< Chapter 10

Chapter 11

They had all gone to bed with a lot on their minds. It was Chris who woke up first, looking around the room at his three best friends then Kevin’s new roommate, who Chris had to admit was actually a very cool guy. He couldn’t imagine Drew having a problem with Kevin being bisexual and dating Nick, but Kevin was right, you never could tell. And maybe Kevin was right about hiding it for a little while, but at the same time, Chris thought that Kevin was making a big mistake. In the end though, it wasn’t his call to make.

The clock on Kevin’s night stand read ten thirty and he quietly got up. Stepping carefully over Joey and Brian, he slipped out of the room and headed down the hall to watch some Sunday morning television until the rest of the gang woke up. With the next day being Labour Day, classes at Lincoln High wouldn’t start until Tuesday, so there wasn’t a real rush to get back to Middletown. Chris did have orientation the next day, but it was mostly just going to pick up his course schedule, getting a locker and the other administrative stuff. There wasn’t a set time that he had to do it all. With that in mind, they’d agreed to leave late afternoon.

Kevin turned over when he heard Chris slip out of the room. He’d been laying awake for a while, contemplating whether or not he should get up. He had endured dream after dream of feeling lost, alone and confused, knowing that Nick was there but unable to find him. Kevin knew it had to do with his conversation with Chris the night before and his guilty conscience. Finally, Kevin grabbed his cell phone from beside his bed and crept out of the room, following the same path Chris had taken a short while earlier. Rather than go to the common room, he wanted some privacy; instead of taking a right at the fork, he went left towards the laundry room. Thankfully, it was empty and Kevin made himself comfortable on one of the counters as he dialed Nick’s familiar number.

"Hello?" A chirpy, female voice answered. Kevin recognized it as Angel, Nick’s youngest sister.

"Hi, is Nick home?"

"Uh, hold on." Kevin heard Angel call for Nick and smiled as they were fighting. "I don't know, it’s some boy. Probably your boooooooyfriend."

"You’re such a dorkface," Nick teased as he grabbed the phone from his sister. He tried to calm his nerves as he brought the receiver to his ear. He had been watching cartoons with Aaron, eating some Lucky Charms and although Kevin couldn’t see, he adjusted his wrinkled pajamas. Angel stuck her tongue out at him and went back to the living room, sitting in Nick’s vacated seat. "Hello?"

"Hey gorgeous," Kevin greeted his boyfriend. It felt so good just to hear Nick’s voice. All thoughts about anything else vacated his mind and Kevin focused solely on the blonde.

"How are you?" Nick asked, voice trembling with excitement. He hadn’t wanted to call Kevin for fear of him feeling suffocated. He had hoped Kevin would call, but hadn’t expected it this early in the morning. "Why are you up so early?"

Kevin settled back and made himself comfortable. "Ran out of sleep,’ he explained. They talked about everything Kevin had done and seen since he’d arrived. He filled Nick in on Drew, on Joey and Celena and Brian and Jordana. Nick, on the other hand, filled Kevin in on exactly what he’d been missing in Middletown since he’d left, which was pretty much nothing. They talked for over an hour until he heard voices coming down the hall. The door to the laundry room opened up and he smiled at who had found him.

"I don’t know, I haven’t seen him all morning," Jordana said to Chris who she’d bumped into in the hall. "Maybe he went for a ...."

Kevin waved at Jordana who flashed him a giant grin.

"Chris?"

"Yeah?" Kevin heard Chris call.

"He’s in here."

Chris was at the door in an instant, an expression of relief on his face. "We’ve been looking for you for like, half an hour or something."

"Hold on a sec," Kevin said to Nick. He pulled the phone from his ear and rolled his eyes. "A whole half-an-hour."

"Uh, yeah!"

"Whatever, I’m just talking to Nick."

Chris’ eyes lit up and he grinned. The way Kevin’s cheeks were practically glowing could have told Chris alone who Kevin was talking to. "Say hi, I’ll probably see him sometime tomorrow night for the fireworks." Every labour day, there was a fireworks show at Parkerson’s Point and the whole gang, minus Kevin, had made plans to meet under their usual tree to watch the show.

Kevin relayed the message and talked a few more minutes while Jordana sorted her laundry. He wished he could have been alone so he could say good-bye to Nick in private, knowing that if Jordana was there, he wouldn’t be able to tell Nick what they both so desperately wanted him to say. Jordana and Chris were just standing at the door, waiting for Kevin. Chris must have understood Kevin’s dilemma. "Uhh, Jor?"

"Chris?"

"Last night, you said you had some CDs you wanted to show me, when we were talking about my band?"

Jordana’s eyes lit up. "Shit, yeah. That’s right. And you promised me a copy of your CD," she turned to Kevin and pointed to the door. "We’re gonna be in my room."

Kevin nodded and waved. When Chris turned back to smile at him, he mouthed ‘thank you’ to him. Chris nodded in understanding. Finally, they were alone and Kevin could fully concentrate on Nick.

"Sorry about that, it’s a zoo here."

Nick giggled and shimmied to get some of the excess energy out of his system. "You should go," he said regretfully. He’d have liked to talk to Kevin all day, but he knew that Kevin had guests, and they were probably going to be getting ready for Joey, Brian and Chris to come back home. "Thanks for calling."

"Thanks for being home," Kevin teased. He felt a familiar lump in his throat and tried to swallow it down. "I miss you,"

"I miss you too," Nick whispered. "Have fun tomorrow."

"I’ll try." Kevin took a deep breath and fought the burning sensation behind his eyes. "And I’ll talk to you Tuesday? Call me after school to let me know how it goes."

Kevin knew that all day tomorrow he’d be busy with orientation and then tomorrow night, Nick would be out with the gang. They’d agreed to talk every other day, and so Tuesday would be Nick’s turn to call.

"Okay. I love you," Nick said with a smile. He waited with bated breath for Kevin’s response.

"I love you too, Nicky."

"Bye," they both said at the same time before hanging up.

Kevin took a few extra minutes to compose himself before he headed down the hall to Jordana’s room. He could hear music blaring and opened the door to find the two of them moshing around the small space between the beds, much to Shelby’s annoyance. Shelby was on her computer, every so often glaring at the two dancers in the middle of the room. They barely heard the knock on the door.

"Hello?"

Kevin turned around to face someone he didn’t recognize. He smiled as Jordana turned down the music. "Hey," Kevin said as he held out his hand. "I’m Kevin."

"I’m Adam, I live a few doors down. I heard the music and thought I’d investigate."

"I’m Jordana," the brunette introduced herself. "That’s Shelby on the computer."

"And I’m Chris," Chris said with a shake of Adam’s hand. "I don’t live here."

"I moved in late last night, but everyone was out," Adam confessed. "I do have a roommate, Mark, but I haven’t met him yet." He stopped when Jordana nodded.

"Yeah, Mark Abrams. I met him yesterday morning. Seems okay," she looked around the room and grinned. "We’re totally going to have a kick ass floor this year. I was worried that we’d be stuck with lame rookies, but you all seem pretty cool."

They talked for a bit longer until Drew, Brian and Joey ventured down the hall to Jordana and Shelby’s room. "We’re going for breakfast," Drew announced. Shelby jumped up and cheered, the most excitement she’d shown all day.

"Awesome, I’m starved. Let’s go to Denny’s, I’m so craving a Lumberjack Breakfast."

"Grand Slam," Joey corrected, "Grand Slam is where it’s at."

With eight people, they decided to take two cars. Drew drove one, while Kevin drove the other. After breakfast, they decided to do some strip mall shopping and by the time they returned to campus, it was time for Joey, Brian and Chris to head out. They said their good byes to Jordana, Shelby, Adam and Drew upstairs in Kevin and Drew’s room. With promises to be up soon to visit, they grabbed their bags and Kevin walked them down to Joey’s car.

"You guys will be okay?" Kevin asked as he hugged each of his best friends individually.

"Yeah, we’re cool. I’ll call when we’ve reached city limits," Chris promised.

"Will you be okay?" Brian asked, hugging Kevin tight. He still felt a little uneasy about the conversation the night before. Kevin smiled and looked at the giant, stone building behind him which would be his home for the next eight months.

"Yeah. I think I will. It’s not home, and they’re not you guys, but I really like Drew and the girls."

Joey grinned. "Yeah, you’ll be awesome, you always are." He gave Kevin one more hug and clapped him on the back before sliding into the driver’s seat of his car. They said a few more good-byes and ten minutes later, Kevin was standing out on the pavement, all by himself. It wasn't until he felt someone’s arms wrap around his waist from behind that he moved. When he turned around, Kevin saw that the person holding him was Jordana.

"You can cry you know," she said softly.

"I know," Kevin said. Surprisingly, he wasn’t near tears. He thought he would be, but he was okay. They stared deep into each other’s eyes and both smiled.

"Drew said you’ve got a girlfriend back home."

Kevin furrowed his eyebrows, he didn’t know what that had to do with anything. "And?"

Jordana shrugged. "Why didn’t she come up?"

Kevin blushed. "Bit young," he admitted. Jordana’s eyes widened and she laughed.

"Mommy and daddy wouldn’t let her come up?"

With a nod, Kevin laughed. "Something like that."

"How old is she?"

"Be sixteen in January."

"You dog, you’re nearly eighteen, going out with someone who’s fifteen." Jordana punched Kevin’s arm and they both burst into laughter. "So..." She said softly as they headed up to their rooms. "Rachael."

Kevin nodded, relieved that she’d changed the topic from his ‘girlfriend’ to Brian’s. This he could talk about. "Yeah."

"I bet she’s super sweet, everyone loves her, gonna marry Brian and make the perfect wife."

Kevin thought about Rachael and finally had to nod. "Pretty much." He frowned and hugged Jordana tight. "Sorry."

"But ...he didn’t even mention her. We hung out all day Saturday. And there was heavy flirting, by both of us. He didn’t say anything, so I thought ..." Kevin could see that Jordana was getting embarrassed and he hugged her tighter.

"I’m sorry."

"And then I kissed him and he kissed me back. He kissed me back, and.."

Jordana could see the surprise on Kevin’s face and stopped. She blushed and looked away.

"It wasn’t for a long time, I mean it was ...maybe a minute. But we were seriously kissing and then he turns around and tells me he has a girlfriend."

"Tongue?" For some reason, Kevin didn’t feel at all weird about being so open and frank with Jordana. He smiled when she blushed and covered her face.

"Yeah, but not a lot of it. Just a sexy amount, like, it’s barely there but you can feel it just a little."

They headed up to Jordana’s room and stood in the midst of the busy hallway. People were mostly all moved in and everyone was getting to know each other. Kevin wanted to stay out and mingle, but at the same time he wanted to get to his computer so he could e-mail Gretchen. He pulled Jordana close and hugged her. "I know he’s torn up right now. Up until this weekend, there’s only ever been Rachael, and now there’s you."

Jordana’s eyes widened and Kevin nodded. "I don’t want him to break up with her for me."

Kevin raised an eyebrow and she laughed.

"Well, I do, but not just for me. I wish we could have had more time to get to know each other."

"I think you know what you need to know, there’s a connection between you both. It’s so obvious and it is going to sound weird, but you’ll see him again. And if you want, I’ll give you his e-mail address, but he’s really confused right now."

Jordana sighed and dodged a nerf football that was flying through the air. "True. And yeah, when you’ve got a minute, give me his e-mail address. Thanks so much Kevin."

Kevin made his way down the hall to the room he shared with Drew and knocked before entering. He knew he didn’t have to, but it was more of a respect issue, just a warning that he’d be entering to give Drew a moment if needed. When he walked in, he saw Drew lying on his bed, reading a book.

"Your friends are awesome," Drew said. Kevin nodded and approached his desk. Waiting for his computer to boot up, he changed into a pair of sweat pants and tee shirt.

"Yeah, they are. I’ve known them my whole life, they’re like my brothers."

Drew sat up from the lying position he’d been in. He propped himself up with his pillows and watched Kevin make himself comfortable. "You busy right now?"

Kevin shrugged. "Why?"

"It’s just ...we haven’t gotten a chance to really chat. Beyond surface information, I mean. Since we’re going to be living together for eight months, we should really get to know each other."

Kevin searched Drew’s face for any hint of mockery, but found only genuine desire to get to know him. He nodded and motioned towards his computer.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I just need to write a few e-mails and you’ve got me for the rest of the night."

"Definitely, I can finish this chapter." Drew shook the book that was in his hand. "Who are you e-mailing, if you don’t mind my asking."

"Oh, my brother, Gretchen and a few other friends."

"Gretchen? Is that your girlfriend?"

Kevin’s stomach clenched. "Uh, no. Gretch is my ex-girlfriend. We broke up in January, but we were supposed to get married." Kevin could see the surprise in Drew’s face and he chuckled. "I’ll explain in a bit."

"You’re still friends with your ex-girlfriend? Impressive."

Kevin nodded. "She’s one of my best friends."

"And your girlfriend now doesn’t mind?"

Kevin swallowed thickly and shook his head. "There was a problem at the beginning, but it’s all good." He looked over his shoulder before he started typing. "Just give me twenty minutes and I’ll be ready."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lance couldn’t wait for school to start. He’d loved having the summer off, but at the same time he enjoyed the social aspect of being at school. Seeing all of their friends, working on the Lincoln Report, spending time with AJ. The best news he’d heard in ages was that while he was in school, AJ wouldn’t have to keep working at the diner. Of course, next summer, he would be going back there to work, but for the time being, they wouldn't need his assistance and he was free on evenings and weekends, something that Lance was more than excited for. And what was even better was that AJ’s mom still worked her late shifts on Friday nights. So that would provide the two of them with privacy and time to be alone without any parental supervision. Thoughts of being alone with AJ sent delicious thrills up and down Lance’s spine.

He glanced at the clock, it was almost seven thirty. AJ would be by to pick him up momentarily and from there they’d be going to get Justin and Nick. Everyone was meeting in their usual spot at Parkerson’s Point for the annual labour day fireworks display. Annual. This was his second time going to these fireworks and it caused for him to remember Labour Day, one year earlier. They had lived in Middletown for only a month at that point and Lance had made no friends. Stacey, Lance, Jim and Diane Bass had packed up their car, went down to the Point and had an evening picnic to wait for the fireworks. It was amazing how much had changed in only a year.

A year ago, he hadn’t known what Lincoln High School would be like. He hadn’t known that the blonde that would occupy the locker next to his would turn out to be his best friend. Both of them, to be accurate. He hadn’t known that after a month of being virtually invisible, he would speak up and talk to the two people he’d wanted to be friends with so badly it hurt. He hadn’t known that those two friends would introduce him to the teen that was currently laying on the horn very loudly and very annoyingly. The teen that caused for Lance’s pulse to race and his stomach to flip nervously.

"JAMES LANCE," Jim Bass called from the living room. His parents had declined the suggestion that they go to the fireworks while Stacey was going with BJ Carter and some of her friends. They rarely got a night home alone and they jumped at the chance.

"Yes Daddy?" Lance asked as he shimmied into his sweater. He slipped his shoes on quickly and looked at his father impatiently.

"Tell Alex that we are not deaf, we do not need..." The rest of his sentence was cut off by the blare of the horn. Jim stood up and stormed to the window, pausing as he looked out at the car in the driveway. He burst into laughter causing Lance to rush to the window. AJ was in the front seat, fighting with Justin who had been sitting in the back seat but was trying to climb into the front and press the horn. Lance too started to laugh. They watched for a few more minutes as Justin wrestled free of AJ and hit the horn again. Justin screamed as AJ bit him and Jim shook his head.

"You’d better get out there before one of them hurts the other," Diane laughed as she opened the front door. The second the boys saw Lance’s mother standing there, the wrestling stopped and they sat up straight and waved at her.

"Good evening Mrs. Bass," Justin called sweetly, slightly out of breath."

"Justin," Diane warned, which caused AJ to laugh. "Alexander." AJ’s laughter stopped which caused Justin to snicker. "Behaving I expect."

"Of course," Justin called back sweetly. He had to cough to disguise the pain from AJ pinching him roughly. "Is Lance coming?"

Lance eagerly ran down the steps, towards the car. He slid in and refrained from leaning over to kiss AJ. His mother was still standing on the porch and he knew that his father was watching from the front window. Their greeting would have to wait until they were at a safe distance from the house.

"Bye Mama, I’ll be home later."


Diane waved and once they were gone, she headed back into the house.

It was at a stop light that Lance was afforded his kiss of greeting. The car was idling and he pulled AJ close, pressing their mouths together. "Hey."

AJ grinned against Lance’s lips. It didn’t matter that there were cars on either side of them, and Justin sitting in the back seat. It felt like it had been forever since he’d gotten a chance to kiss his boyfriend and AJ wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. Due to Kevin’s leaving for college, Lance and Justin had gone and spent the weekend at Nick’s house to keep his mind off of the fact that Kevin was gone. Before that, AJ had been working double shifts to cover for one of the other kitchen staff who had gone on an end of summer holiday. His last shift had been earlier that day and AJ wouldn’t be subjected to washing dishes at the Olympic 76 restaurant until next summer.

"Green means go," Justin kicked the back of AJ’s seat, startling the two apart.

"Huh?"

"Green. Means. Go!" Justin flicked AJ’s ear and snickered as he grumbled a few curse words. "Stop making out and let’s go, we’ve got to pick up Nick so we can get to the Point."

By the time Chris, Joey and Brian had returned from UCLA the night before, Justin had already been home and in bed. After a very long and exciting weekend at Nick’s, one where they’d hardly gotten any sleep, Justin had been exhausted. He’d gone home after dinner on Sunday and much to everyone’s surprise, he’d gone to bed almost immediately after. Chris had called when he returned home from their road trip, disappointed when Lynne Timberlake had informed him that his boyfriend was already in bed.

Justin’s first order of business was to pounce on Chris, kiss him until they were both whimpering and panting, then let Chris tell him every single detail of his weekend away. Justin had visions of them going to bars and clubs, meeting tons of available men and women while drinking alcohol, dancing and engaging in explicit events. Not that he didn’t trust Chris, he did, and he knew that his boyfriend would never do anything to hurt him or their relationship, but Justin was curious as to what Chris had seen other people doing, and how cool it was to be on their own for the weekend.

Lance and AJ exchanged humourous glances. Lance’s hand was resting on AJ’s thigh, pleased just to have that little bit of contact with him. When they pulled into Nick’s driveway, AJ barely had time to honk the horn before Nick was flying down the stairs, waving as he fled.

"Be home later mom, bye."

"Behave Nickolas," Jane Carter called. She waved to the other teens in the car. They too were heading down for the fireworks and would have to be on their way relatively soon if they were planning on getting a good spot to watch the show. Nick stopped and rolled his eyes.

"Duh, like I wouldn’t mom!"

"Drive safe, Alex," Jane called with a friendly wave.

"Of course, Mrs. Carter."

"Come on, lets go before she tries to embarrass me," Nick pleaded. He slid into the back seat of the car and high fived Justin before doing the same with Lance. Rather than high five AJ, he smacked him on the back of the head and flashed him an innocent, sweet smile in return. "So how good does it feel to be done work?"

AJ’s face broke out into a grin. His eyes met Nick’s in the rear view mirror for a few seconds before they were on their way to Parkerson’s Point. "Awesome. I’ve saved up almost all of the money I made this summer, so that’s sweet. And now I’ll be free at nights so I can actually have a life."

"You gonna work there at all? During the year?" Justin asked, genuinely curious. It would be nice to have his own spending money, but at the same time, he knew he was way too busy to be able to commit to a real job.

"I was thinking I might work on weekends sometimes. If they need someone, they can call me and I’ll work. But I don't know, gonna see how hard things are for me this year at school."

"Well, you know you’ve always got a math tutor," Lance grinned. The year before, AJ had been having trouble with math and since Lance was in grade 10 math rather than grade 9, the younger teen had tutored him.

"I just wish my math tutor would do less tutoring and more doing my homework for me," AJ suggested with a laugh. He yelped as Lance pinched his thigh.

"You’ll never learn if I do it for you."

AJ shrugged. "I could live with that."

They arrived at Parkerson’s point and AJ found the closest spot to the entrance to park in. They grabbed blankets from the trunk and made their way through the vast field, talking excitedly about school which would be starting the next day. There was the excitement of new classes, new teachers and figuring out their schedules. It would be interesting to see who had changed over the summer, who hadn’t and what new faces they’d be seeing within their halls.

One of the main differences was that they had three permanent additions to their clique, Emily, Kyle and Billy. Where the year before, they had attended the catholic high school of St. Peter’s, they had transferred to attend Lincoln High, starting this year. They had meet Josh while doing co operative education placement at an elementary school, and their friendship had strengthened to something outside of the schools. Josh, Kyle and Billy had started hanging out more, outside of their co op times, and through Josh, Billy had met and started dating Britney. Due to their strong connection with the whole group, Emily had suggested one night they switch schools. After much discussion, it had been agreed upon that they would transfer schools and be with their friends every day.

Justin looked around their usual spot and immediately found Christina’s baby blue blanket spread out. Surprisingly, there was no one on it, but as he searched that small area, he noticed Billy and Britney sitting on one blanket, talking intimately. Their heads were close together and they looked as if they were having a private conversation. As if noticing someone was watching them, Britney looked up and blushed at the way everyone was staring at them.


"Hey guys," She called with a wave. Billy looked up and smiled as well, waving them over.

"Come on, we’ve been saving blanket space.


"Speaking of blanket space," AJ said with a smirk. "Where’s Josh and Chrissy? I see the blanket, but they’re nowhere to be found."

"They’re buying glow sticks," Britney’s voice came from behind where they were standing. "There is a guy that’s selling them over there," Britney pointed in the direction that their friends had gone.


"Hey Brit," Nick grinned as he stepped forward to hug his friend.

Britney stepped on her tip toes and hugged Nick back. "How are you doing?" She gently asked. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Nick, but she’d been concerned all weekend. Nick didn’t look like he was doing too badly, but she just wanted to make sure.

"Good. Nervous about tomorrow."

"God, you don’t know the half of it," Billy interrupted as he slid his arms around Britney’s waist. They looked around and the whole gang was finally there. Joey, Mandy and Chris had just arrived and were lying their blankets out. Brian and Rachel were in the distance with a few of their other friends, and everyone was chattering excitedly about school starting the next day. "At least you all know where you’re going and everyone that goes to Lincoln, we’re going in blind."

"I’d say you know a giant chunk of people," Joey pointed out as he looked around at the huge group they comprised. "And if I do say so myself, the group you know is probably the coolest group of people at Lincoln High."

Mandy snickered and rolled her eyes. "With the exception of a few people of course." She pointed her finger accusingly at Joey, pretending to be serious.

"That’s true," Emily said as she accepted a glow necklace that Christina handed her. Christina then handed one to Rachael, Britney and Mandy as well. "Thanks."

"You’re welcome," Christina said as she sat down on her blanket with Josh. She didn’t miss the look of disappointment on Justin and Nick’s faces. "What?"

"Where’s ours?" Nick asked with a pout.

"I just got them for the girls," Christina explained with a laugh. She hadn’t thought that the guys would want one, and figured that they would think they were too girlie. Just as Josh had done when she’d offered to buy him one too.

Justin stuck his tongue out at Christina and stood up.

"Sorry, Josh said they were girlie, so I didn’t think anyone else would want one." She looked over her shoulder where the man was standing a few hundred feet away. "He’s just there, go get one if you want."

Justin nodded. "I think I will."

Nick was on his feet in an instant, "I’ll come with." Minutes later, they came back with a handful each. "Help yourself," Nick offered as he and Justin started putting them together. Slowly, the necklaces started to disappear, much to Josh’s surprise.

"Are you guys serious?" He asked. As his gaze moved along his group of friends, he saw that everyone, including Joey, Brian and Chris, had donned the fluorescent necklaces. Nick and Justin had clearly bought too many and still had a few on the blanket in front of them, but they had simply put those on as well.

"Glow sticks are fun," Joey said with a shrug. He tugged on Mandy’s pink one, bringing her closer to him.

With a grumble, Josh took a blue one that Nick held out for him. He was only comforted when Christina curled up beside him and kissed his jaw sweetly.

Nick looked around the field, waiting for the fireworks to start. Brian and Rachael had brought friends with them, so he wasn’t the only person that didn’t have someone to cuddle with, but in that moment, Nick’s mind went to the last fireworks display and longed for that night, when Kevin and he sat together, arms around each other talking and holding one another.

The fire works would probably start in about ten minutes. Justin nudged Nick with one foot while he tapped Lance, who was sitting on the next blanket over, on the shoulder. "So, what’s up for tomorrow?"

Lance started to laugh. "Well, I thought I'd get up at the crack of dawn, go to school...."

Justin growled and pinched Lance. "No dumbass. I mean, where are we gonna meet?"

"Well, you know we’re going to have homeroom first, and then the welcome back assembly and pep rally," Britney suggested.

"And it’s a short day," AJ offered. "I think that we’re out at like two tomorrow. Short classes."

"We should go to the Shack after school," Nick said with a nod. Everyone agreed.

"But, before, where should we meet?" Justin tried again. He knew that tomorrow was going to be chaos, and wanted to have prearranged plans to meet everyone rather than try to find them amongst the mess.

"Why not meet on the front steps. We can’t put our stuff away until after homeroom," Nick said. While their locker positions would be different from the year before, their homerooms still remained the same. Everyone was in the same homeroom for all four years at Lincoln High, so once the school day started, they would file to their homerooms, get their locker assignments and schedules for the term. From there, they would be able to head down to their lockers and settle in before the Welcome Back Assembly was to start.

"Yeah," Lance grinned. "We’ll do that. We’ll meet on the front steps and then go to homerooms together ...well apart, but we’ll walk together. Then we’ll be able to find each other for sure when we’re going to our lockers, so we’ll meet up there and go over our schedules and then get to the gym for the assembly."

"We’ll meet you in the gym," Josh said to the sophomores. He, along with Emily and Billy would have their lockers in the senior’s row, while AJ and Kyle would be in with the juniors’. While Joey and Brian were somewhat included in their clique, they were on the outer ring of it. Nick still viewed Brian as Kevin and Chris’ friend and as comfortable as he was with Joey, he still felt a little intimidated by him.

They were finalizing the plans for the next day when the first round of fireworks exploded in the air, ceasing all conversation. Nick laid back and stared up at the sky, thinking about the summer, Kevin and the upcoming year, wondering what on earth life was going to throw at him next.

End Chapter 11


Chapter 12 >