing," mom said sound just a bit annoyed.

"Hello fam," Calvin said sounding chipper as he entered the kitchen.

"Hey sugar," mom said to Calvin, but I had to alert him to the crisis.

"There's no bacon," I told him and he frowned deeply.

"Ma, don't you think you should have started the bacon before scrambling the eggs?" he asked sounding hopeful.

"For the last time, there's no bacon, and Trey, shut it," she said sounding completely annoyed now.

"Fine," I pouted.

"Good morning," dad said as he entered the kitchen. Mom, the twins, and Calvin greeted him, but I was silent as I was still a bit embarrassed about our earlier `discussion'.

"Trey, aren't you gonna speak to your father? You've been running your mouth so much this morning that you should have something to say to him," mom said before getting the last toast out of the toaster and bringing breakfast to table

"Yeah son, did you get everything... taken care of?" he asked with a highly amused look on his face. I decided to get his mind off of that though.

"There's no-" I started before mom cut in.

"Trey, boy you better not," mom warned with the finger point that meant that she was serious.

"What's going on?' dad asked looking confused.

"I can't say," I pouted before I went to sit down in my chair.

"Sit down kids and let's eat," mom said before taking her own seat.

"Where's the bacon?' dad asked after he'd gotten situated and started getting his plate fixed.

"Well, I decided that we'd be a little healthier so there will be no more bacon," mom said. There was silence as we all looked at her.

"Wait, so this is a continuous thing and not just for today? Are you serious?" Calvin asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you all today? I have gone a day without cooking bacon before," she said which was true, but she didn't get it.

"Well Livvie, it's just that bacon on the weekend is a tradition and you obviously don't know how important bacon is to a man," dad said and I would have agreed if not for the fact that my sisters looked like they were being forced to eat a breakfast of nothing but broccoli and Brussel Sprouts.

"Well forgive me for being concerned about the well being of my family. I'll tell you what, you don't have to eat any of this crap that I so selfishly slaved over a hot stove fixing for my dammed family," mom said and I realized we had been overreacting.

"Wow mama, these eggs are great," I said after eating a bit of my eggs. I wasn't lying though as there was rarely anything that my mother couldn't turn into a delicious experience.

"Yeah, great eggs honey," dad said around a mouthful of eggs himself. She looked pleased after that so we started to eat our bacon-less breakfast and it was surprisingly still enjoyable.

After we'd all finished, mom started to gather the dishes up to put into the dishwasher. Around this time the doorbell rang so I took it upon myself to go and get it. I went to the door and I hoped it was Bear so I could try to get something started with him to test out my comfort level with him again. It was not to be though.

"Hey honey," the lady at the door said as she grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Grandma, it's great to be squeezed to death by you," I joked.

"Natalie, I think the boy needs some air," Grandpa said with humor in his voice. Grandma finally let me go and held me at arms length and just looked at me.

"Oh honey, it's so good to see you again," she said with a huge smile. I loved her so much and I was happy to see her.

"Yeah, it has been a while," I said back.

"Well it hasn't been that long for us," she said before she let me go while she and Grandpa walked into the house. I was confused though.

"What do you mean?" I asked her after closing the door and following them inside.

"Well we were here when you were in your coma," Grandpa said and I was surprised as nobody had told me.

"Really," I said and I was happy that they'd come to see me, even though I wasn't able to appreciate it as I was in a coma.

"Yeah, of course we did, but I had to leave or else I would have probably found some way to kill that boy," Grandma said likely talking about Kent.

"Thanks grandma," I said happy that she was willing to kill for me.

"Yeah, now get over here and give your grandpa a bug hug," Grandpa said as he held his arms open. I did what he'd said and he hugged me tight as well. I was happy for that because I knew that he'd probably be my only grandfather to want to touch me after finding out that I was gay.

"Mama, daddy, what are you two doing here?" mom asked as she came into the living room followed by everyone else.

"Oh, Olivia. I forgot you even still lived here girl," Grandma joked before looking at me and winking.

"Very funny mama," mom said with her arms folded. She then walked over and hugged her parents.

"Grandpa," the girls said as they ran to him, completely bypassing Grandma.

"Well, I guess I don't even exist," Grandma said sarcastically.

"If only," mom mumbled.

"I heard that girl," Grandma responded with a stern look.

"You were supposed to," mom countered with a tight smile. They had this weird passive-aggressive relationship but they were mostly joking when they did this.

"Play nice ladies," dad said.

"Evan, how's my favorite son-in-law?" Grandma asked as she walked up and hugged him.

"I'm doing good," he said before shaking Grandpa's hand.

"I think Douglas would have an objection to that statement, mama," mom said and Grandma rolled her eyes.

"Your sister don't have anything to do with this," Grandma said.

"Speaking of Janice, when are you gonna go and bother her?" mom asked with a smirk.

"Mama," I said because she had a tendency to go on and on with this stuff.

"Boy please, mama knows I'm only playing," mom said before walking over to the couch and taking a seat.

"One of these days I'm gonna tan your hide," Grandma said giving her the `mom finger point' that meant that she was serious.

"Uh huh," mom said dismissively.

"So Trey, tell us where that rather large guy of yours is," Grandpa said as he sat down in dad's special chair.

"I don't know grandpa," I told him although I did wonder where he was. I felt a brief moment of worry, but I pushed that aside.

"You don't know where he is? Boy, you better keep tabs on a man that fine," Grandma said and my mouth dropped.

"Mama!" mom said in shock also.

"Natalie," Grandpa said at the same time.

"What? You people are so boring," Grandma said before she took a seat as well and the twins sat down on either side of her.

"So Cal, you have a boyfriend yet?" Grandpa asked and I snickered.

"What? Why would you ask that?" Calvin asked and I snickered again.

"Well I just didn't want to assume," Grandpa said, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

"No grandpa, I don't have a girlfriend yet, and I definitely don't have a boyfriend," he said directing that last bit a me.

"Yeah grandpa, he doesn't have a boyfriend. I think he's gonna be one of those guys that likes... girls," I joked before shivering to add to the effect.

"Eew, girls are yucky," Grandpa joked right back.

"Tell me about it," I said before we laughed. I liked that Grandpa was comfortable enough to joke along with me about the gay thing.

"You don't say, Anthony," Grandma said giving him the stink eye.

"Except for you dear," Grandpa said.

"Is that right, daddy?" mom asked strongly with her famous head tilt that was a signal that she was about to say some things you didn't want to hear.

"And you too, honey," he corrected as he leaned over and patted mom on her leg. About that time my cell phone rang. I looked and it was Bear which made me smile.

"Ah, I bet I know who that is," Grandma teased.

"Hey big guy," I said answering the phone while shaking my head at my grandmother. I heard the two of them snicker at my term of endearment for Bear.

"Hey baby, how are you doing?" Bear asked sounding his usual happy self.

"I'm fine. I'm just here with these old people who descended on my house," I joked.

"What?" he asked while laughing at me.

"Bear, we will be taking your guy to the woodshed," Grandma said loud enough for Bear to hear over the phone.

"Do you see now?' I asked him and he laughed again.

"Can you come over?" he asked and I really wanted to go, but...

"Well like I said, my grandparents are here," I told him.

"Oh please Trey. Go on and see your guy," Grandpa said and I wasn't one to disagree with my gramps.

"Well, apparently they don't want me over here anymore so I guess I have no choice but to come over there," I teased.

"Wow, as long as you don't have a choice," he said and I could hear the humor in his voice.

"I'll be there soon," I told him before I ended the call.

They teased me for a few more minutes before I went to brush my teeth again and headed out of the door. I headed for my truck but before I got in I happened to look across the street and I saw Mr. Davis getting out of his car. He looked toward me and a look of distaste crossed his face before he turned and walked into his house. I pushed him out of my mind and hopped in my truck and pulled out.

I arrived at Bear's place and I saw that Sean's car was there so that put a hitch in my plans to try and get something started with Bear again. It was probably best though as I should maybe try to get used to the idea of thinking about Bear sexually before putting him through what I had done the day after my therapy session.

I got out and headed for the front door. I rang the bell and Juanita, their new housekeeper opened the door a minute later. She knew who I was and she greeted me with a smile. She then let me in and lead me to the family room where Bear, Sean, and Steph were.

"Hey baby. Look who's here, it's Sean. Isn't that great?" Bear said with a truly fake smile on his handsome face.

"Yes, it's wonderful," I said deciding to play along.

"I get the feeling that you guys don't think it's that wonderful," Sean remarked while grasping his chin as if he was thinking hard.

"Gee, what was your first clue, all the white teeth or the disingenuous tone?" Steph asked from her seat next to Sean.

"So, how are ya doing, buddy?" Sean asked looking at me. I wondered what he and Bear were talking about and if they'd had it out yet over the fact that Sean knew what had happened to me and hadn't told anyone.

"I'm doing good. I hate therapy though," I told him. I realized that I was saying this in front of Steph, but she was Bear's sister and unlike his other sibling, I actually liked her and she seemed to like me. Besides, I wasn't saying anything too telling.

"Is it that bad?" Sean asked.

"Yeah it is. You'd never believe what he asked me," I said before realizing that maybe that wasn't the best thing to tell anyone other than Bear and I hadn't even told him yet.

"What?" Bear asked appropriately curious.

"Nevermind, I'll tell you later," I told Bear.

"What about us?" Steph asked. I decided to mess with her.

"Don't you have some dolls to play with, sweetie?" I asked her.

"Don't you?" she asked back with that attitude I'd come to expect from Steph. Their doorbell rang about that time as their mother was coming down the stairs with a box. Juanita came in and said she'd answer the door while Sean got up to help April.

"Thanks Sean. At least someone around here has manners," she said before looking at Bear and then Steph.

"I have manners," Bear and Steph said together trying to defend themselves.

"Whatever. Hello Trey," April said to me after dismissing them.

"Hello April, how are-" I started but was interrupted by Juanita.

"Ma'am, you have company," Juanita said from the entrance to the family room. She didn't exactly sound happy though which was weird because she seemed like a typically happy person even though I didn't know her well. We all looked and there stood Bear's grandparents, April's parents. I started to wonder if it was like grandparents day or something.

Maude and Harry Forrester were assuming people. Harry was a big guy like Bear and I found it surprising that he was still mostly in shape. Maude was the typical 60-something southern woman on the surface, but she carried herself like she knew she had money and she felt that that fact made her better than whomever happened to be unfortunate enough to cross her path.

"Mother, it's... so nice to see you," April said as she walked over to them but it didn't seem like it was nice.

"Well I wouldn't know it with the number of times you've invited me and your father to come here," Maude said in a snooty southern accent that immediately grated on my nerves for some reason.

"Oh mother, come on. You know that you two can come to see me any time you want without being invited," April said with an obviously fake smile. Well, it was obvious to me.

"Yeah, like they did this time," Steph muttered which made Bear snicker and me smile a bit, even while being in the presence of these two people.

"Well we'll be sure to do that from now on," Harry said in the same southern accent, although his didn't sound nearly as uppity as his wife's accent.

"Oh joy," Steph muttered again and again Bear chuckled, although this time he tried not to. While I was too trying to hide my amusement with Steph's actions, I wondered at them too. I saw that Sean was also trying to hide a smile at her antics.

"There are my grandchildren. Come give grandmother a hug and kiss," she said. Bear started walking toward them but I noticed that Steph hadn't moved, nor did she look like she was going to.

"Hey grandma, and grandpa," Bear said as he hugged Maude, then hugged Harry after they briefly shook hands.

"My goodness son, you have certainly gotten big since the last time I saw you. Taking after your old grandpa I see," Harry said proudly while looking at Bear. I wondered if he would have that same pride when he found out that Bear was gay.

"Steph, don't you want to give your grandparents a hug?" April asked, but it was obvious she was telling her to do it.

"Sure," Steph said showing a lot of teeth which was a sign that she wasn't happy. I was again curious about her attitude regarding her grandparents. She walked over and was a bit stiff when hugging them.

"Well who is this handsome young man?" Maude asked looking at Sean. Neither of them had looked in my direction which was a little weird.

"Hello ma'am and sir, my name is Sean," Sean said politely while showing his brightest smile.

"Oh Stephy, don't you think he's a little too old for you?" Maude said which caused a snort to escape me before I could stop it. I noticed that Maude's nose crinkled a bit so I knew that she had noticed that I was there.

"Mother, Sean is Bear's friend, not Stephanie's boyfriend," April corrected.

"Well it's nice to meet you Sean," Maude said as Sean stepped forward and shook first Harry's hand, then her hand. "I'm glad to see Barry's taste in friends has improved," she added and I couldn't have heard her right.

"Mother," April said strongly and I noticed she glanced briefly at me.

"What?" Maude asked likely not realizing, or maybe not caring what she'd said.

"Excuse me, but could you repeat that?" Sean asked and while he was trying to sound cordial, you could hear the edge in his voice.

"No, she can't" April answered quickly. Maude looked at her with a curious look before her gaze finally settled on me and everything about this woman made sense.

"So, who is this?" she asked. It was obvious that she was trying extra hard to keep her tone and expression as neutral as possible.

"It's the friend that Bear made before his taste improved," Steph answered bitterly.

"Stephanie," April said in the same tone she'd used on her mother.

"What? She said it, not me," Steph said before she rolled her eyes.

"Oh now I remember you. You're Tay Tay, or something like that, right?" she asked sounding incredibly condescending. I was about to open my mouth and not nicely tell her where to get off but I heard someone clear their throat and I looked and saw Sean subtly shake his head.

"Mother, his name is Trey," April said in a bit of an exasperated tone.

"Yes, I knew he had be named something like that," she said in that same condescending tone which served to piss me off even more.

"You know grandmother, there are white people named Trey," Steph said in a snippy tone which I struggled not to smirk at.

"I never said there wasn't dear," Maude said sounding like she hadn't just insulted me. I looked around this room of white people and I suddenly felt out of place in that house which I'd never felt before, except for when it involved Brian.

I looked at all of them before I settled on Sean. He gestured for me to look at Bear with his eyes. I wondered why until I looked and I saw him glaring at his grandmother with that look that he got whenever he felt there was a threat to my safety. Why he would feel that way about this little old lady, possible racist she may be, was kind of funny.

"Why don't we all take a seat," Harry said and I noticed that he'd noticed Bear's glaring at his wife. They took a seat along with April, while we "kids" chose to stand.

"So Stephanie, tell me about your studies," Maude said. Stephanie went to an all girl's private school that I'm sure that her dad thought kept her away from boys, but I happened to know that she'd been dating since she was 13 and in those 3 years had dated about 10 boys. I didn't know if she still had her virginity, but I wouldn't put it past her to not to with Bear as an example.

"Everything's fine in the convent, grandmother," Steph said with a snippy tone. I then remembered that Bear had told me that putting her in the all girls school was their grandmother's idea.

"It's not a convent Stephy. It's good for you to be surrounded by positive female role models," Maude said sounding incredibly condescending.

"Yeah, it's good for me to be spending so much time with girls. Maybe I'll become a lesbian," Steph joked and Bear, Sean and I snickered a bit, but Maude definitely didn't appreciate the joke by the look on her face.

"Stephanie," April said again in an admonishing tone.

"Stephy, jokes like that aren't funny," Maude said with a scowl. I saw her then very subtly nudge Harry.

"So Bear, how's things going at school? Any young girls close to tying you down?" Harry asked and I was suspicious about this question, especially with his wife nudging him beforehand.

"No grandpa, I don't have any girls tying me down," he smiled and looked at me and I knew he was about to tell them about us, at least he would have if not for his mother jumping in.

"So mother, how is everything back home?" she asked. She said it like she was trying to stop Bear from saying anything else which had me frowning at her. I looked at Bear and he was scowling at her so I knew I hadn't just imagined it.

"It's fine dear," she said to April before directing her attention back to Bear. "You were saying, Barry?" she asked him. She was someone else who refused to call him Bear, but he didn't get mad with her like he did when his dad did it. I guess she had grandmother immunity.

"Well I was-" Bear started again before April jumped in again.

"Um mother, when's the last time you spoke to Dawn because I haven't heard from her in a while," April said again sounding like she was trying to stop Bear from telling his grandparents that he was gay.

"I spoke to her last week. Now would you please stop interrupting your son. It's very rude and I raised you to have manners," Maude said talking down to April. I didn't really have any sympathy for her in that moment though as it seemed that she didn't want her parents to know about Bear and I.

"Yes mother, it's very rude for you to keep interrupting Bear," Steph said in her own condescending tone.

"Stephanie," April said in warning.

"Bear has something to tell grandmother and grandfather and I think you should just let him," Steph said ignoring the warning.

"Well I think we need some refreshments and I think Bear should help me with them," April said as she stood and started for the kitchen.

"Actually, I think I'll help you with the refreshments, in the kitchen, while Bear stays out here with grandmother and grandfather," Steph said being obviously passive-aggressive. I heard a snicker from Sean.

"On second thought, I can just have Juanita bring the refreshments," she said before walking over to the intercom and telling Juanita to do just that. When she turned around, she looked at me and a guilty look crossed her face and that's when I realized that I'd been glaring at her.

"Okay now, what is it that you want to tell us Bear?" Harry asked. He had no problem calling Bear by the name everyone else did.

"Well-" Bear started before April jumped in.

"Bear's gay," she said in a rush, shocking all of us.

"Excuse me?" Maude said with a frown, but there was something off about both of their expressions but I couldn't figure out what.

"Grandma, Grandpa, I'm gay," Bear said after taking a deep breath.

"You can't be serious," Maude said with that judging southern accent somehow getting thicker.

"I am serious. There will be no girl tying me down because a guy has already done that... this guy," he said before taking my hand in his. Both of them zeroed in on our joined hands and they both looked not pleased with this development, although Maude looked even more so.

"I see," she said and I remembered Bear saying the same thing to me in the same emotionless tone.

"Mother..." April said perhaps in warning to tell her mother not to say whatever she was feeling.

"April, I need to speak to you for a minute, alone," she said putting emphasis on alone.

"No, anything you say to her you can say in here," Bear said strongly and I was impressed by his bravery.

"Bear, I think I need to speak to your grandmother alone," April said looking at Bear.

"No. Anything she has to say about me she can say it right here," he said in that same commanding voice that perhaps he shouldn't have been using with his mother but I didn't blame him.

"Excuse me," she said in that tone that meant that he'd indeed gone too far with her, but apparently Bear wasn't having it.

"I mean it," Bear said not backing down. They had a stare down that I guess Bear won as April blinked first. I looked at Maude and Harry and it finally occurred to me that they didn't look shocked by these events, at least not as shocked as they should have been.

"They knew," I said before I could stop myself.

"What?" Bear asked as he looked at me. I decided that since I'd said it, I might as well keep going.

"Look at them, they already knew," I told him. He did and I saw when he realized it too.

"Mother, is that true?" April asked.

"Well what do you expect. Naturally we'd be shocked and wanting to check for ourselves if what Brian had told us was true," she said and of course that douchebag Brian had been behind this.

"Brian," Bear said in an angry whisper.

"What did Brian tell you?" April asked not looking particularly happy with her eldest son.

"Well he told us that Barry was a... homosexual and that he called himself engaged to another boy, and then when he told us it was him...," she said referring to me, saying him with not a little distaste.

"What the hell do you mean by `and then he told us it was him'? What's wrong with me being engaged to Trey?" he asked with much hostility in his tone.

"You watch the way you talk to your grandmother, Bear. Now when Brian told us about you being a... homosexual, we were naturally stunned," Harry said doing that same annoying pause before he said homosexual that his wife did.

"I'll say," Maude added. About that time the doorbell rang and Juanita said she'd get it as she had just arrived with the drinks.

"I don't know what all Brian told you, or why he felt the need to go running and tell you in the first place but-" April was saying before she was interrupted by the descent of our friends.

"Barry, you have company," Juanita said. She also called him by his real name. I'd asked him why she did it and he said she told him that she'd feel more comfortable calling him by his proper name until she had been working there longer.

"Hello all," Jessica said as she entered the room followed by Liberty, Justice, Veronica, and Carter. I thought to myself that this would be interesting if what I thought was the case.

"Jess, have some manners," Liberty chastised her.

"Oops, sorry," she said when she noticed April's parents.

"Who are these... people?" Maude asked not even trying to hide her bitchiness.

"Mother, daddy, these are Bear's other friends. That's Jessica, the two look-a-likes are Liberty and Justice, that's Veronica and that's Carter," she said pointing to them as she introduced them. "Kids, these are my parents," she finished. They all greeted them in their own way.

"Nice to meet you all," Harry said kind of sounding like he meant it.

"Same," Maude said definitely not sounding like she meant it.

"Grandmother, do you remember when you thought Sean was my boyfriend?" Steph asked as she walked toward Justice with a calculating smile. Justice raised her eyebrows in response.

"Yes," Maude said looking confused. I knew what Steph was up to then and I smirked a little.

"Well, this is actually Sean's girlfriend, and Veronica here is Sean's cousin," she said with a smug grin as she gestured toward each of them before standing between them.

"You don't say," Maude responded with a noticeable frown. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a fork.

"Okay, why don't you kids go... somewhere and let me spend some time with my parents," April said obviously trying to end this situation.

"C'mon Trey," Bear said after a few seconds of silence. He made sure to glare at his grandmother before he dragged me out of the room.

We decided to leave the house and head for the park. There wasn't much talking done before we left with us deciding to wait until we arrived at the park before we did any real socializing. Bear was quiet all the way there and that worried me because that meant he was stewing and that wasn't good.

We finally arrived and as I walked into the park, of course my sight was drawn to the distant woods where over 4 months earlier, I'd been raped, then shot and Clyde had been killed. Bear and Steph were walking ahead but I guess Bear noticed that I'd stopped because he came back to me.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't think..." he said before tailing off.

"It's okay big guy. I didn't either," I told him as I continued to look in that direction.

"We can leave and go somewhere else," he said as he took ahold of my hand.

"No, it's fine. It's just that... Clyde died over there. My life changed over there and Kent doesn't even care," I said feeling down, but trying to fight that feeling. I didn't wanna bum anybody out.

"I'm still here for you Trey. That'll never change," he said and I appreciated him all the more. I gave him a quick kiss before heading off toward the others while dragging him along with me.

"So you guys gonna tell us what that was about?" Liberty asked after we arrived where they were.

"My grandmother's a bitch, that all," Steph said sounding a bit blasé about it.

"Steph. Do not talk about your grandmother that way," Bear reprimanded her being the good big brother he was.

"I stand by what I said. Besides, you don't know what I know," she said and I was curious.

"What do you know?" Bear asked her and she started to pen her mouth, but then closed it before frowning a bit.

"You don't want to know?" she finally said and that didn't help to satisfy my curiosity.

"Yes I do," Bear told her in that tone he'd used on his mother.

"I do too," Jessica chimed in.

"Jessica, do you have any tact?" Veronica asked while looking exasperated.

"Yes I do Veronica, which is why I don't tell you how much of a bitch your friend Alicia is," Jessica said.

"But you just said that," Carter stated and Jessica rolled her eyes.

"No I didn't, I was just explaining to her that I do in fact have tact," Jessica called herself correcting.

I listened to their talking back and forth some more before that place drew my attention again. I looked in that direction and had a fleeting thought that I wanted to see the place. I wanted to see the place where Kent had taken my ability to feel secure in my own skin, before he'd taken Clyde's life. It was unfair that he had to die saving me when all I was to him was a tutor. We never got the chance to become friends if that even would have happened.

I looked back toward everyone and I saw Bear and Sean looking at me with almost equal worried looks. They were the only ones, aside from my parents and Dr. Manning, that knew the full extent of what Kent had done to me.

I saw Justice and Steph walking back toward us with a bunch of drinks they'd probably gotten from the food truck that was at the park. They passed them around and Steph came up to me and handed me one which I saw was a root beer, my favorite drink. I took it from her before she sat down next to me and laid her head on my shoulder and somehow, I wondered if Bear had told her what had happened to me. I decided to not care if he did since this girl would be my little sister-in-law one day. At least I knew she cared about me unlike Brian who hated me.

I woke up and I felt great. It had been a while since I'd had a great night's sleep. I was happy that I wasn't dreaming about Kent anymore. I looked at the clock and saw that it was after 11. I guess I'd been allowed to sleep in since I was out late the night before.

I got up and straightened up my room as I had clothes that I had yet to put away after they'd been washed. I then got some clothes and headed for the bathroom and took care of things before hopping in the shower. After I was clean and dressed I headed downstairs to find that I was at home alone.

I checked out front and indeed the SUV and my grandparents' car were gone. I guess they were at the mall or something so I headed for the kitchen and saw that there was a note that said everyone had indeed gone shopping. I decided to grab the box of honey-nut cheerios, a bowl and spoon, and the milk and headed for the family room.

As I sat and ate my favorite cereal while watching TV, my mind began to wander. I thought about what my life would be like when college started. I wondered where I was even going as none of us had gotten any responses from colleges yet. I was interrupted from my aimless thoughts by the doorbell.

I got up and went to the door and I at first thought it was Bear, but then thought better of it because he was probably still asleep as we had hung out with the crew until very late. I opened the door and was utterly shocked to see Maude Forrester standing there looking completely out of place.

"Mrs. Forrester, what are you doing here?" I asked her totally confused as to why she would come to see me.

"I came to speak to you," she said with that annoyingly snooty accent.

"How do you know where I live?" I asked realizing that I sounded slightly paranoid before then realizing that maybe Bear had told her.

"I have my ways. Now like I said, I'm here to speak to you," she said sounding put out from having to explain how she knew where I lived.

"About what?" I asked. I was unsure why I was so cautious when it came to this woman.

"May I please come in?" she asked and I decided that I'd better exercise my manners and invite her in. She walked in and followed me as I went to the living room. She looked around the place like she was judging me and the house. That pissed me off since my dad had built our house himself.

"Would you like to have a seat? I can have the couch sanitized for you?" I said and I heard a slight edge to my voice.

"No that'll be fine," she said before she took a tentative seat.

"How can I help you Mrs. Forrester?" I asked her making sure I sounded more cordial.

"I came to talk to you about my grandson," she said never losing that superior tone.

"Okay," I said waiting for her to say what she'd come to say.

"I'm gonna need you to end this... relationship you have with my grandson," she said and I had to admire the nerve of this old bitch to come to my house and tell me to break up with the guy I love.

"Say what now?" I asked because I wanted her to say it again as I didn't think she would, but she proved me wrong.

"I said, I'm gonna need you to end your relationship with my grandson," she said again. At least this time she didn't say the word relationship like it was something bitter in her throat.

"Why would you think I'd do that?" I asked her this time with more of an edge.

"I'm more than happy to pay you. I know you could use the money," she said making sure to look around the living room with slight distaste in her face. I felt my blood boiling that this woman was here telling me that she'd pay me to break Bear's heart. She was gonna pay for that.

"Let me tell you something lady," I said as I stood so I could give her the both barrels. "There isn't enough money in this world that would make me leave Bear. The fact that you think that I'd take money and leave the guy I love is insulting. You can't buy me with your money," I told her with conviction.

"I don't believe that. Everyone has a price," she said sounding especially stuck up which served to piss me off even more.

"Well I don't have one so that must not be true. I don't need nor want your dammed money, so get the hell out of my house before I lose my temper," I told her barely holding myself in check.

"I think I should tell you that I always get what I want and I what I want is for my grandson not to be with someone like you," she said after she stood up as well.

"What, someone black, you mean?" I asked her. She tried to pretend that I'd insulted her, but I saw confirmation in her eyes.

"Well, I never," she said sounding really insulted and put out, but I wasn't buying her bullshit.

"That's right. You'll never see me break up with Bear," I told her. Her shocked act ended then as she fixed me with a cold glare.

"You listen to me you... person. You will end this travesty you call a relationship with Barry because I will not have someone like you with my grandson, in my family. You'd better do what I tell you to do because you don't want to make me angry," she said and I narrowed my eyes at her because, was she serious? I was about to tell this old bat where to get off, but I was prevented from doing so.

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to my grandson like that?" Grandma said as she walked into the room.

"Who are you?" Maude asked with that annoying accent of hers.

"I'm Natalie and as I just told you, I'm Trey's grandmother. Who the hell are you?" Grandma asked as she walked over and stood before Maude.

"Grams, this is Bear's other grandmother, Maude Forrester," I said not saying it nicely.

"Oh yeah, Andrea told me about you," Grandma said referring to Bear's other grandmother, his dad's mother.

"Is that a fact?" Maude asked as she glared at Grandma.

"Yes that's a fact and I have to say that 1, she hit the nail right on the head when it comes to you and 2, I don't appreciate the fact that you're here in my daughter's home threatening her son when she's not here," Grandma said and all I could think was `go grandma'.

"It would be good if you'd tell your grandson to heed my warning," Maude said not backing down, but neither was I.

"I'm not going to do it so take your dammed money and leave," I told her.

"Very well, but don't say I didn't warn you," she said before turning and walking toward the door. We heard the door close a few seconds later.

"Grams, what are you doing here?" I asked as I expected her to be with my parents.

"What did that woman want?" Grandma asked in return.

"She wanted me to break up with Bear. She offered to pay me to do so," I said still pissed at the gall of that woman.

"Why?" Grandma asked.

"Why do you think Grams?" I asked as I gestured to my face before heading back into the family room to try and salvage my breakfast.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry," she said I guess getting what I'd been saying.

"I guess you just never know, do you?" I said. I never thought that Maude was a racist, at least I never picked up on it the few times I'd seen her in the past, but maybe I was just too young to do so and perhaps I was too busy dealing with my new found feelings for Bear.

"Are you gonna tell Bear?" she asked and at first I wasn't going to, but then I thought that this was gonna be one of those rare times when I went to Bear right after something happened instead of waiting. Besides, I had no idea if Maude's threat was a serious one and I wanted to put Bear on notice in case it was indeed serious.

I called him and he was of course livid. He ranted and raved and I heard Steph in the background trying to calm him down but he wasn't having it. He finally told me he had to go, but he made sure to tell me he loved me and I appreciated that even as furious as he was, that he was still able to feel love for me.

I then talked to Grandma and she said she'd come back because she'd forgotten her wallet in her luggage and she wanted to get something special for each of us kids. I liked the sound of that and I hugged her before ushering her to Zane's old room, which is where they were staying, so she could get that wallet.

BEAR'S POV

I couldn't believe what Trey had told me. I'd seen the way she was the day before, but I just attributed it to the fact that she was surprised that I was gay and that my ass clown of a brother had told her who knows what about me.

"I don't see what you're so surprised about," Steph said as she sat in the over-sized chair in the living room with her phone in hand, probably texting somebody.

"Of course I'm surprised. She doesn't want a gay grandson so bad that she'd go and pay the guy I'm in love with to leave me? You're dammed right that would surprise me," I said not liking the fact that I was essentially yelling at my sister, but she seemed to take it in stride.

"Bear, wake up and smell the reality. She doesn't hate Trey because he's a guy involved with her grandson, she hates him because he's a black guy involved with her grandson," Steph said like she'd said was obvious.

"Steph, grandma isn't racist," I said not wanting that to be true.

"So you'd rather believe that she's homophobic, which she probably is, instead of a racist, which she definitely is?" Steph asked and I had to consider what she'd said. If I really looked at grandma's actions the day before, I could see that she had a problem with Trey even before I came out to them, but then again, they already knew that part. The doorbell rang ripping me from my thoughts.

"Hey kids," my mother's mother said as she came into the living room after having been let in by Juanita.

"Where have you been?" I asked her. I noted the aggressiveness of my tone, but I didn't try to correct it.

"I was just out looking around, looking to see what's changed," she lied and it was obvious too.

"Yeah right," Steph muttered.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" grandmother asked likely thinking that Steph would backtrack as she'd obviously heard her.

"Why would you care about what's changed? You've never lived here," Steph said and I agreed.

"Well that shouldn't stop me from wanting to explore the town," she said and she was annoying me with her perceived cleverness.

"Did your `exploring' happen to take you over to Trey's house by any chance?" I asked losing my patience with her. I saw in her eyes immediately that she knew that Trey had called me.

"I don't know what you mean. I don't even know where that... boy lives," she said and I took note of the pause in her response and the well hidden, but still noticeable dislike for Trey in her voice.

"Don't lie to me," I warned her in a tone that I'd never thought I'd have to use with my grandmother. She seemed appropriately surprised before I saw her act dissolve.

"I see he called you," she said coldly.

"Of course he did. Did you think he wouldn't, and how did you even kniw where he lived?" I asked her. Despite all of this though, I was still not willing to believe Steph.

"Well, Brian told me, and I was hoping to not be having this conversation," she said and it pissed me off how cavalier she was being. I added the Brian part to all the other reason I had to kick his ass and sit that aside for the moment.

"Yeah, I'll bet you didn't," Steph said bitterly.

"Steph, knock it off," I told her hoping she'd listen. I was trying to have it out with our grandmother and I didn't need her words in my head adding fuel to the fire.

"I'm sorry, but no. I've held my tongue long enough," she said as she stood up.

"Look Stephy, I know that you're still angry about having to go to that school but," grandmother said before she was cut off.

"This isn't even about that. This is about the fact that you tried to pay Trey to break up with Bear because you don't want a black guy in your family," Steph said and I watched grandmother very carefully to see her reaction.

"You can't be serious? What would give you that idea?" grandmother asked defending herself. I really wanted to believe that this wasn't true.

"The fact that I heard you talking to mom the last time you were here," Steph said.

"And what do you think you heard?" grandmother asked with her eyes narrowed. It was all starting to fall into place, but I had to hear what Steph said. Steph walked over to her, I guess to prove that she wasn't intimidated by grandmother's glare.

"You said, and I quote: `Why do you have to let Barry play with those children, especially that little colored boy? Aren't there any nice respectable white children at that school he goes to?' By the way, that's why mom didn't invite you back here after that. She didn't want your racist ass in her house," Steph said and grandmother slapped her hard.

"You watch your mouth when you talk to me young lady. I don't know how your mother raised you two, but it's obvious that judging by the way you two have turned out, she didn't do it right," grandmother said and I was about to tell this woman a few things but I was interrupted by mom and grandpa talking to each other as they headed our way.

"Hey kids, mother," mom said as they entered the room. I noticed that she didn't sound particularly warm when she'd said the word `mother'. I then realized that she'd not been too friendly towards grandmother for the longest time, which actually lined up to what Steph had said.

"I want them out of here," I said before I knew it, but I decided to go with it.

"What? Who do you want out of here?" mom asked but I think she knew as she glanced quickly at both of her parents.

"Your parents. I know about the conversation you and your mother had the last time she was here," I told her. I realized that this was her house and I had no right to demand such a thing but I was pissed off so my thinking wasn't the best.

"You told them?" mom asked and I was shocked that she'd recalled it and knew of what I'd been referring to so quickly.

"No I didn't. Your nosy big-mouthed daughter did," grandmother said and that was the final straw. I started toward her, but Steph grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"What the heck is going on here?" grandfather asked. I looked at him and I started to feel the same way about him that I did about his wife.

"I want you two out of here because your wife is a racist," I demanded.

"What do you mean-" he tried, but I jumped in.

"Don't even try it. There's no way you could be with her for so long and not know. Hell, you're probably one too," I told him. I looked at my mother and I saw that she was not very happy with me.

"Bear, I won't have you talking to my parents like that," she warned but I wondered what she'd do after I informed her of her mother's morning activities.

"You're gonna defend them, defend her? Will you still defend her when I tell you that while you were out with your father, she went over to Trey's place trying to pay him to leave me?" I asked and the look of shock that appeared on her face was almost funny.

"Mother!" mom shouted.

"Maude!" grandfather said at the same time.

"What? I told you Harry that I didn't want that boy involved with Barry, and I told you April that you needed to find him some different friends. Look what happened because you didn't," grandmother said and I noticed that same glare that grandmother had been giving Steph now aimed at her by mom.

"What happened? Bear found himself someone who loves him and he loves him right back. Oh no, we can't have that," mom said and I was smiling a bit at mom going after her mother.

"Now wait a minute..." grandmother started but was cut off by mom.

"No you wait a minute. You don't get to come into my home and talk about anybody, especially my children. Now, Bear loves Trey and Trey loves him and I don't care if Trey is Black, White, Asian, Mexican, Jewish or Muslim. It doesn't matter to me because when I look at people, I don't see a color, or a religion, I see a person, and I couldn't think of anybody better to marry my son," mom said and I'm happy to hear that. I had finally gotten what she really felt about my relationship with Trey from her own mouth.

"I told you Harry that we never should have let April marry that... Lawrence. If she'd never met him then she'd have never met that woman. This is all his fault," grandmother said and I felt Steph's grip tighten on my arm. I guess she thought I'd try going after that woman again.

"Get out of my house," mom said through gritted teeth.

"Now honey," grandpa tried, but mom wasn't having it.

"Get her out of my house, now!" she demanded before calling for Juanita.

"Yes ma'am?" Juanita asked when she came in.

"Get Mr. and Mrs. Forrester's things together. They're leaving, right now," mom said and I could have sworn that I saw a slight smirk appear on Juanita's face.

"April, don't do anything you'll regret," grandmother said in a seemingly normal way, but it was obvious that she'd meant it as a warning. Mom though walked up to and got real close.

"Don't even think about doing any of that shit that you think I don't know about to Trey, or you'll be the one with regrets," mom said in an obvious warning, but I was really concerned about what she'd just said.

Juanita brought their bags down and grandfather tried to reason with mom, but she wasn't hearing it. She told him that he was welcome to come back anytime, but that her mother wasn't welcome to come again. Grandmother picked up one of her suitcases and walked away after shooting a look of distaste at me and Steph.

Grandfather looked at mom but ultimately decided to stick with his wife so he picked up the two remaining suitcases and followed her. Mom then walked over and hugged Steph and then me, but I was still preoccupied with what she'd said.

"What will she do to Trey?" I asked not liking the anxiousness of my voice.

"Don't worry about it," she said but I was worried about it.

"Well I am worried. I've just been through hell with Trey being in a coma. I don't think I can take anything else happening to him," I told her. Her expression softened and she reached up and laid her had against my cheek.

"She won't do anything to Trey. I promise you that," she said and her strong gaze was able to convince me that she was serious.

I gave her a nod and she smiled a sad smile and walked away. Steph walked up and hugged me and I appreciated her all the more. After all of this, her attitude toward grandmother made sense. I had originally thought that she was just bitter because she had to go to that all girls school, but thinking back on it, her attitude toward our grandmother had changed before then.

I silently thanked her and was happy that she too seemed to approve of Trey in her own way as she was angry with her own grandmother because she knew that grandmother didn't like Trey and she knew why. I was happy that she liked Trey, but I was sad that Brian couldn't feel the same about him as he was such a lovable guy that it just makes me so angry when people like Brian and Drake and... Kent pop up.

TREY'S POV

"Trey, you've been sitting there with your arms folded and glaring at me for the last 20 minutes. Are you gonna say anything?" Dr. Manning said. It was true that I'd barely said anything since I arrived for my session, but I was still secretly stewing about Bear's grandmother. I still couldn't believe that old bag thought I'd accept her money and break up with Bear. The fact that she didn't want me with Bear wasn't so much that I was a guy, but that I was a black guy.

"Why do you hate me?" I blurted out. I was momentarily embarrassed but I got over it quickly when I decided that my parents were paying for this so I'd better get their money's worth.

"I don't hate you. Why would you think I hate you?" he asked looking genuinely confused.

"Why do people like you hate people like me?" I elaborated in a bitter tone. He looked even more confused before he decided to respond.

"Trey, I don't hate people like you. If I had a problem with you being gay, I wouldn't have taken you on as a patient," he said and I realized where he had gotten mixed up so I elaborated further.

"I wasn't talking about my being gay. I was talking about my being black," I said and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Again I say that I don't have a problem with you being black," he said but I was in a shitty mood and wasn't about to believe him.

"Don't play that game with me. Let me ask you, if you got into an elevator alone and just before the door closes a black guy got on with you and then the door closes. He isn't in between shades like me, but a dark skinned black guy with baggy jeans and a hoodie, and maybe a tattoo. Tell me what would you do?" I asked him with maybe a bit of misplaced spite.

"Well, I'd ride the elevator like I always do," he said after about a minute of silence.

"No you wouldn't. You'd subtly move away from him and hope that the elevator hurried up to your floor or someone else got on the elevator before that guy did something. That's a shame since my friend Christian dresses similar to what I just described but he's a sweetheart of guy," I said and I felt momentary guilt for thinking that way, but I pushed that aside when Maude popped back into my head.

"Trey, don't you think that you're doing what you're accuse all white people of doing?" he asked and I did think that, for a moment before I also pushed that aside.

"No I don't," I answered bitterly.

"Yes you are. You're accusing me and every white person of being a racist just because a few are. I happen to know-" he said before I finished for him.

"You happen to know a lot of black people so you aren't racist. Well let me try this on you. Do you see that picture over there with that good looking guy with your daughter... Tell me what you would have done and how you would have felt if when she brought that good looking guy home, he had been black," I said and I knew that I'd struck a nerve when I saw a flash of anger in his eyes. He managed to cover it up quickly though.

"Trey, I wouldn't normally do this, but since you seem so hell-bent on declaring me an enemy, I'm going to," he said before pulling out his phone and I was curious what he was gonna do and I felt real guilt finally that I had been basically attacking him for Maude's actions.

"Look, you don't..." I said trailing off as he handed me his phone after doing something on it. I saw a picture of him with a black dude and Dr. Manning had his arm around the guys back and they had big smiles.

"That's my best friend and we've been friends for almost 20 years," he said and I felt even more guilty. He reached for the phone and I gave it to him. He swiped several times and handed the phone back to me. "That's my best friend with my sister at their wedding 18 years ago. 20 years ago, he was the guy who my sister brought home and he became my closest friend," he said and that definitely didn't help my guilt any.

"Dr. Manning, I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't had a good hold on my emotions since I was attacked," I told him and his hard expression softened to the one he usually had.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," he said but it wasn't okay.

"It's not okay. I used to be able to hide my feelings so well but now it seems that they have a mind of their own and I can't control them," I said and I thought back to the past and was thankful that this wasn't going on back then as I wouldn't have been able to hide anything from anyone, especially Bear.

"Trey, that's a good thing. It's not good to hide everything you feel inside. That is one of the major problems with you. Also, while it doesn't directly have anything to do with this issue, you can't judge some people by what others do," he said and I knew that he was right, but I just couldn't stop yearning for that control again.

"Why do people hate other people?" I asked a question that had plagued me ever since I'd heard that conversation between my dad, my uncle Eric, and their friend Taylor when I was 10. Dr. Manning was silent for a minute while he looked deep in thought.

"Some people hate what they don't understand. Whether it be someone of a different ethnicity, or color, or sexual orientation, or religion. They don't understand and even sometimes they may even fear it too, so they hate it," he said and it sounded similar to what I'd heard somewhere before but it didn't seem to be enough.

"I don't buy that. It seems too contrived," I said honestly. He chuckled a bit which slightly angered me.

"I like you Trey. You think about things a lot, but that could be a detriment at times," he said and I was in full agreement of that.

"You don't have to tell me that. I'm well aware," I said and he chuckled again.

"Also, I said some people hate what they fear or don't understand. Others just do so because they have hatred in their hearts and they pick this one thing about someone, usually something they can't control or change. That way they're ensured that their hatred can stick because, well the person can't change that which makes them hated. I don't know everything though so I may be wrong," he said, but what he said was way more than I'd come up with.

"I don't know, I think you did a satisfactory job of answering my question," I told him and he smiled.

"Good, now I want you to answer a question for me," he said and I decided to try and answer it seeing as how he'd taken my anger and given me something to think on.

"Okay, shoot," I said. He took off his glasses and put them in his shirt pocket again before he spoke.

"Do you think I'm attractive?" he asked as he struck the same "the thinker" inspired pose he'd done the last time he asked me that question. I looked incredulously at him and he smirked at me and winked which only served to pissed me off.

RECOVERY

"Are you sure about this?" Bear asked as we sat in his truck.

"No, but I need to do this. I know that it won't get rid of all of the guilt I feel, but maybe it'll help," I told him.

"There's nothing for you to feel guilty about Trey," he said while looking at me intently. I could see he really believed that. I smiled and kissed him briefly before I hopped out of the truck.

I walked up a few feet to stand on the walkway of the large bricked exterior colonial style two story house. It was a nice house and I filed the design away for use in the future when Bear and I would hopefully be looking for a house.

I walked up the walkway to the porch and stood at the cherry wood door. I was a bit nervous, but I pushed that aside and rang the doorbell. After hearing it chime I immediately had second thoughts and thought about just bolting back to Bear's truck and telling him to gun it away from there but that would be childish and cowardly. My plans to do that were foiled anyway when the door opened and a young woman stood there with glasses and brown hair in a pony tail.

"Hello, may I help you?" she asked and I had a fleeting thought that she should have asked who I was before opening the door.

"Yes, I am looking for Mr. or Mrs. Harrow," I told the girl. She looked to be maybe in her late teens or early 20's.

"You're Trey," she said after studying me for about 30 seconds.

"You know me?" I asked stupidly. Of course she would know the guy who got her, I would guess brother, killed.

"Yeah I do. Come on in," she said as she stood back and let me in. I hesitantly walked through the door and she closed it behind her before turning to me.

"Is Mr. or Mrs. Harrow in?" I asked her wanting to get this over with because just being in that house was making me sweat.

"Follow me," she said before walking away. I followed her into a comfortably decorated living room with a bunch of books and papers scattered around in the area near the big picture window. We both took a seat on the comfortable sofa and I was able to look out of the window. I saw Bear's truck and I figured that she'd seen us arrive because she'd probably been sitting there in the midst of the school mess.

"Nice place," I said after an uncomfortable silence.

"Thanks. By the way, I'm Clyde's sister Becky," she said.

"Oh," I said back. This was going just great.

"My dad is at work and my mom is running some errands," she said and that was my cue to leave.

"Oh, well I guess I'll come back," I said as I stood up. I wanted to leave as this had been a bad idea.

"No wait, please," she said as she looked at me. I don't know why, but after looking at her for a few seconds, I became a bit calmer so I sat back down. The uncomfortable silence returned though.

"I see you're doing some studying," I said trying again to break the ice.

"Yeah, I am. Finals are right around the corner and I'm not looking forward to that," she said and I really couldn't relate as I didn't anticipate any problems with my finals, but I wasn't in college.

"Yeah tell me about it," I agreed with her though anyway.

"You're a senior right?" she asked and I noticed she seemed to be relaxing just a bit as was I.

"Yeah I am," I answered.

"So am I," she said. She then stood up and went over to a thing that looked like a book case but when she opened it, inside was a small fridge. She got two sodas out and walked back and handed me one that was surprisingly a root beer, my favorite.

"Thanks," I said after taking the drink. "So, where do you go to school?" I asked her before opening my root beer and taking a sip.

"I go to Columbia. It's gonna be weird not being there in the fall," she said and I was impressed. Columbia had been on my short list of schools. After that we fell into another silence as we drank our drinks.

"I'm sorry," I finally said after the silence had dragged on too long. She looked at me for a few seconds before she responded.

"You're sorry for what?" she asked even though it was obvious what I was referring to.

"Clyde is dead because of me. It's my fault he's gone," I said again regretting my decision to do this.

"You weren't the one who killed my brother. That Kent guy tried to kill you and my brother tried to help you, and he did," she said in a reassuring tone, but I wasn't receptive to it.

"He should have just let whatever happened to me happen," I said and she frowned although I wasn't sure why.

"That wasn't my brother. He was... I guess I would say, a noble person. He was the type to climb up a tree to rescue a stranded cat, to help an old lady cross the street, to help someone who he saw struggling with heavy bags of packages. He was the type of guy who would jump in front of a bullet to save someone he didn't know very well but respected all the same," she said and I felt even more guilty because such a great person was taken from his family because of me.

"It's not fair," I said softly holding back my emotions.

"No it's not. I'm not surprised by what happened though, that he saved your life," she said with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked but then my answer came as I replayed her words back over in my head and I remembered that she said that Clyde respected me. How could he respect me though when he barely knew me?

"He told me about you. He talked about how he was conflicted because it seemed like he should hate you, but after spending some time with you and seeing what you went through from a closer vantage point, he just couldn't justify hating you," she said I was again shocked by how he thought.

"How did he..." I trailed off because I didn't know how to phrase what I wanted to ask without making it sound insulting, at least to me anyway. She seemed to pick up on what I was trying to say and smiled.

"How did he come off as your typical `dumb jock' yet have such an enlightened way of thinking? I was stumped too, but I guess people are complicated and never really fit into one category," she said and I could see that she was indeed Clyde's sister.

"I feel like I robbed him of his life. He'll never get to graduate high school and possibly play football in college. He'll never meet that special someone and get married to them and start a family of his own," I told her and that thought truly hit me hard.

"Well, maybe you can do some of that for him in his memory," she said and that got me to thinking. I could continue being consumed with guilt or I could move forward with my life, the one that Clyde sacrificed his life to protect, and live on in his memory and enjoy my life.

"Thank you. I won't forget Clyde or the sacrifice he made," I reassured her. I'd make sure I kept him in my memory for a long as I lived.

"I'm sure you won't," she said after reaching over and patting my hand.

We talked for about 15 more minutes with her telling me that she was sorry about what had happened with her uncle at Clyde's funeral. She said that she was sure that at least Bear would have told me what had happened.

She said that she was disappointed that her parents hadn't done anything to stop her uncle, and she too had questioned if they agreed with him and she'd confronted her father about that fact and he said that he was just unable to do anything as he was too grief-stricken. I understood that but I could tell that she still had her doubts.

We finally decided to break it up and I decided to come back another time and speak with her parents as I was drained at the moment. We stood and she saw me to the door and told me to say hello to Bear for her. I told her I would and walked out of the door which she closed behind me.

"Well, how was it?" Bear asked after I'd gotten back to the truck and gotten inside.

"His parents weren't there but I did talk to his sister. It was... good. I feel a bit better," I told him and he smiled and took my hand in his and kissed the back of it before he started the truck and pulled away from the Harrow residence.

I didn't know that my brother talked this much. Well that wasn't the truth as he used to do it when he was younger, but he had cooled down after he became a teenager. Now though, he and Alex were talking a mile a minute and were currently giving me a headache.

We were in my truck heading for school and the best I could tell, some girl was the focus of their lively conversation. I pulled into the parking space that I usually used and I hopped out of my truck quickly to get away from all the chatter.

"Hey Trey, where're you rushing off to?" Calvin asked after he and Alex got out and followed me.

"Away from you two. You're giving me a headache with all that chatter," I told him. A scowl appeared on his face and he looked like he was about to comment before two girls walked by and that scowl was replaced with a dopey grin.

"Hey Calvin," the two girls said as they walked by. I recognized them only as being freshmen like Calvin and Alex were.

"Hey ladies," Calvin said trying to play it cool and dropping his voice some. I almost laughed but I didn't want to embarrass him when he was clearly trying to mack on these girls.

"They just completely ignored me," Alex pouted a little.

"Hey, what can I say, I just got it like that," Calvin boasted before he walked away with Alex following behind him a few seconds later after rolling his eyes hard at Calvin. I just shook my head and continued into the building. I saw Mr. Renner talking to Alicia briefly before she left and I was reminded that I missed my duties as student council president.

It had been 4 months since I'd done anything in that regard as even after I came back to school I still didn't resume my duties. Mr. Renner had told me after I came back that I could take as much time as I needed or even just let Alicia finish out the year and I was considering it, but it was time to resume my position.

I headed for the office and checked to see if Mr. Renner was busy. His secretary told me to go on in and I went in. He saw me and stood and walked over to me and extended his hand in greeting and asked how I was doing, I told him I was doing pretty good because for the most part I was. He then asked me to have a seat as I guess he knew I wanted something.

"Now what can I do for you Trey?" he asked as he perched on the edge of his desk near me.

"Well I was wondering if I could resume my counsel duties," I told him and he looked shocked briefly.

"Well I just assumed that you would let Alicia finish up the year since you haven't come to me since you've been back at school," he said and I wondered again if maybe I should.

"I need to be busy," I said simply deciding to not elaborate further. I wanted to do something to keep myself sane when my mind started to drift toward things it shouldn't, although it hadn't been doing that very much since I started getting into my therapy.

"Well I have no problems with it. I'll have a talk with Alicia sometime today so you can already be ready as there should be a meeting today," he said and I stood and extended my hand to him.

"Thanks Mr. Renner," I said as he shook my hand.

"No problem Trey," he said.

"I'll see you later," I said as I headed for the door.

"Oh I know. I'm sure I'll be seeing you sometime this week," he said sounding a bit cryptic.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I studied him trying to decipher what he'd meant.

"You'll see," he said with a conspiratorial smirk. I wondered if it had anything to do with Alicia but I didn't get the chance to ask as he was buzzed by his secretary and told he was needed in the Media room.

I left his office and headed for my locker. As I walked I noticed that I didn't command as much attention as I did when I first arrived back at school, but there were still people looking at me like they were trying to figure something out. I put them out of my head though and I even put Drake and his stupid girlfriend out of my mind as I passed them and they glared at me. When I arrived at my locker Christian and Liberty were at his.

"Hey boo boo," Liberty said in greeting. I smiled as she hadn't called me that in a long time and I didn't realize that I missed it.

"Hey Lib," I said as I opened my locker and stowed my backpack.

"What's up mi amigo?" Christian asked after closing his own locker.

"Nothing much Christiano," I joked adding a so-called Spanish flair to his name. "Did you become a Latino or something over the weekend?" I continued to joke. They looked at each other and snickered a weird snicker.

"Well," Liberty started with a cheesy grin but I immediately stopped that in it's tracks.

"I don't want to know," I said with my hand held up.

"What, you don't wanna hear about me and Christian fucking?" she asked with a cocky grin while Christian's eyes flew wide open.

"Liberty, eww," I said completely grossed out for a number of reasons.

"Oh you can dish it out, but you can't take it. Consider that payback," she said and I was confused by what she meant, but then I remembered several months earlier when I had done something similar to her.

"Touché," I replied.

"So, have you heard from Jessica?" Liberty asked and I hadn't so I said so.

"Nope. Is there a reason I should be expecting to hear from her?" I asked them.

"She wants to have a party and she wants you to approve it," Christian said and of course.

"Why does she want to have a party? Prom and graduation are next month. She can wait `til then," I said but I knew that wouldn't fly.

"You know Jessica. If there isn't a party every other week she starts to get anxious. Plus she was held back from doing any partying when you were..." Liberty said, before she seemed to catch herself because she stopped cold. I felt a brief twinge of guilt that I had held them up from living their lives while I was in the coma.

"It's fine Liberty," I said to relieve her of whatever she was feeling. She smiled so I guess I was successful. Christian got a text on his phone just then.

"Oh, Sed wants to know if he can stay with one of you guys since he's coming down for the graduation," he said and I was confused.

"Why can't he stay with you?" I asked.

"Well, my parents put the word out that he wasn't to be allowed around so I need to find somewhere else to stash him," Christian explained. I'd heard a little bit of the circumstances of Christian coming to live with his aunt and uncle and he sounded a bit bitter when talking about his parents.

"Well I know of someplace to stash him and I'm sure Carter will be all for it," I said jokingly trying to keep the mood light.

"I don't know how Carter's dad would feel about another boy staying at their house with his gay son," Liberty said.

"Yeah, especially since Sed ain't no boy," Christian added and I guess I had been right when I thought that Sed looked to be older than us when we'd met him.

"How old is he?" I asked ignoring a brief flash of my asking someone else a similar question recently.

"All I'll say is that he's over 20," Christian said with a smirk. I was about to respond but I saw those girls pass by again and they made me think for a second.

"Lib, do you know who those girls are?" I asked her directing her attention to the two girls.

"You mean you want the name of the girl who has your brother's nose wide open," she said and I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't say all that," I played it off.

"Yeah whatever. All I know is that they're freshmen and that the shorter, darker skinned one, the one that your brother is moony over is named Anika. I think her friend's name is Mirage," she said.

"Mirage?" I said because, really?

"Hey, I said I think that's her name. That's what I've heard anyway so I might be wrong. You could ask Jess though as she's tapped into the gossip scene more than I am," she responded and I disagreed with that but I didn't say it.

After that everyone else started to show up as it was almost time for school to start. Bear walked up and gave me a quick peck on the lips and it was strange to see that it still drew a few stares from people to see it. I ignored them though and we all departed for homeroom as the warning bell rang.

After first period I headed for my locker because I had to get a paper I needed for second period. As I arrived at my locker I saw Jeremy leaning up against it. When I got close he noticed me and looked up and moved away from the locker and seemed to resolve himself to do something as he squared his shoulders and looked at me.

"Hey Trey," he said as I came to a stop in front of him.

"Hey Jeremy," I said back.

"I see you're doing better," he said obviously stalling.

"Yeah I'm doing good," I told him. While my physical injuries were mostly gone aside from the scars from the gunshot wounds, he didn't need to know what all his brother had done to me that left mental scars.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out and I dreaded him doing this as I worried how I would react to it, but I found that I wasn't angry with him.

"You didn't have anything to do with what happened to me Jeremy. Your brother just couldn't deal with seeing a gay guy walking around so close to him without doing something about it," I said and maybe I sounded a bit snarky but I had to do something to stop myself from seeing Kent in Jeremy and my old tried and true methods of dealing were gonna have to suffice.

"I feel guilty that I didn't stop Kent or Todd. If I had said something to either of them..." he said and I knew that what he was thinking wasn't gonna end well.

"Jeremy, they weren't gonna listen to you. Todd was too busy hating the fact that he was gay and in some ways I can relate to that because I did too, only not to the extent that he did. Your brother wasn't gonna listen to you for the sole reason that he thought he was smarter than you being your older brother so there was nothing you could do," I told him and he seemed to be listening to me and digesting what I was saying.

"I just feel like I never really knew any of my family members," he said and I wished I could take whatever bad feelings he was having away, but I guess we all had our crosses to bear, even undeserved ones.

"I guess my family felt the same way about me at one time," I said and I briefly wondered if they still felt that way.

"Well I just wanted to apologize to you for everything you've gone through with my family this year. I know that I didn't have anything to do with it, but I feel like I should apologize for them, you know," he said and I did see where he was coming from.

"I get it, but I'm not going to accept your apology," I told him and he deflated a little bit but tried to hide it. "I'm not going to accept your apology because it's not your place to apologize for them as you're not in the wrong here. Besides, they wouldn't want you doing so for them because they don't think they did anything wrong," I elaborated and he seemed to accept this.

"I guess I'll have to take that. Now, on to the second thing I wanted to talk to you about," he said and I had to admire the nice segue.

"Okay," I said still recovering from the sudden change in topic.

"Well, I wanted to get your take on starting a Gay and Straight Alliance here at school," he said and I was shocked for more than one reason. One was that I was disappointed in myself for not thinking about that.

"That's actually a really good idea. I just can't believe that I never thought about it," I told him.

"Yeah well, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea back when you first became student council president because some people would have thought that you were trying to further the so-called `gay agenda' with just you and Bear. Now though, you have Carter, Todd, Tony, and Bruce and Natasha Blade's sister Sarah so there's more gay students that will be a part of it," he said and quite a few things he said stood out.

"Wait, Bruce is gay?" I asked because... huh?

"Yeah, I thought you knew. I thought you guys had that gaydar thing?" he said looking confused.

"Yeah well mine is obviously malfunctioning otherwise I would have known about Bear, which would have saved me years of inner turmoil. I also would have known about Todd saving me months of dealing with him," I said and he snickered a little.

"Yeah well," he said offhandedly. "You'd better get that calibrated since you're gonna be in college in the fall and I hear that there's a lot of gay guys there, especially in the frats," he said and I laughed a bit. I then thought about Todd and if he'd want to be involved in it and if I'd want him to be.

"Do you think Todd will want to be apart of it?" I asked Jeremy. I hadn't seen Todd since his outing except for a few instances.

"I don't know. I've tried to talk to him, but he hasn't had much to say to me. I'll get unc-, I mean coach to try and get him to at least consider it," Jeremy said and I was still conflicted.

"Well it'll only be for a month hopefully if we can get this off the ground as quickly as possible so that might get him to consider doing it," I said and I guess that it wasn't up to me if this helped him any.

"Yeah. Well I'll hopefully carry the mantle next year after you guys are off at college," he said and I knew he could do it.

"If I have anything to say about it, you'll be my successor," I said and I meant it.

We broke up after a couple more minutes because it was about time for our next period to begin. I wanted to get on this as soon as possible so I decided to skip lunch and head to see Mr. Renner. Just before I got to the office I recalled his cryptic parting. I knew now what he'd meant. Jeremy had already gone to him about this.

I went in to see him and he had a smile as if saying `I told you so' which I just rolled my eyes at. We sat down and ironed out all the pros and cons but eventually we decided that it was a good idea.

Alicia didn't look all that happy about my return to duty, but I ignored her and we all started planning everything although Alicia was less than cooperative. I found myself looking at Bruce a few times and he'd catch me doing so. One of the times he smiled and winked at me which I guess was his acknowledgement that he knew that I knew about him.

It was weird that when I started my Junior year, I didn't think there were any other gay students at my school which I admit was foolish. Now there were several that I knew about with a few of them being football jocks, including my own huge jock. Thinking about Bear made me smile and also made me feel other things that also made me smile as that was more progress.

We announced the GSA formation on Wednesday with me choosing to let Jeremy do it. I had ulterior motives though as one, I didn't want any backlash from this which I felt there would be with it coming from me although I knew realistically that people would know I had my hand in it and two, I wanted the students who would still be at school in the fall to get a feel for who their next council president should be.

The first GSA meeting was on Friday and I was nervous all day anticipating something to go wrong. I mean, Drake was still lurking around and who knows what other people thought of our little initiative. The meeting was to be in the council room and we waited after school to see if anyone would show up.

"I don't know why but I'm excited," Tina said sounding very chipper.

"Maybe it's because you're a big lesbo and you're just dying to tell the world," Alicia said snidely.

"Excuse me?" I asked her with the appropriate amount of attitude.

"Nothing," she huffed.

"Do you think anyone will come?" Jeremy asked as he walked over to me.

"Well I already talked to Tony so I know he's coming and Bear and Carter are a lock," I said. I again wondered about Todd.

"We should be more concerned with the straight students as this is a Gay and Straight Alliance. It's supposed to be a joint venture between Gay and Straight student to promote tolerance of LGBT students," Bruce said eloquently. I was a bit sorry that he wouldn't be around to help Jeremy next year as he was a senior like I was.

"Yeah I agree," I said. About that time Bear arrived along with Carter, Sean, Dale and few other football jocks.

"Hey baby," Bear said before he kissed me.

"Hey yourself," I said back after I pulled away.

"Behold the bounty of jocks I have brought you," Bear said and I couldn't stop myself from shaking my head at him. I heard Bruce snort and when I looked at him he was eyeing Glen Neely. He was probably the smartest guy on the football team and I regretted never truly trying to get to know him as he seemed receptive of the whole gay thing, especially since he was at the meeting.

"Well I thank you for the wonderful -and hot- bounty you've brought," I joked which brought about some laughter.

"Can we get this started?" Alicia asked impatiently.

"Hush child," Tina said with a hand in Alicia's face. Alicia countered with a sneer.

"We still have another 5 minutes before the meeting starts," I told her and she rolled her eyes and I did the same.

Over the next 5 minutes, more students showed up including the rest of my friends, my brother and Alex accompanied by those two freshmen girls, Tony Mason, Brandy Carlson and her cousin Donnie who was another football player, Natasha Blade and her sister Sarah. I hadn't really seen Natasha since that junior dance where she'd been Sean's date. Seeing her oddly brought me back to what I considered the beginning of the changes that have occurred up to that point.

It was almost time for the meeting to start and I looked around the room and saw so many people and that made me feel things were gonna change and that I would indeed leave an impact, a legacy behind at school when I was gone. I went to close the door so the meeting could start but as I was closing the door, someone else stepped in and I'll admit that I was surprised.

"Hey," Todd said softly.

"Hey, come on in," I told him. He looked into the room and mostly everyone was looking back at him. He looked extremely nervous and a little panicked and he looked like he regretted coming and was going to leave but I found myself reaching out and grabbing his arm. He looked down at my hand on his arm then looked up at me. I saw so much of my old self, so much of what I was still plagued with in his eyes that I couldn't hate him anymore.

"C'mon dude," Jeremy said as he walked over to him. Jeremy placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him into the room to sit next to him. I looked over and saw that Bear was watching me very carefully. I winked at him and he seemed to relax some and smile back at me. I walked to the front of the room and stood at the little podium we rarely used.

"Thank you all for coming today. I first want to thank my co-president Alicia Lake for taking over and handling things while I wasn't able to," I said and she looked surprised for a few seconds before she played it off with that usual Alicia attitude.

"It's about time," she said sounding annoyingly cocky. I briefly saw that Bear was glaring at her. I had no idea why since that was just Alicia being Alicia and it was a serious glare, but I pushed that aside for the time being.

"Yes Alicia, we all want to thank you and we also appreciate how humble you are," I said sarcastically which drew a few laughs.

"Whatever," she muttered.

"Now I want to say that I think that this Alliance will be good for the school. I know that there are probably more gay student at this school and more will be coming in the future. I feel a bit ashamed I dropped the ball in that department by not doing this when I first became president, but someone pointed out to me that it probably wouldn't have been the best time. I still feel that with everything that's happening in the world to gay people that we need somewhere that we feel safe and we also need a place where we know that we have straight allies."

"I'm fortunate that I have a group of friends that are and have been with me through thick and thin but there are a lot of gay, lesbian, and transgender teenagers who don't have support from family or friends. There's also some who don't even have any friends as they choose to isolate themselves from people because they fear the reaction to their sexual orientation or that they don't have friends because of what people think about them from only their appearance."

"These students need somewhere, a place where they know that there are others like them and know that there are other people who will accept them for who they are and not judge them by just one aspect of their whole person. That's the goal of the GSA. Now I know that most of us in this room won't be here after next month but there will be someone here that I hope will carry on our goal. Now for that person, we're gonna bring up Jeremy Davis, the one with who this wouldn't be happening now. Come on up Jeremy," I finished and I actually got an applause. It was a small one as there wasn't a huge crowd there but there were enough people there that it was still loud enough.

As I headed for my seat I looked at Bear and he had such a look of pride in his eyes that it briefly took my breath away. Jeremy went up and talked about why he waned this to happen. He talked about his family and how they made him feel. Several people looked at me as he described Kent's behavior as they knew what it had led to. He closed by repeating the jist of what I'd said in his own words.

I then went back up and told everyone that I wanted all of the gay students to come and stand next me just to let everyone know who was who. I also had a small ulterior motive though. Bear and Carter of course got up and came up along with Tony. Then Sarah Blade came up. Bruce got up and came up and that surprised Alicia, Tina and the rest of the council.

That was everybody except for one person. Todd looked around nervously before looking at me. I don't know what he saw in me but I saw him drum up the courage to stand up and walk to stand with us. I was just about to speak when I was interrupted.

"Hold up," Veronica said with her hand held up before she too stood and walked up to stand with us.

"Veronica, what are you doing?" Alicia asked and I think most everyone was stunned.

"Veronica..." I said leaving an opening for her to continue.

"I think I may be bisexual," she said sounding confused but still resolved to do this.

"You think you may be bisexual?" Alicia repeated as a question.

"Ronnie, are you sure?" Sean asked.

"At least you can tell your dad Marcus didn't get it from him," Veronica joked nervously.

"That explains why you wouldn't go out with me," Bear said and I gave him a shot with my elbow.

"Well there you have it. Gay, lesbian and bisexual students here and we're all normal people. Aside from who we're attracted to there's nothing else that's different about us. That's what I want this Alliance to show all the other students at this school, for those of us that are only here for the next month or so and for those that are here for the long haul," I said and I got another applause.

After that I started by giving them a brief history of my journey to where I was then, then I let Tony have the floor and he did the same. We decided to wrap for the day after that and continue next time. In the end it was a great experience and again I was disappointed in myself for not doing it sooner, but at least I did get it done.

"What's your I.Q.," Dr. Manning asked. It was a completely random question, but I was all for answering it.

"I don't know," I answered.

"You don't know your I.Q.? I would have thought someone as intelligent as you would have gotten that tested long ago," he said and I agreed.

"I just never had it done," I said but I could tell that he noted that something was up.

"Is there a reason that you didn't do it?" he asked confirming my suspicion.

"I just, I didn't want to know. I've always been a bit concerned by how smart I was and I didn't want people looking at me like a freak any more than they already were without the test," I said speaking something I'd never said out loud before.

"You're happy now, aren't you?" he asked and the way he said it made me suspicious.

"Well, mostly yeah I am. Why do you ask like that though?" I asked.

"Because you're talking about something else, in this case your intelligence, even though you just said you are concerned about it," he said which sort of pissed me off.

"You asked me the question," I told him.

"Yeah I did because when I asked you what you feel when Bear tops for you, you stared at me for 20 minutes without saying a word. I just wanted to make sure my theory about you was right," he said which pissed me off even more.

"And what theory would that be?" I asked snidely.

"That you like to use your intellect to avoid talking about things that make you uncomfortable. You would even rather just talk about it specifically instead of dealing with things that are more important," he said and I had to remember this man was trying to help me. That reminder is what kept me from throwing him out of his 8th floor window.

"Well, maybe I don't want to talk to you about what it feels like when Bear fucks me," I told him bitterly.

"Is that what you call it?" he asked still with that annoyingly calm tone.

"Yeah sure, why not," I said.

"It just seems like such a crude and impersonal way to describe a sexual act that happens between you and the man you claim that you love," he said and I immediately felt bad that I'd said it like that. I'd just done it to get at him but it didn't work.

"I don't think about it like that," I said in a deflated tone.

"Trey, I'm gonna say something here and I want you to listen and not respond right away," he said and I knew this wasn't gonna be fun.

"Fine," I said begrudgingly.

"You are an expert at avoidance. You talk about anything to keep from dealing with the issues that need to be dealt with. Even when you seemingly talk openly about things, there's always a layer, a barrier that hides what you're not saying underneath it. You hide things to keep from having to deal with the emotions that come from confronting these things. Now those feelings won't allow you to suppress them any longer and that frustrates you to no end. I feel this stems from the fact that you felt you had to keep your true self hidden from view for fear of rejection or worse. You instead created a `false Trey' that you used as a shield to keep your feelings at bay."

"You were afraid of your feelings for Bear and his reaction to them so you hid them. You were afraid of your family's reaction to you being gay so you hid that and your feelings for Bear. You were afraid of everyone, especially Bear's reaction and how they would see you when they found out about your rape so you hid that. Now I'm not saying that there wasn't justification for those fears, but you can't avoid talking about difficult things to avoid those messy things called emotions," he said summing me up really well. That pissed me off royally and I was glad that he'd told me not to respond immediately so I waited a good 5 minutes before I did.

"Fuck you," I said forcefully. I guess I didn't wait long enough.

"No thanks. I haven't done that since college," he said and I felt my eyes open wide.

"What?" I asked while trying to close my bucked eyes as the air was hurting them.

"You're not the only one who has shock ability," he said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"I feel like I'm not normal sometimes," I said out of the blue. It startled me as it just came out without my even thinking it.

"There's nothing wrong with that. I think Bear even loves the fact that you're not normal. That's what you need to accept, that you may not be normal, that you may not be able to deal with things like other people do, and that's okay, as long as you do deal with them," he said and I let what he'd said sink in.

"I like when he tops for me. It's been great every time we do it and I miss it. I don't want to be ruined for him because I feel closer to him than any other time when he's inside me," I told him feeling a great weight lift off of me for some reason.

"I'm sure that you can feel that same feeling by topping for him if you're never comfortable bottoming for him again. I also want you to tell yourself over and over again until you listen and believe that what Kent did to you isn't the same thing as when you and Bear are together," he said and I was definitely gonna do that. I hoped that I could do it because I did miss Bear. It had been over 4 months since we'd done anything and I know Bear probably had blue balls after 4 months with no sex whatsoever.

"Thanks doc. I'll try it," I told him.

"Good, now for our last thing today," he said before taking off his glasses and doing that same "the thinker" inspired pose before he spoke again. "Do you think I'm attractive?" he asked and I just rolled my eyes at him.

THE FINAL STRETCH

It was the beginning of May and I was at my locker before school. Calvin had just left with his new lady friends, Anika and Mirage, which actually turned out to be her name. I was kind of in a daze thinking about everything that had happened and wondering what was on the horizon. I looked up and saw Jessica walking toward me, She looked too casual and I knew something was up but I'd play it cool until she said something.

"Hey Trey," she said with an easy smile on her face. She was holding her hands behind her back but that could mean anything.

"Hey Jess. You doing okay?" I asked her deciding to play her game, whatever it was.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said although it was obvious that she was trying to hold that smile down to a moderate level.

"Where are Liberty and Justice?" I asked her. They were usually together since they lived next door to each other and they brought her to school mostly every day.

"At home I guess, or maybe they're on the way here," she said and I guessed what she was trying not to say.

"You got the charger," I said and her smile got a little bigger. She always tried to get her dad's charger but he was stingy with that thing. She hated her mom's car so she never wanted to drive it.

"Nope," she said before pulling out a set of keys and smiling a cheesy grin.

"What is that?" I asked even though I kind of had an idea.

"My dad got me my own car," she said sounding entirely giddy.

"Well it's about time. I mean, you're about to graduate high school," I said. I'd always wondered why they never got her a car. It couldn't be because they couldn't afford it because her dad worked at a software company and made good money.

"Yeah, that's why they gave it to me. They said that this way I can travel back and forth from home to whatever school I go to without having to rely on anyone else," she said which seemed logical.

"Well, welcome to the club of `automobile owner'," I said and she laughed.

"Hey people," Sean said as he arrived on the scene. He was joined a few seconds later by Bear then Liberty and Justice, then Carter, Miriam, Dale, Veronica, and finally Christian.

"Well now that we're all here, I've got letters," Justice said as she waved 5 envelopes around in front of us.

"I've got letters too," Liberty said in mocking to Justice, but she did have three letters. I had gotten several myself over the previous week but I was saving them so I could open them with everyone else as we had made this plan last semester.

"I got one from Pittsburgh U which is the only school I applied to," Christian said.

"You only applied to one school? What if you don't get in" Liberty asked and I wondered as well.

"I think I got this," he said with a confident smile before he opened the letter and looked it over before handing it to Liberty.

"You got in, congrats honey," she said after reading it. She then gave him a big hug and you could see that he just loved that.

"See that's how you handle that," he boasted.

"Now that we've gotten the `commoners' out of the way, it's my turn," Justice said.

"First of all, I'm not a `commoner' and second, I didn't open mine," Liberty said while scowling at her sister. The two of them were quite a pair.

"You don't need to. I already know that you applied to the same school as your man, which you got into, that you applied to Philadelphia University, which you also got into, and to Pennsylvania State which you didn't get into," Justice said which stumped me as how did she know.

"How the hell do you know that?" Liberty demanded to know.

"Easy. It's quite simple to learn something when you open a letter, read it, then seal it back up again," Justice said so plainly even though she's just admitted to illegally opening her sister's mail.

"You bitch," Liberty started but was stopped by Christian from saying anything else.

"Justice, that wasn't nice," Sean said but he didn't sound very disapproving.

"Who ever said I was nice," Justice said.

"You used to be. Besides, that was also illegal," I added.

"Who's gonna turn me in?" Justice asked acting really blasé about the situation.

"I will you-" Liberty started again but Christian stopped her by kissing her.

The others then opened their letters and Veronica got into Pennsylvania State, Miriam got into Penn and Columbia, Dale was recruited to play for Duke, Carter also got into Pittsburgh U and Philadelphia like Liberty, Sean was recruited to play for Pittsburgh U, and Jessica got in the same schools as Liberty and Carter but also surprisingly got into Vassar. She said she only applied because her aunt wanted her to do so because that's where she'd gone. Bear was of course going to Penn so there was no question there. That left Justice and I.

"Well here goes," Justice said before she started opening her letters. "Columbia yes... Princeton yes... Carnegie Mellon yes... Yale yes!... Harvard no!" she said and I was surprised. I thought she'd have a full sweep.

"Aww, miss smarty pants didn't get into Harvard," Jessica taunted.

"You didn't either you blonde bimbo. I did however get into Yale and Columbia which you also didn't get into," Justice said and I rolled my eyes at how females were with each other sometimes.

I didn't really care about where I got in other than Penn so I could be with Bear. I did also apply to Harvard, Yale, M.I.T, Columbia, and the same schools that Liberty and Carter had gotten into. My brother went to Pittsburgh so I of course applied there since it was closer to home than any of the others.

"Well baby, it's your turn," Bear said. I opened the 5 letters that I had with me. I didn't bring Harvard and Yale because I'd secretly already opened them as I suspected that I'd get in, but I didn't want anyone to know. I had gotten into Harvard but not Yale, but I knew I didn't want to go to those schools anyway. I just wanted to see if I'd get in.

"Well..." Justice said after I'd finished Penn, the last one I opened.

"I didn't get in at Penn," I said. I couldn't believe I didn't get into Penn. I'd gotten into Columbia and M.I.T., not to mention Harvard.

"Wow, how could you not get in?" Miriam asked.

"Well I guess I'll just-" Bear started to say but I shut that down immediately.

"No, don't go there. You'll be going to Penn like you've said for a while now," I told him. It's one of the things I was worried about with this whole college thing.

"I wanted us to go to the same school though," he said in a bit of a pout.

"I know, I did too," I said.

"Maybe this is a good thing, that you two will have some time apart from each other. You can see how strong your relationship is with distance," Liberty said which had me suppressing the sudden urge to throat punch her.

"Look who's talking miss `going to school with her man'," Justice said so I didn't have to.

"I never said I was going to Pittsburgh," Liberty replied which was an obvious crock as she was definitely going there.

"Oh please," Justice said.

"It's almost time for school to start so let's table this for now," I said before I closed my locker. I then kissed Bear before walking away.

It was a tense week after that between me and Bear with him trying to convince me that he didn't have to go to Penn but I was adamant that he did go. We all discussed the topic to death before we all came to a decision. Liberty was of course going to Pittsburgh as well as Sean, Jessica, Carter and Christian.

Miriam was going to Columbia, Justice was going to Carnegie Mellon, Veronica was going to Pennsylvania State, Dale was going all the way to Duke which meant that he and Miriam would be having a long distance relationship if they stayed together. Bear was of course going to Penn which I was not happy about.

We fought about the college thing, especially when he found my Harvard acceptance letter and demanded that I go and called me out for not doing what I wanted him to do, but it was different. Every one of us except Miriam and Dale were going to schools in the state, and if I went to Harvard or even M.I.T, I'd be going out of state as well so my decision was to just go to school where most of our friends were going.

He argued that I was limiting myself just to be near him but I reminded him that most of our friends were going there and that it was a really good school. I also wanted to go there because it would put me closer to home so I wouldn't have to travel far to see my family whenever I wanted.

I then had to have this same discussion with my parents, minus the Harvard thing as they still didn't know and wouldn't if I had anything to do with it. They wanted me to consider M.I.T or Columbia. I told them that I'd made up my mind and that Pittsburgh was a good school and then I reminded them that Zane and uncle Eric had both graduated from there. That put an end to the opposition so we were all set for school.

"I'm just saying that if you share a room with me, you'll be free to do whatever," Sean said. I was currently in my room talking to him on my cell while I was putting the finishing touches on a sketch I wanted to show Bear because I had a plan for it.

"You just want to share a room with me so you can see me naked," I joked

"No, I want us to share a room so you can see me naked," he said and I could hear the mischievous grin on his face over the phone.

"Why would I want to see that when I can see a real man naked with Bear?" I said and I had to hold myself back from laughing.

"Ouch. That hurt me, like really deep inside," Sean said not sounding at all hurt. His words tough made me briefly think about Bear being deep inside me and I found myself getting hard at the thought which made me happy. I pushed it aside though for the time being because somehow, it felt wrong to be on the phone with Sean while I had a raging boner.

"I don't think we have a choice of who our roommates are," I told him getting back on subject and pushing everything else aside.

"You just don't want to room with me because you're scared of seeing Mr. Happy and that it'll ruin things with Bear as things won't ever be the same," he said and I rolled my eyes at his arrogance.

"I'm sure you're right, but not for the reason you think. I don't wanna see you and be traumatized as I'm sure anyone would be. Just look at Justice, she used to be such a nice sweet girl and now, she's been forever scarred by seeing you naked and she takes that trauma out on poor unsuspecting people," I said and again I had to hold myself back from laughing.

"You're mean," Sean said sounding pouty. The doorbell rang but I didn't get up to get it as Calvin was downstairs with Alex and another one of their friends.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I'll make it up to you by letting you kiss my ass," I told him and I heard him try to hold back a snicker.

"Well as much as I'd love to, I think Bear already has that job covered," Sean said and we both laughed.

"What's so funny?" I heard from my open door. I knew who it was immediately and I couldn't stop the smile that appeared on my face.

"Sean's face," I joked.

"Hey," Sean said back.

"Good, I'm glad someone is mentioning it. I thought we were gonna have to have an intervention," Bear said joining in on the joking.

"Hey, tell your man that I'm gonna kick his ass when I see him," Sean said but he wasn't serious.

"Yeah, like you could kick his ass. Besides, nothing will be happening to that ass unless I'm directly involved," I said and I made sure I was looking into his eyes when I said it and I got the reaction I wanted when he raised his eyebrows as if asking me a question. I gave him a wink which seemed to further confuse him.

"Stop flirting with Bear while talking to me," Sean said.

"What makes you think that's all we're doing?" I asked.

"What are you doing?" he asked sounding curious, but unsure if he should be.

"Well, Bear was just about to put his mouth on-" I started before Bear stopped me by jumping on my bed and grabbing my cell.

"Trey has to go now. He has a spanking coming," he said while looking sternly at me, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, I've been a bad boy," I said loud enough for Sean to hear before Bear ended the call and handed me back my phone.

"You're crazy," Bear said but he was smiling so I knew he wasn't mad or anything.

"Yeah I am," I said back with a huge creepy smile. I'm sure I looked crazy.

"I heard back from Penn," Bear said changing the subject.

"What did they say?" I asked. I hoped that my plans for the summer weren't about to be ruined again.

"Well, they want me there for summer training," he said a bit hesitantly which I understood as I knew that he didn't want to give me bad news.

"Oh, okay," I said trying to pretend like I was fine but I'm sure I didn't sound like it.

"I didn't finish. I managed to get them to agree with me coming for only a three week program just after graduation," he said.

"So that means that I have you for the rest of the summer?" I asked as I didn't want to get my hopes completely up without confirmation.

"If you want me," he said. Taking the way he'd said it into account and the fact that he was on my bed very close to me, I started to feel those old feelings stir. I looked at him and he looked at me and those all consuming feelings of love and lust started taking over and I wanted him. I could tell he was feeling the same way because his breathing had become shallow. I wanted him and it was clear he wanted me too, but I had to put the brakes on temporarily because I had to talk to Bear about something.

"Bear, I have something to show you," I said through my heavy breathing.

"Yeah," he said looking very hopeful but reserved at the same time. It was an odd mix.

"Not that," I said with a chuckle before handing him the sketch pad I'd been working on. I still had to add a couple of touches to it, but it was pretty much finished.

"This is amazing. Is there nothing you can't do?" he asked. He was looking at the sketch with such admiration that I had to take a moment and memorize the look for later.

"Nope," I said after committing that look to memory. "I have a reason for showing that to you though aside from the compliment," I told him.

"What is it?" he asked. He had his eyebrow cocked and I'd never noticed before how sexy he looked when doing that. I pushed those thoughts aside for a bit so I could focus.

"I want us to get a tattoo, of that sketch," I told him. I watched him very carefully to gauge his reaction. He look back and forth between me and the sketch several times. A few times I noticed that he was looking at different parts of my body.

"I want mine on my ass," he said with a cheeky grin.

"No," I said simply while trying to hide a smile at the thought.

"Why not?" he pouted.

"Because I want people to see it and nobody better be seeing your ass aside from me," I told him and he rolled his eyes.

"The guys in the locker room will be seeing it," he said and I thought about how much time I'd get for blinding an entire college football team.

"Good point," I said but he laughed a bit for some reason.

"You were totally thinking about blinding my future teammates weren't you?" he asked with a teasing smile that said that he already knew the answer.

"No comment," I said before he laughed and pounced on me and started tickling me.

After I was tickled out, he stopped and just hovered over me. I loved the way he looked at me, like he was trying to know everything about me. It scared me but it also thrilled me that he wanted to know all of me.

He then leaned in and kissed me and I returned the kiss and it felt so good to be close like that to Bear again. It felt like it had been forever since we'd been together and my body seemed to need Bear. I reached up and pulled him down more on top of me and feeling his body on mine was just like it had been before. It was then that I had the misfortune to get a flash of that bastard Kent in my head and I felt my body tense and so did Bear as he stopped kissing me and pushed himself up.

"Dammit, I was doing good too," I said in frustration.

"It's okay baby, I understand," he said and he was so understanding that I wanted to do this for him. It was then that I noticed that unlike the last time, I was hard and I hadn't gotten soft even after Kent popped his ass into my head.

"Just give me a minute," I told him before I started doing some slow deep breathing.

"Trey, it's fine. I don't want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable," he said and that was all I needed to hear. I took his hand and put it on my still hard dick which caused him to raise his eyebrows.

"I want to do this. I want to give you pleasure-" I said before Bear cut in.

"You don't need to have sex with me to-" he started but I cut him off.

"And I want you to do the same to me," I told him but he still looked unsure.

"Trey I don't want to hurt you," he said and I appreciated his concern and consideration but I wanted him, I needed him.

"Bear, I need you. I need you to make love to me to rid me of the specter of Kent. I belong to you and I want you to have me, all of me ," I said hoping my words lit a fire in him and I was rewarded when I saw almost uncontrollable want in his eyes.

"Oh Trey, I need you so bad," he said with a desperate sound in his voice.

"Well here I am. You have permission, take what's yours," I said with a smile and a bit of a chellenge in my voice before I winked at him. He let loose with that sexy growl of his before he attacked my neck and I wrapped my arms around his back to pull him down to me again and I wrapped my legs around him too.

"I love you. I love you so much," he said in a low growl before he kissed me hard. We added our tongues to the kiss and our tongues wrestled with each other as our hands roamed all over each others' bodies.

Bear pried himself loose from me and pulled his t-shirt over his head before reaching down and pulling mine up and off as well with my help. He took a few seconds to look me over and I did the same to him. I missed seeing that heavily muscled hairy torso of his. I reached up and ran my hands all over his chest and abs before he reached down and took ahold of my hands. He brought them both up to his lips and kissed them which I found to be such a tender act, especially considering how frantic we'd just been.

He then got up and went to my door and locked it. I was thankful that he'd thought to do that as I'd forgotten and I didn't want any embarrassing scene happening. He then came back to the bed but paused before he got in the bed and pulled off the rest of his clothes except his socks. I thrilled at seeing the whole package that was a naked Bear.

He got on the bed and finished undressing me and I let him. Once I was just as naked as he was he again stopped to look me over with a hunger in his eyes I hadn't seen before . He then dived in and started kissing and licking me behind my ear which had become a great pleasure spot for me.

He then started his descent of kissing and licking my body. He stopped at my left nipple and gave it some attention which had me moaning and holding his head in place to continue this incredible pleasure. He moved to my right nipple and I was grateful he didn't leave it out of the fun.

I had to kiss him again so I pulled him back up and pulled him down into a crashing kiss, we had another tongue wrestling session. As we kissed he maneuvered himself over me so that our hard dick were next to each other then he reached down with his big hand and gripped both of us in a tight grip and started a slow jerk.

After a few minutes of this, my body was a live-wire and I was on fire. I was extremely close and I didn't want things to end so I pulled back from the kiss and pushed at Bear a bit. He looked at me with worry in his eyes until he looked to me, then the bastard had the nerve to smirk at me with an annoyingly amused look on his face.

"A little short on the trigger, eh tiger," he said with a cheesy grin.

"Yeah well you try being this close to a naked guy as hot as you and you'll see how long you last," I told him honestly and the smile that appeared on his face was an incredible thing to see.

"I am with a naked guy that's as hot as me and you're right. I was close too," he said before leaning down and kissing me again.

"I'm ready Bear. I need you," I said. A look of worry overtook his features which I erased by reaching over to my nightstand and taking the tube of lube that hadn't been used in months. I handed it to him and he looked at me as if asking me if I was sure, although that worried look didn't really leave his face. I pulled him back down and kissed him again.

When we parted he looked into my eyes for several seconds before kissing me again but this time I heard the cap pop on the tube of lube. Then I felt his fingers around my hole and I immediately tensed up. He stopped but didn't stop kissing me and I managed to calm myself and give myself a mental slap to knock it off because Bear would rather die than hurt me.

I guess he felt me relax because he went back to work spreading and working the lube around my hole. I then felt him slowly pushing one finger in and I didn't tense up which I was happy about. He took this as a cue to keep going as he added two, then three fingers to the mix to open me up. Once he got me loosened up he found my prostate and started to massaging it which had me steadily moaning into his mouth and bucking under his body as I tried to get more of his finger inside me.

He took his finger away and lined up his massive missile for launch before slowly pushing in while never breaking contact with me or breaking our lip-lock. It hurt after so long without anything up there but he stopped and gave me time to adjust. He managed to work himself all the way in before he bottomed out in about a minute.

"Oh baby, it feels so good to be at home again," he said and hearing that made my already high temperature ratchet even higher.

"Give it to me," I told him in a near breathless snarl.

"Yes sir captain, preparing to give my all," he said and we both chuckled.

He then raised up in his knees and grabbed my ankles before pulling out and pushing back in again slowly and the feeling was incredible. He did this several times to get me used to his massive invader before he increased his tempo and continued his steady strokes. I started to moan a bit too loud so Bear reached up and put a couple of his fingers in my mouth and I took the hint and started to suck on them. He let out an "oh fuck" and his eyes rolled back in his head when I did this so I sucked his fingers like my life depended on it.

It seemed to push him to a new level of hunger as he started to do that low growl that I loved. He then stopped and actually flipped me over on my stomach and started pounding my ass doggie-style. I bit my arm to contain my moaning as the pleasure was almost unbearable. He continued to pound my ass and I moaned and I worried that I'd bite a chunk out of my arm but I didn't care if I did because I was in bliss.

Bear then stopped his rapid thrusting and started grinding his hips and I had to admit that this man knew how to fuck. He then rested on his knees and had me turn to face him before he started lifting me up and impaling me on his incredible anaconda. We were both covered in sweat at this point but the end didn't seem to be in sight and I was glad because I could do this forever.

We started kissing again as I took over and started to ride him with him helping to lift me and slam me back down. I became acutely aware that there was no way that Calvin and co. weren't hearing this even with the muffled moans and grunts and Bear's growling but I just pushed that out of my head and decided to deal with Calvin later.

We then slowed down and Bear laid me back down on my back and continued to kiss me as he thrust in and out slowly. This went on for quite a while before I started to feel the inevitable coming upon me so I pulled back from Bear's now swollen lips and looked at him before speaking.

"It's time to end this ride. Let's go out with a bang," I told him.

"You know Calvin, Alex, and their other friend are downstairs right?" he asked as he very slowly ground his hips just to keep up the friction.

"There's no way they didn't hear anything so far so let's really give `em something to hear. Drive it home big guy," I said and he growled that low growl again and I knew I'd said the right thing.

He raised up on his knees again and pulled out before plunging back in with a slapping sound. He gripped my ankles again in his hands and rammed home repeatedly slamming my prostate on every thrust. There was very audible grunting and snarling and growling coming from the both of us along with the slap of skin on skin.

Bear rammed in one last time before letting go a loud "oh fuck" as did I as the first shot of cum fired from my achingly hard sensitive dick and landed on my forehead before 5 more landed on my cheek, chin and down my sweat drenched torso. Bear then started to thrust some more and the feeling was quite different. Everything was so sensitive but it still felt good. He kept this up for a couple more minutes before he collapsed on top of me.

"Baby, you... I..." Bear tried to breathlessly get out and I understood the feeling.

"Same here, big guy," I said with a chuckle which he joined me in.

"You know we need a shower. I'll bet we reek of sex and sweat," Bear said and I was sure too.

"Yeah, let me just rest for a few years then we can go and hop in the shower," I said before we laughed again.

After resting for a few minutes we made a mad dash for the bathroom across the hall and hopped in the shower where we traded blowjobs. I then washed him and he washed me over again and he took extra time as he traced my bullet wounds with his finger.

We then dried each other off and got dressed again and I decided to bite the bullet and go downstairs. So after grabbing my wallet, keys, cell phone and the sketch we went downstairs to see Calvin playing Madden on his PS4 along with Alex and their other friend Max.

"Hey bro," I said carefully. They seemed to be into the game but I smelled a rat.

"Hey Trey," he said sounding innocently enough.

"Well, we're gonna head out. I'll be back later," I told him while watching him carefully.

"Okay," he said while still seeming engrossed in the game. We started to walk away before he called out to Bear. "Hey Bear, what's up," he asked. I thought this was weird as he had to be the one to let Bear in.

"Nothing..." Bear said suspiciously.

"Well it's just that your hair is damp but it wasn't when you got here," Calvin said with a too innocent look on his face.

"Well I..." Bear started before the three of them finally busted up.

"Damn Bear, you must have been giving it to Trey pretty good," Alex said which had me restraining myself from taking the life of my best friend's brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said adamantly.

"Yeah sure Trey. We heard the loud moaning and the thumping of your bed on the floor," Calvin said before they started another round of laughter.

"How do you know I wasn't the one giving it to Bear?" I asked which ended their laughing as they looked as us as if try to imagine what that'd look like while trying not to at the same time.

"Uh, were you?" Calvin asked looking confused and my job was done.

"I don't kiss and tell lil' bro," I said and made sure to add a smile before I dragged Bear out of the house behind me.

"Are you sure about this?" Bear asked as we stood outside the tattoo parlor that I'd found. I was 18 so I wasn't restricted to the less than reputable places so I did my homework and found a really good one that was pretty well known for those into getting tattooed.

"Positive," I said before I walked through the door. I looked back and saw him still standing outside and it suddenly occurred to me that he might be nervous about this. I just had to laugh at that, although I didn't know I'd been doing so out loud until he walked in and told me so.

"Can I help you two?" the guy behind the counter asked. He had a mohawk and both nostrils and his lip were pierced as well as multiple tattoos on the visible parts of his arms and his chest.

"Yes, we're here to get branded," I said with a cheeky grin.

"Trey," Bear said through gritted teeth but the guy behind the counter smirked.

"Hey Bull, you've got some new victims, I mean customers," the guy said before winking at me and I returned the wink. He must have picked up on Bear's nervousness.

"Yeah?" said a guy who came from the back. He was correctly named as he was a huge white guy with a bald head and he looked to be covered in tattoos which I was able to see because he had on a muscle shirt. He looked to be around 40 or something and I had to admit that he'd be kinda good looking if not for all the tattoos. One was plenty for me.

"I said you have some customers," the guy behind the counter said again.

"Oh," Bull said before looking toward us. I'm sure we made an odd pair... A really tall heavily muscled bear of a white guy and his much shorter much smaller black companion.

"Hi, I called a couple days ago about you tattooing a sketch I'd made onto me and my boyfriend," I said.

"Oh yeah, let me see the sketch," he said. I was surprised that he didn't even blink when I said I wanted it for me and my boyfriend. I didn't specify what Bear was when I'd talked to him on the phone, just that I had a sketch that I had that I wanted tattooed onto two people.

"So can you do it?" I asked. I was worried I'd made it too intricate.

"Definitely," he said. He looked like he wanted to say something else but chose not to. I had a feeling what it was though.

"I'm afraid I can't let you keep that, but I can make you anything else you want," I told him. He looked shocked so I guess I'd guessed right.

"You got some real talent kid. Now let's get started. Who's first?" he said while looking at the two of us.

"You're up Bear," I said and the guy behind the counter snickered.

"What you snickering bout'?" Bull asked the guy behind the counter.

"It's just that I guess I don't have the market cornered in big galoots with weird names," the guy said and I laughed too.

"Shut up with your face before you have to explain to your old lady that you got canned for your mouth again," Bull told him.

"Yeah, like you'd fire me again. You'd just have to explain to mom that you fired me," the guy said and I tried to hold back my laughter. I'd thought they were a couple but even without the huge clue I could see they were brothers instead.

"Yeah, whatever. C'mon Bear, let's ink you up," Bull said before he walked to the back. Bear though stood there until I pushed him on back.

"Go on big guy. If you get inked, I'll blow you so hard that your toes won't uncurl for a week," I said low next to Bear's ear, though I guess it wasn't low enough because I heard Bull snort and when I looked at him it looked like he was trying too hard to keep a straight face. My message was enough to get Bear moving as he went and got in the chair.

Bull asked where he wanted the tattoo and I told him to put it on his upper right arm. He then prepped Bear's arm while his brother who's name was Gil made a template of my sketch that Bull could use. When he was done, Bull put the template on Bear's arm and then started tattooing him. I could tell my big guy was definitely not having any fun so I pulled my chair up to his left side so I could hold his hand.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would and when he finished he applied some grease to it and then let me see it. It was a ferocious bear cradling a heart as if protecting it. I thought the symbolism was great.

Bear seemed to love it as he couldn't take his eye off of it when Bull gave him a mirror to check it out. It was then my turn and I told him I wanted mine on my left arm but otherwise in the same place as Bear's. Gil placed a bandage over Bears tattoo and gave him instructions for cleaning his arm while the tattoo set as Bull got started with my tattoo.

I was surprised that it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would but it did hurt, especially as the process went on. As the process went on Bear repaid the gesture by sitting down on my right and holding my hand. He took it a step further though by softly running his fingers over the palm of my hand which served to get things stirring downstairs.

After a while Bull was finished with my tattoo and I looked it over. I was impressed with my work as well as Bull's. I was a bit mesmerized by the tattoo just like Bear had been. I finally tore myself away from the great work of art and thanked Bull and Gil. I told them that I had several sketches and drawings that I'd come by later that week and show them to see if they wanted to use them.

Gil handed me my sketch back and Bull made sure I saw him destroy the template for our tattoo. I then paid for the great work and then Bear and I left. I was happy that I had gotten the tattoo as for me it seemed like a bonding thing for Bear and I which I appreciated. I'd have to thank him later for agreeing to do it.

PROM

"Where the hell is she?" Tina griped. She was talking about Alicia who had been late for a lot of stuff lately. I wondered at first if she was sick. Then I wondered if she'd finally found her own man because she'd been oddly docile as of late.

"I have no idea," I told her. We were currently decorating the auditorium for prom whose theme was Film Noire, thought up by Bruce. Everyone would come dressed in a style seen in old detective and noire films. I had no idea where Justice had gotten the idea that it would be a 70's theme when Sean told me.

"Hey Trey, do you think you could secure some jock muscle to help us out with the heavy lifting?" Bruce asked. I was slightly suspicious about his real motives though.

"We don't need no stinking jocks to do our lifting. We're men, we can do our own lifting," I said in a bad Italian accent.

"Right," Jeremy agreed.

I then tried to lift a platform that we needed across the room and it wasn't going anywhere. I needed to get back to my weight-lifting because while my legs were bigger and stronger than ever, my upper body strength was slightly lacking. Jeremy then tried followed by Bruce and it was a no go.

"Okay, maybe we need some help," I said begrudgingly.

"You men are so simple. You could just join together to move it," Tina said with an exasperated eye roll.

"No no no no, Trey is right. We're gonna need some jocks," Bruce said before walking over to Tina and pulling her next to him. "You know, like jocks who will dig heavy lifting, preferably with tank tops, or even no shirts on at all," Bruce said obvious trying to appeal to Tina's inner pervert.

"Oh yeah, we definitely need some jocks. Trey get on that," Tina said.

"Well what about me?" Jeremy asked as I pulled out my phone and pulled up Bear's number.

"Oh sweetie, it's not our fault that you chose to be a straight male and thus have no appreciation for jock muscle," Tina said and Bruce snickered.

"Well can we at least get some cheerleaders up in here?" he asked.

"What for, to lift a place mat? I don't think so," Tina replied and I shook my head as I dialed Bear.

"Hey baby, what's shaking?" Bear asked when he answered the phone.

"Hey big guy. Listen, we're over here decorating for the Prom and we're in need of some heavy muscle. Do you think you could scrounge some up?" I asked as sweetly as I could.

"I'll see what I can do. By the way, I know you just want us there so you and the girls can ogle us," he said sounding highly amused.

"That's not true. Bruce will be ogling too," I said and his eyes flew open wide.

"Okay, well I'll see what I can do. I'm sure I can get Sean, Carter and Dale. You know how much they love you," Bear said. I would at one time disagree about Dale, but he was a really good guy that seemed to like me. He was definitely no Drake.

"Yeah, all this jock love. I don't know what I'll do with it," I joked.

"Bitch," Tina and Bruce muttered but was loud enough for me to hear.

"I'll see you in a bit baby," Bear said before ending the call.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Alicia said running into the auditorium.

"Where the hell were you?" Tina asked.

"I had something to take care of. So what're we doing?" she said. I looked at her and something seemed off, but I just couldn't tell what.

"You can go over there and help Lane and Carla since you're late," Tina said pointing to two other council members.

"Oh, okay," Alicia said before walking over to the two and asking what they were doing.

"Okay, what the hell is up with her?" Tina asked. I guess she'd noticed it too.

"Yeah Alicia's become kind of..."Jeremy said before trailing off I guess trying to find the right word.

"Docile," I said adding the right word.

"Yeah that's it," Jeremy said.

"Maybe she got a good lay," Bruce said and Tina and Jeremy laughed, but for some I didn't feel like laughing.

We got to work doing what we were able to do. I considered calling my other friends to come and help but I didn't want to bother them. I didn't need every friend I had to do everything I attempted to do. Besides I wanted them to be surprised by how the place looked.

Bear and the guys arrived about an hour later. Aside from Sean, Carter and Dale, he'd brought all the football players that had joined the GSA minus Todd. I wasted no time putting them to work. The guys of course pulled off their shirts and most had on t-shirts or tank tops, but a few went shirtless. Bear wore a black muscle shirt and I couldn't help but admire those amazing arms and of course that new tattoo.

"Bear, that's a cool tattoo. Where'd you get it?" Jeremy asked as he walked over to get a closer look. This of course drew attention to Bear and I just stood back and watched.

"I got it a couple weeks ago," he said but didn't elaborate.

"I want a tattoo, but my dad said that if he even found out I had one, he'd take me to have it removed and find a doctor to do in the most painful way possible," Tina said.

"Ouch," Bruce said.

"It's a unique tattoo," Carla said.

"Yeah, it's a custom job," Bear said. I think he was intentionally being vague as he kept glancing at me trying to hide his amusement. I decided to join in on his fun so I pulled off my shirt and I had a tank top on underneath. I then walked over to and made like I was really looking at Bear's arm.

"Trey, you have it too," Sean said sounding surprised. I'd made a point to not wear any shirts that would reveal my arms so I could spring my tattoo on everyone.

Everyone looked at the tattoos and I told them that I'd designed it. This then started a discussion on if I could make any more for anyone else and I said I'd consider it in my free time. Bear objected to that though by saying that my free time belonged to him which brought about some laughs.

I then cracked the whip for everyone to get back to work. I noticed that Alicia was very subdued and didn't join in with everyone admiring our tattoos. I wondered if something was up with her, but I decided that I'd push it aside for now and we got the job done with only minor setbacks. I was proud of the job we'd done and of completing my last major job as student council president.

Prom night was here and I was nervous for some reason. It was the first true event at school that Bear and I would go to together. We didn't get the chance to go to the winter formal and the spring formal because I was in a coma so I was looking forward to it, but still nervous at the same time.

I was pleased that Mr. Renner had said that we didn't need to expect any of the same trouble as we had for our junior prom which meant that I got to go with Bear. Carter wanted to bring Sed since he had arrived a couple of days ago and was staying with Sean, but there was a rule that he could only bring a student from our school so he decided to just bring Jessica since she'd be dateless too without Alvis.

I made a secret plan with Bear, Sean and Dale that we'd all dance at least one dance with him so he'd at least get to dance some with a guy. I checked myself in the mirror one last time before grabbing my keys, wallet, and cell phone and heading downstairs.

"Oh sweetie, you look so handsome," mom said as she stood in the middle of the living room along with dad. Calvin, Zane, and Ivy were sitting on the couch looking like they were holding back their teasing with considerable effort.

"Yeah son, you look like a chip off the old block if I do say so myself," dad said with a prideful smile which mom shook her head at.

"Thanks mama and pop,'" I told them before they both gave me a quick hug.

"Okay, picture time," mom said.

"Aw mama," I grumbled. I was saved though by the doorbell. I started for the door but Ivy jumped up.

"No, you can't open the door. You have to go back upstairs and make an entrance," she said with an innocent look on her face before she, Zane and Calvin busted out laughed.

"Jackasses," I said. Ivy did go to the door though and I let her. She walked back in with a very hot looking Bear in tow wearing a vintage looking pinstripe suit and a hat. He'd make a incredibly good looking and imposing detective.

"Hello Trey," Bear said and his voice along with the look he'd pulled together had me unable to speak.

"Oh damn, Trey is silent. Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?" Zane joked and Calvin and Ivy joined in.

"Oh Zane," I said as I walked over to him. Before he could react I reached up and grabbed his head and pulled him to me and kissed him hard. I didn't use tongue though as that would be gross with my brother. I just wanted to shock him.

"Hey man," Zane said after I'd let him go since his struggling wasn't helping him any.

"I guess that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut. Next time I'll use tongue," I threatened even though I'd most definitely not be doing that. I looked at Bear and he had a weird look on his face. It shocked me because it wasn't anger or even jealousy but something else that I didn't even want to think anymore on. I heard Ivy whisper to Zane asking him how was the kiss and he said it wasn't terrible.

"Well after that weirdness, let me get some pictures with you boys," mom said and I reluctantly agreed. After snapping about 10 pictures the doorbell rang. It had to be the girls and Sean who were picking us up here in the limo we'd all go in on since it was our senior prom. Ivy went to get the door again and came back with the 4 of them.

"Oh you kids look great," she said. The girls definitely looked the part of film noire leading lady.

They thanked mom and she decided that she wanted some more pictures with all of us so she took about 20 more pictures with us in different combinations. Me and the girls, the girls by themselves, the guys by themselves, me and Bear and Sean and Justice together since we were the only couples present, we even took some with my other family members before we had to be off.

When we arrived at the prom after picking up Christian and Carter, we got some attention when we stepped out of the limo. Veronica, Miriam, Dale, Veronica's date who was some junior girl I'd seen only a few times came in another limo that Sean had paid for since we all couldn't fit in just one.

We all walked into the prom and it looked great with everything all set up. I got compliments from everyone who hadn't seen it already. I left everyone to check on everything and to see if it was going smoothly before rejoining my friends and Bear.

We found our tables and sat down for a few minutes. Before long, Jeremy and Tina showed up with their dates and joined us. We all talked until Bruce walked in with a proud strut and shockingly on the arm of Glen Neely. I wasn't the only one shocked it seemed as everyone at our table and other people in general were looking at them.

"Hello people," Bruce said as he arrived at our table.

"Hello Bruce," I said not sure what else to say.

"Hey Glen," Bear finished for me.

"Before you all start thinking things, Glen and I are just friends. He agreed to bring me and here we are," Bruce said.

"Oh, okay," I said although I didn't think it was as innocent as Bruce had said since Glen looked entirely comfortable with Bruce latched onto him like he was.

"So Glen, are you gonna kiss him when you take him home?" Sean asked which earned him a jab from Justice's elbow.

"I might," Glen said with a smile.

We all got up and danced. It was great to just have fun and be around people who cared about me. Bear looked to be having a good old time himself especially when he was dancing with me. I took the first turn to dance with Carter and it was a slow song so slow dancing with someone who wasn't Bear was weird, but I had to admit that he had a strong body like Bear and being pressed up against him wasn't a terrible thing at all.

Sean went next and it was weird again seeing him dancing with a guy but Sean played it like you'd expect, by joking around but Carter was all for it. Dale did something similar but they could do it because it wasn't a slow dance. Bear was last and of course another slow dance. I watched them together and I had to beat down my libido which kicked up a couple of notches at seeing those two hot studs slow dancing with each other, especially since I was dancing with Jessica at the time.

We took a break after a while and I just looked around at all the people having fun. I thought about what most of these people would be doing in a year's time. I was surprised though that there hadn't been any remarks with all of the same sex dancing going on, but of course that thought brought out the jackass known as Drake.

"Hello people, are you all enjoying all that disgusting dancing?" Drake said after walking up to us.

"Drake, please just leave. Nobody wants to deal with you tonight," Liberty said.

"Let him stay so I can break his face," Bear snarled.

"I'll bet that this is your fantasy isn't it Trey. Dudes dancing with each other all over the place," Drake said sounding like the douchebag we'd all come to know and hate.

"Drake, if this was my fantasy, you'd be strung up naked over a vat of boiling oil having your dick ripped off," I told him and I got a few snickers.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'm naked in your fantasies but unlike these football pussies, I don't get down like that," Drake said stupidly as he was alone taunting a table full of big football players.

"You wanna take this outside fucker?" Carter asked as he stood up along with Bear, Sean, Dale, and Glen. Ever Christian stood up.

"Guys, sit down. Drake's gonna get his," Liberty said and I wondered what she meant as she said it in a definitive way and not as blanket statement.

"What does that mean?" Drake asked likely noticing it too.

"Drake, I was gonna give you a chance. If you came here and decided to act like an actual human being with a heart, I was gonna let you off the hook, but you couldn't even do that so now it's time you got yours," Liberty said before taking out her cell and doing something. It looked like she was sending someone a text.

"What does that mean?" Drake asked again sounding more insistent.

"Just wait," Liberty said with a very sinister smile on her face. About 10 seconds later we heard the feedback from the microphone on the stage.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, as some of you may know, my name is Darcy Parker and I happen to be dating the very handsome and wonderful Drake Franklin," Darcy said and Drake had the nerve to smile big. I got up and I looked over across the room and saw Alicia do the same. We looked at each other before we both headed toward the stage because I was not about to listen to this bitch brag on her bastard boyfriend at our prom.

"What the hell is she doing" I heard Bear ask Justice sitting next to him as I passed them.

"She can't be up there. We gotta get her down," Alicia said to me as we met up.

"Yeah, let's go," I said as we headed for the stage.

"Now I'll bet you're all wondering why I'm up here so without further ado, on to the main event," Darcy said before the lights went down and the big screen above the stage came on. My cell rang as Alicia and I headed up the stairs. It was Liberty so I answered.

"Don't stop her, you'll want to see this," she said simply before the call ended.

"Tell me you love it," I heard in Darcy's voice. I looked on the screen and I was shocked to see Darcy in a leather corset with a riding crop and Drake on his knees naked, except in a pair of lacy women's panties and a pair of stockings.

"I love it," Drake said in a shaky voice.

"Do you like it when I whip you?" Darcy asked Drake.

"Yes master," he said sounding so small.

"Then prove it," Darcy said and Drake then turned and raised his ass up for her to strike with the riding crop a few times. The room erupted in laughter. I looked back and saw that Drake was standing there frozen in place with his eyes bugged out and his mouth slack.

"Ooh master, that feels so good," Drake said and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Yes I know it does. Now tell me, do you like wearing panties?" Darcy asked.

"Yes master," Drake said.

"Tell me what you like about them," Darcy ordered.

"I like the way the feel on me," Drake said.

"You like being my bitch, don't you," Darcy asked as she whipped him a few more times.

"Yes master," Drake said.

"Then say it," Darcy demanded in an authoritative tone.

"I'm your bitch," Drake said and the laughter grew louder.

"Say your name and tell me what you are, your whole name," Darcy ordered him.

"I'm Drake Franklin and I'm your bitch," Drake said.

"Are you happy about that?" Darcy ordered as she whipped him some more. The licks didn't look all that severe though.

"Yes," Drake said.

"Then turn around and tell me the whole thing again and tell me you like it," Darcy said.

"I'm Drake Franklin and I like being your bitch, master," Drake said. People were practically dying laughing but I didn't find it funny. I found it sad that after all the things Drake had done to me and said to me and about me, that this was finally his downfall. It was sad and pathetic just like him, but he deserved it.

"Alright Darcy, that's enough. Shut it down," I told her. She looked at me for a few seconds before signaling to the guy who was operating the video to kill it and he did.

"Well I hope you all enjoyed that," she said before leaving the stage and walking over to our table. I followed behind her and Alicia came along too. As we got close to the table, I saw Drake looking around at all the people pointing and laughing at him. He started backing up but Bear, Sean and Carter went and stood around him to block him from leaving.

"Going somewhere Drakey?" Sean asked with a smirk.

"You bitch, how could you do that? How could you film that?" Drake asked angrily as we arrived at the table. I was curious about why she'd done it too since she was supposed to be his girlfriend.

"I can answer that question," Liberty said looking way too happy.

"What the hell do you know about it?" Drake asked. Christian started for him but Liberty pulled him back.

"Well first let me introduce my old friend, Darcelle Parker," Liberty said and Justice looked like a lightbulb went on in her head.

"I knew you looked familiar. You and Liberty were friends back when we lived in Richmond," Justice said.

"You're friends?" Drake asked. He was turning red with anger but I again thought he deserved this.

"Yes Drake, and Darcelle, or rather Darcy was more than happy to convince her parents to let her move up here and stay with her sister to help me out on a little project," Liberty said and I could pretty much figure out the rest.

"What project?" Jessica asked.

"To put Drake in his place. I told you that if you kept messing with Trey that I'd make you pay and I did. I brought Darcy in to hit you where it hurts," Liberty said. I guess she knew Drake better than all of us to know how best to hurt him.

"You stupid bitches," Drake seethed. Bear slammed his big hand down on Drake's shoulder hard.

"Apologize before I break your neck," Bear ordering in a deep dangerous tone.

"This is all your fault," Drake directed toward me with venom in his voice.

"No it's not Drake as I had nothing to do with this. Aside from the fact that I met her the same time as you did, I was in a coma when you two got together so I don't think I am to blame for your total humiliation."

"You deserved to be in a coma you disgusting little pansy," Drake snarled and Bear grabbed Drake again but I stopped him from hurting him any further.

"No I didn't, but you deserved this. You did everything you could to hurt me, even hurting other people like Bear and Carter, even Todd. Did you think you'd just get away with that without anything happening to you? If you did, I'm sorry to say that you're wrong," I told him, but he didn't seem to be taking my words to heart.

"This isn't over. I'll make you pay for this," he said as he tried to get to me but was held back by Sean and Carter. I think they wanted to keep Bear away from him as well as him away from me.

"No it is over Drake. You're here now blaming me and threatening me but in case you didn't notice, I'm probably the only person who wasn't laughing at how pathetic you are. Even though you deserved what just happened to you, I didn't want it to happen because I think it's wrong to take something that's supposed to be personal and private and use that to humiliate somebody," I said and he still didn't look like he wanted to listen to what I said so I just told the guys to release him. They did and he stormed away.

Liberty looked sorry for what she'd done, probably because of what I'd said but I just hugged her and told her it was fine. She then introduced us properly to Darcy. She said that it'd been hard to be with Drake and listen to all the stuff he said about gay people.

Jessica told her that she and Liberty were great actresses as they sold being bitter enemies very well and I had to agree. The prom went on and I got my answer for where the chaperones were when Mr. Renner showed up and told me that someone had vandalized the inside of the school. I wondered if that was apart of Liberty's plan but I didn't want to know so I didn't ask.

The Prom King and Queen was announced and Bear won king and Justice won queen. I was just glad there wasn't any bullshit with trying to nominate me queen so I didn't care about Justice dancing with Bear. It had been a weird night and I was glad that it was over when it was but sad at the same time as I strangely had to admit that high school was over and now I was about to leave my little world and go out into a much bigger one.

GRADUATION

The big day was here. I was about to graduate from high school and I was nervous. I was nervous because the safety net, as unsafe as it'd been, was about to be removed and I'd have to go out there without the protection of my family always around and start my life. This was still a few months away but it still loomed. I was also nervous because I had to give the valedictory speech.

Yeah Justice was not happy. She basically said that I laid on my ass for two months and still beat her out for valedictorian. She didn't speak to me for two days but she eventually came around and congratulated me.

I was in the hallway at school memorizing my speech as I wanted to sound as natural as possible. I had privacy as everyone was outside. I'd told everyone that I wanted to be alone so I could concentrate and they agreed which I was thankful for.

"Hey Trey," I heard from behind me. I guess everyone wasn't outside.

"Hey Todd," I said as I turned around. He was wearing a cap and gown and it looked slightly awkward on him.

"I hear you're valedictorian," he said looking really nervous.

"Yeah, I managed to get it," I said. I was surprised that I'd done it myself as even though I'd worked really hard after coming back to school, I didn't think I could do it.

"Look, I know you have to get out there in a few minutes but I just wanted to apologize. I know it's late but I need to say this. I'm sorry for the way I treated you and I'm sorry for whatever role I played in what Kent did to you," he sort of blurted out. I was silent for a minute as I digested his words. I'd already forgiven him but I think hearing him actually apologize really helped me.

"Thanks for that. You don't have to apologize for Kent though. He made his own choice to try and kill me. It's nobody's fault but his own," I told him hoping it relieved some of his guilt.

"Yeah well," he said seeming to reluctantly agree.

"Well we gotta get out there. Come by later if you want," I told him but I didn't think he would.

"I don't think I should. I'm sure I'll be unwanted," he said looking conflicted.

"I promise I won't let Bear try and kill you in any way," I said and he actually laughed just a little bit. I started to walk away, but something told me not to. So I turned around and was shocked that I found myself actually giving him a hug. Dammed Bear and his sunshine and rainbows.

He was shocked as well as he tensed up a lot, but then he loosed up and wrapped his arms around me. I figured that was enough though because I was still me so I pulled away. He didn't seem like he wanted to let me go but did so anyway. I then gave him one last gift to grow on since I was sure I'd never see him again. I reached up and pulled him down and kissed him on his cheek. I wasn't a fool to actually kiss him on his lips. I wanted to actually kiss Bear again and he'd definitely be pissed when I told him that.

I stepped back and he looked stunned and actually touched the place I kissed him like it was something special. Not gonna lie, that was a huge ego boost that this guy was so happy that I'd just given him a peck on the cheek. I turned this time and actually left with him still standing there.

"Good afternoon, and thank you all for coming out to witness this great occasion. I have to say that I have witnessed quite a few graduation ceremonies but this is the first that I've actually presided over. Here we have today an amazing group of graduates and for myself and Principal Hodgins, we welcome you all to witness their commencement," Mr. Renner said before a large applause erupted.

"Now before we proceed with dishing out those much anticipated diplomas, we have two very accomplished students up here who will be giving speeches. First on deck is our Salutatorian, Justice St. John," he said and Justice stood up and winked at me before walking up to the podium. That wink had me a bit worried.

"Thank you Mr. Renner. Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for coming. Now before I start I have to congratulate my academic rival, Trey Healey, for being valedictorian. I'm sure he's worried about what I'm going to say up here, but he shouldn't be. I already blacked out his teeth in my program so I got my revenge," Justice said and there was a bit of laughter

Justice then started her speech and I half listened not to be malicious or anything, it was just that I had a lot on my mind. I looked out on the graduates and I wondered if I'd ever see any of them again. I wondered how many of them I'd have to go to school with in the fall and if I'd still have to deal with any of their homophobia.

I looked at Justice's parents and they looked so proud of their daughter. Mrs. St. John had tears streaming down her face and Mr. St. John looked like he was trying hold back tears. Liberty even looked at her sister with pride, but then I knew that she really loved her sister and just tried to cover that up with her regular snarky self.

"So in closing, I'd like to say that although I haven't been at this school 4 years like most of the graduating class, I'd like to express my appreciation to the reception I received and that this is a great school that I'm privileged to have attended," Justice said ending her speech. There was applause as she came back to her seat. Mr. Renner then returned to the podium.

"That was a great speech wasn't it?" he asked to the answer of more applause. "Now I'll bring up to the podium probably our most illustrious student, certainly a student unlike any I've ever encountered. I give you your class valedictorian, Trey Healey," Mr. Renner said and I had to admit that his introduction might have given me a slightly big head.

"Thank you Mr. Renner for your completely unbiased introduction," I joked which brought some laughs from the graduates and audience. "I'm happy that I made valedictorian as I didn't expect it, although I did work very hard for it. Standing here today, I think back on all that has happened to me over the past 4 years both good and bad. I've had to endure a lot of things but I think those things have and will continue to make me a stronger person."

"As we all on this day prepare to receive our diplomas, we have a responsibility to look at what we've learned over the last 4 years and see if that's what we want to take out into the world. That means both academic knowledge as well as our behaviors and treatment of other individuals."

"I challenge all of you who are graduating with me today to try and be considerate of at least one person who you normally wouldn't. Your treatment of that one person may end up changing their lives even if you wouldn't think so. In closing, I just want to say to everyone out there to live your life and don't be afraid of what others are going to think of you. I speak from experience that you just never know when something will come along to alter your life, so just try your hardest at whatever you do. Thank you," I finished and there was a loud applause. I wouldn't have expected it, but then again I guess it was time to stop thinking that the whole world was against me.

Mr. Renner then went back up to the podium while Justice and I went to sit with the rest of the graduating class. After another speech by Mr. Renner, the handing out of the diplomas started. Just as I expected quite a few students tried to show off including Sean who danced across the stage. When Mr. Renner handed me my diploma, it was a truly amazing feeling, to know that I'd made it. I was actually graduating high school. After the last student received her diploma, Mr. Renner gave another very short speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Fairfield High School graduating class of 2014," Mr. Renner said followed by us throwing our caps into the air. I'd always wanted to do that since I first saw Zane's class do it at their graduation. With that action, I was officially a high school graduate.

"Oh sweet girl, I'm so proud of you," Mrs. St John said in a weepy voice as she squeezed the life out of Justice.

"I have you know I just graduated too," Liberty grumbled.

"Oh we're proud of you too bud," Mr. St. John said as he gave Liberty a hug similar to the one Justice had just gotten.

"You know, I don't think it's fair that you got to come here for a year and half and steal my thunder when I've gone here for 4 years," Liberty said.

"Oh Libby, you never had any thunder. That was just delusions of grandeur," Justice said a bit condescendingly.

"This is all your fault mom. Everything was just fine when I was born all perfect happy and healthy, but you just had to keep on pushing," Liberty said. I knew she wasn't serious.

"Oh bud, I think it's time you knew the truth. You see, Justice was actually born first," Mr. St. John said and Liberty's eyes bugged out of her head while Justice had a huge gloating smile on her face.

"You gotta be kidding me," Liberty said with murder in her tone.

"That explains so much. I got all of the intelligence so there was noting left over for you. It seems so obvious now," Justice said sounding a bit more condescending.

"I'm going to kill you one of these days," Liberty threatened through gritted teeth. Our group was just standing there watching not knowing what to do. I was just enjoying the show though as I knew what was coming.

"I love you too sweetie," Justice said in a too sweet tone before her and Liberty hugged each other proving me right. They fought and said snarky and sometimes even downright mean things to each other but in the end they'd just hug it out and be done with it. It's a shame they couldn't do that during the whole saga of my outing.

"Okay, enough of that. Parents, gather around and get your pics because we need to jet to our no-parents-allowed party," Sean said which earned him a few hard looks.

"I'll have you know that If I want to come to your party, I will," Deanne said.

"Not if you don't know where it'll be," Sean said with a cheesy grin on his face. It was originally going to be held at Sean's place but there was a last minute change.

"Trey sweetie..." mom said a sweet voice that I knew was fake.

"Look at the time, let's get on with the picture taking," I said putting the kibosh on that line of manipulation.

There was plenty of picture taking with one final picture of our entire group. I happened to look over after this and I saw Kenji with his family and nobody else. I felt bad that Miriam had sort of chosen her side and that was with me. I pushed that aside though and turned my attention back to my family and friends.

Sean announced that it was time to go so we all headed for the parking lot although I was told that since I wouldn't tell them where the party would be that I had to take Calvin and Sean got the same speech about Alex. I'm sure they probably though that us having our little brothers there would keep us from cutting loose too much.

They probably also thought that they could call them later and get the location but I had a plan to prevent that. There was also the fact that Marcus and Wayne knew where the party was because they were supposed to set it up and had already left to do so. We got in my truck and pulled away from school.

"Okay, so where's the party? I know you know," Bear said and he was right. Sean had chosen the place and had told me and his brother of course and sworn us to secrecy.

"What makes you think I know?" I asked coyly.

"I know because Sean is supposed to be texting everyone the location, but you haven't received a text," Bear deduced.

"He could be saving me for last," I said unbelievably.

"Fat chance," Calvin mumbled.

"It's okay baby. I know that Sean told you because he trusts you. You know how much he loves you," Bear said and I was utterly shocked that he would say that and so plainly too.

"Bear!" I almost shouted.

"I meant as a friend Trey. I know that he isn't into you and that his little bi-curiosity involving you isn't gonna go anywhere," Bear said and I was utterly impressed with his understanding of Sean's feelings for me.

"Sean's into you? I gotta tell Alex," Calvin said excitedly as he pulled out his phone.

"You do and you'll be walking back home," I said as calmly as I could to make my statement sound ominous. It seemed to work as he slowly put his phone away.

"And Sean isn't into Trey. He's... well I guess he's wondering what it'd be like to be with Trey but not enough to actually try even if Trey wasn't with me," Bear said and I was again surprised that he was so understanding about Sean and didn't sound even a little bit angry or bitter about it.

"Oh that's all. I thought it was more interesting than that," Calvin said sounding disinterested already.

"When did you get so understanding?" I asked with what I'm sure was a proud smile.

"I've always been this way," he lied and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah right, and as for where we're going... it's Holden Lake," I said and his face fell.

"What the hell? Why are we going there?' Bear asked anxiously. I was curious about this as it was outside the norm for Bear to be agitated over something like this. Holden Lake was really just a small lake on the outskirts of town.

"Well it's where Sean wanted this party to be. What's the big deal?" I asked as he looked even more anxious while trying to hide it.

"It's no big deal. I'm fine," he said sounding not fine. Calvin and I looked at each other and I wondered what was up with him.

The party was going strong and I was having a good time after Bear started to relax, but that could have been the 3 beers I had forced on him. I actually had to send him off for a few minutes because he was getting way too freaky in front of other people.

"Why did you send Bear away? I thought you two were gonna start having sex right here," Marcus said as he and Wayne walked up followed by Jessica and Miriam.

"Yeah, that would have been interesting to see," Wayne said and they both looked me over and I blushed.

"It was that obvious?" I asked as I felt my face heat even more.

"Oh yeah. Some of the former cheerleaders were disappointed and strangely a couple of the football players," Jessica added.

"Well everyone knows that jocks and frat boys are all secretly gay," Wayne said.

"Well the jocks around me certainly are," I joked and we both laughed with the others joining in.

"Oh Trey, don't discount your power as the pied piper of gay jocks, and muscle bears," Marcus said before winking at me. I swear it should be a crime to be as hot as Marcus and Bear were.

"Would you stop winking at him before we wake up one night with him clawing at our door begging us to let him in," Wayne joked although the thought wasn't exactly bad, at all.

"Yeah and the next thing that'll happen will be a certain Bear huffing and puffing and blowing your house down," Jessica said.

"That's the big bad wolf," Miriam corrected.

"Same thing," Jessica said dismissively.

I looked around looking for Bear but what I saw surprised me. It was Kenji standing off by himself as if he were looking for somebody. I looked over at Miriam and she was already looking at me and she smiled and took my hand and started toward him. As we walked toward Kenji I looked over and saw Bear looking at me with a concerned look but I smiled to try and ease his mind.

"Hey Ken," Miriam said as we made it to Kenji.

"Hey Miriam," he said looking happy to see her as he turned toward us but that happy look turned sour when he saw I was with her.

"Hey Kenji," I said tentatively.

"Hello Miriam," he said again trying his best to ignore me.

"How have you been?" Miriam asked ignoring the obvious dismissal aimed at me.

"Do you really care?" Kenji said sounding bitter. I had told Miriam that I didn't want her to abandon Kenji just for me, but I guess it had kind of happened on it's own with me and Dale being in our group.

"Of course I care Ken," Miriam said sounding sad.

"Look Kenji, don't be mad with Miriam. It's my fault-" I said before he stopped me.

"Oh I know it's your fault, but she still chose you so I hope you enjoy being Bear's girlfriend," he said bitterly and I wisely chose to hold my tongue.

"Ken, don't do that," Miriam said sounding a bit desperate

"Why not? That's what he is, Bear's prissy little girlfriend," Kenji said and that one I wasn't gonna let go by unchallenged.

"No, what I am is Bear's male fiancé, and you can kiss my ass," I said as I stepped closer to him.

"Oh, doesn't Bear do that enough for you?" Kenji said and I was very close to snapping and driving my fist into his fucking face.

"Guys, please stop this," Miriam said as she stepped between us. I felt bad that I was putting her in the middle of whatever this was between Kenji and I.

"Why did you text me to meet you here?" Kenji asked and it suddenly occurred to me that he wouldn't have come if someone hadn't invited him as he definitely wasn't in Sean's circle.

"I wanted you and Trey to talk and try to work this thing out," Miriam said and I silently thanked her even if it wasn't going good.

"Look Kenji, I know that you don't like that I'm gay but you need to get over it because I am and I can't change it," I told him but that served to only anger him more if the look on his face was any indication.

"You mean you don't want to change it after you've laid on your back and let Bear fuck you," Kenji said so harshly that I was stunned silent.

"Kenji!" Miriam said likely surprised as well.

"Is there a problem over here?" Bear asked as he surprised me by stepping up behind me and putting his big hands on my shoulders. The action really served to calm me down a lot and I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I took delight when Kenji flinched and took a subtle step backwards when Bear showed up.

"N-no there's not," Kenji said trying to maintain that malice he had toward me while trying unsuccessfully to hide his apprehension with Bear being there. He likely wanted to say more mean stuff but was aware that Bear would probably kick his ass or worse if he heard any of it.

"Bear, give us a few minutes," I told him. He looked at me deeply before pulling me to him and giving me a deep kiss. I looked at Kenji after we separated and predictably he has a look of distaste on his face like he had bitten into something that was sour and bitter at the same time. Bear then shot Kenji a hard glare before he left.

"Kenji, we were all friends and I want us to be that way again," Miriam said and again I felt sad for the position I was putting her in.

"No we weren't. We weren't friends. We were just a distraction for Trey when his real friends were off being more popular than him. You're just too stupid to realize that," Kenji said and it was one thing to say mean shit to me, but to do so to Miriam was going too far.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? You have no idea who you're talking to and I suggest you check yourself before I stomp your ass," I said before I could stop myself.

"Trey, just hold up," Miriam said pushing me back as I was advancing on Kenji. I happened to look around and I saw that we had the attention of all of my friends and several other people as well.

"But Miriam..." I tried but she stopped me.

"No," she said before turning to Kenji. "Now I'm not too stupid for anything," Miriam said and Kenji looked like he regretted what he'd said.

"Miriam, I'm sorry-" he started but Miriam cut in.

"You know what I see Kenji...I see you all alone because your too butt hurt over something that isn't even an issue. You're the one that wanted us to be separate from Trey's other friends and you're the one that wanted Trey to choose us over his friends that he had before he even met us. There was no need to even choose because we could all have been friends as I'm proving right now," Miriam said and while I think it was profound, Kenji obviously didn't agree.

"You think you're really apart of Trey's "inner circle"? The only reason that they even allow you to speak to them is because Bear's teammate, the only one who isn't really a fag by the way, decided to go slumming with the book nerd," Kenji said but that was all he got out before Miriam hauled off and slapped him so hard that I was surprised that she didn't knock any teeth loose.

"Fuck you. You know what, stay alone like the loser that you are. I tried to be a friend to you but you're more concerned with trying to hurt us so enjoy being all alone while I stay with my friends, including Trey," Miriam said before she stormed off.

"I guess you're happy now that you've taken Miriam away from me," Kenji said angrily being completely oblivious to his own actions in driving Miriam away.

"I didn't take anything away from you. I told Miriam not to abandon you but you didn't make it easier on you with all the shit you were saying about me. You drove Miriam away because you couldn't stand that she wanted to be friends with a fag like me, but that's it. She does want to be friends with me because she knows that I'm still the same person that I was before. It's just sad that you can't be as smart as I thought you were and get over this. Well Kenji, this is it. I wish you well and I hope that someday you can stop being so bitter," I said. All I got from him though was a glare so I just shook my head and walked away.

I thought that the rest of the day would be ruined by Kenji's behavior but Bear worked overtime to get me out of my funk and after a few hours I was having fun again. I was hanging with my friends and my classmates that were more or less accepting of me so I had nothing to be angry about.

There were always gonna be people like Kenji which made me think of Drake. I hadn't seen him and I didn't know if that was because he was too embarrassed to be seen, or if it was because Sean hadn't invited him. Which ever it was it was nice that I didn't have to deal with him too and I hoped that the prom would be the last time I'd ever have to lay eyes on Drake again.

Todd showed up with Jeremy but they stayed mostly by themselves although Tina, Bruce and Glen hung out with them. I looked over one time and I saw Bear and Sean and Carter talking to him and I smiled that my big guys could be so forgiving. It was strangely a sign to me that even though some things never changed, some things did and it gave me hope for the future.

THE WRAP UP

"Hey Trey, how are you doing?" Dr. Manning asked after he let me into his office. I wasn't scheduled for an appointment but I'd called and made sure he was free so I could come and see him.

"I'm doing really well," I told him. I'm sure he was shocked by the smile on my face.

"Well you look well. Have a seat," he said as he closed the door to his office. I did what he said and he sat in his chair.

"I came to tell you that Bear got back and we're about to leave," I told him.

"Well I should have guessed that Bear was back because you're looking really good," he said.

"Yeah, but I'm still working on being happy without him as I'll have to be without him for extended periods of time starting in the fall," I told him and I'm sure he was happy to hear that as I'd given him some push-back on that just after Bear had left.

"Well that's good. I hope to see you again after the summer. I want to check in and see how you are doing," he said. I appreciated it as I could tell that it wasn't just a thing he probably said to all his patients, or maybe it was but I chose to believe he meant it.

"Yeah I will," I said before I stood up and he did as well. "Well I don't want to keep you for long. I just wanted to stop by for a few minutes and thank you for helping me so much," I said before I extended my hand to him which he gripped and shook. He them walked me to the door.

"Take care of yourself Trey and if you need to, call me," he said.

"I'll do that," I told him. I then decided to get him one last time so I stepped up to him and pulled his glasses off. I was surprised he'd let me do so. I then stepped back and looked him over. "I think you're very attractive. If I wasn't with Bear and you weren't married, I'd give you a run for your money," I said before adding a wink and I was satisfied I'd been successful in surprising him. It took him a few seconds to recover.

"I'm still straight though," he said but he still looked slightly shaken.

"I don't think that would matter," I told him before I slid his glasses back on with him just standing there.

"Um," was all he said before I started laughing.

"Goodbye for now, good doctor," I said before leaving his office while still laughing at having finally gotten him. I could be a real stinker sometimes.

"So how's the doctor?" Bear asked after I'd gotten into the truck.

"He's good," I said not able to hide the smile I had.

"What did you do?" Bear asked and I was constantly surprised how well he knew me. It was a wonder I was able to hide anything from him.

"Oh nothing," I simply said.

"Uh huh," Bear said before he started his truck and pulled away. He grabbed my hand and pulled it to his thigh like always and he just rode in silence until I realized where we were headed, but there was no way we could be going there.

"Bear, where are we going?" I asked calmly even though I was far from calm.

"You need to take care of something before we leave," he said as he continued on toward where I knew we were going now.

"I don't think..." I said before trailing off because I didn't know what I was thinking.

"I think you're able to do this now. He can't touch you anymore. You have me and I have you and together, nothing can touch us. You are mine and you're gonna tell him that," he said with such strong conviction that I found myself wanting to jump him.

"Yeah," I said as I stared at my guy, my unbelievably handsome, strong, loving caring guy.

"I know I'm irresistible but don't you think you have more important things to focus on?" Bear said but he had that grin that I think I fell in love with the first time I saw it when we were just kids.

"Nope, nothing is more important than you," I said and his grip on my hand tightened and I felt a shiver run through him and I felt his dick twitch as it was very close to my hand but he kept his focus on the road.

We continued on with me mostly staring at Bear and him glancing at me every so often. Once he had to adjust himself and I wondered if it was because I was looking at him like I was. We finally arrived at the prison and I looked at him again and silently asked him if he was sure and he silently said yes before he leaned over and kissed me.

After our kiss I got out and headed into the prison again that I didn't think I'd ever see again. I went through the procedure which included one guard having to be told to let me in by a guard that had been there the first time. I wondered if they'd been told to let me in if I ever came here by Ivy. She and Zane seemed to have some pull to be so young in their careers, or maybe it had nothing to do with them.

I arrived to a room similar to the one that I'd been in the first time complete with the floor restraint. About 10 minutes later two guards brought Kent into the room. He looked delighted when he saw it was me but I was about to ruin whatever good mood he thought he was about to have.

"Hello Trey, how's things?" he asked and I could see he hadn't lost that infuriating smugness but I wasn't gonna let him have his fun this time so I put a smile on my face.

"They're good Kent," I said and he noticed my tone and the smile kind of threw him but he managed to mostly hide how much.

"I'm surprised you came back. There's no seconds though, I'm sorry," he said and I wondered if he'd been born with that smug look on his face.

"That's okay, I don't want any seconds of that. I actually prefer things that are more... filling," I said with as much innuendo as I could and I was rewarded with a frown from him.

"What do you want?" he asked finally sounding annoyed. I planned on making him more than annoyed before I left.

"I'm here to tell you goodbye," I said which seemed to make him angry before he brought out that smug look again.

"Goodbye..." he said trying to hold that same level of smugness but I could see a crack.

"Yeah. I'm done with you," I said and that crack widened a bit.

"Yeah right Trey. I'm in your head. You'll never be rid of me," he said and I finally saw him as pathetic.

"You're delusional because I haven't even thought of you in a long time. The only reason I'm here is because Bear thought I should see you before we left," I said and I saw that crack getting even bigger.

"Before you left? Where do you think you're going?" he asked trying to put on the façade but I could see through it now.

"You tried your best to hurt me, but you only ended up hurting yourself. I'm gonna spend the rest of the summer traveling with Bear, and your gonna be in here. Then I'm gonna come back and get ready and leave for college, and you'll still be in here. After I'm finished with college, Bear and I are gonna get married and live our lives together, and you'll still be in here. The operative theme of this is, you'll be in here. You will be in here for the rest of your life because you decided to try and teach me a lesson for having the nerve to be gay. Meanwhile I'll be out there living my life," I said to him and he exploded once I was finished.

"You fucking sissy fag cocksucker, you'll never be done with me! You'll never be rid of me because I'll be a part of you forever and there's nothing you can do about that!" he shouted but I just grinned that I had truly won against him. I then got up and walked over to stand next to him.

"You're wrong about all of that, except me being a cocksucker because I do suck cock really good, but I guess you do too after your time in here," I said adding a wink which riled him up even more.

"I've never-" he tried but I stopped him with a finger to his lips which surprisingly stopped him.

"Don't lie. I know what goes on in here. Speaking of which, you seem awfully determined that I never forget that you raped me. Maybe it's you that can't get me out of your head," I said as I stood close to him. I had a motive for doing so as I had a suspicion about him.

"You disgusting prick. I will-" he said before I silenced him by kissing him. I'd need to disinfect my mouth later but I was proving a point and that was worth it. As I suspected he didn't fight it after a couple of seconds. I finally stopped after about 10 seconds.

"I thought so. It seems it was you and not me that was messed up by our little encounter if that is any indication," I said gesturing toward his crotch where I could see he was hard.

"That's not..." he tried but he was all out of bluster now.

"It's okay Kent. It's fun on this side," I said making sure to add a sinister smirk. I then went and called the guard to let me out because I was done. "Oh yeah Kent, welcome to the dark side," I said before I left the room with him looking a bit dazed.

"What are you smiling about?" Bear asked after I'd gotten back in his truck.

"You shouldn't let me go places by myself. I'm not as nice as I thought I was," I responded still with the smile.

"What did you do this time?" he asked but this time he had a slight smile I hoped he'd still have after I told him what all I'd done.

"I fucked with his head, that's what. Drive and I'll tell you all the sinister details," I told him. He looked slightly wary but never lost that smile as he started the truck and pulled away from the prison.

"Is this it?" Bear asked after I'd given him my 4th bag.

"Yeah that's it," I said. I was then surprised by a sneak attack by my mother. Big stupid Bear just laughed and walked out of the house though.

"Oh, I don't want my baby to go," mom said as she gripped me in a crushing hug from behind.

"Mama, you're crushing me," I said as I struggled to breathe.

"Livvie, I think you're killing the boy," dad said but he didn't sound all that worried.

"I don't care. I just want to keep my baby here with me," she said still not letting me go.

"Blacking out here," I said as I struggled to get free. Dad and Zane then managed to pry her off of me. I took deep breaths after she let me go and I feared what would happen in the fall.

"Call me everyday, no every hour, no every minute," she said and I rolled my eyes.

"Why don't I just call you now and we'll leave the phone on the whole time I'm gone," I joked.

"Okay," she said after looking like she was thinking about it for a few seconds.

"Livvie, I can think of a number of reasons that would be a bad idea," dad said with a smirk.

"Yeah ma, you might hear something that'll scar you for life like your son on his-" Zane said before I stopped him by tackling him to the floor.

"That'll teach you to keep your mouth shut. Be thankful I didn't kiss you again," I told him as I stood over him.

"Damn, when did you learn to tackle so hard?" Zane said in a hoarse tone.

"I learned from the master," I said with a smile.

"Hey Cal, why such a long face?" dad asked. He had been sulking for a few days ever since Bear had come back. I had a theory but I wanted to wait for him to say something before I did anything.

"Trey's leaving and I won't see him for the rest of the summer," Calvin pouted.

"I'll be back dude," I told him.

"Yeah you will, only to leave for school," he said even more down. I looked over at our parents and they nodded.

"Well, how about you going with Bear and me?" I asked him. It took a few seconds before he realized what I said then he looked up with a hopeful look at me, then at our parents.

"It's fine with us, but you really will have to call us everyday," dad said and mom nodded in agreement.

"Really?" he asked with a big happy smile. They nodded again and he jumped up and hugged the both of them then hugged me. He was taller than me now and it pissed me off, but not really.

Bear walked over and picked up Calvin's bags that I'd slipped and packed for him and stashed behind the couch. He called Alex and told him where he was going. Alex wasn't too sad as he was supposed to be spending the summer with his dad which is another reason why Calvin was bummed.

We all three headed out to Bear's truck and I tossed my keys to Zane as I was lending him my truck for the summer. All three of us got hugged by dad and crushed by mom. Zane even got a hug in. My sisters bypassed me and ran to Bear and only hugged Calvin and I after Bear reminded them that we actually existed. They really needed to step up off my man.

After all the hugs were out of the way we piled into Bear's truck and waved as Bear pulled away. We went by and said a farewell for now to our friends before we hit the road. As we left the city I breathed a sigh of relief not because I was leaving home, but because I was finally getting out and seeing the world. We had no plans other than going to Disneyworld which Calvin immediately fell in love with.

I was just happy to be spending some extended time with my guy, even if my not so little anymore brother was along for the ride. I knew that this was just another step I was taking to shed that old Trey that had protected me for a time, but that I didn't need anymore. I had all I needed in Bear and I looked forward to what came next, even if it wouldn't all be good. As long as I had him, I would be fine.

THE END

Author's Notes:

Well here we are at the end of the long journey. There's a lot tackled in this chapter and I'll admit that while I know this chapter was going to be long, I had no idea going it it'd be this long. It's over 3 times as long as a standard chapter of this story.

Anyway, we see Bear's volatile reaction to Trey's rape, but his eventual understanding. He even comes up with the idea for Trey to go to see a therapist. Trey makes a slow recovery because of this and now he seems ready for what comes next, that is when he's not too busy being either annoyed, pissed or flirty with his threapist.

We also meet Trey's and Bear's maternal grandparents and they're completely different people. While Trey's grandparents love and accept him, Bear's grandparents, more specifically his grandmother doesn't approve of the relationship between the two guys, for more than one reason with the reveal that she doesn't want Trey with Bear because he's a guy and because he's Black. There's a threat lingering in the air and I wonder if anything will come of it. Hm...

The group of friends won't be all together with most of them going to the same college while Bear, Justice, and Veronica going to different colleges and Miriam and Dale each going to different colleges out of state. Will the group of friends be able to maintain their close friendship and will Bear and Trey's relationship be able to survive them being apart from each other for long periods of time?

Trey manages more healing by speaking to Clyde's sister and getting some insight into Clyde and why he'd saved him. Jeremy finally breaks his silence and he and Trey manage to get things settled and the student council is able to start a Gay and Straight Alliance at the school thanks to Jeremy and this leads to the reveal that fellow council member Bruce is gay and the shocker that Veronica is bisexual. Trey is also able to finally put things between he and Todd to rest and he ends up forgiving Todd as he sees his old self in Todd.

Prom and graduation come and prom proves to be interesting as Drake finally get's his comeuppance at the hands of Liberty and surprisingly Darcy so he got owned by both ex and current girlfriends. It's about time although Trey isn't all that happy about the way it happened which shows his strength of character.

The long journey of Trey's junior and senior year in high school has come to and end, but there's still a lot of story left in the life of Trey. Stay tuned to the further Chronicles of Trey.

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and forgive that I took so long. I hope the super extra long chapter makes up for the long delay. Send any comments to thestoryguy9783@gmail.com

Editor's Notes:

Boy that was a long one, hope you really enjoyed it. Looks like Trey, Bear and even Calvin are on a road trip off to Disneyworld. Now lets take a look at some of the things that happened in this chapter.

After finally telling Bear about the rape he had to tell his parents and also deal with counseling. But it all worked out in the end, Trey was about to heal and he could still have his fun time with Bear. The grandparents come to town and we learn that April's mother is a real racist and that she had the nerve to try paying Trey to break up with Bear. Is April right and she won't try doing anything to Trey like she threatened she would.

Jeremy has the idea to start a Gay & Straight Alliance at the school and hopefully other student in the future.

Bear and Trey are going to different schools for college, Trey will be closer to home, but what challenges await for the boys at there respective schools. Will Trey and Sean be roomies.

The Boys get a custom tattoo done and it is just perfect. Drake finally gets what he deserves, but is this really the end of seeing Drake. I really don't know what to say about Kenji though, his whole thinking of the situation is weird.

Lastly Trey is finally able to say goodbye to Kent for good and get confirmation that Kent was the one that got really messed up by their little encounter.

Once again hope you all enjoyed this extremely long chapter, but well worth the wait, now for the boys to move on to the college life. Be sure to send me and Nicky a email letting us know how you like it, you can reach him at the email above and me at jd.kaster1987@gmail.com.

Until the next chapter,

JDK