AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this 3 months ago and forgot about it, hehe... I dedicate this chapter to Roger, a.k.a. A-Slasher, for corrupting my mind. :D (Hey Rog, if I dedicate every one of my fics and chapters to you from now on, will you review more?)


Chapter Six

"Clu," I began, horrified, "how long have you been standing there?" And when did he even get here? I thought he wasn't coming until later!

He didn't move, frozen, with his mouth hanging open.

"Forget about him," Annie said, pulling my hand down the hallway.

"Wait!" I demanded, shaking loose of her grip. I grabbed the front of Clu's shirt, dragging him into the room. Annie followed reluctantly, closing the door behind her. He stood before us, waiting expectantly. I had no choice—the only thing I could do was try to explain that Annie and I had switched bodies. Who knows? He might believe it. After all, he never seemed to doubt Fi's "encounters". And how much different was this?

"Look, Clu, I don't know what you heard, or what you thought you heard, but it's not what you think! You see—"

"I'm gay," Annie interrupted.

Clu's expression remained the same; for some reason he didn't seem stunned at all. "Dude, I had no idea," he said.

"What?" I screamed. "No he's not! It's not like that at all! Clu, don't believe anything he says!"

"I'm sorry, Annie," Annie told me solemnly. "Sexuality is a personal choice we make for ourselves after much careful thought and experimentation. I know you probably have a little crush on me, but the fact is that I just prefer men over women."

This can't be happening.

Clu nodded. "Dude, I totally understand how you feel. I…" he said, trailing off.

"Clu?" I prompted fearfully.

"I… guess it's time I came out of the closet too…"

"WHAT?"

"I'm gay."

This can't be happening.

"See, man, we all feel a little better once we get it out in the open," Annie told him, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Clu agreed, smiling slightly. The happiness quickly changed to a look of panic. "Uh, bro, you're not really dating Jack, are you?" he asked worriedly.

"'Fraid so." Annie shrugged.

"Damn."

I stood there, dumbfounded, shifting my gaze back from Clu to Annie, and from Annie to Clu.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Clu questioned.

"Not yet, but I'm going to tell them soon," Annie responded, sighing wistfully for dramatic effect. I began to jot down some mental notes of potential uses for her soon-to-be-decapitated head.

"Hey, if it makes it any easier, we could tell them together!" Clu exclaimed.

"What, do you want to give your parents a heart attack?" Hey, that was me! I said something!

"I'd really like that," Annie replied to Clu's comment, ignoring mine.

"Great!" Clu said excitedly. "You know, I was really worried before, but now I feel so much better knowing that my own brother understands exactly what I'm going through."

"Right on," Annie responded. Right on? Oh, I had more important things to contemplate right now. Like the fact that Clu was gay—unless this was just one of his little stunts. And like the fact that soon Annie would tell everyone that I'm gay…

"Well, I'm going to go back downstairs now," Clu announced.

"Okay! Let's keep the gay pride alive!" Annie called after him as he left the room. I didn't say anything, only glaring at her. "Something wrong?" she asked with a smirk.

"Something wrong?!" I asked incredulously. "Something WRONG?"

"Wow, so you and Clu are both gay… who would've thought? Kind of sucks that you're brothers, huh?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I screamed.

"Hey Carey, you know all the times when you and Clu and everyone else made fun of me behind my back? You think I didn't hear you? Did you think I was too dumb to notice all those horrible things you said?"

"Um… yes, yes, and yes…?" I shrugged.

"Well, I wasn't!" she said defiantly.

"That's great, really it is," I responded sarcastically. "And what exactly does this have to do with your plan to make everyone think I'm gay, consequently ruining my love life and destroying any chance I might have had with Molly?"

"Oh, you never had a chance anyway," Annie assured me. "As for this—consider this payback." She grinned smugly.

"Payback?" I repeated, eyeing her steadily. "This is war."