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"So what happened with Pete this weekend?" Joe asked me as we walked to Geometry on Monday morning. Pete didn't come to school.

"What do you mean?" I asked not wanting to reveal anything.

"Well, his mom called me at about 6:30 in the morning on Saturday looking for him. I was just wondering if you knew what had happened," he said walking into the classroom.

"Oh that. He got into an argument with his dad, so he came to my house. It wasn't anything big," I said shrugging my shoulders and sitting in my seat.

"Oh. Did he spend the night?" Joe asked implying that we had slept together.

"Joe, don't be dirty," I said laughing at him.

"Is there anything else to be?" he asked right before the bell rang for class to start.

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I walked over to Pete's house after school to check and see if he was ok. I knocked on his door, but no one answered. I knew he was there because his car was in the garage, so I walked around the back and went through the screen door.

When I walked inside it was quiet and dark.

"Pete?" I asked hoping for an answer, but I didn't receive one. I looked throughout the house and opted to go up to his room. I walked slowly up the stairs and peered into his room. It was dark, but I could see a form sitting on his bed.

He was just sitting there. He wasn't listening to music, reading a book, or watching TV. He was just sitting there.

"Pete?" I asked opening the door slightly. My heart was pounding so loudly I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear him if he spoke.

"He used to watch us when we were younger," Pete stated.

My breath caught in my throat. What ever Pete's secret was I had a feeling it was going to come tumbling out at this moment. I didn't move or speak. I just listened.

"I was kind of a troublemaker, you know. I was always trying to do some sort of dare devil act like flips off the roof into the pool. I would get caught and sent to the bedroom," his breath caught in his throat when he said bedroom. I started to get tears in my eyes for fear of what he was going to tell me.

"He was a friend of my father's who didn't have any kids and always offered to watch us. He was a nice guy; hip and cool. We liked to go to his place, but then it started," he said and put his head down. I could tell he was crying. I put my hand up to my mouth trying to stay as quiet as possible.

"I would get sent to the bedroom and he would come in." Pete paused. I wasn't sure if he would be able to continue. I saw him close his eyes tightly and take a deep breath.

"And he would touch me and make me do things to him. I was only a kid. This asshole took my innocence away from me, and to make things worse I found out that he knew it was happening and he never did anything to stop it. My dad told me that if he would have known that what this guy did to me was going to turn me into a girl's jeans wearing, eye-liner wearing fag he would have stopped it sooner," Pete said now breaking down into sobs.

I ran forward and wrapped my arms around him. I was expecting him to scream and shout, but he didn't. He just clung onto me and cried into my shoulder for dear life. Pete let go and looked me in the eyes.

"I was fine until about six months ago. We had stopped going to this guy's place and I thought I was fine. But six months ago, I started to have these dreams. They occurred not only during the night, but also during the day. They would come on without warning. Izzy, I don't know what to do," he said hugging me again.

This confession had explained so many things, especially his mood swings. I felt bad for getting angry with him for being so crabby when he was suffering inside the whole time.

"Pete, you need help. You need to talk to someone," It was the first thing that I said to him. I just felt him hug me harder.

"I'm scared. What if things come out that I'm not ready for," he said muffled into my shoulder.

"What sort of things?" I asked him now looking into his eyes.

"What if this guy turned me gay, Izzy? What if my dad was right?" he asked so sincerely. I smiled slightly.

"Pete, no one can turn you gay. Do you like girls?" I asked him.

"Well, yeah. Of course," he said back as if it was a crazy question.

"Then do you really think you are gay?" I asked him.

"I guess not," he whispered.

"Thank you," I whispered to him and gently touched his cheek.

"For what?" he asked confused.

"For telling me your secret. We are going to get you through this. I promise," I said hugging him again. I felt him take a deep breath.

"Please don't tell anyone about this," he said quietly.

"I would never. We hold each other's secrets now, forever," I said to him.