Chapter One

“He’s from California,” Alex told Steven during lunch.

“Why’s he here?” Steven asked, pulling apart his turkey sandwich.

“I heard he got kicked out his old school,” Alex replied, taking a bite out of his pizza.

“Yeah, he’s been to juvy too,” Brandon announced as he slid into a seat next to Steven.

“God, what’d he do?” Steven asked, though he wasn’t really interested in the answer.

“Couldn’t tell you,” Brandon said as he snapped the lid off of his lemon Snapple, “It couldn’t have been really bad, though. He was only there for a few months.”

“How do you know all of this?” Alex asked him.

“From me,” Melina said as she sat down next to Alex and looked across the table at Steven and grinned, “Hi Steven!”

“Hi, Mel,” Steven said half-heartedly.

“And how do you know all this?” Alex asked her, not paying attention to the strain showing on Steven’s face.

“Ginny’s in the Welcome Wagon, and she’s his guide. When he gets here tomorrow, she’ll be the one showing him around.”

“Did Ginny want to be his guide?” Brandon asked, taking a large gulp of Snapple.

“Nah,” Melina answered, “She said it’d be better if one of the guys did it, but they weren’t willing to.”

“Why didn’t they want to?” Brandon asked, leaning back in his seat and putting his hand in a bag of Doritos.

“They heard he’s gay,” Melina responded.

Steven, who had been drinking some water from his bottle, choked on his drink and gasped for air. Brandon patted him on the back and raised his eyebrows.

“Dude, what the hell?” he asked.

Alex was watching the scene with an amused expression on his face. Alex winked at Steven, and Steven sent him a death glare and kicked Alex’s leg underneath the table. A pained expression went across Alex’s face; he then knew to let it go.

“Sorry,” Steven breathed, “The water… It went down the wrong tube.”

“You need help, man,” Brandon said, going back to his Doritos.

Damn right, I do, Steven thought to himself.

“Anyway,” Melina continued, “That’s just what I heard.”

“Just as long as he stays away with me, we won’t have a problem,” Brandon said, crunching on his chips.

“Brandon, come on…” Alex sighed.

“What?” Brandon asked incredulously, “I don’t want some gay freak from California hitting on me.”

“He’d have to be a freak to hit on you,” Alex responded, laughing.

Brandon punched Alex on the arm, and since Brandon had a fairly good punch, Alex dropped the subject.

--

“You’re going to have to tell him eventually,” Alex said as laid back on Steven’s bed and stared up at the ceiling.

“I can’t tell Brandon that I’m gay,” Steven sighed, rubbing his forehead, “He’d lead the townspeople to kill me, and he’d carry a torch.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” Alex laughed.

“Am I?” Steven asked, “Because I don’t think I am.”

“Hey, just think. If this kid is actually gay, maybe you two could…”

“Don’t say it,” Steven groaned, “Please, don’t go there. You’ll just get Emma up in arms.”

“How’s she doing, anyway?” Alex asked, putting his hands behind his head.

“I told you how she and that guy Paul are together now,” Steven said, “That’s basically the last I heard.”

“What about that guy you were supposed to talk to… What happened to him?”

“His dad isn’t sending him to live with his mom. I think things are better on that front.”

“That’s good,” Alex said, closing his eyes, “But seriously, if this kid ends up liking you and you like him, you could get together!”

“Alex!” Steven yelled, throwing a paperback book at Alex’s head.

Since Alex’s eyes were closed, Alex didn’t see it coming. The book landed with a “thud” directly on Alex’s forehead.

“Hey!” Alex screeched.

Steven just laughed at the bemused look on Alex’s face. He walked over to Alex and patted him on the arm, in the direct spot where Brandon had punched him earlier that day.

“Ow!” screamed Alex.

Steven laughed more.

--

“His name’s Aiden,” Alex said to Steven the next day as they walked to lunch together, “He’s in my first two classes.”

“Aren’t your first two classes advanced? He’s that smart?” Steven asked, surprised.

“Apparently,” Alex replied, “From what I could tell, he was smart. But anyway, I think he’s in our lunch.”

“Oh great,” Steven groaned.

“What?” Alex asked.

“Don’t try to get us together if he turns out to be gay,” Steven said as he sat down in a chair at one of the tables.

“I want to see you get a boyfriend. Is that so wrong?” Alex asked, grinning slyly.

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to start thinking you’re gay,” Steven said.

“Hey, I’m totally hetero. I just want to see you get a boyfriend. You’re too uptight, Steven,” Alex said as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

“What do you mean, I’m too uptight?” Steven asked.

Steven’s question never got answered. Alex’s eyebrows were raised and he was staring at something behind Steven’s back. Steven made to look, but he was saved the movement by seeing the chair to his right get pulled out.

Steven slowly moved his head in that direction, and his heart caught in his throat. He was sitting next to the single most adorable guy that Steven had ever laid his eyes on.

The boy definitely liked to mix and match. His hair was chocolate-colored, and his eyes a deep, dark brown. His skin was slightly tan, though it appeared to be fading. His jeans were loose, but not baggy, and had tears at the knees. His shirt was a bright pink polo, and it matched the pink Vans he had on his feet.

Steven caught himself staring at the boy, and looked at Alex. Alex’s eyebrows were still raised, but he was now looking at Steven with a stupid grin on his face. His grin only got bigger when he saw Steven blush.

“You’re Aiden, right?” Alex asked the boy, trying to start a conversation.

The boy looked up, his eyes boring into Alex.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked.

“Just asking,” Alex said mock-defensively. He pointed a finger in Steven’s direction and said, “That’s Steven. He’s g-“

Alex never got to finish that sentence because Steven kicked Alex hard in the shin. Alex let out a yelp of pain and glared at Steven. Steven smirked at Alex’s look.

“You’re what?” Aiden asked Steven.

Steven jumped at being spoken too. Alex smiled again and looked back and forth between Steven and Aiden.

“I’m, uh… I’m going to get food. Come on, Alex,” Steven quickly covered up.

“No, I’m fine right where I am,” Alex said, almost laughing.

“Come on, Alex,” Steven said urgently.

Alex sighed and pushed back his chair, and Steven did the same. They wounded through the tables and got in the lunch line.

“He didn’t seem like the juvy type to me,” Alex said, taking a tray.

“We only talked to him for like two seconds,” Steven responded, grabbing a slice of pizza.

“Good point.”

“If you don’t stop it with this plan of yours to get me and that kid-“

“Aiden,” Alex corrected, batting his eyes playfully.

“Whatever. If you don’t stop it with this plan of yours to get me and Aiden together, I swear…”

“You’ll do what?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know,” Steven sighed, “But it will be very painful and will involve a pair of pliers.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Alex laughed, “But hey, I saw that blush of yours when Aiden sat next to you.”

“Oh God.”

“Aww… Steven thinks Aiden is cute!” Alex said in a high-pitched, girly voice.

“Would you keep your voice down?” Steven shrieked frantically, “Are you trying to out me?”

“Relax, Steven. No one heard me,” Alex laughed.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Steven sighed as he pulled out a few dollar bills from his pocket to pay for his lunch.

“One can only hope,” Alex said as he handed over money to pay for his own food.

The two boys grabbed their trays and walked back to their table. They saw that Brandon, Melina, and Ginny had arrived to lunch as well. Brandon looked absolutely livid.

“Hey Ginny,” Alex said as he sat back down in his seat, “Where were you yesterday?”

“I had to make up a test for English,” she responded while rolling her eyes.

Ginny flicked her honey blonde hair out of her grey eyes. Ginny leaned over and whispered something in Melina’s ear while staring directly at Alex, and the two girls laughed. Alex and Steven just rolled their eyes, but Brandon said nothing.

“So Steven, Alex… You met Aiden, right?” Melina asked, her gaze falling on the two boys, but remaining on Steven for a few moments longer.

“Yeah,” Steven said slowly.

“Oh yeah,” Alex responded afterwards cheerfully, “He’s a real treat!”

Aiden just sat there, his eyes darting around the table to look at everyone, but landing particularly on Steven sitting next to him.

“Brandon, what’s wrong with you?” Ginny asked.

“Nothing,” Brandon responded, his arms crossed over his chest and staring directly ahead.

“Do you need a hug?” Alex asked.

Aiden’s eyes shot from Steven to Alex. Alex noticed this, and grinned sheepishly at the look Aiden was giving him.

“So, Aiden… Uh, why did you move here?” Alex asked, trying to get Aiden to stop staring at him.

“I went to juvy for a few months, I went back to public school, then got kicked out of there, so my family moved here,” Aiden replied shortly.

“Why’d you get kicked out?” Melina asked, ever the gossip queen.

“I punched some kid in the face,” Aiden said, finally tearing his gaze from Alex and letting it rest on Melina, “He got hurt pretty badly.”

“Oh,” Melina said, desperately trying to get Aiden’s gaze off of her.

“So are you really gay?” Brandon asked suddenly.

Everyone at the table jumped, nearly forgetting that Brandon was still sitting with them.

Aiden stared at Brandon for a long while, who stared right back. Brandon refused to crack under the look that Aiden was giving him. Finally, after several moments of the staring contest, Aiden turned his head away from Brandon and looked up at the ceiling.

“Yes,” he said flatly.

Steven, who had been listening to the conversation, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Great, Steven thought, Just what I need: Alex trying to get me together with someone.

--

Notice: Here it is. This is the first installment of “Chocolate” (formally “On Fire”). This will be a bit different than “Sweethearts,” as you might already be able to tell. I sort of changed the style a little bit, and now you really get a good look at Steven, Alex, Brandon, and Melina (yeah, you escaped Melina in “Sweethearts,” but you can’t escape her now!), not to mention at Ginny, a completely new character. Your perceptions and opinions of the characters might change now, but I expect that. I hope you like this story so far. Please review and tell me what you think.