This chapter was written by ForeverSmiles

It started out like a normal school day. Or rather, an after school day. Teddy and Vern went to Vern's house after school to study and do homework because, well, Teddy was flunking all his classes. And Gordie was too busy helping Chris with their college courses, so Teddy turned to Vern. He hated to count on the Tessio boy for anything but he was at a D average right now and his mom was really cracking down.

"Okay, so," Vern said, shutting the door to his room while Teddy stretched out on the bed. "what do you want to start with first?"

"I don't care, Vern," Teddy grumbled, closing his eyes.

"How about math? Because that's our last class so it'll still be fresh in our minds."

"Whatever, man."

Teddy could hear Vern rummaging around in his backpack and tried to block out the noise. It had been damn near impossible to fall asleep last night, for some reason unknown to him. He ended up nodding off around three a.m. and was so fucking tired.

"Teddy? Come on, wake up! We gotta get this done!" Vern whined and Teddy sat up, rubbing his eyes and grumbling. Vern sat next to him on the bed and opened the math book, trying to find the right page.

"Can't we do this another day?" Teddy asked, yawning.

"What? No! If your grades get any lower, they'll put you in the retarded class! That's even worse than shop courses!" Vern cried, exasperated.

"Damn, Vern-o. Since when do you care so much about my grades?" Teddy asked but there was no more talk from him about calling it quits.

After ten minutes of doing math problems and only being on the second problem, Teddy angrily slammed his book shut and threw it to the ground. "This is useless! Why am I asking you for help, anyway? You're not even smart!"

"Hey! At least I'm smarter than you!" Vern shot back, defensively.

He knew that Vern was his best friend, but Teddy couldn't help picking on him. Sometimes he just couldn't resist.

"Fuck you. I'm leaving," Teddy said, shoving his book in his backpack and heading for the door.

"Fine! Get put in the retards class! I don't care!" Vern cried, angrily and Teddy stopped in his tracks. He swore loudly and kicked over a pile of comic books before sitting back down on Vern's bed, pulling his math book back out of his backpack.

"So you want my help again?" Vern questioned. "I thought I wasn't smart."

"Fuck off and just help me!" Teddy snapped, angrily. Vern rolled his eyes but still helped the Duchamp boy.

"I think you have anger management or something," he commented and Teddy flipped him off.

There was silence for a long time as Teddy focused on his work, trying to do it the way Vern taught him. Why did he even need to learn math? He wouldn't need to know what the square route of pie was when he was in the army.

"Teddy?" Vern asked, his voice close to a whisper.

"What?" he replied, turning to look at Vern, who mashed his lips against Teddy's.

It took a few seconds for it to register in Teddy's mind what was happening and then he pushed Vern off him with a yelp, jumping across the room like a jackrabbit.

"WHAT THE FUCK, VERN?" Teddy screamed. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" A terrified-looking Vern opened his mouth to reply but Teddy didn't really want an answer. He just wanted to keep yelling. "YOU'RE SICK, MAN! FUCKING FAGGOT! NEVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!"

And with that, Teddy grabbed his backpack and ran out of the room. He fled the Tessio house, his heart racing with fear.

It must be hormones. After all, they were fourteen. It must be just puberty or something. It had to be. Vern was just confused, Teddy concluded. My best friend is not gay for me. He's not.

But he wasn't doing a very good job of convincing himself.

Teddy didn't know what he would do when he saw Vern at school tomorrow. He didn't know how long Vern had liked him like that. The only thing he knew was that he didn't stop thinking about Vern Tessio for one second that night.