Quickly exiting, Cole didn't want to get any more involved with the Mattew and Chris case as he dashed down the hall to find Mrs. Markham's lab. As Cole finally made it up the stairs, he exhaled and he walked down the empty hall that he knew would be crowded in less than five minutes.

     Taking his time, he took a turn where he knew Mrs. Markham's lab was but froze solid when he saw the sight before him. Just a couple steps from him was Cloud lip locked with the bitch of the week.

"Cloud?"

    There was no way Cloud would have heard him because it was at that second the bell decided to ring. Sidney pulled away and smiled at Cloud as if what just happen wasn't the first time.

Cole still couldn't believe what he just saw and there was honestly no way Cloud was getting away with that.

     Brushing past the people who were coming out of their class, he walked up to them and ripped Sidney off Cloud like a snail on a tree.

"What the fuck?" He glared at them both but mostly at Cloud for not pushing her away before he saw her. "What did I just see, Cloud?"

"No need to get all sad, Cole." She smiled at him as if she hadn't just kissed his boyfriend. "It was a goodbye kiss. You know, the one you give to your girlfriend before you break up with her."

Cole forehead puckered as he stared at the boy who still hadn't uttered a word. "Cloud please explain because this doesn't make sense."

"Cole-"

"Just to be quick since uh, I've got places to be," She brushed a few strands of her blond hair behind her ear and continued, "Cloud and I used to fuck while we were dating. Don't worry, it was no strings attached." And she tackled on as if that would make it better. Worse, she said it loud enough for everyone on the hallway to know.

"Is this true?" Cole immediately turned to Cloud and asked because he didn't care anymore. He needed answers. How could they have been...?

"Cole-"

"Can I leave now? There's really nothing much to talk about anymore."

"Just shut up bitch!" Cole snapped at her before turning back to Cloud who sagged his shoulders in defeat as he stared worriedly at him. "Bloody answer me already."

    Cloud only nodded before gripping onto Cole's hand and dragging him into Mrs. Markham's lab. He locked the door behind him then turned Cole. "It was a terrible mistake I made."

"You knew I was dating her. You fucking knew it."

"We stopped when I finally got the chance to talk to you. To know you. I didn't know the both of you were dating until I saw you kiss her by your locker." He said, screwing up his face with panic. Then he quickly added, "I liked you but lord knew I couldn't just approach you. I knew your first reaction was to run. It had always been. Then I found you entering some unused room at some point and that was when I knew about your man cave.

"Cole, you've got to believe me. I love you. She was a fling. I had many of those after Carter left me. I'm not proud but it helped me move on." He continued as he slowly came closer to Cole who just wanted to have the image of them kissing out of his head.

"Do you believe me, Cole?"

Cole didn't know what to say. He could just be cheating on him with someone else right now and he wouldn't know because he didn't want to believe such a thing.

"I would never cheat on you, Cole."

His words were soothing. They were always soothing and Cole was too deeply in love with him to stay mad. Sure at Sidney but never at Cloud. And he hated that.

"Why didn't you push her away?" Cole managed. He hated how his voice shook but who could blame him? He just watched his boyfriend kiss his ex-girlfriend.

"I did. That was the only reason why she pulled away. I stopped being rough a long time ago Cole." He cupped his face in his arm and said, "I am so sorry you had to see that."

"You should have told me you used to fuck her. I-I knew you used to do girls, but come on, not her."

    Cloud closed his eyes tightly and sighed before opening it to stare at Cole with those gunmetal eyes of his. "I could give you a list of girls I've had sex with that had somehow dated you. That is if you want but Cole, I want to put this behind me. That's why I never brought it up."

Licking his lips, Cole leaned his forehead on Cloud's and said, "I love and trust you Cloud. Please, don't give me the pain of ever doubting it."

"Never." He said deeply as he looked into Cole's eyes. "Never."

Cole sighed and kissed him.

    This was the part he hated. He didn't know if he should've forgiven him so easily. Wouldn't it be better if he had asked for some space to think about it? It was so hurtful to Cole to see what he saw but yet, he was in that room, kissing Cloud as if their relationship depended on it.

    Cole was so confused.

...

     "And that's my girlfriend when we went to the beach. Oh you should see the one when we went for pride. So many fabulous gays and trannies. My friend Groth came even. She's male to female. She's amazing."

    Cole was trying to pay attention to Kim babble on and on about her time with her ex-girlfriend, but the fact that Cole's tailored suit was ready had him jumping on his bed.

"I can't believe you kept this." Henry turned to him and showed him the picture they had taken when they first met. Looking at it now, Cole felt like it was a long time ago. Months actually.

So far, everything had been working well for the both of them.

    Cole jumped out of his bed to take the picture from him. Somehow, meeting Henry was like a check point in his life. It was when things slowly became better for the both of them. Smiling down at Henry, he said, "How could I not."

"I do not like the both of you." Kim said, throwing a pillow which hit them both. "I was being a crybaby about my ex-girlfriend and you just ignored me. Stupid asshole."

"You know, you can actually say her name. It wouldn't kill you."

"It'd kill me." She cried out dramatically as she sat up on the bed. "I mean, that's the only time I get to call her mine. You know, like my ex-girlfriend. It used to be my Kelsey."

"You dated Kelsey?!" Cole never expected that. Who knew what else he missed? "But she acted like some stuck up bitch today. I don't even see her with you often."

    She rolled her eyes skywards as she shook her head. "That's because we weren't this close until we broke up. When you told me you kissed your best friend."

"Yeah, I remember." He frowned at her but decided to put it past him and continued, "Wow. Well that's a shocker really."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, she's a hottie."

"Are you trying to say she out of my league?"

    Cole decided to stay silent and let her mind wander off. And like the response he had predicted, she cursed and threw the other pillows at him and since Henry was beside him, it had hit him too.

"Hey." He yelped as he dove to the other side of the room.

"I was just kidding." Cole chuckled as he ducked behind the bed.

"I should kill you for that joke." She cursed as another pillow went over his head.

     Cole most likely would have had a pillow smack him right on his face if his mum hadn't called for him to get down stairs. He stood up and saw Kim had drawn closer to the edge of the bed and had the last pillow on the bed in her arm. He knew she was going to use it to smack him so before she could do anything, he winked at her and ran out of the room, laughing loudly when he heard his Kim's angry grunt.

    Skipping down the stairs, he called to his mum and she replied from the kitchen. "Honey, I've got your suit from the tailor."

    Cole practically squealed as he ran to the kitchen, jumping when his mum pulled the white bag off his suit. His mum smiled at it then at him and said, "I can practically see you in it."

"It's my prom and graduation suit. Isn't it amazing?" Cole came closer to touch it, gliding his fingers down the fabric.

    Cole and Cloud and gone to the tailors a week ago, after the family dinner to order one and he was surprised they were done by the time they went over again a couple days ago. It had fitted him perfectly. But now that he knew how his were, he was ever so curious about Cloud's. Cloud had refused to show him his suit or even the material he had picked.

"It's pretty, hun. I can't even wait to see you in it."

"I could wear it-"

"Nope." She stopped him before he could finish. "I want to see it on that day. Is Derick coming to pick you- Shit!" She jumped, shocked by something and making Cole confused. She looked at Cole sadly and said, "I just remembered. When's your prom?"

"This Friday."

"Time, Cole?"

"12:00pm to 2:00pm. Anything wrong?"

    She bit her lips as disappointment showed clear on her face. "Honey, that's when we are supposed to be at the Courthouse. Friday is supposed to be a free day at your school for grade 12 so they made it Friday."

    Cole felt like he was being stabbed. Didn't they know he had prom? Wasn't it like an important activity in a kid's life? It wouldn't have been a few weeks ago but not now. Not when he's finally got a boyfriend he loved, a suit for the prom and his curiosity for Cloud's suit.

"Please tell me we can change it." He said, his voice sounding hollow as his feelings went from cloud 9 to irritated.

"We can't. The earlier the better."

    Cole couldn't believe his mum was telling him this now. Right when he was so happy about this. He still was but he just didn't want to miss it. He didn't want to miss Prom.

"We have to meet the deadline or they could easily take you to court. Win you away from us and send you to another home. I love you, Cole."

    He knew that. Bloody hell, he'd always known that. But he loved Cloud too and he definitely didn't want to miss prom. Cole just realized that this was where his love was to be tested. If the love for his family was greater than the love he had for Cloud or vice versa. Cole didn't want to ever be able to choose because both parties had hurt him before. His family kicked him out and Cloud bullied him and slept with his ex-girlfriend. But all that was a long time ago.

Now, his family loved him and so does Cloud.

Should he go to the meeting or prom?

"Let's go to the meeting. Prom's not really worth it." He said as he looked straight at the gorgeous suit laid across the table.

"What? After all your excitement for it? Your date with Derick? Wanting to know what Derick was wearing? You'd just give it all up?"

Cole was hoping she would reply with 'Sike, I was just kidding. I was just checking out if you would pick your boyfriend over your family. Good job, Cole. You passed the test.' But all that came out was a small sad smile.

This was really happening.

    Standing up from the seat she was seated on, she picked up his suit and said and as she kept it back in the bag, "I'm going to take good care of it so it would look amazing for your graduation. Okay?"

"Thanks mum."

"You're welcome." She kissed him on the cheeks before walking out of kitchen.

    Sighing heavily, Cole tried to shake the thought out of his head but it only resulted in giving him a head ache. So instead of going back to his room immediately, he sat down on the stool and waited for his emotions to settle down. 

"Cole?"

    Cole didn't want to look up at Henry. However, he didn't have to because he came to seat beside him while Kim stood at the other side of the counter.

"We kind of heard. The whole thing to be precise." She smiled weakly at him and he rolled his eyes in response.

"It doesn't matter. It was just a dumb party anyways."

"Don't say that. Prom isn't a dumb party. It's our last party together. It's the party people get to be who they really are." Kim held his hand from across the counter and added, "And plus I voted you prom king."

"What?!"

She quickly shook her head as she let go of his hand to raise hers in defense, "No, it wasn't me who wrote your name. I just saw it and voted. But guess who else is going as prom king?"

"Dustin? Marcus?-"

"Derick, you moron." She rolled her eyes at him. "Derick is running and so are you and just yesterday, the both of you were above Sidney. And chances are, the both of you may win it. Quotes on 'may' because the school kinda knows about him and Sidney."

"Too bad I'm not going." Cole sighed. He didn't care if he won it with Sidney or not, he just wanted to be there with Cloud.

    Pushing away from the stool to stand, Henry pushed him back on the seat saying, "You could always go early. To the court, I mean."

"He's right. Plus, I doubt the court meeting would be two hours. Like what are they going to talk about? You've already mailed your statement and maybe everyone else has too. According to you, they'd come over a couple time to see how you were doing and...you look well. So, all you need is the right lawyer now." Cole was glad to hear that from Kim.

"Thanks guys." He smiled at her then at Henry. "At Least if I don't make it, I could go to yours. What grade are you?"

    Henry started but quickly cut himself off to stare at Kim. The girl shrugged and he sighed before turning back to Cole, "Cole, I'm dropping out of school."

"Wait, what?" Cole practically choked on air.

"My parents stopped sponsoring me when they noticed my bad grades. I'm not your smart kid that could still work under stress or the shit I've been going through. Once my grades came to them as awful, the told me they weren't going to pay for my last year. With no pocket money and my uncle finding out about me... It's been kind of hard."

Cole had no idea. He had no idea all this was happening to the kid that surprisingly brought him luck. While Cole had his family back, his boyfriend and more friends, Henry lost everything.

"Henry-"

    Cole was caught off by Henry's ringing phone. He rose a finger at him and quickly checked it. His eyes widened slightly and said in a low voice, "It's my uncle."

"Then go fucking answer it." Kim motioned for him to leave and he nodded before walking out of the kitchen.

Cole immediately turned to Kim. "Why should he?"

"Because it's his uncle. He could just be calling to apologize and ask him to come home."

"It's not that easy."

"I never said it was but hey, you are here."

    Cole felt like his case was different. Henry had been rejected by two families. His very own and his uncle. If Cole had been rejected by Jane, he would never had accepted his family. Probably just hated them, himself and his sexuality. Cole couldn't even begin to imagine how Henry would be feeling.

"Hey, guys." Henry stuck his head into the kitchen and said, "I'm sorry but I've got to go. Something's wrong with my uncle."

"Oh. Well, sorry about that." Cole said.

"I'll take you." Kim nodded at him. "Wait in the car." She added then watched him go before turning back to Cole. "Cole, promise me you won't call Derick and tell him you wouldn't make it."

"Why?"

"Because you will." She smiled at him then started to walk out of the room only to stop before it and said, "Imagine if you did and Derick doesn't come. You finish your meeting very early and realize, you both just missed prom for nothing. If you must call him, think well before you say anything." She winked at him before walking out of the kitchen and leaving him with his thoughts.

    Cursing out loud, Cole frowned at that pretty picture that suddenly came across his phone screen. How was he supposed to not tell Cloud he might not make it to prom?