Wayward People

Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy!

Wayward People

Chapter Fourteen-"Mom, Dad....."

"Well, we made the front page news it seems," my mother spoke as she looked over the newspaper. "This on top of making the late night news last week."

Oh yeah. That.

It had been three days since the whole `Thanksgiving day' fiasco, and I'm sure everyone had a lot on their minds.

It was hard trying to wrap my head around what all had happened and the implications of it all, but it was definitely major for a small town like Wayward.

Anger issues.

That's what my mom thought Max had. Which was weird considering he'd never acted like he had anger issues before.

She just wanted to put her own label on the problem, which was a problem in itself.

From what I'd heard, Max had only attacked Andrew after he'd punched him first.

Apparently my brother had chosen the worst possible way to tell the girl he liked that just so happened to already have a boyfriend that he liked her.

And because of that, obviously Andrew had gotten upset and like the stupid idiot he was, caused a scene INSIDE the main hall.

Granted, he probably wasn't thinking clearly in a situation like that. But he never thought clearly Probably never thought at all.

Either way, because of it, Max had been on the news several times.

Someone else who'd been on the news several times was Evan.

Actually Evan and Sienna.

I'd been so horrified to learn that not only had Evan somehow gotten his hands on my journal but that he was also going to use what I'd written in it against me.

I actually felt like I was going to die then.

I was probably exaggerating, but that was how I felt.

Now I had to contend with the fact that Evan knew for sure that Pete and I were both gay.

Before he'd just been like the boy who cried wolf. Always calling us gay with no proof.

But he'd actually had proof on Thursday and was going to use it against me.

Thank god for Sienna though.

She saw right through her boyfriend and FINALLY kicked him to the curb.

That was probably the most surprising part.

The fact that she'd been smart enough to realize that Evan really was just as bad as he seemed when I so obviously hadn't been as smart was what made me realize that she really was a very smart person.

And a good friend.

I was stupid to allow myself to even begin to believe that Evan wanted to be my friend.

As usual, it was just another way to torment me.

I actually had come to the conclusion that Evan was actually extremely intelligent.

I'd always figured him to be this idiotic jock that doubled as the school bully.

But it was so obvious now that he was much more than that.

He was just a spiteful jackass who didn't give a shit about anyone but himself.

I saw that and now everyone else saw it as well.

I made sure to hide my notebook under my mattress this time.

I wasn't a Playboy kind of guy, so my parents had no reason to check under my mattress for any dirty magazines, let alone journals filled with their sons most intimate thoughts.

I'd actually considered throwing the thing away. The fact that Evan had read it had, quite frankly, made me sick.

But I had to remember that they were my thoughts and once I threw them away they were gone forever. I could never get them back.

And I didn't want to part with my thoughts.

Not even if my worst enemy knew what they were.

"What do you have to say for yourself Maxwell?" my mom asked.

I looked over at him.

"You have an explanation for why you embarrassed this family with a major shame-"

"Look I already told you, he hit me first," Max replied.

"And then you hit him back," my mother replied. "We can clearly tell there was no bigger man in that situation."

Stick the sharp twisted knife in and jab it around a little before ripping it out. That was what she was like sometimes.

"I've already apologized and did what I could-"

"No what you could have done was at least taken the fight outside if you absolutely HAD to fight, which you did not."

"Mom, he got hit in the face twice and punched all kinds of times in the stomach," I said, noting is black eye and bruised bottom lip. "Can't you just give him a break?"

My mother flashed me a glance that told me that I didn't want to be messing with her right now, but I couldn't help it.

I didn't want her messing with Max.

I knew that he only wasn't thinking clearly because of me for some reason.

I couldn't blame him for that.

"I have half a mind to have you talk with Reverend Thomas," mom spoke, sipping her coffee a little. "I don't understand what's been wrong with you boys lately. First you Michael threw Troy out of the house and now this Maxwell."

"Hun, maybe we'd better not think too hard about this," my dad spoke up. "I mean, it's not like this kind of thing happens all the time."

"I'm still trying to figure out why it happened in the first place," my mom replied. "I don't want this family to be torn apart."

She was going a little far in thinking those two incidents spelled the end of our family as we knew it.

There was no way something like those two things, however large scaled they were, were going to cause widespread turmoil and chaos for us all.

"Besides Evelyn, the boys need to get ready for church," dad continued.

Going to church this morning had been the furthest thing from my mind.

I had so much else going on up there' that making sure I get my weekly praise the lord' dose of holiness hadn't even crossed my mind.

My mother still looked upset, but I doubt she was gonna argue when it came to church.

"Alright fine," she replied. "The last thing we want to do after all this is to show up late to today's service."

I looked over at Troy, who kinda looked at a lost for words. Like he was caught up in something he didn't really want to be a part of.

"You can go guys," my dad spoke.

Troy and I got up slowly, but Max had zoomed up and out of there just as soon as the words had left his mouth.

He was already up the stairs by the time Troy or I had even reached them.

"Weird what happened, huh?" Troy asked as we started up the stairs.

I knew why it happened, but I wasn't ready to admit to Troy that I felt it was my fault.

"Your mom was kinda hard on him," Troy replied.

"Yeah well she's just like that," I replied.

"I can see that," Troy replied.

When we reached the top of the stairs, I'd looked over to where Max's room was, noting that the door to his room was shut firmly.

"Kinda makes you realize that even a small town has its fair share of problems," Troy replied.

I didn't say anything as Troy walked into his own room.

Yeah. Wayward had changed a lot since Troy had come, and it all had to do with me.

I wasn't thinking I was some curse or anything like that, but I knew that the majority of these problems centered around me somehow.

I was just going to have to do what I could to try and fix them.

If that was even possible.

I don't think anyone in my family had actually been looking forward to showing up in the church this morning.

My parents were probably embarrassed to be seen in public so soon after that whole Thanksgiving thing.

Or my mom, rather.

Max probably didn't want to be around Andrew or Sadie for that matter, after what had happened.

And I didn't want to be around Evan.

No one knew but me that he'd almost ruined my life last week.

And while Sienna had ultimately come to my rescue, I knew that given the type of person Evan was, he was far from done trying to ruin my life.

He was probably cooking up his next plan right now.

"Weird being here after what happened," Troy mumbled.

Troy, Max, my mom, dad and I were all standing side by side at the back of the church.

When some lady came up to my parents with a smile, trying to give her condolences for what happened, the three of them left shortly there after, leaving Troy Max and I standing at the back.

I was looking around at the faces of everyone, which seemed to be glued on the three of us.

It wasn't like I was immune from judgment.

After all, Evan had managed to call out my name on stage before he was interrupted, so people probably were wondering what my deal with him was.

"Can't you magically will this day to end so we can just forget about what happened?" Troy asked, moaning.

"I've tried, believe me," I replied. "Yet, here we are."

Here we were. Standing before most of our entire community.

I felt like we were under some kind of evil scientists' microscope, being picked at and examined like specimens.

It wasn't a great feeling.

The three of us started looking around for a place to sit.

We hadn't gone very far at all before we ran into Sienna and Pete, who were talking quietly to each other about something.

"Uh, hey guys," I spoke, cautiously.

I hadn't exactly explained to either of them what was going on that night.

They weren't stupid and knew that Evan was trying to hurt me in some way, but I didn't want them to worry about me, so I just hadn't told them.

And now the probably wanted answers.

"Hey," Pete replied, sounding ever so cautious.

I guess they were trying to tread as carefully as I was.

"Hey Troy, Max," Sienna spoke.

Max just looked up at the two of them before looking away.

"I'm gonna go find us a place to sit," he spoke quietly, before leaving us all.

We all just kind of watched him go, none of probably really knowing what to say.

"So everybody have a good weekend?" Pete asked, forcing a slight smile.

No one really replied.

"Oh...right,"

I mean how could we? What had happened Thursday night was permanently captured on film for all eternity. There really was no way we could forget about anything that had happened, or our involvement in any of it.

"How's Max doing?" Sienna asked.

"I wouldn't know," I replied, looking over to where he was sitting by himself in one of the back middle rows. "He and I don't really talk much anymore."

Whatever problems we'd been having before had only been escalated thanks to last week.

Whatever hope I had with fixing things with him was almost gone now.

"I think it's so stupid what happened," Sienna replied. "I mean, that whole thing didn't have to happen."

"It's obviously Beavis and Butthead's fault," Pete replied. "We all know how bad Andrew and Evan can be."

There was no reason to argue that statement.

What had happened was largely a result from their nefarious actions.

But I still knew that were I not involved, it wouldn't have turned out as worse as it had.

"I'm just glad I'm rid of Evan now," Sienna replied. "I can't believe I was idiotic enough to date him in the first place."

"It was him, Sienna," Pete replied. "Even a wolf in sheep's clothing seems appetizing when you dress him up a bit."

I guess that was the moment I should have been expecting to see Evan pop up, because he had.

"Well, you got your wish," he spoke. "The big bad wolf is here. In the flesh."

He was with Andrew and that was it. None of his usual `followers' were in sight.

Their parents' had all probably told them to stay away from him for now and since we were in church with their parents around, they actually had to act like they were good people and do what they said.

Come tomorrow at school, they'd be all around him, treating him like their god after what had happened.

And sadly, so would the rest of the school probably.

"I thought I broke up with you," Sienna spoke. "That means we DON'T need to be seen together."

"Let's get something straight here babe," Evan spoke, putting his arm around Sienna and holding her tight. "For the sake of the story it was me that broke up with you."

Sienna tried to get free of Evan but he was holding her just tight enough to prevent that.

"You're pathetic," Sienna growled.

"Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend of three years?" Evan asked.

It really had been that long? Man....

"We broke up," Sienna replied, breaking free from Evan's hold. "It's over."

Evan crossed his arms.

"Oh, you were serious about that?"

Sienna just glared at him.

"No biggie, there are plenty other more....well, succulent females in the sea," Evan replied.

"Just get away from me," Sienna snorted.

Evan smirked at Sienna.

"If you ask me-"

"NO ONE, asked you anything," Pete spoke up. "Don't make this my problem too."

I guess Evan knew where to cut his losses for the time being and didn't argue.

All of us just stood too appalled at his gall as he left.

"I used to date that?" Sienna rhetorically asked.

"Alright boys," my mom spoke, walking up to our group. "We should get seated."

"Hello Mrs. Carson," Sienna greeted.

"Oh, hello Sienna," my mother replied. "You look lovely this morning."

"Thank you, so do you," Sienna replied.

Troy and I parted ways with Sienna and Pete and followed my mom back to the seats that Max had picked out for all of us.

When we got there, I noticed there was a spot next to Max.

He looked up at me while I just stood there trying to debate whether or not to sit next to him.

"Uh..."

I didn't have to think about it any longer because Troy moved next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

I looked over at him briefly before he passed behind me and sat next to Max.

I guess I was relieved he'd done that for me.

But then....

I mean, I still had to deal with Max sooner or later.

"Ah, welcome everyone," Reverend Thomas started as I took a seat next to my father. "It's so nice to see your faces this lovely morning."

And I'm sure my mother would much rather be hiding hers.

"After an...interesting Thanksgiving last week, I think I speak for us all when I say that being here today is exactly what we all need."

I heard a lot of murmuring and saw a lot of nodding heads.

My mom looked uncomfortable again, though.

"Well, we won't dwell on the past," Reverend Thomas continued. "Let's get started."

That all went surprisingly smooth.

Reverend Thomas certainly had been sticking to his end of the deal he'd made with Troy by not bringing up homosexuality as much.

He of course still had to talk about it, otherwise it might cause just a bit of suspicion. Once you get accustomed to a certain type of spiel, you'd easily pick up on what was missing.

Still, he kept it to the bare minimum. It was only slightly offensive.

Normally my mother was up and gone even before Reverend Thomas finished the last prayer.

Or at least it seemed like that. She was Speedy Gonzalez, anyway.

But today, she was just sitting next to my father kinda looking like she didn't really know what to do.

Did she dare jet out of here like I used to do in order to avoid having to answer a barrage of questions regarding Thanksgiving night, looking rude in the process?

Or did she stay and put up with all the uncomfortable questions?

Either way, it was her problem and not mine.

My problem was my brother and how we didn't seem to be communicating much anymore.

This bothered me because I felt like I didn't even have a brother, somewhat.

Like I was missing something that I needed.

Not knowing what I had until it was `gone' I guess.

It was like I couldn't even be happy that I was finally not having problems with Pete, Troy, Evan, Reverend Thomas or all of the above.

I never would have thought the day I was problem free with them, I'd be problem full with Max.

I guess my mom wasn't getting to make her own choice because a group of the towns biggest gossips quickly walked up into the now empty row in front of us wearing their fake smiles talking in their also fake sympathetic voices.

My dad went off somewhere while Troy and I emptied the row and looked around.

"Is it always gonna be like this?" I found myself asking.

Troy looked around and let out a sigh.

"A scandal this big....you're lucky this is all that's wrong."

I was talking about me and Max, but I guess that made sense with what else was wrong.

"This little town finally has something to talk about, I guess," I replied. "And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Well it's like they say, if you refuse to accept the bad things, chances are that's what you're going to wind up getting."

Who said that?

Although, that certainly seemed to be true lately.

"Maybe I should start accepting the things for what they are, huh?" I spoke.

"You gotta do what makes sense," Troy replied.

What if I didn't know what made sense right now?

Then what?

I was starting to see that asking questions got you absolutely nowhere.

Or they got me nowhere rather.

I was questioning the way my life was starting to turn out and just when I think I found the answers, life throws me another curveball and I have more questions.

I couldn't help but think that if I had grown up like a normal teenager, did the things they normally did, then all of this would make sense and I'd be more equipped to handle all of it.

You had to admit, these were some pretty unordinary circumstances.

I mean, how many people do you know that take in a foreign exchange student that changes everything, or save their local church reverend from gay bashers?

This was my life, deal.

That's what someone would say.

Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly sure what my life was supposed to be.

I didn't want to go back to not having a life. Not having a purpose.

But I sure as hell didn't want any of the problems that were plaguing me lately.

I had been so consumed with my thoughts that I had pretty much tuned everything else out as I walked down the hallway in school the next morning.

Because of this, I'd failed to notice any of the signs on the walls or the excited chatters of the students I passed.

"Walking like a zombie?" Pete spoke, coming up behind me. "You must didn't get the doctors recommended eight hours of sleep you needed last night."

I hadn't even really noticed who it was until I looked up at him.

He was smiling at me, and looking at me expectantly.

Had he said something? I missed it.

"Ugh, why would they be throwing a dance when I don't have anyone to go with?" Sienna sighed, joining us and leaning against the lockers behind us.

"What?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard?" she asked. "There's a social coming up."

Sienna looked to her left and tore off a flyer from one of the walls, handing it to me.

I looked it over.

Sure enough, we were having a social.

Had we ever had them before?

I think.

Looking the flyer over though, if we had ever had them I was almost sure we never had to pay to get in before.

"Guess who's behind it all?"

I looked over at her.

"Oh come on.....right after that whole Thanksgiving thing?" I sighed.

That was fast.

A little too fast.

I mean, I knew my mom liked to plan all the town events, but I'd have thought she'd be taking this time to lay low until the Thanksgiving thing worse down.

"I think it's her way of showing the town that she isn't letting what happened last week stop her from throwing all these events,' Sienna replied.

Apparently so.

But a social?

"Why a social?" Troy asked, joining us.

I hadn't even known he hadn't been here before.

Man, I really was out of it.

"I don't know," Sienna replied. "Although I did notice we actually have to buy tickets. Maybe it's another charity thing."

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

It was still awfully fast.

I mean, she had to have had someone put the flyers up last night or early this morning.

When did she make them, if she even made them at all?

I don't know.

Although, once I got my mind off of that did I realize that I had another problem.

A social was a dance.

Where a guy asks another girl to go with him and you....do whatever it is you do at a social.

I was a guy sure, but what girl would go with me?

I still wasn't Jo Popular.

Besides, I was gay.

I had no interest in females whatsoever, so what would even be the point of me taking a girl?

I couldn't go with Pete of course.

But since my mom planned all this, I could bet she'd also be in attendance, playing chaperone or something.

It wouldn't be such a big deal if she thought I was still that same lonely loser that I was a few months ago.

I always got out of a lot of social activities that way.

But now she knew that I had friends.

Popular friends.

She probably figured I'd at least be able to snag some kind of date.

Either way, not going was out of the question.

What the hell was I gonna do?

"I've always thought school dances were just a way for the people in the office to figure out who was having sex with whom," Troy replied. "That way there wouldn't be any surprises at `that time of the month'"

"You're so cynical, Troy," Sienna replied. "Dances are fun. Or they were fun, when I had a date."

"Come on, Sienna," Pete spoke. "You don't really need Evan to have fun, do you?"

Sienna looked a little saddened for a moment.

Maybe breaking up with Evan hadn't fully set in for her.

She couldn't actually miss him....could she?

"You're right," Sienna replied. "I can so have fun without him."

"Good," Pete replied.

"That doesn't mean I'm going without a date, though," Sienna replied.

And then she suddenly turned to me.

"So what do you say Mike? Wanna go with?" she asked.

That took me by surprise for a few reasons.

For one, I kind of suspected that maybe she knew I was gay.

I mean, what straight girl asks a gay guy to a dance?

Besides that however, she'd asked in front of Pete, the person I should have been able to go with.

How would he feel about it? Especially if Sienna wanted to go with me because she was attracted to me for whatever out of this world reason.

It took every ounce of self restraint I had in me to keep from turning to Pete and asking him.

It seemed like the right thing to do, but was obviously the wrong thing to do in this situation.

"Um...."

"Mike...come on, the hottest girl in school asked you to the dance," this coming surprisingly form Pete of all people.

I did look over at him after he said that. He had a smile on his face and looked like he'd be completely okay with it.

"Uh-"

"You accept already," Sienna replied, answering for me.

Why was that so hard to do?

Pete had basically given me his permission and I still hesitated.

"Aren't guys usually supposed to ask the girl?" Troy asked.

"This is the twenty first century Troy," Sienna replied. "Feminine empowerment actually exist now."

"Not such a small town after all then," Troy replied.

I wonder if this happened a lot elsewhere.

Gay guys going to dances with girls when they had a boyfriend.

I just didn't know what was and what wasn't when it came to any of this stuff.

And now I had to go to some dance?

"They asked me why I believe in you," Evan spoke sarcastically as he joined our group, swaying from side to side.

He was alone this time.

"I told them to leave a message cuz I was hanging out with my girlfriend."

"I dismissed you," Sienna replied. "You don't get to `hang out' anymore."

"But do I still get to keep my membership card?" he spoke, sounding like he was asking a serious question.

I was starting to notice that Evan was showing up more and more lately.

And he was kind of different.

I guess when you realize someone is actually a lot smarter than you ever gave them credit for, things change.

Sienna just sighed, annoyed, and turned her back to Evan.

Pete and Troy sure were glaring at him, looking every bit like they were trying to keep from starting a fight.

"I'm shocked," Evan continued, as if anyone actually wanted him here. "I never realized what a bitch I had for a girlfriend.

"Okay, time to go," Pete spoke, starting towards Evan.

"Can't wait to get those fag hands around my big strong arms now can you Reynolds?" Evan spoke, backing away slightly. "You'll just have to wait your turn. I'm here for Carson here."

Now I was paying more attention to the situation with my name being brought up and all.

"Me?"

"No, time to go," Pete repeated.

"You don't want me to go, do you pal?" Evan asked. "I mean, we know so much about each other. It'd be a shame if I had to do something I'd regret."

I knew what he was talking about.

Unfortunately, he knew that I was gay.

And that Pete was gay and my boyfriend.

He probably also knew about the crush I had on Troy. Had, past tense. Although, he still was hot.

I was nowhere near ready for anyone to know about any of those things.

He had me, and we both knew it.

"Wait," I spoke, stopping Pete as he was about to grab Evan.

Pete looked over at me, surprised.

"What do you want?" I asked, sighing.

"Mike, you can't be serious!" Pete exclaimed.

"Just a simple little chat," Evan replied. "That's all."

I looked down.

I knew I had no choice really.

I was more afraid of what would happen were I not to comply.

"Don't go, Mike," Troy spoke.

I looked over at him, trying to keep the sadness I was feeling from showing in my eyes.

I just slowly walked over to Evan, who put his arm around my shoulders.

"Bye now," he spoke, as he started leading me away from everyone.

I was trying to think of the worst possible feeling on Earth so that I could better explain the way I felt walking down the hallway with Evan Parker's arm around my shoulders.

This was the worst possible feeling.

He obviously didn't mind being seeing walking along with me like the two of us were jolly good friends or something.

But I did.

"Evan, is there a point to this or are you just dragging me to that hot place underground you call home."

"Cute," he replied, before tightening his hold on me.

I was actually a little afraid.

More than a little afraid actually.

Evan was an extremely volatile person.

He acted on his thoughts, and that was never a good thing.

"You wanna know what you've done for my life, Carson?"

Not in particular but I knew he was gonna tell me.

"So far you've caused me to lose the most interesting friend I'd ever had, my girlfriend, and got me in trouble with my parents."

It was my understanding that Evan's parents were never around, so that was strange.

The other things were his doing entirely.

"Look, I WOULD be willing to let this all go," he continued. "But then I'd have to let YOU off the hook and you know what? I don't really like you that much."

Really?

"So I have to do something about it, don't I?" he replied, finally letting go of me.

He stopped and turned to me with his trademark grin.

"Wait a second....what?"

"Have a great day, fag," he replied, before he left me standing there wondering what he meant.

It could have meant anything.

Anything at all.

That was the problem.

How was I supposed to figure out what was coming?

I had spent most of the week with another problem on my problem list of them.

I knew that Evan hadn't threatened me for nothing.

But if something was coming, I had to wonder if it was coming in this lifetime.

I came home every day, nervously expecting to have to pack my stuff and be on the midnight train to hell because Evan had told my parents that I was gay.

But that never happened and I was hoping it would never have to.

I guess this whole thing with Evan was putting me a lot more on edge than I had been before with all the stuff with Max.

I just wished someone would tell me what to do already.

Because I certainly didn't know what to do.

With the social coming up, I had for once got to think about my problems rather than actually having to help plan it.

I guess mom didn't want Max or me to get into trouble and ruin things for her like I'm sure she probably thought we'd done already.

At least I hadn't had to worry about finding a date or any of that other trivial stuff.

Sienna had, of course, talked to me about proper date and dance etiquette, probably figuring I'd never been on one before.

But I wasn't worried.

Pete and Troy had both found a couple of girls from school to go with.

That actually bothered me a little when I knew it shouldn't have.

I guess I was a bit hung up on myself and thought they'd just not go with anyone.

Pete was my boyfriend and I still had the slightest crush on Troy so I kind of saw him as `mine', however stupid that might have sounded.

I had actually pushed the whole `social' thing to the back of my mind.

All week long, until today, when I walked into the building and saw everything all done up `social style'.

I was almost shocked.

It was like I didn't even know there was a dance.

And now it was actually time to do this whole dance thing.

"Hey, look who looks like a million bucks and then some," Troy spoke, standing at my doorway.

I was standing at my mirror, trying to adjust the stupid tie Sienna had practically forced me into wearing with the suit she'd also forced me into wearing.

"Thanks," I grumbled, still working with my tie. "Now if I could just get this stupid thing around me."

"Here, let me help," troy spoke, walking over to me.

He took the untied tie from my hands and started working with it.

"All these years of cutting your Sunday morning sleeping short and you still don't know how to tie a tie," he smiled.

"In my defense, we don't always wear suits," I replied.

Troy just shook his head as he continued.

"So you and Sienna huh?" he asked. "You think she's into you now?"

Probably not.

"I don't know," I replied.

"I guess it makes sense," he continued. "I mean, I can see what she sees in you."

I was suddenly feeling uncomfortable but not because of him.

It was because of me.

I had a boyfriend who I was almost ready to say I loved, but I here I was feeling uncomfortable to be around another guy.

I couldn't....be around him like this....

Or else....I'd start to...

I noticed that he was done tying the tie and now we were just staring at each other.

We were so close.

Close enough for me to feel the heat of his breath on my face.

It was a strange feeling.

A feeling I liked.

I was getting too caught up in it.

"Michael!"

I jumped back a little.

My mother had called me from downstairs.

I looked over at Troy who suddenly looked just as uncomfortable as I'd felt.

I just stared at him before he looked away and over at Max, who come out of his room next door and stopped at my open doorway, staring at the both of us.

I looked away from both of them before looking back into the mirror and straightening my tie as if it needed to be straightened.

"I think uh....I think your mom-"

"Right," I spoke, cutting him off.

I moved past him and Max and headed down the stairs to see what she wanted.

"Oh there you are honey," my mom spoke moving past me and heading into the kitchen.

"Hun, I told you it was in the car," my dad spoke, sharply dressed in a nice suit.

"You'd think she was looking for her missing eyeball or something," Sienna spoke, surprising me from behind.

I turned around.

"Wow....you look great."

Sienna looked herself over.

"Thanks," she replied. "So do you."

I hadn't even heard the doorbell. I guess she must have knocked.

"So I guess we're doing this all backwards then," I said. "You asking me to the social and you coming here."

"I figured you could use a little push," Sienna replied. "We both know confidence isn't your strong suit."

True, true....hey!

Seconds later, Max came down the stairs followed by Troy.

"Hey Sienna," Troy spoke.

"Hey Troy, Max," she replied. "You guys look nice."

"Well I always look nice," Troy spoke, looking himself over.

"Shut up," Sienna laughed.

"Alright is everyone ready?" my mother asked, looking through a purse I assumed was new. "We don't want to be late."

"It's just a school dance Evelyn, don't rush em now," my dad spoke.

"There's the couch," my mother spoke. "Introduce yourself to it."

That shut my dad up and had the rest of us trying to keep from laughing.

"Okay, let's go then," she said, heading towards the door.

I looked over at Max, wondering whether or not I wanted to say anything.

Whether or not I should have said anything.

When he just walked right past me, I got my answer.

"Come on Mike," Sienna spoke, pulling me towards the door.

This was still Wayward, Nevada, probably the smallest town on Earth.

So I guess I shouldn't have been expecting the décor of the gym to blow my mind.

Don't get me wrong, it was nice.

But it wasn't exactly spectacular.

"Well, glad to see we had a great turnout," my mother said, looking around at everyone once we arrived.

It was true that most of usual faces were here.

I guess they were over Thanksgiving after all.

"We should probably go say hi to Principal Vanderbilt," my mother said.

My father just kept looking around until he noticed my mom was staring at him.

"Oh, you want me to come with you."

"Just come on."

That took care of my parents.

Now what was I supposed to do, not that I needed them to or not to have fun anyway.

"What do you wanna do first?" Sienna asked.

She, the girl who'd been to these kinds of things before, was asking me, the guy who hadn't.

"We could dance," I suggested.

Some kind of current pop song was playing in the background, but I was unfamiliar with what the MTV youth was listening to these days.

Yuck.

That makes me feel old.

I was sixteen!

"Ugh, come on," Sienna spoke, pulling me out to the dance floor.

We danced for a little while.

Or, she danced and I kinda just tried to do what the other guys were doing.

Dancing seemed pointless to me.

Why some people said others couldn't was beyond me. It all looked stupid.

"Okay, that wore me out," Sienna replied.

"Well, do you wanna sit down?" I asked.

I was hoping she'd say yes because I was feeling a bit exposed all on this dance floor like this.

"Actually, I'd love something to drink."

Right. The guys were supposed to bring the girls something to drink.

At least that I could do the right way.

"Okay," I replied. "Be right back."

I navigated my way through all the other dancing couples over to a table set up that had a bunch of different things on it.

I located the area with drinks and headed towards it, not really paying attention to much else.

I had just grabbed a cup and put some ice into it when I noticed Evan sitting in a chair across the table.

He actually looked terrible.

Like he hadn't gotten any sleep in a few days or something.

I knew that wasn't it because as much as I hated to admit it, I saw him every day, including earlier.

Earlier, he looked fine.

It had to be something else.

"Carson!"

He'd practically screamed it, although no one really noticed over the music.

I looked around anyway though.

The thought of being near him....

I went back to what I was doing even as he was standing up.

"Out for the ol drink of the day eh?" he spoke. "Gotta say, those particular brands of refreshment don't quite pack as much of a punch as a great American Jack Daniels."

I looked at his cup.

He was drunk.

I decided the best thing to do, the best thing for everyone, would be to just ignore him.

One of those `ignore him and maybe he'll go away' type of deals.

"You know what man?" Evan started, making his way around the table to get to me. "I think...I think you're like the fucking greatest guy ever. You know what I mean?"

He was leaning off of me while I still just tried to ignore him.

"You're like all smart and stuff....everybody loves you huh?"

"You're drunk," I mumbled.

"What? No, no I'm not drunk..."

When he said that, he'd threw his hands in the air, including the one with the beer in it, which had gone up into the air and spilled all over the person who'd just so happened to be standing behind him.

Principal Vanderholt.

Principal Vanderholt turned around, looking his suit over, which was now dripping with beer.

It was easy to tell that Evan hadn't exactly been drinking a school approved beverage.

"Evan? Have you been drinking."

"Principal Vanderholt! Another great guy!" Evan exclaimed, kinda laughing now. "No sir, I have....have not...have been not......I don't know."

I looked over at Principal Vanderholt, who was frowning.

"Evan, what do you think you're doing drinking on school grounds?"

"Who's drinking?" Evan asked. "You see any beer in my hands? No, because it's all over your shirt."

I guess he'd finally gotten on his last nerve because he grabbed a firm hold of Evan and started him towards the door.

"I think we need to have a little chat-"

"No, no get your hands OFF ME!" Evan shouted, doing a 180 and punching Principal Vanderholt square in the face.

This had in turned caused the music to stop playing and everyone to focus their attention on what was going on over here.

I so didn't want to be over here right now.

"What's going on?" my dad asked, rushing over to me.

My mom was helping Principal Vanderholt up.

Moments later came Sienna, Troy, Pete even Max.

"Oh right, everybody loves the gay guy," Evan spoke aloud. "I'm over here drowning my sorrows away and I get no sympathy."

"You're drunk-"

"I'm not fucking drunk you fucking homo!" Evan shouted, cutting Pete off.

It was almost deadly silent in the room.

I so did not like this all right now.

"Son, I think you're gonna need to just calm down-"

"Oh, you tell me to calm down?" Evan asked. "And speaking of son's, did you know yours has been fucking around with the guy next to him right now?"

"Oh my god," I heard Sienna mumble.

There were a lot of murmurs and mumbles throughout the whole crowd.

Things were going downhill, fast.

My mom and dad were looking over at me while I tried steadying my breathing.

"No, he's just drunk," Sienna spoke. "And bitter I broke up with him."

"Let me tell you a little something, sweetheart," Evan started.

"This has gone on far enough," my mother spoke, cutting Evan off.

Evan looked up at him.

"I want you to call your parents," my mom spoke.

Evan chuckled before responding.

"Hello, did you not hear a word I just said?" he replied. "Did any of you hear what I just said? We have a fag among us."

"Get the car," my mom told my father.

"I mean, where's Channel Five when you really need em huh?"

My dad headed past us and grabbed Evan to go pull to the car.

My mother walked over to me and pulled me away a little.

"You don't need to worry about this, sweetheart," she said. "Obviously he's not thinking. Your father and I will take him home."

"No, mom-"

"I want you to stay here and enjoy the rest of your night."

I don't see how on Earth that was even possible now.

"Everyone," my mother started, turning away from me. "I'm sorry about that little inconvenience. Obviously he was intoxicated and not thinking clearly. But I can assure you all that my son and his friend are not homosexuals and this has all been one big misunderstanding."

Everyone was still silent.

It was hard to gage any kind of reaction from silence.

"If you could please, Richard," my mother signaled for the D.J. to start back up with the music.

Once the music started, so had much of the chatter.

People eventually stopped staring at me and started getting back to what they were doing before.

"I'll see you at home sweetheart," my mom said, kissing me the top of my head. "Call us if you need a ride home."

I smiled a little at her smiling.

That was it?

That was Evan's big plan?

To out me to the world?

Kind of stupid to do without evidence.

Evidence which he'd never get his hands on ever again.

I guess I could relax a little more.

Evan was gone and the threat he made wasn't looming over my head anymore.

"Hey," Sienna spoke, putting her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry about that. He's such an asshole."

That he was.

But he was gone now.

We didn't have to worry about him.

"Now....about that drink?" she spoke, smiling a little.

I just smiled back at her.

"Oh but Sienna don't you remember? I'm the female this week."

Sienna just laughed.

I looked over at Pete who winked at me.

We both knew we'd dodged a bullet.

Finally something I could actually be Thankful for.

Troy looked a little caught off guard but when he smiled over at me, I knew he was okay.

Max still looked....resilient.

But he was a problem I'd deal with later.

Tonight, I was just interested in having a little fun for once.

"Have you ever seen anything more hilarious than Mr. Appleby's dancing?" Troy laughed. "I mean, I kinda think if you weigh that much, dancing is the last thing you need to be doing."

Putting aside that little hiccup with Evan, I'd had an amazing time tonight.

I knew I was secure enough in my relationships with my friends that they'd support me in the hardest times.

And my parents still believed that I was their perfect oldest son who was now someone they could finally be proud of.

I liked my life.

Max of course, went straight up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Troy must have found that funny because he started laughing and it was contagious enough to cause me to start laughing.

"Is it weird to be use to something like that now?" he asked.

"Probably not," I replied.

I laughed about it, but I still wanted to fix things with my brother.

I was hoping that soon, I wouldn't have to see him go straight to his room anymore.

I was looking forward to actually talking with him again.

"Ugh, I gotta take a shower," Troy spoke. "I'm probably fused to this suit now."

I laughed as the two of us walked up the stairs.

Troy grabbed a towel, went straight into the bathroom, shut the door and started the water.

I noticed the light to my room was on.

My door was shut but the light was on.

I didn't remember leaving it on.

"Weird," I found myself mumbling.

I walked over to my door, which was slightly open and pushed it open enough for me to get inside.

What I saw was not something I'd ever wanted to have to see.

My mother sitting on one end of my bed, crying while my dad sat on the other end, looking down at something.

Not just any something.

A journal something.

My journal.

The journal that I'd hid under the mattress of my bed.

And suddenly, life wasn't so perfect anymore.

Suddenly, I had explaining to door.

I let out a sigh and shut the door behind me.

"Mom, dad....."

YahooGroup (w/ advanced chapters of the story): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/

Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com

Copyright 2005