Never Play Poker with Girls Chapter 03

Never Play Poker with Girls Chapter 03
By Jaech Reiter

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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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The Gant Family:
Mike and Judie Gant.
Marissa, 16 years.
Ricky, 15 years.
Melanie and Will, 12 years, 10 months.
Henry, 11 years, 9 months.

Neighborhood:
Patty (12) and Logan (11) Henson - live down the block.

Zachary Manning, 12 years, 11 months - lives one block over; kind of an ass, obnoxious. One inch taller than Will; has PE with Will.

Killian Olsen, just turned 13 years old - lives one block over; best friend of Zachary.

School:
Justin Meyers, 12 years, 7 months - good friend of Will, shared classes since Kindergarten, including PE.

Mark Young, 12 years, 10 months - friend of Zachary's and in PE with Will.

Curtis Bedwell, 12 years, 7 months - one of Will's best friends; reddish-brown hair, could pass for 13 already; has PE with Will.

Dean Larkin, 12 years, 11 months - one of Will's best friends; heartthrob to girls and he knows it.

Mason Corbett, 12 years, 6 months - one of Will's best friends and stereotypical stage of 12 year old in full puberty; quiet, sure, stable.

Nat Keller, 12 years, 7 months - one of Will's best friends and stereotypical stage of 12 year old awaiting full puberty; anxious, unsure, easily embarrassed but still tries to be outgoing.

Colin Landers, 12 years, 11 months - friend of Will & Company.

Coach Tom Maguire - Head Coach, 8th grade PE, football. Coach Chuck Brown - 7th grade PE, basketball. Coach Archie Peterson - 6th grade PE, baseball.

Chapter 03
The Aftershave

Monday morning. The first day of . . . . ?

The week?

The rest of his life?

A very long grounding?

How long until the burn marks subsided, and how long until his hair grew back?

Will stood waiting for the bus, ignoring his little brother Henry and his friend, Logan, from down the block; ignoring his twin sister Melanie, who he knew was just dying to tell Logan's sister Patty about the whole weekend, except that she couldn't; and even ignoring Zachary Manning and Killian Olsen, which wasn't as hard as he tried to do on most days. Those two boys tended to be more of obnoxious assholes to him anyway. He only ever got into a fight with Zachary once, when he and Killian decided to pick on Henry.

Truth is, if the boys hadn't been separated, Will might have won, despite the fact that he rarely got into fights, and Zachary had a few months, a few pounds, and about one more inch in height on him. But the way the story went at school was that Zachary almost beat the crap out of Will, except the bus monitor stepped in to save the boy. That was about 4 months ago. Will never forgot it, though. He was angry at Zachary and Killian for being asses in general, and angry that his brother never said anything about it. Not a thank you, not even a correction to his friends as to how the fight really went down.

So it was two storytellers to one, and Zachary and Killian's version seemed easier to believe for most people. Due to the story that they themselves probably began to believe, they still felt free to pick on Will, at least without pushing it too far. Interestingly enough, however, neither boy tried picking on Henry again, and they generally did not bother whoever was with Henry, either. If they had, despite his resentment toward his little brother, Will would still intercede.

But that was in the past, and the day currently ahead of Will had its own troubles awaiting him The only good news that had come that morning was that the Sunday trip to Benjamin County had been postponed one week Something about waiting for a sale. But he wasn't sure that was good news, as much as it was not-as-bad news.

"Hey Willie, you bring an extra pair of Fundies for when you have to dress out with the big boys in PE today?" Zachary taunted him.

He had PE with Zachary. Actually the boy was only two lockers down and the opposite side of his and Curtis'. He hadn't thought about that. Zachary was there the day they first announced the plan to transition to full dressing out and showers. Will was one of the ones that bemoaned the fact; he really didn't want anyone to see him nude. Zachary and another boy named Mark Young had both made fun of Will and a couple of others as being girls afraid of hanging with the big boys.

"Maybe you should just get a hall pass until you can at least get a hair between your legs."

"Shut up, you dipshit, I got plenty of hairs down there, probably more than you."

"Sounds like a challenge," Mark said egging it on, "you wanna put up or shut up?"

If only he had at the time, 'put-up' that is, there would at least be some proof, some public proof, that he had started puberty. Now when Zachary and Mark saw him, they would probably bring the whole matter up again and try and disgrace him further in front of everyone. As if he could be disgraced further. The truth, if he had been allowed to tell, which he wasn't as part of the deal, wouldn't have sounded much better. What would he say? He got beat at poker by a bunch of girls, and they took all the hair off him. Yeah, that almost sounded worse.

This was really and truly going to suck. He was nervous, unprepared, and worried that he might at any moment piss his pants if he didn't come up with a reason not to dress out in PE.

He tried it with his mom and dad, separately and again together, asking them for an excuse to not dress out; but they said absolutely not. Even worse, they felt that just because he was asking that it was further proof that he needed the experience. They both felt he was way too modest, if he was embarrassed about being naked with boys his own age, especially in an appropriate setting like PE.

When he pushed it further, they not only became even more convinced that he needed it, and they went one step further to warn him if he skipped or didn't dress out, that they would sign him up for the corporal punishment clause, from which he had heretofore been exempted.

"And maybe we'll just send you to school naked so you can get over it."

Will went so pale when they said that, that his dad had to hastily tell him that they were just joking. He was for sure thinking his son was about to pass out. It wasn't far from the truth, either.

"What really is the matter, son? Do you feel you're a lot less developed down there? Maybe you're wondering when you'll get some hair around your-"

"Dad!" Well, at least he wasn't pale anymore. Now he was just red. He couldn't believe his dad just said that in front of his mom, much less that he was going to have to answer it. "No, I'm . . . . . developed . . . just fine. And I got plenty of hair down there."

Will grimaced. That was so not the way he meant for that to come out, and the smirk on his mom's face only worsened the embarrassment. Plus there was the fact that he had just lied, as he now no longer had ANY hair down there. And that was really the issue in general with dressing out, until it grew back. In absolute terms, however, he could not dress out until the redness went away.

"And what's with the long sleeve button-up shirt?"

The truth? Will thought, The truth is I'm hiding my bright red arms from you, which is why I didn't wear one of my white long sleeve shirts and chose a darker one instead, but that's definitely not what I am going to tell you.

"Uh, there's, um, just somebody I, uh, want to, um, look good for."

"Ohh, what's her name?" his mom asked in that cutesy way that moms have.

"It's not a girl, mom," Will rolled his eyes.

"Oh." She wasn't sure where to go with that.

"Uhh," his dad asked nervously, but still wanting to be supportive, "Is it, um, a boy?"

"WHAT??!! No- Gross, NO! That's sick, dad. Why can't you guys just leave me alone and let me finish getting ready for school?"

Judie Gant pulled her husband out of the kitchen and let Mr. Grumpy be. She patted Mike on the shoulder and said quietly, "Oh, our little boy is growing up. I wonder who she is."

"I'm just glad it's a she. We could ask Melanie what the girl's name is."

"Oh, Mike, honestly, you should pay more attention. Just because they fight all the time now doesn't negate that they're still twins; she won't offer up any information like that."

"Henry?"

"Oh good grief, Mike. He's 11. I don't even know if he's started puberty yet."

"I don't know . . . he seems to be growing faster than Will; he's almost caught up to him. You haven't noticed?"

"I'm his mother, of course I noticed." Has he really, she thought? She was going to have to look again the next time the two of them were near each other. "But he's still only 11. Girls are still icky at that age for him; he won't notice any crush his brother has. We'll ask Patty from down the street. I know her weak spot. Give her a slice of chocolate cake and the girl will tell you anything."

Once at school, Will lumbered into his 1st period class.

"Will, what's up with you?"

"Uh, hey Justin. Nothing, just . . . don't feel well today."

Justin Meyers had been in at least one of his classes every grade since Kindergarten. They usually now grabbed a seat next to each other at the start of term in any class they shared. The only exception was PE. Justin's locker was one row over. Damn, Will suddenly thought, was EVERYBODY in his PE class?

"You look like you're about to be suspended or something."

Or something, Will thought. His math class seemed to drag as he dreaded what was coming and speed up as he feared it. Finally the bell rung, but Will was stuck in his seat.

"Aren't you coming" Justin asked.

"I can't."

"Are you gonna throw up?"

"I wish; then I wouldn't have to go."

"Go? . . . . . Ohhhh, I get it. PE. Dude, what do you care? It's just a bunch of guys. The girls ain't gonna see. Besides, they gotta do the same thing."

"They do?" Will asked surprised.

"Yeah, you didn't know? You got a twin sister, how could you not know?"

"We're not telepathic, moron."

Justin laughed, "Well, still, she must have said something with you acting like this."

"Man, can you imagine, all those girls -" Will was staring off into space and readjusted himself without even realizing.

"No dude, don't even go there. Didn't you hear the warning at school assembly two weeks ago?"

"No, dentist's appointment."

"Any guy caught trying to peek in on the girls, and it's instant corporal punishment, whether your parents signed up for it or not. And it's in front of the school, literally, right out front, every morning for a week, pants down. And that's like the best thing that might happen. You don't want to go there."

"No," he shivered. He did not.

The two boys went on to PE, and Justin took his leave when they walked in the gym. Justin usually met up with a couple other guys he was friends with during PE, mainly Donny Evers and Chris Kolbein, whereas Will tended to hang out more with Curtis and a couple other boys.

"I see your parents didn't go along with the idea of letting you skip PE this week." Curtis said, looking around to see where the coaches were.

"No, worse. They told me when I left that if I tried to get out of it that I would spend the whole summer at a camp in Benjamin Cou-OW! . . . .What did you do that for?" Will asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know," Curtis said, and then popped him in the back of his head again. "Why did you make that stupid bet with your sister?"

"Cut it out, Curtis."

"Cut what out?" Curtis asked as he slapped the boy in the back of the head, yet again.

"Stop it! What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Stop it, stop it," Curtis mimicked in a baby tone, and started thumping Will's head, "You're such a fucking pussy, Gant."

Will did know what had gotten into Curtis. He was acting like a freak. He batted the hand away the next time Curtis tried to thump him, "Asshole."

"Don't hit me," Curtis said, when his hand had been batted away, and gave Will a shove. Will shoved back, but harder. When Curtis came at him again, all the bottled rage of the last few days at what had happened to him flew out of Will, and he rushed into Curtis, pummeling him as he knocked him to the floor. Curtis tossed the kid off and just as they were about to go at it some more, they were pulled back and restrained by the coaches.

Will hurled several surprising volleys of verbal abuse, though he would be greatly shocked at himself later, unsure of where that level of rage even came from. But the head coach had had enough of that.

"Gant ! Bedwell ! In my office, NOW!!"

The coach shoved each boy roughly into a chair, about three feet apart and yelled at them again.

"Can the two of you little girls sit here without jabbering off to each other, or do you need a babysitter?"

They could hear boys outside laughing, the coach was so loud. They both mumbled that they could be quiet, and the coach left to give the showers-policy orientation speech to the other boys in the class.

Curtis and Will gave each other sidelong glances, both looking at each other like they were from another planet. Will was wondering what psychotic break Curtis had had to pick a fight with him in the first place, and Curtis was still a bit shocked at the vitriol spouted moments before by his friend. It was a flash of rage he had never seen.

"All right, either of you two boys want to tell me what's going on?" Coach Maguire asked them when he came back in.

Neither boy had much to say other than a few vague mumbles.

"OK, I guess I'll do the talking. First of all, you both get a general detention for fighting. That part is out of my hands; it's an automatic in our zero tolerance policy."

"A detention?" Will exclaimed.

"You're lucky it's not a suspension, Gant. And another thing, you can forget about participating in the activities today; you'll just have to sit it out."

"But coach," Curtis started to argue.

"No, buts, Bedwell."

"In that case, sir," Curtis tried, "could we still get credit for the period if we did something besides just sit out?"

"You mean like letting me take a whalloping to your bare posterior, because that is always fun."

He was just joking with them; at least, they hoped he was. You could never tell with Coach Maguire.

"Um, no sir, I was just wondering - I know Sean's out sick this week and Owen had that death in his family, so you don't have any managers to clean and put away the eighth grade football equipment from the weekend JV tryouts."

"Yes, that's true. What do you want, Bedwell?"

"Me and Will could clean it up and put it away; Sean showed me once what they do. And if we do a good job, maybe we could get credit for dressing out and participating for the day?"

"Well . . . . It's not a bad offer. If you two can show me you can cooperate and do a good job, I'll give you credit for the day as dressed out and participating."

"Thank you, sir!" Both boys said.

Curtis turned to Will and winked at him, as the coach turned his back to walk out the office. 'You planned this?' mouthed Will in astonishment. Curtis grinned and nodded.

"Oh, and boys, if you're going to be getting credit as dressing out, then you should dress out."

Will's heart sank. All that for nothing. But lucky for him, Curtis was fast on his feet.

"OK, Coach . . . but, since we're gonna be cleaning and working in the Athletics room, can we use the showers there?"

"All right, but just don't get carried away thinking you're alone in there in the showers."

"Um . . .sir?"

"I have three boys of my own, Bedwell. I know what boys can get up to sometimes when they think they're alone back there. No playing around. I'll be sending in Coach Peterson to check on you." The man said, as he left to check on the other boys.

Will missed it completely, but Curtis picked up on it. Of course, Coach could have just been referring to simple horseplay, but he had a son in their grade, Seth Maguire. Could Coach have been referring to the fact that Seth or one of his brothers had fooled around with another boy? In some way that wasn't just horseplay? And that Coach, himself, didn't think this was abnormal? Hmmm, very interesting possibility.

"Hey," Will knocked his friend in the arm to snap him out of his reverie, "Didn't your plan have anything in there about getting out of detention? If my parents find out, I'll get grounded."

"I know. That was part of it," Curtis said smiling. He was rather proud of himself that it had all worked out so perfectly. He was only half sure of himself last night when he had first thought about it and made the decision to do it. The tricky part was making sure it was Coach Maguire himself that actually caught them, and not Brown or Peterson.

Brown was their general 7th grade coach and a hard ass, and Curtis had heard creepy things whispered about Peterson. He hoped they were done with the shower before that man came in.

"Wait, you MEANT for us to get detention?"

"Yep, and I'm pretty sure you will get grounded, because I remember your mom telling you that if you ever got detention like your neighbor Scott, then you would get grounded for sure."

Scott was a skater kid with spiked blond hair that lived two doors down. He was only a half a year older than Will, but one grade up, though how he ever managed not to get held back no one knew, since he seemed to live in detention.

"But Curtis, you knew my family was going to the water park grand opening Saturday. Now I won't get to go!"

"And how would you explain all those burned areas to your mom? Were you going to the water park in a wet suit?" Curtis laughed.

Of course, he was right. It had completely slipped Will's mind to make the connection between the water park and exposure of all the burns, except on his private area. And with the happy trail burn, his mom was sure to look there. He couldn't know for sure it all would disappear by then, and if he tried to back out of the water park trip, his parents would definitely know something was up. Will never turned down a pool or a water park.

He thought about and saw how it all made sense, how perfectly this took care of a lot of potential problems.

"Curtis, you're a fucking genius!!"

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Curtis said in a bad Elvis impersonation. Neither was really sure who Elvis was, but they had a good laugh.

"Why did you do it? You could have gotten yourself in a lot of trouble, too."

"Seriously? You don't know why? You're my friend, Will. I'd do anything for you."

Will was quiet. What does one say to that? The two boys went and got their PE uniforms and clean underwear and headed over to the Athletic lockers. (All boys were given the option of bringing clean underwear or athletic supporters. All PE clothes, including underwear, were labeled with the boy's name and locker number. They were washed from hamper bins on site and put back into the lockers, which could be opened by combination or Master key). Curtis showed Will what to do and they set to work, working hard and did not even notice the time pass.

"Boys, I thought you would be in the shower by now." They heard Archie Peterson's voice. Peterson was the sixth grade boys general PE Coach, as well as one of the baseball coaches.

"Sorry, sir, guess we didn't notice the time."

"Well, put that away and come on to the lockers. Coach Maguire said you would be using the Athletics locker room and showers today. Get a little sunburned on those arms and legs, Gant?"

"Um, yes, sir, over the weekend."

Curtis stepped between the coach and Will, blocking some of the Coach's view, but not for the reason Will thought. Peterson led the two boys to the locker room and ushered them inside, only he didn't leave. Instead he leaned up against the door frame and waited for them to get into the shower.

"Uh, we don't need anybody watching us undress, Coach." Curtis said.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean, Bedwell?" The coach said with a frown, suddenly standing straight.

"Uh, nothing, sir, um, just that . . . . well, there's only two of us. We can't really get up to much trouble, so, uh, you don't really need to watch us."

"Well, if you can't really get up to much trouble, why are you in here and with a detention this afternoon? See my point?"

"Yes, sir," Curtis mumbled and flushed with the humiliation of knowing he was being deliberately watched, he shuffled about a bit, before hesitantly taking off his clothes.

Peterson watched as the brownish-red-headed boy pulled off his shirt. That skin was so creamy white and without a mark on him except for a few freckles, but under the arms he saw a patch of already curly red hairs that looked like that had been burnt a touch brown by puberty. While he liked Curtis and Curtis' body, and he sure as hell was looking forward to seeing that ass come into vies for the first time, Peterson was really holding put for Will's stripping down.

Will was a touch shorter and looked a bit less developed than his red-headed friend, and that was where Coach Peterson really liked them. It was why, just 1 year out of a Masters program, he had chosen the sixth grade as his coaching position. He liked it when a boy was just before or just after those first hairs, especially if his balls were plumping up and the dick was cut. Mmmmm, he had to restrain himself from licking his lips at the thought. Those Gant boys were something else, he would bet. He had been watching shy, quiet Henry for months, but unfortunately it would be a whole other year before Henry was required to undress completely and shower at PE.

Curtis had no other choice but to keep going once he had his socks and shoes off. He wasn't going to prolong the exposure by taking his shorts off first and then his undies; he wasn't putting on a striptease for the young coach. At the same time that Curtis hooked his thumbs under both shorts and briefs waistbands and began pulling them down, Will hooked his under the hem of his shirt and began pulling it up. It was a double treat for Peterson, and he shifted as he felt his own package growing and claiming limited space in his Jockeys.

Just as Curtis' shorts cleared the top of his crack and began their journey out over the white squeezable melons, and just as Will's shirt cleared his dimpled innie belly button (was he seeing right? Was there a red streak down his stomach also? He was too distracted by the belly button to tell.), they heard Coach Maguire call out:

"Hey, Archie? Where are you? Come here for a second."

'Damn it!' Archie Peterson thought in his head and looked perplexed. Curtis noticed that the man didn't take his eyes off the boys' bodies, even when he responded:

"Uh, yeah boss, be right there! Uhh, you boys, um, did a great job with the equipment, so, uh, how about you taker time, enjoy your shower, and I'll, uh, I'll write you some excuses for your next class."

"Thanks, coach!" Will said enthusiastically, but Curtis only nodded and grunted quietly. Both boys had paused in their undressing and waited until the coach left.

"Why were you like that to Coach A? He's not bad; he's letting us take our time and go to the next class late. He's pretty cool."

"Dude, don't you even pay attention?? Colin was right, the guy's a pervert."

"What? No, he isn't. How would Colin even know?"

"His brother Caleb is in 6th grade and says Peterson is always perving the kids - has some favorites too. Colin and Caleb's dad is a cop, so Colin says he knows what to look for. The only reason Peterson is giving us passes and wants us to take our time is so that we'll still be in the shower when he gets back."

"Gross," Will said, and then listened astonished while Curtis described how the man had been looking at them.

"Uck. Double gross. Man, lets just get a quick shower and get out of here." Will said.

They stripped down quickly - though Will couldn't help himself to watch those white cheeks come into view as Curtis pulled his shorts and underwear out and over them - and they hopped into the showers and quickly got clean.

As they were rinsing off, however, Will couldn't stop his eyes from wandering with the water that was flowing down Curtis' back, in rivulets with the muscles and then over those butt cheeks that proudly stood out, full and white. The freckles, few as there were, stopped at his lower back and did not cascade over the inviting dual plumpness as the water did. Will could just imagine his hand running along with the water and feeling it crest over the rump, the soft skin of another boy's butt under his hands.

He stopped his hand and shook himself under the spray to try and figure out what his problem was. It all started with Curtis feeling up his own butt - including his hole!! - and then acting like it was no big deal. Actually, ever since he had that stuff put on him, that stuff that took off his hair, he hadn't been able to really get an orgasm like he used to. It seemed like it was getting hard easily, maybe even too easily, but he couldn't really get his nut like he felt he should. It was really frustrating him.

That's what he figured it was. As near as a 12 year old boy can describe sexual frustration, he was feeling it, and he reasoned that was why he was so interested in Curtis' butt.

NO! He said to himself. That was NOT what he was doing.

"Did you say something?" Curtis asked him.

"Uh, no," It wasn't 'interest' in Curtis' bum, body or nut; it was just . . . . . curiosity . . . . . or something like that. Yeah, something like that. "I was, uh, just thinking how good this cool water felt on my skin."

"Is that why you've got a boner?" Curtis laughed.

"Huh?" Will looked down and sure enough, he was standing sure and proud. "Crap. Uh, so Curtis, my friend who would do anything for me, you want to, um, . . . . . . you know . . . . . take care of it for me, like Friday?"

Curtis smiled at the cheekiness of Will. His dick actually looked a little bigger in its new hairless state, although, given how hard it was, maybe it really was bigger.

"Are you blushing, Will?" Curtis asked, teasing his friend.

"What?? NO, dumbass, that's the burn stuff. I was just joking!" Will said angrily and turned his back to his friend and stepped under the spray. Curtis thought about this, but his thoughts were interrupted:

"Boys! Hurry up and get out!" A gruff call came from the doorway that made them both jump.

"Geez, Coach Maguire, you scared us," Curtis exclaimed, then mumbled, "Glad it was you this time, though."

"Not as much as I would have scared you if I waited a few more minutes, I bet. Oh, don't you two go blushing. It's nothing I haven't interrupted dozens of times over the last 11 years here at Tucker Middle School. And you would be surprised who, too. But I don't allow any activity, exploration or otherwise, on school grounds, or at least during school times and in areas accessible by others. It's for your own protection."

"Yes, sir." The both said abashed as they rinsed off.

"We really weren't going to do anything, Coach," Will said timidly.

Coach Maguire laughed and hand each boy a towel, as they turned of the showers and filed passed him. "Now, where have I heard that before? Like I said, I have three boys of my own and have been teaching for fifteen years. I've heard it all, OK?"

There it was again. Did the Coach catch his son Seth doing something with another boy? Or does he catch him frequently? Or is it one of his two brothers? Or was his hormone driven imagination just running a little too wild? Curtis toweled off, not realizing that he wasn't the least bit uneasy with Coach Maguire there.

"Look, you boys missed the orientation, but the brief of it is that you are all boys, and that you have nothing on your bodies to be ashamed of, no matter what you have and don't yet have down there. It's perfectly natural to be interested in what other boys look like, and many of you will experiment farther than that. It doesn't mean anything as long as you keep it amongst yourselves. I don't want you doing anything at school because it increases the risk someone will catch you and try to use it against you. And although it's OK for an adult to see you, and even enjoy looking at your body, it's not OK if you feel he or she might try something. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Both boys said as they pulled on the rest of their clothes and sat down on the bench to put their shoes on. Maguire didn't creep out either one of them.

"Good, now that you are both dressed, I want to talk with Will, here, alone."

Will looked suddenly nervous and frantic. The Coach even addressed him by first name. That can never be good. He didn't want Curtis to leave him. He had been on edge all day and wondered what this could be about. But once again, Curtis threw him a lifeline.

"Is this about the burn marks on his body, sir?"

"What I need to talk to him about is not your business, Bedwell, you can wait in my office."

"Yes, sir, because if it was, it's a real funny story."

"No, it isn't," Will said, not quite catching on yet.

"Well, then, why don't one of you tell me," Maguire said, intrigued, "because, yes, I am very much concerned about what I saw."

"Will was embarrassed about not having any hair once we started having to take showers," Will hit Curtis as he egan the story, wondering what the hell his friend was doing, but cutis hit him back without looking and kept telling his made-up version, "so he got some Hair-Grow gel from a friend who's dad is going bald, and he put it all over his body, wherever he thought he should have hair. Except he had some kind of reaction. You can even see some redness above his lip."

Maguire couldn't help but smile. "Is that true, Gant?"

"Um, yes, sir." Slowly catching on. "Oh gosh, please don't tell my parents, sir! Please!!!"

Maguire started laughing. It was the funniest thing he had heard all week. He had to tell the other coaches this; he normally respected confidences from other kids, but this was too rich, too funny not to share.

"It's not that funny, sir."

"I'm sorry, boy, but that's either the dumbest thing I've heard or the funniest, or both. Son, don't ever put anything on your nuts if you don't know what it does. In fact, one of the rules of boyhood should just be: don't put anything on your nuts, in general." He kept laughing a deep and genuine laugh.

"Please, sir, don't tell my parents."

"Well, I guess since you didn't ingest it, snort it, sniff it, or shoot it, I'm not really obligated to tell anyone. I don't keep secrets, and you should never ask someone to - it can get you into trouble, OK? - but I wont say anything to the principal or your parents IF you bring me a doctor's note that says you're all right, physically, at least."

"A doctor's note?"

"Yes, son, I would think with something like this you would WANT to see a doctor. Don't you, if your nuts are on the line? Do you even know what all that stuff does?"

"Uhh, no, sir." It was true. He never even looked at the bottle. He needed to get that from Marissa.

"Do you have anything to put on that?"

"Yes, sir. In my backpack."

"Well for goodness sake, put it on. Come by my office when you are done and get your hall passes. And boys, I think it would be best if I extend your punishment through next Monday. In the meantime, you'll dress and shower in here."

"Wait, sir, both of us?" Curtis asked. He had actually wanted to play some in PE.

"Oh I have a feeling you had more of a hand in this than you let on, Bedwell. Besides, it's good for the other boys to see there is serious punishment for fighting. Not only that, but I'm a Scoutmaster, and you should always have a buddy with you when you go swimming, hiking, or to the showers. It's just common sense protection. So Bedwell, until those red marks go away, you're his buddy. No playing sports, just cleaning equipment."

Curtis stifled a groan and asked as Maguire was walking out the door. "So Coach, 'don't put anything on your nuts', 'don't make secrets' - any other words of advice for boys to live by?"

Coach thought for a second and said, "Yeah, don't ever play poker with girls." And he shut the door behind him. As he walked down the hall, he wondered about Bedwell's mumbling about concern over someone else seeing them in the showers.

"Great, according to Coach, in one night I broke all three of the Cardinal Rules of Boyhood. Why did we make the stupid promise not to tell what really happened? I wouldn't be such a laughing stock if everyone just thought I lost my hair on a bet."

"You sure about that?"

"Well, it's worse now. Now they'll think I never did have hair and put stuff on to try and grow it."

"Coach said he wouldn't tell anybody."

"No. He said he wouldn't tell the principal or my parents. I bet he tells the other coaches."

"Uh, I don't think I would take that bet. You may be right. Sorry, Will."

Will just shrugged and said, "Guess I better put some more of that aloe on. It helps a lot; they aren't as red now."

"Yeah, you can barely even see the one above your lip."

"Good, because I'm tired of drinking fruit punch. My parents are going to think I'm a freak if I drink anymore. Also, I got some special lotion for between my legs and the back of my nuts. You know, so I don't rub them raw walking."

"You, uh . . . " Curtis had to clear his throat to get it out. "You, um, want any help?"

"Uh . . . . .yeah, sure. OK. Thanks. I know it's kinda weird, but, um . . . . . . you know . . . thanks."

Curtis just nodded and watched as the boy stripped again, hoping he could keep his dick under better control. He couldn't. But at least it was in his pants this time.

Will straddled the bench and presented his ass for Curtis. Will tried to ignore what his friend was doing for him and just concentrate on putting the aloe on his arms, even as he felt the fingers tracing along the inside of his crack, down to the back of his nutsack, gently pushing on each testicle, as if to sample them, and then along the perineum, everywhere spreading the lotion in a fine layer, until he felt them rest around the rim of the hole.

Curtis' fingers didn't seem to go anywhere, instead just seemed to dance there at the outer edge, feeling that tight muscle, loosening and begining to undulate under his ministrations. Curtis couldn't help it, he felt strangely driven, and no matter how weird, how queer, how inappropriate, how strange it might feel under a different setting, for right now some part of him was demanding it. And Will felt the same, on the other end, s to speak.

"You can, uh, . . . whew . . . uh . . . put it . . . uh . . . you know, I m-might n-need some, um inside, if . . . you know . . . if . . . "

"I don't mind," Curtis said hoarsely, even as one lotioned finger slowly pushed past the anal sphincter sank into Will's bottom, feeling the tight and smooth anal canal as he went deeper into the rectum.

"This is so cool." Curtis was in awe of not just the feel of Will squeezing down warmly on the whole of his finger, but the sight of the butthole, clean as a whistle, opening up and swallowing his forefinger, as well as just the knowledge that the digit was buried in this, the most private place of another boy.

Will looked down between his legs as he heard Curtis' exclamation and saw the boy seated on the bench reach down and unzip his own pants, pulling his hard dick out of the fly of his boxers and start to rub it. Normally Will would definitely object to this, but right then Curtis hit something inside that made his whole body spasm.

And it felt good.

Really, really good.

"Oh GEEZ! Right there!! NO. Right THERE." Will's voice strained.

"This bump?"

"OH GAaHH- YES!"

Curtis ran his finger over and over the bump in interest, driving his friend crazy. It only became even more apparent that this was a sensitive area when he sank in the second finger. It was as if every orgasm he had been trying to successfully have over the last couple of days was waking up inside him, stretching and getting ready. It was only a few more thrusts of his two fingers before Will burst, groaning out and shooting a large load all over the top of the bench.

Curtis pulled his fingers out of the hole and stood behind the boy who was still bent over the bench, jerking in aftershocks of the most amazing orgasm he had ever had in his young life. It was almost literally mind blowing. He was still in a daze, even as Curtis pushed down his very hard dick and ran it through the edge of the boy's crack, pushing in just far enough that the head was only a breath away from kissing the still spasming hole, close enough so the red headed boy could imagine himself pushing in and letting his dick feel what his fingers did.

But Curtis didn't press the point, so to speak. Instead, he pulled back and waited for his friend to recover, but continued jacking the end of his dick slowly. He honestly didn't even think about it; but it needed at least some stimulation. Will finally stood and turned around and saw his friend still easing his hand over and over the head of his sensitive dick.

Curtis, of course, was suddenly embarrassed as he realized what he was doing and started to put it away.

"No wait, um, keep it out a sec."

Curtis stood there, more than a bit self-consciously as Will pulled on his underwear and pants, all the while staring at the flared spongy head of the pale dick, large and topping a deeper reddish brown, yet creamy shaft itself. He reached down and squirted some lotion in his hand and stepped over as Curtis watched dumfounded and amazed.

"I guess I owe you one. You're really gonna like this."

Curtis gasped as he felt the slicked hand grasp the end of his cock and give it a squeeze, pulling up past the head, triggering an involuntary spasm of painful pleasure in the boy, and then back down the shaft, quickly settling into a slurpy, squishy rhythm. This was absofuckinglutely incredible, thought Curtis, at least the parts of his brain that could think and weren't getting fried.

His body was of its own accord trying to pull away from the squishy fist and fuck it at the same time. He reached forward and just grabbed the boy servicing him with his hand and held on tight. Both boys leaned their heads forward and rested their foreheads against each other - one watching the action of his hand as it masturbated the last two or three inches of his friend's dick, and the other breathless and with his eyes closed, truly amazed at the experience of simply letting another hand work his shat and head and anticipating an equally amazing orgasm.

They were both breathing hard, exchanging warm air in the short space between their mouths, and they almost didn't hear what was going on outside the hall.

"I think the noises came from down here," some disembodied voice came form the other side of the door.

"Oh, shit!!" both boys said quietly and quickly moved away from each other. Curtis tucked himself back in and used his PE shirt to clean up Will's sperm on the bench, and Will grabbed his T shirt to put it on. Curtis had just dropped their dirty PE clothes into the hamper and turned to wash his hands when two janitors walked in.

"What was that noise coming from in here? What are you two kids doing in here?"

Will was busy tucking in his T-shirt and explained that they would be using these lockers at this time for the next several PE sessions on Wendesday, Friday, and probably Monday. "And sorry about the loud noise. That was me. I was putting some stuff on my sunburn - see my arms? - and it hurt. Kinda felt like it was burning."

"Must be some alcohol in this stuff," one Janitor mused, picking up the bottle of aloe vera gel.

"Yeah, that must be it," Will said as he quickly took it away before the guy could read the ingredients, and dropped it on his book bag. He grabbed his long sleeve shirt and put his arms through it. "I'll have to get some better stuff when I get home."

The boys left out and picked up their class excuses form the Coach's office and headed for the next class. Neither talking about what happened even up to the split at the main hall to go to their separate classes.

The two met back up at lunch and grabbed a free table. Looking around, and before their other friends could join them, Will looked at his friend curiously.

"Curtis, back there, you know, in the gym . . . . . you really do wanna put it in, don't ya?"

Curtis couldn't look at his friend, but instead set about rearranging his lunch tray that he had already arranged the way he liked it.

"I don't know. I guess . . . yeah. You just don't know how good it feels, just on my fingers, and then, you know, you sure liked it, so when I pull my fingers out and see it right there just kinda winking at me, like it's begging for it, I just . . . well I just . . . . sorry . . ."

"It's OK. It's not like you did something I didn't say you could, you know. I mean . . . it's kinda weird, but I don't really understand it . . . . . you know . . . . . not yet, least."

"You probably think I'm some kinda pervert like Peterson."

"No. Peterson's like almost 30 or something, right? He's just a creepy old man. You're my best friend. Well, one of my best friends. And a best friend that would do anything for me, right?"

Curtis looked up and smiled. The two boys gave knucks and put the day's events behind them (no pun intended), as they were soon joined by Mason and Nat, and all four boys dug into their lunch, with Mason and Nat being filled in on most (but certainly not all) of what happened at PE.

"You lucked out." Mason said, "Hey, you want your gelatin?"

"No, take it. Hey guys, speaking of Peterson the Pervert . . . . . Hey, Colin! Over here! Come here a second."

"Hey,what's up guys?"

"Hey, Colin!"

"Me and Curtis and the guys want to know about Peterson."

"Why do you want to know?" Colin said, suspiciously and in a lower voice and giving Curtis a disparaging eye.

Curtis just shrugged. He guessed that would be the last bit of gossip he ever got from Colin Landers.

"Cause I heard your brother Caleb said Peterson would perve the boys in his class, and my little brother is in Caleb's class. I don't want old man Peterson perving him."

"He's not really old, you know," Nat said, "and when did you care about Henry so much?"

"Hey, I care about Henry."

"You treat him like shit." Mason said.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do," Curtis and Colin said at almost the same time.

"Yeah, well, that's just on the outside. Inside I care. I look out for him."

"You do?" asked Curtis smiling, "OK, then where does he sit for lunch?"

"Hah!" Will exclaimed and smiled himself, "He's not in this lunch, fool! . . . . No . . . . wait . . . . yes, he is . . . . um, isn't he?"

"Pitiful."

"No. I know this. He sits right oveeeeerrr," Will scanned the lunchroom for Henry but couldn't find him. "Hey, where is Henry? I hope he's not sick."

"Hey, brother-of-the-year," Colin said, "He sits outside, at one of the round sidewalk tables."

"Third one down on the right as you leave the lunchroom," Mason added.

"The one with the yellow and blue umbrella," Nat said. "He sits with his back to the wall all the time."

"With his friend, Heath." Curtis said, "And that girl he likes, what's her name?"

"Allie Wainwright." Colin said.

"Oh yeah, that's it."

"Henry likes a girl?" Will said in soft surprise.

Colin leaned in with a leering smile and said, "Dude, I heard he frenched her the other day!"

Frenched? Will had not even been able to kiss a girl yet. The best he ever got were smiles and some minor hand holding with Karen Gutowski, and his little brother was already doing open mouth kissing? That cant be right!! That's just not right!!

"Colin, what are you doing over here anyway?" Will snapped. "What do you want?"

"Hey, you called me over here, psycho."

"Well . . . . so are you gonna tell us about Peterson? Whatever you guys think, I still don't want him perving my little brother."

Colin told them what he knew, and Will asked what about Colin's dad, what did he have to say? He was a cop, right?

"Yeah, well that's why I don't want to say anything. You guys better be careful what you say about him and leave mine and Caleb's names out of it. Dad says there's nothing wrong with any man or woman enjoying looking at boys' bodies, that we just get too uptight about it sometimes and we shouldn't be so modest. But he said it's a different matter when the adult wants to do sex or something with the kid, cause that's illegal, and it's hard to say when they're looking like they just appreciate seeing a naked kid and when they're looking like they wanna, you know . . ."

Colin made an obscene gesture to punctuate his remarks. It gave Will the cold willies.

"Anyways, spreadin' stuff around that you don't know for sure can get you sued, my dad says, and it's worse if a police officer does it. I don't want my dad beatin' my butt, so that's why I'm sayin' leave my name out of it. Plus . . . . Peterson knows people at the state level. Dude's connected."

"Well, does Caleb say if he stares at any one kid more than another?"

Colin was quiet for a second and regarded Will carefully. "Yeah. In his class, Caleb says he stares an awful lot at Henry, and is always being nice to him. You didn't hear that from me, either, Gant."

With that, Colin took his tray and left.

"So what are you gonna do with that?" Curtis asked him.

"Honestly? I have no clue." And he really didn't.

Later that afternoon, Curtis and Will settled into their seats for detention. Their parents having been duly notified, neither was looking forward to going home. They got out their books to do homework when Dean slid into a chair next to them.

"What are you doing here?" Will asked him.

"I'm in trouble . . . . obviously."

"Where were you at lunch?" Curtis asked.

"Getting into trouble. What about you guys? How did you get here?"

"Getting Will out of PE so nobody would see his burns."

"Oh, how did that work out for you?"

"Looked better in my head last night, but it got the job done."

"Seriously, Dean, how did you end up here?"

"I 'MAY' have been flashing my dick hairs at Cassandra Betts, but nothing can be fully proven. You remember what dick hairs are, don't ya, Will?"

Will just flipped him off and turned his attention to his history homework.

"Dude, I cant believe you really did that!"

"Oh yeah, and me thinks she likes ." Dean smiling with irresistible cheeky charm.

"You're such a fucking pervert," Curtis said laughing quietly.

"That's not all, either . . . "

"Mister Bedwell, Mister Larkin, would you like to continue your discussion at the front of the room and share with the rest of the students in detention?"

"Uhhh, no sir, definitely not!"

"Then if you are not inclined to share and do not wish to keep me company for a full hour every day this week, might I suggest you open a book and start studying?"

"Yes, sir."

Dean rolled his eyes for Curtis' benefit but pulled out a math book all the same and began doing his homework.

Will wasn't surprised in his reception at home. He was sent to his room, which was all the same to him, since he had a lot of homework to do. And he did get grounded for the rest of the week, which included the water park trip. It was a bittersweet realization that his anticipations were so accurately met. On the one hand, it did get him nicely out of having to explain the burn marks, which were just starting to fade some, but probably wouldn't by the weekend.

On the other hand, he really did love the water park, and opening weekend was a blast every year. He really, really wanted to go. He hadn't missed one in five years! Instead, he would be spending the whole day in the nursing home with his Aunt Kayla visiting his Great-Grandma Rose on his mother's side, while his cousins, Blake, Trish, and Joey got to enjoy the water park in his place.

Great-Grandma Rose didn't even know who he was. She never did. She started going crazy about 15 years ago, and the best she can ever remember, in moments of 'clarity' is to ask his mom how her baby boy Rocky was doing.

"It's Ricky, Grandma," she would loudly say, as the old lady was also hard of hearing, "And he's 15 now."

"He's due on the 15th? Well that's going to be nice. You know dear, you hardly even show it."

"Gee, thanks, Grandma."

Just the thought of the smells alone in that place made him want to gag in prescience. This was all his sister's fault. If she hadn't insisted on playing poker . . . . ooooooh it mad him so mad.

Mad enough that it startled him. Even he was noticing the seizures of anger that he almost couldn't control. It didn't seem normal. Maybe he did need to see the doctor.

He was lost in these thoughts when his twin sister snuck in to tell him how sorry she was about the water park. She really and truly did feel very badly about it. They used to talk the whole week about the rides they were going to enjoy on opening day. She knew how much it meant.

"Just get the fuck out of my room," he said absently. He was still trying to wrap his head around whatever was going on with him. He didn't even hear her mutter 'asshole' as she left the room.

At supper, Will was still absorbed in his thoughts and only half heard the conversations at supper. Marissa was casually talking about a jacket she had her eye on that might be in one of the stores they were going to in a couple of weeks, though she was careful not to say Britten County instead of Benjamin County, assisting her mother in carrying on the ruse. She would have been more excited about it if she hadn't been keeping a worrisome eye on her little brother.

Ricky was again talking about how he had worked hard mowing lawns to pay for the weight machines himself, and he didn't appreciate Will and his friends messing with them. Will nodded absently in agreement, acting on automatic signal from some part of his brain that knew this was the correct gesture at the appropriate time, but he still wasn't listening.

Melanie, Will's twin, was in just as much of a funk, as she was only answering questions about how her day went at school with the barest of answers. Her stomach was tied up in knots. On the one hand she was very angry with her brother, both for being a constant ass lately and also for shutting her out. On the other hand, she was torn up inside knowing he wouldn't be there this year to have fun with her at the water park.

Henry was quite animated about the school trip he wanted to go on. It was a small overnight trip to the state capitol and would be chaperoned by one of his favorite teachers, Coach Peterson. And Peterson was going to get them in to meet the Governor He was quite excited about it, which was a rarity for Henry, and the parents thought this was a good sign. They had been worried of late that Henry was being sort of shut out of the family since he was the youngest and also the least amount of trouble. The other four were starting to require so much of their time and energy, that it was easy to overlook Henry.

They thought he deserved the trip, but still said the same vague parental response of 'we'll talk it over and let you know.'

"You have to tell them yes or no by Friday!"

"OK, Henry. We understand."

He was unusually excited. And Judie, remembering what her husband had said that morning, took a better look at Henry and noticed that he was indeed very quickly catching up to Will.

All during Henry's happy and excited description of the trip, alarm bells were going off in every part of Henry's brain, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. When he was excused from the table, after maybe four bites of food, he left without a word to anyone and went straight to bed.