“You want me to do what?” Cassidy stood there at her locker, looking a bit incredulous. Jack sighed, “I want you to come with me to the fundraiser as my date.” Cas sighed, “You know you are gay, right?” Jack replied “Of course I know I am” Cas sighed again “Your mom is going to find out sooner or later anyways and taking as your fake dare isn't goanna help anything” Jack replied “Please Cas please Cas” Cas rolled her eyes “Sure if you want I will be your beard, I think that his silly but I will play along” Jack smiled “My knows that isn't expected to be a real relationship, just one of those Hollywood things” Cas laughed “You don't know the half of it jack , you are goanna have to go on a lot of fake dates with girls... You sure you want to do that?” Jack thought for a minute. He didn't want to string his mom along, but he also wasn’t ready to come out yet. “It’s a chance I am willing to take,” Cassidy shrugged. “Well, whatever you want, I'll be your beard for your little charity fundraiser; it is for charity after all.” Jack smiled, “Thank you, Cassidy.” Cassidy sighed and took her books out of her locker. “You owe me.”

  The two started to make their way to the hallway. “So, how was your date last night?” Cas looked as if she was completely taken by surprise. “It was pretty good; he made some real progress in our relationship.” “So... Who is the lucky guy?” Cas smiled a devious smile “Don't worry about, I will tell you about him when I am good and ready to” Jack shrugged “I guess so” The two went down the hallway to their next class when it suddenly dawned in him “Um.... what about your boyfriend will he mind that you will be attending a fancy charity gala, arm in arm with another guy?” She shrugged her shoulders. “My boyfriend has been in show business all his life; he knows that sometimes we need to be with other people for the sake of appearances, besides... he knows you are gay anyway.” What she just said made him stop in his tracks, “You told your boyfriend that I am gay?!” Cas shrugged, “Yeah, so what? He doesn't care. If he sees us together, it won't be a big deal.” It was his turn to look incredulous. “I trusted you with that information... You can't just tell anyone.” Cas, for the first time, shrunk back. “I’m sorry, I should have asked first,” Jack sighed. “It’s okay, I guess, just don't tell anyone else.”

  Jack squinted at the back of the milk carton. It was organic chocolate milk, much fancier than the cheap milk cartons from back home. Of course, the whole cafeteria was one of the best school cafeterias in the country, with options from many chain restaurants around the world, all free, well, free with the price of tuition. Today, Jack had a selection from a restaurant called Del Taco, a chain of restaurants, a chain native to southern California that Jack had never been to, and it tasted... okay for Jack, kind of just like Taco Bell. He looked up at Adam, who was poking at his Salisbury steak. “Watcha doing?” I am wondering... whether this steak is kosher.” Jack shrugged, “I suppose it is, it is beef, right?” Adam paused, “I suppose so, but you never know about these kinds of meat.” It was then that he finally noticed something. “Hey, where is Cas?” Adam shrugged, “I think she is eating lunch with her boyfriend at his house.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “Really, they allow students to do that?” Adam replied, “Yeah, she said her boyfriend lives near here, his driver picked them up.” “Lucky him.”

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  It was then that a thought entered his mind, “Hey... do you know anything about a guy named James Sterling?” Jack thought for a moment, “Yes, I believe I have. He goes to this school, originally from the UK.. I had gym class with him in middle school. His father is some kind of bigwig in the United Kingdom steel industry, like a billionaire. I think he moved to the United States about 5 years ago.” Jack replied, “Have you talked to him before?” Adam nodded, “Yeah, back in middle school when we had gym class together, he liked to chat in the locker room, interesting guy, really liked talking to me when I was trying to get dressed, but I didn't mind.” Jack blushed, “You didn't?” Adam replied “Yeah, I don't mind being close to another guy while getting dressed” Jack replied “I am always nervous about such things, I don't like getting dressed in front of other people in my old school I used to get dressed in the bathroom stall because of that” Adam smiled “Well if you ever have gym class with me I will make sure you feel comfortable” Jack blushed again “Really?” Adam replied, “Yeah, no one should feel uncomfortable in their own body.” Jack smiled ... perhaps one day he would have the courage to make a pass at his handsome, tall friend, but today was not that day; it would be better to be friends for now. However, he couldn't act like it felt good to have someone else make a move on him. Whatever happened, whatever it took, he needed to make sure that James never made his move on him. He needed to find out what he had in store. He had to admit James was kind of cute; he thought that. Eww... gross, Jack had just pictured himself and James together. He quickly expunged the thought of the two of them as boyfriends. He looked up at Adam and thought of a conversation to get all these thoughts about adult things out of his mind. “So, Adam, what do you think of the Kelvin Star Trek movie coming next year? I hear it is goanna be a big one.”