1. Fidelity
Maybe there was something wrong with him or maybe there was something wrong with Gord, but whatever it was, Jimmy didn't want to kiss anyone else anymore - there was just something about the feel of an Aquaberry sweater under his palms that drove all thoughts of Pinky and Mandy and Zoe and Lola from his mind.
2. Love
Ms. Phillips pulled the bottle of wine from the drawer of her desk with a turn and a small smile, and for once, Mr. Galloway didn't feel guilty for anything.
3. Art
Gary was a remarkable student, the teacher had to admit, but if the boy kept turning in increasingly lewd sketches of Peter Kowalski, she was going to have to lower his grade.
4. Biology
"Pop quiz," said Dr. Slawter with a grin, and approximately two-thirds of the attending class, all wearing Astronomy Club vests, simultaneously fell from their stools with a resounding thud.
5. Bug
"I've been thinking alot about shadflies lately," Algie said, and when, from the other side of room, Lola shrieked, "Oh, they're so slimy!', he knew it must be destiny.
6. King
"Had a gal and couldn't keep her, isn't that how it goes?" Johnny muttered, knocking over the black king piece with a flick of a finger, and Peanut frowned, realizing that he had surrounded Johnny's queen.
7. Docks
Honestly, Jimmy thought their second date turned out pretty well, despite the fact that about halfway through watching the sunset, Gord shoved him off the edge of the dock into the freezing water and then laughed at him.
8. Ropes
"I thought it seemed like a good idea," Gary said, tightening his grip, and Petey shivered.
9. Town
"Nothing ever happens here," Jimmy complained, and Pete blinked as, the minute Jimmy entered the Yum Yum Market, Gord ran by with at least twelve greasers in pursuit, clutching a pair of leopard-print panties to his chest and yelling, "They aren't hers - they're mine! Jimmy gave them to me, I swear!"
10. Rollercoaster
Petey folded his arms, pouting, and asked, "Why don't you want to get on it with me?" and Gary, with a glance at how close together the couples in the coaster's carts were seated, just scowled and bought Femme-boy some cotton candy to distract him.
11. Time
It was four in the morning before Johnny stumbled back into their dorm, collapsed on Peanut's bed, kissed him, and promptly passed out, leaving Peanut to stare wide-eyed at the ceiling until his alarm clock rang.
12. Bird
"Did you know that there are some birds who only sing when they're looking for a mate?" Petey tilted his head as a couple of finches fluttered by overhead; beneath him, Gary snorted and said, "There's not a lot of things I don't know," before tugging Pete down so that his head was resting against Gary's neck, where Petey could feel the vibrations in his throat as Gary hummed.
13. Hospital
"Oh, that was a good year," The doctor said, smirking, and Hattrick began to cackle behind them as Galloway scowled and muttered, "I sat on it, damn it all."
14. Music
Gord was fairly shocked when he walked into Music, saxophone strung around his neck, to find Jimmy stretched out on his chair, and was forced to ask what instrument on Earth was so primitive that even a vagrant such as he could manage play it, which made Jimmy smile as he held up a pair of drumsticks and twirled them in his fingers.
15. Water
"Does it hurt?" Algie asked cautiously, and Earnest, the most courageous of all of them, shifted towards the ocean's edge, breached the safety of the sand, and dipped his bare foot in the salty water, causing the rest of the nerds to scream in horror.
16. New Year
"They'll miss me at Harrington House, James. I can't just abandon my reputation and skip the party simply because you happen to be a good kisser," Gord rationalized, opening his arms to the other boy, but Jimmy just looked at him and shook his head, mumbling, "Don't let me hold you up then."
17. Apology
After Gary's stay at the asylum, he allowed Petey to do those small things that used to bother him so much, such as hum as he did homework, or be the one to initiate their middle-of-the-night make out sessions - it was Gary's only way of saying he was sorry, all he knew how to do, and Petey was grateful because he realized that, accepted it, and forgave him without even having to think.
18. Anger
"Aggro! Noo! You bastards!" Earnest yelled, falling to his knees as Melvin's dark wizard defeated him with a barrage of magic missiles, and the other boy shouted in triumph, "Your tank was nothing! NOTHING! Ahahahahahaha!"
19. Test
Like everyone else in comparison to Gary, Hopkins was an idiot, and the higher grade on the chemistry test that Gary caught a glimpse of over Jimmy's shoulder was merely the result of having idiotic blind luck.
20. Sorrow
It was raining, and the bars were slippery under their hands, but they were both pressed against opposing sides of the iron as if, any minute now, the water might dissolve it away.
21. Cleaning
Gord was in a very aroused mood until he and Jimmy stumbled a little over the threshold and he got a peek of the room beyond; in a squeak of horror, and much to the other boy's disappointment, he let go of Jimmy as if he'd caught fire, "My God, your room is a pigsty! How long ago was it that your floor disappeared!?"
22. Weapons
The last thought that Jimmy managed to have before his hand slipped from Pinky's bottom and his head hit the floor was that whoever had made that dumb rule about having no weapons on school grounds had obviously never been backpacked in the face.
23. Trailers
"I will most definitely not have a threesome with Zoe Taylor!" Gord shrieked, and Jimmy was very glad indeed that Blue Skies offered a lot of places behind which to hide, and also that Gord loved his shoes too much to chase him very far.
24. Road
Gary was surprised to find that, as he watched Petey disappear down the street, he was going to miss him, which was really, really stupid, of course, because Femme-boy was only going to get a haircut.
25. Secrets
Gary always whispered to him once he thought Petey was asleep, simple, really meaningless things, but Petey always heard them, and they were the only "I love you" he needed.
26. Glue
"This is really gross stuff," said the little boy in the pink shirt beside him, holding up what was supposed to be a crafts project and a bottle of glue; six-year-old Gary Smith took it from him and said, with a hint of a lisp, "You aren't s'posed to eat it, stupid."
27. Courage
Jimmy figured it took a lot for Peanut to finally tell Johnny just exactly what he thought about Lola, and no one was really surprised that Hopkins followed the greaser around as protection for a week afterwards.
28. Migraine
"Just happens sometimes, when I take the wrong meds," Gary mumbled, and Petey crossed the room to kiss the other boy on the temple. "...That's better."
29. Pollution
Lola was like a poison, and Johnny was addicted to her, her, her, and it would never be Peanut that he needed.
30. Ethics
"This... is... specifically forbidden in the handbook," Hattrick spluttered, and Galloway looked up at him with an expression that clearly meant, shut the fuck up already.
31. Gray
Jimmy hated gloomy days for a multitude of reasons: he couldn't ride his bike, he had no umbrella; but the worst was Gord's reaction to the weather, "I can't sneak off today, James, the humidity will ruin my hair!"
32. Mistakes
Really, he should have known that Kirby wouldn't want him to tell everyone, but Trent was too damn happy to keep it to himself.
33. Notebook
Beatrice turned dark red, but allowed Earnest to finish reading the note because she couldn't help but trust him.
34. Computer
Computer class was the worst, but that was because Trent kept emailing him naked pictures of himself.
35. Wrong
Petey wished that Gary would stop giving Mr. Galloway death glares every time the teacher called him to the board, but he also didn't want to move from his seat when Gary was doing that under the table.
36. English
The thing was, Galloway could write his feelings in beautiful, flowing words; could spill his heart out through a pen and tell someone exactly how he felt about them, but Hattrick could only handle numerical equations.
37. Rules
"It really doesn't matter to me what Derby thinks," hissed Jimmy, and Gord was too far gone to argue that Derby would surely notice that his covers had been wrinkled.
38. Fountain
It probably would have been more romantic if Duncan hadn't been horrified at the "waste of a perfectly good penny".
39. Cooking
Jimmy coughed, spluttered, told Gord that it was delicious, and then tried very hard not to shrivel up and die.
40. Language
The entire class swiveled around to stare as Petey blushed and shouted the dreaded F-word, and Gary had to fight off his laughter as he retracted his hand.
41. Sweater
Even though it was too big for him and horribly out of fashion, it still smelled like Jimmy, so he wore it every day.
42. Passing Notes
Imagine Pete's surprise when he opened the scrap of notebook paper that Gary had just used to peg him in the head with and read, "I love you... you girl."
43. Race
He hadn't won for Lola, he'd done it for Peanut, and Johnny just hoped that the other boy realized it and forgave him for leaving with Lola's arms wrapped around his waist.
44. Adults
"Don't you think it's just a little bit juvenile to put a stink bomb in the office of your employer?" Hattrick demanded, but Deirdre and Galloway only laughed giddily in response.
45. Halloween
"I bought it just for you. What do you think?" Gary inquired innocently, and that tone was what first tipped Petey off.
46. Forrest
There was something about Vance and sneaking off not-so-subtly to secluded places, so naturally his clique's curiosity grew and they followed him out one night all the way through the woods to the sunken ship; they all agreed not to speak of what they saw there.
47. Fire
Gary's eyes were blazing like he was off his meds, only he wasn't, and his hands were hot and frantic; Petey found that he had been swept up into the flames as well and didn't fucking mind if he burned.
48.
Cold
"Why the hell did you bring me here? It's freezing balls!" exclaimed Gord angrily, and Jimmy wrapped himself around the other boy's body for warmth and murmured, "That was the point."
49. Dance
"I don't dance," Peanut said sulkily, eyeing Lola and her less-than-tasteful gyrations with a bitter expression; beside him, Johnny growled a tactful and pleasantly surprising, "Me neither. We should just go have sex in the storage closet instead."
50. Watch
Petey was infuriatingly distracting during art class, because Gary couldn't help but watch the careful way the boy's hands molded, sketched, measured, created something and wish that he were the thing that Femme-boy was staring at with that fierce, determined expression on his face.