FicWad

Chapter 4

The whole game was miserable. I was steamed about what Steve had said and how could Evan even think of going along with it? What a double-crosser! I walked into the house and threw my soccer bag on the floor next to the end table at the end of the couch.

"Darren, do you want anything special for dinner tonight?" Mom asked, taking off her coat and heading right into the kitchen. She knew how furious I was. I had been ranting about it the whole time, before and after the game.

"Steve replaced me!" I had said when I saw her before I was supposed to be out on the field -during the time I was supposed to be gathering luck from my mom.

"Steve did what?" She asked.

"Steve replaced me with the new kid!" I snorted at my remembrance of him. I had never wanted to punch Evan in the face before. Oh! And to make things cherrier we saw them on Steve's front porch on our way back to the house! And Steve had the nerve to wave! "No, make whatever you want. I'm going to go take a shower." I kicked my shoes off and grabbed a clean towel out of the basket at the bottom of the stairs.

"Darren?" I stopped at the bottom and looked at her, her back was to me.

"Huh?"

"Don't let it get to you, I'm pretty sure Steve wanted you there as badly as he wanted the other little boy there." She assured me, smiling at me over her shoulder. I remember how Steve had told me to quit soccer and how he wanted me to hang out with him.

"No, he wanted me to quit the thing I love doing to hang out with him! And then he just said fine whatever and walked away!" I snapped. She turned the stove on and filled up a pot of water.

"Darren sweetie," She turned to face me. "Now that Steve had quit the soccer team, his time with you will be limited." She walked over to me and cupped my face. "I mean, with school and then you going off to practice right after and coming home tired, and games on the weekends, there won't be time for you and him anymore and he wants that, he wants to just…hangout with you." She smiled.

"If so then why did just go whatever?" I huffed.

"He knows that you love the game, and he didn't want to force you to quit it. You know he doesn't want to take from you and make you miserable." She messed up my hair and rested her hands on my shoulders.

"Then why did he take Evan?" I looked down and pouted. She sighed.

"Who is this Evan anyway? Is he a new student?" She went back to the stove to add in a one pound box of Spaghetti to it. I nodded.

"Yeah kind of. He was new a couple months ago and all the way up until now Steve's hated him. He started to show he liked him when him and Evan got into a fist fight in Gym." I explained to her. She laughed.

"You boys are so violent! He must be a real catch to make you jealous over him hanging out with Steven and not you." She winked at me over her shoulder. My cheeks turned hot.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Was she hinting that I had a crush on him? "You must be close friends, someone so close to you that you share everything in common. Interesting conversations, same interests. Heck, I bet you he even shares the same interest in spiders as you." She giggled and put the lid on the pot. I sighed on the inside. Why had I thought she was talking about me having a crush on him?

"He's awesome, he loves spiders and snakes and he travels around the world with his father and he's funny and smart and he doesn't get mad easily. I have a good time with him." I sat on the steps and linked my fingers.

"He's a very pretty boy, such long hair, I would love it if my hair grew that long you know?" She smiled. "Of course, there are some things I don't like about his physical appearance." She opened a can of spaghetti sauce and added it to a little sauce pan.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" I looked at her curiously.

"His face. He has narrow eyes, and his face is slightly stretched, and his body isn't exactly that defined. He looks kind of snakish himself, you know?" She looked at me expecting to understand her. I shook my head.

"Yeah I can see where you're coming from when you say his face is longer, but snakish, not really." I admitted. "I think he looks more or less like a bird." I smiled, imaging a stork with his head down so his beak looks like the lower half of a persons face. She laughed.

"That was mean!" She shot me a look.

"What? Birds are beautiful too!" I laughed. Standing I turned and started up the stairs. "I'm taking a shower now." I hollered down to her. Reaching the top of the stairs I rushed to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind me. Throwing my towel on the towel rack I quickly slipped out of my clothes. I figured that if I got out and dressed quicker I'd be able to relax in my room before dinner. I didn't need to be harassed while I ate.

Reaching in I turned the hot water on, then the cold water and waited for it to turn to a comfortable temperature. Pushing the curtain back I stepped in. The hot water splashed against my flesh, calming me almost instantly. I sighed and just stood there, letting the water rush over my head and down my body. I guess I wasn't going to get my relaxation time in my room.

Grabbing the shampoo I began to scrub at my hair, trying to get all of the dirt and dead grass out of my hair that was awarding to our big win. Although it was one of the last games of the season. It was stopping late though, a few weeks after it was supposed to.

Grabbing my body wash I shot to washing the "importants". Once rinsed I stopped and just let the water rush over me once more, rubbing furiously at my eyes from time to time due to unrinsed shampoo dripping into them. I thought about him, Evan. He looked kind of familiar but I didn't know where from. Steve was taking a liking to him though. Of course, Steve was always one to do weird things. One day he found some of his mothers naughty DVD's and proceeded to watch them with me. He was getting all into it, shifting every few minutes. It was awkward for me, I'd never seen something like that. Then before I knew it, his hand was gone, right down the front of his pants. I'd wanted to tell him not to, but I was so speechless that all I could do was stare.

I looked down at the bottom of the bathtub, feeling uncomfortable again. He was overreacting too, he was copying the guy on the DVD and moaning. I didn't know why, I didn't know why he was doing that, but he had gotten into it too much.

I looked at it. It was just a muscle. I wrapped my hand around the lower half of my arm and copied what I'd seen the man on the movie do. It was the same, both muscle, only the arm had a bone in it and that hurt more when it was injured. It didn't feel good. It felt dumb. I let my arms drop as I stared at it. Wrapping my hand around it I moved it up and down a few times. Nothing.

"That's stupid." I turned and shut the shower off. Opening up the curtain I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around my waist. Stepping out into the hallway, my skin being bitten by the cool hallway air, I headed to my room, goose-bumps pricking up all over my skin.

"Darren!" My mom hollered up the stairs.

"I know!" She was going to tell me dinner was ready, I knew. Pushing my door opened I stepped in and shut it behind me. Still facing the door I pulled my towel off and turned around, drying off my hair, but I stopped. My heart stopped in its tracks, my eyes opening wide, my breath stolen. Sitting there, on my bed, with wide eyes was the very person I wasn't expecting to see.

"D-Darren!" He threw himself to his feet and laughed nervously, shifting around, his eyes closed. "I-I'm s-s-sorry!"

"Evan…" I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do, I just stared at him. Slowly, only my arms moving I brought the towel down and tied it around my waist, never taking my eyes off of him. He looked at me hesitantly, then gave me an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry Darren, I didn't mean to, I, I didn't…your mom told me you got dressed in the bathroom, I didn't know that, I wasn't expecting to-" He was stuttering badly. I cupped my junk, still embarrassed as hell that he saw it. "I-" He stopped. His head dropped, his bangs falling in his face. "I should be going home now." he started towards the door, walking briskly. I gasped and grabbed his arm, pulling him back inside the room. "Darren?" He looked at me shocked.

"No! You don't have to go!" I couldn't let him go back! Steve was out there waiting to devour him and steal him away from me forever! I dropped his arm. What was I? I was thinking as if I owned him, as if he were mine, as if he were made for me. He looked at me confused, his hair drooping over his right shoulder as he tilted his head.

"Darren? What's wrong?" What's wrong? What's wrong. No, I couldn't tell him what I was thinking. I looked at him, my eyes skimming his body for something I could use as an excuse such as a cut or a bruise or something. There was nothing. Wait! There was something, but the something made me angry.

"Your clothes. You're wearing a pair of Steve's shorts and one of his t-shirts" I pointed out. The pair of shorts Steve was wearing was for his track runs a few years ago, and with how long Evan's legs were, they looked like female running shorts. And the t-shirt he was wearing was one of Steve's favorite shirts, one of his Grateful Dead shirts. I'm not sure if he would buy that I was looking at his clothes. He smiled and looked down.

"Yeah, we ended up wrestling in his backyard and I got filthy so my clothes are in his washer now, so he let me borrow some of his. I guess he thinks if we go back to my place that I won't want to come back and spend the night with him." He laughed. I looked at him slightly hurt.

"You're spending the night with him tonight?" I had a slight twinge of a smile on my face, my eyebrows furrowed. He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, of course, I kept asking him if we could get you over to spend the night with us as well and he said 'no because he probably has another big game tomorrow. Nerd, always spending his weekends at that stupid field.'" He smiled, mocking him. I bit my bottom lip.

"Nope, I don't have a game tomorrow, this was our last game, he should know that, he was playing soccer with me for the past 3 years." I stopped to think about it. Evan was here with me right now, which meant Steve let him over here to talk to me, or he snuck out. I smiled. "I'll get you a place set up." I whirled around and started to adjust an area on the bed to fit two people. It was a twin sized mattress so it would work out.

"What do you mean?" He looked at me confused.

"You're staying here." I smiled back at him, fluffy up my favorite pillow for him to use.

"I can't." He protested.

"Did my mom offer you dinner?" I stood up straight. He looked at me and nodded slowly. "What did you say?" I was going to get him to stay with me whether he liked it or not.

"I said 'that would be nice, thank you' and then she told me you were in the shower and I could wait for you in your room." he explained. I snickered.

"Well my mom has this rule where whoever eats here sleeps here, and you're eating here." I beamed proudly, loving my mom to death for her bad habit of offering the neighbor kids food when they were only here for a couple minutes.

"But what about Steve? My clothes are still over there, he wanted me to spend the night with him." He looked out the window as if he were looking at Steve in the streets. "He said we were going to watch some of his mothers movies." He muttered. I stared at him frightened. Those movies? No!

"Uh, you don't want to watch those movies." I barked quickly. He looked at me frightened, his eyes wide.

"Why?" He whined.

"Because, they're uh…" I looked around. "uh, uh, uh," the door downstairs opened and in came Annie and my dad, followed by the sound of clanking dishes. "Oh it's dinner time, come on." I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of my room, half running down the stairs.

"Darren slow down!" He tripped on one of the last steps and knocked me to the ground.

"Oh my goodness! Darren are you ok?" Mom squealed.

"Darren you klutz!"

"Now young lady be nice to your brother!" My father hollered at Annie as mom came and helped me sit up. Evan had rolled off of me and was holding his head.

"Oh no, are you ok?" She rushed to his side. He didn't answer he just laid there, his arms clamped around his head. Dad went to pick him up but he was limp.

"Did I kill him!" I panicked, kneeling on the floor next to him. My breath came in short, shallow, fast pants. Terror filled me as I imagined them flipping him over and his face being shattered. I killed him, because I ran down the stairs with him. Now neither Steve or I can have him.

"No Darren don't be silly, he's still breathing." My mom snorted.

"Evan? Evan are you ok?" I touched him lightly. He twitched, his flesh jumping.

"Ouch, my head is squealing." He slowly let his arms drop to his sides. He looked at me and smiled, his eyebrows dipped.

"I'm sorry, I thought I killed you." I apologized. He laughed and shook his head.

"I heard you ask that. No, I was kind of…knocked out for a couple seconds." My dad stood up, pulling Evan to his feet. Mom and I stood up as well. A loud scream escaped for Annie behind me. Evan looked down at me and choked, a smile stretching across his face like he was about to laugh.

"Eeew! Mom! Darren's naked!" BOth of my parents looked down and gasped. My mom rushed over and covered Annie's eyes. My whole body went hot as my dad and Evan just stared.

"Well, son, I…I see why you're called my son." Dad rushed into the kitchen. Evan bent down and wrapped my towel around me. I couldn't move, I just stood there. I was just naked, in front of my whole family…and a friend.

"I think you might want to go put some underwear on." Evan laughed lightly. Turning I dashed up the stairs, a couple tears rushing to my eyes. Throwing myself into my room I scrounged around for some clothes and settled with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I had no school tomorrow, why would I bother keeping these shorts clean for gym?

Once dressed I rushed out of my room again and down the stairs. I hated myself for that. Annie and my parents were all seated at the table. Evan was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, a smile on his face.

"What are you grinning at?" I shot at him, feeling as if he was mocking me.

"that was the most entertaining thing I've seen in a long time, and trust me, I've seen some entertaining things." He joked, wrapping his arm around me. I inched away from him.

"Please, don't touch me when I know you've seen me naked, at least not right off the bat." He laughed and nodded.

"Will do." He poked me in the side. I squirmed away from him and walked off to the kitchen. Annie glared at me. The seats were set up so that there was a chair next to Dad and Annie. I grabbed the chair closest to Annie, but she slapped my hand.

"No, that seat is for Evan." She barked. I looked at her confused.

"Said who?" I shot back.

"Said me, and mom agrees. Boys who flash off their naked bodies deserve to sit next to men, so go sit next to dad!" I glared at her.

"It's not like I purposely got naked in front of all of you."

"You shouldn't have come down in a towel!" She interrupted.

"Mind your own business!"

"Grow some balls!" I stepped forward, my fists clenched. Mom slapped her across the mouth as Evan grabbed me and began to pull me back. My dad began to yell at me, telling me to stop as mom told Annie not to use such foul language in this house.

"It's alright Darren!" Evan cried out, trying to keep from being elbowed in the face by my swings. "I'll sit next to your sister, I don't mind!" I didn't listen. I wanted to kill her, I wanted to punch her in her midget face. Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted through the back of my neck. I screamed and pulled myself away. Everyone in the room went silent as I rubbed the back of my neck. There was a drop of blood along my fingertips.

"Did you bite me?" I questioned, looking at him slightly horrified. He shared that look with me, shifting.

"It got you to stop, didn't it?" I rubbed the back of my neck again and looked at the blood.

"I guess it did." I pulled the chair out for him. Nodding gently he took his place in the seat, leaving me to sit in between him and my father. Standing, my mom began to dish out our food. Evan stared at his plate once mom dished out the corn and the meatballs. They were huge meatballs, my favorite. Mom always cooked this when one of us was upset or we had guests. Each of us got three meat balls which were the size of mini baseballs. Cutting off each of us two slices of Garlic bread she sat down.

Grace wasn't said when we had guests, just incase the person we were housing didn't follow the same religion. I looked at Evan. He was just sitting there, staring at his food as everyone else began to dig in.

"What's the matter sweetie?" Mom asked from across the table. Evan looked up at her taken aback for a second, then smiled.

"Nothing, it looks delicious. I don't know whether I'm supposed to eat it or frame it." He chuckled. Her cheeks turned red.

"Why that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard." She rested a hand over her heart. My dad shot him a death glare with a forkful of spaghetti hanging out of his mouth.

"But it's true. I mean, I travel around the world and not once have I see a dish prepared as beautifully as this. I would dig in but it would make me feel like I'm vandalizing priceless art." He laughed. She shifted. She was eating this right up wasn't she? Her face was red, her breathing was picking up. Dad looked at her hurt. "Such talent of organizing, in Japan a meal that is prepared is a symbol of characteristic for the chef. If it's prepared sloppily, then it shows that the person is in too much of a hurry, and doesn't necessarily care about his guests, but when put together in a beautiful manner such as this, it symbolizes that the person is indeed beautiful, and caring. In Japan, you would be praised for your beauty based on the details you put into your meals and your home." He smiled. That just about did it. She stood up, excusing herself from the table. Rushing into the other room, she dashed off upstairs. Evan looked after her with a worried expression. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, said everything right." Dad grumbled, no longer eating, sitting there with his arms crossed.

"You made her excited." I laughed. Evan and Annie didn't really understand what I meant by that, but only Annie remained clueless.

"Excited? Oh!" His eyes opened wide. I didn't mean for that to happen!" He laughed, itching his head. I just shook my head and sighed, a smile on my face.

"You're oblivious." A few minutes later she came back down in a knee length skirt and a black tank top. Her face was red, her hair was down and messed up. Evan smiled at her. She looked like a train wreck with an after glow.

"You look beautiful." Evan complimented. She stopped, her face turning a whole other shade of red.

"Thank you, hun." She smiled and started to take her seat again. I was just waiting for him to carry on about how beautiful she was. Damn it Evan! Keep it up and the poor woman won't be able to eat dinner! She'll be spending too much time in her room! But he didn't carry on, he just started to dig into his meal, pushing the giant meatballs off to the side of the plate. "Oh, you aren't a vegetarian are you?" Mom squeaked, catching his act. He looked at her confused, then down at his plate and laughed.

"Oh no, I just like to save the best for last. Although it's kind of hard when I feel like I'm at a showcase rather than a meal." She started that deep breathing again. I rolled my eyes.

"So you must be Evan, Darren tells us a lot about you." Annie barged in, smiling at him. He smiled back at her, then flashed me a quick look.

"Really? What does he say about me?" My heart stopped. I tell her stuff that I don't tell my parents, stuff like if he were a girl I'd date him. I looked at her pleadingly but all she did was grin wildly.

"Well he tells me stuff that different than what he tells mom and dad." She twirled some spaghetti around her fork and popped it in her mouth.

"Really? Like what?" She smiled, wiping her mouth off. No Annie, don't! Don't!

"Well he tells mom and dad stuff like 'Oh he's really awesome and he travels all around the world and stuff like that' when he tells me 'he's really pretty if he were a girl I'd date him for sure. You'd think he's hot too but you wouldn't like how feminine he looks' and other stuff like that." Everyone was quiet, no one eating. Evan slowly turned around and looked at me, a smile stretching across his face.

"Darren, do you think I'm pretty?" He grinned wildly.

"Did you not hear what I said? IF HE WERE A GIRL, you're not a girl so back off!" I snapped.

"Aww Dare-bear, it's alright." He shifted so he was looking at me face to face. "I want to tell you a story. My father and I visited a little tribe near Africa to research a wild bird. We stayed in the village with the natives. Now, after a month or two, I was told that the chief's son liked me like that. So, acting as my translator, I sat my dad down with the Chief's son and found out that I was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Now, I didn't know how to take that. There it was supposed to be an honor to be thought of beautiful by the Chief or the Chief's son, even higher of an honor if you're a male. I was flattered, really. In some places if a male thinks another male is beautiful, it is meant that the male that is liked is saintly, or powerful and will either become a priest or the leader of a tribe.

"Now, after a bit, knowing that the chief's son was lusting after me, I found out that the Chief himself wanted me as well. So my dad came in one night and said we had to leave right away because there was a ceremony being held the next night to slaughter the chief's current wife -who was given position for being the most beautiful out of all of the girls in the village- and for me to be sworn in as his wife." My jaw dropped as did my parents. Annie didn't understand.

"why is that so bad?" She questioned. Come on Annie! You were in health! You know why it's bad!

"Because it would have meant that I was the wife of a fat, smelly old man in a loin cloth and the property of him and his son which would inevitably lead to me having sex with them." Evan explained.

"But you're a boy, how does that happen?" She looked at me confused. I stood up and walked over to her, whispering in her ear about the other hole that could be used for sexual conduct that Mr. Bigwarfe told us about. She gasped and looked at me disgusted. "Eww! Couldn't you have just said I have a headache tonight? Maybe tomorrow? for like…the rest of your natural life?" Evan chuckled humorlessly.

"Actually, if someone said they had a headache they would perform surgery and everybody dies from that." Her jaw dropped. "So yeah, it's kind of flattering to hear that Darren is attracted to me." He smiled at me and winked.

"I said IF YOU WERE A GIRL, god people, use you heads for something other than to hammer nails with!" He laughed. "So mom, can he stay the night tonight?" I asked, looking up at her. She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her milk. Evan flashed me a look that screamed but you said if I ate dinner here it was automatic!

"Of course, he is eating here." She smiled at me. Yes! She must have heard what I told him upstairs! Thank you god for our thin walls and floors! Evan sighed next to me.

"Alright, but I'm going to have to go over to Steve's to get my clothes and tell him." He informed me. I nodded. After dinner, he thanked my mom for the food and complimented her to death on how good it was. Heading straight for the door, he pulled it open. I pushed it shut and slid in between him and door, a smile on my face.

"So, you're going to come back right?" He laughed and nodded.

"Well I did eat dinner didn't I?" I smiled and opened the door for him. Flashing a hand at me in a quick wave he ran out and down the steps running down the road. I smiled as I watched him run. He wasn't wearing shoes, which meant he was coming back. I kept watching him until he was gone. Five minutes gone and I started to feel lonely.

"Darren, come here." Uh oh, that didn't sound good. I stepped back in and shut the door. My parents were sitting on the couch, glaring at me. "We have to talk," My mom said sternly. I sighed. Taking a seat in the recliner across from them I looked them in the eyes. "Now Darren, that boy is very beautiful, and he has it in his head that homosexuality is alright due to the culture's he's seen. Plus, he's very seductive, if he tries to have sex with you, tell us we'll kick him out ok-"

"Mom! Whoa, whoa whoa! Evan isn't going to try and boink me, he's not like that." I laughed, looking at her embarrassed. "Why would he do that?"

"You're a very good looking boy and he's very into you, I can see that,"

"I mean for goodness sakes Darren, he bite your neck!" Dad hollered.

"Uh, his hands were full, how else was he going to stop me form being the crap out of Annie?" Annie had gone upstairs to get ready to go to her friends house for the night. If I remembered right, Mom and dad were getting a hotel room tonight so they could be alone. So it'll be me and Evan here, Annie and her friend at her friends house, and mom and dad in a Hotel room. I smiled wildly.

"Plus, we're not going to be here tonight, so if he does try to touch you-"

"Mom, he's not going to touch me!" I stood up and ran off upstairs. I was tired of them accusing him for something he didn't do or wasn't going to do. I slammed my bedroom door shut and threw myself onto my bed. I stared at my ceiling, waiting for him to come back.

It must have been fifteen twenty minutes before my mind started wandering. I began to think of how I felt around him, and how familiar he was, but I didn't know who he was. Suddenly, the phone rang. Reaching over I grabbed my handset and looked at the caller ID. It was Steve.

"Hello?" It was silent for a few seconds.

"Darren?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, it's Evan." My heart started racing.

"Evan! What's taking you so long? You fall in?" I teased. He laughed, a soft grunt escaping his lips.

"No, my clothes are in the dryer, I should be over in about thirty to forty minutes." I nodded as if he could see it.

"Ok, Steve say it was alright?"

"Yeah, he said 'Darren stealing away my prom date, that dork, I'll have to take care of him in school tomorrow, ha ha ha.'" He mocked Steve. I laughed.

"He can bring it." Evan laughed.

"So yeah, I'll be over in about a half an hour. I nodded.

"Alright dude, be careful on your way back."

"I will, thanks." "Bye." He hung up. I put the phone back on the stand and started to look up at the ceiling again. Forty minutes of staring at my ceiling. This was going to be boring as hell. Standing I made my way around my room, looking at random things. Opening my closet I sighed. Was there anything I could look at? Down towards the bottom of the closet, something caught my eye. Curious, I bent over and grabbed what it was wrapped up in. It was a bag fully of old year books.

Taking it back to my bed I pulled out the one from last year and looked around for my class. Sure enough was Steve. He was sitting there with a goofy grin on his face like he was going to jump up and start ax murdering people. And off on the next page, was my picture. I laughed, snorting a bit. That was the year I thought the flip up of hair in the front was cool, and now that I looked at it, I looked like a dweeb.

Closing the book I put it back in the bag and reached for another one. It was from second grade. Wow, I didn't know that I kept one in here from that long ago. Opening it I started to look through our class. Emma was in here. She was adorable back then. Her sister Nina was in here as well. I laid back, looking at the picture of her closely. I remember in forth grade Emma came in crying. I asked her what was wrong but she didn't tell me, at least, not before a teacher pulled me away. The teacher told me that Nina had gotten into a car accident and died. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine what it must feel like losing someone like that. Mom, Dad, Annie. A tear trickled down my face. It was awful. Playing it all out in your head, imagining the way of the crash, the impact. Imagining the rush of the ambulances to the hospital, only to find out that loved one it dead. And she was really close to Emma too, that's what hurt most about it all.

Turning the page I looked at Steve's picture. He was chunky back then, I remember that. Almost a fat kid. And me, I was pretty chunky too. We all were, except for one kid that caught my eye. I looked at his picture. He had a long, stretched out face, his hair was short and black, his eyes narrow, no smile on his face. I remember this kid. We used to call him the Debbie Downer of the Second Grade. He moved away at the end of that year after his mother died. He looked like Evan, a younger, more evil version of Evan. The single toned skin, the narrow eyes, the black hair. There was one thing that was different between him and Evan now. Evan smiled.

I looked off to the side amongst the names, reading the names of the kids right to left out loud.

"Daniel Rackshane, Lizzie Ramsey, Mark Rickson, Evan Rider." I stopped. Evan Rider? That was that kids name? I threw myself off of the bed and rushed for the new mid-year yearbook that the school started to give out. This one was just a collection of pictures for kids who didn't want the fancy stuff such as pictures of club activity and what not. Evan had come to this school just in time for picture day, so I knew he'd be in here.

I ripped the book open and looked furiously for his picture.

"Daniel Rackshane, Lizzie Ramsey, Mark Rickson…Evan…Rider." I gasped, dropping the book. Evan Rider? I stood up and started to pace around my room. Did Steve know about this? That Evan Rider was back? I didn't know much about Evan, but I knew that in second grade he was a serious freaking jerk! He was worse than Steve on a bad day. He swore, and kicked things and hit teachers. He pushed me down the stairs and made me break my arm one day. Also in winter he made me stick my tongue to a metal pole. I remember, that's who Steve always hung out with when we first started to see each other. He was like me with him, the follower. Whatever Evan said went with, whatever Evan said he'd do.

But half way through the second grade, his mother died of cancer. I remember how much angrier he got after that. He was damaging chalk boards and throwing scissors at people. Eventually they told his father he had to make it stop, so his father and him moved away. At that time, I remember his father being a Veterinarian, he loved animals, but whenever I went into the animal shelter -where he worked- just to look at the animals and cuddle them, he'd tell me to forgive Evan. I always did forgive him. He had a hard life, but it didn't mean I liked him and considered him my best friend.

I liked to listen to his father though. To listen to his stories of wanting to travel around the world and see other kinds of animals for himself. I laid the book on my chest and thought of those stories. To take care of wild animals, to see them, to be face to face with them. I closed my eyes, willing to make the time go by faster. Before I knew it, the bed shifted and something heavy replaced the book. My eyes snapped open and there on top of me was a thin body, it's legs on either side of me wearing a pair of short shorts, long black hair dangling down about it.

"Evan!" I squealed. He laughed and smiled at me, sitting up straight, all of his weight on me. "I thought you said you'd be over there for about forty minutes?" I questioned, knowing that it didn't take me more than ten minutes to find the yearbooks, look through them and have a break down.

"Darren, you fell asleep. I've been here for 30 minutes. Annie's gone, and so are your parents." He told me, not getting off but instead sliding down so I could sit up. Of course he was in my lap now, leaving me feeling uncomfortable. But all of that seemed to amplify now that I knew who he was. That he was the kid who threw stuff, who broke my arm, who put glue down the back of my pants, shoved my tongue against a frozen metal pole. My fists clenched.

Lashing out I grabbed his shoulders and slammed him to the bed, pinning him below me. "Darren!" He squealed, looking at me frightened. I didn't know what to say to him now that he was helpless underneath me, but I knew that I wanted to make him feel like the follower, to make him feel like he's been dominated like I've felt my entire life. Although his domination over me ended in Second Grade, Steve had carried on in his place. I wanted to make him feel weak.

"You…asshole." I growled, my arms shaking. I was so pissed off over nothing. Or was it that one of my enemies had decided to come back and here he was, jerking me around again? Turning me and Steve back into his follower? "Do you know what you put me through my entire life!" His eyes opened wide.

"D-Darren, I-I don't know what-"

"You're a liar! Second grade you jerked me around, shoved me down stairs, stuck my tongue to a metal pole in winter, slammed my thing in a text book! You were a jackass! A manipulative little jackass! And here you go coming back into mine and Steve's life and making us love you." I started crying.

"Darren." His hand touched the side of my face. I pulled away from him and kicked all of the yearbooks off of the bed and across the room. He sat up and looked at the mess of loose papers that tore free of their binding. I held my head helplessly in my hands, crying like a little girl into them. "Darren please." I didn't answer him. He sighed. "I knew coming back was a bad idea." He whimpered. "Dad loved this town, and he wanted me to make things right, to make amends before I left the schooling world all together. I thought that…no, I hoped that if I came back different, no one would remember me, and I could start over." I looked at him.

"Evan," He sighed a shaky breath and shook his head.

"I guess I was wrong, huh? You remember me, I'm pretty sure Steve does too." He looked at me through teary eyes. "That's why he hated me at first, I guess. I never knew he hated me back then, I never knew you hated me back then either. I was an idiot, a child who didn't know how to express his anger properly, and I see that made you numb. I'm sorry Darren, I should leave." He stood up and made his way for the door. I practically threw myself off the end of my bed and grabbed his arm. "Darren?" He whirled around. I slammed him against my door, pinning his hands to the wood on either side of his head. Gently I slid a knee in between his legs, pinning him there.

"I want to dominate you." I said with a smiled. His eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

"What! Ok Darren I know you mean something else but oh my god! That sounded wrong!" He squirmed. I wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him against me.

"No I meant it, I want to dominate you, I want to make you mine, my follower. I want to control you like you controlled me all of those years ago." I looked deep into his eyes. "Only this time, instead of using pain and hatred to dominate you, I'll use pleasure and love to dominate you." He gasped.

"Darren are you talking about sex?" His eye twitched.

"If it has to get that far." I gave him an alienated look. He struggled against me, but he wasn't that strong, well, not at that moment he wasn't. Laughing I clicked my light off and dragged him by his waist. Throwing him on the bed I jumped on him, pinning him to my mattress. "So, what do you want to do first? I told you we'll have fun." He looked at me terrified, and that's when I noticed it. He was exhausted. Was it from running to Steve's and back? Was it because it was 10:30? Or was there something else behind it. I rolled off of him and pulled him close to me, holding him tight in my arms. He hesitantly rested his head against my chest. I was examining him, to see if anything was tampered with.

A pool of disgust welled up inside my stomach. Here I was treating him as if he were a piece of property. But all I could feel was a smile on my face when nothing looked to be out of place.

"You're tired." He whispered.

"You're even more tired than I am." I replied back, resting my chin on his head.

"I am." He was silent for a few moments. "Are you gay?" My heart wrenched in my chest, my face hot at the accusation.

"No!" I snapped, but then stopped, realizing that I was fawning over him. "I don't know. I think, it's complicated." He looked up at me. "Like, you're the only one I'd think of doing this with." I explained deeper. I didn't know how to explain it.

"I'm not gay either." He whispered, his eyes closing. I looked down at him. He was pretty, and he was kind. The opposite of how he'd been when we were younger. I bit my lip lightly. Leaning down I pressed my lips against his. My heart started pounding. I was kissing a guy. What the hell was possessing me to do this? He let off a light moan and reached up, wrapping his arms around my neck. I thought of him as if he were a girl, but his flat chest told me differently as I held him close to me. "I'm not gay." He gasped, pulling away for air before returning his lips to mine.

"Neither am I." I kissed back, holding him tightly in my arms. "I just want to own you." He smiled at me and closed his eyes. I held him there and watched as he began to fall into sleep. I smiled and shifted him so his arms weren't around me anymore. He grunted and rolled over so his back was to me. I didn't like that, I wanted to look at his face. Pushing myself closer I wrapped my arm around his waist so I was holding him to me. He whimpered, his eyes closed, his shoulder blades pressing against my chest. I thought about what I had just done. I just kissed another guy. I stared at the wall, listening to the crickets outside chirp away. I just kissed a guy. I just kissed Evan Rider…my enemy.