A/N: Hi all! So, I've been writing for a while, mostly on . This is my first story to post on here, but don't take it easy on me. I love nothing more than honest reviews. That being said, this story contains slash, m/m, whatever you want to call it. Honesty is appreciated; flames because of the nature of this story are not. I'm still deciding whether or not to post this entire story online. (Several chapters are already written.) So your reviews and comments (or lack thereof) will make the decision for me.

Matt checked his phone for the third time in as many minutes. No messages. Maybe she forgot. The thought, as much as he didn't believe it, loosened the knot in his stomach slightly.

Opening his locker, Matt's eyes were immediately drawn to the calendar taped to the back of it. The day, Wednesday, was highlighted. Matt felt his stomach hit the floor and tore his eyes from the page.

Matt reached for his science notes, his hand jerking back as a hand came and promptly slammed his locker shut.

"Hey Matt," a cheery voice said to the right of him.

"Morning," Matt said, glancing sideways at the boy. He was a couple inches taller than Matt, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. A soft smile found its way to Matt's lips, but Jared wasn't looking at him.

Jared scanned the hall until his gaze landed on a tanned girl who'd just moved to New York from some small town in Georgia. "You know, I think she might be the one," he said, turning away from the girl, Natasha, whom he'd started dating on her second day at the school a week ago.

"Oh you mean the one that you'll date longer than two weeks?" Matt teased. The knot tightened in his stomach, but he just smiled through it.

"I mean it," Jared said, shaking his head at his friend, though the smirk never left his face. "We'll be graduating soon. I have to get serious, right?"

"Um, Jay?" Matt started, raising his eyebrows. "In case you've forgotten, we're sophomores. We still have a couple years to go. And college after that." In all honesty, he was amazed. Jared never seemed to think about the future, or anything past band practice in his garage on Saturday night. He talked about being a big star, but that was about as detailed as his future plans ever were.

Jared sighed, shaking his head again, "Are you ever gonna figure this out? You go to college. Have fun. I'll be on tour with my band. We're well on our way, you know!"

"You're still practicing in your garage, and the only gig you've actually played was at my cousin's birthday over the summer," Matt said with a laugh, amused that for a second he actually thought Jared had considered his future plans more closely, but no. 'Big star' was still the limit of his detailed future. "Hate to break it to you, but you're not on your way anywhere."

"What do you mean?" Jared asked, acting offended, though Matt knew it would take more than that little comment to really offend him. "Elusive Reality is awesome! And we sound great!"

Matt started to respond, but stumbled forward when someone bumped into him. Jared gripped his shoulder to steady him, eyes already looking over Matt's shoulder to see who it was.

"Oh, sorry," a girl said. Matt was pretty sure he recognized her from his History class, but couldn't remember her name.

"It's okay," Matt said, offering the girl a smile. He felt Jared's hand drop from his shoulder and his smile only faltered for a second.

The girl looked up at him, and her eyes lit up with recognition, a smile reaching her lips. "Oh, Matt!" She said excitedly. Matt felt even worse about not knowing her name. "Good game last Friday," she said.

"Uh, thanks," Matt said sheepishly. He'd realized at the beginning of the season when the coach moved him up to starting point-guard that a lot of students suddenly knew his name, even if he had barely seen them around the school. It was still a bit weird, but Jared said he'd get used to it. The girl bounced off down the hall without another word. Matt turned back to Jared and continued as though they hadn't been interrupted. "Look, I never said the band didn't sound good," Matt repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. "It sounds amazing, but a lot of hopefuls do. And the music business is tough."

"You're really harsh, you know that?" Jared said, narrowing his eyes, though Matt could tell he wasn't taking anything he said seriously.

"Not harsh," Matt said. "Just realistic." Jared started to respond, but Matt didn't hear him, his eyes set on a dark skinned boy storming out of the library, a few doors down the hall from where they were standing.

"What?" Jared asked, looking over his shoulder, and then he saw what Matt was looking at and turned back around, looking concerned. "Why's Aiden so upset?" he asked, as though Matt would know the answer.

Unfortunately, Matt did know the answer, and at this moment, really wished he didn't. She didn't forget. "Lexi said she was going to talk to him today," he explained, the mention of their other best friend earning one of the rare sympathetic looks from Jared.

Jared checked his watch and cursed under his breath, "Wish I had time to talk to her. But my class is on the other side of the campus, and I'm already going to be late. Tell her I'll catch up with her at lunch?"

"Yeah," Matt said, nodding as he started towards the library where, luckily, he had study hall with Lexi next.

He carefully pushed the door open, stepping inside the library and walking to the back where Lexi always sat. She had her face buried in her hands, her shoulders heaving in silent sobs. "Hey," he said softly, sinking into the seat beside her and sliding an arm around her shoulders. He gently brushed some of the blond curls away from her face with his other hand. She instinctively curled against his shoulder, her hand clutching the front of his shirt.

After a few long minutes, Lexi pulled back enough to give him a weak, forced a smile. "Well, I talked to him," she said softy, pulling away from him and leaning back in the chair. "I don't know what else I can say to him now." She shrugged and looked up at him, her brown eyes brimming with another wave of unshed tears.

Matt looked at her sympathetically. Lexi had put off this moment for two weeks, ever since her father had found out she was dating Aiden, and demanded they either break up, or she find another place to live. Matt had always thought racism died a long time ago, but when Lexi called him in tears that night, he heard her rant and rave about it, and he knew then that this was something that she would never forgive her father for. That thought was only reinforced now, seeing her in tears after the unwilling break-up.

"Well, I am proud of myself for one thing," Lexi said, trying to force a smile again, her voice carefully casual.

"For what?" Matt asked.

Lexi licked her lips and looked down at the table, "I didn't cry until he was gone," she said weakly, turning to him and forcing another smile. Matt leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. They stayed there for a minute until Lexi pulled away, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket. "All right, well, that's all in the past now," she said, though Matt was sure she was trying to convince herself more than him. "Weren't we both going to talk with someone today?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh, yeah," Matt said, looking back at the table. He was hoping she'd at least forgotten his part of the bargain. They'd made the deal a few days ago, that they would both come to terms with what needed to be said today. It all had a plan, and a plan made it easier to deal with, at least in Matt's mind. A long as there was a plan, he knew the best and worst case scenarios, and how to deal with each. "Speaking of which, Jared wanted me to tell you he'd catch up with you at lunch."

"That's doesn't matter," Lexi said firmly. "What about what you need to tell him?"

"I'll talk to him at break," Matt said after a moment, for the first time wishing that study hall would drag by at a snail's pace.

Though of course, time only seemed to speed up when he wanted it to slow down, and soon enough he was by his locker again, his eyes scanning the hall for Jared. He saw a tall familiar head of dark hair bobbing over the sea of students, and started towards him. "Hey Natasha," he said, briefly smiling at the girl clinging to Jared's arm.

"Hello, Matt," she said, her voice far too cheery for this early in the morning in Matt's opinion. "How are you?"

"Good," Matt said, smiling slightly at her, "Um, Jared, I need to talk to you for a minute," he said, nodding towards the sidewalk where students were filing out of the building.

"Sure," Jared said, "I'll be right back," he added, turning to Natasha, pressing a kiss against her cheek as Matt turned his back on them and started outside. "So, what's up?" he asked, once they were outside and walking down the sidewalk opposite from where most of the students went.

"Um, I need to tell you something, and—" Matt's voice cut off abruptly and he cursed under his breath. "This shouldn't be so difficult," he said more to himself than to Jared. Plans didn't always make everything better. Yeah he knew the worst-case scenario, even with this, but he wasn't sure he could deal with that. Matt clenched his fists, shoving them each into his pockets, his shoulders hunched as though he could hide from Jared's reaction when he found out. If only, he thought bitterly.

"Well, just spit it out, man," Jared said, looking at him strangely, though with an amused smile on his face.

"I just," Matt stopped again, meeting Jared's eyes, and then glancing down at the sidewalk. He kicked a small stone a few feet in front of him, his foot automatically kicking it again as he approached it. "I guess I'm just scared of how you'll react."

"Come on," Jared said, laughing. "You can tell me anything. We've been friends for ten years; you're not getting rid of me now."

Matt laughed slightly. He hadn't realized they'd been friends for so long, but now that he thought about it, Jared was right, though that didn't make it any easier. Why was this so difficult? Jared was his best friend; he was the person he used to be able to tell anything. Only two years ago, there were no secrets between them, but that had changed. "I-I don't know," he muttered, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets as they walked. He became increasingly focused on the small stone, kicking it just a couple feet in front, but careful that it didn't go off to the side where he'd lose it.

"You know we only get a fifteen minute break," Jared said, distracting Matt just enough that the stone went off the sidewalk and into the grass. Matt gave a weak smile, appreciating the attempt at lightening the mood, but didn't say anything. He kept his eyes glued to the sidewalk, eyes shifting as he searched for another rock. Just one more distraction. "Come on, Matt. Just tell me whatever it is. You can trust me. I won't freak out, I promise."

Despite the logical part of his brain that argued otherwise, Matt believed him. After all, he had no reason not to. "Alright," he started to talk agonizingly slow, and took a breath before he continued. "Well, I don't know how to say it. So I guess I'll just say it," he closed his eyes tight, not daring to look at Jared. "I'm gay."

Hearing the footsteps beside him stop, Matt froze and carefully opened his eyes, turning around to see Jared's reaction. Shock and disgust were the emotions he expected, but was surprised to see only the former in Jared's face, unless he was hiding the latter extremely well. Matt was pretty sure Jared wasn't that good of an actor.

"Look, I know you probably think I'm a freak, and, If you don't want to be my friend, that's ok. I just didn't want to keep-" Matt started, but cut off when Jared held a hand up.

"Don't, ok. Don't do that," Jared said, a forced chuckle accompanying his words. Matt shut his mouth and looked down. Matt rambled a lot when he was nervous about something; it was an annoying habit of his that Jared had picked up on years ago. "I just need a minute to wrap my head around it. I definitely didn't expect you to say that," he added as an afterthought, offering a small smile.

Matt smiled, more relieved at how well Jared was taking the news than he would admit. Of all the people he was scared to come out to, Jared was definitely at the top of the list, right below his aunt and uncle. His little cousin didn't know, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't have a problem with it. He was nervous to tell the guys on the basketball team, but had convinced himself that he didn't care what they thought anyway. Lexi had known for a few months, and when Matt told her, she had just rolled her eyes and said that she already knew. He had been really embarrassed when she stated that it was obvious when he didn't even notice a girl in their biology class, Nadia, flirting with him like he was the only guy on the planet. Matt knew he was crazy to expect the same reaction from Jared, but he was more than happy with this reaction.

"So you're not going to disown me as your best friend?" Matt asked, hoping his voice sounded more joking than pleading, though he wasn't sure he accomplished it too well. He knew Jared would still be his friend; they'd known each other too long for either of them to completely cut ties between them. Though, he had been concerned about the little things in their friendship; he didn't want Jared to suddenly decide that they couldn't hang out as much, or that there always had to be a third person with them whenever they did something together.

Jared visibly relaxed, the familiar half-grin returning to his face, "What, are you crazy? Hell no! Who else would I copy notes from the night before the test?" he added jokingly, earning a playful punch on the arm from Matt. They started back down the sidewalk towards the building, and Jared rested his arm on Matt's shoulder like an armrest. The familiarity of it, of things not changing at all, made Matt smile. "Hey, just promise you won't fall in love with me or something, and it's all good," he said laughing, though his voice had the slightest undertone of a serious statement that most people wouldn't notice, but Matt did.

Glancing sideways at his best friend, Matt made a promise already broken.