Chapter 2

"I expect your reports to be at least fifteen pages." Mrs. Jackson's coal black heels clicked and clacked across the gray tiles as she scoped the room, looking for boys who had their phones out or had fallen asleep. It was her twentieth year teaching American history, so she had the right to be bored with her lessons. But these boys, who were in her class for one hour and only had to listen to the spiel once, rather than teaching it six times throughout the day, did not have that right. How hard was it for kids these days to sit up, put their electronics away, and pay attention for a mere sixty minutes?

Ignoring the round of whining and groans that ensued, she continued on. "I expect fully developed paragraphs. At least five sentences each. You all are seniors; you should know that by now. And address all parts of the prompt, or you will lose points. I want it double spaced, size twelve font, and don't make the font some fancy-shmancy artsy font. I need to be able to read them." She tapped her fingers' on one boy's desk, who immediately snapped his head up. "Put it away," Mrs. Jackson, growled, and the boy quickly returned his phone to his pocket, gulping. Mrs. Jackson may be on the older side, but all of the boys agreed that she still had the scare factor.

The boy heard a quiet outburst of giggling. Nonchalantly turning his head around, he saw his three best friends, Don, Jacob, and Rob desperately trying to stifle their snickers. The boy rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, turning back around.

The moment the bell rang, the boys jumped out of their seats, gathering their folders and notebooks. Mrs. Jackson desperately tried to shout the rest of the paper requirements above the loud chatter that was now spilling into the classroom from the hallway, but no one was listening.

"Dude!" Rob slapped the boy who had gotten in trouble's back, breaking out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "That's the third time this week! She would've given anyone else a detention by now!"

"For real, Blaine! You lucked out!" Don exclaimed. "Your woman giving you trouble again?"

"Ha, yeah," Blaine mumbled indifferently.

"Well you better work it out," Jacob chimed in, catching up with his friends. "Laura's hot, and she has hot friends. And I'm in need of a hot friend." Rob and Don high-fived Jacob and broke out into more laughter. Blaine joined in, but it was obvious that he was forcing it. Don and Jacob waved good bye as they walked down the hallway for their last class, and Blaine and Rob continued walking to their lockers. They both had a study hall for their seventh period class, and, as seniors, they were permitted to leave school early.

"Hey, Blaine?"

"What's up?" Blaine skillfully entered his combination and pulled his lock off, shoving his American history folder into the amalgamation of junk that had accumulated in his locker over the past semester.

"Are you and Laura seriously having problems? You've only been dating a few weeks. That's not good." Blaine spun to face his friend, who wore an expression of genuine concern. "Yeah, we kind of are."

"Is everything okay? Are you going to be able to work it out?"

"I don't know," Blaine answered honestly. "And to be truthful, I don't really think I care if we do or not."

"I get it, man," Rob responded. "I mean, Don kind of pressured you into asking her out, anyway. You were just getting over Melissa."

Blaine's heartbeat quickened. He hated when people brought up Melissa. Melissa, who was a girl from a different school that he had dated for over a year, had cheated on him. Their breakup had been extremely horrible, but Blaine had made sure to tell his friends every detail. In fact, his friends knew pretty much everything about him and Melissa's relationship. The only thing they didn't know what that Melissa didn't exist. Melissa was Blaine's imaginary girlfriend, her sole purpose to show his friends that he had been with a woman before. He had hoped that Melissa would end his friends' constant teasing about how he was the last one in their group to lose his virginity, and she did. But they liked to bring her up every now and then for their own odd reasons, and it scared Blaine to death every time. What if he slipped up and told them a lie that formed a hole in his story? He had run out of excuses as to why he couldn't bring Melissa to football games, parties, and dances. He didn't have any more that he could use if need be.

But then he met Laura at a party. She was a great girl. Pretty, smart, funny, and kind. And she wasn't overly assertive like most girls he had met at parties were. She wasn't drinking and she didn't try to kiss him, or to seduce him in any way. They were just having a great conversation. But Don found out about their newly formed friendship, and pressured Blaine into asking her out. They- as in Laura- had just celebrated their six week anniversary, and with every touch, every hug, every kiss, Blaine was becoming more and more depressed. He needed to get away from Laura. She was a wonderful friend, but Blaine was not interested in dating her.

Or any girl, for that matter.

"Yeah, man. I think I just needed more time to get over Melissa."

"So are you gonna break up with her?"

"Yeah, I kind of have to. I'm not going to be one of those guys that lead girls on," Blaine answered honestly, shutting his locker, opting to do his homework before school tomorrow. Rob nodded in silent agreement. He placed his math textbook and an assortment of folders into his backpack and slung it over one shoulder. "I gotta get going, Blaine, but you let me know if you need any help or advice or anything with Laura, okay?" Blaine nodded and waved good bye to his friend. Rob walked a few steps before stopping abruptly and pivoting on his heel. "I almost forgot, man, we're all going over to Ryan's house. You wanna come?"

"You guys are going now?"

"Yeah."

Blaine paused, pursing his lips. Regretfully, he gave a small half smile and said, "Sorry man, but I can't. I have some stuff I need to do."

"All right." Rob waved again and walked toward the parking lot. "See you tomorrow," he hollered over his shoulder.

"Yeah, see ya." Blaine leaned up against the locker bay and pulled out his phone, going into his inbox and opening Laura's most recent message. He felt horrible about what he was doing to her, he really did. But he was too kindhearted to break her heart by breaking up with her, especially if she knew why he wasn't interested in a relationship with her.

"If I were straight, I would definitely date you."

That probably wouldn't be the best thing to say.

Blaine glanced at the harsh, black words staring him in the eye. You've been avoiding me. I know you have, so don't bother lying. And I know it's another girl. Spare me the embarrassing situation of catching you and this whore hooking up or something and just break up with me now. He wasn't cheating on her. And if he was, it wouldn't be with another girl. He was tired of lying to himself. He was sure of his sexuality. The only problem was, he had no idea how to tell his family or friends.

If only there was a handbook to tell you how to come out.

A handbook.

A book!

This epiphany lit up a light bulb in Blaine's brain. A smile broke across his face, and he decided to go to the new bookstore. Surely they had a self-help section. And surely a self-help section would have books about coming to terms with sexuality. Plus, they had that new café, so he could get some coffee and just sit down somewhere and read and try to figure this whole confusing combination of emotions out.

Luckily, the bookstore was within walking distance. His car had broken down, so he had been taking the bus, even though he hated it. He wasn't even in the cold for ten minutes when the blast of hot air from the ceiling vents hit him like a brick.

It was a good brick.

Unfortunately, the only employee visible was a pretty girl not much younger than him. He asked her, innocently, where the self-help section was. The way she leaned in to him, adjusted her shirt, and flipped her hair over her shoulders was extremely unnerving to him. Blaine just wanted to get away from any female before they literally made him go crazy.

He walked to the aisle purposefully, and immediately found what he was looking for. As luck would have it, there was one book left. Blaine had wanted to consult several different resources, but one was better than none. Another employee was stocking books behind him, so he asked this employee if there were any more books like this one, to which the employee replied no. Thanking the employee, Blaine found a nice table by the window. He sat down with his book, flipping through the pages, looking at its contents. He had just started the introduction when he heard footsteps near his table.

Looking up, he saw the most beautiful boy walking by. Something on the shelf behind Blaine's table had caught his attention. Blaine's stomach lurched. Who was this boy? His outfit was absolutely impeccable. Dark gray skinny jeans and…Blaine didn't know what else. He couldn't get past the jeans.

He saw the boy's perfectly slender hips turn toward him slightly, so he immediately dropped his gaze back to the book, pretending to read words that didn't make sense. His heartbeat was rapidly picking up speed, his breathing was getting heavier, and he was feeling lightheaded. Just when Blaine was about to get up and leave to catch his breath, he saw the boy's perfect hands slam down on the table in front of him, and he heard an incredibly sexy voice whisper, "I think I can help you more than that book can."