"You're Sheik, right?"

I nodded shyly, forcing myself to not look away like I might have at my old school, I wanted to try being more confident, but it sure wasn't working out how I planned. His eyes were the most gorgeous blue I had ever seen – my eye colour paled in comparison to his sparkling cerulean irises. I wasn't sure what this boy wanted, but I knew I wanted him. All day, I'd stared at him from my seat at the back of the class, surprised that we shared the same room all morning on Wednesdays when most of the other kids shuffled off into other classes for second period, and all day I wasn't able to concentrate because of him.

And now he was talking to me.

"You started here on Monday, right?"

Was this twenty questions? Again I nodded, staying silent – I didn't quite trust myself to speak yet, even with practice I still had a higher-pitched voice then most guys my age. It didn't help that this boy was making me feel awkward by paying attention to me on my third day at my new school.

"Lets eat lunch together. Come on."

Another nod, and in a daze I followed him. He led me all the way across the school. Energetic but not much of a talker, he led me all the way across the school, weaving expertly through the crowds – leaving me behind to be jostled about – to the cafeteria. I had packed a lunch, so I wasn't going to buy anything, but the boy got in line anyway, scanning the room for me when I finally caught up to him. Grinning widely, he took my wrist and pulled me along to the counter, where there was a hungry pack of students, each trying to push up to the front to place their order.

I tried to pull away, but the boy held fast to my wrist and pulled me all the way to the front, where he grabbed the counter with his free hand before turning back to me. "My treat, what do you want?"

Stunned, I just stared at him. Was he serious? He was going to buy me something?

"I have a lunch," I said, trying to push my voice down a bit and succeeding only in whispering instead.

"I see."

I felt a little disappointed when he turned back to the counter then, and put in an order for his lunch. All the while, he held onto my wrist as I was pushed from side to side, so that I wouldn't get muscled out of the line. My hands were sweating, and it felt like his icy hands were full of electricity where they touched my skin. For a few brief seconds, I was lost to imagining what it might feel like if those strangely-electric hands were to touch my face, just before leaning in and-

He pulled me out of the crowd and out of my daydream, and I couldn't help blushing. Had I really just imagined all that with a boy I didn't even really know? That was a new experience for me. Once we were out of the jostling crowd he let go of my wrist to better juggle the pile of food he'd bought, motioning for me to follow him once more.

Confused, I followed him out of the cafeteria. Were we not going to eat in there? Maybe he had a secret spot, where the two of us would be alone ... And he could get to know me better... As the new student, of course.

The blond haired blue eyed boy led me down a hall just off the cafeteria, to an open door next to the bathrooms, where I could hear some people talking and laughing inside. I hesitated in the doorway, not sure if I was allowed inside since the word LOUNGE was stamped on it, albeit a little old-looking and crossed out several times with a pen. When I didn't immediately follow him, the boy popped back out, both hands now free, and rolled his eyes at me.

"Come on, we won't bite."

Someone inside giggled and chimed in, "Well, not very hard anyway."

That made me smile and I followed him inside, surprised to see that this supposed lounge was really just a tiny art studio and storage room. It was bigger than I had expected though, almost two floors tall, with piles of boxes shoved off and overflowing a shallow closet at one end, easels and locked cabinets beside that, and a few desks strewn about. There were two smallish couches against the wall by the door that were reminiscent of a lounge though, and they were occupied by a strange bunch of kids, laying on each other and eating their lunches.

One girl, who had vibrantly blue hair and body glitter all over her face, stood up and just about tackled the boy I'd followed here. "Link," she whined jokingly, "Where have you been all week? No one here gets anything done without you!"

So his name was Link. Interesting.

The girl turned her attention to me and gave me a once over, which had me fidgeting nervously. Would she see what I was trying to hide? Would she see what I didn't have?

"Who's this cute little creature?" She let go of Link's neck to stand with her hands on her hips. "I'm Navi!"

"Sheik," I replied, nodding and hoping she wasn't the hugging type. I was starting to feel really paranoid having to worry about this stuff ...

Navi stared at me for a moment longer while Link shooed some people over on the couch, settling down halfway in someone else's lap. "Say 'Link' for me."

"Link?" What was she doing?

Turning to Link, she demanded, "Link, say 'Sheik.'"

Shaking his head with a smile, Link swallowed down the juice he'd just started to drink and repeated Navi. "Sheik. Navi, what are you doing?"

Turning her attention back at me, the blue-haired girl grinned. "Yup! A perfect couple!"

My heart nearly stopped. What did she mean? I probably looked horrified, because Navi's eyes widened and Link nearly choked on another sip of juice.

"Oh, wait! I probably should have asked first. Are you gay?"

"Navi!" A boy who looked similar to Link – they probably could pass off as twins if they really tried – but dressed very stereotypically emo, piped up then. "You can't just go around asking people that!"

"Why not?"

Link shook his head, but I could see that he was curious about me now by the somewhat expectant face he wore. And maybe that wasn't a bad thing, but I was too freaked out still to care and got defensive.

"I am," I said, before any fights could break out between these guys. "I'm gay. So what?" I wanted nothing more than to run away and hide, forget about this whole thing and go back to being the loner guy – but at the same time, it felt so good to tell people that. And judging by the looks on their faces, they didn't doubt me – which felt even better.

"I knew it!" Navi pointed dramatically at me, making light of the situation, but everyone else seemed tense. "You are definitely too cute to be straight."

Still feeling like I had something to defend, I swept my gaze around the room, daring any of them to insult me. I didn't dare look at Link's face just yet, I was afraid that he'd be disgusted by me. I hated that everyone's attention was on me, but I couldn't back down now.

Finally, the green-haired girl sitting in the emo-Link's lap asked, "You know where you are, right?" When I gave her a puzzled look, she sighed and pointed to a poster on the back of the door.

"Oh." Well, I felt ridiculous. The poster was a bright, florescent and flamboyant rainbow with GSA painted boldly on it. There was even a little frowning face in the corner with the caption 0 tolerance for hate!

The quiet girl sitting on the arm of the couch that Link had wedged into who hadn't said anything yet, started to giggle, and soon everyone was back to normal, picking up their conversations where they'd left off before I'd come in. I stood there, feeling embarrassed. Before I could turn and flee to my locker, where I'd eaten lunch all by myself the last two days, Navi grabbed my arm and sat me on a free desk next to Link.

"Hey," she whispered, almost as if sharing a secret, "Don't worry about it. Shit happens." With a giggle, Navi stepped back and offered me her hand. "Time for a proper introduction! Hi, my name's Navi and I'm a lesbian. It's nice to finally get another gay guy around here. Link's been pretty much the only one in the school since last year!"

I snuck a peek down at Link, a little thrill going through me. Maybe there was hope that Link and I could ...

Navi continued to talk for a bit longer, but I zoned out, nodding periodically as she jabbered on about some other kid who'd changed schools because of some kid with a long name. After a while, she jumped into the conversation that the green-haired girl was having with her snuggle-buddy on the couch, emo-Link, and the girl in a skirt, leaving Link and I sitting in silence.

He touched my knee and I jumped, startled out of yet another daydream. I would have to find a way to stop those.

"Here," he said, offering me what looked like a really tiny burrito. "I got you one."

My face felt like it was on fire. "Thanks," I said, taking it with only the slightest hesitation. It was warm, but not hot, and I sniffed it to see what was in it. It smelt like a burrito too.

Link laughed. "You've never had a taquito before?"

I shook my head, blush deepening. It sounded like a taco-burrito hybrid. Maybe it was just a really tiny burrito with a taco shell? Or a tiny burrito with taco fillings? "No, I've never even heard of them," I finally answered, once he'd gotten his amusement under control – I couldn't help feeling almost like he was laughing at me, even though I knew he wasn't.

"Just try it. They're good." The smile he gave me was enough to make me obey without question, and when he saw my face after my first bite, the smile got bigger. "How is it?"

"It is good!" Because it was so small, the taco-burrito disappeared within seconds. Once it was gone, I fidgeted with my clothes, adjusting my scarf – it was a plaid one of those great big bandana-like ones with a fringe – and pulling at my shirt a little more than self-consciously to make sure it wasn't showing anything it shouldn't. It felt absolutely humungous on me, but at least it wasn't the usual sweater that drowned me in its folds. Link continued to alternate between long glances at me with that strange look on his face and throwing in a word or two into Navi`s conversations.

After a few minutes of awkward fidgeting and inner conflict about what Link was looking at, I pulled out my own lunch, remembering that I still had it when Link was just about finished his own. It felt strange, being in a room full of people that just didn't care what I was doing, but not because they were disgusted by me or because me being me made them feel awkward. The feeling was nice. Maybe I could make these people my friends. And maybe I would join this GSA – something my old school didn't have but I'd heard about.

I had hardly started into my sandwich, while trying to keep pace with Link and Navi when they attempted to integrate me into the conversation, when the bell rang, obnoxiously loud and unnecessarily long. With a sigh, I packed up my hardly-touched lunch, wondering where the hell the last forty-five minutes had gone.

"Where's your next class?" Link waited for me to finish up before standing, looking at me curiously. I could tell he had other questions to ask me ... But those would probably come later. And hopefully they weren't all the wrong kinds of questions.

I was about to answer when I felt a hand on my shoulder, trailing towards my back. Instinctively, I panicked and flinched violently away from the hand, getting a strange look from both Navi, who'd touched me, and Link, whom I'd nearly run into. Both of them were curious, but Navi's had a bit of understanding in it, making it worse. Had she felt my too-tight sport's bra?

Oh god, what if you could see it anyway under my shirt?

"I gotta go," I sputtered, racing away from both of them. All I could focus on was the looks they were giving me and if they knew.