Chapter 1

Brandon was on a desperate mission to become popular. He had been, back

in seventh grade, but soon found himself alienated from the group

because of circumstances beyond his control. There were no fights; he

just slowly grew apart from them until one day he looked around and saw

that he was no longer part of "the group". And that scared him. He

didn't see why he wasn't popular. He was very attractive, with green

eyes, bleach-blonde hair, and a well-built, yet small body, and he lived

in one of the best areas of the city. He liked everything that the

popular guys liked, including skateboarding and the typical

rock/metal/punk music. But he wasn't popular, and that bothered him.

Granted, he had friends, but they weren't the kind he wanted; they

weren't popular, or as popular as he wanted them to be. So, over the

summer, he decided to, or more planned to, become popular.

It was Wednesday, September 1st, the beginning of the ninth grade.

Brandon walked into the school and glanced around at his surroundings.

He gazed longingly at the group of good-looking guys dressed in

Abercrombie & Fitch huddling around one of the tables in the common

area, and he was about to walk towards them when his friend, Adam, waved

him over. Brandon was, in a sense, relieved at the excuse not to

confront his fears. He walked over with a small, unhappy smile on his

face and joined the small group. Adam, one of Brandon's closest friends,

could sense something was wrong, but just assumed it was the fact that

they were returning to school and continued with his previous

conversation about Warped Tour. Brandon didn't say a word even though he

had attended it.

The tardy bell rang, and Brandon quickly took a seat in the back of the

small, musty math classroom. He glanced around and noticed that directly

to his right sat Michael, one of the most attractive and popular guys in

the ninth grade. Mike had black hair and baby blue eyes that Brandon

could not help staring into. Mike, noticing that Brandon was looking at

him, gave a big smile and waved. Brandon quickly looked away, not

wanting to seem queer, but after several seconds, Mike was still staring

at him expectantly, so he quietly mumbled "hello" and looked back down

at his desk. Mike, satisfied with the response, began talking to one of

his friends across the room. Just as Mike was saying something about a

party that Friday, the teacher walked to the front of the room and began

a lecture about the rules of the class.

After about 30 minutes, the teacher finished up her lecture and

informed the class they were going to play a "Get To Know Your Neighbor"

game. In it, they were to ask the person in the neighboring desk 10

questions, and then present the information to the class. Brandon,

realizing that he would be working with Mike, was over-come with joy and

Mike seemed happy about it, too, because again he let out one of his

gorgeous smiles.

The questions went extremely well. Brandon found out that Mike had an

older brother that had gone to the school when they were in seventh

grade, that Mike loved animals, and was planning on running for school

president. When the questions and presentations were over there were

only two minutes left in the class, so the teacher said that they could

quietly talk to a neighbor. Mike, with his signature grin, began talking

to Brandon about his campaign for school president, and then, as the

bell rang, asked him if he wanted to help with it at a campaign party.

Brandon, surprised at this, just nodded as Mike ran out the door to

catch up with his friends.

By the end of the day, Mike had given Brandon his phone number and all

the details of the party. Brandon rushed home excitedly, not waiting to

talk to Adam, or any of his other friends. As soon as he got there, he

went to his room, did his homework, and for the rest of the evening

daydreamed about what might happen at the party. He knew that this had

been what he was waiting for, and that if he made a good impression at

the party he would make even more popular friends. The only problem was

waiting for the party to come.

The next day, when Brandon entered the school, he was confronted with

the same image as the previous day. There was the table of popular guys

(in the center of which, sat Mike), and then his group friends. Mike and

Adam both saw him at the same time, but Mike merely looked up in his

direction and smiled, while Adam came hurtling towards him. Brandon,

feeling guilty about ignoring him the other day, chose Adam.

Adam, with his constantly messy hair and huge blue eyes, had a

questioning, almost sad expression on his face. Brandon couldn't help

but think Adam looked like a little lost puppy. They had been friends

since seventh grade and every day they had sat around and talked after

school.

"So, where were you, like, after school?" Adam questioned, trying to act

like it didn't bother him.

"I had other things on my mind... you know how it is..." replied Brandon

"Apparently not, since I seemed to remember... what "other stuff" did

you have on your mind?" asked Adam, obviously hurt by Brandon's

not-so-heartfelt response.

"I don't know. Just... stuff. You know, school, homework... why do you

care so much?"

"I guess I just wanted to talk about the day. We're still on for Friday,

right?"

Brandon, laughed about the obvious sexual innuendo of Adam's statement,

then paused. "What do you mean Friday?"

"You forgot? We were..."

"Supposed to go see a movie... yeah, I totally forgot about that..."

Adam looked even more hurt, "But you can still go?"

"Um... well... I"

"Just forget it Brandon. Like, again..." he mumbled, while walking away.

Brandon hadn't meant to hurt Adam's feelings, and he did feel bad, but

not bad enough to cancel the plans to go to Mike's party. He could go to

the movies with Adam any time, and this was a once in a lifetime

opportunity. The day dragged on, with only the occasional smile from

Mike to cheer him up. When school was finally over and Brandon was

getting his books out of his locker, Mike walked up to him and asked,

"Can you walk home with me today? I need some pre-party help."

Brandon was astonished. It was amazing that he was even invited to the

party, but the fact that Mike wanted him to come over... it was like a

dream come true.

"Yeah, I guess I could." Brandon said, barely disguising his excitement.

"Okay, we'd better get started, then. It's a long ways. I normally ride

the bus, but you don't have a bus pass and I..."

"Okay, let's go" Brandon interrupted, knowing Mike could go on forever.

Mike smiled and started out the door. From inside, Adam followed them

out the door with his eyes. Not only did he feel jealous, he felt like

he was losing his best friend.