*Hides face in shame* I'm so sorry I didn't update! I've been so preoccupied with Switched that - well, you know how things are.

I'm hoping Blake's dialogue in this chapter is alright. I'm still iffy about his high-strung way of speaking. ;)

A big thank you to my reviewers!!

Fedishi - Thanks. :)

Neon rose - Okay! Sorry for taking so long!

J - Thanks. :)

Moonlight Knight - Thanks. :D

.~*~.

Chapter 3

"Grounded!"
Carl had come home at eight, having stumbled there in the darkness. He was too tired to reply. Not tired from the walk, just emotions.
"I almost called the police, Carl. I went out looking for you, all through Sheltered Shrubs. Do you realize how worried Ging and I were about you?"
He couldn't help but snort. Ginger had more important things to care about than him going missing, he was sure.
"Don't get smart with me," Lois told him, then seemed to deflate in a sigh. "You're not going anywhere else this week."
That caught his attention. "Except the dance," he added.
"You're not going, Carl. I want you to understand that you are not to do this to me, ok?"
No, not okay! he screamed in his head. Outwardly, he frowned.
The dance isn't that big a deal anyway... he tried to reassure himself. It's not like I'm going with some nice girl or anything....
He dragged his feet up the stairs to his room. He winced, thinking of Blake. It might explain a lot of things if he liked you, but it doesn't mean he does. It was true, Carl knew, but it was still an unwanted thought at the moment.
And Noelle. What was up with her? She'd developed more odd powers in Portugal or something? He smiled wryly at the thought that a year ago he would have liked her even more if she could read minds then. Or maybe she could all along, just never let on.
He fell onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling, covered in marks from things Hoodsey and he had stuck up there, like wads of bubblegum for their collection. There seemed to be a spill on the ceiling, from when his friend had claimed, several months prior, that he had defied gravity and dropped a cup of hot chocolate upwards.
He rolled over and squinted at the calendar, not having bothered to turn the light on. Was it possible to prank Blake without going anywhere? Maybe he could call him and hang up, but he had a feeling that Winston would pick up instead of Blake, and they probably had call-back. He squirmed. In any case, it seemed like a girly thing to do, call up your crush and not say anything, like what Ginger had done once in a game of truth or dare. He'd heard about it from Hoodsey, who had heard from Macie, who'd heard from Ginger. News came to him in chains nowadays. He was often at the end of the chain, the last to know.
He still had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to come up with ideas for pranks.

Carl was already up when Lois came upstairs to check on him. In fact, he was already dressed, and had a backpack at his feet, filled with books. He was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth.
"Carl–"
"Iswakn," he said, through a mouth full of toothpaste.
"What?" Lois crossed her arms, frowning at him.
"Iswakntsool!" He spat out the toothpaste. "I'm walking. I'm leaving now."
Lois was shocked, to say the least. The school was a good seven or ten minutes away in their old car, but walking it was nearly half an hour.
"Don't you want breakfast?" she asked, as she tailed her son through the kitchen, still utterly confused. He grabbed a roll from the basket on the table and was out the door. He took a bite, winced from the taste of bread and toothpaste, and threw the remainder to a neighbor's dog.

He knew the path to school. He'd used to get up really early and accompany Hoodsey there when they were kicked off the bus in elementary school. The walk seemed considerably longer without his friend, even if he wasn't digging in garbage cans every five steps.
He passed the slight slope that eventually went up into Protected Pines, going straight past without a spared glance. Carl wasn't going to give into his curiosity about whether or not Blake had left yet. He tried to convince himself that he didn't want to end up riding in the limo with Blake Gripling, squirming as he tried to keep a reasonable but not suggestibly large gap between them. Tried to convince himself that he was falling for the Gripling boy too hard and too fast.
Sure enough, the white limo passed him, and then slowed. Carl grinded his teeth as he kept up his steady pace, falling into speed with the limo.
The window rolled down and Courtney stuck her head out. "Need a ride? Surely it's tiring to walk all the way from your neighborhood to school?"
"I used to do this every day," he responded, teeth still anchored.

Then the unthinkable happened.
"Winston, could you stop the limo? I'm going to walk with him."
That did it; Carl froze, eyes squeezed shut. The boy's clumsy courting was getting on his nerves. He didn't want to put up with him for another twenty minutes, especially when the boy had not only witnessed his fight with Noelle, but would certainly overhear that he was grounded.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked as the limousine took off again.
"You looked lonely," he answered with a shrug. He watched Carl intently for a response.
"And since when have you been my company of choice?"
"I saw you with Sussman yesterday," he said, ignoring his previous comment completely.
Carl growled. "What, going to laugh at me? I can assure you that I am perfectly alright without women."
He wanted to eat his words as soon as they came out of his mouth. He wasn't gay, damnit! Now the other boy might think he was.

"...I see. So you are not planning on going with her to the dance?" Curious eyes tried to hide the fact that the boy was hunting for answers. Answers to anything. Answers that might mean Carl had some minute chance of taking to him.
"Going with my ex-girlfriend who I've just fought with is among my top priorities, I assure you," he said sarcastically. He really didn't mean to be taking out all of his anger on the boy, but if it weren't for Blake, he wouldn't have gotten so mad at Noelle in the first place. "Anyway, I'm grounded and won't be going."
"I thought you were always grounded."
This caught Carl's attention. He whipped his head around to glare at the boy, but he'd already sped up the sidewalk, laughing. Then he'd stopped and waited for Carl to catch up, still dancing out of his reach, walking backwards.

There was silence for a little while. Blake fell into step beside him, and Carl walked at sporadic speeds, trying to get the boy to walk either a little in front of or behind him. Of course, Blake could soon guess when he was going to do this, so it really made no point.
"So, what're you going to do on April first?" he asked amiably.
"I've been trying to figure out what to do to you all week," he said, glancing sideways at his walking companion. "I haven't started the rest of my planning yet."
Blake's expression hadn't flickered. "I'm looking forward to outsmarting your attempts at pranks then, Foutley."
"You do that. If you can."
"I'm not stupid," the Gripling said with another shrug.
"But you are younger than me. By two and a half years," Carl said smugly. The boy looked away from him, at the street, and he couldn't read his expression.
"I bet you think that makes you superior, doesn't it?"
Carl blinked. That's not what he'd meant at all. He opened his mouth again, but Blake was already talking.

"Everyone always goes back to the fact that I'm ten and in seventh grade. I don't see why anyone thinks that's so important. I think just like you do."
"Nah, you can't think like Carl Foutley!" Carl tried with a fake brightness. He didn't like how Blake was avoiding his eyes with everything he did.
"I guess not."
"Mmm."
"Well, I guess I won't be going to that dance either," Blake said, changing the subject but still looking ahead intently. "Won't be nearly as exciting without you there. It's not like I have a date, I'm three years younger than everyone else."
Carl did feel bad for the boy, but he was still not liking how Blake was completely dancing around the fact that he liked him. He wished he'd either drop it or come right out and admit it to himself.
"Nah, you shouldn't miss the spring dance just because I'm not there," Carl said carefully, kicking a stone. "I mean, there might be someone who likes you who's there and wants you to go. Or maybe someone you like will be there."
He knew it was a shameless way to find out if Blake liked him, but it was an assurance. He could figure out what to do about it later.
Lucky Jr. High appeared, the very top of the building becoming visible over the hill. They were about ten minutes early. No one else was outside yet.

"No," Blake said firmly, glancing over at Carl for the first time.
Carl grinned. There it was, proof.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, just that I know who you like," Carl said, meeting Blake's eyes. He froze, a blush creeping over his cheeks, then sped toward the front of the building, muttering something about checking if the doors were unlocked yet.
Maybe he shouldn't have come right out and said it. Maybe he should've subtly hinted it, or added in a might or an 'I think.' But instead he'd said it like he knew the exact answer. He was fairly certain he did.
He leaned against a brick wall, stomach really wishing for the roll he'd thrown to the dog. He tried to decide if he liked Blake as much as Blake seemed to like him, but couldn't answer it.

First bell rang. There were three bells–first bell indicated when the doors were unlocked, second when students could go to classes, and third when they had to be in their first class by to avoid a tardy slip. He sent Blake a flash of a grin as he went to his locker, smirking in just the slightest way when the boy pretended to be very interested in a poster beside him.
Other students were starting to come in, and he met Hoodsey in the hall as his friend was going to his locker.
"You walked? Without me?"
"Gripling kept me company," he told his friend, grinning. "But don't worry, you're still my best friend." Hoodsey looked relieved.

The last bell chimed and students immediately flooded out of Lucky Jr. High, to buses and cars and down the sidewalk. Carl decided to walk back home. It would give him some time to think.
Blake had avoided him all day. In many ways this was good, it gave him space.
He decided to come right out and ask himself.
"Do I like him?"
"You're still trying to decide?"
He whipped his head around, wincing as it cricked. But there, following him, was Noelle.
"Noelle."
"Carl."
There was silence, and Carl targeted his frustrations into a dandelion growing in a crack. He stomped on it, smooshing it to the ground.
"You know you like him, you just don't want to admit it, Carl."
"What, you suddenly have no problem with me turning gay in your absence?"
"I didn't say that," she told him, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "But I can get used to it. Now I'm free to date again, it's a bit exciting, I have to admit."

Carl gave a small smile and tilted his head, watching the sidewalk ahead. "I just don't know. I mean, what, is everyone going to be accepting if we were to, say, openly date? It's a little scary. Once you've made that label, you're stuck with it the rest of your life."
"Hoodsey and I would be accepting. Your mother would. Ginger and her friends would be too, I'm sure."
Carl snorted.
"I mean, what're you going to do otherwise? You both like each other."
"Hey! I'm undecided."
"Uh huh."
Noelle was stepping on every sidewalk crack as she walked. Weird kid, he had to admit. That had been what he'd liked most about her when they'd been dating. Her weirdness. Since fifth grade, she and her ways had grown up a bit.

"But wouldn't it be cute if you kissed him at the dance?"
He jumped. They'd been walking quietly down the hill leading to Sheltered Shrubs for about seven minutes, neither saying a word.
"I think it would be a stupid idea, especially in the middle of the dance floor. Oh. And I'm not going. I'm grounded."
"Why?"
The question was innocent enough, but he knew she knew the answer. He kept his jaw clenched.
"Carl!" Hoodsey caught up to them at the corner of the block which the Foutley residence was on. "Your mom's mad, I think you might want to stay in the doghouse a while."
"This is where I leave you boys." Noelle bowed and crossed the street.

"She help you figure stuff out?"
Carl eyed his friend, an eyebrow raised. "Yes, but how would you know?"
"I asked her to."
"Yeah, I like him."
"Alright."
And the boys stayed in the doghouse until Hoodsey was called back to his house for dinner.