“Are we almost there?” I whined. We had been walking forever! I swear we were about 5 steps away from falling off the face of the freaking earth.

                “Yes!” Trace snapped in annoyance. He shot me a dirty look before turning back to walk hand-in-hand with his girlfriend. I stuck my tongue out at his back and Zeke laughed.

                “Zeke! Give me a piggy back ride?” I asked with puppy dog eyes. Zeke laughed and bent over so that I could get on his back.

                I did my victory dance before jumping onto his back. Once he was sure he wasn’t going to drop me, Zeke began to walk again.

                “Sorry that Trace gives you all that shit for being gay,” he said with a sigh after a few moments of silence. I realized we were far enough behind Trace and Juliet that they wouldn’t hear us.

                I shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m used to it. I got it a lot at my old school from homophobes. His dad makes my mom happy, so I’ll deal with it,” I said with a positive smile.

                “Trace’s dad is such a cool guy! It still confuses me how Brandon is such a happy and fun guy, and Trace is just…Trace,” he said with a little laugh.

                I laughed with him. “Yea, Brandon’s rad as hell. Trace seems okay, just a little moody!” I said, earning another small laugh from Zeke.

                “Rad? Moody? Corny, you’re a really odd guy,” he said and shook his head in amusement. I stuck my finger in my mouth, got it nice and wet, and plopped it right in Zeke’s ear like the mature boy I was.

                “AH! WET WILLY!” he cried and dropped me, rubbing furiously at his ear. I fell to the ground and pouted at the sky. Yea, I’m pouting at you Mr. Sky! You’re not here on the ground with a broken back! Psh. Jerk.

                “Jerk!” Zeke whined as if he were reading my thoughts.

                “You’re the one who dropped me!” I whined right back.

                “Because you gave me a wet willy!”

                “It’s not polite to drop a person!”

                “It’s not polite to shove your saliva covered finger in someone’s ear!”

                “It’s not polite to point out things like that!”

                “It’s not polite to be as ugly as you!”

                “It’s not polite to have such a tiny dick!”

                We glared at each other before bursting into laughter. Zeke pulled me to my feet and I jumped on his back again. He walked a little faster seeing as Trace and Juliet hadn’t stopped to wait for us. Meany faces!

                “So is Juliet anything like Trace?” I asked curiously. Zeke shook his head and sighed.

                “Nope. Not at all. She’s really nice. I don’t get how she can date Trace. I mean, don’t get me wrong; Trace is my best friend. He has been since we were infants. But he’s an asshole, and everyone, including him and his dad, knows it,” he said.

                “Aw Trace can’t be that bad!” I said with a frown. Why wouldn’t my mom have warned me that Trace was, uh, not that nicest person in the world?

                “Oh, he is. If I hadn’t grown up with him, I probably wouldn’t be friends with him,” Zeke said and laughed. “But I did grow up with him, so I can tell that he cares about me.”

                I sighed. “Well, now I have to grow up with him. Who knows, maybe someday he’ll care abo-OH MY GOD WE’RE HERE!”

                Relief swept through me as Zeke walked through the parking lot of an elementary school towards a neat looking playground. Woo! Thank god! I was exhausted from that trip over here! I mean, all that walking and then all the energy I had to exert to hang on to Zeke! What a workout.

                “Thanks for making me deaf Kory,” Zeke grumbled and rolled his eyes. I gave him an innocent smile as he stepped up to Trace and Juliet.

                He shifted so that I could slide off his back, but I pretended not to notice. Zeke’s back was just so freaking comfortable! It was like a bouncy house or something. Did that make sense? Nope. Did I care? Nope!

                Zeke sighed. “Fine, you can stay on my back,” he said and I fist pumped, nearly breaking Zeke’s nose. He glared at me and I gave him an apologetic smile, placing my hand back around his neck.

                We went over to the playground and I jumped off of Zeke’s back. “Swings!” I cheered. “Race you there!” Zeke challenged and we both took off sprinting at the swings.

                “Zeke!” Trace called in annoyance, but we both ignored him and kept running at the swings.

                I was ahead of Zeke and went to jump onto the area where the swings were but felt my foot catch and throw me forward.

                “Oomph!”  The air was knocked right out of me as I fell hard. My stomach collided with the wood panel that enclosed the area with the swings. I looked back and saw that dirt was dug up randomly around the area and let out a groan as soon as I caught my breath.

                I looked over my shoulder and saw that Trace was grinning and laughing at me. I pouted. I could’ve broken my beautiful face!

                Zeke came over and knelt next to me, trying not to laugh himself. “A-Are you okay Kory?” he asked and coughed to disguise a laugh.

                He slowly helped me up and I brushed the dirt off my pants. “What the hell?” I whined, motioning at the dirt. “The stupid dirt just pulled apart and tripped me!”

                Zeke finally let out his laugh and shook his head at me. “Kory, the playground is under construction. The dirt’s turned up everywhere. That’s what Trace was trying to warn us about. I knew, so I just ignored him. I kind of forgot you’re new here. Sorry. But it was funny!”

                I stuck my tongue out at him as he laughed again. I looked down and saw I had a tiny spider crawling on my shirt.

                I let out the manliest shriek you could ever hope to hear (psh! I so did not sound like a 5 year old girl who had just met Justin Bieber or anything!) and began to wildly shake my shirt.

                “Get it off! Zeke get it off me!” I cried desperately.

                Zeke looked at the spider, raised an eyebrow at me, and flicked it off of my shirt. I jumped into his arms and kissed his cheek. “You’re my hero!” I cried and wrapped my arms around his neck.

                His face heated up a little and he hesitated before laughing and setting me back down on my feet. Trace and Juliet came over to us and Trace glared at me.

                “Seriously Kory? You sounded like a little girl. You’re such a stupid faggot!” he snapped.

                “Trace, come on! You don’t have to call him that!” Zeke said defensively, frowning deeply at Trace.

                Trace glared. “Whatever,” he grumbled.

                “Trace, it’s going to rain,” Juliet said with a frown, looking up at the dark clouds that had formed in the sky. I frowned. Hey! When did those get there? Ninja clouds…

                “Well then let’s play,” Trace said and went over to a supply shed. He went in and reappeared with soccer ball tucked under his arm securely. He nodded at the soccer field a little ways away and we all walked over to it.

                Trace set the ball down and passed it to Zeke before going to the goal and turning to face us. “Take shots at me,” he said.

                “You don’t have the goalie gloves!” Zeke said and Trace flipped him off. “I don’t need them,” he said in annoyance. “Just take some shots so I can practice.”

                Zeke shrugged and kicked the ball at Trace. And by kicked, I mean fucking rocket launched that thing at Trace’s face. I was pretty sure it was going to hit him and knock him all the way around the world a couple times, but Trace put his hands up and deflected the ball at the ground, scooping it into his arms quickly and rolling it back to Zeke.

                “Here Kory; you shoot,” Zeke said and kicked the ball to me. I shrugged and pulled it back a little so that I could dribble in a bit.

                I began to dribble in and pulled my foot back. Trace had an annoyed look on his face as he crouched and prepared himself. Easy save, he thought it would be. Speak like Yoda, I do.

                I let my leg fly forward. My foot connected with the ball, my toe pointed down. The ball shot forward with incredible speed and went right to the left corner of the goal, slipping through Trace’s hands as his shocked self tried to stop it. It hit the net and slid to the ground, rolling out of the goal from the momentum it had gained.

                Trace picked it up and stared at me in shock as a light drizzle began. “You…but…how?” he asked, sounding as shocked as he looked.

                “Well, you see, you think something, and then you use words to say it. But you can’t just use three random words,” I started to explain.

                “Not how do you form a sentence! How did you shoot like that?” he snapped. I shrugged. I had played for my old school’s soccer team. I had played soccer ever since I was a little boy. I was just good at shooting, I guess.

                But I didn’t actually say any of that. I suddenly just wanted to act like I was randomly good at soccer. I wanted to…hell, I just wanted to impress Trace.

                “Do it again!” he demanded and rolled the ball back to me.

                I backed up with it as Juliet and Zeke watched, both looking impressed. I dribbled forward and shot again, the same way. I earned myself the same result, scoring on Trace.

                He picked up the ball, looking frustrated. The rain was really starting to come down now and I realized the ball would get wet and hard to kick. Trace rolled it back to me and nodded at me to shoot again.

                So I did it again, the ball slipping a little, but still launching into the goal. Trace picked it up and it nearly slipped out of his hands. He came over to us and glared at me.

                “Let’s leave. It’s fucking pouring,” he growled and headed towards the supply shed to put the ball away. I glanced at Zeke with questioning eyes.

                “He’s the star goalie on the varsity team. He has been ever since sophomore year of high school. He’s hoping to get a scholarship. He’s really, really impressive. Nearly impossible to score on. He’s always practicing. Kory, I think you just found a way to earn your stepbrother’s respect,” Zeke explained with a wink. Juliet giggled and nodded in agreement.

                Trace came back over to us. The rain was ruthless now, and our clothes were clinging to our soaking wet bodies.

                I noticed that Trace’s white shirt was now absolutely see-through. His abs were now clearly visible to me, and I eye fucked the hell out of them when I was positive that Trace wasn’t paying attention to me. Yummy.

                Whoa! Bad Kory! Very, very bad Kory! Stop stealing your stepbrother’s abs’ virginity!

                I quickly looked away from his delicious abs and ran a hand through my wet hair, making it stick up funny. I shook my head wildly, fixing my hair a little.

                “Let’s go before we drown here,” Trace grumbled, giving me a look. It wasn’t exactly a dirty look. It was…curious. Yes, curious.

                It told me that he didn’t like me, but I had caught his attention and he planned to explore my talents a little more. Well hell, the boy could explore my talents all he wanted. He could explore my body too while he was at it.

                No! Bad Kory! Damn. I needed to be flicked on the nose and smacked with a newspaper.

                Stop having dirty thoughts about your stepbrother!

                No, they weren’t really dirty thoughts. I just wanted to get along with Trace so we wouldn’t upset our parents. That was all it was. That was all I would let it be.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.N.- So, I have the next chapter all written out and I might post it tonight if you guys seem interested ;D So comment to let me know what you think of the story so far and vote, and you can win...A BRAND NEW CHAPTER ;D Two in one day. Woooo! Haha :p