After Roy had returned to the game room, Alain didn't get another chance to speak with Jade privately. It wasn't until he had returned home and locked himself in his room that he had received a text message from her explaining her plan. Jade's plan was for Alain to try and set Joey up so he could catch him in a situation that the blonde teen couldn't worm his way out of. If the plan worked Alain would find out if Joey was gay or not, which would explain a lot for Alain in concerns to that kiss. Unfortunately, the plan called for Alain to play as bait, something he didn't want to do for two reasons. The first reason was because of the tasks he would have to endure, and the second reason was because he felt that he would be a doing terrible thing to his friend. However, his hesitation was short lived.

Jade had asked him if he wanted to know the truth, or if he would be okay just carrying on as normal as if nothing happened. The answer he had given her was no. He wasn't okay with that. He knew that if he didn't get the answers he needed that it would just continue to bother him, and eventually it would affect his behavior around Joey, and he didn't want that to happen. With this response, the decision was final. Alain was prepared to carry out the plan.

That was last night, and with a new day in front of him Alain had decided to put the plan into motion. Alain had taken the initiative and invited Joey to hang out for the day, but before they could do that they had to wait for Alain's swimming practice to be over. Since it was October practice took place in the indoors swimming pool at school. Dedicated to his sport, Alain stayed longer than the rest of his teammates, a factor he was counting on since he invited Joey to come over to the pool.

It was Jade who commanded him to create a situation that would push Joey's buttons, and by push his buttons she meant "Turn him on." If he reacted, then the plan would be a success. Alain figured his idea was perfect based on how, back when he was with Toni, swimming always earned him kisses. No one could resist the temptation of a swimmer.

With his team gone, Alain sat at the edge of the pool, waiting for Joey to show up. He didn't have to wait long, and soon the blonde haired boy was walking through the double doors.

Upon seeing Alain, Joey raised a brow. "Dude, you're still not finished? You said you would be done by 4:15."

"Did I say 4:15?" Alain mused innocently, looking away as he stood up to stretch. "I meant 4:30. Sorry."

Joey groaned, looking away. "Whatever. I'll just wonder around until you're done."

"Wait, you don't have to," Alain said before Joey could turn to walk away. "Why don't you watch? You can tell me if my form is off."

"But I don't know a thing about form," Joey protested.

"Perfect, so you'll stay and watch," Alain said as he prepared to dive.

"Wait, I never said-"

Alain ignored him and dived into the pool, gliding through the water with top speed. Although he didn't intend to watch at first, Joey couldn't help but look. At his old school, there was no swimming team, so this was his first time witnessing someone who was trained to swim competitively. He had to admit, it was pretty... cool... and there was something else about it to, something mesmerizing...

Alain reached the end of the pool and poked his head out of the water, taking a moment to catch his breath before looking at Joey. "How was that?"

Joey blinked in surprise, returning back to reality. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know how to comment without sounding stupid or weird. His cheeks started to burn and he looked down. "That was-"

"Terrible!"

Alain and Joey both turned to see who had spoken and saw a tall, slender girl with waist long strawberry brown hair tied into a ponytail. She wore the girl's version of the swim team's uniform and stood with crossed arms.

"Colleen," Alain began as he stepped out of the pool, ignoring her comment. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to practice detective," Colleen responded with a scowl, looking away as if he was beneath him. "You're not the only one who likes to stick around a little longer to practice you know. I thought you would have been done by now."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea. I was just finishing up."

With her head turned away from him, Alain couldn't spot the blush on the girl's cheeks. Nor did he notice the change of her sour tone to something more kinder. "You don't have to rush off, I mean... maybe you can stick around and we can practice together. I could give you some pointers."

"No, it's fine. My friend and I have plans anyway," Alain replied, turning to Joey. "So what did you think? Am I any good?"

Joey, who had been staring at Colleen with contemplating eyes, looked to Alain. "Sorry. I wasn't really paying attention."

"Oh," Alain deflated. He had hoped to catch Joey early, that way he wouldn't have to scheme anymore, but from the looks of it the plan was far from being completed. "I'll just head to the locker rooms then."

"Sure."

Colleen opened her mouth to speak, but shut it as Alain was already walking away. She sighed.

"Everything alright?" Joey asked after a brief pause.

"Yeah... everything is fine."

"It's not easy liking someone, is it?"

"Not at all...," Colleen's eyes widened as she tried to backpedal on her words. "Wait, I didn't mean that! I don't like anyone right now! And definitely not Alain! That's crazy!" She laughed nervously.

Joey smirked, causing Colleen to narrow her eyes at him. She was prepared to tell Joey off, but he cut her off before she could get the chance. "Alain and I are going out today. You should tag along. Give him advice on his form."

"Oh, please. As if I would waste my time..."

Joey shrugged and walked away with his hands in his pockets. "Suit yourself."

There was a pause as Colleen bit her bottom lip. A moment later, she called out to Joey. "Hey, wait! Just exactly what did you guys have planned for today?"

TT

With the school day over Kori had denied an invitation from her friends to hang out. Instead she had returned home, an eager smile on her face, as she entered the front door. She left her jacket and bag in the foyer and dashed up the stairs, running to Xavier's room and letting herself in. He was crawled up in bed, sleeping soundly, something he deserved since he had returned home late after running around the streets doing work for Ian. Although she felt she should have turned around and let him rest, Kori's excitement got the best of her and she jumped into Xavier's bed, waking him.

"Xavier!" she said sweetly, smiling broadly. "Time to get up!"

He groaned and covered his eyes with both of his hands. "Five more minutes..."

"Oh, come on. You promised," she reminded with a pout.

He removed one hand, revealing one eye, so he could look at her. She was doing that look she would always do when she really wanted something. "Dammit," he muttered, unable to resist. He threw his blanket off and sat up. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

She clapped and hopped off the bed. "Yay!" I'll get everything ready," she stated, leaving his room.

"Oh no you don't," he objected, rushing after her. "I don't want you sneaking in any mustard."

She turned around to poke her tongue at him. "Spoil sport."

He laughed, and together they made their way down to the kitchen. Once inside, Xavier gathered everything necessary to make apple dumplings. He had promised to teach Kori how to make them, and she was eager to learn. He had offered to make the dough for her, but she refused, snapping at him "No, let me do it!"

On her first attempt at making the dough, Kori accidently poured in the whole carton of milk. She had to start over, and this time she let Xavier help by listening to his direction. When he told her, "Okay, that's enough" she stopped pouring the milk and moved onto the next step by using a fork to moisten the mixture in her bowl.

"That looks good. Let's roll it out now," Xavier commanded. "First-"

"I can roll out dough, Xavier," Kori claimed with a roll of her eyes as she rolled the dough into a ball with her hands.

"Um... cutie?"

"Hmm?"

"You do know you're supposed to use the rolling pin, don't you?" he asked, amused as he waved the wooden rolling pin in his hand.

She looked at him sheepishly and resisted the temptation to throw flour in his face. He handed her the rolling pin at the same moment they heard the doorbell ring.

"Expecting company?"

"No," she placed the rolling pin on the counter and left the kitchen, Xavier trailing behind her. When she noticed this she paused and crossed her arms, looking at him pointedly. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh..."

"Go hide!" she commanded, pointing at the stairs. "We can't risk you being seen. What if it's Vic or Raven or Karen?"

Xavier sighed and grumbled something incoherent as he trudged up the stairs. Now that he was safely hidden from view Kori went over to the door to open it, a wide smile on her face as she expected to see a familiar face. Her eyes met one familiar face belonging to someone she hadn't expected to see, and then settled on a face she didn't recongnize. It was a girl wearing black jeggings, black boots, and a black leather jacket over a light blue tank top. She was heavily adorned with a lot of gold accessories, everything ranging from rings, bangles, and necklaces. Her ears had multiple piercings, and her brunette hair was styled as an undercut. She also wore a lot of makeup, particularly in the eye area. Kori took her eyes off of her and looked back to the person next to her, a boy.

"Hello, Billy... It's been a long time."

Billy took the lollipop out of his mouth. "No kidding. How's school? Mr. Mod still walking around with that cane in his butt?"

Kori giggled at that, something that caused the girl next to Billy to glare and clear her throat. Kori ceased her giggles and looked at the girl apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name," she held out her hand. "I'm Kori Anders. It's nice to meet you."

"Name is Selinda," said the girl irritably with a sour look. "And I don't have time for this bullshit. Now step aside princess, we didn't come here for you."

"Selinda," Billy hissed. "Quit being a bitch. We need her help."

Selinda ignored him and pushed past Kori, stepping into the foyer, looking around.

"Hey!" Kori snapped. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Selinda picked up a vase. "Vandalizing property it seems," she said as she raised her hands above her head.

"Wait, stop! That belonged to my grandmother!"

"You want me to stop princess," Selinda said sweetly. "Then tell us where Xavier is."

"Selinda, we can't be sure she knows," Billy pointed out. "Put the vase down."

"She knows, Billy. Don't you, princess?"

"I do but-" Kori unsuccessfully made a grab for the vase. "-Can you please put that down!"

Selinda smirked. "Whatever you say."

Kori sighed, relieved. "Thank-" she screamed in horror when she saw Selinda toss the vase and shielded her eyes, not wanting to witness the destruction of her grandmother's precious vase.

Kori expected to hear the sound of glass shattering but it never came. She opened one eye to see what had happened and gasped when she saw Xavier, the vase safely tucked in his arm. During the entire exchange no one noticed Xavier secretly watching, but it wasn't until Kori made a grab for the vase that he left his position and descended the stairs. Just in time too, since Selinda had tossed the valuable item at the stairs.

"Here you go, cutie," Xavier said softly, handing Kori the vase. She took it carefully, elated, and wandered off to the side to make sure no damage had been done. Xavier smiled at her, but when his eyes turned to Selinda he took on a menacing expression. "What the hell were you thinking? Have you gone completely mental? What gives you the right to pick on Kori like that?"

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just irritable since you went and stabbed us in the back!" Selinda yelled, her fist clenched.

"What are you talking about?"

Selinda opened her mouth to speak, but Billy beat her to it. "We know about the deal you made with Ian. Care to explain?"

Xavier glanced at Kori, who was watching. When she saw that she had been spotted she immediately lowered her gaze. Xavier looked back at Billy and Selinda. "I'll explain everything, but not here."

"The old place?" Billy suggested. Xavier nodded. "Sweet. I'm driving."

"I'll be with you guys in a minute," Xavier announced as he went to stand by Kori's side.

Billy nodded and left. Selinda glared before following. "Try not to take too long. I don't like to wait."

She slammed the door behind herself, causing Kori to cringe. "You're friends with that girl?"

Xavier sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah... She can be annoying sometimes though, a complete hot head."

There was a pause.

"So... on a level of one to ten, how mad are you?"

"I'm not mad. Well, maybe I am a little bit because of Selinda, but not at you."

Xavier looked surprised. "Really?"

"It sounds like Billy and Selinda re in the same boat that I was in. So no, I'm not angry that they barged in uninvited. Just explain the rules to any of your other friends, please. Especially the ones with bad tempers. I don't need any more threats against my family heirlooms."

Xavier took Kori by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. "You're amazing, cutie."

She smiled and waved goodbye to him as he walked through the door. Once he was gone she pouted. "Oh drat... we forgot all about the apple dumplings," she shrugged and went back to the kitchen. "Oh well, I'm sure I can figure the rest out myself."

TT

"Um... Joey," Alain whispered. "I thought today it was going to be just the two of us hanging out. Why is she here?"

"She can here you," Colleen snapped.

Alain sighed and looked away, wondering why Joey went ahead and invited Colleen without consulting with him first. With her around it would be much harder to conduct his plan.

Joey put his arms around Colleen and Alain, bringing them all together. "Hey, you guys need to lighten up. This is the perfect opportunity for you two to get to know each other better."

Colleen blushed. "Well... I guess you're right," she gazed at Alain. "What do you think?"

Alain didn't hear her question. He was too busy slapping the palm of his hand against his forehead. Today wasn't supposed to be about him getting to know Colleen better, it was supposed to be about him getting to know Joey. How was he supposed to salvage this?

Seeing as how he didn't reply to her, Colleen looked away sadly.

Noticing the sad face of Colleen and the indifferent look on Alain's face, Joey sighed. Getting those two together might be harder than he thought.

TT

The car ride to the old place, which was actually just an old hangout spot overlooking the traintracks that Xavier and Billy used to play around when they were kids, was a long one which mostly consisted of Billy's ranting. Billy's mouth never stopped moving since the moment Xavier entered the car. He was angry that his best friend had returned to town and never once gave him a call or stopped by to see him, a fact that he let Xavier know over and over again. In addition to this he also complained about how he found out that Xavier was back in town, remarking he found out by one of Ian's goonies who was bragging about it all over town. After that, Billy filled him in on how Seemore was doing. Apparently "the four eyed twerp" (Billy's exact words) had gone off to military school. He also told him about Michael who unfortunately showed no signs of recovery from his coma. Then he told him about himself, and how he and Selinda had one two many drinks and-

"-fucked in the bathroom of that club Amy used to love so much."

"Billy!" Selinda shrieked, her face red and wrathful.

"Aw, shucks darlin', he's my best friend. I had to tell him," Billy grinned. "We're a couple now, X."

"We are not a couple."

"We were last night after I gave you that massage."

"Stop talking or I will put you in the hospital!"

"Fine, okay. Dang, you're no fun..."

Selinda crossed her arms and looked outside the window, enjoying the silence from the front passenger seat. Too bad it was short lived.

"... She's a real fiesty one in the bedroom. I haven't enjoyed a good ride like that since the mechanical bull came to town."

Selinda screamed and began to hit Billy repeatedly, causing the car to swerve and Xavier to brace onto his seat for dear life. Although he tried to defend himself as best he could, making sure they didn't crash was Billy's top priority and he hit the brakes abruptly. Xavier released the grip he had on the seat and looked out the window, surprised to see the traintracks in view.

"Hey. We're here."

Selinda paused in her assault against Billy to confirm their location. "Huh, that was quicker than I expected...," she punched Billy once more who cried out in pain. She ignored this and turned in her seat to look at Xavier. "Now explain why you're working with the creep who's the reason why my little brother is on life support."

Xavier nodded, and began to explain, his tale stemming from the beginning which was when he first left town. The reason he left town was because he had wanted to find allies, ones that weren't located in Jump City or its surrounding area so that Ian wouldn't be tipped off. Once he found some that would be willing to work with him and were as trust worthy as they come, he returned to Jump City. He ignored Billy's questioning about why it took him so long to let his presence be known, and why he was staying at Kori's place. Instead, he decided to explain why he joined Ian.

"I'm not really apart of his gang, not technically," Xavier explained. "The reason I 'joined' is because I need him to trust me. I need him to let his guard down so I can collect information. When the time is right I'll forward everything I know to my new friends so they can pick Ian's organization apart piece by piece. Ian will be done for, once and for all."

"So you're kind of like the Trojan horse, huh," Billy commented, grinning. "Cool."

The others eyed him suspiciously.

"What?" Billy said defensively. "I payed attention in class sometimes!"

TT

It was late in the evening when Jade got a call from Alain seeking her help. He explained to her that he had tried getting closer to Joey, but everytime he did Colleen would drag him off somewhere.

"Wait, who's this Colleen person?"

"She's a girl from the swim team."

"Sounds to me like she likes you."

"What? No way. Anyways, focus, Jade. I seriously don't know what to do here."

"Look, the only thing I can tell you is that you have to dig deeper. Now I have to go. It's time for Lian's bath."

"Yeah, okay," Alain replied. They said their goodbyes and he returned his phone to his pocket. "Dig deeper... What could she possibly mean by that? I just don't get it."

Alain sighed and went to rejoin Colleen and Joey at their table. The three of them had decided to sit down to eat after a long day of them running around the mall together. When Alain returned to the table he noticed that the bags had piled up near Joey, or rather his seat by Joey.

"Sorry, dude," Joey said with a grin. "I guess you'll just have to sit next to Colleen."

Alain did as Joey suggested, seeing as how he had no other choice.

"You know, Alain, while you were gone Colleen was telling me she used to play piano back when she was in elementary school. And when she entered middle school she started playing the violin. A beautiful girl with many talents. It doesn't get any better than that, am I right?"

"Huh," Alain looked up from his food. "I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening."

Colleen glared at him. "You should really pay attention when people are talking to you, Alain. It's rude if you don't."

"I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind. I'll pay better attention now."

"Well, hey, it's okay if you're not feeling well," Colleen assured him, apologetic.

"Hey, I'm going to go get some more food to take home with me. My dad sucks at cooking," Joey said as he stood up.

"Ah, okay," Colleen replied as she watched him walk away. He pointed at Alain and then at her and made a hugging motion with a kissy face. She nodded in understanding and he gave her a thumbs up before continuing on his way. Turning towards Alain, Colleen summoned her courage. "So it's been really fun hanging out together, don't you think? We should do it more often... that is, if you're free."

Alain turned to Colleen, looking at her with a serious expression. He hadn't heard a thing she said because he was to busy thinking about Jade's words. She said to dig deeper... maybe that meant getting an outside opinion. Colleen had been around them all day, perhaps she picked up on something, after all Toni always used to talk about women's intuition and how great it was.

"Colleen, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Go ahead," Colleen replied with a smile, feeling hopeful.

"... Do you think Joey's into me?"

The hopeful feeling left Colleen's body and she frowned. "... What?"

"I've been trying to figure out if he's into me all day but haven't picked up any signals. You've seen him around me, what's your opinion?"

"... I can't believe you're asking me a question like that YOU IDIOT!" Colleen screamed, gathering the attention of others sitting around them, but she was too furious to notice or care. "All you've done is ignore me this whole time and now I know why. This has been the worse date ever!"

Alain was confused by her reaction, but he zoned in on one word. "Date?"

"Ugh, you JERK!" Colleen yelled in embarrassment as she grabbed her soda and splashed it in his face. She grabbed her bag after that and rushed out of the restaurant, passing Joey along the way.

Joey approached the table just as Alain was cleaning his face with some napkins. "What the heck happened? What did you do?"

"I don't know! All I did was ask a question."

"Oh man, you're really not good with girls, are you."

Alain glowered at him, but Joey brushed the look off and instead offered him an invitation to his house.

"Your place?" Alain repeated, surprised.

"Yeah. I can't let you go home looking the way you do. You can borrow a clean shirt."

"O... okay. Thanks."

"No problem," Joey replied as he grabbed his bookbag. "Let's go."

TT

"A-are you sure it's okay for me to be here?" Alain asked as he timidly entered Joey's room. "Your dad's not going to get upset is he?"

"For the last time it's okay. My dad won't be back until late. Relax, it's not like he's going to suspend you because you didn't take your shoes off at the door."

"Holy crap was I supposed to do that?"

Joey laughed. "Someone's jumpy. I know my dad can be a hard ass but geez."

"Hard ass is putting it nicely. Back when we were freshmans Wally made up this story about how he lost his eye."

The phone rang from downstairs, capturing Joey's attention. "I gotta go see who that is. Just pick anything from the closet and when I come back you can tell me about that story."

Alain nodded and watched as Joey left the room before walking over to the blonde's closet. He opened it and picked the first thing he saw which was a white tee. As he switched shirts it came to his attention that this was the first time he was inside Joey's house. Usually when the boys hanged out they went elsewhere, and if they were to stop by they never stayed for long and spent that time on the front porch.

Feeling curious Alain sat on the bed and took in the sight of Joey's room. He was surprised to see how plain looking it was. He expected to see more of Joey's personality, not just a plain old desk and bed. Perhaps Mr. Wilson didn't have time to prep for Joey's arrival.

Noticing that he left the closet open, Alain went to close it, but halted when some familiar words came to mind. Dig deeper. His eyes widened as he realized this was his perfect opportunity. If he could do some snooping maybe he could find a clue that would give him some answers about Joey. Realizing he probably didn't have much time Alain got to work.

He made himself busy in the closet, opening boxes and pushing clothes to the side. Nothing. He decided to check Joey's laptop, which resided on his desk, but grunted in frustration when he saw he needed a password. He didn't stop though, and instead searched Joey's drawers. As nothing but jeans and socks came to sight, Alain began to feel discouraged, but that feeling quickly left his system when his hand brushed against something thin and smooth. He picked it up, discovering a line of small photos that one could get from any photo booth at a theater. The photos were of Joey and another boy. The first photo showed them with natural smiles, and the other two were of them making funny faces. Finally, the last photo showed them...

Alain's eyes widened. If this wasn't proof he didn't know what is.

"What are you doing?"

Alain turned around to find Joey standing in the doorway.

"I... I... um," Alain gulped. Jade did not prep him for this part of the plan.

Joey crossed over to him and plucked the photos from his hand, placing it on the desk face down. "You owe me an explanation. Why were you looking through my stuff?"

Alain looked down, feeling guilty due to the hurt tone of Joey's voice. "... Because I wanted answers. I know you said it never happened but I know it did."

Joey sat down on his bed, his eyes on the floor. "What are you talking about?"

"The kiss. And don't try denying it again. I know I didn't just imagine it. I saw how you were looking at me during class," Alain paused before continuing. "... Look, the reason why I wanted to hang out with you today is because I wanted proof to force you to admit to it. That's why I invited you to the pool early and why I didn't want Colleen hanging out with us... I was just desperate for the truth. I'm sorry."

Joey sighed, looking at the floor. "It's alright. It's my fault for lying... I'm sorry that I...," he cleared his throat, trying to muffle the word. "... kissed you... and that I denyed it."

"It's fine," Alain assured him. "It just really confused me. I mean, did I... do something wrong?"

Joey couldn't help but laugh. "I kiss you and you think you did something wrong. Boy, you're a weird one."

Alain sat on the chair near Joey's desk. "So if it wasn't my fault, then why?"

Joey looked away then, blushing. "It's... complicated," he looked at Alain, hoping that was an acceptable answer, but the young athlete didn't looked pleased with that response so he tried again. "I don't know. You just looked really... cute... sitting there. And then you started going on and on about how terrible you were so I wanted to do something to show you that I didn't think you were... Pretty stupid was of handeling things, huh?"

Alain shook his head. "It got me to stop dumping on myself, didn't it?"

Joey chuckled. "Yeah..."

They sat in silence.

"... Joey?"

"Hmm?" Joey raised his gaze to meet Alain's.

"... Are you... gay?"

"No, no I'm not gay...," Joey shook his head to enforce this. "I can't be gay."

"If you're not gay then what do you call kissing me?"

Joey shrugged indifferently. "A mistake. A slip up."

"Then what about him?" Alain inquired, holding up the photos that rested on the table defiantly. "Was he a slip up too?"

Joey narrowed his eyes. "What the hell do you want from me, Alain? I already admitted to kissing you. Why do you have to keep pushing?"

"Because I want the truth! I want to know more about my friend."

"If I tell you the truth you'll hate me! You'll hate me just like she did!"

"Who's she? What are you talking about?"

"My mother!"

Alain was taken aback. "What?"

Joey got to his feet and paced around his bed, trying to burn off his frustration. Finally, he stopped, his shoulders slacking. "... My mother didn't send me to Jump City because she didn't approve of me wanting to be a musician. I made that up."

"So then why did she send you to Jump City?"

"She sent me because... because she found out my secret," Joey lowered his gaze and pointed at the photos in Alain's hand. "She found out about him... my boyfriend."

Alain looked at the photo, startled by the realization even though he had his suspicions. "This guy is your boyfriend?"

"Was my boyfriend. My mother made sure to that. But it's not like he put up much of a fight either... I guess he didn't like me as much as I thought he did."

"What happened?"

"It's complicated," seeing the look on Alain's face caused Joey to chuckle softly. "Sorry. I needed a laugh..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Alain told him, concerned and feeling guilty for being so pushy.

"No, it's okay. I want to," Joey said. It took him awhile to continue, however, and they waited in silence. "... You know, growing up my brother and sister were my dad's favorites, meanwhile I was my mom's. She was my best friend, always doing right by me... but then I got into high school and things changed... No, that's wrong. Things didn't change. I changed. I started to... look at boys. I was so freaked out, I didn't have a clue why I felt the way I did, and I didn't want to talk to my mom about it. I mean, why tell her if I was only looking, right? But then I met Miguel and suddenly I stopped looking.

"We dated in secret. I didn't want anyone to know about us until I knew for sure we were serious... My mom would work late, Grant was already in college, and my sister was in a club, so Miguel and I always went to my place after school. One day we were making out on my bed... and our shirts were off, and I thought we were going to go to the next level but..."

"But what?"

"... My mother walked in. I had never seen her so angry before, not even towards my dad. She kept screaming at us, and Miguel was so freaked out he just ran out of the house. I tried calming her down, tried to explain, but instead she slapped me. It was the first time my mother had ever hit me.

"Things got worse from there. My mother forbidded me from seeing Miguel, so I did what every teenager would do in that situation and told her to fuck off. Miguel and I continued to see each other behind her back, but she found out about us. And then she paid Miguel off. Can you believe that asshole chose five grand over me. And after I did everything I could to keep us together, he tossed me to the side the first chance he got.:

"Joey," Alain murmured. "Your eyes."

Joey touched his cheek and realized he had been crying. He turned away from Alain, feeling more embarrassed than ever, and scrubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his arm. Once his tears had stopped he turned around to make light of it, forcing himself to laugh. "This is why I hate story telling. I'm terrible at it."

Alain decided not to comment and instead only nodded his head once.

"Oh damn, where did I lrave off. I was fighting some alien on the moon, wasn't I? No wait, that was part of my dream last night. I'll tell you about it some time."

Again, Alain nodded. He didn't want to push Joey into finishing his story if he didn't want to.

"... I'm worth way more than five grand," Joey grumbled suddenly, gazing outside his window and surprising Alain. "I suppose I should have thanked my mother for exposing Miguel for the cheap bastard that he was, but instead it only caused me to argue with her more. Finally, one night, she told me she didn't want a fag for a son. The next morning when I came home she had packed my things and told me I was going to be living with my father from now on."

"Does that mean your dad knows?"

Joey shook his head. "No, she didn't tell him. Image means a lot to her. The less people who knew about me the better. I can't blame her though. It's not easy having a monster for a son."

Alain stood up from his seat, his fist clenched. "You are not a monster."

"No... no I am. Or I was," Joey turned to face Alain so he could explain. "Don't you see, Alain? My interest in guys is what's wrong with me. It fucked up my whole life! And look at what it did to the two of us. That's why I'm trying to fix myself, so bad things like that won't happen anymore. I'll be the son my mother wants."

"Joey, life doesn't work like that. You can't just change who you are."

"And why can't I?" Joey snarled, glaring at him.

"Because it's not you! Joey, if you like guys then just acc-"

"I don't like boys! It was a phase I went through and it's over now! I've changed!"

Alain reached out a hand to him. "Joey-"

"Get out!" Joey snapped. "Just go!"

There was a pause of silence as Alain frowned, his eyes locked with Joey. Finally, he looked away and walked over to collect his book bag. As he slung it over his shoulder and walked towards the door, he heard Joey call out to him.

"Alain, wait... I'm sorry."

Alain turned around to look at him but didn't say anything.

"I don't want you to think I'm angry with you, because I'm not, okay?"

"... Okay."

"Also... I need you to do something for me. Could you keep this between us? Please."

Alain nodded. "I promise. This is just between us."

Joey released his breath, relieved. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. But, Joey, I think you've got this all wrong. Being gay-"

"Is not something we should be talking about. Ever."

"But, Joey-"

"You should go. My dad will be home soon."

Alain sighed, deciding to drop the subject, for now anyways... He left Joey's room, the blonde boy escorting him out and to the front door.

With Alain now gone, Joey returned to his room. He went over to his desk, taking the pictures of him and Miguel into his hand, and opened the top draw. He was prepared to hide it from view, just like he had done before, but froze. For a long moment he stood there, his eyes fixated on the pictures, before finally tearing the photos apart and disposing the shreaded remains into his trashcan. He then went to his bed to lay down, hiding his face in his pillow.

"Alain's wrong," he mumbled. "I can change. I know I can... I refuse to be a monster."

TT

SPECIAL THANKS TO DoubleCresentMoon, Magic Kiwi, PolarPurple, chipmunkswillrule, clarkLover1, Goldenheart11, Agent of the Divine One, HypeddJay, Daniella TT, A fan, wolfprincess16, Pineapple girl 1997, AND cookiesruletheworld FOR ALL OF THE AMAZING REVIEWS AND FOR BEING SO UNDERSTANDING. THANK YOU EVERYONE! I HOPED EVERYONE WAS ABLE TO ENJOY THIS CHAPTER! ALSO, HAPPY EASTER!

A fan: I love Kori and Xavier moments, and I can't have them stay mad at each other for very long. Glad you liked the Roy, Alain, Lian moment. It was a lot of fun to write. And I'm happy to hear that you're going to keep reading the story! You know, I honestly forgot that I had paired Batman/Wonder Woman together for this story. We haven't seen them together since Sick Cycle Carousel I believe. I'll have to add them in here somewhere, maybe when Dick returns. And thanks for reading and reviewing!

NEXT CHAPTER: RAVEN AND GAR ARE GOING ON A DATE.

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