It's been two weeks after meeting Collins, and Mark hasn't stopped thinking about him for more than a short amount of time. He was always happy to see Collins' smile, and likes talking to him, and just being in his presence, and that made Mark worried and confused about himself. He's has been trying to distance himself from Collins. Mark would rather feel this way about any other girl, but despised himself for having these thoughts on a guy who also happened to be a close friend. Plus, he's been having some tough time concentrating on school. Even though he was smart enough to get good grades even when he didn't know the material too well, practically all of his "notes" consisted of him writing the words "you're not gay" in his notebook over and over in least three pages of his notebook.

He's in his room right now, it's 4:00 PM and he's just finished his homework.

The phone rang, but he didn't feel like answering, he was consumed with just trying to keep his mind off of everything.

"Mark!" shouted his mom from downstairs. "Phone call for you! It's Roger!" Mark sighed and grabbed the phone next to his bed and sat against the wall.

"Hello? Roger?"

"Hey Mark, do you wanna hang out with me and Collins at my house?" Roger asked, cheerfully. Mark paused. He didn't want to see Collins.

"Um…what would we do?" Mark asked, trying to think of a good excuse to get out of hanging out with them.

"I don't know, just hang out." he contemplated it; he still didn't want to see Collins.

"Uh…sorry Roger, I can't, my mom says I gotta…clean my room, and you know how much a pain in the ass my mom can be when I don't do what she says." He replied, hoping that's a good enough to get him out of it.

"Oh c'mon, you have to clean your room? That's so gay." Mark froze. That's so gay. A splurge of anger coursed through his body for a second from that comment, and Mark just wanted to shout and argue that he wasn't gay, but he tried to sustain himself from doing so.

"Well, I have to, sorry. Maybe I can come over some other time. See ya." Mark quickly said, then sprawled out on his bed, and let out a deep breath. He hated that he was getting worked up about something that he didn't want to think about. He looked around his room, it was getting messy. Maybe it was a good time to start cleaning it before his mom really scolds him about it, and he'd already told Roger he was going to, so he might as well.

There were a lot of places he could begin at, but he decided to start from under the bed. He was hoping that the tedious work would clear his head. He pulled out a dirty sock, an old board game, a dead mouse…

"Ah!" Mark shouted, dropping the dead mouse on the floor. "Ewww…" he stated, and kicked it to the trash can in his room, a bit disgusted.

He carefully looked under the bed this time and started picking from it, and pulled out something he hasn't seen in years.

It was a very old Bolex camera. He received it as a gift one birthday, but never got any momentum to use it. There was a full roll of film in it, and it was in good condition. Mark was bored, and he hasn't gone outside in a while, it was a very nice day. He hurried downstairs.

"Mom, I'm gonna go outside, alright?" Mark asked, already putting his shoes on.

"Okay dear, but he careful." His mom warned. Mark rolled his eyes.

"Yes, mom, love you." He said, as he exited.

Mark never knew how much fun filming could be. It seemed like every bird and rabbit and insect were moving just in the right places, the wind blew just at the right times, the clouds were in just the right shapes, it couldn't be more perfect. Everything that he was worried about and everything he was struggling with was escaping from his mind and he was enthralled by the way the world looked different to him through the camera lens.

"Mark!" he snapped out of it at the voice of his mom calling from the front door of the house. "Mark, would you come in right now? It's dinner time and you've been out here for over two hours." Two hours? It seems like hardly five minutes; he hasn't had this much fun in so long

"Coming!" he shouted, coming in with his camera and a joyous smile on his face that was rare nowadays.

Meanwhile, Collins was in his room trying to remember what his algebra homework was that he forgot to write down. He was getting frustrated because he knew that part of the assignment was an important grade and needed to finish it. He couldn't call Roger. He had just come back from his house, so that would'nt be a good idea to bother him again.

I wish I had time to get to know smart people who could help me. He thought to himself. A thought occurred in his head instantly. Mark's smart. Real smart. I could ask him about the homework. He thought.

He took a slip of paper from the top of his desk that had Mark's phone number on it and dialed.

"Hello?" asked Mark on the other line after two rings.

"Hey Mark, it's Collins." He replied.

"Oh...hey Collins, what's up?" Mark said, trying to hide the hesitance in his voice. He had nearly forgotten his Collins-problem when he was filming outside, but now the old nervous feelings in his stomach had come back.

"Did you get the algebra homework today? Cause I didn't write it down and I need it." Mark was almost not paying attention to what Collins was asking, he was just paying attention to his deep, soothing voice. He could feel himself blush already. No, don't think about that... he mentally said to himself. "Mark…?" Collins asked. Mark realized that he had frozen in thought and forgot that he was on the phone.

"Huh?" he snapped back into the conversation. "I'm sorry, I'm…just tired." He said, that was always his excuse when he didn't want people to think something is wrong. "I was just outside for a long time doind yard stuff." Mark was never too creative when lying.

"Oh, okay…so do you know the homework?" Collins asked.

"Uh, yeah, hold on." Mark said, putting down the phone on his bed. He smacked himself on the forehead. "Ugh, you idiot, just stop, you don't like him." He whispered to himself, verbally trying to convince himself of something that he consciously knew was not true. He quickly searched through his binder for the information Collins needed and tried not to take too long and be suspicious. "Collins?" he said in the phone, making sure he was still there.

"Yeah?"

"It's page 289 in the textbook, all of it, and the purple algebra vocab worksheet for the big test tomorrow." Mark said, trying to even out his voice.

"Okay, thanks. See ya tomorrow."

"No problem, bye." Mark quickly said and hung up. He let out a breath of frustration and practically slammed his forehead on his desk. "What is wrong with me?" he asked to himself.

Alright, second chapter done. Working and editing the third as well. Lemme know if there's anything you like or don't like or even suggestions for the story if you want to review.