Gordie woke up and looked at the alarm clock, noticing that it was an hour later than he normally woke up. He was ready to panic when he remembered that Chris had spent the night, he turned his head to yell at him to wake up and immediately saw Chris' open eyes staring back at him.

"Were you ever gonna wake me up? You stupid fuck!" Gordie asked, jumping out of bed and looking for some pants.

"Why? What time is it?" Chris asked dumbfounded.

"It's 7:00, you idiot!" Gordie said in an exasperated way.

"Then why are you freaking out? School doesn't start until 8:00" Chris pointed out.

"Yeah, but I usually eat breakfast downstairs." Gordie said in a calmer voice, realizing he was over reacting.

"Not today, you don't" Chris responded, looking everywhere but at Gordie as he looked for his own shirt.

"Holy shit Chris! Why didn't you tell me! I mean, obviously, I always kind of knew, how could I not? But I never imagined it was this bad! I wish you would have told me." Gordie said suddenly.

Chris felt his heart stop and his throat constrict painfully. Oh my gosh, Gordie knew! This was it. Chris looked away from Gordie, not wanting to see Gordie trying to hide his disgust but failing miserably.

"How much does it hurt?" Gordie asked tentatively.

"What?!" Chris asked, wondering why in the world Gordie would think it hurt.

"Your stomach, does it hurt?" Gordie specified, not understanding why Chris wouldn't understand, what else would he be talking about?

"Oh my stomach!" Chris exclaimed with a relieved sigh, looking down at his once again black and blue stomach.

"Not too much, I've had worse." Chris said calmly.

Suddenly Gordie threw himself onto his bed and sat against the wall, staring off into space. His whole body was rigid and his chin was quivering in suppressed anger.

"Gordie?" Chris asked

"I hate him Chris, I fucking hate him." Gordie said with feeling, his whole body beginning to shake now.

"Yeah, so do I" Chris said, trying to lighten the mood, like he always did when this subject came up.

"I mean it Chris. I'd kill him if I could. Just thinking about the things I know he does to you and I just wanna…and then I see your stomach and…ahhhh!!" Gordie finished, too angry to put his feelings into words.

"I know you hate him Gordie" Chris said as he came and sat next to him on the bed.

"But its really not that bad, Gordie! It could be so much worse…at least he doesn't do anything like…sexual, you know." Chris said a bit awkwardly.

Gordie's head snapped to look at Chris, like the thought had never occurred to him before. His lips were compressed into a small line and his eyes contained a fire that would have scared Chris if it had been anybody else.

"Swear he doesn't?" Gordie said in a voice quivering with rage.

"Gordie…"Chris said as though the very idea was ridiculous.

"SWEAR!" Gordie demanded.

"I swear, okay, I swear! He's never laid a hand on me, not in that way." Chris said, looking Gordie directly in the eye so that there was no doubt he was telling the truth.

"It's a damn good thing, Chris, cuzz if he had…I'd fucking shoot him." Gordie said, a shiver of rage running up his spine.

"Gordie!" Chris said, appalled.

"I would, I'd fucking shoot him, and I wouldn't regret it either. I don't care if I spent fifty years in jail for it, I wouldn't ever regret it. I hate him. I've never even fucking met the guy, and I wish he'd die." Gordie said, shaking his head back and forth.

"No you wouldn't. I wouldn't let you. That stupid fucker isn't worth it. You wanna know why?" Chris asked.

"Why" Gordie asked skeptically.

"Because, in a few years, I'm outta here, after high school, if I don't get into college, I'll go work at a fucking fast food restaurant if I have to." Chris said, remembering the visions he had had last night of him and Gordie, but not having the courage to voice them aloud.

"What are you talking about?" Gordie asked in a hurt voice.

"Well, obviously, I'd like to go to college, but there's no guarantee that it will happen for me." Chris said realistically.

"No man, I mean, I always thought that we would get an apartment together or something. Or at the very least keep in touch." Gordie said.

"Well of course I was including you, I was just talking about how I'd pay my half of the rent." Chris said.

"Well you won't have to worry about that, because we're both gonna get into college and live in the dorms." Gordie said excitedly.

"Yeah man, the only job we'll have will be for spending money." Chris said, going with the flow.

"And then, when we finish, we'll leave and never see this piss-ass town again!" Gordie finished off.

"Yeah, we'll have a hell of a time, won't we?!" Chris exclaimed.

"You bet we will." Gordie said, all traces of sadness and fury gone from his voice.

"Holy Shit! We gotta get to school man!" Chris said, jumping off the bed.

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Chris and Gordie were late to first period, causing them to have a half-hour of detention after school. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful. They weren't even upset about the detention, they figured they would just pass notes back and forth the whole time. They were walking down the hall on their way to detention, talking about how funny it was that the teacher thought she was punishing them by keeping them late, when neither of them were very excited about going home, when someone down the hall spotted them.

"Hey, look guys, it's that Chamber fuck up and his faggot life partner! Did you hear about their lover's spat in the lunchroom yesterday? If I'm not mistaken, it was their first fight! How sweet! Does anyone have a tissue?" The boy asked sniffing.

"Not on me man! I used my last one this morning when I saw them walk into school together this morning, obviously having made up. Isn't true love sweet?" Another boy said.

"But I'm sure you could ask one of them, I mean, don't fags always have stuff like that?" A girl put in from beneath the first boy's arm.

The three of them walked away, laughing so hard that they had tears in their eyes.

"Man, fuck them! They're just assholes! They make fun of everyone! They think they're so cool, but in reality, no one can stand them but the other two!" Gordie said, noticing the look on Chris' face. He really didn't understand why he was upset, they never got made fun of, so it was obviously just that those guys were assholes.

"Oh, I know! Like I give a fuck what they think anyways! When have I ever cared what other people think? Come on, it's me! I wasn't even listening to what they were saying, I tuned them out ages ago, I was just thinking about that history test. I don't have a fucking clue what Mr. Saunders was talking about!" Chris covered quickly.

"Actually, I paid attention for once, bring it over tonight and I'll help you with it. But you have to help me with math, I'll never understand that matrix shit!" Gordie said.

"Okay, and we've really got to work on that science project too. It's due like Tuesday!" Chris remembered.

"What! Holy shit!" Looks like we're pullin another all-nighter, cuzz there's no way I'm wastin my whole weekend on that shit." Gordie responded.

"Okay" Chris said, thinking that after staying up all night last night maybe he'd be so exhausted by the time they went to bed that he'd actually sleep.

Chris suddenly started thinking about the trio that had called them gay. He really didn't give a fuck what they thought. And everything Gordie had said about them was true. But it proved what he had already known…no one could ever know. If that was how they acted when they didn't think there was any way they were actually gay, imagine how bad it would be if they found out the truth. Chris shivered involuntarily. He could handle it, he was used to being hated, but Gordie, Gordie wouldn't be able to handle it. And he'd never have to, Chris decided.