Chapter 1
It was the kind of perfect summer day you hope will never end. I floated lazily on a rubber raft in the Gulf of Mexico, oblivious to the noisy splashes and cries of the swimmers and tourists around me. The sky was the most beautiful shade of blue you can imagine, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. A gentle breeze blew in from the East. For all I knew, I was in the middle of the ocean. The smell of salt water was overpowering, and the hot Florida sun was searing, but I didn't care. I had recently turned 13, officially making me a teenager. Life was great.
It was the last Sunday of August, 1968, in St. Petersburg, Florida -- the very last weekend before school started. The public address speakers by the lifeguard stand blasted out The Happenings' "See You in September," a golden oldie from a couple of years before. I hummed along with the music as the waves gently rocked me up and down. The cool seawater sloshed over the raft, soothing my sunburn-ravaged chest and legs.
Just as the last notes of the song faded and the WLCY deejay began his endless chatter, I sensed a sudden premonition. It seemed impossible. Everything was so perfect: the weather was wonderful, and the raft couldn't be more comfortable. But despite the near-summer scene, I knew there was a black cloud on the distant horizon.
I was dreading the first day of school: 9th Grade. Just the thought of it made me wince. For the past few years, I'd been going to an advanced school in town for brainy kids -- "The LaFontaine Preparatory Institute." I'd made it up to 8th grade okay, but over the last six months, my grades had started to slide. I just didn't seem to give a damn anymore.
As if to echo my thoughts, the radio began playing a new song -- "Give a Damn," by Spanky & Our Gang. I giggled. It wasn't often you heard that word on the radio, at least not in 1968.
I sighed. Since I was little, I had always been the brain in school. A week after I started elementary, they'd bumped me up to third grade when I was just six. I spent the next four years being tormented and antagonized by most of the other kids, who were always older than I was. At least when I was at the LaFontaine school, I was surrounded by other brainy nerds, most of whom weren't much of a threat to me. But my parents were so furious at my mediocre grades, they'd given me the death sentence: tomorrow, they were making me go back to public school. Dad said if I pulled my grades back up, and proved I could be a disciplined student, they'd consider letting me go back to LaFontaine -- next year.
I felt overcome by a terrible foreboding. I knew most of the kids in high school would be bigger and at least two years older than me. Without the relative sanctity of the private school, now I was getting thrown to the wolves. I'd already had nightmares about how I was going to deal with regular school kids again, for the first time in a long time. But I figured I'd get through it somehow; either my smartass mouth or my fast-thinking brain would keep me out of trouble. I grinned, remembering some of the mischief my friends and I had gotten into the year before. All innocent fun, but Jesus, we sure drove the teachers nuts.
At least Tampa Central High was bound to be easier than the LaFontaine. No advanced classes, no 20 pages' worth of homework every night. This is gonna be a piece of cake, I thought. I grinned to myself and started to carefully roll over on my back. Easy does it, I thought, taking care to not to lose my balance on the raft. I sighed with relief. The cool water felt good on my back, which I knew without looking was already red and sunburned after a day at the beach. My skin would probably be peeling for a week, but I was too happy to care.
Suddenly, without warning, I felt the raft lurch up in the air and flip over. Still half asleep, I groggily tried to open up my mouth to yell, but all I got for my efforts was a throat full of salt water.
"Gotcha, fuckwad!"
I floundered, choking and spitting, and grabbed the raft only to see my best friend Schuyler -- "Sky" for short -- who was treading water five feet away, hysterical with laughter.
"You dick!" I screamed.
I tore after him in the surf, while he raced away as fast as he could. He was a decent enough swimmer, but he was no match for me; eight years on local swim teams had given me an edge he couldn't possibly beat. I caught up with him in no time, grabbed him by the neck and yanked him under water as hard as I could. After a few seconds, I pulled him back up to the surface and yelled at him as loud as I could.
"You give, asswipe?"
Sky could only glub, but I could tell he was still almost doubled-over in laughter. I grabbed him again, and pulled him down even deeper, this time locking my muscular legs around him. Ten long seconds passed, while I poked him in the ribs a couple of times, determined to go for victory. He fought me valiantly, but finally nodded in defeat, bubbled up to the surface, then spit out a mouthful of saltwater, still laughing.
"Alright, alright, Wil -- I give!" he said, coughing and sputtering.
I playfully spit a stream of water in his face and laughed maniacally. After pausing to catch his breath, Sky suddenly splashed me right back, which unleashed an immediate and intense tidal wave battle between the two of us. After a few minutes, we finally declared it a draw, and we floated in the water and laughed hysterically.
This was the kind of relationship my best friend and I'd had for almost as long as either of us could remember. Sky was kind of like the older brother I never had. We'd been through many adventures together, usually with him daring me to do something stupid, and me following, like an idiot. When we were little kids, he once goaded me into throwing a rock through a school window; little did either of us know our teacher was still in the classroom at the time. One Halloween, we covered car windshields with shaving cream, and even once broke into an abandoned house on Bayshore Boulevard. I had my first cigarette with Sky. Last summer, he dared me to jump off the downtown bridge into Tampa Bay, and damned if I didn't do it -- with my clothes on, yet. Little did I know how many people had gotten hurt trying to do it at low tide, but I was stupid and lucky in those days.
Sky's family lived just a couple of blocks down from us on El Prado Street in Tampa. Even though he was a almost two years older than me, we'd been kind of thrust together when I got advanced into third grade in school. Sky was one of the few kids I knew who never seemed to care about our age difference. He actually treated me like an equal during all the years we were together. Even when we both didn't see each other every day, after I started going to the Institute -- "Brainiac school," he called it -- we still hung out occasionally after school and on weekends.
Despite my brains -- my mother and father constantly reminded me that I was supposed to be a genius and hounded me about my grades -- I always let my friend get me in trouble. I honestly didn't know why, and I didn't care. I guess it was just the way it was meant to be: Wil and Sky, Sky and Wil… we were the dynamic duo, just like Batman & Robin on TV.
We grabbed my raft, which was dangerously close to drifting out to sea, and leisurely dog-paddled back to shore, laughing and cursing each other under our breath.
"THERE you boys are!" yelled an angry female voice from the shore. We looked up to see Sky's older sister, Carol, looking reasonably-cool in dark glasses and a tight-fitting bathing suit that left little to the imagination.
"We were ready to call the lifeguards and have them drag you back in!" she yelled. "C'mon, we've gotta go, now. Mom's really pissed!"
"Shaddup, Carol," Sky snapped as we sloshed to shore. "We're here, so just can it." He shot her The Look of Doom.
Sky didn't get along well with his sister, who was already 18. She glared at both of us. I grinned, and her face softened as she laughed, then shook her head. Somehow, Carol always liked me, and I liked her, too. I dunno what it was -- we had some kind of connection, I guess, like the "good vibrations" in the song. I caught myself glancing down at her breasts, which were looking awesome today. I felt a stirring in my bathing suit, which felt tighter than normal.
"I'm sorry, Carol," I said, sincerely. "It's all my fault. Sky was just trying to bring me back in. Tell your mom it wasn't him this time."
She rolled her eyes. She knew neither of us was ever up to any good, especially when we were together.
"Alright, you two," she said, exasperated, "but you better watch out -- one more screw-up, and your beach days are numbered."
She swatted our behinds, and we scooted across the warm sand and across the broiling-hot parking lot, hopping all the way on our burning toes.
Just as we reached the family car, Sky jabbed me in the ribs. "Pssst! Wil!"
"What?" I hissed back.
He gave me a conspiratorial look. "Didja catch the pubes in her suit?" he whispered. I glanced back to his mom and sister, who were trundling back to the car with an ice chest, a folding chair, and a beach umbrella.
"What're you talking about, doofus?" I whispered back, thoroughly confused.
He grinned and pointed over with his eyes. Quizzically, I followed the view just as Carol walked up to our parking space. Sure enough, I could see there were a couple of errant curly light brown hairs visible in the very crotch of her bathing suit. I literally fell down laughing, and Sky grinned like a hyena. He took one look at me, then burst out laughing at the top of his lungs. He wound up on his hands and knees on the pavement right next to me, chortling until tears of laughter rolled down his face.
"What're they laughing about?" asked his Mom, who was wearing a large sun hat. By then, both of us had dissolved into disheveled heaps on the hot asphalt.
Carol frowned. Somehow, she knew she was the butt of a joke, and she didn't like it one bit. "Mother," she wailed, "they've been acting like complete idiots all afternoon!"
Sky's mother rolled her eyes and said patiently, "Carol, they're just boys being boys." She unlocked the doors, and pointed inside, with a no-nonsense look on her face. "We've got to get back home, now, you two. And don't forget, Schuyler -- it's the first day of school tomorrow!"
That did it. Sky and I both winced. He hated it when his mom or dad called him by his real name.
"That's right, Mom," Carol echoed. "Both our little boys are starting High School tomorrow!" She shot Sky a withering smile. Our laughter stopped immediately as the reality of our fate hit us.
That meant that summer was almost officially over. Dejectedly, we scrambled up, brushed the sand off our butts, and crawled in the back seat. Sky slammed the car door shut, and we rode the 25-mile trip over Gandy Bridge back to Tampa in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

Chapter 2
"You scared about tomorrow?" Sky asked, bouncing a Superball off the ceiling of his incredibly-messy room.
We both lay on his bed, still wearing our now-bone-dry bathing suits, and nursing our sunburns from the day at the beach. We'd just finished wolfing down some McDonald burgers that we'd picked up on the way home. I had my hands behind my head, still not sure if I should tell my friend about my gnawing fear.
"I dunno… I guess a little," I muttered. "Aaaaa, look -- if nothing else, there should be about 600 other new ninth-graders that'll be as screwed-up as we are."
"Good point," he replied, as he continued to idly bounce the ball against the ceiling. In the distance, I heard Sky's sister yell from a room down the hall, "Mother! Tell him to stop making that noise!"
I punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Sky, you better cut it out. The next thing you know, your Dad'll be in here, and he'll slap the shit out of both of us."
He grinned his patented million-dollar smile. My heart skipped a beat. Sky was amazingly good-looking -- blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect teeth, and he was never without that little gold chain around his neck. Sky was probably the closest thing to a TV star I'd ever met in real life. I wasn't the only one who noticed. His mother always theorized he got away with as much as he did simply because of his drop-dead gorgeous looks, but his sister insisted he was the Devil in disguise. I grinned back at him. I think they were both right.
As for me, I dunno why, but lately, something about the way Sky looked when he smiled at me gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. At times like this, when I was this close to him, my mouth went dry, and it confused the hell out of me. I didn't know exactly how actors or male models got a job or what they did, but I did know in the back of my mind that Sky could easily be one, once he got older.
"Alright, alright," he said, chuckling. "Not because of Carol, but only because you asked me nicely." He reached up and put the ball back on a shelf behind him, then turned back to me. "So, you gonna go out for the swim team at school, Wil?"
"Maybe," I said, nonchalantly. I'd thought about it. I was probably the most un-athletic kid on two feet in the known universe, but the one thing I could do was swim. At the ripe old age of 13, I had racked up an impressive pile of ribbons, and had recently helped my team win trophies for the 200-meter relay. But our opponents at that level had generally been pretty lame.
Sky, on the other hand, was a natural athlete. You name it -- baseball, basketball, track… he was an ace at everything. He probably outweighed me by 20 or 30 pounds and was at least four inches taller than I was, since he was already 15. Like me, Sky had a pretty decent chest, but his arms were almost twice as big as mine, like he had little footballs in his biceps. I thought he was at least as muscular as Robin, the Boy Wonder on TV.
But I was no slouch, either. Because of all my swimming over the years, I didn't have a spec of fat on me. I was more wiry, and even though I wore glasses and was just barely five feet tall, I didn't take shit from anybody. Luckily for me, most of the time Sky had been there to beat the crap out of any assailants bigger than me. Maybe that's why we got along so well together -- "the brains and the brawn," as he put it.
"My brother says high school is a piece of cake," he said, leaning over to turn the radio on. A familiar Beatles tune popped out of the speaker. "You're not gonna wear that Brainiac geek outfit of yours to school tomorrow, right?" he asked idly.
I shook my head. For the last two years, I had to wear matching coats, ties and pants when I attended the LaFontaine Institute. Sky was right. It was a geeky uniform, and I never felt comfortable with it on. "I think I'll just wear the kind of stuff you wear," I said hopefully, knowing full well I'd never look as good in it as he did.
"And don't forget," he said, as he slid back on the bed next to me. "You gotta dress out for Phys Ed. That means the official shorts, showers and everything."
"Like I care," I said, trying to look nonchalant while a cold chill hit me in the pit of my stomach. I already knew what to expect, having been through the painful ordeal of locker rooms every past summer on the swim team. Even though I was a little short for my age, I was blessed -- or cursed, depending on how you looked at it -- with the Larson family trait, which was a large penis.
When I say "large," I mean, abnormally out-of-proportion with the rest of me. Make no mistake: this was a man-sized dick on a boy. I'd always been a little embarrassed getting undressed in public places. It'd been even worse over this past summer. Lately, I'd been subjected to occasional stares and ridicule from some of the other swimmers, but the coach stopped that pretty quick, calling them "a buncha homos" and telling my teammates to shut up. Later, in the privacy of his office, Coach gently advised me that I might want to get a slightly larger pair of Speedos or maybe a jockstrap, since I clearly was having a little trouble keeping everything in my suit. I looked down at the floor during his lecture, but he laughed and said, "listen, son -- don't let the others ride ya. Trust me, you're totally normal. And if you ask me, they're just jealous. The day'll come when you'll be glad you're the way you are. And so will your girlfriends." He gave me a knowing wink and pushed me gently through the door and back to my locker.
In addition to my prodigious member, I was embarrassed by my relative lack of body hair. I'd never seen Sky naked before, but judging by his legs, he was already about ten times hairier than me -- a lot further along the path to manhood. I stole a glance over at him on the bed, and could see a small forest of blond hairs growing on his thighs. He even had a little thatch under his arms. Me, I had a only few brown wisps down below, and that was about it. I felt like a little kid next to a real teenager.
"I said, are you LISTENING to me?" Sky asked, exasperated.
I looked up to see him staring at me like I'd gone to Mars. I hadn't heard a single word he'd said.
"Sorry, man," I said, distractedly. "I'm just thinking about tomorrow."
He nodded at me. "Yeah. You've never had to take a shower at Phys Ed before, right?"
I winced. The closest thing we'd had to Phys Ed at LaFontaine was the Chess Club. "No," I said. "But don't forget, I've been on the Junior Tampa city-wide swim team for six years. I know what guys look like naked."
"Yeah," he said, giving me an amused grin, "but those are just little kids, Wil. You're gonna be with the big guys, now -- real teenagers! I bet you'll pop a woodie! Shit, you got one right now!" He pointed over to my crotch and giggled.
I looked down. My bathing suit looked totally normal to me, but I gulped, realizing I had a noticeably-bigger bulge than Sky.
"It is not!" I protested. "Trust me, you'd know if I had a boner, you dip-shit." I slid off the bed, and started for the door. "Look, Sky, I gotta get home. I need to get ready for school."
"No, wait!" Sky ran to the door, blocking my exit. "You got a little boner, don'tcha!" he taunted, wiggling his eyebrows.
I was getting mad, and my face was getting redder every second. "You pea-brain, I said I didn't!"
"Then what's this?" he said, gently poking me in the groin.
I recoiled. "Watch that, you homo!"
"You're the homo!"
"I'm not the one poking somebody in the dick, dork-face!" I snapped. I nervously adjusted my family jewels.
He giggled again. It was the same infectious laugh that I always loved -- not vicious, not cruel, but nonetheless a mischievous laugh, from somebody who was definitely up to no good.
I finally grinned and shook my head. It was impossible for anyone to stay mad at Sky for very long.
"C'mon, man -- admit it," he taunted. "You've got a boner. My older brother Bill and I get 'em all the time. Show me."
I gulped. I'd heard some whispers at school about "beating off" a couple of months ago. I'd looked up 'masturbation' in the reference books at the library months ago, and had the general idea of what it was all about. I'd even tried it a couple of times in private, but aside from a curiously pleasant feeling, I didn't get much out of it. I didn't see what the point was. But I was still acutely embarrassed about my oversized endowment.
Sky frowned. "Alright, look -- I'll show you mine. I got nothin' to hide." With that, he yanked his bathing suit down to his ankles, exposing a skinny, boyish 5-inch erection, with a decent-sized patch of blonde hairs on top. An almost-invisible trail of curls led up to his belly-button. He looked at me, expectantly.
"Pretty big, eh?" he said, wiggling it comically from side to side. "This is what a real teenage boner looks like, Wil."
Despite our closeness, Sky had never seen me naked before. I guess I was just too modest up 'till now. Shit, I thought as I felt the blood surge to my groin. He's gonna laugh at me for sure, just like the guys on the swim team.
"Chicken!" He grinned and started squawking like a bird and flapping his imaginary wings, while kicking his bathing suit across the room.
"Alright," I said at last. "But if you laugh at me, I swear, Sky, I'll kick your ass."
Sky grinned evilly. "I bet yours isn't nearly as big as mine! Watch this!" He suddenly let go of his erection and made it bounce up and down, using his powerful stomach muscles. He giggled proudly.
I felt my groin harden in seconds, and my heart was pounding in my ears. My mouth felt dry.
"C'mon, Wil," he taunted. "Let's see it! You've seen mine already." He reached down and wiggled it back and forth, leering at me. "I dare ya."
I sighed. Silently, I took two steps forward, pulled down my bathing suit, and reluctantly revealed my prized possession in all its glory. It throbbed in time with my heartbeat, and began to stiffen almost straight up.
"There. Happy now?" I grimaced as I looked down in embarrassment, and braced myself for the jeers of laughter that I knew would inevitably follow.
Much to my surprise, he was silent. I looked up and saw his face. Sky was wide-eyed, his mouth agape. I trembled slightly and felt a wave of shame wash over me.
"Holy shit!" he whispered, sitting down on the bed. "I thought my brother's was big, but yours…" He shook his head in disbelief.
"And I barely have any pubic hair at all," I wailed. "I'm gonna be a goddamned freak at Phys Ed tomorrow."
Sky was still wide-eyed. "Jesus, Wil, I'm sorry, man," he said, quietly. "Honest, I didn't mean to embarrass you." He nodded towards my groin. "How big is it, anyway?"
I rolled my eyes. "Does it really matter?"
"Lemme grab a ruler."
He raced across to his desk and grabbed a foot-long wooden stick and pushed me down on the edge of the bed.
"I dunno," I protested, trying to sit up. "I think it's like seven or eight inches…"
"Hold still!" he hissed. "I wanna see this for myself."
I felt strangely excited. Every time he touched my groin, I felt a little electric shock roll through me. Why was I feeling this way? I felt something like this…when? Shit -- earlier today, when I saw Carol in her bathing suit! What was this all about?
Sky let out a low whistle. "Fuck, man! You're almost nine-and-a-half inches, hard! Mine's like half that! My brother's was just six inches, and he's in college! Mine's five inches on a good day!"
I didn't know what to say. Sky's was the first erect penis I had ever seen, other than my own, or some line drawings I saw in a medical book.
He leaned over to get a closer look. "Man, you got a lot of veins in this thing," he whispered, admiringly. "I can barely get my hand around it." he said, as he wiggled my engorged member back and forth like it was some kind of obscene rubber doll.
"OW! Watch it, man!" I cried.
"Ssssh, keep it down! Lemme lock the door." He raced across the room and clicked the knob.
Good idea, I thought. It'd be just great if his mom and dad walked in on us now.
Breathlessly, he climbed up on the bed beside me. "You shootin' sperm yet?"
"What?" I asked.
"You know… cumming!"
I was puzzled. I had read three entire books on sex in the public library, but never saw that word before. (What can I say? It was only 1968, and the sexual revolution hadn't quite hit yet, at least not in Tampa.)
Suddenly, realization dawned on me. "Oh, you mean an orgasm," I said. "I dunno… maybe I did and just didn't know it."
Sky giggled uncontrollably and fell back on the bed in hysterics. "You've got a nine-inch cock and you haven't shot any sperm yet? Jesus, you don't know anything, Wil! Some genius you are!"
I frowned. Usually, between me and Sky, I was the one to discover this stuff first. Maybe that was my problem: I read too many encyclopedias, and not as many issues of Playboy, like the ones I occasionally stole on the sly from my Dad.
Sky sat on the edge of the bed and spread open his muscular legs. "Lemme show you, Wil," he said, with an air of excitement. "Watch me. Just grab it, and move your hand up and down like this."
I stood and stared as Sky lay back and started pleasuring himself. I tried to imitate his hand moves, but his technique didn't work for me. "Am I supposed to feel something yet?" I asked.
Sky grinned. "Trust me, you will. Here, lemme do it for ya." With that, he sat up, reached over, and grabbed my iron-hard erection. Tingles of pleasure shot through my body.
"Fuck, this thing really is huge!" he said, admiringly. "You're hung like a horse, you know it?"
Where does this guy get these words? "Hung?" I asked, quizzically.
He rolled his eyes. "That means you have a big dick, dummy. And shit, look at your balls," he marveled, cupping them gently in his left hand. "My nuts are like, well… walnuts. But yours are almost the size of eggs! Man, this is too cool," he said, in a low voice, not taking his eyes off me.
I looked down and did a quick size comparison. I was embarrassed to see that mine was more than twice as big as Sky's boyish equipment. I sighed. Maybe I really was a freak.
Sky leaned closer, letting his erection bounce down, then grasped my member firmly, but gently. "Just lay back," he whispered, breathlessly. "My brother Bill and I did this to each other over Spring break."
I did as he asked and lay back, propping myself up with my elbows to watch. After a minute or two, I began to feel something stirring. My pulse quickened, and I started panting.
"You feelin' it yet?" Sky asked. He used his other hand to fondle my balls, and I felt another twinge surge through my groin.
I gulped and nodded. "A little," I said, meekly.
"Lemme try something else." Kneeling on the floor, he took hold of me with both hands, stroking me faster.
Oh, man, I thought, my heart racing. NOW, something was definitely happening. I felt some kind of spark rocket through my body. Was it…
"Shit!" I panted. "Sky, you've gotta stop! I think I'm gonna pee!"
"No, this is it," he whispered, and he started pumping faster. Seconds later, I felt something warm moving up from deep inside me, like the mercury rising in a thermometer. Before I knew what was happening, fireworks went off and I erupted like a volcano, almost blacking out from the sensation. Milliseconds later, I felt something hot, wet and slimy spatter onto my belly. I moaned and fell back on the bed, exhausted, as if I had just swam a 3-minute mile.
Sky leaned over close to me. "How was that?" he asked, beaming.
"Holy… holy shit," I gasped. "I guess… I guess THAT was an orgasm." I tried to gather my wits as I caught my breath. "I gotta tell the Encyclopedia Britannica they left a few things out of the Sex Ed chapter."
We laughed together. Sky leaned over and lay beside me on one elbow, his warm skin almost touching my left side.
"I told ya! Isn't it great?" he grinned. "Now, it's my turn. I gotta shoot… my balls really ache, man. That's what happens when you really gotta do it. Here I go!"
Sky lay back beside me and started pumping his little tool. Looking at it more closely, I could see it was like a miniature replica of mine, only hairier. After just a dozen quick strokes, he reached down with his other hand, grabbed his testicles and started panting.
"Oh, god… I'm cumming!" Sky suddenly tensed his back and thrust his hips as spurt after spurt of white goop shot out of him like a cannon, hitting him in the chin and all over his muscular chest, which rose and fell. We lay there for a few seconds, exhausted.
"Shit!" I whispered, impressed with the intensity and volume of his performance. "Is it always like that for you?" I looked down at my own sticky groin and belly, which had just a few drops of clear liquid on it, and then looked at Sky's body. "Hey," I said. "Yours is all white! Howcum mine is different?"
He laughed and rolled over slightly. "Howcum your cum is different, you mean?" He grinned. "My brother says when most kids start out, they can barely shoot any sperm. I've been doin' this for almost two years. Now, I shoot just about as much as my brother," he explained, proudly.
"You've been doing this for that long?" I asked. My face fell. I didn't think me and Sky had ever had any secrets from each other before. For once, he had left me out of something, and it looked like it was something really cool.
Sky looked embarrassed. "Shit, I'm sorry, Wil. My brother said I shouldn't talk about this stuff to other guys. They'd think I was a homo or somethin'."
"You mean like a homosexual? A guy who has intercourse with men?" I asked. I had read about this stuff in the encyclopedia, but never quite grasped what it was all about. What I needed was a goddamned book with more pictures.
Sky wiped off his chest and stomach with a kleenex. "Shit, Wil," he laughed, "do you always have to sound like a professor? You know what I mean -- a pervert, a queer… a HOMO!"
I thought for a moment. I sure didn't want to be one of those. It sounded pretty bad. But it couldn't mean how I felt when I looked at Sky. This was just being buddies, right?
"Here," he said, tossing me a tissue, "take this and wipe yourself off. And be sure to get rid of the evidence in the trashcan. Carol once discovered my beat-off rag under my bed, and she razzed me for a week about it."
We sat around naked on his bed and talked for another twenty minutes about masturbation -- or "beating off" as he called it, along with half a dozen other names for it. Sky still marveled at my dick. I was glad he at least didn't call me a freak, like some of the guys on the swim team did.
"Is everybody else at school real hairy, Sky?" I asked nervously.
He shrugged his shoulders. "You've seen my brother -- he's only four years older than me, and he already shaves and has chest hair and everything. I guess my family's just hairier than yours, that's all."
I grinned. "That's 'cause you're all a bunch of apes, asshole!" I retorted.
"Look, relax, Wil," he said. "You said it yourself -- everybody in high school is scared to death the first day. They're gonna be so worried about not poppin' a boner in gym class, they'll be too scared to look at anybody else. And besides, look at your dick now."
I looked down.
"It looks a lot smaller now," he said. "It's not that much bigger than mine, now, is it?"
I grabbed the ruler and held it in position. "Almost 5 inches soft," I said.
Sky shook his head in amazement. "Fuck! Mine's only 3, soft." He looked down at mine, then back at my face and grinned. "You're pretty cool for a 13 year-old, Wil."
I sighed. "I hope the other guys in the locker room think so."
My friend laughed. "Just keep your back to the rest of the guys, leave your towel on, and whatever you do: don't get a hard-on! They'll probably just ignore you."
I nodded. Then I looked over at the clock by his bed. "Shit!" I cried. "It's already 7:30! My folks will kill me!"
I jumped off the bed and tugged on my swimsuit and T-shirt. "Look, I gotta go, Sky," I said. "I'll see ya at school tomorrow, OK? We won't know our class schedules 'till tomorrow morning, but look for me in the lunchroom at noon!"
"Alright. Get outta here!"
He threw a pillow at me, but I jumped as it sailed past my head. But before I unlocked the door, he darted over and put his hand on the knob.
"Look, Wil," he said, quietly. "Don't tell anybody about this, OK?"
I was startled. "Shit, no, Sky. Just between us."
"You swear?"
"I swear."
"Best friends?"
I grinned. "To the end."
He nodded and playfully punched my arm. I raced home on my bike and made it back in record time. I walked through the front door, hoping the coast was clear, and closed it quietly. As it was, nobody even noticed I was home. Mom, Dad, and my stupid sister Sharon were all engrossed in watching Ed Sullivan on the black & white TV in the living room.
The coast was clear. I started to tiptoe upstairs, but the wooden stair step creaked and let out several loud cracks, giving me away. I winced and braced myself.
"Wil!" called my Mom. "Did you get any dinner at the Jones' house?"
Won't they ever leave me alone, I thought. "Yes, Mom."
"Did you have a good time at the beach?"
"Yeah." But a much better time in Sky's bedroom, I thought.
"That's nice, honey. Don't forget, you have school tomorrow!"
I stopped, halfway up the stairs, but refused to turn around. "I'd rather go back to LaFontaine," I said, trying to keep the whine out of my voice.
I heard my dad get up off the couch and walk over to the foot of the stairs. "We've already had this conversation, William," he said, wearily. "I'm not going to throw away good money on an expensive private school, only to watch you get four C's, two D's, and an F again."
I nodded meekly, then trudged the rest of the way up the stairs.
"Don't worry, son!" Dad called after me. "You'll get to make a lot of new friends at Tampa Central. You know, your mother and I went there for high school in the 50's, and we had a great time!"
"Yeah, right," I muttered to myself as I made it down the hall and slammed the door to my room. "Only you weren't two years younger than everybody else."
I turned off the light, yanked off my swimsuit, threw it in the hamper, and leapt into bed. I thought about everything Sky and I had talked about and done at his place. It was like a whole new world had opened up. Uh-oh. I felt a stirring between my legs. I leaned back on the pillow and sighed.
What the hell, I thought. Maybe I can try this again. I started massaging my groin, and felt it spring to life, quickly elongating to its full length. Just as I started leisurely stroking it, my door suddenly burst open and my stupid little sister yelled out in a sing-song voice, "you came home laaaaa-aaaaate!"
I quickly yanked the covers up to my chin. "Sharon!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, "get the hell outta my room!"
"Mommmmm!" she wailed in the hallway. "Wil said 'hell' again!"
I'll say a lot worse than that if you don't close the fucking door, you little bitch, I thought.
"Wil, will you two keep it down?" my father yelled from downstairs. "We're trying to watch Ed Sullivan!"
"Close the door, Sharon, or I'll TICKLE you!" I yelled, making a move like I was going to jump out of bed. She squealed, slammed the door, and ran back down the hall. Christ, I thought, falling back to the pillow. That was too close. I made a mental note to lock the door from now on.
I got back to business, pulled down the covers, and began jerking and squeezing in earnest. I began fondling my balls, like I had seen Sky do. After only a minute, I felt the now-familiar wave start to build. I vividly remembered how Sky looked -- muscles straining, a few beads of sweat on his chest, his hand pumping furiously. I visualized his tight stomach, which had a row of deep muscular ridges all the way up to his ribcage.
I felt another surge building from deep inside me. Fuck, I thought, I'm gonna cum again! I arched my back as the waves of pleasure shot through my body. This time, the feeling was only about half as strong as it was an hour ago, and only a few scant drips trickled down my shaft. But it still felt great. I leaned back and tried to catch my breath. God, I could really get to like this "beating off" stuff.
Curiously, I examined my gooey hand. Hmmm, I thought, taking a cautionary sniff. It was an unusual odor, almost a little like bleach. I wondered what it'd look like under a microscope; I'll save that experiment for another day. Yawning, I wiped off my hand on my pillow and fell back, exhausted. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep, my head filled with confusing and conflicting visions of sleek, muscular bodies, women with breasts, and hairy body parts of every size and variety…

Chapter 3
Tampa Central High was a ratty-looking, faded brown-and-gray stone building, right out of the 1920s School of Bad Architecture. It was enormous. The front three-story facade was built nearly half a century ago, and looked ancient, like an archeological relic from ancient Greece. The back of the school housed a half a dozen newly-added modern wings, constructed a couple of years ago after the local politicians had closed a nearby school, combining the two student bodies. With more than 3200 students, Tampa Central was the largest, best-equipped high school in the state.
Promptly at 8:15AM, our busses rolled up to the sidewalk in front of the school. A large banner hung over the courtyard, proclaiming "Welcome Class of 1969 - The New Tampa Central Cheetahs!" As I stumbled down the bus steps, an obnoxious fat guy yelled through a bull-horn for us to line up in alphabetical order. I couldn't get over the culture shock. Compared to my all-white private school, this place was a madhouse, with literally thousands of teenage boys and girls of every ethnic mix milling about. I glumly stood in the row for the L's, and nervously glanced around, hoping desperately to spot my friend Sky. When I finally got to the front of the line, I gave my name to a bored-looking woman with a clipboard.
"Wil -- with one 'L'," I said. "Last name, 'Larson," with an 'O.'"
She handed me an ominous-looking manila folder that said, "Larson, William G.," and pointed down to a reinforced steel door on the far right side of the main building. "That leads down to hallway 3," she said. "You want room number 311. Your 9th grade homeroom teacher will give you the rest of your schedule for the semester and give you the orientation during the first period."
I meekly walked down the hallway, passing by a couple of jocks with letter jackets on the way. Shit, I thought. Those guys looked like they were six feet tall already! I got to homeroom and scanned around for a familiar face, without success. The teacher made us sit in alphabetical order, so I got wedged in-between a nerdy red-haired kid named "Lannigan, Ronald G." and a black girl named "Lillie, Yolanda R."
Our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Swatts, was a dour, stern-faced older woman, definitely a no-nonsense type. She droned on for over an hour, made us fill out forms, handed out crap for our parents to sign, a map of the school, and our daily class schedules, basically giving us 'the rules of the road.' I had to stifle myself from yawning out loud. Judging by the stupefied looks on everybody's faces, they were just about as bored as I was.
When Mrs. Swatts asked if we had any questions, everybody was quiet except for the nerdy kid right in back of me, who muttered, "yeah -- will you please go to hell?" I laughed so hard, I just about choked. The teacher glared at both of us and said, "what was that?" I immediately stifled my laughter and looked down at my desk, but the nerdy guy behind me quipped, "I said, 'did I just hear the bell?'"
As if to answer his question, the 2nd Period bell sounded at that very instant, and we all bolted for the doorway.
"Hold it!" the teacher shouted.
We stopped dead in our tracks. She pointed a gnarled finger at me and the nerd.
"I'm keeping my eye on you two," she said. "You wouldn't want to get sent to the principal's office the very first day of school, would you?"
We solemnly shook our heads and slinked out into the hallway, then raced off in opposite directions.
The next three periods were a blur, but somehow, I managed to survive until noon. Finally, lunch. My stomach rumbled as I entered the school cafeteria. It was cavernous. There must've been at least a thousand kids crammed into the room. My previous school had only had 300 kids, total. Everybody in the lunchroom seemed to be jabbering at once. The hubbub was so loud, I could barely hear the radio that blared on the PA system; it was The Turtles with their new hit "Elenore."
As I made my way through the food line, I chuckled at the song's corny lyrics, and started idly humming to the tune, which I had heard once or twice before. Eh, it's got a good beat, I could dance to it. Screw that -- I can't dance worth a shit, I laughed to myself. I handed fifty cents to the cashier and took a quick glance towards the lunch tables. Damn, I thought. Not an open seat in sight, except for a couple at the very back of the room.
As I trudged down the cafeteria corridor, I heard a voice behind me. "Hey! Asshole!" I turned and it was Nerdy Red-Head from my homeroom class, holding a tray piled with food. He jogged up to me, laughing.
"Sorry 'bout almost gettin' you in trouble earlier," he said. "Sometimes, my mouth moves before my brain has a chance to catch up, ya know?"
I grinned. "Yeah, I see what you mean. I'm Wil."
He grinned and nodded. "I'm Ron, but call me Ronnie. You find a place to eat, yet?"
I nodded as we walked down the aisle, and I started to point towards the last two open spots near the far wall. Just as I did, Ronnie let out a yelp and fell backwards on the floor with a noisy thud, followed closely behind by his lunch tray, which splattered pudding, potatoes, and some greasy meat-like substance all over him and the general area. I helped him struggle up to his feet, just as a roar of laughter erupted from a table behind us.
"That asshole," he muttered. "He tripped me as we were walking by." Ronnie nodded his head to our left.
I glanced over and saw a wide-shouldered kid, at least 16, sitting with a group of thug-like goons in matching football jerseys, who were guffawing hysterically and pointing at us. "Who's that jerk?" I asked.
Ronnie rubbed his shin and flicked some of the mashed potatoes off his shirt. "That was Scott Michaels," he said, ruefully. "Him and his little friends are part of the New Hitler Youth movement here at Tampa Central."
I laughed. "So, do the Nazis here roll over the rest of us like Poland, send us to the ovens, or what?"
He gave me a sideways glance, like he was surprised I caught the historical reference. "Yeah. Somethin' like that. You wanna sit down?"
"Okay -- but don't you need some food?" I asked.
"Aaaa, the food sucks here, anyway," he said making a face. "My brother says it's swill."
I looked down at my tray. Even without taking a bite, I suspected he was right. "Tell you what, Ronnie," I chuckled. "I'll split some swill with you if you'll at least go back and get us some napkins." He nodded and took off, taking care to avoid sliding into a pile of squashed lima beans that was already becoming a traffic hazard.
While I waited for Ron, I found a half-empty table off in the back corner, and was still looking around frantically for Sky. If he had the second Lunch period, I was screwed. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and a low voice behind me whispered, "is this where the big-dicked boys sit?"
"Sky, you asshole!" I cried.
My best friend scooted around and plopped himself beside me in a chair, immediately grabbing a handful of greasy-looking French fries from my plate. "What're you waiting for?" he asked, as he stuffed his face. "Siddown, you ultra-maroon!"
I grinned and sat next to him, just as Ronnie ran up.
"Oh," he said, dejectedly. "I guess you're out of seats."
Sky looked over and made a face. "Who's the geek?" he said, in-between mouthfuls.
I stood up. "Hold on -- Sky, this is Ronnie; Ronnie, Sky. Ronnie's running from the Neo-Nazis and we're gonna smuggle him through the bunker to the underground." The smaller boy's face brightened, while Sky looked puzzled.
In a near-perfect German accent, Ronnie quipped, "Klink! We're goink to haff to zend you to ze Russian Front!"
"You watch way too much TV," Sky laughed as he pulled over a chair from a nearby table, then turned back to me. "So why's this kid wearin' his lunch?"
Ron's face reddened as he started mopping some gravy off his shirt.
"A buncha assholes tripped him. Same old crap," I explained.
Sky shook his head. "Christ, it's the first day of high school, and already we're running into jerks. Great." He eyed our new friend. "Shit, Wil," he laughed. "Ronnie's even shrimpier than you!"
I grinned. I hadn't noticed, but it was true. Maybe I wouldn't be the shortest kid in 9th grade, after all.
Ron looked up with a toothy grin. "Yeah, but good things come in small packages," he said, with a stupid look on his face.
I winced, and playfully tossed a cube of green Jello at him, which bounced harmlessly off his nose. He immediately broke into a bizarre dead-on Jerry Lewis impression, screaming "Lady! Oh, LADY!" The three of us laughed so hard, we almost cried. Sky nearly fell backwards in his chair.
In-between our conversation, we wolfed down our food, such as it was. Ronnie chatted non-stop about the teachers and curriculum at the school, telling us which kids were OK and who we should watch out for. It turned out he had the inside scoop, since his brother had already gone to Tampa Central the year before, and was now a sophomore.
Ronnie seemed impressed that I was going out for the swim team, and that Sky was a shoo-in for football. We compared our class schedules: I was both pleased and annoyed, because I had only one period with Sky -- English, my best subject and Sky's worst -- but I had four with Ronnie, including Geography, American History, English, and Phys Ed, which was my last class of the day, at 2:45PM.
The warning bell sounded, so we scraped off our plates in the trash and bounded out the back door. Sky yelled goodbye and scooted off down the sidewalk, leaving me and Ron to race back to our lockers to grab our books for the next class. As it turned out, the freshman lockers were also assigned alphabetically, just like our seats in homeroom; Ronnie's was right next to mine, since his last name was Lannigan.
Just as I dropped in my math book, I heard a voice behind me and froze. "Hey, faggot -- you have a nice lunch?"
I turned around to find this Scott Michaels character smiling down at us. Was he talking to me? Before I could answer, Ronnie muttered, "shut up, douche-face."
In an instant, the older boy grabbed him and slammed him face-first against the locker, hard, twisting his arm behind his back.
"I didn't hear what you said, faggot!" he hissed. "What was that again?"
I felt my face redden with anger. "He said DOUCHE-FACE, douche-face," I said, gritting my teeth.
Michaels let Ronnie drop to the floor and turned to me. "I didn't ask for comments from the peanut gallery," he sneered. "What's your fuckin' problem, asshole?"
My heart was pounding a mile a minute, but my gaze never wavered from his. "N-n-no problem, man," I started, trying not to panic. "We're just trying to get to class. Just leave him alone, okay?"
Scott leaned in uncomfortably close to my face and grabbed the front of my shirt. I tried to size up my opponent. He looked to be about five-foot-ten, 150 pounds, and he had shaggy jet-black hair and narrow, beady eyes. I could smell the remnants of a cigarette on his breath, and I could see the stubble of the beginnings of a wispy moustache on his upper lip. His faded football jersey had the number 14 on it, and his jeans were at least a size too large and were ripped and frayed along one side. Judging by the visible muscles and veins in his arms, along with the menacing scowl on his face, he could probably eat me for lunch and then have Ronnie for dessert. I clenched my fists, ready for anything.
The three of us jumped when the final 5th Period bell sounded. The hallway was deserted except for the three of us.
Michaels gave me a dirty look and let go of my shirt. "This isn't over with, fuck-face," he said pointing at me. "You watch your ass." He sauntered away, laughing quietly as he turned the corner and disappeared.
Ronnie was practically in tears. "Shit. I'm r-really sorry to drag you into this, Wil," he stammered. "Scott really hates my brother, and I guess he hates me, too."
I shook my head. "Forget about it, Ronnie. Look, we're already late for American History," I said, consulting my little fold-out map. "Great -- it's just three doors down."
We slinked into the back of the history classroom unnoticed, just as the teacher was clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. We made it through that one unscathed, and an hour later, we were in Mrs. Kester's English class. Ron sat behind me, and Sky took the seat in the row immediately to my left -- perfect for him to cheat off my test papers, just as we'd done successfully all the way through 6th grade, back in elementary school. Sky wiggled his eyebrows at me and grinned. I shook my head and laughed to myself. It was gonna be a long school year.
I stared at the clock for most of the class, and somehow managed to successfully avoid getting called on by the teacher. The clock hands moved in slow motion for the entire hour, but at last, the 7th Period bell sounded. Time for my moment of truth -- Phys Ed.
"You know we've gotta dress out for PE, right?" asked Ronnie, nervously.
"I know," I nodded, holding my gym bag. "I've got my stuff in here."
Silently, we trotted into the Boys' Locker Room, which was already crowded with at least two hundred loud-talking students donning the requisite school-approved T-shirts, gym shorts, and sneakers. I noticed just one or two familiar faces, and immediately had felt a pang because Sky wasn't there with us. Ron and I each grabbed adjoining clothes lockers, and I started unbuttoning my shirt. We kept up our conversation, while simultaneously keeping our eyes averted.
"I'm a little nervous about this," Ron whispered to me,. "I'm, uh, not real big on public nudity."
I grinned. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Ronnie. Just get dressed fast. We'll deal with the showers later."
He nodded his head meekly and finished slipping on his shoes. I quickly tied up my sneakers and we ran outside to line up with the rest of the class.
Chuck, the stocky-looking junior assistant coach, separated our class into three different groups. Every six weeks, we'd rotate between football, gymnastics, and golf. Next semester would be basketball, track, and softball. Luckily for me and Ronnie, we both got tabbed for gymnastics, so we headed back into the locker room and through a large double-door, into the indoor basketball court. A dozen large padded mats had been laid down on the floor, and a fit-looking middle-aged man, dressed in white shorts and a matching T-shirt, gestured for us to join the group.
"Listen up, gentlemen," he announced. "I'm Coach Lucas. We'll be doing basic gymnastics in this class over the next few weeks. I know some of you would rather do 'real' sports like softball or football, but trust me -- gymnastics is just as tough as those are, and it can be just as fun. For some, it's even more of a challenge, because you're essentially competing against yourself -- improving your agility, and giving you basic skills you can use every day of your life, like balance, timing, and coordination. Here's the exercises for today."
The minutes went by as we began to imitate his movements. Sure enough, before long, we were somersaulting like little kids all over the mats, and falling all over the place trying to do cartwheels. Ron did a lot better than I did; he seemed to be a natural, cartwheeling like an expert and bouncing around like a seasoned pro. The last exercise had us trying to do headstands, and I felt like a total retard, unable to hold the position for more than a few seconds.
"Jeez, Ron," I lamented to him in frustration. "I thought you were supposed to be the dork, and I was supposed to be the cool swimming champ!"
He grinned. "I guess these things just come easily to those of us with inherent skill," he said, in a faux British accent.
"Oh, shaddup, professor!" I laughed, punching him affectionately in the shoulder. Now I knew how Sky felt when I tried to act like an intellectual to him.
Finally, the coach blew his whistle. "That's it, boys!" he yelled. Several students groaned. "Hit the showers. Don't forget -- they're mandatory! You'll get a point off your grade if we catch anybody dodging their shower!"
I felt a cold feeling in my gut. This is it, I thought. We made our way off the basketball court and back through a long crowded hallway, pulling off our T-shirts on the way. By the time we got into the locker room, I could see that half the class was already in various states of disrobing. As we crossed the crowded benches, I was relieved to see that several of the other 9th graders hardly had any more body hair than I did. But all of them looked noticeably smaller than I did down there -- a lot smaller.
Ronnie chatted nervously while we opened our clothes lockers and pulled out our towels. We both acted nonchalant and modestly turned away from each other as we undressed and continued our idle conversation. I yanked off my shorts and underwear with one fast move, and quickly wrapped the towel around my waist -- a move I'd perfected for the last couple of years of swim practice. It's now or never, I thought.
We both pushed through the jam-packed locker room and walked down the hallway, over to the shower area. I heard a distant howl from an unfortunate kid who apparently just got blasted with cold water. My heart sank as we entered the tile doorway. Just as I feared, it was a group shower, with about 30 ancient fixtures in the wall. So much for privacy.
As we walked through the steam-filled room, I avoided looking at the half-a-dozen wet, naked boys inside. Much to my embarrassment, I started to get a strange warm feeling in my gut, and a stirring in my groin. Shit, I thought. If I get a boner in here, I'll never hear the end of it! I deliberately bit my lower lip and tried desperately to recall the square root formulas from tonight's math homework.
Ronnie and I took adjoining showers, while he chattered on endlessly about what was going to be on TV that night. We both stood apart, and I kept myself carefully aimed towards an unused shower head on my right. One kid on the far end gave me a curious glance as I lathered up, and I saw him do a double-take when he walked by and glanced below my waist. I quickly turned my back to him and rinsed off the soap as fast as I could, then grabbed my towel and quickly wrapped it back around my waist.
Ronnie and I nervously made our way back through the line of naked teens, down the hall and over to our clothes lockers. Breathing a sigh of relief, I carefully unwrapped my towel and began quickly drying myself off, keeping my waist as close to my locker door as I could, to avoid any unwanted glances. Maybe this won't be so bad after all, I thought, with a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, I heard a loud THWAK! and Ron let out a yelp of pain. I looked up and saw a nude older boy grinning and holding a towel. I felt a twinge when I saw his penis, which looked to be almost as big as mine, only a lot hairier.
Shit. It was Scott Michaels again. "Gotcha, ya little faggot twerp!" he snarled. Ronnie whimpered and spun around against the locker, dropping his towel and holding his backside. His face was beet red, and his eyes were filled with a mixture of anguish and sheer terror.
Michaels roared with laughter. "Hey, guys! Get a load o' this! We got an anteater-dick here!"
A few chuckles erupted from the crowd of boys, who momentarily stopped dressing to enjoy the show. Ronnie's face reddened, and I glanced down. Shit, I thought. He was uncircumcised! It was pretty good-sized, too -- bigger than Sky's, I thought -- and though I hated to admit, it did kind of look like an anteater's nose.
"Don't pay any attention to them, Ron," I whispered, keeping my back to our antagonist, as I retrieved my glasses out of my gym bag.
"I think it's more like an armadillo-dick, Scott!" yelled one of his cronies.
Michaels took a menacing step towards me. "And you, shit-for-brains," he began. "I bet you got an anteater dick, too!"
Before I could respond, he ripped the towel off my waist, and I spun around -- completely nude, dripping wet, and thoroughly embarrassed. My hands weren't nearly big enough to cover my groin.
"What the FUCK?" Scott yelled, as he slapped my hand out of the way.
I felt my face flush as every eye in the locker room turned where I stood. Oh, shit, I thought. Here it comes.
Scott hooted with derision. "What are you, kid -- some kinda FREAK? That's a horse dick!" he yelled.
Nervous laughter and titters echoed through the locker room, and every conversation stopped. Scott took a step closer to eye me carefully, as if he were examining an animal at the zoo. Even Ronnie stared, open-mouthed.
Michaels pointed at my appendage and guffawed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. "Now that I think about it," he said loudly, "you're such an ass, I'd say it's more like a big DONKEY dick, wouldn't you?" He laughed again, and I felt my dick twinge. If anything, I think it was starting to respond to all the attention.
Before I could even think, I tore my towel out of his hand. "It's not too big for your mouth, you moron!" I muttered.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" the bully roared, taking a swing at me. I ducked, and his fist missed my head by a fraction of an inch and slammed into a metal shelf by my head, hard. He let out a cry of pain, and I leapt over a bench and took off running, my towel dropping as I hit the floor. Michaels yelled and tore after me, while the other boys looked on, laughing and yelling.
Everything was a blur as I darted past three rows of benches and back down the hall into the shower area, with Scott hot on my heels. Desperately, I spun on my heel and made a fast 180-degree turn as I hit the far tile wall, just like a flip-turn in the swimming pool, and came back at full speed in the opposite direction. Michaels made a lunge for me, but his hands slipped on my still-wet skin, leaving red marks down my back. Just as I cleared the shower doorway, I heard a yell and a satisfying thud close behind me, as several naked bodies slammed down on the wet tile floor. Good, I thought. I hope he cracked his skull.
I darted back to my locker, slowing down to a trot as I became aware of the dozens of wide-eyed boys taking in the show. I scurried past several on-lookers and hopped over the last two benches on the end. Ron was already half-dressed, and he tossed my underwear to me as I reached our bench. "Thanks, man," I whispered.
"No problem, Wil," he whispered back. "Just hurry!"
"I'm gonna kick your fuckin' ASS, Donkey Boy!" Scott bellowed from across the room, then began angrily shoving his way through the crowd, cursing with frustration and rage. All of them were still staring at me, their mouths open with surprise.
Just as panic seized me, an older voice called out. "You're not going to kick anything, Michaels!"
I looked up. It was Coach Lucas, who had emerged from his office to see what all the commotion was about. He grabbed Scott by the scruff of the neck and dragged him over to where I was standing. My heart was still pounding, but at least by now, I'd managed to get my underwear on to conceal my throbbing organ.
"What's all this about?" the Coach barked. The room immediately fell silent.
"Michaels started it," yelled one kid to my right. "Yeah!" said another loud voice from the back of the room. "Scott snapped a towel at the shrimp, and then tried to punch out the kid with the big dick!" Heads turned to look at the loudmouth from the back, who immediately looked down at the ground, and muttered, "well, it is."
The coach released the older boy from his grasp and folded his arms. "Look, you two. I don't have the time to deal with this bull-crap. Michaels, you aren't gonna start the year off with detention, like you had all last semester?"
"No, SIR," he grimaced.
"You've got an excellent chance to make the varsity squad this year, Scott. Don't blow it by getting into fights. Put that anger into the game, son, and not in the goddamned locker room!"
The coach turned to me. "And you -- you're Larson, right? You just signed up for the swim team?"
I nodded, meekly.
His voice softened as he looked me right in the eye. "That goes ditto for you, son. You're new here, and my advice is to stay out of trouble if you want to make the team."
Lucas was also the Dean of Boys at the school, but according to Ronnie, he had the reputation of being a pretty fair guy.
He looked at the two of us. "Gentlemen, I want the two of you to shake hands and apologize."
Scott stared at me. "But Coach…"
"No buts," said Mr. Lucas. "Just do it."
We shook hands in silence, but Scott shot me a look that could've melted bricks. I felt him squeeze my hand almost hard enough to break it, but my expression never changed as we muttered our apologies.
With that, the coach clapped his hands together. "That's it, folks -- the show's over. You gentlemen get dressed and get outta here. The school busses leave in five minutes, so move it!"
Ron stayed with me while I finished dressing, in silence. As we walked down the hall to our book lockers, I overheard a couple of whispers. "Biggest dick I ever saw… shhhh, here he comes," muttered a tall kid on our left. "Michaels was right -- it's like a horse dick!" whispered another. "DONKEY dick, you mean!" More laughter.
Fuck, I thought. My first day of high school, and I'm already a laughing-stock.
We ignored them and trudged out to the front of the school, just as the last of the busses pulled away. My heart sank.
Ron turned to me and said, "Hey, my mom's pickin' me and my brother up over there. You wanna ride?"
"Naw," I said, still embarrassed. "I think I'll just walk home."
"No, really," he insisted. "Where do you live?"
I gave him quick directions. "Hey, that's only a couple of miles from our house," he said. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too much out of our way."
On the ride home, I sat in the front seat and I kept my comments quiet and polite for Ron's mother. His brother Rick was an identical clone of Ron, complete with the red hair, freckles, and goofy looks, only he was a little bit taller and thinner. Ron chattered the entire way, occasionally whispering to his brother in the back, but Rick didn't reply. He looked up at me curiously in the mirror.
I looked out the window and began wondering if they were both uncircumcised, then shook the disturbing thought out of my head. Why was I suddenly having dick on the brain?
They dropped me off in my driveway, but before they drove away, Ron ran up to me on the porch.
"Thanks for what you did for me back at school, man," he said, breathlessly.
"I'd do that for anybody, bub," I said, truthfully. "I can't stand to see that shit."
"And don't listen to what Scott said about you, either," he grinned. "I bet he's just jealous. My brother says Michaels used to have the biggest dick in the school. I think you just beat him!"
I winced and nodded.
"See ya tomorrow, Wil!" he yelled, trotting back to the car.
I trudged wearily into our living room, threw my books in a heap on the coffee table, and collapsed on the couch. I sighed. I'd been in high school exactly one day, and I'd already made a new friend, but also a mortal enemy as well. It looked like it was going to be a long, fucked year, I thought.

Chapter 4
It'd been a difficult first week at school, but both Sky and I somehow managed to survive. He agreed to spend the night at my place on Friday, which was something we did once in awhile. After we went through my comic collection, I closed my door, quietly locked it, and whipped out three of my Dad's prime Playboys from behind a drawer in my old desk.
"Take a look at these," I whispered, letting a centerfold fall open.
Sky whistled. "Shit, look at the tits on this one!"
Almost immediately, I saw a lump grow in his shorts. We lay down on my bed and excitedly scanned the photos. For nearly half an hour, we flipped through the slick color pages, each of us critiquing the girls and comparing different shots. I think I preferred blondes; Sky said he was a "breast man," and rubbed his fingertips lightly on the round, tanned mounds of Miss September.
I felt butterflies in my stomach. I didn't tell Sky, but my favorite was one that had a naked guy in the shot with the girl. Much to my disappointment, you couldn't see much except for the guy's smooth chest and arms, but he definitely had muscles to spare. Whenever I saw it, I felt a confusing mix of feelings, but I couldn't ignore the insistent throbbing between my legs.
"You wanna… you know, do it?" I asked, nervously.
"You mean… jack off?" he said, never taking his eyes off the page.
"Yeah."
"Sure," he grinned. "Let's do it together."
We each slid down our pants, tore off our T-shirts, tossed them in a pile on the floor, and lay on our backs in the middle of my bed. I glanced over at Sky, who was already rock-hard and stroking, never taking his eyes off his centerfold. I held up my magazine in my left hand and did the same.
"This isn't gonna take me long," he gasped.
"Me neither," I said, eying his boyish dick. I saw for the first time that Sky had a few stray blond hairs on his balls, which excited me in a strange way. In less than a minute, he was groaning and flailing his hand rapidly.
"Oh, man, I'm gonna cum!" he moaned.
I tossed down my magazine, grabbed myself with both hands, and began stroking in earnest. "I'm close, too!" I gasped.
He erupted in spasms… two, three, four spurts shot up his chest. Sky fell back, exhausted, then eyed me as if seeing me for the first time. "Jesus, Wil. You really do have a big dong!" He giggled and grinned at me.
I stopped in mid-stroke. "Cut that shit out, man!" I snapped.
"No really, I'm not making fun of you. It looks cool!" he said, admiringly.
I felt a glimmer of pride, and held my bulging member off to one side. "So you don't think it's a donkey dick?"
Sky leaned back on the pillow, put his hands behind his head and chuckled affectionately. "Yeah, I heard about that crap at school," he said. "Ignore those jerks. They're just jealous."
"You think so?" I asked, hopefully.
He grinned and nodded. "Shit, who wouldn't be, Wil?" he said, using a tissue to wipe off his muscular chest and stomach. "Even I am."
I was stunned. "Sky, you're the best athlete I know! Why be jealous of me?"
"Not of you, you moron! Your dick!" He sat up, shaking his head incredulously. "Any guy would be happy as hell to have that thing. The chicks'd be lined up around the block if they knew you had one like that." He looked down at my groin, then said, "Shit -- I bet it's so big, you could give yourself an S.B.J.!"
I had already heard a lot of sex stuff at school over the last few days, but not this. "What's an SBJ? Is that related to LBJ?" I said, puzzled, referring to the current president.
Sky giggled and shook his head. "You know what a blow-job is, right? When a girl sucks your dick?"
The mental image gave me an immediate twinge.
"Yeah, sure," I said. "You mean fellatio." That one I'd found in a reference book at the public library.
"Thanks for the scientific terminology, professor," he said, laughing. "Now, what if you could do it to yourself? Like a self-blowjob? 'S.B.J.,' get it?"
I thought for a second and looked down at my swelling member. It did look tantalizingly close to my face.
"Would that be too queer if I did it to myself?" I wondered aloud.
Sky thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Naaaaa. It's still your body. Try it! I bet you can do it." He crawled across the bed on his stomach and leaned over on his elbows, watching me expectantly.
I hesitated, then turned to him.
"C'mon, just try it, Wil!" he taunted. "I dare ya."
I took a deep breath, sat up and leaned forward, then pushed my mouth towards my groin. With a tremendous effort, I forced myself down and my lips just barely grazed the tip.
"Wow!" he marveled. "You've almost got it!"
"Yeah," I winced, "but it hurts my back like hell!"
"Try another position," he advised.
"Like what?"
Sky thought for a minute. "Get on your back, and pull your knees all the way over, like in gymnastics class!"
I thought for a minute and nodded. I turned over and got into position, moving my groin right over my face. I pulled my hips down, and was rewarded with my entire head slipping into my mouth. The feeling was indescribable -- hot, wet, and exciting.
"Fuck!" Sky whispered excitedly. "You can actually do it!"
"Mmmmmph!" was all I could reply. I couldn't get enough of this feeling. I slurped and gobbled up my member, which seemed to expand even longer as my desire increased. I pulled it out and licked it around and around with my tongue, then shoved it back in as far as I could go, my entire mouth wrapping it like a warm blanket. Jesus, I thought, as my sensory network erupted with pleasure. If this is what a blow job's like, I bet it'd be even better to have somebody else do it for me.
Before I knew it, an involuntary guttural moan started in the back of my throat, as I felt the oncoming orgasm rise through my loins. Sky was silent as I plunged deeper and deeper into my own mouth. I was oblivious to him or the room around me; as far as I was concerned, the only thing that existed were the overwhelming ripples of pleasure from between my legs.
"Shit, that is so cool!" Sky said, marveling.
I glanced over and saw his eyes were riveted to my groin. I looked down and saw his erection had popped back to full attention. I felt a huge wave of excitement overtake me as I pulled my groin down closer to my face, and tried to ignore the dull throbbing pain in my lower back. My heart raced even faster when Sky leaned over and gently rubbed my backside. Suddenly, I was hit with a lightning bolt of pleasure, and a warm salty taste blasted through my mouth. I moaned and fell back, coughing and choking.
"GROSS, man!" Sky yelled, standing up. "You fuckin' swallowed it!"
"What?" I gasped dizzily, my face flushed. I continued to erupt two or three more small spurts, which trickled down my abdomen and onto my bedspread. I lay on the bed, exhausted, staring at my friend.
"Well, whaddya expect me to do?" I snapped. "Spit it out?"
"That's too queer," he said, shaking his head.
I stared at him, incredulously. "But it was your idea!"
"Yeah, but I didn't tell ya to swallow your own cum! That's just too weird, man."
I gazed down at my withering erection. Even soft, it was a little bigger than Sky's was erect, I thought with some pride. Some leftover residue trickled out of the corner of my mouth, and I wiped it off with the back of my hand. I could still taste a little salty goo on my tongue.
Sky pulled on his underwear and reached for a pair of shorts. "Look, I gotta get something to eat," he said. "I'm gonna go downstairs and raid the refrigerator. You want anything?"
I glared at him. We had just practically had sex, and now he was acting like nothing had happened at all.
"No," I said tersely. "I'm not hungry. Lemme just clean off."
He zipped up his short pants, tossed me a box of Kleenex, and scurried from my room. I sat on the bed and wiped off the gooey mess from my stomach and face. I felt… I dunno, dirty and ashamed, like a little kid.
What was going on here? Was Sky my friend or not? Did swallowing this stuff really make you a homo? Shit, I still got boners whenever I saw pictures of naked chicks. Didn't that count for something? One thing's for certain, I thought -- I'm not a homo! I couldn't be. I didn't care what Sky said.
* * * * *
Later that night, we watched TV in the living room, sitting on the couch in our shorts. Much to my relief, Sky acted real casual, as if nothing had happened. The local station was showing Bride of Frankenstein, one of those ancient movies from the 1930s. It was one of my all-time favorites; I even had a recent poster of it on my bedroom wall. I thought the movie was cool as hell, but Sky yawned and said it was boring and stupid. Halfway through the show, I noticed he had fallen asleep on the couch, still shirtless. I stared at him, and still couldn't get over how good-looking he was. Better than any kid I ever saw on TV, I thought.
Just as the second feature began, I glanced at the clock. Jesus, 1AM already. I switched off the set. Sky looked so peaceful lying on the couch, I just tossed a spare sheet over him and trudged back upstairs to my room. I tried sleeping, but all I could do was stare at the ceiling. My head was filled with confusing images, and Sky's insults still rang in my ears. Almost against my will, I felt myself harden again as I relived the events of a few hours before. I was too tired to suck myself again, but I knew I had no choice but to take matters into my own hand, or else I'd never get to sleep. In minutes, after staring at Miss September's tits, I was thoroughly spent and fell back to slumberland.
* * * * *
Around 10AM on Saturday morning, I awoke to find Sky already gone. My mom told me he'd left an hour earlier, saying he was starting football practice that afternoon and had to get home. I called his house, but didn't get an answer. I went back to my room and tried to do my homework, but I kept thinking about what Sky had said.
Fuck it, I thought. I flicked on the radio and hummed along to an "oldie but goodie" as the DJ said -- "Teenager in Love," by Dion. I felt a pang as the singer wailed the lyrics. I'd been going to high school only a week, and I already knew how he felt. Was I falling in love?
No, I thought. No. Sky and I were just friends… best friends. Nothing wrong with that. I'd save love for the right girl.
But that didn't make up for the gnawing emptiness I felt.
* * * * *
The following week, swim team trials started up. I got my dad to agree to drop me off at school at 7:00AM, since the bus routes didn't even start up until 8. The pool was huge, roughly three times as big as the ones I'd been used to: standard Olympic long course, 50 meters long by 20 meters wide, with six lanes, all housed indoors in a brand-new building on the far side of the Tampa Central High campus. I wore my swimsuit under my pants, to try to avoid having to undress and encounter the same amused stares and giggles that I had to endure in gym class.
When we walked out of the locker room and into the indoor pool area, I smelled the familiar odor of chlorine in the air, and dipped my toe in the water. Not bad, I thought -- they must have a heater somewhere. I smiled and relaxed. It was good to be back in my element, I thought, as I stood next to the other swimmers. A whistle blew nearby, and I looked up to see the Coach going down my row, checking our names off on the sign-up sheet, and then assigned us to some trial laps. On the word 'go,' I dove off like a shot and tore down the lane as hard as I could, but yawned as I pulled myself out of the water. This early schedule was gonna be murder.
After we watched the other candidates swim their laps over the next hour, the coach finally had us all line up in a row, and called out six names. One at a time, they walked over to him and he quietly spoke to each boy. The rest of us stood nervously, shivering slightly in the cold morning air. As the last of them disappeared back to the locker room, he turned to the rest of us and said, "congratulations, boys. The rest of you are officially on the Tampa Central High swim team!" Our cheers echoed throughout the building.
My elation quickly evaporated when I found out that despite my six previous years of local championship swim meets, the competition at the high school level was fierce. Coach Byers assigned me to the number six lane -- the one usually reserved for the slowest swimmers. He took me aside and assured me it was only temporary.
"Son, I saw your record," he explained, reassuringly. "Give it some time. 9th graders rarely make our team at all, but I'm going to make an exception in your case. We're gonna put you on second-string to start, but you'll be ready to participate in meets in a month or two. I think you've got the makings of a real champ in you, especially in Butterfly. Hang in there, Wil."
I nodded and went back to my laps. At the end of practice, we headed back to the locker room. I kept to myself and quickly toweled off, leaving the shower for the others. One of the guys I had swam with a year or two ago saw me and flashed me a grin of recognition. "Hey, Wil!" he called out.
I barely looked up and saw a face I dimly remembered, searching my brain for his name. "Oh -- hi, uh… Mark," I said. "I guess we're on the team together again." As I pulled my shirt down over my head, Mark walked over, still soaking wet.
"Yeah!" he said, excitedly. "Man, you and me are the only 9th graders to make the team so far! Isn't that's great? If you and me get to do the 200-yard relay again, we got a good chance of makin' it to the Florida state regionals!"
I glanced up at him and nodded as he snapped off his Speedos, wrung out the water over the drain, and started toweling down. Shit, I thought, as I glanced at his groin. He's a lot hairier than I was.
"Coach says we're one of the few high schools in Florida that's got an indoor pool," Mark said, as he dried off his head, "so we can keep practicing all winter long, all the way until the season ends in February. Isn't that cool?"
"Yeah, it's great," I muttered. I tried to avert my eyes from his groin, which was only inches away from my face. I zipped up my pants and started tying up my sneakers.
"Anyway, I'm glad you made the team, B.D.," he said, grinning.
I stopped. "What's 'BD'?" I asked.
"Big Dick! What else?" He cackled with laughter and shot me a huge grin.
I winced. "Shut up, man," I snapped, stuffing my Speedos and towel in my gym bag.
Mark looked surprised. "C'mon, Wil," he said. "Don't be so goddamned sensitive. Practically the whole school knows by now -- it's not a big deal. Well, actually, maybe it IS," he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes, stormed off, and angrily slammed the locker room door behind me.
* * * * *
For the next few weeks, things went about as well as I could've expected. Scott Michaels and I gave each other a wide berth in the hallways, and -- whether by luck or by chance -- Coach Lucas kept us out of each other's groups in 7th period Phys Ed. Sky seemed to be tied up every other day with the football team, so I didn't see much of him at all. I was starting to feel kind of lonely. Ronnie followed me around like a puppy, but he was getting annoying. Besides, Sky had practically been my best friend since third grade. I wasn't going to give up on him yet.
On Saturday, I called him up at home. "Hey, Sky, it's me," I started. "You want to go see a movie or something today?" I asked.
"Oh, hi, Wil." He sounded annoyed, like I had interrupted something. "Listen, uh, I sorta… can't. Not today. I got some other stuff to do. Maybe next week or somethin'."
This didn't sound right. "Sky, what's up?" I asked. "I wanted to talk to you about some stuff -- you know, like what we talked about the last time you spent the night at my place."
"Look, I just… I gotta go -- I'm goin' out on a date in two hours," he said, sounding a little flustered. "See you next week at school." Before I could protest, the line went dead.
Shit. The one guy I could really talk to was too busy to hear my problems. I was feeling horny as hell, too. Only one way to solve that, I thought. I grabbed one of my Dad's old Playboys from my secret stash, and quickly stroked my way to Nirvana.
* * * * *
On Monday, I caught Sky's eye as we walked into our English class. "Pssst! Hey, what's goin' on, man?" I whispered to him as sat down in our respective desks.
He barely made eye contact with me. "Can't talk now. Maybe later."
I spent the next hour trying to concentrate on conjugating verbs, and fought the urge to yell at my friend next to me. What was his problem?
Finally, the bell rang. Ron leaned over at his desk behind me and started up with one of his stupid jokes. I turned to him and snapped, "shut up, Ronnie! I got some stuff I've got talk over with Sky -- private stuff. I'll see you in Phys Ed." He was taken aback, but nodded meekly and walked away.
I walked over to Sky's desk just as he stood up, and I tried to lay on the guilt as hard as I could. "What's with you, asshole?" I asked, angrily. "You can't even talk to me on the phone anymore?"
"I just got a lotta stuff goin' on, that's all," he began, picking up his notebook and books, all while trying to avoid looking at me in the eye.
"Look," I said, leaning in closer and lowering my voice. "I just thought you might wanna… you know, get together this weekend, and do some stuff. You know, with my Dad's magazines."
My grin faded as he looked up at me with a nervous expression. "I'm… I'm not like that, Wil," he stammered. "Besides, I met somebody."
"Who?" I snapped.
"A girl. Melissa. You know, Melissa Rivington -- the brunette who lives four blocks over from us, on Euclid Avenue. Man, she's a knockout."
My mouth went dry, and I swallowed. "Yeah. A knockout. OK, congratulations."
We both looked away, in an uncomfortable silence.
"See ya 'round," he muttered, walking quickly out the door.
I hurried after him and stopped him just as he hit the hallway.
"But what about all that stuff we did!" I hissed.
His face reddened. "I'm not a FAG!" he retorted, looking around anxiously to see if anybody was watching us.
A cold feeling hit me in the stomach. "I didn't say you were, Sky," I said, angrily. "I just thought we were friends!"
He nodded, and his expression softened a little bit. "Well, yeah. But just not… not that way, y' know?" Sky put his hand on my shoulder, and I had to restrain myself from shoving him away. "Look, Wil. You'll find a girl, too. You'll see."
I closed my eyes. I didn't believe what I was hearing.
"Look, man -- I gotta go," he said as he walked away. "Maybe I can get Melissa to find somebody for you."
Yeah, just what I need, I thought as he walked away. I spent the rest of the day in a funk, but I wasn't totally sure why.

“Morning, Alec. Did you do your homework?” Liz asked, grinning cheekily at me. ‘Don't chat, just give it to me. She'll be here in a minute and I still need a few points,’ I hissed back.
“All right, here you go. Don't stress, it's just a few lines, that's all. And she's smoking a cigarette downstairs with Martin. So you have plenty of time.”
“Thanks. I'm sorry if I used the wrong tone. I'm just a bit stressed,” I tried to apologize to her. But Liz wasn't even listening anymore and was chatting with others from the course.
Liz and I are in the same degree program and best friends. We are always there for each other, no matter what. And that's even though we've only known each other a year.
“Right, let's get started. I suggest we cover chromosomes again today, because some of you had questions about them. And that's an important topic in biology...” our tutor started to explain, but I didn't listen. Genetics wasn't exactly my favorite subject. But I had to go through with it if I wanted to study biology to the end. “Liz, you know that guy on TV that I thought was so cute. I got his address. Would you like to come with me sometime? Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll be on the street or something,” I turned to Liz to distract myself a little from my boredom. ”What, you have his address? How? I don't know. Do you think that's such a good idea? He's sure to be smart and will realize what's what straight away.”
“Oh nonsense. Other people meet stars by chance on the street.” I tried to convince her. ‘Well, I don't know. I'd be...’ ”So I see you want to explain that to us, Liz. Well, come on then. You can bring Alec with you, to correct you if you get it wrong,' our 'nice' tutor suddenly interrupted us. 'Great, just because you're always coming up with crazy ideas,' Liz spat, standing up.
The day went by pretty quickly. After we finished, I ran to the subway to get home quickly. My sweet Flo was supposed to be on TV again today. Unfortunately, I had to stay at university a little longer than usual, so I had to hurry today.
Flo, whose real name is Florian, has the leading role in a very successful series. And I try to watch it as often as possible. So far, I have hardly ever missed an episode. My biggest wish is to meet him in person one day. Unfortunately, it doesn't look particularly good for me there. He is very successful and rarely has time because he is always busy. That's why the chance of meeting him in town is very slim, even though we live in the same city.
I'm not in love with him, but he is damn good-looking. And it can't hurt to get to know him.
As soon as I arrive home, I turn on the TV. Fortunately, I'm home a little earlier than I thought. So at least I can quickly grab something to eat on the way up. As soon as I arrive upstairs, it beeps out of the speakers on my laptop. My God, who is bothering me again? Everyone knows that I can't be reached at this time, I think, and get a little annoyed and irritated as I turn on my computer. It's Steffi, who else could it be? She'll never learn that I'm not on the computer at this time of day. So I quickly write back to her that I won't be in the chat for a while.
My favorite TV series is finally starting. And five minutes after it begins, he is already on screen. Immediately, I start raving. I no longer know what it's about, because I only see him. Although I'm actually in love with a fellow student, I still get butterflies in my stomach every time I see Flo on the screen. And so it goes every evening...
Two weeks later:
“Hey Tim, I hope you have a good vacation. If you have time and feel like it, we can go for a drink sometime,” I called to my crush before he was at the door. ‘Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'll get back to you.’ And just like that, he was gone.
“Hey Alec, did you notice that he was watching you the whole time again?” Liz suddenly asked me. ”Nah, not really. Well, but his answer wasn't exactly promising, was it? I don't know what to do, Liz. If only I knew whether he's gay or not. It's driving me crazy.”
“Well, Alec, there's only one thing for it: ask him yourself,” Liz said in a rather serious tone.
“Are you crazy? He'll know immediately what phase it is. What if I just imagined everything? Then I'll look like a fool. Well, let's see what else comes up.
But let's talk about something else.”
And so Liz told me that she was going on vacation with her boyfriend for two to three weeks. After all, we now have almost two months of semester break. Of course I thought that was a shame because I thought I could go out on the town with her. Well, but there was probably nothing I could do about it. Personally, I could have gone to my parents, but that would have been too stressful for me in the long run. My parents had both taken early retirement and eventually started to get on my nerves with their nagging. So I decided to stay in town.
The first three weeks weren't particularly spectacular. I met up with a few friends now and then and watched a lot of TV, mainly because of Flo. I didn't even meet up with Tim once in all that time. And at some point I started to forget him. Instead, I thought about Flo more and more often. Somehow I still wasn't in love with him, but I thought about him all the time anyway. One night, I was chatting again when my cell phone rang and it was Liz. She told me she was back in town and wanted to meet up with me. So we arranged to meet the next evening.
So we met at our favorite bar the next evening. She told me in detail about her vacation and how great it was, but somehow I wasn't quite with it. I kept thinking about Flo. And every time someone walked by the window with a hairstyle similar to his, my heart started beating faster. At some point she noticed that I was somewhere else. “Hey, say, what's actually going on with you? You've been acting weird the whole time. Are you even listening to me anymore? Alec, I'm talking to you,” she said, poking me in the side. Only then did I realize that she wanted something. ‘What's going on??? Did something happen that I don't know about?’ And so I started to explain everything to her.
“Well, somehow I haven't thought about Tim much in the last three weeks. We wrote to each other briefly from time to time, but I wasn't excited at all when he wrote. You know how it used to be when I got a message from him. I almost went crazy. But now it's over. I don't think about him at all anymore. But I think about Flo all the time. I'm not in love with him, don't worry, but I can't stop thinking about him. And I've decided that I'm going to go to where he lives, whether you come with me or not. I just have to give it a try.«
“Alec, what do you expect to achieve by this? You said yourself that he's into women. And besides, he's only on the road anyway. The chances of meeting him are pretty slim. Or do you want to ring his doorbell? I think it's a really stupid idea,” Liz tried to dissuade me from my idea.
“I don't care what the chances are. Whether I sit around at home or see something of the city doesn't matter. At least I'll get some fresh air. Now let's change the subject. You know I'll do it anyway and won't let you stop me,” I spat at her, whereupon we really changed the subject.
The next morning, the weather was beautiful outside and almost twenty degrees. So it was a perfect day to stop by my sweet Flo's place. I jumped in the shower, got ready, packed some provisions and a city map, and went to the S-Bahn. Now it could finally start. In my mind, I already imagined how the meeting might go. What should I say to him? How would he react to me? Would he be annoyed that yet another fan of his was showing up in front of his apartment?
At some point, I arrived at the right station to change to another S-Bahn. There, things went on immediately. I was only thinking about Flo. It didn't occur to me that I probably wouldn't meet him. So I continued on, feeling cheerful. When I arrived at the end of the line, I first had to look at the map to see how to proceed. Unfortunately, there was neither a tram nor a subway or suburban train station near Flo's house. So the only option left was the bus, because I didn't want to walk. That would have been over seven kilometers, which would have been a bit too much.
So I started to check all the bus stops to see if there was a bus that stopped near his house. And as it usually is, it was the last bus that I looked at on the timetable. Great, and it left three minutes ago. So I had to wait for the next one, which wasn't due for another half an hour. That got off to a good start.
After half an hour, my bus finally arrived and I was able to continue. After about half an hour, the bus finally arrived at the right stop. I got out and took my map to check again exactly which way I had to go. Slowly but surely, my heart and pulse rate increased and I clearly felt my excitement rising.
After a ten-minute walk, I arrived at the house where he lived. It looked a bit older, from the 1960s. Just a typical apartment building. Opposite the house, there was a bench by a wall, where I sat down. To make it less conspicuous, I rummaged through my bag for a book and pretended to read it with interest, although I was actually just watching the street and the entrance to the building. But then I started to think that it would look pretty stupid if he suddenly came and I got up and went to meet him. But what else could I do? If I kept walking up and down the street, it would attract just as much attention. So I decided to stay here.
Slowly but surely it began to get dark. I had been sitting on the bench for almost six hours. I was really getting frustrated. So I packed up my things and went back to the bus stop. But after only a few meters, I heard someone groaning and calling out. It sounded like someone was trying to scream for help. I looked around and listened more closely. It came from the property behind the wall. I was sure of that. Unfortunately, it was too high. I couldn't climb up. So I looked for a passage. I found one after a few meters. I looked around the corner to see what was going on. And what I saw shocked me. Three skinheads were beating and kicking a defenseless boy who was lying on the ground and could hardly move because of the pain. Fortunately, I hadn't taken part in my karate class too long, so I stormed at the three of them while throwing my bag on the ground. The three of them turned to me in shock, because I was screaming at them to leave the boy alone. After they had composed themselves, they positioned themselves so that they could attack me. Fortunately, though, I was faster. I kicked the first one right in the face, so that he was hurled backwards. The second one got a powerful kick in the stomach and also flew backwards. Unfortunately, I was too slow to avoid the third one. So I got his fist right on my lower lip. However, he slipped and so he did not hit me with all his might. Nevertheless, my lip started bleeding immediately. After I had caught myself, he immediately got a kick between his legs, causing him to start screaming. Then I reached into my pocket to get my pepper spray, which I always carry with me. One by one, all three got back up and were about to attack me again. Fortunately, my pepper spray canister has a lot of pressure and thus has a long range. Since all three were standing next to each other, it was easy to spray the spray in all three of their faces. Immediately, they started screaming and slowly began to retreat.
After I made sure that all three had disappeared, I went to the boy lying on the floor. I asked him how he was doing and wanted to turn him over when he slapped my hand away and said, “I'm fine. Leave me alone, please. Thanks for your help, but I can handle it on my own.” But I didn't believe him. Although he resisted, I managed to take his hood off his head and I almost had a stroke. “F F Flo???”, I stammered. I couldn't believe it. The boy who had been beaten up was Flo. I just didn't believe it. After I had gathered myself, I bent down to him and immediately took my handkerchiefs out of my jacket. Then I started to clean the blood off his face. He looked pretty bad. There were bruises all over his face and his lips were split in several places. After I had cleaned him up a bit, I asked him if he could get up. He didn't say anything the whole time. You could tell that he was embarrassed that someone he didn't know was helping him, but who knew him. “Yes, I said I'm fine. I'm not a little kid anymore. You can go now. I'll be fine. Like I said, thanks for your help, but you really can go. Oh, and it would be nice if you didn't tell anyone about this,” he said, quite annoyed. ‘Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but at least let me help you,’ I tried to reason again. This was not how I had imagined our meeting.
“No, damn it, I'll be fine. Now go,” he snarled. I thought to myself that it would probably be better. I'd better try again later. I didn't want to antagonize him before I even got a chance to meet him.
But as soon as I had walked five meters, I heard him scream loudly, “Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh And my shin hurts like hell, too.” ‘Okay, Flo, I'll take you on my back and bring you home. Are your parents there already?’ I asked, while I loaded him onto my back. ‘No, they're both on a four-week cruise.’ ”Okay, can you get your key for the door? And can you unlock it if you're on my back? Because I don't think standing it's not a good idea, “I asked him. It struck me how gentle his hands were, which he had wrapped around my neck. Suddenly I realized that he pressed his body like a little child who is afraid, to my back. ‘I'll manage,’ he stammered and then put his head on my neck.
After three minutes we were already in front of the building entrance. I turned a little to the side and he unlocked the door without much effort. “Ok, which floor do we have to go to?” I asked him while I was already climbing the first steps. “Fifth,” he said without raising his head. After another ten minutes we were standing in front of the apartment and he also unlocked this door without any major problems.
After I had looked around briefly, I spotted a sofa on which I carefully set Flo down. Then, without him resisting, I lifted his leg and freed it from his shoe. Then I carefully took off his sock and felt his foot. “Well, nothing's broken, but you shouldn't move your foot today or tomorrow. Do you have any ice anywhere? You should definitely cool it. Then the swelling will go down faster,” I said, looking him deep in the eyes. And that's when I noticed that he had tears in his eyes. He said, ‘There are ice cubes in the freezer in the kitchen.’ But I wasn't interested in that at all right now. I stood up and then squatted down next to him so that our faces were at the same level. Then I took his hand and began to stroke the back of his hand, which he allowed me to do. As I did so, I looked deep into his eyes and said, “Hey Flo, it's over. We're going to be okay, all right? They're not going to hurt you anymore. But if you want to cry, you can do that.” And with that, I suddenly hugged him. I didn't know what had suddenly come over me, but to my surprise he let go of my hand and put his arms around my neck and then began to sob. He kept asking, “Why me?” But unfortunately I couldn't answer that question myself. I had already thought about why. But I couldn't find an answer.

The new student
“We're getting a new one today! Do you already know any details?” Lucas asked his friends. Ben, who was standing next to him in the schoolyard, replied, slightly annoyed, ‘Oh, I don't know. Hopefully it's not another idiot. We don't need anyone like Kai again.’ He grinned nastily.
“Man, Ben! Why are you in such a bad mood again today?“ That was Katrin. Like Ben and Lucas, she was in the 10th grade.
“None of your business!” Came the snappy reply from Ben. He ran his hand through his short brown hair. “I'm going in already. You don't have to go with me, I want my peace!”
With a wave of his hand, he made his way into the school building.
When he had disappeared into the building, Katrin dropped down on a bench and remarked to Lucas: “He's in a really good mood again, it could be even more cheerful!”
“Oh, leave him alone! He's just having his days.” Lucas grinned, and a smile also flitted across Katrin's otherwise serious face.
Ben froze when he saw the blond boy waiting outside their classroom door. His hair was cut short and styled high. His body was well built, as far as Ben could tell under the clothes.
'His face resembles an angel,' flashed through Ben's mind.
“Oh my god, what am I thinking? He's a boy. Hopefully the class is already open. I have to get out of here!” He said quietly to himself. Ben's heart was beating like crazy, which only made him more afraid. Without looking at the ‘new’ one again, the brown-haired quickly walked to his classroom door and pushed the handle.
“Damn!” Ben kicked the closed door. Then he leaned against the wall. The ‘new guy’ joined him.
“Hello. I'm new here, my name is...”
Ben interrupted him. He looked into his blue eyes. There it was again, that tingling sensation. When he had regained his composure to some extent, he said in a calm but irritable tone of voice, “I don't really care that you're new here, and I don't give a damn what your name is either. So just leave me alone!”
The blond guy recoiled in fright. Ben looked at him briefly.
“I'm sorry. I'm not in a very good mood today. I'm a damn morning grouch,” Ben stammered, looking at the ground.
It was getting louder in the hallway. School had started and the students were streaming in. Lucas and Katrin stormed over to the ‘new guy’ and bombarded him with questions. Ben had retreated a little and was thinking. What was wrong with him? He kept asking himself that over and over again. He smiled slightly as he looked at the blond boy. Was he smiling back, or had Katrin and Lucas just told him something funny? Ben didn't have time to dwell on it because their teacher was already unlocking the door.
When everyone had taken their seats, the “new boy” entered, followed by the teacher, who closed the door.
Now the “new boy” was standing in front of the whole class, but they didn't even notice him, they were talking.
“I ask for silence, I would like to introduce you to a new student,“ said the teacher calmly but firmly. With success, because the class fell silent. ‘So Kevin, please introduce yourself briefly.”
Kevin the ’new guy” looked for the gaze of the class and found it in Ben's eyes. He looked at him and began to speak.
“My name is Kevin. I currently live just outside of town in a house that belongs to my parents. My parents are currently living abroad. I recently moved here and am now looking forward to going to this school.”
With that, Kevin finished his sentence. “All right, all right,” said the teacher. He pointed to the empty seat next to Ben. “Please sit next to Ben. Behave yourselves or I'll have to deal with you!”
Ben looked thoughtfully out of the window when Kevin sat down next to him.
“Um, Ben?” Kevin whispered.
A quiet ‘Hmmm?’ Came as an answer.
“Could you lend me a pen? I left mine at home.”
Ben handed him his pencil case.
“Choose one.” He smiled cautiously. Kevin smiled back.
The first four lessons went normally. During the break Kevin and Ben walked across the schoolyard together. ”Hey Kev, sorry again about this morning. For being so mean.”
Ben bowed his head. Kevin put his hand on the shoulder of the brown-haired boy and smiled.
“It's okay, it can happen to anyone.“ Kevin leaned against a wall.
“I'll apologize by inviting you to the movies today, provided you have time and feel like it.” While he said this, he had stepped very close to Kevin. The blond's face flushed. He felt Ben's hot breath on his face. His legs seemed to give way.
“Hey Ben. Hey Kevin.,” Katrin called from afar.
Ben quickly moved away from Kevin and he too blushed. Ben was confused. He had actually tried to kiss Kevin.
‘Thank God Katrin came in time,’ Ben thought, but he wasn't quite so glad.
Kevin quickly said with a smile, ”You can invite me, but I'll pay for the popcorn.”
Ben had just agreed when Katrin stood before them and hissed at Ben: “Can't you pay attention, you scatterbrain, you can't even walk properly. You trip over your own feet.”
Ben looked at her questioningly and Kevin also looked puzzled, so she continued:
“You almost kissed Kevin just because you trip.”
Ben looked at Kevin, who smiled sheepishly. Then he turned to Katrin and replied with a grin, “Just because you'll never be as close to his sweet kissing mouth as I will, you don't need to be so jealous.”
He disappeared in the direction of the boys' room, leaving a very blushing Kevin and a rather confused Katrin behind.
When he arrived at the boys' toilet, Ben leaned against the wall. What had he just said? Would Kevin ever look at him again? He didn't really care what Katrin thought, but what was Kevin thinking now?
“Oh damn it!” Ben screamed and punched the wall violently with his fist.
“You'll hurt yourself!“ a voice suddenly said behind him. The brown-haired boy spun around to see...
“Kevin!” Ben exclaimed in surprise. Kevin smiled slightly and took his hand.
“You should see a doctor about that, it doesn't look good.”
Ben looked at his hand. Kevin was right. His hand had swollen to double its size in no time. Ben grimaced a little.
“Well Ben, before we go to the movies later, we'll probably have to go to the doctor quickly.”
The brown-haired boy looked at Kevin, puzzled.
Kev actually still wanted to go to the movies with him. A smile flitted across his face.
Kevin stepped behind Ben and pushed him carefully by the shoulders towards the exit.
“Come on, we're going to be late.” The two made their way to class.
They had math for the last two hours. Katrin didn't pay any attention to Ben, she still seemed to be angry about Ben's comment in the schoolyard.
Ben, however, was not very interested in that. He was busy thinking about Kevin. How he was standing so close to him. His breath touching his skin and when Kevin took his hand to examine it in the boys' toilet, he was lost. He had actually fallen in love with a boy and for the first time that day he was not ashamed of it.
After class, Ben and Kev went to the doctor. The swelling had already decreased, but the doctor put a thick bandage on Ben anyway. Outside the door, Ben grumbled to himself, which in turn made Kevin laugh.
“It's your own fault if you hit a wall!” giggled the blond boy.
“Come on, let's go to the movies!” Ben replied and the two set off. They chose a funny movie.
While Ben got the tickets, Kevin got a large bag of popcorn. Together they went to their seats. Since the commercials were once again endless, they talked about their hobbies.
Ben just started talking. “So as you can see, I like going to the movies,” he grinned. “And I really like reading. Mostly love stories and fantasy novels. That's about it.”
Kevin smiled, then he chuckled: “You read love stories? I wouldn't have thought so. To be honest, I didn't expect you to read at all, except now at school!”
Ben looked confused. ”What..., well, I mean, how did you come up with that?”
Kevin looked quite embarrassed. “Well, Ben! You always look so cool on the outside and unfortunately it's often the case that those in quotation marks,” Kevin made a brief gesture with his fingers, “cool people don't read much because it's not that cool, and you'd look pretty stupid if you did. That's why I thought that. I don't know you that well, but one thing I know for sure: you're not what you look like.”
Ben started to get a bit annoyed: “What am I supposed to understand from that? I'm an actor?”
“No, no, I didn't mean it like that, Ben, I just mean that you act like a tough guy but you're actually quite nice and just gentle.” Kevin tried to justify himself.
Ben laughed: “I know what you mean. I just wanted to draw you out.” The brown-haired man grinned cheekily and Kevin smiled too. He was the one who brought up the previous topic again.
“Well, I like what you've listed, too, and I really like going for a walk. I think it's really nice and romantic.” He winked at Ben, ‘I'm a hopeless romantic. I used to like going swimming, too, but I think I've gained a little weight.’ Kevin saw out of the corner of his eye that Ben was carefully scrutinizing him and a slight blush spread over his cheeks.
Ben looked into his blue eyes. 'Wow, he has such deep, beautiful eyes,' Ben thought, then added, “No, you're perfect. You're neither fat nor thin. Just stay that way.” He smiled sweetly and cautiously approached Kevin's face.
Only a few centimeters separated their heads. They felt each other's hot breath. Their heads approached a little more. Suddenly the light went out and the two of them jumped back. They both stared rigidly at the screen. Kevin's heart was pounding wildly. He reached for the popcorn. Ben had the same idea. When he lightly bumped into Kevin's hand, a bolt of lightning shot through his body and he quickly withdrew his hand.
Ben didn't even notice the rest of the movie. His thoughts revolved around Kevin, and it seemed that Kevin felt the same way. The brown-haired boy looked at Kevin and smiled tenderly. He was also rewarded with a very loving smile. Again and again during the movie, they exchanged tender glances.
After the movie, the two left the theater and Ben took Kevin home. Kevin also gladly accepted Ben's invitation for a drink.

1
The motion detector had detected Lukas. The large glass sliding door opened with a hum and Lukas stepped outside. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“Finally done. Finally on vacation.”
Without turning around again, he walked away from the hardware store where he had been training as a retail salesman for a year. He wouldn't see the people who made life difficult for him for another three weeks.
As if he didn't already have enough stress with his colleagues, he also got a telling off from his department manager today.
On his way to the bus stop, he forced himself not to think about it anymore. He was on vacation now and he wanted to enjoy it. When he reached the end of the urban canyons, the sun was shining on his face. Lukas couldn't help but smile. At the bus stop, he sat down on the bench and let his mind wander, looking at the park across the street. It wasn't long before the bus arrived.
Fields, meadows and forests passed by the window. Looking at this natural landscape, he wistfully thought back to the time when he and his family still lived in a real city. Unfortunately, Lukas's father had to take over the doctor's office from his father almost three years ago. And this was not in Regensburg, but in a 300-person town called Wildberg. Lukas thought that this name was only too fitting. A hamlet far from civilization, where the wild things lived.
Katzenbach, Stubenhausen, Egelding. Tiny places where a Catholic church and the obligatory restaurant were not to be missed. Lukas was of the opinion that the people living there were still living in the Middle Ages in terms of their thoughts and feelings. In this area, you were already looked at askance if you did not go to church every Sunday and did not go to confession at least once a month. Discontented, Lukas leaned back. Two more towns and they would be in Wildberg. Finally, they had arrived. Lukas got off at the graffiti-sprayed bus shelter. He looked at the villa of his grandparents, which was enthroned on a small hill about 150 meters to his right, and walked towards it. When he arrived at the house, he rummaged in his jacket pocket for the key.
Damn. I forgot it.
After ringing the bell several times, his mother opened the door for him.
“Lukas. You have a key, don't you?”
“I forgot it.”
“You always forget everything.”
Lukas shrugged his shoulders and looked at his mother guiltily.
“I have to go back to the practice. Claudia is still sick. All the work is falling on me.”
“I see,” Lukas said flatly. He put down his bag and went into the kitchen, where he prepared a bowl of muesli. While he was eating it, his sister burst into the room.
“Hey, little brother. Home already?”
“Don't keep calling me little brother. I'm only 13 months younger than you. And on top of that, I'm taller and slimmer.”
“Pah. But I have more brain than you.”
“Stupid cow. Just because you go to high school, you don't need to show off.” Lukas stared at her angrily. But Anja was right. Because while she graduated from the 11th grade of high school as the best in her class two days ago, he didn't even pass the qualifying secondary school certificate last year. Lukas only got the training position he did because of his father's good connections.
“Silly,” she teased him.
Lukas wanted to jump out of his chair and punch her in the face. But he was able to control his emotions. He stuck out his tongue at her and went back to his cereal.
He was just putting the bowl in the dishwasher when the doorbell rang.
Probably one of Anja's friends. Let her answer it.
It rang again.
“Well, isn't anyone going to open it?“ he said to himself, went to the front door, opened it and...
“Daniel.” Lukas beamed at his counterpart.
“Hi Lukas,“ he replied with a broad grin on his face.
“I didn't expect you to come today.”
“The driving lesson was canceled and training doesn't start until seven. So I thought I'd visit my best friend.” Daniel's bright blue eyes sparkled. “Can I come in?”
“Uh. Yes, of course.“ A pleasant shiver ran down Lukas's spine as their bare forearms brushed briefly. ‘I'll quickly get us something to drink.’ Lukas disappeared into the kitchen.
Drrr Drrr Drrr
“Anja!” Lukas called. “Would you mind?”
Drrr Drrr Drrr
“Anja! ... Of all times, the house phone has to ring. This is turning into work again.“ Annoyed, he stomped over to the phone.
“Yes?”
“Hey, it's Mom. Would you be a dear and get bread, some sausage, and cheese from the store?”
“If I have to,” Lukas groaned.
“We're out of everything. And when Dad closes the practice at half past six, Schmidt's will be closed too.”
“Yes, yes. I'm going already.“ Lukas put down the receiver and shuffled up the stairs to his room.
“Hey. You've got a sad face on. Is something wrong?” Daniel sat on Lukas' bed and looked at his friend leaning against the doorframe with a worried expression.
“Oh. I just wanted to make myself comfortable and instead I have to go shopping.“ Lukas grimaced.
“And?” Daniel tilted his head slightly.
“Either you wait half an hour or...”
“I'll accompany you. That is, I could drive you. With my 80s we can make it in half the time.“ Daniel grinned broadly.
“I thought so, that you don't feel like plodding after my moped.” Lukas smiled at Daniel.
“That's much better.”
Daniel started the moped and Lukas sat down behind him. He clasped Daniel's stomach and pressed his body against him. Lukas enjoyed this feeling. He could be very close to Daniel without it being conspicuous. Lukas was still careful to hide his true feelings for Daniel.
Three years ago, when they first met, Lukas sensed this magical attraction that Daniel exerted on him. At that time, he couldn't yet interpret why he felt so secure in Daniel's presence, why every smile of his made his guts do somersaults, why he was just happy when Daniel was around. But little by little he admitted to himself that he had fallen in love with his best friend. So far, Lukas had accepted the idea of possibly being gay. Because if being gay was even remotely what he imagined in his dreams, then it was the most amazing thing in the world.
How he wished Daniel would feel the same way about him. Lukas wondered when he would finally work up the courage to tell him that he had fallen in love with him. He hoped that Daniel would not react quite so negatively to it. Because when they touched on the subject of homosexuality a few months ago during a conversation about minorities, Lukas was surprised by Daniel's progressive arguments.
I'll tell him soon.
Daniel braked so sharply that Lukas was pressed even closer against him.
“Well then. Here we are,” said Daniel.
Lukas got off, took the helmet off his head and gave it to Daniel, who locked it and his own to the moped with a chain. Both grinned briefly at each other and entered the small EDEKA shop, where Lukas first got a shopping cart because it would be a bit more. While Lukas was queuing at the sausage counter, he sent Daniel to get bread.
“I'm back.“ Daniel had a loaf of bread wrapped in a paper bag.
“It's going to take me a little longer,” Lukas said, holding his hand in front of his mouth to yawn. In front of him at the cheese counter were two older women. One of them seemed to be engaged in a deeper conversation with the saleswoman.
Finally, it was Lukas's turn.
At the magazine stand, Lukas put the latest issue of BRAVO in the basket, following an old habit. While Lukas paid, Daniel stuffed the items into the cotton bag he had just bought.
“It was quick,” said Daniel.
“Mhm. There weren't that many people. They all seem to have already shopped.”
During the drive home, Lukas imagined what it would be like if they were sitting naked behind each other. He dreamed of gently stroking Daniel's stomach. With these thoughts, little Lukas also lifted and pressed hard on Daniel's butt. To be on the safe side, Lukas thought of his training, which made his cock go limp again.
“Six o'clock,“ Daniel announced when they arrived at Lukas's house. ‘Then we still have almost half an hour before I have to go to training.”
“You and your soccer,’ Lukas teased him.
“Can't I get you excited about it?” Daniel looked at Lukas with a faithful dog's look.
“No, no.” Lukas couldn't help grinning. ”Not even you can do that.”
“Well.“ Daniel shrugged his shoulders. ‘There's nothing we can do about it.”
They stowed the food they had bought in the kitchen and went to Lukas’ room, each with a glass of coke in his hand.
Daniel sat down on Lukas' bed and put the coke on the bedside table.
“Let's see what's in the new BRAVO,” he said, opening the first page. He looked up at Lukas, who was still standing indecisively at his desk. “Why don't you sit down with me? Then we can look at it together.” Daniel threw Lukas an encouraging smile. No sooner said than done. They were both already sitting in Lukas' bed, leafing through the latest issue of the teen magazine.
“Let's see what's interesting.”
“I suspect the usual, as always.”
“Right. Stars and starlets. And a few pretty girls,“ Daniel said.
And a few pretty boys, Lukas added in his mind.
“How do you like that one?” Daniel pointed to a scantily clad blonde.
“Hmm?” Lukas pretended to think hard. ‘Well, she's not really my type.”
“Then it's probably the girl who threw herself at you in Proxy last Saturday.’ Daniel grinned mischievously at Lukas.
“Oh, give me a break. I'm glad it was so late and we left soon. Otherwise she would have talked me to death. And she stank. Ugh. Like a perfume shop.” Lukas wrinkled his nose, which made Daniel laugh.
“Yeah. She wasn't really for you, was she? It's weird that we've never really talked about it. But what type of woman do you like?”
He can ask stupid questions.
Daniel looked at Lukas with a penetrating gaze.
“I don't know.” Lukas clasped his chin with his thumb and index finger. ”The main thing is that she's nice and that I can have a good conversation with her.”
“And? You don't want anything else from her?”
“You're not curious at all.”
“I'm not.”
Now it was Lukas who had to grin.
In the next moment there was a short knock on the door and Anja stomped into the room.
“Do you have to just burst in like that?“ she hissed at Lukas.
“I knocked anyway,” she defended herself.
“Yes. And you pushed the door handle by the way.”
“Just lock it if you want to be undisturbed.”
“I wouldn't need to if everyone here would follow the rules of politeness. What do you want?”
“To ask you if you can lend me 20 marks.”
“Which I'll never get back.”
“Of course I'll give it back to you. Next week when I get my allowance.”
“Sorry to bother you,“ Daniel said, ‘but I have to go now.”
“Already?’ Lukas asked disappointedly.
“Unfortunately. Our trainer doesn't like to wait.” Daniel got up and passed Anja on his way to the door. He turned around to Lukas one more time. “Are you coming to Proxy with us tonight?”
“I'd like that. Will you pick me up?”
“Sure. At ten?”
“OK. See you at ten.”
“See you then. Ciao you two.”
“Bye,” came from Lukas. Anja just waved and gave Daniel a cheeky grin. As soon as he had left the room, she turned back to Lukas. ”And? Are you going to give me the money?”
“Only if you give it back to me by next Friday. Otherwise I'll charge you one mark interest per day.”
“Don't worry. I'll give it back to you soon. I promise.“ She smiled at her brother. Lukas took out his wallet and gave her the money.
“Thank you very much, little brother.” She turned around and walked towards the door.
“Don't always call me...” But she couldn't hear him anymore, because she had already disappeared out of the room and closed the door behind her. Lukas remained sitting on his bed for a moment and closed his eyes.
In a little more than three hours Daniel would pick him up. So there was still some time before styling for the evening. Lukas paused for a moment and opened his eyes again.
He went to one of the two cabinets, opened the door, put his old stuffed animals aside, took out a large stack of Mickey Mouse magazines and BRAVOs and put them on the floor. There it was – his diary. Hidden from the eyes of his curious relatives. Lukas took it out and sat down at his desk. He opened the red booklet and wrote:
Friday, 27.07.2001
Work was really shit again. Today not only my stupid colleagues, but also Müller, the shop owner, gave me a hard time. And all because I don't yet have the prices of some of those thousands and thousands of items in my head. At least today was the last day of work. Three weeks' vacation. Yay!
Lovely Daniel came to visit me at home. It's weird. But whenever I see him, my heart races like crazy. Oh dear. I'm really in love with him. Daniel is super sweet. And I think he likes me too. But does he feel the same way about me as I do about him? I doubt it. But on the other hand, he always looks at me so lovingly with his super sweet eyes. Maybe he has a crush on me too and is just as afraid of admitting it as I am.
Lukas closed his eyes and dreamt that Daniel gave him a very gentle kiss on his lips. He felt him gently stroking his hair. Lukas hugged him and held him very tightly. He kissed Daniel's neck tenderly and lovingly, inhaling his friend's scent deeply.
Lukas opened his eyes.
It's a shame it was only a dream. I really wish it would become reality.
He put the diary back in its hiding place and went downstairs to the kitchen, where his mother was preparing a salad.
“You can take the bread and sausage to the dining room,” she said.
“I'll do that.”
The dining and living rooms were in one large room. To the left, behind the door Lukas was just passing through, was the dining table with five chairs and a bench against the wall. On the opposite side was a cupboard for dishes. If you entered the room from the other door, you would be standing directly in the living room. Lukas's father was sitting on the couch watching some kind of news program. He must not be disturbed under any circumstances. As a small child, Lukas had dared to romp around loudly several times while his father was watching something important on TV. Every time, his butt met his father's slippers. Sports and news - it had to be quiet as a mouse in the Binders' dining and living room. Lukas quietly set the table and disappeared back into the kitchen.
“Would you please go and get Anja. Dinner will be ready in five minutes,“ his mother said, pouring a little vinegar over the salad.
“I'll do it,” said Lukas. Shortly afterwards, he was standing outside Anja's room.
“Yes?” she called.
Lukas opened the door. Anja was sitting at her computer typing something. When he had finally saved enough money, he would buy himself one of those things. Anja didn't need to worry about that. Like so many things, she got the computer as a gift. Supposedly because she needed it for school.
“We're eating then.”
“OK. I'll be right there.”

“Tüt-Tüüüüt-Tüt-Tüüüüt-Tüt-Tüüüüt...”
An unpleasant and loud two-tone beep woke me up. “Shit, not again,” I thought, but I jumped out of bed more or less motivated. Now I had to act fast.
What had woken me up so rudely was my pager. Every member of the volunteer fire department has a device like that, which can call you to the fire station at any time of the day or night.
The drive to the station was quick and quiet, after all it was 5 o'clock in the morning and the streets were accordingly empty. We didn't waste any time at the station. Putting on the turnout gear took
half a minute, into the big red car and off we went.
Since the operation site was quite a distance away, I was able to let my thoughts wander a little... And they wandered, they wandered far back to a time when being woken up at night was not an unpleasant reality, but a blurred vision of the future that one looked forward to.
I never had many friends; as a ten-year-old, I only called about a dozen of my peers “friends”. But the friendship with the few I had was all the closer. All the boys in our group lived in a residential area on the outskirts of town, near a large playground that we always hung around.
We had one thing in common: we had no desire to join a sports club or similar organization, even though some parents would have liked us to. Many of our classmates were in such clubs and served as a negative example for us – we had no desire to be told to always do the same thing on a certain day of the week and to expose ourselves to the pressure to perform in sports. Too often we heard: “No, tomorrow I don't have time, I have training. I would like to, but in two weeks is the game...”
One memorable day, however, Tobias, one of my best friends, asked me if I would like to go to the youth fire department with him. His brother Martin, three years older, had also joined the youth group of the local fire department at the age of 10 and had been very enthusiastic about it ever since.
Tobias had been persuaded by his brother to come to the fire station with him, and now he was trying to persuade me to come with him, because he didn't want to go there all alone. No wonder, I let myself be talked into it and agreed to have my first encounter with the youth fire brigade next Tuesday at 6 p.m..
In my youthful carelessness, I thought to myself: “I can have a look at it, but it'll probably be stupid anyway...” But how is it always? First, things turn out differently than you expect.
I didn't really feel like going on the said Tuesday, but I kept my promise. Shortly before 5:30 p.m., I set off by bike...
I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. A few boys and a girl, all a little older than us, were already sitting on the steps leading to the entrance of the fire station when we arrived.
Since we had cycled here with Martin and were not completely alone, we didn't feel quite so stupid. He introduced us to the others, but more than a shy “Hi” didn't come from our side at first.
After a short time, the first car arrived in the yard - it had to be one of the youth leaders. Indeed, it was Markus, the youth leader, as he introduced himself. (The youth leader is the leader of the youth fire brigade, also sometimes affectionately called the “youth warden”)
Martin proudly showed us the big red vehicles that were parked in the hall, he explained how many liters of water were in the one and the other vehicle tank and how high the turntable ladder reaches and lots of technical stuff like that. I couldn't remember any of it, it was a bit much at once. But I was impressed, I have to admit. All the technology appealed to me more than I ever would have imagined.
Since it was a sunny and hot July day, the evening theory session that was actually scheduled was postponed and a fire extinguishing attack was practiced instead. Just this: We all had a lot of fun, but we were soaking wet at the end of the two-hour practice session.
On the way home, it was clear that we would be back the following Tuesday. A youth leader, I couldn't remember the name, had given us information and registration forms for our parents, which I had my parents fill out that same evening and immediately put back in my backpack so as not to forget them next time.
In the meantime, I had celebrated my 14th birthday, it was midsummer again and a camping trip was on the agenda. I had already been on such a camping trip the last two years, and this time it was supposed to last a whole week, almost twice as long as the previous trips!
For weeks I had been looking forward to the day of departure, because for us, camping meant staying up late, sitting around the campfire, having deep or funny conversations, and spending all that time with my best friends. Yes, by now my circle of friends had changed: almost all of my friends were either in the youth fire brigade or in my school class.
Since many of my youth fire brigade colleagues were on vacation with their parents during the first two weeks of the summer holidays, our group of fellow campers was quite small, with only 12 people including two youth leaders. One advantage of this was that we only needed one of the 16-man tents for sleeping and could use the second one as a “living room”, which was very comfortable and would certainly earn us some envious glances from neighboring youth groups.
Finally the day of days had come, it was time for the best week of my young life - at least that's what I expected back then. With the youth fire brigade's own Ford Transit with a luggage trailer and a private car, we set off for the event, which was taking place further away for the first time and was organized together with a few other friendly fire departments and aid organizations.
In addition to 23 youth fire brigades, some youth groups from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Red Cross would also be at the youth campsite in deepest Bavaria.
We were actually the first to arrive at the campsite near the small town of Woertzberg, so we could choose the best place, which of course we were happy to take advantage of. The campground attendant recommended a spot to us directly on the shimmering blue shore of the mountain lake, slightly secluded, surprisingly flat and without any hollows on the ground that could cause you to trip in the dark.
As always, we had quickly pitched our tents and were just starting to distribute the camp beds and choose our sleeping places when the second group arrived and set up right next to us. Now we could watch the newcomers unpack and tidy up and make snide comments about their tent-setting-up style while we refreshed ourselves with ice-cold drinks. It had obviously been worth equipping our Transit with a spacious, gas-powered camping refrigerator.
The first few days were behind us, and we had just survived our first night without sleep, which of course made us very proud. However, our joy didn't last long, because today was the day of the camp Olympics.
This meant that we had to work hard to bring home another trophy, which meant that we had to finish at least third. And that in our condition... Fortunately, only very little alcohol was consumed in our fire department, and even less in the youth fire department, because no one would have survived the day with a real hangover. Our youth leaders set a good example, and we had more than enough fun without alcoholic drinks.
We couldn't believe it ourselves, but at the latest when we held the trophy in our hands, we could no longer fool ourselves: we had actually taken first place! Everything had worked out, we had been a perfect team. All evening we basked in the appreciative comments of the other groups and our youth leaders. This camp really seemed to be going damn well...
Strangely enough, I couldn't fall asleep after our victory celebration and the hard day. Despite my efforts, I was still awake even when our two counselors were already asleep. I decided to take a short evening walk, maybe the cold mountain air would help me.
Without waking anyone, I snuck out of the tent wearing a thick sweater and strolled along the shore of the mountain lake, which reflected the almost full moon. An impressive sight that gave rise to a somewhat melancholy mood that I couldn't explain. Great, now I was even more awake than before, but at the same time somehow totally exhausted. “That's my brilliant idea of a walk,” I thought to myself.
Without realizing it, I had moved quite a distance away from the camp. I tried to find a reason for my depressed mood. I wasn't really in a bad mood, somehow I also had the feeling of floating, but that could also be due to fatigue. But why was I wide awake then? Questions upon questions, and no answer wanted to be found... It was strange. I felt very alone, which was somehow painful at the same time, but also reassuring in a way.
A sound directly on the shore made me jump. I had only seen a movement out of the corner of my eye and heard a sound like a sob. My heart was racing, I hardly dared to breathe for a few seconds. After I had calmed down again, I crept on carefully until I could see around the huge boulder that had blocked my view of the shore.
There sat a boy, about my age, apparently crying quietly to himself. Well, there I was, not knowing what to do: should I scare him to death by speaking to him, or should I just disappear? Lost in thought, I clumsily kicked a loose stone down the slope.
Well, now he had heard me. I saw that the poor guy was quite frightened when the silence was broken by the sound of the stone rumbling into the water.
He stared at me for a while, then realized that I must see his tear-stained face in the moonlight and quickly turned away again. I didn't think about what to do, I just did it. To this day, I don't know how I was able to break out of my stupor, but it worked miraculously.
I sat down on a stone about a meter away from the boy and just sat there and looked at the water. I saw that he was from a youth fire brigade very close to my hometown of Sattelwegen, because he was wearing the typical uniform trousers and a sweatshirt with the inscription “Jugendfeuerwehr Siedenbach”.
At least a quarter of an hour must have passed before he asked in a somewhat unfriendly tone: “What are you doing here?” He didn't really manage to make it sound as dismissive as he apparently wanted.
“I'm sitting on a stone, looking at the lake and talking to you,” I replied after a while, ”and what are you doing?”
He didn't answer for a long time, then he just said, “But I'm not talking to you.”
“Too bad... But I'm talking to you anyway,” was my reply. “I'm Lukas, and who are you?” I held out my hand.
Without taking my hand, he murmured softly, “Emanuel” in my direction, then after a while, “Manu.”
I let go of his hand... Well, at least he said something. “So, what are you doing here?”
“I'm sitting on a rock looking at the lake...” was his apt reply. Great, I'd given him a good opening. But at least he had a sense of humor, you had to give him that.
“Hmm, one-nil to you... Ok, I'll start: I couldn't fall asleep, so I went for a walk. By the way, you gave me quite a fright when I heard you behind the rock!”
A slight smile appeared on his face as he replied, “And I almost fell into the water when you were making all that noise up there...”
It was quiet again for a while, only the lake splashed a little on the shore. I caught myself thinking that Manu is actually really cute. Wait a minute, I thought he was cute? Cute... My God, how gay... Hmmm - What was wrong with me? First this weird mood earlier, and then this...
Manu pulled me out of my thoughts: “I couldn't sleep either, because...” His voice trailed off into the silence...
“Why couldn't you sleep? Because we won first place?” I grinned at him. Ok, bad joke. But I'll do it again, I promise.
“Show-off,” he said with a wry grin, but he immediately became serious again, his gaze was infinitely sad. ‘Anyway, you'll find out tomorrow anyway... By tomorrow afternoon at the latest, everyone will know...’ And again he began to sob, he was really shaken.
I waited until he had calmed down a little, then I asked, ”What will everyone know tomorrow?”
“That... That I...” And again he started to cry, it was getting worse. I moved over to his stone and wanted to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he pushed me away at the first touch. He was strong, the little one... It was just stupid that we were sitting right on the water and I hadn't expected such a reaction.
I was already preparing myself for the big splash when I received a brief reprieve. Manu had quickly grabbed hold of me, and for a moment it looked like I would be spared the cool, or rather ice-cold, bath.
Unfortunately, gravity had a different opinion, and we both ended up in the lake. Do you know how damn cold a mountain lake is? Yes, I know, glacier water and all that... Shit, was that COLD!
Since the shore was very flat, there was a maximum of 30 centimeters between the water surface and the hard gravel at the bottom, so my landing was anything but pleasant. Manu had no problems with that, he was halfway on top of me and only got wet down below because he could still support himself with his hands on me. I, however, was completely submerged for a short time and was accordingly wet down to my underpants. The hard stones weren't very comfortable either. Great.
Shivering and spitting water, I growled a grumpy “What a bummer” while Manu pulled me back up. So we stood facing each other in the water, with Manu still holding my hands. In the moonlight, I could just make out the corners of his mouth slowly twisting up until he finally started to laugh. Initially still annoyed, I also started to grin and finally we were both laughing our heads off.
Suddenly I saw that he was still holding my hands. I stopped laughing and looked at our hands, grinning. Manu saw this, also stopped laughing and let go of my hands as quickly as if they had suddenly turned red-hot. His face was also glowing red, but soon a wry grin crept into the corner of his mouth.
He just said, “Ass!” And I grinned back.
“Pleased to meet you, Lukas!“ I still had a broad grin on my face, but it quickly disappeared when I was back in the water. What a dog! ‘I'll get you for that...”
He tried to quickly make it to the shore to safety, but I was faster. His ’Hey!” ended in a bubbling sound as he lay in the water in the same place as me just a moment ago.
He quickly got up and jumped on me, and in no time a merciless wrestling match was underway. At some point we were both so out of breath that we both dragged ourselves to the shore. Now we also realized how cold the water actually was and we both started to tremble like crazy.
“Maybe we should go and get something dry to wear,” I suggested, shivering.
The answer was a chattering “Good idea.”
So we walked back to the camp trembling and in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, and despite the cold I felt somehow warm and comfortable. It was strange, the... feeling of being alone earlier had vanished.
When I arrived at the camp, I wondered how I could sneak into the tent, dripping wet as I was, to get new clothes. Manu saw my hesitation. “If you can't get to your clothes without waking anyone up... My bag is right next to the entrance, I can lend you something until tomorrow... I'm
not entirely innocent in your bathroom either... We're about the same height, so it should fit you.”
I thought about it for a moment and decided to accept the offer – I would hardly be able to get something out of my bag in our tent without waking anyone. “Ok, I'll gladly accept the offer, thank you!”
“No problem,” he grinned and we walked over to his tent. He took out his bag, then we stood there and didn't really know what to do next. Finally Manu said, ”How about a hot shower? The showers are far enough away from the tents, so we wouldn't bother anyone.”
“Well, that's an idea... But is there even hot water at this time?”
“I think so - let's just go and see...”
“Ok, let's go!” And off we went to the showers. Lo and behold, there was really hot water.
And once again it became embarrassing. Although we had both showered with other guys the last few days, we both hesitated. It was somehow different with just the two of us. Finally, I got fed up with it and took off my clothes, jumping into the next shower without looking in Manu's direction.
Shortly thereafter, I heard the shower running next to me and finally dared to take a look. At the same moment, Manu turned to me, looked me briefly in the eyes, and immediately we both turned away again. I noticed how the blood rushed to my face... Well, it was still better than if it had traveled to any other part of my body.
Soon I was warm again to some extent and I also relaxed a bit. Next to me, I heard Manu turn off the shower and I quickly looked over as he went to his towel, which he had placed on the bench opposite the showers. Along with the confusing thought that I liked what I saw, the feeling crept into my head that I had forgotten something. Oh yes, right: I didn't have a towel. Great.
“Umm... Manu?” I finally dared to say to Manu, who was drying himself off.
He turned around while rubbing his hair dry. ”What?”
“Wow,” it shot through my mind, ‘he looks damn tasty!’ After I had pushed this thought aside with some effort, I finally said to Manu, who had just finished drying himself off: ‘Ummm... I don't have a towel...’ And promptly I blushed bright red again and looked at the floor. I should probably get used to that...
“You can have mine, it's big enough that there are still a few dry spots on it.” And with that, he put the towel next to him on the bench and began to put on his shorts.