Jimmy and I exchanged an uneasy glance. I steadily got up from the computer chair and walked up to the kitchen where my mother was.

I squeezed my wrist, trying to get my heart pace to slow down. "What's up?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She crossed her arms.

I shrugged. "What're you talking about?"

My mother sighed in exasperation. "Parker told me that he walked in on you and that Jimmy guy...you finish the sentence, Noel."

My bottom lip quivered. "No, I was at Jimmy's house and we were swimming in his pool and we wore our bathing suits back here and we were just getting dressed, I swear, it's not what it looked like." I was surprised at how fast I thought of that lie.

My mother was evidently unconvinced by the look on her face. She arched an eyebrow. "Noel, be honest, please."

"I am!" I snapped.

She paused, glaring at me. "If I see any of this shit again, you guys won't be seeing each other again, got me?"

I reluctantly nodded, and she walked out of the kitchen. Once she was out of sight, I sighed in relief. I walked back into the computer room.

"So?" Jimmy said as I approached him. I sat back on the chair next to him.

"I told her we were just getting dressed. I don't know if she was convinced, but at least she didn't go berserk."

I kissed Jimmy as my worries slowly melted away. God, what would I do if he was taken away from me?

---

1 week later

Marion was finally out of the hospital, left with only minor cuts and bruises. Daniella, Marion, Jimmy and I were all reuniting by swimming in his pool.

"So, any news with you two?" Daniella asked after she jumped in, looking at Jimmy and I.

"Nothing," I laughed bashfully.

"Girl..." Daniella grasped my shoulders. "Tell me. Did you two do the nasty again?"

"No," I lied.

She glared at me, unconvinced.

Jimmy arched an eyebrow at her, draping his arm around me.

"Jim, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but your eyebrows are like, naturally arched. It's ugly," Marion joked, splashing water at him.

"Girlie," Jimmy snapped his fingers in a sassy manner. "My eyebrows are sexier than you."

Marion over-dramatically gasped. "I am going to hit you so hard, your man boobs are gonna sag."

"I don't have man boobs."

"Uh-huh," Marion placed her hand on his apparent "man boob" area. (He doesn't have man boobs, not even close.)

Jimmy yanked her hand away. "Stop touching my tits! Only Noel can do that."

I barked out laughing. "Oh, I've done more than that," I whispered in his ear, smirking.

"Jim, the water must be really cold by the looks of you," Marion said as her comeback.

He gaped at her. "Oh no you didn't!" Jimmy started laughing, but fought the urge. "Noel calls me Mr. Big P-"

I covered his mouth with my hand. "You won't have a big dick if you say it."

I let go, crossing my arms triumphantly.

"I wanna play a game," Daniella chimed in.

"Kill me," I murmured.

"21 questions."

"Ooh, intriguing," Jimmy said with a grin.

"Okay, so what you do is you pick a person and you ask them a personal question, the person who answers it picks someone else and asks them a question, blah blah blah. I'll start," Daniella's eyes landed on me. "Noel, what is the weirdest thing you've ever done to Jimmy while you guys are doing...stuff?"

Jimmy and I started laughing, thinking about that one time. I finished laughing and said: "I kissed his shoulder."

Everyone started laughing. I wiped a tear away from laughing so hard. "I didn't know, okay?!" I cleared my throat. "Okay, Jimmy," I faced him. "What is the most mischievous thing you've ever done?"

"Fuck," Jimmy thought for a moment. "TP'ing a house on mischief night," I laughed. "Daniella, what's your biggest fear?"

"Big windowless vans," She said without hesitation. "Marion, what did you learn about in Health this year?"

"THE TESTES! AGAIN!" Marion shouted.

Jimmy shushed her. "Remember, the neighbors, me screaming the lyrics to Part of Your World?"

She nodded. "Right. Anyways, Noel, have you ever faked an orgasm?"

At this, Jimmy stared at me. I met his gaze, laughing.

"Give it to me straight, babeh!" He glared at me, trying to intimidate me.

I paused. "No, I've never faked an orgasm."

Jimmy threw his hands up in the air, floating on his back in the water. "I win at life," He whispered triumphantly.

"OH, THIS JUST GOT REAL!" Daniella yelled, laughing.

He eventually swam back to us. "And that's why she calls me Mr. Big Penis."

I glared at him playfully. "I'm going to cut your dick off with scissors."

"It's just gonna grow back, heheh."

---

The game went on, got funnier and funnier until our fingers started to prune. We wrapped ourselves in towels but stayed outside.

"So, what do you wanna do for college?" I asked Daniella. She finished drying her hair and met my gaze.

"Dunno," She shrugged. "Maybe act."

I haven't heard Marion at all the past few minutes. She wasn't with us, but she was a few minutes ago.

"Where's Marion?" I asked, looking around.

"I don't know, wasn't she here just a second ago?" Jimmy said, running his fingers through his spiky hair from the chlorine.

I went in Jimmy's house through the back door. "Marion?" I called out, but the house sounded vacant. I passed the bathroom, then heard faint sobbing. I pressed my ear to the door, and I could tell it was Marion.

"Mari, it's Noel, what's going on?" I asked her through the door. "Can I come in?"

No answer. I slowly opened the door, and she was sitting on the floor, her legs pressed up against her chest.

"Marion," I crouched next to her, wrapping my arms around her. "What's going on, Mari?"

She shook her head, a tear falling down her cheek. "I feel like I don't know who I am anymore."

"Hon, what do you mean?"

Marion paused, looking like she had just zoned out. "You might think of me differently if I tell you."

"No, I won't. Tell me."

"I-I, um..." She started rocking back and forth. "I think-forget it."

"Marion," I warned.

Marion broke down sobbing, nuzzling her head in the middle of her crossed arms. "I don't want to be like this."

"Like what? Marion!"

"I'm scared..."

I pursed my lips. "What are you scared of? You know you can tell me anything."

She finally looked up at me, her eyes now red-rimmed because she was crying. "I-I-I think I'm gay."

I froze, absorbing what she had just told me. I would've never suspected that she was a lesbian; she had so many boyfriends, and she was like a boy magnet.

"Wait, what?"

She put her head in her hands. "I know."

"No," I didn't want her to get the wrong idea, I was just astounded. "I meant, like, weren't you and Chandler kind of..."

"We were drunk at a party, it was nothing."

"How long have you known?"

Marion paused. "A couple weeks before school let out."

"C'mere," I pulled her into a hug, and Marion was gasping for air from sobbing so hard. "Marion, there's nothing wrong with being gay. You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. I don't think of you any differently, you're the same Marion that I became best friends with, and you'll be that Marion forever."

"Thank you, Noel," She said through crying gasps. We sat there, hugging each other until we heard the back door open.

"C'mon, let's go hang out with them. It'll get your mind off things for a while," I suggested. She nodded, and I walked her out to the living room where everyone was.

"Everything okay?" Jimmy asked once Marion and I approached them. We both sat on the couch with them.

"Yeah, we're good, aren't we?" I tried to perk Marion up with a smile. She slightly smiled, but it turned back to a frown.

Daniella cocked her head to the side, knowing something was wrong with her. "Marion, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, really," She flipped her hair to the side. "Just hormones."

Jimmy playfully stuck his bottom stick out. "Are you on your period?"

"Sure," She laughed.

---

We hung around for a few more hours. I kept taking glances at Marion to make sure she was okay. We sent them all home around six-Marion and Daniella drove here together.

I felt so bad for Marion. She felt so insecure about her sexuality and how we would see her after finding out. The one thing about having a true friendship is to accept your friend for who they truly are, and see them as the person you became friends with, and not judge them for their sexuality.

"What was wrong with Marion today?" Jimmy said as he shut the front door.

Should I tell him? I didn't know if I should or not; Marion didn't tell me that she didn't want me to tell anyone or not.

"No, she's just having trouble with some stuff at home."

"Oh."

I went into the living room to get changed back into my jean shorts and a U2 shirt. I tied my hair in a bun. I put on my pair of fluffy white socks.

"Diggin' the socks," Jimmy said when I finished changing. "I like sliding in socks. It amuses me."

I laughed. "Nerd," I started gliding on the hard wood floor with my socks

"Hold on," Jimmy ran upstairs to his room, and came back down with socks on.

We started sliding down the hallway until Jimmy bumped into the wall. I lost control and slammed right into him. He put his arms around me, trying to keep me from falling again, laughing hysterically.

"You ran right into my testicles," He said in a high-pitched voice.

"Good," I said. "We're so mature."

"Completely."

---

8:01 p.m.

"I hear your birthday is in a week," Jimmy looked over at me, his arm draped around me.

"Mhm," I murmured.

"So, watcha wanna do? I'll take you anywhere; You name it."

I smiled warmly at his kind gesture. "Anywhere, as long as I'm with you," I kissed him.

"You're cute."

"Am I now?" I laughed, biting my lip. "You're cuter."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh."

"Nope."

"Yup."

I covered his face with my hand. "Shut up."

"No."

There was a spontaneous knock on the door. I raised a brow, looking at Jimmy in confusion.

"Coming!" Jimmy yelled as he hopped up from the couch and opened the door.

"Oh, hi," A familiar voice said. I rotated my head, and I was surprised to see who it was.

Chandler. Chandler DeLong.

I quickly grabbed a blanket off the arm of the couch and covered myself with it as I heard the footsteps walking upstairs.

"Um, is there someone under there?" I heard Chandler ask. Dammit.

"Noel."

Damn you, Jimmy!

"Noel, as in Noel Pelletier?"

"Uh-huh."

I'm literally going to murder him one day, I thought.

I felt the blanket being yanked off of me. I looked at both of them, humiliated. There goes another person to get into our business.

"Well, hi there," Chandler raised an eyebrow.

"Hi," I said bashfully, pressing my legs up against my chest.

He turned his gaze to Jimmy. "So, you guys are, like, a thing now?"

"Yupper."

"Sweet."

After a long, awkward silence, Jimmy finally broke: "So, why are you here?"

"Um, earlier today, Marion texted me saying that she was here. She said she was having problems or something."

"Uh, she left here a few hours ago, but she started crying in the bathroom. Do you know what's going on?" Jimmy crossed his arms.

"I dunno, that's why I came here," Chandler shrugged. "I don't wanna interpret on this..." He waved his arms around me. "Thing that's going on. See you around, bro."

They did their slap and pat on the back, then Chandler left.

"I'm starting to get really worried. Marion has been having a lot of problems lately," Jimmy said, sitting back down next to me.

I bit my lip, considering whether to tell him or not. Instead, I just shrugged. "Dunno." I couldn't handle lying to him; it was just too much. We were supposed to tell the truth to each other, right?

"Well, I should get going," I said as a save from the truth tumbling out of my mouth.

"Oh, um, okay."

I kissed him goodbye, racing out the door to my car. I let out a sigh of relief that I got out of there.

As I was driving through my neighborhood to get to my house, my phone started buzzing in the cup holder. I took a brisk glance at the road before picking it up, looking at the caller I.D.

Marion was calling.

Without hesitation, I answered. "Marion?"

I heard sobs in the background. "Noel, I need to talk to you. I haven't told you everything."

I pulled over against the curb of someone else's house. "What's going on?"

"I was mostly crying about my sexuality, but there's something else that's scaring the shit out of me."

I waited for her to say it, gripping the steering wheel. "Marion?"

Pause. "I think I'm in love with Daniella."

---

I just wanna take a quick moment and let everyone know that it is okay if you're attracted to someone who is the same gender as you. There is nothing wrong with being different and if anybody makes fun of you, they're heartless. I've had a lot of experience with these kind of situations because I have a friend who is a lesbian, and she gets made fun of everyday. It's sick how people just judge people for their sexuality; it doesn't make them different from anyone else. Don't be afraid to express yourself and be proud of who you are, my friend.

Anyways, so what was your reaction when Marion said she was in love with Daniella? Do you think she'll express her feelings with Daniella?

Xo, Savannah