It was the first day of February. Things up to that point were fine. We hung out since we had plenty of classes together. It happened on a day that Avan was absent. At the time, I thought he skipped that day on purpose. I was walking up to the school’s main building when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a couple of chicks looking at me and giggling. I thought nothing of it. I had my hair in a low ponytail and it was finally back to its original length and lookin’ hot against my black DevilDriver shirt (Rocket talked me into going to one of their concerts. It was loud, but an awesome experience none-the-less.) with the ‘I could fucking care less’ partially covered by my hair. I was thinkin’ that they were in amusement over what was on the back of my shirt. Little did I know then. When you walk into the school, there’s a huge digital bulletin board that was three quarters of the way down the main hall or commons area in the air about fifteen feet. On it was just the regular announcements and scores from any games West Giliam had the night before and some pop videos now and then so normally I don’t pay attention. But that day was different. On the screen was a looped video…of me…giving head to someone who’s face was conviently blacked out. I knew who it was. It was Avan. At the bottom was scrolling ‘Sage Francis, not only good with a pen, but good with his mouth as well.’  Mortified couldn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. People were there looking and pointing at the screen. Some were laughing, others jeering. There were teachers trying to get the screen covered and sending the students to their class, but the damage was done when some one said, “There he is! It’s Sage Francis!” They turned and looked at me. Rocket pushed her way through the crowd followed by Citrus to where I was standing. I didn’t even notice that they caught me as I passed out.

I woke up in the training room with Rocket on one side of me and Citrus, amazingly without fruit, on the other. Damn, even her hair smells like a citrus smoothie, what the fuck? I sat up with their help as Citrus told the trainer I was awake. I blinked a few times and then remembered what happened. My face went hot again. I covered my face with my hands and started crying. I could feel Rocket and Citrus’ arms around me hugging me tight, each head on a shoulder. The guidance counselor made an appearance soon after wanting to talk to me in private but Citrus and Rocket were having none of that.  I didn’t want to hear him anyway.  I asked Rocket to call Raime for me since she was watching after the house and Brahm ‘cause the parents were out of the state for the rest of the month with a major project dad was working on. Mr. Nikas came in as well to question me but I couldn’t talk. Tears kept a steady stream from my eyes and those two refused to let me go until Raime arrived then she took to hugging me as soon as she saw my face. She then glared at Mr. Nikas.

“What the fuck happened this time, old man,” she ground out evenly. That was probably the first time I really saw Raime really pissed. It was worse than the fight with Blake.

“It seems, Raime, that some one hacked into the digital bulletin board and displayed a video of Sage doing…some…more….intimate actions,” Mr. Nikas said carefully. He could tell Raime was ready to do some major damage to someone.

“What? And you let it play?”

“We tried as quickly as we could to interrupt the feed but it had already been seen by several students before we could stop it.”

“Who the fuck did this, old man,” she said, eyes ready to hack him into pieces.

“We don’t know yet, Raime. I was trying to ask Sage if he hand any ideas, but in this state…”

“Well what the fuck do you expect old man! He’s fuckin’ traumatized at the school’s population seeing him gettin’ his cherry popped on the telly for all to see.”

          “…That wasn’t what was taking place Raime,” he said a bit rosy in the cheeks.

          “What, some chick was givin’ you head?” she asked me. I shook my head and buried my face in her chest still crying.

          “Um….it was the other way around, you know,” Rocket said quietly.

          “…Oh…” Was all I heard from her. If she didn’t already know, she knew now.

          “Rest assured, we’ll get to the bottom of this Sage,” I heard Mr. Nikas say as his hand came to rest on my shoulder, “Feel free to miss a couple of days if you need to, ok? Raime, could I talk to you for a minute please?”

          “Sure, go wait in the truck bro, I’ll be out soon,” she said as she released me. Rocket and Citrus escorted me out to Raime’s Avalanche, glaring at anyone who threatened to make fun along the way. When we reached outside we came across Marcus and his guys talking, he took one look at me and motioned for his crew to stay behind as he walked up to me.

          “Are you ok? I just heard what happened,” he said taking me by the shoulders.

          “Why do you fucking care, you knew this was going to happen to me!”

Marcus backed off. Rocket and Citrus came to stand in between us as his men started walking our direction. Marcus held up his hand and they stopped, “Sage I had no idea this was going to happen. I don’t even know who’s behind it.”

“Yeah right,” Rocket said, “You’re head of the fuckin’ mob and you didn’t know?”

“The only pranks that have been carried out this school year were done before the break. This is something that had to have been done at the last minute or I would have known,” he said stepping closer to me only to be stopped by the Amazons, “Sage, please, believe me on this. If someone were targeting you I would have told you.”

“And why would you even bother?” I said.

“You’ve got balls, and I like that. Not many guys, gay or straight would have done what you did back during the break. I respect that. And if you had asked me if you were a target in any of the pranks last year right after you kissed me I would have told you.”

Rocket and Citrus both looked at me in surprise, “You thought you were being targeted? Why didn’t you tell me Sage?” Rocket said.

“I wasn’t sure at the time,” I said.

“At least let me do this,” Marcus spoke, “I’ll find out who was behind this and take care of them for you.”

“Thanks, but I already know who so it’s ok.”

“Who?” Rocket asked, “…You don’t think it was…”

“Who else could it be? You saw the video.” I could tell Rocket was seeing blood, “And before you start Rocket, I’m gonna handle him. No one else, got that?”

She nodded. I looked at Marcus, “You, too. I don’t like being indebted to other people.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Yes it is.”

“Well, should you need any help…”
          “I can handle this, thank you,” I said and continued to Raime’s truck. Rocket and Citrus stayed with me until Raime showed up and off we went. I gave Citrus my keys to drive my car home and Rocket followed in her Mazda six (it was a raining off and on that day). I didn’t say anything the entire ride. I was tired and my head was starting to hurt from all the crying I did. Raime thanked both of them (with just hugs for once) when we arrived home as I went inside. Brahm was still at school so I knew I wouldn’t have to deal with him for at least five more hours since he was on his middle school’s basketball team. I went to my room not bothering to lock the door ‘cause I knew sooner or later Raime would come talk to me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid this conversation. About an hour later Raime came in with a beer that she smuggled from Germany I think and a half bottle of whiskey. I was lying down and she sat at my desk and opened the beer.

“Which do you want?” she asked. I sat up and took the whiskey, knowing her choice in beers, it was probably just as strong as the bottle of Jack Daniels so either one would have worked for me. I took a long swig, relishing the feel of it burning slowly down to my stomach. That’s good stuff, “I’m mad at you ya know,” she said, “Why didn’t you tell me you were gay back when we were talking about this before Jake’s party? You know I’d have your back no matter who you liked gettin’ your groove on with.”

“No offense, but I heard you talking on the phone a few years back saying that you wished I were gay so you could post it on the internet at some site….Oh shit, do you think it’s on the net?”

Raime looked at me for a second then took a drink of her beer, “David told me that the comp geeks at your school were working on who hacked into the system and they discovered that it’s also posted on a website that’s like a porn version of YouTube. They emailed the admins to get it removed but it’s already been seen by like ten thousand people and probably more until they can get it removed. Sorry.”

I tossed back some more whiskey then said, “David, huh.”

“What?”

“You didn’t call him ‘old man’. You must really like him.”

“This isn’t about me,” Raime said. My phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw Jake’s name and answered it.

“Sagie, what’s goin’ on? Andrew just called me sayin’ something about a video of you was broadcasted on the board at school. Are you alright?”

“Other than being extremely embarrassed, I’m fine. How did Andrew find out so quickly?”

“It was on the noon news just now, but Nikas called the police and Andrew took the case.”

“Great.”

“Don’t worry, they were only talking about it since it involved sexual content.”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s on the ‘net.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“That’s ok, you didn’t know. Hell even the mob didn’t know about it.”

“Really? Marcus had no clue it was gonna happen?”

“Yeah, and he’s not happy about it either.”

“I bet. Someone pullin’ a prank and him not know about it. I hate to be that person when he finds them.”

“He’s not gonna do anything. I told him not to. And I told the crew not to as well.”

“You know who did it.”

“Yeah,” I said fighting off the tears.

“Just make sure you know for a fact, ok? Don’t go jumpin’ into a situation that you can’t recover from.”

“Sure, thanks Jake. How’s Aaron doing?”

“He’s good. I’ll tell him you asked about him. Sage, I’m sorry this happened to you. Be careful ok? Make sure you know it’s who you think it is.”

“I doubt it could be anyone else,” I said. Yeah, go ahead and throw stuff at me. That was another bout of stupidity taking place.

“What’d Jake say?” Raime asked when I hung up with him.

“He wants me to make sure it is who I think it is before I start beating the shit out of them.”

“Sound advice. You think it was Fitzgerald, don’t you.”

“Yeah, he’s the only one outside of those who know in the crew that know I’m gay. And besides, it’s him I’m blowing in the video. It was at his friend’s house during his birthday party. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, about me being gay and all.”

She sat beside me on the bed and gave me a hug, “That’s ok. I can understand. I am a bit out there.”

“At least you admit it.”

“Well, I kinda had a feeling when I saw you two disappear under the willow at the party. I had to get a closer look.”

“…Wait, you saw us?”

“You weren’t doin’ anything but sitting there all nice and snuggle-like, I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean you’re tryin’ to hide the fact that you like this guy from me of all people. It was kinda obvious.”

“So that was you giggling.”

“Yup.”

“You’re strange, perv.”

“I know, but if I were any different, then life’d be boring around here.”

“…That’s true.”

Three days went by since that lovely broadcast. I went back to school and as expected I got the whispers and stares. I was told by a teacher that I should check in with the guidance counselor before I went to class but I bypassed that option. I had no need to talk with him. I had almost made it to my first class when I remembered Avan was in that class. I stopped short. Raime managed to get me nice and toasted so I spent much of the next few days recovering while telling Brahm that I was under the weather and to leave me alone while I was home.  I think she bribed him not to call mom and tell her she got me shitfaced and I just had a hangover. Anyway, I forgot about setting him straight. I stopped by my locker that was quickly vacated by anyone close to it when I felt him. I closed the door and looked right to those eyes. I was pissed.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey, is that all you can fuckin’ say to me is hey?”

“Sage what’s wrong?”

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WHAT’S WRONG!” That got everyone’s attention. It was almost like a scene out of the matrix, everyone around us was standing still and we were moving, or at least I was. Avan was shocked that I was yelling at him, “HOW THE HELL COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!”

“Why are you yelling at me Sage? And what the hell did I do to you?”

“YOU SHOWED IT TO THE ENTIRE FUCKING SCHOOL THAT WHAT THE FUCK YOU DID!”

“Sage, really, calm down and--,”

“Don’t FUCKING tell me to calm down!” I said shoving him against the lockers. That brought the teachers out weaving through the crowd to get between us before I hauled off and hit him.

“Walker, Fitzgerald, my office now!” came Mr. Nikas. A teacher walked each of us to his office. I was seeing red. His ass deserved a beat down.

In his office sat Andrew and when we came in he got in between us as we sat down opposite Mr. Nikas.

“Do you mind telling me why you’re disrupting classes so early this morning Sage?”

          “Yeah, this fucker right here was the one that did it,” I said pointing in Avan’s direction.

          “What the hell did I do?”

          “First, you videotaped me goin’ down on you at your motherfuckin’ birthday party and then you bloody fuckin’ broadcast it on the fuckin’ bulletin board for every-fuckin’-body to see!”

          “Sage, calm down,” Andrew said.

          “No I will not calm the fuck down. How dare you fuckin’ humiliate me like that you bastard!” I said getting up and closing in on Avan. Andrew got a hold of me and pulled me over to the wall.

          “Sage you will calm down or else I’ll have detective Tervan arrest you instead,” Mr. Nikas said.

          “Can someone please tell me what’s goin’ on here? What are you talking about videotaping you? I didn’t have my cam-corder at my birthday party. Jerrica’s friend had it so she could fix it. What the hell are you talking about broadcasting over the digi-board?”

          “There was an incident three days ago where someone hacked into the system and showed a video of Sage performing sexual acts on another male over the bulletin board. The other person’s identity has not been confirmed yet,” Mr. Nikas said.

          “…What?”

          “Don’t act like you don’t fucking know!” I said.

          “Sage I haven’t been here in three days. I had a stomach virus. I have no clue what you’re talkin’ about. I would never do--,”

          “SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LIAR!”

          “Detective Tervan, could you please take Sage outside until he calms down, and if he doesn’t arrest him,” Mr. Nikas said glaring at me.

          “Why the fuck are you gonna arrest me? I didn’t do anything wrong! It was that asshole right--,”

          “Sage Walker, you will refrain from any more abusive language.”

          “Come on Sage, let’s go outside for a bit and get some air,” Andrew said still holding me in a bear hug. I shrugged him off of me and headed outside with him following.

          I was fuming! Why the hell should I calm down when he’s right there acting like he’s innocent? I wanted to hit something and the first thing that came into view was the dogwood tree next to the bike rack. Before I could get a punch off Andrew had me wrapped up again and pulling me away from the defenseless tree. Damn, he had a grip on me. I could barely move.

          “Sage please, calm down. Getting mad will accomplish nothing,” Andrew said in my ear. It took a few seconds when my body registered his weight against mine. I guess the A-rush was over ‘cause all of a sudden I felt extremely tired. My legs felt like jell-o and they weren’t supporting me. Luckily Andrew was strong enough to get me over to a bench before I completely collapsed. I just fell against him in a boneless heap, his arms still around me as my head fell forward and tears began flowing freely again.

          I have no clue how long we were sitting there. I did not want to back in there and see him. I had a feeling that Mr. Nikas wasn’t too pleased with me but I didn’t care. I mean, how would you feel if that happened to you? The entire school knows I’m gay now and my parents don’t even know. Oh yeah, they were gonna love coming home to this. I dried my face with my shirt and looked up at the sky, “Can’t this day just end already.”

          “It’d be nice, but you still have to go back in and talk to Mr. Nikas,” Andrew said. I forgot he was still holding me. He really is a taller version of Jake, or rather Jake’s a shorter version of him. Hell who cares, he’s still cool.

          “Ooo, yay, time to get detention,” I said moving to stand up. I really didn’t want to at the time, Andrew felt good to rest against, just like Jake. I walked back into Mr. Nikas’ office and sat down beside Avan. He looked really upset. I didn’t care.

          “Sage, you don’t really think I would do this, do you?” he asked. I just looked at him and said nothing. Then I turned back to Mr. Nikas.

          “So what’s my punishment?” I asked.

          “You’ve got in school suspension for two weeks,” Mr. Nikas said, “And you will apologize to Avan.”

          “How much longer if I don’t?”

          “Sage…”

          “You can’t be serious can you?” Mr. Nikas looked at me with surprise.

          “I’m not apologizin’ to this asshole that’s for sure. So how much longer then?”

          “Sage I didn’t do this, I swear. I love you too much to do that to you.”

          My eyes got wide and I slowly looked back into those eyes, “…What did you say?”

          “I said I love you,” he said, his eyes burning into me.

          Feel free to throw bricks at me. Another moment of stupidity happened. I got out of my chair and went over and clocked him right in the jaw. Andrew pulled me away but I was only intending to him that one time. Avan was in shock. He couldn’t even bring himself to touch his reddening jaw. The only person outside of my family that truly loved me and there I go punching him. Yes ladies and gents, I’m an ass.

          “Sage Walker, I’ve got no choice now but to give you out of school suspension for three weeks. I’ll notify your parents immediately,” Nikas said shaking his head.

          “Don’t bother, they aren’t in town and won’t be back until my suspension is over anyway. I’m sure you’ll just tell Raime anyway,” I said as I walked out of his office.

          When I got home I had a not so happy sister waiting for me, “What the fuck are you doin’ getting’ suspended? Didn’t anything Jake tell you stay inside that head of yours?”

          “Well, if I didn’t have a sister getting her younger, minor brother completely sloshed I probably would have remembered.”

          “Don’t put this back on me. You’re the one who drank. I didn’t force you.”

          “Just drop it Raime. I don’t want to see him again anytime soon anyway.”

          “Sage…”

          “Leave it sis! I’m not gonna have some jackass like him tell me he loves me after he humiliates me like that.”

          “What, WHAT?” Yeah, that caught her off guard. I went to my room and locked the door. I laid down and just stared at the ceiling until I fell asleep.  

          I woke up to the sight of Brahm sitting at my desk reading one of the magazines that featured one of my stories and sporting a healthy shiner. I sat up quickly, “Brahm what happened? And how’d you get in here? I locked the door.”

          “Raime taught me how to pick the lock to your room if wanted to come in here and check out any porn you had stashed,” he said. Brahm’s almost like a shorter version of me but with dad’s strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes instead of the vibrant red and dark green that I got from mom. Raime got the hazel eyes and the red hair out of the deal, “But seeing as you’re into guys, I’ll have to get her to get me some now.”

“Why would you be looking at porn anyway? You’re too young.”

“Sis told me about the time she spied you getting off to some porn outside in the tool shed when you were my age. It runs in the family I guess. That’s when she taught me how to pick locks.”

“I hope you keep those skills to yourself,” I said, “Back to the matter, why are you sportin’ a shiner? Did you get into a fight with someone?”

He looked at me, “Uh, duh. One of the kids at school started talkin’ shit about you bein’ some kind of amateur porn star and I beat the shit out of him for it.”

“I really hope you don’t talk like that on a normal basis.”

“I don’t do it around the folks if that’s what you’re sayin’. I only do it when I’m really mad. The kids at school seem to have nothin’ better to do that hope they can get into Prank High so they can pull shit like that,” he said. He finally faced me and I could tell then that he’d been crying.

“I’m sorry Brahm. It’s my fault for not being careful.”

“So do you know who did it?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that why you’re suspended?”

“Pretty much.”

“Did you beat whoever it was up really good?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I was already in the principal’s office when I hit him. That’s how I got suspended. What about you?”

“I got two weeks. Mrs. Anders understood where I was comin’ from so I didn’t get a month. And besides, it was a first time thing for me. I had to put up with that shit at school while you were nursing your hangover the last few days,” he said. Yup, Raime bribed him, “It was the one in the video?”

“Yes. Please don’t tell me you’ve seen it?”

“Nope. Not my thing. I like layin’ my head on pillows and guys don’t have pillows.”

“…Since when have you been laying your head on pillows?”

He laughed, “I’ve been doin’ that for a couple of years now Sage Francis, where’ve you been.”

“You better hope mom and dad don’t find out.”

“Relax. I’ve got a girlfriend with a nice rack. She likes it when I do that. She likes it when I lick her nipples, too.”

“Yeah…that last part I didn’t need to know.”

“Oh come off it Sage Francis, remember who we have as an older sister.”

“That is true…but still, I don’t need to hear it.”

“What’s this I hear about me?” Raime said walking into my room.

“Did you really teach Brahm how to pick locks?”

“Yeah, figured it couldn’t hurt,” she said plopping down beside me, “Besides, at his age, you were too busy keepin’ a grip on your--,”

“RAIME!”

“Give it a rest, bro. It’s natural to get yourself off. They call it masturbation,” Brahm said looking back through the magazine like we were having a conversation about sports. Geez, now I’m surrounded by two Raime’s.

I sighed, “So have you told them yet?”

“Who, the folks? Hell no. You two will be done with your suspensions by the time they come home on the fifteenth.”

“They aren’t coming back ‘til the middle of March?”

“Yup. It seems like they like dad’s work a lot up there. They added on a smaller project they want him to do the designs for.”

“I hope they’re back for my graduation.”

“Oh yeah, that is this year isn’t it. I always knew you were a smart one Sage Francis,” Raime said ruffling my hair, “I’m guessin’ you won’t be up for a party right.”

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that.”

“Cool, I’ll just get ya shitfaced and take ya to some gay clubs or something.”

“No Raime.”

“Aw come on, it’ll be fun!”

“No Raime.”

“Please, for me?”

“Raime, I’ve already got a label as an amateur porn star, I’m not going to add to it.”

She snickered, “You could pull that off. I mean the way you were moaning that day in the shower--,”

“Whoa Raime, I do not want to hear that!” Brahm said closing the magazine and looking at her, “Remember, I’m too young for that kind of stuff!”

“Oh come off it Brahm,” she said, “It’s not like I haven’t caught you moaning like a porn star yourself when you’re on the phone with Amber when you two are havin’ phone sex.”

“Wait, Amber…Tervan?” I said. Yup, Jake and Andrew’s younger sister. She’s a sophomore at the Miranda School for the Arts just down the road a ways from The Corner. Our younger brother is dating an older chick?

“The very one,” Raime said smiling at Brahm’s red face.

“I really hope Jake doesn’t know about that...he’d beat the ever lovin’ daylights out of you,” I said looking at him.

“It’s cool. Jake’s at school and hasn’t gone near the house since he graduated. It’s not like he needs to know anyway…You aren’t gonna tell him are you?”

“Hell no, I’m not touchin’ that with a ten foot pole!” I said. That’s when the phone rang. I answered it. It was mom. She was not happy. She asked if Brahm and Raime were at home and I said they were with me in my room. She had me put the phone on speaker.

“I would really like to know why I had to find out from Mrs. Anders about this whole situation that involved both of you getting suspended from school,” she said.

“Mom, I--,”

“Zip it Raime Marie, I’m talking to Sage and Brahm right now. Sage, why didn’t you call me as soon as this happened?”

“I-I, shit mom, I don’t know. I was so out of it I didn’t want to do anything.”

Raime and Brahm sat there wide-eyed. I know mom wasn’t happy with my choice of words, but hey, she was already ill with us for not telling her.

“How did you find out about me if Mrs. Anders told you?”

“I called your school after she told me the reason why Brahm got into a fight. Mr. Nikas kindly filled me in since my oldest child can’t seem to inform her parents of what her younger siblings are doing.”

“Mom--,”

“I’m not finished Raime Marie,” she said. Yeah, mom was pissed. She only calls Raime that when she is, “You two should know violence never solves anything.”

“Forgive me mom, but you weren’t the one that everybody in school saw on the fuckin’ digi-board givin’ head to another guy,” I said, “And then have him turn around and fuckin’ lie about it to my face. How the hell else am I supposed to handle that? And besides, I only hit him once.”

Brahm and Raime scooted away from me.

“Sage Francis Walker, if I weren’t up here in Canada right now with your father I’d backhand you so hard you’d be picking yourself up off the floor. Do not use that kind of language with me mister!” That’s when we heard the phone shift and dad came on the line.

“What’s going on down there you three, and someone better speak up quick before we get on a plane and I let your mother loose on you all. Sage, speak.”

“I got pranked and I got suspended for fighting the person who pranked me when I hit him in front of the principal and Brahm got suspended ‘cause kids at his school for givin’ him flack about his older brother being a gay amateur porn star since there’s a video on the net of me giving head to the person who ended up pranking me by showing it to the school on the digi-board,” I heaved out a breath. There was silence on the other end.

“And why were you using such language when you were talking to your mother?”

“’Cause I’m pissed that people won’t leave me alone about this. You have no idea how embarrassing this is for me. The entire school knew I was gay before I even had a chance to tell you two. Can I not be upset about this? Can I not have the desire to beat the crap out of him?”

Dad sighed, “You can Sage. But that’s still no excuse for talking to your mother like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hold on and let me put you on speaker,” he said. We could then hear mom as well, she was taking deep breaths, she was pissed.

“I’m sorry mom. I shouldn’t have talked to you like that. None of this was your fault and I was taking it out on you.”

“Sage, when were you planning on telling us?”

“…Never?”

“I’m talking about you being gay, not the suspension,” she said dryly.

“Oh. Well, certainly not like this. I was gonna do it when you guys came back.”

“We will discuss this when we return. Raime Marie?”

“Yes ma’am?”

“If something like this ever happens again you will let us know immediately, do I make myself clear young lady?”

“…Yes ma’am.”

“And you boys are grounded for the length of your suspensions. No going out, no friends over, no calls to your girlfriend,” Brahm froze on that, “or boyfriend, Raime make sure you take their cell phones, and that house and yard better be spotless when we get home. Make sure the new hibiscus plants have been watered properly and the leaves checked for bugs and that you trim the bonsai and make sure you clean the china cabinets inside and out as well as the piano and polish the tea sets since I didn’t do them last month like I planned. I will check these things when we get home.”

“Yes ma’am,” we said.  

“When you two go back to school, apologize to your principals for the way you acted,” dad said.

“Yes sir,” me and Brahm said. 

“Raime, order you three something to eat and then it’s the books for you two. You better not be behind when you return to school,” mom said.

“Yes ma’am,” we said again.

“Love you all. We’ll be home on the fifteenth. Bye.”

“Bye,” we said and I hung up the phone.

“Damn,” was all Raime could say.

“Shit, I forgot that mom told Mrs. Anders that they were going out of town,” Brahm said. Raime got up and smacked him on the back of the head, “Ow, what was that for?”

“For being stupid enough to get in to a fight and forgetting that she knew the parents were gone. Of course she’d call them. Now give me your phone. Yours too,” she said looking at me. I handed her mine and Brahm went to get his out of his room. Raime then ordered a heaping bundle of Chinese food and we ate while watching Bruce Lee flicks. Yeah that was a fun three weeks. Just call us the Martha Stewart trio with all the cleaning we did. I think she’d be impressed with how well we did.

  When my suspension was over I went back and, as dad requested, I went to Mr. Nikas to apologize. I had to wait a bit since he was in a meeting but the secretary said she’d give me a pass to my next class. She’s was a nice lady. When I came into the office she gave me a hug and asked how I was doing. I said I was fine and told her why I was here. When Mr. Nikas’ meeting ended I went in.

“I trust we’re in a better mood than you were three weeks ago,” he spoke.

“Yeah, about that, I’m sorry. I’m not really like that. It’s just that the whole thing of being exposed in front of the school was…kinda…a bit too much for me. I didn’t handle it well at all.”

“Well it’s nice to know that you’ve seen the error of your ways. I heard that your younger brother had some problems as well.”

“Yeah, the kids at his school were givin’ him crap the days following and he just went off. It takes a lot to get him riled up. But don’t worry, we’ve cleansed our systems of it…for now anyway.”

“That’s right, your parents are still out of town,” he said, “Your mother was not thrilled that she wasn’t told of what happened to you.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“She lay into you huh?”

“More like all three of us. We’ve got the keep the house spotless until they get back. I had no clue that there was so much stuff to do. And each day she called and added more things. I think we can take on Martha Stewart.”

Mr. Nikas laughed. He’s got a nice laugh. Raime should go for that, “Raime mentioned all the cleaning you three had to do.”

“When’d you talk to her?”

“She called and asked for you assignments to be faxed over. She’s a very intriguing person, your sister.”

“You should date her,” I said.

“What?”

“Well it’s obvious that you’re got a thing for her and she for you, so why not give it a shot?”

“Your sister likes me?” He seemed a bit surprised by that.

“You couldn’t tell when I had that incident with Blake?”

“I really just thought she was being the pissed off older sister.”

“Well, yeah, that to, but she likes ya. Just don’t tell her I said so. I’ve been embarrassed enough this year.”

“I am sorry that that had happened Sage. There was no way to stop the feed without shutting down the main power grid and that feeds into a lot of computers on campus. Records would have been lost. And you’d have to stay here another year instead of graduating early.”

“Well, I guess it’s ok then. I don’t think I can take another year here.”

“I want you to know that you can come and talk to me anytime.”

“I know. Well, I better get to class,” I said getting up.

“Hold on a minute, there’s something else I want to talk to you about,” he said. I didn’t like where this was heading.

“…You want to talk to me about Fitzgerald, don’t you,” I said barely audible.

“I really do believe that he’s not the one who did this to you. I questioned him at length while you were cooling off and he genuinely doesn’t know what happened. I talked with his mother after you left and she told me he was too out of it for those three days to know what was going on. His fever had broken only the day before he came back to school.”

“I’m pretty sure Jerrica would have said something to him or Blake.”

“Jerrica wasn’t present the day it happened. I talked to Blake and he had said the same thing about Avan being sick. Either way, I still think you should talk to him. He was really upset after you left.”

“He’s probably just coverin’ it up.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Yeah well, it still doesn’t change the fact that everyone saw me giving him a blowjob.”

“He really does care about you Sage. People don’t always throw words like ‘I love you’ out there like that.”

“And some people throw them out there just for that. To make it seem like they’re innocent in all of this. I’m not stupid Mr. Nikas. Remember this is ‘Prank High’ for a reason. Using words are the fundamentals of building on a prank.”

He sighed, “I know you’re not stupid Sage. I believe you’re being extremely stubborn about this. Was Avan…your….first?”

I blushed furiously. I’ve got my principal of all people talking to me about this! I couldn’t look at him so I nodded. I managed after a bit to look up to his smile. Not a bad smile either. Raime’d like that.

“Now it makes sense,” he said, “you should still talk to him though.”

“I’ll only talk to him if I have to. I have most of my classes with him. Speaking of which, I should be going to them.”

“Yes you should. Mrs. Carmichael will give you a pass.”

I left the office and headed to my next class which was advanced political science. Avan sat beside me in that class. Oh…joy. I handed the teacher my pass when I walked in and sat down ignoring the feeling. The class was working on those lovely in-class essays she seemed to love making us do. I saw some stares and heard some whispers until she told the class to knock it off unless we wanted a pop quiz as well. The class went silent then. She told me what the topic was and I started writing. I didn’t even have to open my book. I had finished the book during my suspension so there was no need. I couldn’t shake the feeling of his eyes on me so I glared in his direction and mouthed ‘Stop staring at me’ to him. The feeling went away after that. I finished the essay and sat backed and doodled while the others were writing. He didn’t bother me the rest of the class.

When the parents finally came home from up north, they sat me and Brahm down for a nice talking to. Raime luckily had a meet a few days before they came back so she was out of the country. They were pleased at how well the house and yard looked. They weren’t so thrilled that we weren’t gonna tell them about being suspended. Mom laid into Brahm about his girlfriend ‘cause apparently she overheard him having phone sex with Amber. He gave her the ‘how did you know I had a girlfriend’ look, that’s how that happened. Poor kid…not!  They sent him to do his homework and turned their attention to me. I thought she was gonna slap me for talkin’ to her like I did but she gave me a genuine mom hug instead. She thought about it after we talked on the phone and came to the conclusion that I was just really upset about it since nothing like this had ever happened to me before. She still didn’t like how it came out but she understood. Dad gave me a hug as well. He had a feeling that I was really upset when mom had said the thing about wanting to backhand me. It was true, I’ve never been in love before and to have something like this happen…what else could I have done. After about an hour of talking to them I was allowed to go to my room and do my pretty much nonexistent homework since I was so far ahead.

 Time went by, my final track season came and went with wonderful results. I placed second in shot and I won discus by an eighth of an inch at state. The crew took me out to celebrate at The Corner where everything we ate was on the house (I love that guy).  I wasn’t bothered by Avan. There were times where it looked like he wanted to say something to me but didn’t because he knew I wouldn’t listen. Graduation time came and everyone was excited at the house. Raime declined an invitation to a meet so she could be in town the week of. Gotta love her! She ended up talkin’ me into going to a few gay clubs that were in town a few days before graduation and I’ll admit it, I had a blast! The day of our graduation there was a DevilDriver concert and I managed to get her to go to with me, Rocket and her boyfriend Luke. It was the perfect way to celebrate our freedom from Prank High, loud, fast head-banging music. Yes, Rocket (who’s real name turned out to be Euridyce, people were in complete surprise when her name was called out. She was our valedictorian beating out Marcus by like point zero zero zero one in the GPA department) had converted another person to the metal persuasion.

I decided to wait a year before I went to school. I wanted to see where my writing was going and if I was stuck in the middle of a class when I needed to be talking to my agent or a publisher that could have been problematic. The folks understood. Oh yeah, I had three more short stories published since my initial publishing. You can see where I’d forget to tell you that, right? And no, I wasn’t thinking of Fitzgerald. I did see him with his family after graduation. I think all of them save Maverly and her husband were there. His brother really does look hot. I can see now what Raime was talkin’ about. I saw her wander over there to talk to him and I’m guessing it was Circe. She looked hot. If I were straight I’d want to marry her, too. Anyway, I didn’t bother going and telling him to have a nice life. What can I say? It still hurt me then. I mean, people saw me at my most vulnerable doing something that was meant to be between us. I can’t easily forget that, ya know? I’m guessing you guys are wonderin’ when I’m gonna get to the part where we made up right? Well guess what? It’s your lucky day ‘cause here it comes.