Seventh grade came to be, word got out that Schroder and Lamar were dating, surprising the rest of the gang, though they all took it in stride, especially Pat, who was impressed at their bravery to just be honest about the ordeal.

Pat caught them two in the music room, making out, "hiya, love birds!"

"Pat," Schroder broke the kiss, surprised.

"Oh don't stop on my account."

"Hey, how's it going, Pat," Lamar greeted.

"Ya know… it's just amazing… you guys are so proud, the only gay couple in school- that we know of, anyway. I admire you two for coming out and admitting the rumors were true, I know it wasn't easy."

"It wasn't. People are used to it, but we still get stares," Schroder admitted.

"And I almost got kicked off the track team, and baseball team- thanks for having my back, on that."

"How can you be so sure of yourselves, we're barely teenagers."

"When you know, you know," Lamar shrugged.

"Plus I thought you had a thing for Patty?"

"I still do have a thing for Patty… guess I just like blondes," he laughed.

"Is there something you wanna tell us, Pat?"

"Like…?"

"Like something to open up about? We'll keep your secret," Schroder reassured.

"No… I just… I just wanted to let you guys know I'm happy to have friends like you. That's all," she looked away.

"Pat?"

"Yeah, Lamar?"

"We're your friends, we won't judge you, it's not easy, but when you're ready; you have our full support, okay? I know we aren't Marcie and Franklin… or Charlie… but you're not alone."

"Thanks."

She kicked herself when she left, if anybody would come close to understanding, it would be them, she was still too scared to say anything, but somehow they knew, or at least had an idea.

Now knowing the truth about Lamar and Schroder; Charlie figured they might be the ones to talk to, figuring Linus wouldn't exactly understand what he's going through, especially since he's been rather girl crazy.

"I need some advice from you guys," Charlie sighed on his back porch.

"Is this something the great Linus can't help with," Lamar asked.

"No, I don't think the great Linus can help."

"What is it, dude?"

"I don't know how to put this but… I've been having this weird feeling for a long time. Like with girls, but…," he trailed off.

"With boys? Like that you might like them," Schroder asked.

"Yeah… that's it. How'd you know?"

"It was something I battled with for years. I remember how you would look at me, and react if we touched, and I kinda figured that's what it was."

"But I don't think I'm gay, I still like girls- I'm sure of that much."

"Maybe your bi, like me; I like boys and girls," Lamar said.

"Bi…"

"Bisexual… we exist, even though people on all sides seem to not like us."

"You think I could be bisexual?"

"There's one way to find out," he looked at Schroder.

"Do it, honey, it's okay," he nodded.

"What's he gon-"

Lamar leaned over, grabbed Charlie's face and kissed him, it was only a few seconds, but when their lips parted, Charlie's face was red as a tomato, Schroder had a Cheshire grin.

'Umm… whoa…"

Schroder leaned over and kissed him, himself in the same way Lamar did, Charlie followed a bit, when he pulled away.

"Uh-huh… you were right, he does have a crush on you, babe," he smiled.

"How you feel, Charlie?"

"I feel great, actually, like a weights been lifted, or a fog has been cleared away! Thanks guys!"

"Just don't try and steal my boyfriend, okay?"

"Lamar, you two make a cute couple."

"Everything is starting to make sense now, I don't think it'd be easy to find a boy who would like me, then again… most girls don't either. Good grief, maybe this isn't as easy as I thought, I don't know what to do, I can't just scream to the school about it!"

"Calm down, Charlie, it'll be okay, okay," Schroder rubbed his thigh, "somebody will want to date you."

"Yeah, they might even be right under your nose."

"What if I wanted to date a guy, all the other boys like girls."

"There's a guy out there for you, dude. One who probably been crushing on you… who knows."

already knew about Pat, they saw Pat with Franklin and Marcie across the river one day, trying to have a secret date when they were avoiding trying to be seen. After avoiding Sally and Eudora, almost ran in to them, that's when they realized the boy they had never seen before, with Franklin and Marcie was indeed Peppermint Patty, after they walked past within earshot, and Marcie called him sir.

With such a load off his mind, and ever the optimist, regardless how most things typically go for him, he thought he would be better than he has, though was planning on keeping it to himself, having heard what students have said about he two boys, even a few he thought were friends- certainly not telling Lucy, fearing no matter how accepting she was of them; it would just be another reason to try and ruin his life, she already liked them before hand. He wasn't exactly sure who he could tell, if anybody.

Pat is going through his own dilemma, regarding his love interest, being too preoccupied trying to live his own life, and avoid most of his friends, so he could actually be himself, it's getting to the point where there'll be no choice but to come out.

"What am I gonna do? This whole time I was so worried about… well, this… I never thought about if Chuck would date me, in fact; I don't think he's interested in boys at all! What was I thinking‽"

"If he isn't, then so what, isn't doing all this supposed to be for yourself? That was a risk you had to take, dating is always a risk, there was always a risk he wasn't interested, girl, or boy," Franklin explained.

"But I really, really, like him," he whined.

"You can't have everything, Pat. At least you have him as a friend."

"I agree, Franklin; besides, Charles isn't even aware that you like him, in the way you do, and if he's the friend you think he is, don't you think he's trustworthy enough, to know… all of this?"

"You're really progressing, too. Like I don't even have that much facial hair, and you have like peach fuzz," Franklin exclaimed.

"Well… I am German. Okay, you're right… people need to get used to the new me, anyway. Eighth grade is just around the corner, so is high school. Chuck likes girls, real pretty ones- I guess I'll let him go. After all this transitioning stuff; it won't be that bad."

Of course after thinking about that conversation a few days, he asked Schroder if he could talk to him and Lamar after school, to which he was certain of the subject, happily agreed, texting Lamar about the meeting. That afternoon Pat walked there by himself, despite Marcie's concern, Schroder quickly let him in, offered him a soda.

"Seems like the baseball team is going to the finals again," Schroder said.

"Yeah, Chuck has gotten pretty good, in fact; if we still had our childhood teams; I think I'd be a bit worried about playing against him."

"As you should, since I was on his team," Lamar chuckled.

"You know, Schroder… maybe we should jam sometime. Like you and Chuck used to. As much as I hated it; I did keep up with the violin… and Snoopy had been teaching me to play cello."

"I'd like that," he said, waiting for her to quit stalling.

She downed the rest of her soda before speaking, "so, the real reason… I wanted to talk to you two, I think you're the only people that can relate…"

They sat there quietly.

"I'm just going to say it, since it's starting to get hard to hide; I wanna be a boy, well, I am a boy, I just hide it at school. I'm scared of what people would think, so after school, for years now; me, Marcie and Franklin go places we won't run in to anybody, so I can peacefully be in boy mode," he explained with closed eyes, waiting for the worst.

Both boys stood up, sat on either side of him, all Pat felt was warm bodies hugging him.

"We're happy you were able to come out to us."

All Pat could do was cry, Schroder went for a box of tissues, dabbing his tears away. All he could do was cry.

"We're here for you, we'll support you, you know that," Schroder finally spoke.

"I was just so scared to say anything, I heard the things people said about you two," he sniffed.

"I was scared too, you wouldn't believe the first person I told, either."

"Who… who did you tell?"

"Lucy."

"Huh," he looked up, confused.

"I had already been secretly dating Lamar, Lucy barged in here, being her regular fuss-budget self, so I told her."

"She didn't smash your piano over your head, or nothing?"

"She took it with ease, actually- she does that… sometimes. Ever since then, she's actually been an okay friend."

"So she wasn't the one that blabbed to the school about you two?"

"No, that was Shermy, who told Violet, and that's why Lucy stopped being friends with them," Lamar explained, "he saw me texting him, one day."

"Wow… I didn't think Lucille could be a decent human being."

"We didn't think who we thought were decent friends, could turn on us either. All that talk, nobody wants to square up and get slugged."

"It's too the point I just can't hide it, anymore… and I need all the support I can get."

"You got it, right honey?"

"They can square up, if they gotta problem," he smiled.

"How long have you been transitioning?"

Since about fourth grade, but I couldn't just start the hormone therapy right away."

"We're proud of you, Pat," Schroder hugged her.

"We were hoping you'd talk about this," Lamar added.

"Why do I get the feeling you guys already knew?"

"We uhhh, kinda did- it just wasn't our place to say anything. We went the same places, we saw yall, one day," Lamar admitted.

"Thank you guys for keeping my secret," he hugged them both.

"We're all boys, right? It's like brocode, or something," Lamar grinned.

"I hope once things smooth out, maybe I'll find a boyfriend, I should ready myself for what's going to happen."

"I bet there's a guy who'd really like you, he just doesn't know it, yet," Lamar said.

"Even though he should," Schroder added.

"What, how do you guys know, is there something you're not telling me?"

They both shrugged.

"C'mon with the mysterious act!"

"Everything will be revealed in time, young Padawan," Lamar said, making Schroder cackle.

Pat with support from Marcie, Franklin, Lamar, and Schroder, decided to stop purposely hiding who he really was. Progress was good with the hormone therapy, but he still, to a degree looked like a girl, being the tom girl he once was, nobody really noticed too much, rolling in to eighth grade, other than his voice dropping half an octave. His friends were just happy to see a bit more of him.

"You've graced us with your presence again, Lucille," Pat asked her at lunch.

"Is it hard to believe you people are actually my friends, huh, Peppermint Patty," she glared.

"Lucy's been okay ever since they came out, I know… it surprises me, too," Linus said.

"I uh… just go by Pat, now, actually."

"Pat? Okay, if you stop calling me 'Lucille', then- I hate that name!"

"Fine. It's a deal… Lucy."

"Why thank you, Pat, I'll make note to remember," she smiled pleasantly.

"Lucy's still Lucy," Linus shrugged.

"So… Lucy, who's going to be your husband number two, since Schroder is off the market," Marcie asked.

"I don't know… I think I'm over that stuff."

"If I recall; you used to actually have a crush on Charlie," Lamar said.

"That ship has sailed and sunk," she rolled her eyes, "I'm not worried about dating for now. I wouldn't want to be competition, anyway."

"Competition for who," Charlie asked.

"Open your eyes, and figure it out, blockhead."