Geeks
Chapter Eighteen
By Paul Schroder
I'm trying to put things into perspective as I head downstairs to my own hall locker. I can't waste time though, as the five- minute warning bell only gives me enough time to grab my book and folder from the locker and rush to first period English.
We have a pop-quiz this morning and the teacher tells us to clear our desks while she hands out test sheets, face-down.
"Okay, you have fifteen minutes to do this multiple choice test. Turn your sheets over and begin."
The test is easy and I'll bet I haven't spent two minutes, in total, checking off the answers. I'm free to let my mind run over this morning's occurrences.
God ... I'd been so happy to see those two imps, the geeky twins, standing at their locker. I was seeing them in a whole new light as I walked towards them. I had just found out from Jer's little brother, and my own brother, that Michael and Jeremy are gay... shoot, not only are they gay but they're boyfriends! They actually gave my brother permission to tell me about them - can you imagine that?
Anyway, I call them twins because there's so much physical resemblance between them. They easily number among the shortest people in the seventh grade - which, obviously, puts them at the way at the bottom of the totem pole for grades eight and nine.
If they're in the lower percentile for height, then they're also in the top percentile for intelligence. This alone allows them to walk and move with so much self assurance and confidence that it belies their small stature. They seem to lend one another sustenance; they draw nourishment - one from the other - and return it in equal proportions. People who are aching inside, who are lonely, seem to be drawn to them like a magnet. It's like some of us are off-brand batteries that turn towards these Energizer Bunnies for a current boost. You can't help but to feel jump-started just from watching them and some of their antics.
They both have mops of black hair, that generally could stand a good brushing, and equally piercing brown eyes. If it wasn't for Jeremy's big, horn-rimmed glasses you might have trouble telling them apart. Jeremy - the joker - is always ready with a grin and a quick witted reply. Michael - who wears his emotions like a piece of clothing - is often the shy one until he gets to know you.
After a bit of emotional fumbling, we managed to break the ice and joked a bit about us all being gay. This bit of happy camaraderie only lasted until I noticed Sammy Smith standing beside us. His being there made me nervous as hell, but it was what Sammy said to us that made me want to turn inside out and disappear up my own poopy-hole. He said he knew we were the ones responsible for his new haircut! Oh-oh! Talk about being scared to death! I'd suffered enough at this guy's hands to know that he's capable of some mean, nasty stuff. I had visions of him grabbing one of the boys by the ankles and using him as a club to beat the other two of us to death!
But the other things Sammy said just completely blew me away! He told Michael and Jeremy that I was lucky to have them as friends. He said they were better friends to me than he knew how to be. Then he said he deserved what happened to him - imagine that? Everything he said was just one surprise on top of another. The biggest surprise was when he apologized for the way he'd been acting towards me since I came to the new school. He promised it would never happen again.
By now I was over my fear of getting stomped on or worse. Sammy's eyes had started to tear up and he looked in danger of losing it. My own emotions were all over the place: they had started with fear and finally settled on bewilderment. He'd reminded me of what good friends we'd been in Middle School and he implied that something had happened to change him. He didn't say what it was, though: he said it was too embarrassing to talk about. Then he turned around and walked away cuz he seemed to be on the verge of crying.
It was the last thing that Sammy said - before walking away - that set a whole new batch of emotions whirling around in me. He said if I wanted to know why he had turned into such a shit, I would have to ask my friends. That comment didn't register on me right away: it took a few minutes of reminiscing about old times before it sunk in. But then I felt this horrible sense of betrayal! My two friends - the boys I had just reached a new and higher level of friendship with - were somehow in cahoots with my worst enemy! I felt like my feet were in quicksand. Was there no-one that I could trust? How did these guys swing onto Sammy's side so suddenly? More importantly, why would they want to?
So this is the crap that's whirring through my mind as I sit at my desk, waiting for the teacher to call an end to the test and gather up our papers. I'm not any closer to adding things together or drawing any conclusions - I'm just sitting here sinking further and further into depression. And that is to be my mood all the way up to third period when I meet with Jeremy in gym class.
And speaking of Jeremy, let's see what's on his mind...
I've been concerned about Ty all day, waiting for gym class and the opportunity to talk him. When he left Mic and me at our locker at the beginning of school, he wasn't a happy camper. I have the feeling that he may believe Mic and I have betrayed him somehow. God, I hope not: we worked so hard to set this up. I don't want Ty to feel like we can't be trusted. I mean, he'd just barely found out that we're gay and we just barely found out the same thing about him. Now it would be awful if our friendship ended before it even had a chance to get off the ground.
Our meeting with Sammy this morning was a setup, of course. Me and Mic and Sammy and the other boys at Trevor's house came up with a plan. The first part had to do with getting Tyson to open up and admit that he was gay; that was Kyle and Scully's job. Poor Scully, he looked like he was walking up the steps to the gallows when he went home with Kyle, he was so nervous. I told Kyle to keep an arm around him the whole way so he didn't bolt and run. Everything worked out wonderfully, though, and those guys did get Ty to open up. We also gave the boys permission to tell Ty about Mic and me, you know, about our being boyfriends. The boys said he was happy and relaxed and feeling good when they left him to take Scully home. And he was still that way when he joined us at our locker this morning. But that didn't last long, I'm afraid.
Part two of the plan was having Sammy give Ty his little rehearsed speech. It went off real well until Sammy started ad-libbing. He told Ty that he'd have to ask me and Mic why he was too embarrassed to say why he'd been such a big bully. Whoops... wrong thing to say to someone with Ty's smarts! Ty quickly became suspicious that there was some kind of a set-up and that me and Mic were in league with the devil, so to speak.
If Sammy had just stuck with the story as rehearsed, then Ty would have been a lot less confused now. But I guess we were lucky to have the dumb jock do as well as he did! Oh well... time to give some reassurances and soothe some ruffled feathers, I suppose.
I walk into the boy's locker room to get dressed out for gym. I don't suppose I need to tell ya how nervous I'm feeling right now. There's the normal joking and yelling around me as guys get dressed and head out to the gymnasium. I glance down to the end of the room where Sammy has his locker. His jock friends are standing around him and goofing with each other. Sammy looks like his mind is far away from whatever they're saying. I guess that's understandable: his thoughts are probably on Tyson and the possibility that he's made a forever enemy.
Glancing around further, I spy Tyson by his own locker. He's nearly dressed and has a somber expression on his face. He isn't looking left or right, just putting his clothes away and taking care of business. He and I both close our lockers at the same time. He needs to walk past me in order to leave the locker room and so I wait for him to approach. He looks at me as he draws near and his expression puts a sad lump in my throat. He looks like his puppy just got ran over - and he's looking at me as though I were that puppy and he was going to have to learn to live without me! That scares me for a minute - I'm thinking that if I blow this explanation then I've also blown my chances to maintain a friendship that I truly don't want to lose.
I give him a small, warm smile and say...
"Let's go get roll-call over with and then find a seat in the bleachers, Ty."
His answer is just a nod of his head. I glance back down to the end of the room to see Sammy watching us. When he sees me looking his way he silently mouths the word "please". I give him a thumbs-up and a nod - assurance that I don't really feel inside.
After roll-call, while Sammy and the other co-captains are busy picking players, Ty and I edge over towards the bleachers. These bleachers are the collapsible kind and have been folded up against the wall to give more space to the gym floor. The two of us sit on the floor and use the bleachers as a back rest. Before I can even begin a conversation, Ty comes out with...
"I've been thinking all day about the stuff that was said at yours and Mic's locker this morning. And I keep coming around to something that I don't even like thinking about. I want ya to tell me Jeremy, truthfully, if Sammy offered you and Mic some kind of immunity if you helped him. And... I want to know if ya think he's trying to pull a fast one on me! Does he have some sorta plan to get back at me cuz of his hair? Is he letting you and Mic get away with it so he can use you guys to get to me?"
He rushed all these sentences out and it's so obvious the sort of mental and emotional turmoil he's in. Well, I'd been thinking about this stuff all day too. And I pretty much figured that this might be his response. He's got a reason to be paranoid about Sammy: after all he's been the primary target of Sammy's abuse since school started. I just turn my head towards him and tell him...
"Look at me, Ty." And I wait until he lifts his eyes up from the floor and looks into my face - his own face reflecting his apprehension.
"Mic and I really care about you, Ty. Heck, we even kind of adopted your little brother. We think you're family... and there's no way we're gonna turn against ya just to save our own skin. How the hell could we live with that?"
Ty searches my eyes for a few seconds, trying to get a feel for the truth of my statement, and then seems to visibly relax. He even gives me a small smile and head nod in return.
"I kinda thought that was the case, Jer. But I wasn't sure. But you guys have obviously hatched something up with Sammy... and I guess I just needed to be sure of your motives. That only leaves me with one conclusion, then... somehow you guys think that there's more to Sammy than just a big bully. I saw how emotional Mic got when I asked you guys if ya thought Sammy was being sincere. But then, that guy would bawl at a goldfish funeral! So now I guess I'm ready to hear the whole story."
God, that comment about Michael just brought back a memory rush. Me and Mic and the Skull were in Mic's bathroom and getting ready to launch "Orangy" on his last journey. Mic really shouldn't try keeping pets, ya know. The water in a goldfish bowl should at least be transparent! Anyway, me & Skull were trying hard to maintain some solemn dignity when Michael said his farewells and flushed the john. He was a little weepy but I thought he held up admirably. I wanted to make barfing gestures at Scully when Mic said a eulogy, but I resisted. After all, we were there as emotional support. When we came out of the bathroom Mic's sister said, "what are you cryin' about now, ya baby?" That kinda hit me wrong so, being the smart ass I am, I replied...
"He's upset with me. He doesn't think I shoulda put that miniature camera into your vibrator. The pictures were worth it, though!" Boy... I got in a hell of a lot of trouble over that, even after she found out I was kidding. Hell, I didn't even know she had a vibrator - but I didn't let her live it down either... har, har!
But now Ty's ready to hear my story and so I give him a big grin and a nod of my head. Then I proceed to use up most of the class time outlining everything that's happened since the day Sammy's little brother opened up and told us his brother was gay.
When Ty hears the part about Sammy's gay confession to his little brother, he just nods his head - he doesn't seem very surprised. I ask him about that and he says...
"When Sammy and I were friends in Middle School, I sensed that he had stronger than usual feelings for me. Of course I had the same feelings for him. That's why I was so anxious to get here to Junior High and see him again. My feelings about him hadn't changed and I was sorta expecting that his hadn't, either. That's why I was so hurt when he turned against me and acted like he thought I was a piece of dirt."
I sigh and then go on with my story. I tell him how Sammy had shown up unexpectedly at Trevor's house and caught us all necking in the pool... in the nude of course. And when I mention that Trevor's boyfriend just happens to be Sammy's little brother, I watch Tyson's eyes get big and his mouth turn into a little "o" shape. But he doesn't interrupt my story. Something else does, however, and we hear...
"Fer Crise sake, Sammy! Was all your ball playin' ability in your hair, or somethin'? Now that your bald your playin' like some kinda geek!"
And indeed he has been. While talking with Ty I'd looked out occasionally to watch the topic of our conversation in the midst of his game. He spent as much time looking in our direction as he spent concentrating on what he was doing. He was playing awfully bad! And he didn't seem to care either. His head obviously wasn't in that basketball game.
"Yeah... your right," he answers the jock. "My head ain't in this." And then he turns to the kid that made the smart remark and says...
"Maybe I could concentrate a little better if I used your head for the ball and try for a slam dunk... dipshit!"
That shuts the other jock up and nothing further is said about Sammy's poor concentration. But Sammy's playing ability doesn't improve one bit more during the entire class period.
Finally, I get to the part in the story where Sammy told us why he had turned into this huge bully and was picking on Tyson.
I'm not able to say it entirely dry-eyed and Ty isn't able to listen entirely dry-eyed, either.
I tell Ty some of the things that Sammy has unburdened on us. He'd said he'd had a crush on Tyson when they were in grade school together. Then, he said, when he got to Junior High and left Ty behind, those feelings started to ease off. Puberty came along and smacked him pretty hard. That's when he knew for sure that he was gay. He hated the very thought of it and wanted nothing to do with it. He was tryin' to force himself to like girls. So he pretended to be this big, macho ladies man. He even had sex once but found he couldn't perform unless he thought about a guy. He became angry with himself and the world in general. And then who shows up at school but Tyson Samuels - and Sammy saw that he was older, taller and ten times as cute.
I stop the narration here for a bit cuz Ty's face just lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler. He turns to me and says...
"He really said that, Jer - he said I was ten times as cute?"
"Gosh, Ty, he said a lot more than that about ya. He said he's still in love with ya!"
Ty has this surprised look on his face and he glances towards Sammy in mid-court. The look hasn't gone un-noticed because Sammy has been staring our way most of the time. As soon as Ty glances in his direction, Sammy puts his hand on his heart. Ty's eyes cloud up immediately and he turns back to me. He's blinking his eyes and trying to maintain his composure.
"So... if he's supposed to be in love with me, how could he treat me like that?"
"Well ... he said that every time he saw you in a hallway it drove him crazy. I can't pretend to understand it entirely. I know Michael had a real hard time accepting that he was gay. Oh, not to the extent that Sammy has. But I think that when Sammy was picking on ya, he was really picking on himself. I think he really hated himself and wanted to punish himself. Also, I think he believed that if he could get you to hate him then he could somehow fall out of love with ya. But all it did was make him hate himself even worse - and likely love you even more. Myself, I think he was probably pretty close to doing something stupid, like taking a buncha pills or somethin'."
"So why now? What's changed? Doesn't he still want to be straight?"
I expel a lung full of air as I gather my thoughts. Then I tell him...
"I guess it finally came to a head when his brother teased him about his new hair cut. Sammy flew off the deep end and took a pair of dog clippers to his little brother's head! Later, he said it wasn't about his brother teasing him, it was because his brother was gay and didn't have any problems accepting the fact. Sammy didn't know how he could be so nonchalant about it - like it was no big deal. His own gayness was such a huge deal in Sammy's eyes. A couple days later Sammy was feeling really remorseful about what he did to Marc. He broke down in front of him and told him everything. And that was when he realized that he was always going to be gay and that he wasn't ever going to change."
Ty has to wipe his eyes every few minutes. I stop talking long enough for him to catch up emotionally to everything I've said to this point. Then I go on.
"That's not all, either. Sunday morning Sammy actually told both his parents he was gay!" I look over to Ty, a grin on my face, and say, "And do ya know that his parents weren't even surprised? All they said was that it was about time he finally told them. Then they had a cry together when Sammy told them what had been going on in his life. It was that same morning, yesterday in fact, that he went over to Trevor's house to tell his brother about it. And that's when he caught us all playing kissy-feely with our respective boyfriends."
I let out another breath of air and say...
"And that, my friend, brings us pretty much full circle. I don't know what else I can tell ya."
Ty is silent for a moment and then he says, "Well I do, dingus! You can tell me how this plan got hatched and why it seems to involve about five people that evidently know I'm gay!"
I give him my biggest grin. The fact that he calls me dingus means he's starting to come out of his shell a bit and so I decide to tease him. I start counting on my fingers. And when I run out of fingers I pull a sneaker off and a sweat sock and start counting on my toes.
"What the hell are ya doing?" he asks.
"I'm just tryin' to remember how many people were involved in playin' cupid for you two is all," I grin at him.
His head gives a little jerk and his eyes pop open!
"Oh... ya damn liar, Jeremy! You don't know that many gay people... do ya?" And he looks incredulously at me.
I can't stifle my giggle as I shake my head no. "Lets see," I continue, "everyone that was at Trevor's swimming party was in on the plan. That means it was me and Mic, then Trevor and Marc, and of course your brother and Scully. And let's don't forget Sammy."
Ty glances down at the floor and a sad look comes over his face. "That means all that stuff Sammy told me was just some kinda prepared speech, then, wasn't it?"
"It may have been, Ty, but that doesn't mean he didn't mean it. Sammy made the whole thing up himself, none of us added anything to it. He said he didn't trust himself to just talk to ya: he was afraid he'd get nervous and back out if he didn't know what to say in advance. Besides," I add, "the dumb jock ended up ad-libbing and gave himself away - didn't he?"
Ty looks up and grins at that last remark. Then he says, "So that means that all those people, including those little kids, know I'm gay?"
"Yeah... but don't go worrying about it, bud. I mean no-one's gonna be writing your phone number on a bathroom wall or nothin'. Cheeze... now you know as much about those other guys as they know about you. Trust works two ways, ya know."
"Yeah... I guess you're right. I've never met Sammy's little brother, though, or his boyfriend... what's his name... Trevor?"
"Yeah," I respond, "and Trevor is such a funny little dude. He's English, and he sounds just like the announcer on the BBC news. I don't know how they can shape their mouths like that to make all their vowels sound so proper. I'd have a constant cheek ache if I lived in Britain... har, har, har!"
Ty isn't really listening to me, though. I have the feeling he's just making small talk to avoid making some kinda decision about his feelings. I think he wants to forgive Sammy but at the same time his hurts go awfully deep.
"Hey, Ty," I say, quietly, "just give it some time. No one says ya have to be some kinda saint and do the instant forgiveness thing. Besides, if I were you, I'd put the guy through some hoops to make him earn your trust. I know he's been through a lot and put himself through a lot, but... he's put you through a lot, too. You've earned the right to be a little leery. However, if you've still got even a little bit of feeling for the person he used to be, ya might want to bide your time and see if that same person isn't still inside there somewhere."
"Besides..." I tell him with a big grin, "if things work out, ya got somethin' ya can hold over his head for the rest of your lives. You can still have him sayin' "Yes, dear" and "No, dear" when you're both ancient and in your rockin' chairs. Hell... you can even make him stand behind you and rock ya!"
We're both starting to giggle over that mental picture and Ty's looking a bit like his old self. I've noticed that he can't help taking glances over towards Sammy's direction, either. And this doesn't go unnoticed, of course, by Sammy. I'm sure the guy's sweatin' bullets over there watching the expressions change on Tyson's face.
A buzzer sounds in the gym. This is the early warning alarm that gives people time to shower and change. Everyone starts heading towards the locker-room door. Ty and I wait a bit and allow the gym to pretty much empty out. We never did anything to get sweaty, so I, for one, will forego the shower and simply change when I get to my locker. I imagine Ty will do the same. Sammy's among the last of the ball players to leave cuz he gathers up the basketballs to carry them to the equipment locker. I think he may also be working up the courage to approach us - or approach Ty, rather. But I give him a small shake of my head and he continues on out the door. I think Ty has a lot to chew on mentally before he's ready for any kind of verbal exchange with Sammy.
I meet up with Mic at our locker right after class. It's lunch time and I know he's really antsy to learn how things went with Ty. He's looking at me kinda worried like as I approach him. But I smile at him to let him know that I think things just might turn out okay.
"Yes!" he says, and holds up his hand for a high five. "Smack," and we're walking towards the lunch room. It takes me the entire lunch period to explain everything that was said. During the course of which the bugger eats my desert cuz I can't talk and eat at the same time... bug-breath!
Sammy wanders by our table and slides in next to me. He doesn't say anything, he just looks at me with those big, puppy-dog eyes. There's probably a million questions behind his look and it gets me to giggling.
"Okay, Sammy," I snicker at him, "I guess it's not a totally lost cause."
Oh my God... you should see his eyes light up. I kinda move my upper body away from him cuz I'm afraid he's gonna give me a big smooch right here in the cafeteria.
"Bless you, Jeremy! I swear to God you and I are best friends for life! You too, Michael! Even if it doesn't work out with Tyson and me, I've just found out what friendship is all about."
Now I'm still kinda worried that I'm about to get smooched in front of the whole school, so I tell him...
"Dude ... settle yourself. Mic and I did it cuz we like both of you guys. But I guess the ball's in your court now cuz we've taken it just about as far as we can."
He's just grinnin' and noddin' his head at us like a bobble-head.
"Yeah, I know, Jeremy. And that's somethin' else I wanted to ask ya. When do you think it would be a good time to approach him? I mean, I could tell you didn't want me to talk to him in the gym and so I avoided him in the locker room, too. But how much time do ya think it's gonna take before he's ready to talk with me?"
"I dunno, Sam. It'll take him however long it takes him, I guess. Look... I hate to burst your bubble here, but there is the possibility he might not want to talk at all... ya know? I mean, I don't think he'll be that way... but he could be."
He gets a serious expression and then nods his head.
"Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be counting my chickens after I've stomped on the eggs. So, do ya think I should just, like, let him approach me?"
Michael pipes up and says, "I think that'd be best, Sammy. Give him his space. He's got a lot of new stuff to chew on, ya know? Let it all sink in."
"Okay," he says, with this sad expression still on his face, "your right. I know you are." Then he adds, "Just keep talking to him though, okay? Don't let him clam up or anything. I remember that much about him: you kinda have to force him to open up and tell you when somethin' bothers him. He's sorta private that way, ya know? And please, please keep me posted! I'm kinda dyin' inside, ya know?"
We both give him a sympathetic smile and a nod of our heads. Then Sammy stands up and walks back to the table with the in-crowd. I'll bet they're wonderin' what the hell was going on. Sports hero, Sammy Smith, wanders over to a table reserved for geeks, sits down with em and doesn't bust a single head! Har, har! They might just have a buncha surprises comin' their way!
School's out for the day. Sammy finds himself home in an empty house as Marc usually spends a couple of hours at Trevor's after school. Let's let him carry the rest of the chapter.
I skipped ball practice tonight. Coach is gonna be pissed tomorrow for sure. But I don't care. There's no way I'd be worth anything on the ball court. So he'd be pissed at me even if I were there. I'm not sure I wanna play ball anymore, anyway!
I'm just sorta wandering aimlessly around the house. The folks'll be at least another hour getting home and I don't know what to do with myself. I head into the kitchen to make a snack and then realize I'm not hungry. I see my basketball sittin' by the back door and I figure, what the hell, I'll go outside and shoot some hoops. I need somethin' kinda mind-numbing to do.
I grab the ball and slip out the front door and onto the driveway. Dad has a backboard and net fixed up over the garage for me and so I wander over to the free-throw position.
Well, at least without Ty being in eyeball distance, I'm able to make some sinkers. I make about six in a row before the ball hits the rim and bounces back - over my head. I turn around to trot after it and watch it bounce twice before someone catches it. The someone is Tyson Samuels!
He's just standing there, holding the ball in two hands and looking at me. I can't read the expression on his face, it's just kinda neutral. But I can tell you right now that the expression on my face ain't. My tears just start flowing like a freaking faucet! The damn dam has burst! I'm bawling and it's pretty much uncontrollable.
I'm so ashamed - not because I'm crying, but because I don't deserve to have this boy standing here in my driveway, next to me. All I deserve from him is hate and anger! But I love him so much and I don't even have the right to tell him that. I know it would just have to sound empty and hollow in his ears, anyway. Besides, I couldn't tell him anything now if I tried. There's no way I could form words. And then to top it all off I have to get these damn hiccups! I'm just sobbing and hiccupping, sobbing and hiccupping. Finally, I reach both hands up and just cover my face. I feel like I just wanna block everything out and make everything go away. I'm thinking about just curling up on the driveway and going to sleep. I wanna stop thinking - stop feeling - stop everything.
That's when I feel a hand on my elbow. And then a voice asks...
"Why don't we go into the house and get you a glass of water?"
I manage to pull my hands from my eyes and look towards the voice. The sobs seem to be dying down a bit so I take a deep breath - and then hiccup again!
Ty has this small grin on his face. He's standing there with my ball under his left arm and his right hand's still clutching my elbow. Then he says...
"Well, if we don't go get you some water, I guess I could just scare the hiccups outa ya."
I nod my head and then I find the voice to say...
"You can scare me, stab me, blow me up! You can do anything you want to get back at me, Ty. Whatever you do I'll deserve, and then some."
"Oh, don't you worry! I have my plans for you, mister. And part of em have to do with a rocking chair! But that's a long time down the road yet."
I have no idea what he means, but he says it with a smile on his face. And more importantly, he says it with a smile in his voice. His voice is sweet and gentle and not spitting acid the way it has the right to be. And so I hiccup again!
"I still think we should go get you that glass of water." And then he does the most unbelievable thing. He does something that I will remember for the rest of my life! He lets go of my elbow and holds his hand out to me! And he stands there, with a gentle smile on his face, waiting for me to clasp his hand. And so I do. I put my quivery hand in his and he gives it a squeeze. We stand there for a minute looking at each other and then he tugs on me and starts walking towards the house.
I know I must be a mess. I have tears streaking down my face and splotching my tee-shirt. I think I might even have some snot runnin' outa my nose! God... how sexy's that, huh? He just looks at me and giggles and keeps tugging me towards the front door - him snickering and me hiccuping!
Ya know, I think I just might have my Tyson back! I think I might not have chased him away after all! Shit... that just makes me start bawling all over again! Ty looks at me and answers with that sweet smile of his. Then he gives out with that dumb geek laugh and snort of his! God... he's soo cute. "Hic!"
Yep ... that's definitely snot!
I'd say Sammy's one lucky fella! Well, it's a short chapter, but then you can only stand so much teenage angst. Things loosen up in the next chapter, though, and I think the boys are about to blow up something or get into some trouble. So what else is new?
© 2007. No mucking with the story without my permission! No this and no that! No tapping on the aquarium glass - unless you're inside the aquarium and want out!
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