-Sky-

"So... Why does it look like you've sprained your ankle again?"

I gave Doctor Vera – my doctor – the sweetest smirk I could muster. "You know I'm clumsy," I tried to explain.

He squinted his eyes at me and sighed. "I'll need to prescribe you a long rope. Your parents can use it to tie you to your bed."

My mom chuckled at his words. "We have enough rope."

"Great! So, one week in restraints at first, and then a body armor for the rest of his life," Dr. Vera said. "Preferably one with thick cushions."

I laughed cheerily at him. My previous doctor had always been cranky whenever I showed up at his office, so I really liked my new one.

"Okay, enough with the jokes," he chuckled. "Are you using your splint?"

"I am," I said truthfully. "But it's not helping."

"Really?" he said and looked at my splint that was by the door. I had left it there when they took me to MRI. He stood up and went to get it. "It's quite big."

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's hard to walk with it because my foot might slip out."

Dr. Vera stopped and stared at me for a moment before he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's not..." he muttered and took a deep breath. "It's too big for you then. It is supposed to support your leg, but if it's too big, it's just straining it more."

"Why didn't you say something, silly boy!" Mom scolded me.

"I thought it was fine," I said in a tiny voice.

"It's not fine if it's not working!" my mom said in frustration.

"I'll go see if we have an extra splint lying around somewhere," Dr. Vera said, and left the room, leaving me alone with my fuming mother.

"Silly boy..." she muttered and shook her head, trying to calm down. "I should have checked it myself..."

"I'm sorry, Mom..." I said timidly. "I'm just too stupid."

Mom turned to look at me sharply. "Don't say that! You are a smart boy!"

"No, I'm not," I muttered.

"Yes, you are," Mom said and hugged me. "You're just... You know what? I think you just have bigger things on your mind. Albert Einstein forgot to even eat."

"Yeah?" I asked, feeling a lot cheerier.

"Uh... Yeah! I think so," she smiled.

"Okay," I smiled too. "I'm sorry about the splint."

"Don't be. Now you'll get a new one," she said encouragingly. "It will be fine."

It was more than just fine. When I got the new splint that fit me perfectly, I could walk even without the crutches!

"You see the difference now?" Dr. Vera asked once the new splint was supporting my leg.

"Yeah! Thank you! It doesn't hurt at all!" I beamed at him.

"Just don't strain it – you need to let your leg rest too," Dr. Vera said. "You should try to avoid walking for too long."

"I will," I promised.

We left soon after, and I really enjoyed walking towards the car in the parking lot. It was still hurting a little to walk, but not nearly as much as it had with my old splint. I was really happy about it.

"I need to tell Max about this!" I chirped once we were in the car.

My mom laughed lightly. "I'm so happy that you have a friend like him," she said.

"He's not m..." I began and managed to shut my mouth just in time. "Yeah! He's a great friend!"

My mom gave me a suspicious look. I cursed myself for being such a dimwit. I almost told her that Max was my boyfriend!

"You are hiding something from me," she said with squinted eyes.

"No, I'm not," I said in a tiny voice.

"Yes, you are," she said. "And you should tell me what it is. It's something about Max, isn't it?"

"N-No," I stammered. "Nothing's going on between us."

"I said that it's something about him. Not what's going on between you two," mom said. "What is going on between you two?"

Why, oh why was I so bad at hiding things? My mom could read me like an open book, and I just made it way too easy for her to determine what was going on.

"Sky."

"It's nothing..." I mumbled.

She frowned at me, but she didn't ask again. I knew she wasn't done with her questions, and she would attack me when I wasn't expecting it. I really didn't want to tell her about Max and me just yet, so I was glad that she gave up.

I kind of wanted to just concentrate on dreaming about him and not answering my family's questions.

And I knew there would be a lot of those.

*****

On the next day, when I was sitting on the school bus, and Max's stop was looming right ahead of us, I felt butterflies in my stomach. Those were the happy kind of butterflies, and the feeling intensified by ten when I saw Max getting on just a moment later.

"Aww look at that smile," Troy cooed – he had been sitting right next to me, but when he spotted Max, he knew to change the seat.

"Shut up," I blushed.

"Hey," Max said and sat down next to me, and his amazing scent surrounded me instantly.

He took a quick look around before he pecked my cheek. My whole body felt like it was melting away, and I probably had the stupidest, widest smile on my lips when I turned to look at him.

"H-Hey," I said once my brain started to work.

"You're so cute," Max smirked. "Is that the new splint?" he asked when he noticed my baby-blue splint.

"Yeah," I breathed out, even though I wasn't quite sure what he just said – his eyes were on mine, so I forgot how to act like an intelligent human being.

Max chuckled and took my hand. "You should be more careful."

"Yeah," I agreed – I would have agreed with everything he said, to be honest.

"Do you think that our teacher is happy with the video?" Max asked.

"Yeah," I continued, being the silliest idiot there was. Right until I remembered something. "I FORGOT TO TAKE IT WITH ME!"

The entire bus fell silent. The whole freaking bus. No one said anything in the next five seconds, but then someone laughed, and a few joined them. I tried to turn invisible in my seat while my face turned bright red.

"That's all right," Max said reassuringly. "We can show it to him some other time," he continued like I hadn't just embarrassed the heck out of him.

"I'm such a moron," I whispered and looked down at my lap.

"No, you're not," Max said and hugged me with one hand. "You're wonderful."

The warmth of his body, his scent, his low voice right next to my ear, and his kind words... I couldn't feel bad anymore when he was so close to me.

"I'm nothing like that," I mumbled really quietly.

"What was that?" Max asked and moved his head even closer to mine.

"I'm not wonderful," I said without speaking any louder.

"What...?" Max asked, but I didn't answer him.

His face was right where I wanted it to be, and I turned so suddenly that he had no time to react, before I stole a kiss from him. I felt more butterflies in my stomach when Max smiled at me after I parted our lips.

"Ugh... That's so gross..." someone muttered nearby, and I felt really bad immediately.

"Why are you watching two boys making out if it's so gross?" I heard Luke asking in a harsh voice. "Mind your own goddamn business."

People snickered all around us, and I could see one of the boys glaring at Luke. He looked like he wanted to open his mouth, but no one was mad enough to challenge Luke, the biggest guy on the entire bus. Including the bus driver.

"Thanks," I told him, but he just waved his hand dismissively.

I nodded and turned to look at Max, who glared at the boy who had said the word 'gross'.

"Max, forget it," I muttered and yanked his hand. "I shouldn't have done that."

"This is a free country," Troy spoke, and it was the first time I saw him angry. He, too, was glaring at the guy.

I looked at him as well, and noticed he was the same guy who almost came with us to the mall the other day, but left after saying that I needed a wheelchair.

"Let it go," I said timidly. "It's all right..."

It was also the first time I was surrounded by a bunch of big, angry jocks. I wasn't quite sure how, but it seemed like each and every one of them had just grown bigger.

"No, it's not all right," Troy said. "It was totally unnecessary," he told the guy.

"So are you," the guy said.

"Knock it off right now!" Luke raised his voice.

"How can you side with these freaks?" the guys asked angrily.

"Freaks?" Luke repeated slowly.

"Uh-oh..." someone muttered.

"Luke, no!" one of his friends said and tried to grab him, but Luke was already standing up.

His head touched the roof, and he glared down at the poor guy who definitely knew he had crossed the line.

"Luke, stop it!" a few others joined in, and Max stepped in his way too.

"Freaks?" Luke repeated the word again, and even though he wasn't speaking loudly, I felt shivers running down my spine – he was pissed.

Luke was big enough to rip himself free from the hands that tried to hold him back, and he even pushed Max out of the way like he was a kindergartner. Troy stood up and tried to push him back, but it didn't have much of an effect.

"Luke!" Troy yelled in his face. "Stop that!"

"What's going on over there?" the bus driver yelled.

"Luke, for crying out loud!" Troy hissed at him and tried to push him back, but it looked like Luke didn't even notice him. "Stop it!"

Max was back on his feet, and with the help of four other big guys, they finally managed to force Luke to sit down. He was still angry as hell, glaring at everyone who had dared to stop him, but at least he wasn't trying to get up anymore – if it was even possible with six people practically sitting on top of him to keep him down.

"Are you guys fighting over there?!" the driver shouted.

"No! No – we're just goofing around," Troy yelled back at him and faked a laugh before he turned to look at Luke. "Are you fucking kidding me? You're just one hit away from getting expelled!"

"I don't fucking care!" Luke growled, his low voice resonating in the seats.

"You better fucking care!" Max muttered to him. "You'll get expelled if you do something stupid again!"

Luke let out an angry growl and pushed them all away. He stayed in his seat, but he was furious. The guy who had managed to anger him was really pale.

I just sat there, staring at everyone with wide eyes. Luke was wicked-strong! I had never even realized how big he really was! I wondered what he had done before. Had he hit someone already? Probably since his teammates had panicked.

Shortly after, the bus stopped at the school, and the guy - Cain? - practically ran away.

"He's going to tell the principal about this," Troy said and smacked Luke on the arm. "Nice job dude. You're in trouble now."

"The fuck you care?" Luke grunted and marched away.

Troy let out a deep sigh and shook his head while Max turned to look at me.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and I gave him a smile.

"That was intense," I said quietly. "Is Luke really going to get expelled?"

"Who knows," Max sighed. "He has a really bad temper..."

"He does not!" Troy said angrily. "It's just those fucking idiots who keep pushing him!"

Max stared at him for a moment before he nodded. "I guess you're right."

"He's just trying to take care of his friends," Troy continued. "You should know that."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Max said.

"Whatever," Troy said and walked towards the entrance.

I looked at Max, who was staring after Troy. I didn't dare to say anything, and eventually Max turned to look at me.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know my friends anymore," he said quietly.

I felt really bad for him. He seemed a little lost standing next to me.

"Humans are complicated," I told him. "Maybe they just need to calm down and everything will be all right again?"

"I really wish so, but this isn't the first time..." Max said in sadness. "I should try to talk to them when we have practice today after school. I have this feeling that something isn't right with Troy, and Luke has been even more agitated than usually..."

"Oh," I said quietly when we followed the others to the doors. "I never really had any close friends, so I can't help you."

"You didn't?" Max frowned.

"I'm a geek, remember?" I asked quietly, with a small smile, and he squinted his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "That explains a lot, I guess," he continued, and his expression turned sadder.

"Now I have you," I said timidly.

"Definitely," he said and gave me a smile. "I'll be right here with you," he added and kissed my cheek again.

I couldn't help but smile, too.

*****

I was focused. I was sharp. I didn't even blink while holding my guide book, American Football for Dummies, so I wouldn't miss anything. My father had given it to me in hopes I would become more interested in the game. The football team was practicing, and I really tried to pay attention to the game.

And I had no clue what was going on.

"What was that...? I muttered and looked down at my book, skimming through the pages to find out what on earth was going on in the field. "What are you guys doing...!" I whined and bounced restlessly on my seat at the bleachers, when I couldn't understand what was happening.

I wanted to understand football. I really, really did, so I wouldn't feel so stupid every time when Max and his friends talked about it, but I had to give up once again, and I closed the book.

It looked like Max, Troy and Luke weren't still getting along – Troy had avoided Max the entire day, and Luke had his senior classes, so he wasn't much around either. I felt really, really bad for Max. Friendships seemed really hard.

"Like I know anything about those things," I sighed out loud.

I wasn't the only person watching the practice, so I was drawing some weirded out looks, but I hardly even noticed them. I had been the weirdo for so long that I had gotten used to the way people stared at me. Sometimes I heard someone muttering my name, and it made me feel bad, but I didn't want to leave either. I liked to watch Max, even though I didn't enjoy the game. It was a really good reason for me to come watch their practices.

When it was over, Max jogged towards me with a tired smile on his face.

"Did you learn anything?" he asked with a smirk while trying to catch his breath.

"I learned that I love watching you sweat," I told him playfully.

Max's expression turned serious for a moment, before he nodded sharply and said breathlessly: "That's good enough for me," before he laughed lightly. "I'll go take a shower – wait here?"

"Sure," I smiled and patted his hand before he jogged to the dressing rooms.

I had a smile on my face when I watched him running. The big shoulder pads and tight pants looked really good on him. When I couldn't see him anymore, I turned my attention to the book I was holding, and tried to read a few lines, before I sighed and put the book into my bag.

There were only a few people left on the bleachers, and the schoolyard was really quiet. I enjoyed the peace and closed my eyes and focused on the light wind on my face. It was a little cloudy and cold already so late in the fall, but I loved every season, and every weather. Even the thunderstorms and misty, cold rain.

My peace was interrupted when I heard a cat meowing somewhere. My eyes shot open, and I tried to see where the cat was, and I spotted it close to the gym, where the team had just entered to take a shower and change their clothes.

"What's wrong?" I asked and stood up.

I grabbed my crutches and started limping towards the dark-brown cat, who was clearly in distress – his meows were anxious, and he seemed to be calling for me to help him. I wondered if he was hurt, but when I got closer to him, he vanished around the corner.

I followed him and saw his brown tail behind the bushes at the backside of the gym. I stopped next to the hedge and tried to see him again. I didn't, but I heard something else.

"Kittens," I said enthusiastically, but I had the feeling something was wrong.

I let my crutches fall down on the ground, and I dropped my bag before kneeling down to see where the noises were coming from. There was a small cardboard box deep within the branches, unseen from the sidewalk, and there I could see the brown cat and something really small moving weakly.

"Are you guys sick?" I asked and crawled deeper into the bushes. "What's wrong?"

There was another adult cat, and I assumed she was the mother of the kittens. She was barely moving, and once I got closer, I could see why.

She had a big wound on her face.

"Don't worry – I'll call for help," I said and tried to return to my bag to find my phone.

But when I got out of there, I couldn't see the sky above me.

I saw the guy who had angered Luke in the morning. He had a couple of friends with him.

"Hey, freak," the guy smiled down at me. "What you got there? Dildos?"

I pushed the box hastily back into the bushes, just before one of them grabbed me by my hoodie and tossed me on my back on the ground.

"So, little Luke likes little fags like you," the guy smirked. "Is he fucking you, too? Wouldn't be a surprise," he continued.

"It's not like t-that... W-we a-are just f-friends..." I stammered in fear and looked towards the corner in hopes to see Max or someone else, anyone else, coming for my rescue.

"Really?" one of the guys laughed. "I think not."

"Let me go, please," I begged and looked at the cardboard box – the cat really needed help soon.

"Nah – we don't think so, right guys?" the meanest of them all laughed and grabbed me by my hoodie again. "Come on, freak!"

I tried to fight back, but another one grabbed my arm and together they lifted me up on my feet.

"Let's have some fun, dirty fag!"

"No! Let me go! Max! Max!" I tried to fight back, but there were three of them, and I was tiny and injured. I was getting really scared when they dragged me away from the gym, towards the forest on the other side of the road.

"Max!"