A/N: Hello again. I know it's been a while. Believe it or not, life is busy. As a matter of fact I am probably screwing myself over by working on this again, but oh well. Hope you like it. As always review, because even writers need love.

Twenty-Seven Days Ago

"Did you and Jim have a good night dear?" I looked up at my mom from bowl of cereal I had just made myself.

"Yeah," I lied. It was noon and I had just woken up. This was the kinda time schedule I liked very much.

"Well, what'd you do?"

I looked at my mom, taking a second to decide how to answer. "Got some meth, picked up a few hookers. Had to kill one of em, but other than that, a pretty normal night." I said, looking back down into my cereal.

"You better be talking about one of those video games." My mom called back to me as she walked out of the kitchen. "Anyway, you're Dad and I are going to the museum in a few minutes. Wanna come?"

We both knew the answer to that question, but I guess Mom felt a sort of parental obligation to ask me. "Nah, I'll just stay home, watch some TV…" the book which was hiding in my backpack flashed into my mind, "Maybe catch up on my reading."

"If you're sure. We probably won't be back until after dinner, so go ahead and make whatever you want."

I feigned looking through the cabinet until I heard the car pull out of the driveway. Then I was in my room, pulling out my backpack.

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I don't know why I thought reading the book would give me any more insight into Nick, but that didn't stop me. Every once in a while I checked my phone to see if I had any messages from Jim, but it looked like he was still ignoring me. But that was okay, I had new information to process.

Nick was gay. Or at least, he thought he was gay. Then again, buying a book about being gay was usually a pretty good sign that you were gay. Maybe if the book was titled How to Tell If You're Gay, or So You Think You Like Guys, maybe then it would mean he just thought he was gay. But Growing Up Gay in America seemed like a pretty definitive statement.

I flipped through the pages, skimming over the words Nick hadn't gotten a chance to look at before his parents had found it. Once again, the scene from last night came to the forefront of my mind. I felt dirty even knowing it had happened. I closed the book and looked at the cover. A strange feeling began to well up in my chest. It felt wrong to know the things I did. If Nick wanted me to know he was gay, he would have told me himself. I pushed the book away in disgust as I thought of the scene with his parents again. That, too, was none of my business. I thought back to everything I knew about Nick. The two things that seemed most important, I had no right knowing.

I tried to focus on the other things I had learned; the things I had gotten from legitimate conversation with him. He was smart, had a good memory, liked books, was single…

Shit. I remembered how he flinched when I asked if he had a girlfriend. That must have stung more than I thought.

But that just made me focus more on the fact that he was gay. Which brought me back to the book. That damn book. If it weren't for that book, I would have no idea what was going on in Nick's life. The fight with his parents could have been about something normal, like porn, or drugs, or a hooker. Whatever. The point is that if I hadn't seen the book, I wouldn't be feeling nearly as uncomfortable as I was now. Fucking book.

But now I had the book. The American flag cover shined from the light of my window, mocking me. I knew about the book. I had the book. There was nothing I could do about that now. Besides read the book.

I reached across my bed and grabbed it up again. Maybe if I read it I could help Nick out.

Yeah, that was my plan.

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Two hours later, I took a break to look at my phone again. Still no messages. Nothing. Nothing from Jim, nothing from the book. I had no idea what to tell Nick, and forget about the idea broaching the subject in general. Just imagine that conversation.

"Hey Nick, so I was following you home one night to spy on you when I found out you were gay. But don't worry, I'm now\t like your shitty parents who'll yell at you. Oh yeah don't worry I saw that too. So what's up?"

Seems like a winner to me.

No, this wasn't working. I was tempted to call Jim and talk to him about it, but I resisted the idea. It wasn't my job to tell Jim about Nick. I needed to keep that as much a secret as I could. So I went back to the only source of information I had. That damn book.

An hour later, I got to the section about dating.

'One of the most difficult parts about finding a date as a teenager is, without a doubt, finding another person who you not only like, but is also gay themselves. While the simplest way to find this out is obviously to just ask the person you like if they are gay, this is by no means the easiest, which is what makes this process so difficult.

While dating is not necessary to have a fulfilling adolescence, many feel it to be an important part of growing up, and so in this book we will tell you a few ways in which you can make it a bit easier to find a special someone.

1. Find out if the other person is gay or not. While this may seem obvious, many a heartbreak has been caused by falling for someone who you will never have a chance with. Try to stay away from people who seem 'obviously straight' i.e. boys who talk about girls, and girlfriends, or girls who talk about boys and boyfriends..."

I recalled the disappointed look when I asked Nick whether he had a girlfriend or not. Did that mean he liked me? But that was before he had gotten a chance to look at the book. What were the chances that he intuitively knew that?

What if he did like me.

That wasn't something I could handle just then. Right now I needed to focus on finding something I could do to help Nick… with something. I continued reading down the list the book gave off before something caught my eye.

"Tell someone. Find someone you trust, someone who you know or are sure will not react poorly to you telling them you are gay. Successfully telling someone the truth will both take off a lot of pressure, and make you feel more confident in telling other people when the time comes. Don't do this unless you are completely sure, as this can greatly change a relationship."

Tell someone. Someone he trusted. That was it. I had to get Nick to trust me, to tell me the truth. That was how I could help him.

A/N: It seems Jack has another. Wonder how this will go. By the way, Growing Up Gay in America is a real book, one which I think helped me out when I was realizing I was gay. Either that or it just had a lot of pictures of hot boys. Either way, it's a great read for young guys who are wondering about who they are. There might be a sister book for girls but I don't know. P.S. all the 'excerpts' in this chapter are not actually in the book, they are just tips I made up. But that doesn't mean they aren't good advice. If you would like any advice or information about being a gay youth, feel free to send me an email, I'm always here for my readers.

Oh, and Review.