This is something I've been working on over the past couple of days. The actual writing sucks because I haven't had the time to re-read it and revise it. Right now I'm just looking for any holes in content. Additionally, the chapters are a little too short for my liking, but I think that once I start revising they'll get longer. I'm still adding on new chapters. These three aren't the entire thing, but they're all I have.

I'd also like to say that I didn't set this in Arze just because it would have been too difficult for others to understand. It belongs in this section because it's using my characters from Arze.




Damn, I can't get him off my mind.
Tyler Colt.
Shit, Fox. You gotta stop thinking this way.
He's off-limits.

"Hey, Fox! Earth to loser over there!" It was Ben, my best friend ever since 1st grade. we sat right next to each other because of our last names. Whitfur and Whivet. Ben was outgoing - really outgoing - to the point of embarassing everybody around him. That is, if you weren't already laughing. If anybody had ever told me it was possible to go from highly embarressed to laughing 'till your sides ached, I would have told them they were crazy. Of course, I never got the chance: I met Ben before anybody could tell me.

"Um, hello? Fox?"

Oh, right. He was talking to me. I gazed in his direction, which wasn't too difficult a task in the locker room, sparsely populated with the track athletes. "What?" I asked him.

I never found out, though, because at that moment I felt the unmistakeable sensation of a noogie.

"Hey, Josh," I said, knowing instinctively that it was him. Josh was also my friend, although I only met him last year. At the start of high school he moved across the street from me. I had the entire summer to get to know him. Naturally, I converted him into becoming a trakkie. He picked up running very quickly. Before, he played soccer. I guess that's not such a big different to account for.

Josh nodded at ben, acknowledging his presence. He asked me, "Where are we running today?"

I looked at my cell phone. "We'll find out soon. Coach wants us out on the track in five minutes." I swear I felt Josh roll his eyes at that remark.

"Of course, Fox. You would know that." I punched his shoulder lightly. He faked a whince and started rubbing it.

"Girl," said Ben.

"Fag," said Josh.

I gave him one of my icy stares.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Out on the track, we did warm-ups. The usual shit. Then, Coach told each various event what to do.

"Distance, see you in an hour."

Me, Ben and Josh took off as soon as the words were said. Usually, during distance runs (so more like everyday, but I digress) we ran through school property and to the YMCA. Then we'd do a few laps and run to the college. Then we'd run back to the school and then we'd go home. Today was no different.

You got your answer, Josh.

"So Fox," Josh began, "I was wondering about that thing...um," he paused for a couple of seconds to catch his breath. Whenever we ran, this was how we talked. At first, you were fine and could talk. Then, you started really losing your breath. After a few minutes of that, you got to a steady rhythm and you could breathe, run and talk all at the same time. We were still on the second stage. I let Josh catch his breath, and he continued. "Why is it that when you say that you like boys, you say you aren't gay?"

I let out an audiable groan. Yes, I'm attracted to men. Never liked a girl in my life. Why does this have to be so hard to comprehend? I mean, seriously. I'd rather spend my time on thinking about what kind of drugs music artists are on nowadays when they write some song that's remininscent of techno with down syndrome. But that was just me.

I knew where Josh was going, so I explained. Again.

"Yes Josh. I like guys. No, I'm not gay. You see guys who lightlight their hair and wear skinny jeans and talk with a lisp? They're gay. Me? No, I'm not."

Josh persisted. "But if you like guys like...that...then you're gay."

We had picked up the pace, so I slowed for a little bit before replying to him. "No Josh. Gay guys are the ones who make you uncomfortable to be around. They're comformists, stereotypical, and hypocritical. Not to mention socially awkward." Gee, didn't I sound like a bottle of sunshine today?

He wasn't giving up. "But what does that make you?"

"Shut up," Ben said.

Both of us looked at him. Ben didn't say anything. he just kept on running.

"I'm me," I said.

"Yeah, because that makes perfect sense," Josh retorted, with an obvious touch of sarcasm in his voice.

I decided to play dumb. "It does!"

"Haha, you know what I meant."

"Actually no, I didn't. Explain, O wise one."

"Because, if you like guys, and you're a guy, you've gotta be gay! There's no other situation that makes sense!"

I flashed him one of my evil smiles. "Oh darn. Foiled again. You got me Josh. I'm just an enigma."

"Shut up!" he said. We both kept running and laughing. In front of us, Ben kept running too. I checked my watch. 50 more minutes to go.

That wasn't like Ben.






After the run, I went home. Fox and I carpooled, as usual. Today, it was his mom that picked us up. We might both be Sophomores, but neither of us could drive. Damn my late birthday.

In the car, we didn't really talk much. Well, we didn't talk much for us, anyway. I could tell that something was definitely up with him. Fox didn't tense up like that for no reason. I doubt his mom noticed, though. I think he's usually like that around her, except when he's with his friends.

A group of which I happily count myself in.

Two years ago, I moved across the street from Fox. I had just finished Middle School, and I really wasn't into this whole moving thing. The day we went over to meet the neighbors and all that jazz, Fox wasn't home. I didn't even know there was a guy my age in the neighborhood. It was dominated by little girls and older people, which stood to reason. I mean, it's a nice neighborhood. Either you did really well from the get-go and made a lot of money, or you saved up for when the kids were gone. However, that's not to say that my old neighborhood in Deleware wasn't nice. We had a house near the beach. It was really cool, because I could just go out and play beach volleyball with my friends, or go swimming in the waves. Whenever I wanted, really. And then, my parents got this great idea to move to Maryland.

I wasn't all that thirlled.

They found this house in this really crappy county in Maryland. It was all farmland. When I first got here, I told myself all this political shit about deforestation was just that: political shit. Here, you either had farmland or forest land. That's not to say it was some backwards town like the kinds you'd find in Huck Finn or anything. In fact, it was really developed in some areas, although not modern at all. The actual city, if you could stand to call it a city, was totally urbanized, although parts of it reminded me of what I'd seen in old civil war movies. What was I expecting? It was Maryland.

Well, on my first day here, I met Fox. He introducted himself to me as Fox Whitfur, and my first thought was, "What the fuck? Who names their kid Fox?" So that's what I said. What the hell? I had just met this guy.

He told me that his mother always called him "Fox-eyed," and so his family nicknamed him Fox. He didn't like his real name - Samuel - he thought it was too formal sounding. And Sam was just too short, and Fox said it sounded like some kind of hick's name. Oh shit, I forgot. I was finally gonna meet real rednecks. Hell, was I not looking forward to that. At least Fox wasn't a redneck.

When I first saw him, it was June. Mid-June. Literally, I arrived here the day school let out. It actually wasn't that bad of a drive, because all of the traffic was going towards the beach. I, sadly, was going away from the beach.

Well, anyway, Fox was running. I ran sometimes at home, but I never quite made a habit of it. Had to stay in shape for when soccer season rolled around, so really, no biggie. But there was something about him. I suppose it was the way he ran. I'm not really sure, to be honest. I just noticed him. He had this medium-brown hair color and really tan skin. That was good. I could still get a decent amount of sun exposure out here. Maybe Maryland wasn't going to be that bad after all.

Well, Fox sure saw me, and he changed course immediately and made a beeline for me. I mean, who wouldn't? I'm me. Just kidding, of course. Really, he probably wanted to know who that new guy was. That made sense, after all. I wouldn't be a happy camper if I lived in a neighborhood with a bunch of little girls as the only other kids. But then again, if I was living in a neighborhood, I wouldn't be a camper. Whatever.

Sorry, I ramble a lot.

Well, Fox came up to me and introducted himself. "Fox Whitfur," he said, and offered his right hand.

"Josh Twig," I responded, and shook his hand.

That was how I met my current best friend, Fox.

At that moment, Fox asked me if I wanted to go on a run with him so he could show me around. I was in tennis shoes, a t-shirt and shorts, so I figured why not? Gotta go do it sometime. So, I went on a run with Fox.

As it turns out, that run lasted a grand total of three hours. We mostly ran, be we'd walk for a bit here and here. We talked about a lot of things. Turns out, Fox was my age, although I was older by a month and seventeen days. My birthday's September 5th, for the record. Anyway, after the run, I went over to Fox's house and we went downstairs and played some video games. The usual shit I did with the guys back in DE. I could tell Fox didn't get around to playing often, because he sucked.

That turned into a sleepover. His parents invited my parents and little sister (her name is Jackie) over for dinner. Unfortunately for Jackie, Fox was an only child. Too bad for her. She could go play with the other fifteen little girls in the neighborhood.

Before we turned in for the night, Fox changed into his PJ bottoms right in front of me. I mean, major visual there. I wasn't creeped out or anything - I was actually pretty used to changing in front of guys and having guys change in front of me, so it wasn't anything totally out of the ordinary - it's just that I wasn't expecting it. My eyes went right to his crotch. I dunno exactly why. They just did. He was only exposed for a brief five seconds, and he was busy changing, so it wasn't like he noticed me. I just slept in my boxers, like I usually did.

The next morning, I had breakfast and went across the street. It was then I realized that I hadn't actually been in my room for more than twenty minutes. Well, that was gonna be fixed. I was pretty tired. I don't function very well on less than eight solid hours of sleep. At Fox's, I stayed up until four in the morning and his parents woke us up at nine. Needless to say, I say dog tired. So I went upstairs, climbed in my new bed, which wasn't very comfortable, and fell right asleep.





So, where was I? Oh yeah, I just got home. I didn't mention anything to Fox about our awkward car ride, although I knew that something was definitely up with him. I just didn't know what.

It was 4:45 by the time I stepped inside my house. I peeled a banana, ate it, and threw away the peel. Then I got a glass of water and went upstairs to do my homework. I had gotten slammed particularly hard today with French and History. My school ran in two semesters, and each semester we had four classes. The first semester I had Trig, English, Biology and Drama. I'm really good at math, and you need at least Pre-Calc to graduate here (Trig was the class you took before Pre-Calc). My english course was on American literature. We read stuff like 'Civil Disobedience' and 'The Scarlet Letter'. I'm surprised I passed with an A. I ususally like my science classes, but I hated Biology. My teacher was some bitter old lady who really didn't know what she was talking about half the time, so I had to use Study Hall to learn from the AP Biology teacher. At least I made the effort. Drama was my screw-off class. I really enjoyed taking it. The class was really fun, and the teacher was awesome. Fox and I decided we'd take it together, so that was another huge plus. It was such a great way to end the day, knowing I had three classes, lunch and then 90 minutes of goofing off. But sadly, Drama was over.

This semester I have AP US History, and don't ask me why I decided to take it over your regular Honors United States History. I enjoy the actual class, but the homework is terrible. I have an essay due tomorrow and a reading to do tonight, the first of which I haven't started on, and the second of which I just got today. Fuck me. After History, I go to French III. I really enjoy this class - Fox is in this one and History with me - but like my first class, the homework is terrible. Not to mention my teacher loves giving us projects. I swear, she probably had some great relevation in the Great Awakening when God told her that her students would love making posters and powerpoints and dialogues and skits and all this other shit in French. Thank God I had Drama last semester, because it sure made doing the oral stuff a lot easier. After French, I go to Pre-Calc, because I'm awesome at math, and then I have Chem II. I took Chem I last year, and most colleges look for Chem II on your resume, so I went for it. It's really easy for me. We actually use a lot of Pre-Calc concepts, so I know all of the math I need for the course. Next year when I actually have AP Calc AB and AP Chem, life will be good and easy. However, I unfortunately don't have any easy classes this semester, so I spend a lot of my nights doing homework. Writing essays. Reading French. Solving math problems. Balancing redox equations.

Summer, you couldn't be any further away, could you?

I finished my homework and ate dinner at around 8:30. Then I got bored, so I decided to call Fox and see what he was up to. I know I could have just walked down my driveway, gone across the street and knocked on his door, but calling was easier anyway. I dialed his number and put my cell phone up to my ear.

Brrrr...brrrr...brrrr

I waited patiently. Fox could never even put his phone on vibrate. How was he supposed to know when somebody called him?

Brrrr...brrrr...brrrr..."Hello?"

"Hex, Fox, what are you up to?"

"Jacking off," was his reply.

Nice mental image right there. Not.

"Thanks, I really wanted to know that," I said, totally sarcastic.

"Hey, you asked. Not my fault." Touche.

"No, seriously, what are you doing?"

"I just told you!"

Fox rarely used the same joke twice, so I knew he was being serious this time.

"Why, you wanted something?" he asked me.

"Um, no, not really. I just got bored, that's all. Um..."

Man, this was awkward.

"Umm...can you come over after you're done?" I didn't wait for an answer. I just hung up on him.

Really, Fox kinda creeped me out sometimes. I mean sure, I jacked. I liked jacking. You'd be hard pressed to find a guy who didn't. Whether he admitted to it or not was a different story.

Surprisingly enough, I heard knocking on my door within two minutes. Either Fox had finished that quickly, or he hadn't. But I flew down the stairs and made for the front door anyway. Sure enough, it was Fox.

We went up into my room, because that's the only place worth going in my house, anyway. Jackie had taken control of the entire house, and her middle-school drama wasn't worth listening to, lest somebody punch her in the face. What? Who says those kinds of things?

Ahem.