A/N: So, even though I have "magical powers", (according to one sweet reviewer) I am definitely not perfect, as we all know, and make stupid mistakes all the time. I checked over chapter twelve three times, but apparently not well enough because there was a little mistake with the word "saw" that I'm glad (but also not so glad hehe) that some of you caught. I replied to your reviews, but I'm also going to say that I'm sorry for that mistake, and I fixed it. I'll try not to let it happen again. It's funny, but it seems I got so many reviews for that chapter just because of the mistake! I'm so embarrassed lol. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Marco made his way into the house, smiling like an idiot, but not caring even in the least.

"Marco," said his mother, hearing the door close. Marco, who had been leaning against the front door since he walked in, wasn't planning on moving from that spot. He felt that if he took one step, he might fall forward from the absolute high feelings he had gotten from the kiss.

"Yeah," he practically whispered back, sure his mother couldn't hear him," I'm here."

Mrs. Del Rossi walked out of her bedroom, seeing Marco still standing by the door. By the smile on his face, she was given all of the answers she needed. He'd definitely had a good time.

She smiled back at him, noticing he refused to move away from the door. "Waiting for him to come back?" she asked, amused.

"No," he laughed, realizing he was being silly. "I'm going to just…go to bed," he said softly.

"You do that," she watched him walk down the hallway to his bedroom.

Marco opened the door to his room, still with a huge smile on his face, and sat down on his bed, but he realized there was no way he was going to be able to sleep from all the excitement. He needed to call Ellie.

It was ten o'clock on a Friday night; she'd be awake. He picked up his cell phone from its place on the windowsill, dialing her number. She didn't answer.

"Damn," he whispered. "I need to tell somebody. I just need to get it out," he laughed at the thought of how stupid it really was. He didn't need to tell anyone, but the thought of saying it aloud was just too good to be true.

"I kissed Dylan," if he couldn't tell anyone else, he'd have to repeat it to himself. "Well, he kissed me, technically speaking, but we kissed."

Marco was a lot happier than he'd been in…he didn't remember how long, and it was a great feeling. Sometimes the thought of Dylan helped him relax, and to be able to sleep. Sometimes, on nights like the current one, the thought of Dylan simply made him stay up all night continuing to think of him.

"Dylan," he said, for no reason. "Dylan…Dylan…Dylan…." After much trying, Marco eventually fell asleep that night.

"So, I hear you had quite the Friday night," said Ellie, opening her locker with a slight smirk.

Regretfully, Marco hadn't seen Dylan after their date, so over the weekend, he'd had nothing to do, but the excitement of the date still hadn't quite worn off.

"I tried to call you," he started, frowning. She rolled her eyes.

"My phone told me I had forty-three missed calls from you; it's okay. Paige told me all about it at the door," she laughed.

"What did she say?" he asked eagerly, following her to class.

Ellie took a seat, taking Marco's hand again, letting him feel the distance from her chair to his.

"Well," said Ellie, "she said that Dylan didn't stop smiling and talking all about you the whole weekend. Now, I don't know about you," she said, "but that sounds like a good sign."

"He kissed me," Marco exclaimed, still unable to believe such a thing had happened.

"Yeah?" said Ellie. "Lucky you."

"Ms. Nash, Mr. Del Rossi," said Ms. Kwan, causing their attention to focus on her instead of each other, "care to join us?" They nodded their heads quickly, ending the conversation.

Ellie and Marco walked out of their fourth period class together, leading Marco to where Craig was standing waiting for him. Fifth period was their gym class, and Ellie didn't really think the gym teachers would find it appropriate for her to be in the boys' locker room. She wasn't the blind one, after all.

"Hey, man," he smiled, taking Marco's arm. Marco smiled up at him, letting Ellie know it was okay to leave.

Craig led Marco into the locker room. He muttered, "Need to talk to you," and led him over to an empty corner.

Marco raised his eyebrow, waiting for Craig to say something. He took a deep breath. "Spinner knows," he said simply. Marco's heart dropped. To make things worse, Craig quickly added, "and he's not too happy about it, either."

"Greeeat," said Marco, sounding unhappy, but not letting on how nervous he truly was. What, exactly, was Spinner capable of, and how far would he go?

"Here, I'll get you to your locker," said Craig, walking him over. What Craig failed to mention was, not only did Spinner know, but he also let quite a few others know as well. Marco could feel the eyes burning holes in him when he simply touched his locker.

He tried to ignore it, but that never really worked for him before. He held his breath, pretending he could open his lock himself, (which he often did pretend, even though Ellie actually did it for him) and tried to calm his nerves. Finally, Craig took pity on him, and opened the lock.

As soon as Craig stepped over to Marco's locker, there was silence. Craig spotted one guy next to him throw another guy in front of him as he tried to dress.

"Are you kidding?" Craig asked, losing control. "Even if he wanted to check you out, he's blind, so GET over it."

Marco, though embarrassed, was thankful that Craig was so accepting of the situation that he had only just found out about. Marco gave up with trying to ignore them.

"Can you just take me to the bathroom to change?" he asked, hopeful.

Craig wished Marco would stand up for himself, and not let anyone make him feel bad, but he knew it must have been taking all of his will power to even keep himself from getting even more upset than he was, so Craig didn't push the subject. He took Marco's arm loyally, and took him to the bathroom to change.

During their walk back to gym class, (late) Marco thought about how he hadn't really thought about his and Craig's friendship, and they hadn't ever really talked, but Marco was going to make sure that changed. Craig was a good friend.

"Is Spinner here?" Marco asked Craig, wondering why he hadn't been approached by the homophobe yet.

"Well, he's not in gym, but I saw him this morning. Odd," said Craig, but he didn't think too much of it as Mr. Armstrong had called them both over to take attendance.

After gym class, Marco met up with Ellie to walk to fifth period. "So, Spinner knows about you, and he wasn't in gym?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Marco.

Ellie shrugged. "He probably just cut. No big deal. However, the first part is an issue. Have you talked to him?" she asked.

"I just explained that he wasn't in gym. The only other class I have with him is lunch," Marco sighed. "I'm not sure what to do."

"Don't worry," said Ellie, giving his arm a tug as they arrived at their next class. "He's not, like, a murderer," she laughed. Marco tried to stop worrying, but that never worked for him.

Finally, it was time for lunch. Marco excitedly unloaded his stuff from his locker, following the usual routine, and wasn't at all surprised when he heard Dylan come up behind him.

"Marco," said Dylan, waiting for him to turn around.

"Hey," he said, feeling slightly shyer than he thought he'd be. "What's up?" he asked.

"Your book--"

"—is falling, I know," Marco interrupted, grabbing it. Did he ever stop helping?

Dylan sighed. "Sorry," he quickly muttered. "So, I wanted to talk to you."

"About?" asked Marco.

"Well, my sister's birthday is tomorrow, and there's this whole big party planned. Not by me," he added, "so, it'll be good." Marco laughed, letting Dylan continue. "She doesn't exactly know about it. Want to come?"

"For you or for your sister?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Dylan shrugged. "Both, I guess."

"I'd love to. Tomorrow? Short notice," he tsked. "You couldn't have told me earlier?" he joked.

"Cool," said Dylan, smiling. "I just…want to be clear on this. Are we, like, a…" he stopped mid-sentence, trying to think of the exact word he wanted to say.

"A what?" Marco pressed.

"Couple?" said Dylan.

"Oh," said Marco, his question making more sense, "well, not if you don't want to be."

"No, I do!" said Dylan. Marco smiled, his spirits rising again, despite what he was going to have to face in the cafeteria. "I just thought maybe you didn't. I don't know," he rolled his eyes.

"I do," he assured Dylan. "I do have to go, though. For once, I actually have to be early for lunch. Wish me luck," he said when Ellie arrived next to him. Marco then kissed Dylan quickly before he had a chance to rethink it.

"Good luck?"

Marco didn't really have time to explain, so he just waved, telling him to go, and walked with Ellie to the cafeteria.

He sat down at their usual table after walking up to the lunch line with Ellie to purchase food. He tried to concentrate on eating it slowly, so he wouldn't really have to think about Spinner. He hated not being able to know if Spinner was even at the table with him. Even though they knew he was blind, he still felt like a lunatic asking if Spinner was with them.

However, his question was answered when Spinner sat down across from him. Marco knew it was Spinner due to his grumbling about some assignment he had to get done by the following period. So far, he hadn't said a word to Marco, and Marco was planning on keeping it that way.

Marco pretended to be so busy practicing with his Braille, ignoring every question or comment thrown his way. Finally, Spinner gave his unwanted attention.

"Were you always a fag, Marco?" he asked, not caring even after hearing Paige's cry of 'Spinner!' "Or…did Dylan successfully convert you?" he asked.

Marco tried to remain as calm as possible, deciding to point out Spinner's mistake rather than be offended. "Well, it's really not a decision or a conversion."

Spinner laughed, though he certainly didn't sound entertained. "Then, this is something you were even before you came here?" he asked.

Marco didn't feel the need to mention that it was part of the reason why he had come. "Yes," he muttered quietly.

"It's just," Spinner tried to find the appropriate word, "disgusting."

"Marco, not only is it absolutely wrong to be gay…it's disgusting." --Giulio

Disgusting. Giulio had said it. Spinner had said it. Hell, before any of his relatives knew he was gay, they called gays disgusting on almost a daily basis. Why, exactly, was it disgusting that he wanted to be with the only person who made him feel truly happy? Why was it so disgusting that the person he had strong feelings for was a guy? Why did it matter?

It had hurt him when Giulio said it, of course. He had lost such a close family member, but it felt worse than a knife to the heart that he was going to lose a new friend. Couldn't these people see that his desire in life really wasn't to be disgusting?

"You know," he said softly, not really speaking to anyone in particular, "I'm not really hungry anymore." He pushed his tray away to prove his point.

A/N: I hope you liked it. :)