A/N: Happy Saturday! I want to thank everyone for the reviews and faves and follows from just the first chapter! I didn't think this story would really attract all that much attention. I'm also sorry I haven't been able to reply to any reviews. I've been pretty busy lately and I haven't been able to find much time to. I hope I don't disappoint!

So, here you are, chapter number two!

-x-

School the next day went as usual. Rather boring. I studied my ass off in order to ace my calculus test. Why anybody would need that shit in life is beyond me. You know, other than, oh, say, a calculus teacher. All the while, though, I couldn't help but glance at Matt out of the corner of my eye in every one of our mutual classes. Which was most of them, save for Business.

He didn't notice. I would say he was too high, but even Matt's smart enough not to push the administration just before graduation. He'd come into school high only once before as a sophomore, and that ended him up with a two-week suspension and a two-month grounding.

Much to my chagrin, one single person noticed how distracted I was: Near. Of course, it had to be him.

Physically, Near didn't seem to pose much of a threat. He was one of the shortest people I know, as he was barely five feet tall at seventeen years old. Not only that but had his eyes not been the dark gray they are, I'd have suspected him of being an albino. He looked like a sheep. He always wore white pajamas. His hair was that snowy white that some people mistook for bleached blonde, and his skin was like porcelain.

May I just point out that "porcelain" is often used to describe or refer to toilets? I think it's quite appropriate.

While he looks like some albino kid, apparently, there's nothing genetically abnormal about him. He was just a creepy looking fuck with child-like habits. And when I say child-like habits, I mean he plays with toys. He almost always has some sort of action figure or doll with him. Matt once wondered aloud if he had some sort of fetish. That's what I was going with from that point on. But he also liked to twirl his hair around one finger, something I'd only ever seen young grammar school girls do.

But the one thing about him that really makes me hate his guts is the fact that as of right now, he's the valedictorian for our class, as well as president of student council. The fucking sheep's grade point average is three hundredths of a point higher than mine. If he wasn't so much of a smug little bastard about it, it wouldn't bug me as much. But how he acts toward me doesn't change the fact that I was pissed when I found out he had slipped ahead of me when he first moved here.

And so, since the fifth grade, the second baseman of my baseball team has been the scourge of my school days. I promised myself that one day I would exceed him, but I haven't yet. That's my goal for finals. Beat Near. And oh, I will.

Oh, and he's gay. Legitimate, out-of-the-closet, flamboyant as shit gay. Linda still has hope that she can get in his pants, but the only pants he wants to get into are Gevanni's—and mine.

This all being true, you can imagine how miffed I was when the kid slid his tray onto the table beside me at lunch and asked me in his monotone voice, "What's on your mind? You've been awfully distracted today."

I took a bite of what seemed to pass as a chicken patty sandwich, shaking my head. "Nothing," I mumbled.

"Mello, how you expect me to believe that?"

"I expect you to believe me because it's true. We've just got a lot of games coming up that we can't afford to lose," I resorted to our common baseball team, hoping he wouldn't pick up on anything else. I'd like to think I was a pretty good actor, and most of the time it paid off.

This was one of those times. "Don't worry about that. Our team is very well off this year. With you behind the plate, we'll easily make it through undefeated," He scooted closer to me and I shot him a look. His shoulder touched mine. "You're an excellent catcher."

I pushed him away, horrified. "God, Near. You are shameless." I stood and stalked away to clear my place. Cafeteria food wasn't any good, anyway.

Strike one.

I dragged myself through the final two periods of the day—one of which was free of Matt and therefore allowed me to actually think beyond how I'm going to tell him I think I'm gay. The other, however, was a very small class of only eleven of us: Philosophy. Near, Matt, Gevanni and I all sat at the same table. I knew it'd be hell, but it was more... awkward, than I had expected.

Matt, without thinking about what he was saying at all, said, "Hey Mello, thanks for taking me home last night. I owe you one." Misa sitting at the table behind us giggled, and I almost reacted.

"Not a problem."

"Did Matt and Mello have a fun time last night?" Near asked, his immaturity rearing its ugly head. He didn't even look at me; he was too busy gazing at Gevanni beside him and fingering the fabric of his jeans. Gevanni barely paid him any attention, and merely read on, getting a head start on the English homework for the night. I made a gagging motion to Matt and he chuckled. I smirked.

Matt stretched his arms upward with a yawn. "Oh yeah, we had tons of fun," He purred, dropping his arm around my shoulders beside him. Did I just get fucking yawn-and-reached? Eh, what did I care? It was Matt.

"If by 'fun' you mean keep you from getting yourself into a car crash, then yes," I shrugged his arm off my shoulders. "By the way, remember you're eighteen now." I narrowed my eyes at him as I drew my notebook from my backpack.

"What…?" He gave me a confused look before it registered. "Oh, Linda? Dude, we were just gonna get blasted and play Super Mario Galaxy 2. I'm not gonna fuck her."

"Good." I cheered in my head at my slight victory: Linda was no longer a threat. Or at least, not as much.

He checked a text message on his phone under the table. "Yeah, but my mom was wondering where my car was. It's kind of hard to explain that I left it up to the roof in smoke in the school parking lot because I was baked around a semi-responsible friend."

"So what'd you tell her?" I knew he couldn't have told her the whole story. After his coming into school high fiasco, if he was caught with even a nanogram of weed, he'd be grounded till he was thirty. I knew Mrs. Jeevas, and she generally didn't screw around. Only the fact that Matt was the second-to-last kid of the rather large family allowed him to pretty much do as he pleased without much of a second thought from anyone else—except me, that is. I was somewhat glad though, knowing that even Matt knew I was the "semi-responsible friend."

Matt shrugged. "Told her I left it at your house, since I had a drink or two. She'd rather hear I was drunk than high." He stowed his phone in his pocket. "Which, doesn't really doesn't make all that much sense. Intoxicated is intoxicated is intoxicated."

"At least you got by without much suspicion." I flipped open my notebook as Mr. Pirro walked into the classroom, late as usual. Matt nodded with a raise of his eyebrows.

And so, that class dragged by, all the while thinking about the admittedly adorable redhead sitting barely a foot away from me. Needless to say, my notes were pretty crappy.

I was extremely thankful, however, when the bell finally rang and school was out. This gave me a reprieve from the distracting Matt, but also left me alone for a moment with Near when Gevanni slipped off to finish that calculus test earlier. I silently cursed him for arriving late to school.

And so Near started hitting on me… again.

"So, do you actually have sexual relations with Matt?" He asked as we stepped into the locker room.

Okay, I admit, I wasn't expecting that curve ball. "Hell, no," I threw my bag into my locker, extracting a pair of shorts and a T-shirt for practice. "That's like asking if you're straight."

"No need to insult my sexuality, now," He said, dropping his white pants right there. I rolled my eyes at him. "Although, you seem to need to get in touch with your own. Are you still a virgin, by any chance?"

Damn that kid. I swear, he had the impeccable talent of asking me just the wrong questions at just the wrong time. My shirt was halfway over my head and I barely gave a pause. He picked up on it. "Ah, so that's a yes?"

I threw my balled-up polo at him. "It's not a crime or anything to be ashamed of, fucktard."

"I never said it was," He pulled his own white basketball shorts on. "I was just curious if you'd like me to change that."

"Ugh!" I wrinkled my nose and I swear, had Beyond not walked in at that moment, I definitely would have decked him and told everyone he ran into a locker.

Instead, our tall first baseman—not to mention one of my closer friends of the team—stepped between us, where his own locker was located. Those unsettling red-amber eyes darted between us. "Am I interrupting something here?"

I gritted my teeth and turned back to my locker. "Just Near being the creepy little fag he is," I said, T-shirt muffling my voice as I tugged it on. "Remember what I said about you being shameless? Yeah, you're never losing that title now."

"So be it."

"Near, stop being gay," Beyond countered in his cool manner. "Nobody wants your dick."

Strike two.

I guess Gevanni only had a question or two left to finish, because he walked around the corner at that moment. Near unbuttoned his shirt, a slight grin playing on his usually tight-lipped mouth. "I wouldn't be so sure."

Gevanni was lost. "I don't wanna know."

"You're right, you don't." I finished changing and slipped out to the field ahead of everyone.

I passed by Matt, who was lounging in his Chevy with the door wide open, playing some handheld video game. "Airing out?" I asked, slowing beside the car.

He looked up. "Yeah."

"So, are you going to quit smoking that crap?"

"Hell no. I'm just gonna stop driving when I do."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever. It's your life. Fuck it up as you wish," I waved a hand behind me as I continued down to the field.

Matt stood up on the edge of the car and leaned over the roof. "YOLO!" I didn't look back, but I could hear him laugh, hop into the driver's seat, and leave the parking lot.

In small groups, the team began to arrive. We were already into drills when Coach finally showed up. I handed the bat off to him and stopped at the bench to pull my hair back in order to put helmet on. When I came back out, we started a real-time game situation. The outfield and extras batted first. All went smoothly… of course, until the rotation brought Near up to the plate.

That kid was, without a doubt, the bane of my existence.

"Hey Mello," he said, adjusting his batting gloves.

"One out, play to one, watch the runner on two," I called to my team, completely ignoring the sheep.

He stepped into the batter's box to my left. "Would you like to make plans with me later?" He swung and tipped the ball into my glove.

"Nope. Pay attention and hit." The ball sailed back to Gevanni.

He shifted his grip on the bat. "Are you sure?"

A nice pitch clipped the high inside corner of the strike zone. Near held back a swing. Ruvie behind the fence yelled, "Strike!"

"Very." Snap.

Gevanni began his windup. "Fine, stay a virgin."

That made me zone out for almost a full millisecond before the ting of baseball on metal bat woke me from my momentary trance. I watched the ball sail straight up and I threw my helmet to the ground to see. "I got it." It dropped effortlessly into my glove.

I threw the ball back to the pitcher and glared at Near. He simply looked at me over his shoulder with that creepy thing he called a smile and a wink before disappearing into the dugout. I shook my head, readying myself for the next batter.

It's high time he learns.