"So, you're dating again?" Freddy asked as he and Zack walked to school together.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready." He told him with a dreamy voice. "Also, I've known Justin my whole life so I feel like I can really trust him." He said with a smile.

Like you thought you could trust me? Freddy thought.

"Something wrong?" Zack asked as Freddy went silent.

"No, nothing it's fine. I was just thinking you know?"

"I know what you mean. Finals are coming up soon and it's getting really hot lately." Zack said not picking up on Freddy's tone.

"Well, we're here, I should get to class. I'll see you in History." Freddy said walking away to his class.

"Hey Zack," Tomika said as he walked up to her and Lawrence.

"What's up guys? Isn't life wonderful?" Zack asked, leaning up against the lockers.

"It sure is." Lawrence said staring at Tomika.

"Ok what's with you? It's nice to see you happy, but did something happen?" She asked,

"Yeah, something great." He said, still out of it.

"You wanna tell us or…?" Lawrence began.

"I have a date tonight with such a wonderful guy." He told them.

"Anyone we know?" Tomika asked.

"No, I don't think so. It's an old friend of mine from when I was a kid. He's Ashton's age." He said, thinking about Justin.

"You're dating a senior? Nice dude." Lawrence said as they first bumped. They heard the bell above them ring as everyone around them starting going to class.

"Well, I guess I must be off. Bye," Zack waved as he walked away to his class.

"That was weird." Tomika stated.

Freddy walked into his first class and dropped all his stuff before plopping down in his seat. He had a frown plastered on his face and his eyes were trained to the floor. "Bad day already?" Marta asked, sitting next to him.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked.

"Need to vent?"

"Please?" She turned off her phone and turned towards him. "Ok, where do I start? Well, it's getting way too hot for how early it is in the morning. My final in the class (Science) is going to be a bitch to pass. Oh, and did I mention Zack's ready to move on, but I'm clearly not over him yet?" He asked.

"You still love him?" She said confused.

"Yeah, I do. I've been trying and trying to let go, but I can't. He's all I think about. He may be ready to move on, but I'm not." He finished up.

"Then tell him. Tell him you still love him." She told him.

"I can't. He's already moved on, I can't pull him back in. We weren't good together, it's better this way." He explained.

"It doesn't look like it's better for you though." She noted. He didn't respond, just turned towards the front of the class when their teacher walked in.

"Are you even listening to me?" Gordon asked Zack who was sitting at his desk staring ahead with the same smile from before.

"Sorry no, thinking about Justin." He said.

"Ok, you've been on dates before. Why is this the one that's making you all doey eyed?"

"You don't understand, Justin's different. He's a senior, he's really tall and he's got a car. I can't even right now." Zack said sitting back in his chair.

"You're right, I don't understand in the slightest." Gordon said, even though he knew Zack had tuned out.

"Alright for the show, we'll need lights in teal and pink as well as costumes to match the under the sea theme. You getting all this?" Summer asked her new secretary, Clark, as they walked through the halls. Summer got to play at their school's enchantment under the sea dance. She hired Clark the week before to help her handle her band responsibilities.

"Yes, Ms. Hatheway." He said trying to keep up with her pace.

"Make sure you get this information clearly to Billy for the outfits and Gordon and Marco for the lights."

"Yes, Ms. Hatheway." The continued down the hall, but stopped when Summer bumped into Leonard.

"Summer," He said in a cold tone.

"Leonard." She said back. The two had broken up recently and had been acting very different to each other ever since. "Come along Clark," She said walking past Leonard. "We need to run these by Chiaki. Oh, we should also have some mist as well for atmosphere. Write that down and get that to out tech support as well."

"Yes, Ms. Hatheway."

"He's been like this all day?" Katie asked Gordon referring to Zack as the group sat together at lunch.

"All day." He told her. They all looked at Zack who continued to stare ahead.

Frankie walked up to the table, but hesitated when he saw Katie and Freddy. "It's safe Frankie, you can sit down." Katie told him.

"You're not gonna try to bit each other's heads off with me in the middle?" He asked.

"Of course not, we're cool. Right Katie?" He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She said quickly. He removed his hand just as quickly, but keeping a smile on.

"Alright, I'm trusting you." He said taking his seat in between them. "What's with Zack?" He asked.

"He has a date." Freddy mumbled. Every turned their heads towards him. "Which doesn't affect me in the slightest. We're broken up." He said.

"You sure about that?" Frankie asked.

"Don't push it." Freddy said, stuffing a fry in his mouth.

"Hey Zack," Justin said walking by their table. Freddy nearly choked on his food.

"Justin, Hi!" He said standing up. "What are-what are doing here?" He asked. Tomika faked a cough next to him. "Oh, these are my friends. This is my best friend Lawrence and his girlfriend Tomika. That's Katie, Frankie, Gordon, and the one choking on a french fry is Freddy."

"You eat lunch with your ex?" Justin asked quietly, but still loud enough for Freddy to hear.

"Justin, it's ok, we're just friends. And we've moved on." He reassured him.

"Alright, you ready for tonight?" He asked,

"Yeah, I can't wait." Zack told him, not taking his eyes off him for a second.

"Great, I'll see you later." He said with a wink as he walked off. Zack let out a sigh as he sat back down.

"Isn't he wonderful?" He asked.

"He seems ok." Katie said.

"Pretty nice overall." Tomika admitted.

"He has great teeth." Lawrence added, earning a questioning look from Tomika.

"What do you think Freddy?" Zack asked.

"I think I need to pee." He said getting up quickly and walking away from the table. Everyone walked away with a worried expression, all except for Zack who was still daydreaming.

Freddy walked into one of the stalls and sat down to catch his breath. "He's moving on," He began to say to himself. "It's only natural. He can't say stuck on me. We agreed to be friends and that's fine. That's fine with me. I'm ok with that. I want to be friends." He voice was beginning to shake. "Just friends. Nothing more, nothing less. We can be just friends."

"Are you sure about that?" He heard from outside the stall. He looked up confused and walked out to find Frankie had followed him.

"Hey bro, what's up?" He asked composing himself. Frankie didn't anything back, but responded by pulling him into a hug. "Frankie?" Freddy asked confused.

"Let it out." He told him. Freddy's eyes filled up with tears as he buried his face into his friend's shoulder.

"Why can't I let him go? Why can't I be happy for him?" He asked.

"Freddy, you're a good guy. You want to be happy for him, I can tell. But you can't completely shut out what you want. And what you want-"

"Is for Zack to hold me again." Freddy finished.

"You'll get there, but don't beat yourself up because he's already moved on." Freddy took a deep breath in and put his hat back on while flashing Frankie a smile. "Looks convincing enough I guess." He told him.

Zack looked carefully in his closet. He new had had to dress nicely, not too nicely, but definitely better than his first date with Freddy. His phones buzzed and saw a text from Justin.

J: Hey Zack, I'm on my way to pick you up. Be ready outside beautiful~

Zack blushed after reading the text before he went back to his closet. He reached in and pulled out his pair of black skinny jeans, a matching black shirt and a dark blue button up shirt over it. He took a look at himself in the mirror, fixed his hair quickly and walked downstairs.

"Hey, if Zack's still up there, tell him Justin's outside." Ashton said as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Very funny. Tell Mom and Dad I'll be home late." He said going out the door. He walked down his driveway where Justin was waiting in his red convertible. "Well, well, this looks fancier than the car you had yesterday."

"It's my dad's. He lets me borrow it for important things. And you most certainly qualify." Zack smiled as he climbed in before they drove off.

They drove for about twenty minute before pulling up to a diner that looked straight out of the fifties. Zack's eyes lit up as they climbed out and walked inside where a waitress got them a table.

"This place is really cool. I didn't even know this place was here." Zack said, awestruck.

"Really? I thought you would. I remember you liking places like this." Justin said.

"I do, but I don't really go this far from home in this direction. I do plan to learn how to drive soon though." Zack told him.

"Well, I can teach you later this weekend if you want." He offered.

"Really, you'd do that?" Zack asked.

"Of course I would. I'd be more than happy to."

The waitress came by and they both ordered. Justin got a double cheeseburger with a coke and Zack got a hot-dog with a chocolate shake. "You really like milkshakes don't you?" Zack nodded his head while still drinking from the straw. "You're just adorable, you know that?"

"Psh, stop."

"No, I'm serious. You are." He said before taking a bite out of his burger. Zack hid his face a bit, hoping Justin wouldn't see him blush. "See?" It didn't work. He was about to respond when he felt his phones buzz in his pocket.

"Sorry, I need to check and see if it's something important." Zack told him pulling his phone out.

"Go ahead, it's alright." Justin said, understanding. Zack looked at his phone and saw a text from Freddy and couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about checking a text from his ex while on a date, but he also wanted to know what he had to say.

F: Hey, how's your date with Justin going? I hope he's treating you good.

Z: It's fine Freddy. Don't text me until it's over ok?

F: Oh, sorry.

Zack put his phone away and turned his attention back to Justin. "Sorry about that, Katie just wanted to check in. She's kind of like a big sister."

"No, no, it's perfectly fine. I have older siblings too. Of course, they're all moved out on their own by now." Justin explained. Zack only knew about one of his siblings, Justin's sister Hallie. She was pretty cool from what he remembered, but he only met her a few times since she was roughly Justin;s and Ashton's age now back when they were still kids.

"Are you gonna finish those fries?" Zack asked. He had already cleaned of his plate, but Justin still had about half a plate left.

"Big appetite, I like that. By all means." He said pushing his plate over to Zack. Zack dug into the fries in front of him as if he hadn't eaten at all that day. "Wow, you did not eat like this when we were kids." Justin commented.

"Yeah, I must've picked it up from-" He stopped himself. He almost said Freddy. He definitely didn't want to mention him right now.

"Picked it up from who? The Jones kid?" Zack's eyes went wide. Justin knew he and Freddy used to date, but how did he guess so easily? "Zack, if you picked up some traits from him, it's ok, you know? You don't have to pretend you've never been on a date before." Zack let out a long sigh.

"You really don't mind?" He asked for clarification.

"Hey, I asked you out. If this is who you are, then I don't see a problem." He said with a smile. Zack looked relieved as he finished off what was left of their fries. Justin got up to go pay as Zack went back out to the car. Justin came out in a second and hoped in next to him.

"Where to next?" Zack asked.

"It's a surprise. You're gonna love it." Justin said as they pulled out.

The car finally came to a stop at the top of the hill. "Ok, you can look now." Justin told his date.

"This isn't the part where I open my eyes to see a bloody cabin is it?" Zack joked.

"Just look." Zack opened his eyes and saw the were on a hill overlooking the entire city. It was so bright! Zack was speechless with how beautiful it look from up high. "You think that's good? Look up." Zack looked up to see a sky full of stars without lights to block any of them out. "Pretty cool huh?"

"Oh my God, this is incredible." Zack said taking everything in. "Thanks so much for taking me out tonight."

"Pleasure's been all mine," He said, his eyes tracing Zack, while he was busy looking at the clear night sky. "You know, you look really good tonight." Justin told him.

"You've said that before." Zack replied.

"No, I said you were acting cute. But you don't look half bad either."

"You look good too Justin. I mean, you always do, but especially right now I mean. Only thing prettier is this view."

"It sure is nice isn't it? I always like coming up here and looking at this, but it's even better with someone else." He said looking to Zack. Zack looked back at him and smiled. Justin reached out and brushed some of Zack's hair out of his face, before leaning in and the two embraced in a soft kiss. Justin leaned back in his seat, leaving Zack with a shocked look on his face.

"Wow, that was...wow. Can we do it again?" He asked, flustered. Justin laughed a bit before he leaned back over and they began to kiss again, but more into it than before. Zack didn't even notice Justin's hands moving until he felt them on his legs. He didn't stop, it felt to good to stop now. It wasn't until he felt his hands moving up towards his inner thighs, that he stopped it. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Don't worry," Justin told him leaning back in.

"I am worried, please don't move your hands there." He said back.

"I just really like you Zack." Justin said, trying to kiss him again.

"I like you too, but I don't know if I'm ready to go there with you."

"Oh please," Justin laughed, his whole demeanor changing. "Everyone at school knows you and Freddy banged like rabbits, so what's the problem?"

"Well for starters, I went on more than one date with him." Zack began before he decided he didn't feel like talking about this with Justin. "You know what, just take me home. I've had enough."

"I thought you liked me?" Justin said in a mocking, innocent voice.

"Me too," Zack said facing away. Justin got annoyed. He put the passenger seat down and pushed zack down on in. Before Zack could respond, Justin was on top, forcing his tongue into his mouth again. Zack managed to push him off enough to speak. "Justin, what the fuck are you doing?! Get off of me! Stop it!" He yelled.

"No way, your mine tonight." He used one hand to continue to hold Zack down, while his other hand undid his zipper. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this." He said licking his lips.

No. Zack thought. Not like this. Please God, not like this. I can't do this. I don't want it to happen like this. I won't let it happen like this! Justin began to pull Zack shirt up when Zack freed one of his legs and kicked Justin hard in the nuts before jumping out of the car and sprinting down the hill.

"Get back here Zack! I've earned this! Get back here!" He heard Justin yell as he continued to run. Zack stopped after awhile to catch his breath. When he looked back, he saw Justin's car right behind him. Before he got a chance to run, the car flew right past him. "Fucking slut!" He heard Justin yell as he sped by. Zack was glad there was a trail since Justin made him cover his eyes on the way up.

Oh now I understand. It wasn't for the surprise, he wanted me to need him to get back.

Zack continued down and finally made it down to the city after walking for an hour. He sat down on the curb of the street to catch his breath when he heard a familiar voice.

"Don't I know you?" Zack turned his head to see Jack. Freddy's old friend with his hot-dog stand and what seemed like the same jacket. "You're Freddy's boyfriend aren't you?" He asked.

"Not anymore Jack, we broke up a little over a month ago." He told him, hold in everything that happened.

"Aw what a shame, you two were really cute together. What are you doing out here if you don't mind me asking?"

"Bad night. Really bad night." Zack told him, keeping it brief.

"I'm real sorry to hear that." He told the young teenager.

"Not as sorry as I am." Zack muttered to himself.

"Here, you like em with relish don'cha?" Jack said handing out a hot-dog. Zack went to pull out his wallet when Jack stopped him. "This one's on me." Zack half-smiled and took the hot-dog and began eating. "Look, I understand what you're going through. I've had my fare share of misfortunes in life, I mean look at me." Jack said with a laugh. "But two things I've learned is that sometimes the way to help yourself, it to help someone else."

"And the other thing?" Zack asked.

"The other thing is that people spend their whole lives looking for their happy endings, that sometimes they miss the one right in front of them." Zack finished his hot-dog before standing up.

"Thanks Jack. Oh shit, look at the time! I need to get home, I'll see you around." Zack said as he took off towards his house.

When he finally made it to his house it was almost two-thirty in the morning. Which his father was sure to remind him of.

"It may be a weekend, but you still have a curfew young man! And why did I get a call from Justin's father saying you kicked him in the testicles? I hope you have a good explanation for that."

"Because if I didn't he would've raped me. That a good enough reason for you Dad?" Zack said before slamming his bedroom door closed.

Freddy heard his phone going off and woke up to see three texts and two missed called all from s Zack. Within an instant he was calling back. "Hey, what's up?"

"Can you meet me in my treehouse? I really need someone to talk to that's not my family." Zack's voice over the phone was shaking a bit, not too much, but enough to worry Freddy.

"Yeah, sure I'll be right over." Freddy grabbed one his dad's old jackets and a pair of boxers before heading down to grab his shoes and skateboard and taking off to Zack's.

Once he arrived he sneaked into the backyard and went past the Mooneyham's pool to the big tree with a little wooden house on top. That house was older than they are. Zack's dad had it built before Ashton was born. Freddy climbed up the ladder and found Zack sitting inside staring out the window at the calm pool below. "I'm here, what's going on?" Freddy asked.

"You're gonna wanna sit down for this one." Zack told him everything that happened, down to the littlest detail. Freddy, not wanting to interrupt, sat in silent horror as Zack told his story. "So yeah," Zack finished up as his body stiffened.

"I'm gonna kill him." Freddy said after a moment of silence.

"Freddy,"

"On Monday, I'm gonna kill him, then I'm gonna bring him back to life so I can kill him again."

"Freddy, please don't."

"Zack, he tried to rape you, I'm not just going to stay out of it." Freddy told him in a stern voice.

"Freddy, I told you so I could let it go. Please don't get involved, I don't want to get wrapped up in something like this. Everyone will stop treating me like a person. I'll just be victim. Besides, Justin's leaving this summer and I won't have to deal with him again."

"What's to stop him from doing this again once he leaves town?" Freddy asked.

"I never said we couldn't teach him a lesson he won't forget." Zack said with an evil smile.

"I love it when you're vengeful and cruel." Freddy said getting the same smile. "Hey, I should go. My mom's going to be leaving for work soon and she'll freak if I'm not there."

"Alright, I'll see you Monday on the way to school?" Zack asked.

"Wouldn't miss it." Freddy said, getting ready to leave.

"Hey Freddy, there's one more thing I need before you take off."

"Yeah, what's tha-" Freddy was caught off by Zack lips being pushed against his own. Freddy didn't dare fight back, he missed this more than he could describe even to himself. He didn't even want to question it until Zack pulled away. "What was that for?" He asked.

"I needed to get the taste of him out of my mouth." Zack said.

"Oh right, well you know where to find me if you need anything else." Freddy said climbing down the ladder and heading home.

"Anything else huh? I'll keep that in mind." Zack said with a smile as he watched Freddy leave.