Liberty High School

2:00 pm

All five boys were lounging casually on couches in the back of the library, smoking weed and chatting. Each boy feeling relaxed for a change which allowed for the conversation to flow freely and honestly between them.

Each of them had their wallets and bags out and allowed the other's to rummage through in an indirect way of discovering each other's true identity. Ben picked up Ted's fake ID and laughed.

"This says you're only nineteen?" he questioned.

"Yeah" Ted admitted, feeling pretty cool for having his cousin's old license.

Brian smirked, "Why have a fake if you can't use it to get into the clubs and drink?"

Ted blushed furiously, "So I can vote?" he answered deadpan. "You have no idea what the Democrats are doing to the economy"

All the boys burst out in fits of laughter hearing Ted's unexpected rationale. Brian could barely catch his breath he was laughing so hard. Ted was hurt at first but soon joined in and enjoyed a true sense of camaraderie with his peers for the first time.

"Do you want to see what's in my bag?" Michael asked since no one had bothered to look. Even among gay kids he felt like an outsider. Everyone was still recovering from laughter when Michael dumped the contents of his bag on the floor in a pile.

"Shit" Ben exclaimed seeing how much Michael carried around with him. Everything but the kitchen sink was in his bag. "Why are you hauling all this stuff around?"

"My home life is complicated" Michael admitted.

Ben huffed, "Why? I've met your mom in junior high. She's a riot. She also seems to be very okay with you being who you are. You don't know how lucky you are to have a mom like that."

"She's always on my case." Michael confessed, "I have no privacy. Hell she will probably follow me to gay bars when I get old enough to go. You have no idea how suffocating it is"

Brian leaned over and kissed Michael on the mouth to shut him up. "My mom tells me I'm going to hell and regularly prays for my soul. Trust me, you're lucky! It's not everyone who gets a mom that loves them unconditionally. Parents, good parents, are a luxury we do not all enjoy Mikey"

Michael sat speechless from the kiss while Ben and Justin sat back nodding in agreement.

Vic finished his work day and knocked gently on Horner's office door. He entered upon invitation and sunk slowly down in the chair exhausted from the day's work.

"Hey Bob, I thought you should know Brian is not in the closet anymore" Vic remarked as he sat down.

"Ha! Literally or figuratively?" Horner replied.

"Both" laughed Vic, "I saw him kissing the blond kid on the security camera"

"Figures" Horner laughed, "I thought as much when I heard the noise earlier"

"I just wanted to say thank you again Michael seems happy" Vic admitted, "I owe you. You have no idea what it means to his mother and me that he knows he's not alone now. He's been so depressed. We were worried he might do something rash like runaway or worse…"

"Don't mention it. I told you I would help after you let me know what Jake was up to."

"Why do you care so much about Jake and Brian anyway? It seems pretty consensual"

"It's not a matter of consent. Brian is crazy smart, creative, brilliant even. You know he has straight A's and he rarely goes to class? He's got all the ingredients to be so successful. What Jake was doing was robbing him of that."

Vic gave a confused look and raised an eyebrow, "Jake didn't make Brian gay you know"

"That's not what I mean. This has nothing to do with Brian being gay. Brian doesn't have anything resembling a real dad. Trust me I've met his sorry excuse for an old man. He's shown up here drunk; a real abusive son of a bitch too. I afraid Jake was fulfilling a daddy role for Brian; someone to show him affection but like most men who prey on young vulnerable teens the affection comes with a price tag. He needs to know he doesn't need him; he only needs himself. He doesn't have to sacrifice himself to please others especially not someone as worthless as Jake. Someone taught me that once and it changed my life and it will change Brian's too."

"Well that's very altruistic Bob" Vic confirmed with a laugh of disbelief, "Here I thought he was just a screw up"

"Well it's not completely selfless on my part" Horner picked up the framed picture of the stunning brunette on his desk and held it, staring at it lovingly.

"Is that your wife?" Vic asked curiously.

"Not yet" Bob admitted, "I met her at a teacher's conference last year. I've never met anyone like her before"

"So what does she have to do with this?"

"I want her to be here with me and she can't be here unless this all works out" Bob explained.

Vic marveled at the complexity of the situation not really understanding what the woman had to do with a bunch of gay teens but decided not to pry. He didn't know much about Bob Horner at all until he realized Brian was gay and asked for his help to push him and Michael together. He just hoped Brian understood the distinction of wanting to be with someone who loved him and needing someone to take care of him before he went through life thinking he didn't need anybody ever.

Vic only cared about Michael at the moment and it would seem he was now in a better place thanks to their little intervention. He would never forget the look on Debbie's face when she heard the counselor tell her how desperately lonely Michael had grown to be. How isolated he felt. Vic knew he needed to push them together. It wasn't until he really started snooping that they were able to identify the other boys as well.

"Why are you still upset?" Ted asked Michael as they watched the full on make out session take place between Brian and Justin.

"Look at them" Michael said pointing making no attempt to mask his jealousy. "Even a conceited tease gets a boyfriend"

"What the hell?" Justin yelled pushing away from Brian, "I am not a tease and I am not conceited"

"…and he is not my boyfriend" Brian added wiping the residual saliva from their kissing away with his sleeve. "Just because you're still a frustrated virgin, that doesn't give you the right to insult Justin"

"I'm not a virgin" Michael lied, "I've been having sex with my shrink for six months"

"You're what?" Ben gasped practically spraying Coke all over them in the process.

Michael gave Ben a stern warning look before addressing Brian, "Besides Justin's a virgin. He's not going to put out, are you Justin?"

"Shut the fuck up Michael" Justin yelped, "What I do with Brian is none of your business. You're just jealous."

"That's enough" Ben called putting an end to the growing hostility, "I have something I want to confess"

All eyes turned to Ben awakened with curiosity waiting for the fourth "I'm gay" announcement of the afternoon. Even Michael forgot about his whining to listen up.

Ben took a deep breath before beginning "I'm not who you think I am" he started pausing before he let it all out. "I hate sports" Ben finally confessed rather anti-climactically.

"What?" all the boys groaned in unison.

"Then why do you play?" Brian asked.

"Because he can't think for himself" Michael answered softly looking at Ben in an apologetic manner.

"Hey that's not fair" Justin defended Ben but he was cut off.

"No he's right. My dad, you don't know what he's like. Do you know what I did to get detention?" Ben asked pausing for the boys to guess. "You know that kid Larry Ludwig"

The boys all nodded as Ben grew very serious and sullen "He was in the weight room with me and my dad working out after school. My dad made a comment that he was stronger than me. That I needed to work harder so I could look like he did. He was screaming at me that I was too weak to even take him down. So the next day I walked over to him after practice and I punched him. I punched him right in the face and he fell back and hit his head on the weights. He was in the hospital for two days. He had a concussion and needed stitches. He didn't do anything to me and I just punched him to make my dad happy. You know what, my dad was happy, he was proud of me…"

Michael rubbed Ben on his back trying to comfort him but the tears started falling as he really opened up. "…he would never be proud of me if he knew the truth. If he knew that I hated sports, if he knew the real me. If he knew I was gay…"

"Well your father and my father should get together and go bowling" Brian cracked trying to lighten the mood.

Justin swiped Brian in the stomach, "It's okay Ben" he added to comfort him "we're here for you. I understand the pressure to be perfect."

"Me too" Ted added.

Justin let out a huff at the thought of Ted understanding the pressure he and Ben were under. Pressure from friends to maintain this outward image; it was exhausting.

Ted was disgusted by Justin's dismissiveness. "You don't think I understand pressure?"'

Justin shook his head, "You're not popular. You don't understand how much pressure our friends put on us"

"God you are so stuck up" Ted shook his head in disgust at his inability to see beyond himself, "Do you know what I did to get detention?" he asked Justin.

Justin shook his head no.

"I was getting a B in shop" he confessed, "I took the class because I thought it would be an easy A. I mean, have you seen some of the people who take that class?"

Brian shook his head, "Hey watch it; I take shop" he warned.

"Ted Schmidt does not get B so I cheated off this girl Melanie. Anyways I got caught and the shop teacher threatened to fail me." Ted's voice shook as he recounted his story "An F, I can't tell my father I got an F!" Ted was openly sobbing now and Michael and Ben embraced him.

"Fuck" Brian exclaimed, "Look at me!" he ordered to the crowd. "Everyone's parents are fucking crazy in their own special fucked up way, I should know, but enough with the self-pity. We are not turning out like our parents and we are all going to stop being afraid to be exactly who we are. We're queer and that means…well… I don't know what that means yet, but it sure as shit means we aren't going to waste time sitting around feeling fucking sorry for ourselves anymore."