With short blond hair styled just right and deep blue eyes Zach Halliwell found himself the crush of a number of the girls in his grade and even a few of the older girls in the school. Unfortunately he had failed to inherit his father's natural way with the ladies along with his good looks. Those genes had chosen to skip him and somehow find their way into his oldest cousin, Matthew. This obvious joke on the part of genetics currently had the young sophomore tongue-tied as he tried for the tenth time to get the attention of Rebecca Starling, the hottest freshman in the school.

"Ah—er—uh…"

Zach felt himself heat up as Rebecca with her flowing dark brown hair and her ubiquitous group of girl friends waited patiently for him to form coherent words. He also knew it was more than likely she knew exactly what he was trying to ask and was letting him suffer. The Homecoming Dance was only two weeks away, and he still needed a date. Not for the lack of interest, he had stumbled his way into a few rejections when other girls asked him. He only had eyes for Rebecca.

Screwing up the courage he had allowed himself to be steered to Rebecca's table during lunch by Matthew who had promptly left. Alone, Zach had no courage left to speak. He could sense the situation changing from amusement to awkward. It was now or never. If he did not ask her now he would never be able to face her or his classmates again.

"Would—er—um—would you like—ah—to go—er—to the dancewithme."

Finally his tongue cooperated enough for him to get the words out. The group of girls started giggling, and he found himself agree with someone that giggling should be outlawed. If he had not been blushing before he definitely rivaled Rudolph's nose at the moment. His knees felt like they were about to give way, but he remained rooted to the spot, looking anywhere but at Rebecca and her warm chocolate eyes.

A soft melodious voice cut through the giggles. "Me?"

Zach blinked. "Um—yeah. That's—if you want to?"

Rebecca stood up and straitened her short floral skirt with her perfectly manicured hands. "Of course! I would love to go with you, but I thought you and Angela were going together."

Zach groaned silently. Angela had been his girlfriend until the start of the school year. They had dated for six months most of which they had bickered. He had known after the first month the relationship was not going to work, but he could not break up with her just like he could not ask her out. Although the relationship had been over for two months Angela and her group of evil henchmen kept rumors going of them getting back together. She had been one of the girls to ask him to the dance. He had resolutely declined.

"Oh no!" said Zach shaking his head. "We've been over for ages."

Rebecca smiled. Zach noted the dimples and grinned as well. The other girls continued to giggle and talk in hushed voices, but it no longer bothered him. He suddenly felt like he could take on the Source himself. The girl who had rejected the basketball team captain and the JV quarterback had agreed to go with him, a lowly member of the golf and comedy sports teams.

"Right, well, I've got to—ah—the bell is—um…" started Zach.

Rebecca giggled and walked over to him. "I'll see you during Health class, then?"

Zach nodded unable to find his voice again. Rebecca stood up on her toes and kissed him softly of the cheek.

"Bye, then," said Rebecca.

"Um—yeah—ok, see ya," said Zach, and he bid a hasty retreat.

He barely made it out of the cafeteria when Matthew ambushed him. Dark haired like his father and most of the Halliwell clan, Matthew Anakin Halliwell boasted the warm brown eyes of the Halliwell matriarch. As a freshman he was thankfully still shorter than Zach who was usually short for his family. Matt's height did not stop him from trying out for the basketball team and making it, but he had chosen to also try out for the baseball team on a dare. The basketball coach found out and kicked Matthew off the team that afternoon. A fact, Matthew took in stride, making a joke out of the situation rather than allow the irate man to humiliate him.

"So?" ask Matthew, excited.

Zach shoved the young boy away playfully. "So what?"

Matthew rolled his eyes. "How'd she take the fact you had graciously chosen to grant her the enormous gift of your company at the Homecoming Dance?"

"Matt!" Zach hated the way Matt constantly made out that Halliwell men were God's gift to women.

Matthew chuckled heartily and continued walking down the hall. "Who am I kidding? How could she say anything but 'yes?'"

"She could've had a date already," said Zach simply, following at a slower pace.

Matthew turned around. "Yeah, who? Everyone's too freaked to ask her out after her rejection of Peter outside the gym."

"What happened?" asked Zach. He had not heard that Peter, the star of the swim team and one of the biggest bullies at the school, had asked Rebecca.

"She laughed at him and made fun of his, well, his peter." Matthew grinned at the memory. "She had everyone in hysterics. You should totally get her to join your lame comedy group."

Zach bristled. "Comedy Sports is not lame!"

"Whatever, dude, there's a reason I'm getting some and you're not."

"Piss off," snapped Zach.

Matthew stopped smiling. "Come on, man, I'm just kidding. I'm part of the Debate Club. You can't get much lamer than that."

Zach took a deep breath. "Could be chess."

Matthew's smile returned.

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

"Well, I've got biology," said Zach in ways of a good-bye.

Matthew pretended to gag. "English. We're starting Romeo and Juliet."

"See you in Health," Zach waved and turned down the science corridor.

He reached the closed classroom door, lost in thought. Rebecca had said yes. Yes! He was going to the dance with his dream girl. He had not believed it was possible. He felt sure she would turn him down. Who was he compared to the much more popular, more masculine, more self-assured boys at the school? She had said yes.

"Mr. Halliwell, first as usual," said Mrs. C, an African-American old woman. She was the veteran of the teachers at the school; this was her forty-sixth year teaching and her thirtieth at this school.

Zach shuffled passed her giving her only a half-hearted greeting. He chucked his backpack underneath his chair, took his seat, and stared out the nearby window. It was only when someone poked him sharply in the arm that he snapped out of his revelry.

"What the fuck," hissed Angela, taking the seat next to him.

He had forgotten they shared this period together. Zach put on an innocent face and cocked an eyebrow.

"You asked out Rebecca Starling!"

Zach nodded, the smile returned.

Angela glared at him and poked him again with her long bejeweled nail. "We're going to the dance.

"Um—no! I said no!"

Angela drummed her nails against the desk. "Yes, we are. I asked you last week."
Flustered Zach felt the lump rising in his throat. "No. You asked, I said no."

"That was just to keep face with those idiot friends of yours," explained Angela.

Zach's eyes widened. "Stupid, seeing as they'd see me at the dance with you if that were true."

Angela's eyes narrowed. "Well, you're going to just have to tell her you were mistaken. Or it was a prank or something."

Zach would have retorted if Mrs. C had not cleared her throat and started lecturing about the parts of a living cell. He pulled out his notebook for the class along with a pencil and began scribbling down notes. His attention to the lecture kept waning however thanks to Angela's little huffs every few seconds. The entire situation was ridiculous. He had said no, and Angela had another boyfriend. He did not go to the school, but you could get special permission to bring someone to the dance not from school. Maybe they had broken up, not that it was his business or problem.

Angela seemed determined to make it his problem. She kept on glancing at him expectantly. Zach ignored her and continued taking notes, which slowly progressed into various patterns and stick-man figures. Biology was great, but Mrs. C could make the most engaging and interesting topic into the best sleep aid in the world. Already half the class was half asleep and the other half was clearly not paying attention. Knowing the lecture he would receive if he got less than an 'A' on an exam Zach forced himself to focus even as his mind drifted onto more interesting topics.

The bell rang and most of the class jerked out of their catnaps. Zach purposely pulled his backpack out from under his chair and set it on his desk blocking Angela from his view. He then took his time packing up his single notebook and pencil. He only looked up when he heard one of Angela's friends call for her. Thankfully she chose to join her friend rather than wait some more to get his attention. He rushed out of the classroom the moment Angela was out of sight. His stalling meant he arrived at his next class, Geometry, seconds before the bell rang.

Geometry had no assigned seating; their teacher Mr. Pink thought of himself as cool. That being said everyone gravitated toward a particular seat, and within a month they had unofficial assigned seats. Today, however, Zach noticed someone in his usual spot next to his golf teammate and second best friend, Andrew. Andrew shrugged at him and smiled apologetically.

"Take your seat, Mr. Halliwell," instructed Mr. Pink.

Zach saw the only available seat, the desk right in front of the teacher's desk. "Yes, sir."

He trudged his way over and slumped into his chair.

"Right, now that everyone is seated, let's take a little pop quiz over the material from yesterday's homework."

Everyone groaned, including Zach. He had not done his homework yesterday, which meant he had no clue what the material was. So far he had found geometry straightforward and obvious, but taking a quiz with no preparation was never a good thing.

"You'll have the entire class time to work on this," said Mr. Pink as he started handing out blue-colored papers. "Please, make sure to write your name on the top of the paper."

Zach took the quiz with a grimace and started reading through the problems. His anxiety lessened when he recognized at least some of them. He pulled out his pencil and set to work. The time slipped by and before he knew it the bell was ringing and Mr. Pink called for the quizzes. He hurriedly handed in his quiz; he had at least attempted an answer at most of the questions. Pushing his way threw the throng of his classmates he met up with Andrew.

"Who's the new kid?" asked Zach.

Andrew ran a hand through his perfectly styled dirty blond hair. "No idea. He didn't say a word the whole class. Just sat down."

Zach spotted the new boy just ahead of them. He had black hair and was much smaller than most of the other people around. Without comment Zach hurried up and caught up to the kids.

"Hi, I'm Zach Halliwell."

The boy stopped in his tracks and stared up at Zach with a terrified look. "Hi, I'm…"

The boy said his name but it was so quiet Zach could not make it out over the general rumble of the corridors between classes.

"Sorry, didn't catch that."

Andrew who had walked passed them, returned, and gave Zach a quizzical look. Zach shook his head imperceptibly.

"I'm Kenny," repeated the boy with a clear accent.

Zach held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you Kenny. This is Andrew; he's in geometry as well."

Kenny nodded. "I know."

"Got to go, dude, Mr. Cole will fail us again if we're late constantly," said Andrew.

Zach shrugged. "He failed you. I never took Health last year."

Turning back to Kenny, Zach asked, "What your next class?"

"It's Health, actually," muttered Kenny.

Zach cocked his head in an indication to start walking. "Perfect! So, you new to Baker High?"

Kenny nodded. "Today's my first day."

"And you're a freshman?"

Again Kenny nodded.

Zach smiled encouragingly. "Well, I'll introduce you to my cousin. He's a freshman as well. Where's the accent from?"

"South Africa," mumbled Kenny.

Andrew spoke up. "That's awesome. My gran's from Cape Town."

"I'm from Joburg."

They all stopped outside the classroom.

"That's near that game park where you can pet the lion cubs, right?" asked Zach, having heard endless tales from Andrew's grandmother.

Kenny returned to his mute response of nodding.

They stepped into the classroom. Andrew started to their assigned seat, but Zach remained behind with Kenny. Mr. Cole, a mid-aged bald man, approached them.

"You must be the new kid," said Mr. Cole abruptly. "You can take the empty seat next to Ms. Starling."

Kenny gulped and averted his eyes. Zach felt sorry for the kid and a bit jealous.

"Rebecca's great. She'll make you feel right at home," intoned Zach.

"Mr. Halliwell, to your seat."

"Yes, sir," said Zach loudly to Kenny he said, "see you after class."

Zach found his seat.

"What's with the orphan collecting?"

Zach shrugged. "He looked lonely."

"He took your spot," argued Andrew.

"It's not like he knew it was my spot," reasoned Zach.

"Mr. Halliwell, Mr. Christensen, enough chit-chat." Mr. Cole started class with a wonderful picture of genital warts.

Zach groaned and sunk deeper into his seat. STIs had been a part of his "birds and the bees" talk with his dad, and Wyatt had chosen to scar him for life with vivid images. He did not need anymore in his head. Keeping his head bowed his listened to the lecture and took a random note here and there. Mostly he was focused on not staring at Rebecca. Somehow the topic would make being caught in the act all the more mortifying.

The bell did not ring soon enough in the class's opinion, and they were busy packing up as Mr. Cole assigned him homework on the different forms of protection available. Zach ignored packing up his things and instead slipped through the desks to the other side of the classroom where Kenny and Rebecca were seated. Reaching their desks Zack smiled.

"Wonderful introductory lecture," said Zach.

Kenny gave him a half smile, but remained silent.

"How were your classes, Rebecca?" asked Zach proud of himself for not stumbling over his words.

Rebecca blushed. "They were ok. And yours?"

Zach shrugged. "The same, but I met Kenny in geometry so I guess it was better than ok."

Rebecca nodded along. "I've got cheerleading practice in ten minutes."

"Right! So I'll get the tickets tomorrow, and maybe we can meet up on Friday or whatever to get—um—er…"

Rebecca agreed to the half formed date invitation with a squeal. "Perfect. I'll just write down my phone number."

Zach kept the fact that he already had Rebecca's number to himself. They had exchanged numbers at the beginning of the term when they had been assigned a group project about puberty. He chose to suppress those awkward interactions. She handed him a slip of paper and he pretended to type it into this phone before sending her a text message to ensure she had his.

"Oh! Silly me, we had that project together didn't we?"

Zach shook his head. "I choose to say that project never happened."

Rebecca giggled. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow." She shouldered her backpack and started walking out of the classroom.

Zach almost called out to her to see if she wanted him to walk her to her locker, but she was quickly surrounded by girl friends and disappeared into the mob of teenagers in the corridor. He turned his attention onto Kenny.

"I said I'd introduce you to my cousin."

Kenny who had shouldered his backpack looked up at him with barely suppressed apprehension.

Zach soldiered along. "Hey! Matt!"

Matt's head popped out from a group of freshman boys. "Yeah?"

"Come here," called Zach.

Matt extracted himself from his group of friends and strolled over. "What's up?"

"Matt, this is Kenny. Kenny, my cousin Matt."

The two younger boys sized each other up and shook hands.

"So you're the South African?" inquired Matt.

Kenny kept himself half behind Zach. "Yeah."

Matt looked at Zach. "You and 'drew, going to the mall?"

Zach cleared his throat. "Nah, we've got an exam in US History tomorrow."

Matt's shoulders slumped. "Come on, man! There's that new lens I want to check out, and Sophia is going to be at the food court."

Zach was about to answer when Kenny spoke up to the surprise of everyone including himself. "You like photography?"

Matt blinked rapidly. "Yeah. Never go anywhere without my camera."

Kenny put his backpack down and reached. He stood back up holding a silver camera with a covered lens. "Me too."

"Is that the new 3D dSLR?"

"My mom got it for me for my birthday."

Zach could tell the conversation would be a long one. "I'll see you."

Neither boy gave any indication they had heard him. Zach shrugged and returned to his desk to collect his belongings. Andrew was still waiting for him with a smug look on his round face.

"Finally asked her out, you sly dog," said Andrew as he gave him a congratulatory punch in the arm, the same arm Angela had been poking.

Covering up his grimace Zach beamed. The inevitable motion in the corridor eventually dragged them along out of the building and into the small loading and unloading area in front of the school. A number of the buses had already left, making way for parents to park their minivans, fancy sedans, and rundown trucks. Off in the distance he spotted his mother's nondescript silver Honda. It was empty, which meant she was talking to one of the other parents.

"I've got to talk to Coach about the tournament in a few weeks. Call ya when I'm done?"

Zach agreed and waved at the retreating Andrew. He quickly dropped his hand to his side. Angela was coming out of the building just as Andrew re-entered. The two glared at each other but otherwise did not acknowledge the other person. Andrew had always despised Angela, and she had always been jealous of anyone he spent too much time with. Making a hurried retreat, Zach jogged up to his mother's car and slipped into the back. Moments later his mother got in and questioned him with her brown eyes at his antics over her shoulder.

"How was school, honey?"

Zach waited until she had turned the engine on and pulled out into traffic before sitting up straight. "It was school."

Sarah Halliwell shook her head. "Your aunt Serena wanted to know if we would be free for dinner tonight. Both your dad and uncle are getting off work earlier, and it's been awhile since we've had a family dinner."

"We had Sunday roast just last week, Mom." Zach half-whined half-reminded. He had a lot of schoolwork to get done before the weekend. Unfortunately he knew he would have to be on his best behavior and butter his parents up in order to be free on Friday night for his date.

Sarah glanced at her son in the rear-view mirror. "What's with the tone?"

"I've just got a lot of homework, and Andrew's supposed to come over. We've got a huge history test tomorrow."

"You guys should have been studying for it then," reasoned Sarah in mother-mode.

Zach rolled his eyes. "What teenager plans that far in advance?"

Sarah clucked her tongue and sure indication she did not like something.

"Sorry," said Zach quickly.

The car fell silent, and Zach started planning his afternoon. Geometry and English had worksheets due on Friday. Biology always had a quiz on a Thursday over the terms from the chapter they were reading, like anyone read the chapter. He had lines from the comedy script to memorize for Drama class, and a mini-essay over the importance of exercise for PE. To top is all off there was the assignment from Health and the History exam. All in all this was the worst week for extracurricular activities. He groaned, but kept his comments to himself. His mother clearly had made up her mind.

They arrived at the Manor quicker than normal. Zach jumped out of the car and rushed up the stairs before his mother could start talking to him. He hurried passed his grandmother after giving her a peck on the cheek in greetings. Raiding the pantry he collected a bag of chips and two bananas along with a half-dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies. He was busy scouring the fridge for something to drink when his mother caught up with him.

"Zachary," she said sharply.

He stood up straighter. No one used his full first name. "Yeah?"

Sarah stood across the room with arms crossed over her chest. "Care to explain your attitude?"

He gulped. Despite not being a Halliwell by blood, his mother had perfected the trademark glare which the Charmed Ones had used to great effect in keeping their own kids in line.

"Sorry, Mom. I'm just—there's a lot to get done."

Sarah uncrossed her arms. "That's no excuse for being rude. You didn't even greet your grandmother properly."

Zach saw Grandma Piper peaking around the corner and looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry, Grandma."

"No worries, dear," said Piper cheerfully, and she disappeared back into the Conservatory.

"Now, put that food down and talk to me," ordered Sarah gently.

Zach laid the pile of food he had been hugging to his chest on the kitchen counter and turned to fully face his mother. He fidgeted under her scrutiny as he tried to best organize his thoughts.

"This is just a really busy week. I've got that exam, plus a bunch of work from my other classes." Here he hesitated unsure if he wanted to reveal everything to his mother quite yet. He could tell from the set expression on his mom's face that he argument so far had fallen on deaf ears. "And I really want to get everything done early because I've got a date on Friday."

"A date? With who?" asked Sarah still with a straight face.

"Rebecca Starling. She's a freshman. You met her; she worked with me and Zach on our Health project."

Serena walked over to the counter. "Long brown hair and hazel eyes. Pale skin?"

Zach nodded. "She's really nice, and I asked her to go to Homecoming with me. We thought we'd use Friday night to talk and stuff." He ended lamely.

"Fine. I'll just tell your aunt you're too busy tonight."

Zach waited, unsure he had heard his mom correctly. "Huh?"

Sarah gave her son a hug and kissed his forehead. "You can stay here tonight and work on your homework. I'll ask your dad to leave some money so you and Andrew can order a pizza for dinner."

"Thanks, Mom." Zach hugged Sarah and started piling the food back into his arms.

Sarah shook her head and left him to his own devices. Zach easily managed to get the food up into his room, which once had been his father's room. Sitting down at his desk he booted up his computer and set to work finishing up the essay for PE. About an hour later Andrew called to inform him he was going to be a bit late. His mother was still at the dentist. Zach finished his Geometry worksheet and was halfway through writing out the terms for Biology when the doorbell rang. He heard his grandmother answer the door quickly followed by the familiar footsteps of his best friend up the stair and into his room.

Andrew entered holding a plate of freshly baked sugar cookies. "God, I wish I had your grandmother," said Andrew between munching on one of the cookies.

Zach grunted and returned to his list of terms.

Andrew deposited the plate on Zach's desk and flopped unceremoniously onto his unmade bed. He kicked off his shoes and chucked his backpack into a corner of the room.

"So, you and Rebecca," said Andrew hintingly, eyebrow wriggling.

"I asked her out during lunch. She said yes." Zach continued to search the textbook for the definition to the next term.

Andrew sat up. "Come on, dude, you've got to give me all the juicy details. How come I didn't know you were planning on doing it?"

"That'd be because I wasn't. Matt kinda manipulated me into it."

Andrew cheered. "Matt's a genius. I've always said so. You owe him big time. She is so fine, dude. God, you're the luckiest man on campus."

Zach shut the book, giving up on his quest for the definition of 'zygote.' "I am, aren't I?"

Andrew leaned back against the bed's headboard. "And you're going out on Friday?"

"Yeah, I was thinking a trip to the mall."

"Good plan. Lots of little hidey-holes for some loving. That Harry Potter remake is still playing, maybe you can take her to that and sit at the very back…"

Zach ignored the suggestions, not that they were bad ideas on the whole. "I've got to get a suit."

"That's something you do with your mom. Just get the color she's going to wear and buy a matching tie. No, Friday is for getting up close and personal with the lovely Ms. Starling."

"Who are you taking to the dance?"

Andrew's ears went red. "Now that you mention it. I actually have something to tell you, dude."

Zach could tell his friend was suddenly very nervous. He had never see Andrew nervous before; Andrew always barreled his way through any situation, which would make normal people at least uncomfortable. He nearly always tried to answer a teacher's question even though he almost never got them right. In third grade Andrew had marched up in front of the entire school and yelled at the principle for taking away the option of having chocolate milk with their lunches. He had gotten suspended for a week for that reckless display. When they had entered into the time of their lives when they first discovered girls were not full of cooties Andrew had been the first in their group to proudly ask out Davita Jones. He never got nervous.

"What is it?"

Andrew looked down and twiddled his thumbs. "Zach, you know you're my best friend and losing this, or this changing between us. I'm not sure I could take it, man."

Zach shifted closer to his friend. "You're my best friend. Nothing's ever going to change that."

"I can think of something," murmured Andrew.

The door opening and Wyatt sticking his head in through the crack interrupted their conversation.

"Hello, Zach. Andrew. How was school?"

Zach glared at his chipper father. "Would it kill you to knock?"

Wyatt pondered the question. "Nope, but while you live under this roof I won't."

"I could've been changing," argued Zach.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," quipped Wyatt. "You two studying hard?"

Zach held up his Biology textbook. "Yip."

"Your mom said you had a history test." Wyatt stepped fully in to the room and loosing the joking tone.

"And we've got a Biology quiz after that."

"Zach, watch the tone."

Zach glanced over at Andrew who was remaining unusually silent. "Right, sorry, can we get back to studying?"

Wyatt studied his only son. "Your grandmother made pizza for you guys. You just need to stick it in the oven when you're hungry."

"Thanks."

"We're going to head over early. You guys going to be ok by yourselves?"

Zach nodded. "Yeah, not the first time I've been home alone."

"Bye."

"Bye, dad."

"See you, Mr. Halliwell."

Zach waited until he heard his dad descend the staircase. "What's wrong Andrew?"

Andrew pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them. "You've met Danny Beck?"

"Yeah, 'course. He's part of the swim team."

"What have you heard about him?" asked Andrew quietly.

Zach frowned and thought over the question. Danny Beck was a junior at their school. He was nice enough for a jock; he did not go out of his way to help or hurt anyone. Honestly he was just part of the background at school for Zach. He only had occasion to talk to Danny once, and the conversation was mundane at best.

"Not much. He's nice enough, I guess. I know Angela commented on his body regularly, but she did that with most of the swim team. Why?"

"I lied to you," blurted out Andrew.

Startled, Zach sat back. "What? When?"

Andrew sniffed and Zach was startled to see tears starting to form in the corners of his hazel eyes. "T—today. After school. I didn't go see Coach. I went to see Danny."

Zach still nonplused shrugged. "Ok, no big deal. Although why'd you have to lie? I don't care if you hang out with people. We're not joined at the hip."

Andrew buried his face behind his knees. Zach had to strain to understand his muffled voice. "Only you wouldn't know about Danny. Why couldn't you just know? Now—now I've got to—oh, Zach."

Zach moved over to his bed and sat cross-legged across from the clearly distressed young teen. "Tell me what?"

"Danny's gay, Zach."

"Oh." Zach still did not get why this information had Andrew so upset.

"I went to watch Danny practice because—because—because…"

It slowly dawned on Zach what had his best friend twisted up.

"You and Danny, huh?" he asked kindly.

Andrew sniffled and peaked out from behind his knees. "You don—uh—yeah."

Zach forced a smile; he was still in shock. "He a good kisser?"

Andrew hiccoughed. "Better than you."

Zach smirked at the shared memory. It had been on a dare, but maybe it had been more for Andrew. His smirk slipped away. "Uh—Andrew, you don't, like—er—like me or anything?"

Andrew scoffed. "God, no! You're like my brother. But seriously you ok with this?"

Zach nodded and reached over to squeeze Andrew's shoulder. "I had a gay uncle. What made you think I'd not be ok with it?"

"You just don't talk too much about him. I thought maybe you were embarrassed or something."

The frown returned. "Hell, no. Anakin was the best! It's just I was only two when he died. I don't have real memories of him, just stories from my family. Sometimes I wish I could really remember something about him, anything. He was such a big part of my family, and it sucks that I can't recall the few moments we spent together."

Andrew crossed his legs and smiled.

"You're going to the dance with Danny?"

Andrew nodded and shook his head. "He wants to, but I'm not sure. No one knows about me, Zach, like I mean no one. You're the first person I've told besides Danny. And I didn't really tell him; we sort of just happened. My dad's going to freak when he finds out, and my mom, well, she's going to back my dad. My grandma is always talking about how she's looking forward to the day she gets to meet her great-grandkids. God, Zach, it's all so screwed up."

Zach patted him on the back. "Have you told Danny any of this?"

"Sortta. We don't really get much time to talk. He's always busy, and I've constantly got to keep my parents from even suspecting anything. I've told him I don't think the dance is a good thing, which pissed him off. But, I think he really likes me, 'cause he didn't stay mad for too long. He hasn't dropped the subject either. He asked me today again."

"Can't you both just go stag?"

"And then what? Do you know how annoying it's going to be having to watch other couples dancing? All I want to do is scream and tell the world he's my boyfriend, but then there's this icy terror that surrounds my heart at the thought of my parents hearing about it. Of you figuring us out."

Zach felt a small amount of hurt at Andrew's lack of trust in him. He pushed it aside; there were bigger issues to contend with. "You really like him?"

"Yeah, I do."

Zach could not help but smile at the look of joy on his friend's face. They slipped into a comfortable silence before begrudgingly getting out their American History textbooks and quizzing each other. Before Zach knew it was passed curfew and Andrew had to leave. He walked his best friend to the door, but before he opened it he turned to face him.

"No matter what happens, you've always got a place here," said Zach and he hugged Andrew something they had not done since beginning middle school. Andrew stiffened but quickly returned the hug.

Smiling to himself, Zach headed upstairs ready for a peaceful night of sleep.