Summary: A new girl comes to Eden Hall, befriending Adam. He's able to tell her anything he wants to. Except for one thing. She's falling in love with the guy he's falling in love with. *SLASH*

Author's Note: This is my first shot at MD slash so please bear with me here.

This is slash so if you don't like it…DON'T READ IT!    

Disclaimer: I only own Kori, Shane, and Jordan.

Adam's POV

***

            I had another fight with my dad today. It's been happening more and more as the weeks and months pass. Maybe it has something to with the fact that I just don't want to deal with the pressures of hockey anymore. I just want to be a normal kid sometimes, without having to worry about the fucking scouts at the fucking hockey games all the time. I'm fourteen, dammit! Fourteen is too young to be playing major or even minor league anyway, so why does it matter? Maybe if I were a junior or a senior I'd understand why my father wants the scouts to see me so bad. But I'm still a freshman! So what if I purposely demoted myself back down to JV? The season's over and I want out until next season! Sure, I'll agree to practice here and there during the off-season since I want to be in shape and all, but what's t he point of practicing for hours on end if it's just going to make me tired and not able to actually play during the real season? I tried to tell my dad that, but he never listens…

            Then there's Charlie. I don't know what to do about him. Part of me just wants to scream out my confession of love to him, but the other part of me wants to keep that a secret just in case he's not gay too. What's the probability that a hot man like himself is interested in guys? Besides, he went out with Linda already so I don't have much of a chance, do I? I should've given up a long time ago-

            That was when Charlie walked into my dorm room and Portman let him in. Honestly, rooming with Portman isn't that bad. I'm not as scared of him as I used to be. We talk a lot and sometimes I've come close to telling him about my undying love for Charlie. So lately, I've just stopped talking about that kind of stuff with him and letting Portman do all the talking. It's easier that way anyway.

            When Charlie told me about his crush on Kori, my fears were confirmed. I knew I'd never have a chance with him and I'd have to let him go. The best I could do for him was to get him together with Kori so he could be happy. When he talked about her, he got this look in his eyes that I longed to see for me. At first, I have to admit that I was mad at Kori. But I couldn't blame her. She was really sweet and she was willing to listen to me bitch about my father, which was something I knew that was hard to bear. In all my heartbreak and anger at the situation, I couldn't find anyone to blame it on except myself. How was I so stupid to even consider the fact that Charlie even thought about going out with another man, let alone actually wanting to. I beat myself up for it the whole day on Saturday.   

            In the morning, I got up later than Portman did, which was very unusual for me. Portman was actually shaking me awake so I wouldn't miss lunch.

            "Adam, you okay dude?" he looked at my worriedly.

            "I'm fine, really. I'm just really wiped from an argument I had with my dad." That wasn't entirely untrue.

            "Just take it easy, man. Your father isn't worth fighting with."

            "Yeah, I guess…" I quickly showered and threw on some of my trade-mark 'cake-eater' clothes. Checking myself in the mirror, I sighed and just left without fixing my hair.

            "Whoa…Banksie's hair is…normal!" Guy teased as I sat at the table. Normally, I would laugh and come up with some comeback, but that particular day I was exhausted and still aching from the conversation with Charlie the night before. I refused to let myself even look in his direction since I'd spent the whole night trying not to make my sobs heard to Portman, who'd definitely inquire if he saw me crying. What made everything harder was that I became really good friends with Kori and she always sat at our table. So when she plopped down in her seat next to me, brushing pink and chocolate brown hair away from her face, I tensed up.

            "Now all we have to do is get Adam to wear normal clothes and he'll be out of his cake-eating phase!" Charlie exclaimed triumphantly. I didn't look at him or anyone else sitting near him. I shrugged and turned to Kori, "Want?" I offered her part of my brownie that I suddenly lost all appetite for.

            "Um, sure, thanks!" she took it from me, eyeing me strangely.

            "Yup," I nodded, turning back to my food. For the next fifteen minutes, I listened to everyone talk about how excited they were about snowboarding. It wasn't that I didn't want to go with Kori because I did. It was just that I wanted time to be alone and regroup by myself. Hockey season had just ended, giving me time to catch up with myself and especially when I needed to get over someone, I wanted to be alone.

            "Earth to Adam!" Kori shook my shoulder gently.

            "What?" I snapped back to the present, realizing that I had just missed everything.

            "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah," I raked my hand through my unruly hair that I desperately wished I had gelled. I also wished everyone would stop asking me if I was okay. If they didn't, I might have to tell them. Which wouldn't be good at all, "What?" I asked again.

            "We were just talking about when we could go snowboarding. Does next week sound okay for you?" Julie asked me, smiling slightly. Rumor had it that she had a crush on me, but I couldn't tell. Don't get me wrong, I like Julie; she's a really cool person. But I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't interested in her so I pretended that I never heard such rumors.

            "Great!" I faked cheerfulness and excused myself from the table, giving a lame-ass excuse that I had to do my homework.

            The only person that knew I was gay was my brother. He never said anything to our parents and he didn't hold it against me at all, which was why I confided in him the most. Brad was a sophomore in college at Georgetown College, a private university in Washington D.C. He himself was straight and was totally in love with a girl from school. He couldn't get her though. It must be a curse of the Banks or something. Our parents seemed to be the only ones who found love. And it wasn't really love on that note. It wasn't like they fought, but they didn't exactly talk either.

            "Hello?" Brad picked up when I called him.

            "Hey, it's me."

            "Oh hey little bro, what's up?"

            "Nothing, are you doing anything right now?"

            "Other than schoolwork? Not at all. Why?"

            "Because I really need someone to talk to."

            "Uh-oh…what's wrong?"

            "First of all, dad won't stop bugging me, but what else is new about that?" I heard Brad snort at the other end of the line so I continued, "Charlie's interested in some other girl."

Brad was silent for a minute, then he spoke, "I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I honestly thought for sure that he'd be gay too. I mean…I don't mean to offend you, but he does have some gay qualities…"

            "I'm not offended. How does he have gay qualities?"

            "Well, they're not gay qualities. It's not like I can tell or anything. I didn't even imagine that you were homosexual until you told me. But anyway, I just had this feeling. Like you two were meant to be together. I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten your hopes up or anything when I told you that."

            "I don't know…the thing is, the girl that he likes happens to be one of my really good friends. And he wants me to help set them up."

Brad let out a breath, "That's a tough one. I can't say that I've ever been in your shoes, Adam. What do you want to do? I want you to be happy and if setting them up isn't going to make you happy, you shouldn't do it. I don't want to see you hurting…" he trailed off. I felt a surge of love for my brother because he wanted to protect me from everything. He wanted to help me, but he couldn't. But he tried. And I really loved him for that.

            "But the thing is…I really want them to be happy!"

            "It's your choice, Adam. Just don't hurt yourself, okay?"

            "Okay…How's it going with Amber?" I asked him, switching to his love problem.

            "Not much better, that's all I have to say. I don't want to rush into anything because she might hate me. She doesn't know that I'm totally in love with her and she doesn't seem to notice that I'm around half the time."

            "It's different, isn't it? Aren't girls usually all over you?"

            "I don't notice. But if they are, this one isn't."

            "That sucks."

            "Yeah, listen, I have to go study for a test. Good luck with Charlie and come talk to me whenever you need to. I'll be here for you."

            "Thanks." We hung-up and I finally picked up my history textbook, starting on a project that I should have started days ago. At least I had the rest of the day to catch up.

            Every night since Kori first started at Eden Hall, I'd been going on walks with her just to get to know each other. After I stopped guiding her around, we couldn't break the tradition so we took the walks as time to vent about things that were bothering us or something like that. Usually, I told her everything that was bothering me, from the rumors about Julie liking me to my grades in school. But this one particular night, I couldn't bring myself to tell her about Charlie. About me. I was afraid that she'd hate me forever. So I stayed quiet. That is, until I confessed that I was madly in love with someone. I was just glad she didn't pry and repetitively ask about who it was. That's what I liked best about Kori. She cared, but she also gave you your needed space.

            "Do you like anybody?" I asked her after awhile.

            "I'm not really sure. Sometimes I think I do, but other times I don't think I do. It's not as big as your love for the unknown person. But you have to start at someplace, right?" she joked, trying to ease us out of silence.

            "Yeah, I guess. I don't want to pry or anything, but who?"

            "It doesn't matter to me if you know or not. It's not that big of a…crush I guess."

            "So you admit you like him?"

            "More than I'd like to admit it," she tilted her head up to look at me, "I think I like Charlie Conway more than I'd like to say, Adam." I swear my heart skipped a few beats there. I didn't know what to tell her. I was totally in love with Charlie Conway.

            "Is it a growing love for him or just some silly crush?" I asked carefully, trying not to give myself away.

            "I'm not totally sure, but I'll keep you posted," she smiled, "But if you don't mind me saying, you're incredibly hot too." I blushed furiously, glad that it was dark.

            "Thanks…you're not so bad yourself."

            "Thanks. Sometimes I wonder why you don't have girls swarming all over you. I see a few eyeing you in the halls, though. I think Cole's girlfriend was looking at you with that look that we all get when we see an incredibly hot guy walk by."

            "I hope you saw wrong. If that really was Cole's girlfriend, I'll be dead by next week."

            "I don't think so," Kori laughed, "she might kick his ass into next month if he tried to hurt you."

            "Where do you hear all this stuff?" I asked her, suddenly interested as to how many girls had a crush on a man they couldn't ever get because he didn't even like girls in the first place.

            "I'm a girl, I have girl connections. Duh, Adam!" she imitated a typical cheerleader girl accent (A/N: I 'm sorry to offend cheerleaders. I know MD is very stereotypical of cheerleaders).

            "So who else likes me?"

            "A lot of girls, Adam. Trust me, if I had to list them all, I'd be walking around with you all night."

            "I have time."

            "You may, but I know I don't."

            "Why? Dreaming about Charlie?" I teased good-naturedly. But deep down inside, my heart was ripping in half. Why was I even provoking her dreaminess about Charlie? Why was I doing this to myself? 'Because you're an idiot. And because you're hopelessly in love, stupid!'

*Thanks for the reviews! Please push the pretty purple button and review!! Pretty please with sugar on top?*

Wari: I know, Jesse and boarding school doesn't fit, but I thought of it out of the blue. I hope you don't start going into widthdrawl symptoms…I tried my best to update as soon as possible!! NOOOOO I NEED YOU!!!! =p

Kelly: Hey! The Portman thing is coming up next and you read my mind!!!! I have something in mind for Kori AND for the Portman thing…urgh…you mind reader…lol thanks for reviewing!

Cake Eater: HAHAHAHAHAHA!! "omg kori is such a hottie and i wanna bang her" I love that! But I know what you mean, Charlie's a stupid moron here…oh well. It's more fun this way!! Thanks for reviewing!

And to anyone else who has problems w/ fanfiction.net like me and couldn't review the chapter, I know some of you are out there…THANKS!

Huggs and Kisses,

Crazy4nc128