On his twelfth birthday, Jeremy Heere decided to have his first birthday party. In previous years he had prefered to just eat some cake with his parents and see if his best friend, Michael Mell, the 12 year old video game loving kid he had met on the first day of kindergarten, would be able to spend the night. This year felt different to him. He was in the sixth grade now. At his school, sixth grade was when you moved to the junior high wing. This year was the year you reputation started to matter.

Jeremy had always been one of those kids who valued the way others looked at him. It was in his DNA to be a people pleaser, which was why he got nervous around the so called popular kids. He got nervous around pretty much everyone though, and didn't like meeting new people. That was why his teachers always let him and Michael partner up. Sure, they goofed off a bit, but they always completed the work... That and it was found out early on that if Jeremy were to partner up with someone other than his best friend who he trusted, it would most likely result in a breakdown, and Jeremy being sent to the nurse.

All though it was never spoken of, even in the early grades there were always the popular kids. It was like in the first 4 years of school you would be stamped with a nearly irreversible trademark that would permanently place you in the social hierarchy for the rest of your years of public schooling and the only way out of it was to get a complete makeover during summer vacation, move, or do something that impresses or irritates classmates enough to which your social status does a 180.

Lucky for Jeremy, the kindergarten mistake he made that gave him his label for the next 14 years occurred when he couldn't hit the wiffle ball in gym class. Instead of sloppily shrugging and rejoining the line he burst into tears, threw the plastic bat and ran to the only kid he knew well enough to trust, Michael, engulfing him in a hug as he sobbed.

He still had the nicknames cry baby and wiffle whiner.

He attempted to look on the bright side. At least he wasn't the kid in the grade above him who threw the printer at Ms. G in second grade.

Besides, this year he was going to change that. This year he was going to be cool! He told Michael about his plan to have the best birthday party ever, and become one of the coolest and most popular boys in the whole entire sixth grade! Once he was cool he promised that he would get the other cool kids to like Michael, so they could both walk the halls without taunts or torture.

Besides, he kinda owed Michael considering Michael's trademark happened to be his fault. They were at lunch in third grade, with assigned seats because the third and fourth grade, who shared a lunch and recess had been too loud the previous day. Just their luck, and totally not because the teachers feared Jeremy would throw a fit, the best friends were allowed to sit next to each other.

The issue was they were sitting next to the current cool kids, Chloe, Brooke, Madeline, Jake, Jared, Heather Duke, and Kurt.

They were all talking about how apparently Veronica got in trouble for french kissing some new kid named Jason under the tube slide.

A young Jeremy Heere tilted his head in confusion. "What's french kissing? Is J-jason from France?" he asked, not understanding what it meant.

Chloe tossed her hair, giggling high pitched in amusement. "No it means she kissed him with tongue."

Jeremy looked around, very confused. "What? How does that even work?"

The oldest kid at that table, Jared, smirked down at Jeremy's wide eyes. "I'm assuming you have never been kissed before, kid." He said.

Jeremy thought, tilting his head. "If my mom and dad count then I have..." he said, looking around.

"Figures, who wants to kiss wiffle whiner?" Heather Duke smirked. "Defs not anyone at this table."

Jeremy felt panic rise in his chest. He was being made fun of... he should of never interrupted! Why did he have to speak, the boy should of known better. After all, this wasn't Martha and Rich's table, these were the mean kids.

Suddenly, the scared boy felt a hand on his. "I sure would!" Defended his bestest friend in the whole world. Jeremy looked over at Michael. "I'm at this table an I would kiss him before any of you!" the boy argued, leaning in and planting a smooch on Jeremy's cheek, then standing up and grabbing Jeremy's hand. "C'mon Jer, I'm sure Mr. Laurens will let us look at his new pet turtle. We don't gotta be around them."

So, Jeremy may or may not have given Michael the label of gay, but it wasn't on purpose! Now he was turning twelve he could get rid of all the criticism with an awesome party.

He spent three weeks allowance buying decorations and food, then spent all morning (he woke up at 5:30 am, even though the party wasn't till noon) decorating. He had invited Michael over a half hour early to help set up, but the boy had family plans that day. It was his aunt's wedding, and he dad to be the flower boy. Untraditional, but that was the way in the Mell family. It took almost an hour of convincing for Michael to be able to leave early and go to Jeremy's house that night around eight o'clock. The party was set to end at six, so he would miss it, but that didn't bother the anti-social boy.

When noon finally rolled around Jeremy insisted on waiting outside. He had invited all of the cool kids, and Michael. His nerves rose, smile on his face as he stood outside the door.

Inside, a heart broken Mr. Heere sat at the table. He had received the last apologetic call from Jake's mom five minutes ago. Everybody that Jeremy had invited refused to come. All of the parents nearly dragged their kids out the door, but came to the conclusion that forcing their child to the party would only be worse.

Mr. Heere had no idea how to break the news to his son, so he waited. He sat on the table, praying for a miracle, but even his son's crush, Christine, had plans that day.

After an hour went by, Mr. Heere worried for his son's health. He was a winter baby after all, so the January weather must be freezing his son. Mr. Heere stood up, sighing as he opened the door.

"Hey sport... how about you come inside..." Mr. Heere suggested, placing a hand on his son's icey shoulder.

"N-no... maybe I messed up the time on the invitations dad... that's it! They must be coming at 1:30! I-its 1:20 now, the-they will be here any minute!" He said shakey, not looking back at his dad.

"Jeremy, please..." Mr. Heere could tell by Jeremy's shaky voice he knew nobody was coming. "Come inside... your mother is still at work... we could make some hot chocolate, popcorn, watch a rated r movie even! I won't tell her-"

"THEY ARE GOING TO BE HERE IN TEN MINUTES!" Jeremy yelled, spinning around and looking at his dad, obvious tear streaks on his face. "Just go back inside, and leave me alone! My friends are coming!" Jeremy said, sniffling as he hardly held himself together.

Mr. Heere hesitated, then nodded. He looked down, retreating inside.

Four hours later, it was obvious nobody was coming, but Jeremy was still outside, waiting on the porch, practically an ice pop. He finally cracked, sitting down on the porch and sobbing. He cried and shook, bottom lip quivering. There he was again. Maybe cry baby was right. Tears blurred the lines between reality and his thoughts until he felt a presence beside him. Wiping his eyes, he realized that there was now a blanket over his shoulders and a warm mug of hot chocolate with exactly 12 marshmallows in his hands.

"Your mother got called into work a double. She might crash at your aunt's because it is right next to her job and she won't be out till late... I'm really sorry, buddy.." Mr. Heere sighed.

Jeremy couldn't take it. He stood up and threw the hot chocolate mug against the icy pavement, yelling in frustration, "I WISH I NEVER HAD THIS STUPID PARTY!" And with that he ran inside and to his room, locking the door behind him.

Mr. Heere looked down, wiping away a few tears that spilled over. He may not have been completely honest with Jeremy... The reason Mrs. Heere was staying the night with Jeremy's aunt was because she and Mr. Heere had been fighting a bit recently. When Mr. heere called her and told her the unfortunate news of their son's party she has jumped to complaining about why couldn't their kid be normal. At that Mr. Heere decided it would be best if she didn't spend the night so they could both cool off and not put their young son through any more emotional stress.

He picked up the phone, eyes drifting over the texts between him and his wife. Taking a deep breathe he called Michael's mother and explained the situation, so Michael would have a heads up that things didn't go to well.

-

Jeremy's head snapped up when there was a soft knock at the door. "Go away..." he whined quietly.

Michael's heart sank at his best friend's tone. He cleared his throat, knocking softly again. "Jeremy... it's me..." he softly called. Then he waited. A good minute of silence went by before the boy head shuffling from the other side of the door. Then it cracked open as a frail hand poked out, snatching Michael in and closing the door behind them. Michael set doen the box while Jeremy closed the door, not caring to lock it this time. As Michael looked the boy up and down he felt guilt rise in him. If only he had talked Jeremy out of this...

Michael took a deep breath then proceeded with the usual routine for whenever Jeremy was particularly upset. He held him in a hug for a few minutes then pulled back, rubbing the crying boy's back and leading him to his bed. He sat Jeremy down, sinking onto his knees to untie his shoes and slip them off. He walked to his dresser, taking out the fuzzy action hero pajama pants and lose soft T-shirt. He returned to the boy, helping him out of his belt, and letting him take care of changing his pants. He then helped the boy out of his classic cardigan. "Arms up, Jer..." he softly instructed, smiling as the boy obliged. "Good job, bud." He slipped off his shirt. Michael smiled, biting his lip slightly he helped the vulnerable boy into his new shirt. He leaned close, looking him in the eye.

"It's gonna be okay, Jer, I promise." He assured, eyes lingering down, they holding locked as he stared into Jeremy's. The tension rised a bit in the room until Jeremy broke a small smile.

"Thank you..." He said, moving in to hug Michael again, and enjoying the sweet nothings being mumbled into his ear. For a twelve year old, Michael was very skilled at comforting and calming down Jeremy. Although, the boys knew each other better than themselves, so the calming effect Michael had on Jeremy came as no surprise to anyone.

"I got you a birthday present, buddy." Michael cooed softly. The sniffling boy tilted his head with a small smile. "Your the best, Mikey... now what did you get me?" He asked, giggling. Michael reached out to wipe the boy's tears then got up. He walked to the corner of Jeremy's room where he had put the little gift box. He returned to the boy, handing him the present with a small smile. "Open it."

Jeremy returned the smile looking down at the hand sized box. He opened it, bursting into gigges. Inside was a small silver dolphin charm for the friendship charm bracelets they got each other two years before. "I know this was you teasing me, but I love it." he giggled.

"Hmm, I assumed, but look under the paper for a surprise." Michael giggled, glad Jeremy liked his gift.

Jeremy looked under the paper, pulling out a small infinity charm and looking up at Michael wide eyed.

"Jeremy, I promise to always be your best friend, to infinity and beyond!" He giggled like buzz lightyear. "But in all seriousness, you wanting to be popular got me thinking, and with everything that happened today I want you to know that I am always going to be here for you. Like for a long long time, as long as you want me around." He giggled, biting his lip.

Jeremy froze. This had to be the most generous and amazing thing anyone had ever done for him. Michael Mell... His best friend and hero. He couldn't believe that he now had a friend to go to infinity and back with. When he was with Michael he didn't feel lonely.

"J-jeremy?" Michael asked, but before he could make a gesture to get the boy's attention he was engulfed in a warm and inviting hug. Jeremy didn't say another word the rest of that night. He just hugged onto Michael until letting go was the only option left. Then he crawled into bed, letting Michael pick out an episode of stranger things. By 10:30 Mr. Heere smiled widely, thankful that Jeremy had a friend like Michael. He looked over the boys, noticing the way Michael had fallen asleep with his face in Jeremy's hair. The boys were spooning, Michael big spoon, being taller since Jeremy wasn't even close to hitting puberty yet.

He turned off the TV and lights, whispering a, "Goodnight, boys." to the sleeping children and closing the door to go clean up all the decorations, hoping to not remind Jeremy of the incidents when he wakes up the next morning.