Before my mom started the tour of our renovations with Mr. Covington, I decided to say goodbye before going to my room and starting my homework.

“Thanks. Mr. Covington, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for the ride home.”

“My pleasure, Mark. And remember, if Ms. Lynch gives you any trouble, you phone me immediately. I assume that you have a cellphone.”

“I do, and I will call you if there’s any problem at school tomorrow.”

“What’s this trouble you and Mr. Covington are talking about?” Mom asked me.

“When I gave Dan his EpiPen injection the Athletic Director, Ms. Lynch, tried to stop me saying we’d have to wait for the nurse to come from the office so she could inject Dan, that it was against school district rules for anyone else to do it. But he was having a hard time breathing and his skin was cold and clammy, so I went ahead and injected him. Then Ms. Lynch said she was going to have me expelled.”

“When Mark told Dan,” Mr. Covington said, “I overheard and told him that if there’s any attempt to suspend or expel Mark or give him detention or anything else, he’s to phone me immediately. I’m an attorney and I’ll represent him.

“By the way, Mark, you have to hire me. Do you have a dollar on you?”

“Yes.”

“May I have it as your retainer for my services in representing you as your attorney in this matter?”

“Sure.” I pulled out my wallet and gave Mr. Covington a one dollar bill. “Here you go.”

He turned to Mom, “I assume that you agree with Mark hiring me as his attorney?”

“I certainly do. And if they try anything they’ll hear from me, you can be sure of that.”

“Mark, I’ll send you a standard Letter of Representation. You need to sign it, have your mother and father sign it, and return the original to me.”

“Okay. Uh, how much more is it going to cost me?”

“I think your retainer covers any and all of my expenses.” Mr. Covington grinned. “I love going after people who are on power trips, and it sounds to me that Ms. Lynch is doing just that. I’m sure that after I talk with Principal Benson her threat will be quashed.”

I grinned. “Quashed? What’s that mean?”

“It means to put an end to something, in legal parlance it means to declare something invalid. So, in your case, any attempt to punish you will be declared invalid and it will end. You don’t have any classes with this Ms. Lynch, do you?”

“No, I’m not in any of her classes. I guess that she’s probably one of the girls’ Gym coaches in addition to being the Athletic Director. I don’t know if she’s also a regular teacher.

“You know, I told Mrs. Barker, my Biology teacher, what happened with Ms. Lynch and she said she’d get other teachers and go to Mr. Benson and I’m supposed to go to all of my classes tomorrow as usual.”

“Mark,” my mom said, “I think that’s good advice. Do you agree, Paul?”

“I certainly do. And you’ll call me if anything happens?”

“I certainly will,” I replied with a grin.

“If something does happen, don’t answer any questions you are asked by any school employee or the police about what happened yesterday. Tell the person questioning you that you’re going to call your attorney and have him — that’s me — come to school immediately.”

“Okay. How about when kids ask me?”

“It’s okay to answer their questions, but don’t go into much detail or say who did this to Dan. Alright?”

“Um… I told a bunch of kids and my Biology teacher that it was Kenny Lamper who dropped the tarantula into Dan’s pants. But Barry Metzger also saw him do it.”

“Please don’t refer to that boy, Kenny Lamper, in response to any questions from kids at school.”

“I told a bunch of people that Kenny Lamper and Jeff Walland were the ones who stole Oscar, that’s the tarantula’s name, from the Biology Lab.”

“Please don’t refer to them or speculate who might have stolen the tarantula to anyone else, okay?”

“Yes. I’ll keep that stuff to myself from now on.”

Since I didn’t need to follow Mom on one of her tours to show how my folks were going to remodeling the house, I stood up. “If it’s okay, I’d better get going on my homework.”

I went to my room and opened my Pre-Calc textbook and started on the problems we’d been assigned to turn in tomorrow.

A while later Mom came to my door and said Mr. Covington was leaving and wanted to say goodbye. Again. I followed her to the living room.

“Goodbye, Mr. Covington,” I said. Thanks for the ride home today.”

“You’re welcome, Mark. Would you like to visit Dan tomorrow after school? If so, I can pick you up and take you to the hospital, then bring you home.”

“Yes, I’d like that, thanks.”

“Paul, Mark’s father can bring him home,” my mom told Mr. Covington. “That way you won’t have to drive all the way out here and back.”

“And,” I added, “that way I can spend more time with Dan, until my dad is ready to tear himself away from paperwork.”

“Well, then it’s settled,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at the front of the campus around three fifteen. Is that time okay?”

“I’ll need a few minutes to go to my locker, so maybe three thirty.”

“I’ll see you then. And remember, don’t talk to anyone about what happened, and if any administrator tries to talk to you, refer them to me.” He pulled out a few of his business cards and handed them to me. “If anything like that happens, give them one of my cards and tell them you can’t say anything until I’m there. Then call me.”

He turned to my mom and handed her a couple of his cards.

“Maria, here’s one of my cards for you and one for your husband. Maybe I’ll have an opportunity to meet him tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’ll talk to him about that when he gets home tonight,” she replied.

The next morning I walked down to Hunt Hill Road and waited for the school bus. I wondered if anyone would remember about Dan. Probably not. My experience at Ryan High proved to me that yesterday’s story wasn’t today’s story. So I couldn’t have been more surprised when I got on and the kids on the bus started clapping. I’m sure I blushed because when I sat down next to Diane Lane she bumped my arm and I turned to see her grinning at me.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Mark. We almost never have a hero at Columbia High and it’s great to have one, and that’s you.”

“I don’t think I’m a hero, Diane. I just did what I knew how to do.”

“And by doing it you saved Dan’s life. You can’t deny that.”

“Yeah. But this ‘hero’ stuff is just wrong.”

“A hero is someone who saves someone. You saved Dan’s life. I think that makes you a hero.”

I put my hands over my eyes and shook my head, then looked at her again.

“When is this going to end? Where I went to school in Chicago this sort of thing would be over in a day because some other story would get everyone’s attention.”

“How big was your high school?”

“About 1,600 students.”

“And we have about 600. We don’t get as many rumors here.”

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

“Just go with the flow, Mark. Eventually something else will be at the top of the ‘News of the Day’ at school. For now just be the way you’ve been, a nice guy. When someone says something nice to you just say ‘Thanks’ and smile. That combination will make people like you. By the way, you have a great smile.”

I blushed and Diane laughed.

“So, what’s it like going to a smaller school? Besides it being smaller.”

“A good thing is that classes have fewer students so anyone who has questions can get more attention from the teachers. The textbooks are in better shape. I like the way the classrooms are set up, in a semicircle around the teacher’s desk. One thing that’s the same is the food in the cafeteria isn’t very good.”

“You mean barely edible.” She laughed, then asked, “Have you found that the kids here are friendly?”

“I think so. It’s hard to tell, I’ve only been here three weeks so it’s still hard to tell. One thing that’s the same is that kids don’t come up and talk to me in the halls. That’s the way Ryan High was when I started there. Here I think it’s because most kids have known each other since elementary school. At Ryan I think it’s because the school is bigger and more impersonal.”

“That makes sense.”

“You know,” I said, “talking about small schools, specifically Columbia High, it seems funny you and I don’t have any classes together.”

“You’re taking AP classes, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but just one, AP Biology. Sophomores can only take one AP class.”

“What else are you taking?”

“English 2, Pre-Calc, History of the Americas, Computer Tech, and Spanish 3. And Gym, but I’m sure you’re not in my Gym class.” I grinned.

Diane wiggled her eyebrows. “That would be fun though! Anyway, that’s why we’re not in any classes together. The only classes we have that are the same but with different teachers are English 2 and U.S. History. Oh, yeah, and Gym, Girls’ Gym. You must be a real smart guy, Mark.”

“I do okay. One of the things that helps is I took Algebra 1, Geometry, and Spanish 1 in middle school. Then when we moved to Chicago I took Algebra 2 and Trig and Spanish 2 when I was a freshman last year at Ryan.”

The bus pulled up in front of Columbia High and we all got out and walked up to the entrance. Some kids hung around outside, others, including me, went inside. I put the books I wouldn’t need until my afternoon classes in my locker. As I stepped away, several kids said, “Hi, Mark!” and smiled. That was something new.

They were more talkative than usual too. They asked about Dan, of course. But they’d start by talking to me about the homework for a class we had together, or if I knew if we were going to have a quiz. The biggest surprise came when several of the A-list kids reminded me that they’d see me at lunch. No one asked about Kenny or Jeff, or what I’d seen, or who stole Oscar. Mr. Covington would be happy about that.

Before going to my Homeroom, I stopped by Mrs. Barker’s room.

“Hi, Mrs. Barker.”

“Good morning, Mark,” she replied.

“Did you hear anything about me being suspended or expelled?”

“No, not a word. I did talk to Principal Benson and Vice Principal Greer, and most of your teachers. The one I didn’t get to talk to is Coach Parks. And I didn’t talk to Ms. Lynch either, of course. I think if Ms. Lynch talked to Principal Benson and asked that you be disciplined, he quashed her request.”

I grinned. Mr. Covington had used that word and explained what it meant. Now Mrs. Barker used it too.

“That’s great. Coach Parks told me to give Dan the injection, so I think he’s on my side in case Ms. Lynch tries to get me expelled. How’s Oscar?”

“Oscar seems to be getting along just fine.”

“That’s great, too. As long as I’m here, do you need anything taken care of in the Biology Lab this morning? I could help out, if you do.”

“Everything is fine. We’re not doing any lab exercises today.”

“Is there going to be a quiz?”

“No, I’m going to be lecturing on the similarities and differences between humans and other mammals.”

“That sounds interesting. Well, I’ll head to my homeroom then. See you later, Mrs. Barker.”

I got through my classes including Gym, sat at the A-list table at lunch, and got through the rest of my classes. What impressed me was the first question everyone asked was, ‘How is Dan?’ That showed me that Dan does have a lot of friends at school, and his dad didn’t have anything to worry about. By the end of the day only a few kids had asked about Kenny and Jeff, wanting to know if they’d been arrested. I told them the truth: I didn’t know. The best thing was that no one had approached me about being expelled or suspended or getting detention. I assumed that issue had been dropped.

I got to the pickup area at three thirty and saw Mr. Covington’s car. I walked over and he saw me and waved.

I said, “Hi,” as I got in.

“Hi, Mark. How was your day?” he asked as we drove out of the school parking lot.

“It was sort of amazing. Kids kept asking me about Dan, about how he was doing, what hospital is he in, can he have visitors. I’d say Dan has a lot of friends at Columbia High School. Only a couple kids asked me about Kenny Lamper and Jeff Walland, mostly about whether they’d been arrested. I don’t know the answer to that question, so that’s what I told them. I didn’t get a call to talk to anyone in the administration, so I think the thing about me being expelled or suspended is a non-issue.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Still, it might come up next week, so I’d appreciate it if you keep any information to yourself.”

“I’ll do that. How’s Dan?”

“He’s fine. In fact, he’s at home. That’s where I’m taking you. I’ll take you home around six this evening. I assume that’s not a problem?”

“No, not at all. It’s great that Dan is home already. Will he be able to go to school on Monday?”

“Yes, assuming that he continues to feel as good as he does today.”

I sat back and smiled. I liked Dan, and he liked me. A great start for what I hoped could be a friendship. Maybe we could be best friends. I’d like to have a best friend here.

The car pulled up in a driveway in front of a large, modern, two-story house, a lot bigger than my house.

“We’re here, Mark. We’ll go in the back door. Dan is probably in the family room which is at the back of the house off the kitchen.”

I got out of the car and waited for Mr. Covington to walk around the car. I followed him onto a porch, then into the house. Mrs. Covington was in the kitchen.

“Denise, I’m home and Mark is with me. By the way, Mark, I have the representation agreement for your signature.” He handed it to me.

“Thanks. I’ll read it and review it with my folks. Then I’ll sign it and get it back to you.”

“That will be fine. Remember to have your folks co-sign the form in the places where their names are listed.”

“Okay.”

Mrs. Covington smiled. “Hello, Mark. It’s nice to see you again. How are you doing?”

“Hi, Mrs. Covington. I’m good.”

“Why don’t I take you into the family room. Dan went to the bathroom, but he should return in a few minutes. Would you like something to drink? We have just about anything you’d like.”

“Do you have orange juice?”

“Yes. Let me get you a glass.”

She poured me a large glass of orange juice, and I followed her into the family room.

“Dan’s been sitting on the couch, as you can tell from all of his stuff lying around. Have a seat anywhere you’d like.”

I decided to sit in a chair across from where Dan had been sitting. That would make it easy for us to talk face-to-face.

After a couple minutes Dan walked in.

“Hey, Mark!”

I stood. “Hey, Dan! You look… normal. Like nothing happened.” I grinned. “I’m real glad to see you.”

He walked over and hugged me. It surprised me, but I grabbed him in a hug too. After a few seconds he pulled away, but held onto my arms.

“I didn’t get a chance to really thank you for saving my life, Mark. So, thank you.”

“I didn’t save your life. Your EpiPen saved your life. All I did is slam it into your thigh.”

“Don’t discount what you did or why you did it. First, you knew that I would have an EpiPen when I told you that I had allergies to spider bites. You’re the one who asked me if I had an EpiPen. Most people wouldn’t have known to ask me about that. Second, you applied the EpiPen correctly. Most people wouldn’t have had a clue about how to do it. Because you knew what to ask and how to use it I’m alive today. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. So stop arguing about it, and let me hug you again.”

We hugged, and I have to admit that I enjoyed it.

“Okay, let’s go up and I’ll show you my room.” Dan wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

“Hmm. Is this one of those ‘Come up to my room, said the spider to the fly’ deals?” I asked.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” Dan wiggled his eyebrows again, and led me to the stairs.

“Mom! I’m going to show Mark my room.”

“Okay.”

We went upstairs to Dan’s bedroom.

“Well, this is it. A little messy, but I’ve been in the hospital and didn’t have time to prepare for visitors.”

“Doesn’t look that messy to me,” I said. “If you shove those dirty clothes under your bed then make your bed, it’ll look more or less clean. About the same as mine.”

I grinned and walked in, then over to his bookcase.

“Science fiction and mysteries. No zombies or vampires. I’m impressed.”

“Most of what I read now I do on my Kindle apps. I have a Kindle Touch and the apps for my tablet and my laptop.”

“Me too,” I said, “except I don’t have the Kindle, just the apps. I have an eight inch tablet and do most of my reading on it. I also have the app on my phone and on my laptop.”

“I oughta download the app for my phone,” Dan said. “I’ve been a few places and had to wait, like the doctor’s office for my annual physical. And the hospital recovering from the tarantula bites. Having the app on my phone means I could read instead of sitting or lying there waiting and being bored out of my skull.”

“Did you know that your dad is my lawyer now?” I asked.

“You’re kidding me!”

“Nope. Remember when you were in the hospital I told you Ms. Lynch was yelling that I shouldn’t use the EpiPen on you, and after I used the EpiPen she yelled at Coach Parks that she wanted my name because she was going to have me expelled?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, your dad had me hire him in case they tried to expel or suspend me. He’ll fight them for me if they try doing that.”

“Can you afford my dad? I think he’s expensive.”

“Yeah, but it took almost everything I have.”

“How much?”

“One dollar.”

Dan laughed. “One dollar?”

“Yup, one dollar. Now, you have to recognize that significant fee covers all of his expenses no matter how much they might be.”

“Ah. You’re a pro-bono client. That’s what he does for impoverished people and charities and other groups like that.”

“That’s me. Impoverished,” I said. “I’ll have to remember that.”

“I’ve got a question for you. What’s your impression of my dad?”

“He’s real straightforward, tells it like it is, and is in the corner of the impoverished persons.” I grinned.

“Dufus! Now I have another question. Did he tell you that I’m gay?”

“Yes, and I told him I didn’t care what you are, gay, straight, whatever. It’s the same as things like the color of your eyes or hair, or if you’re right- or left-handed, or your shoe size.”

Dan took a deep breath. “Thanks, Mark. I guess it turned out alright. I told him not to say anything to you. I wish he hadn't.”

“That’s what he told me. Well, what he actually said was that you’d be upset if you knew that he told me you’re gay. And I meant what I told him. There’s no possible way in the world that I can’t be okay with you being gay.”

Dan sat looking at me with a sort of puzzled expression. “There’s no way that you can’t be okay with me being gay?”

“That’s right.” I couldn’t keep from grinning, and I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Oh. Oh my god! You mean…? Do you? Are you? No, you can’t be. But… you are?”

By then I was laughing so much that I couldn’t say anything to answer his questions. So I nodded.

“You dufus!” he shouted. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

By then I’d stopped laughing. “So when is before supposed to have been? Your dad told me that you’re gay yesterday when he drove me home. I sure wasn’t going to say anything to you over the phone, or in a text message or an email. Something like this has to be done in person, face-to-face. That didn’t happen until right now.”

I got up and walked over to where Dan sat on his bed. I put my hands out, palms up, and waved my fingers upward, meaning I wanted him to stand up. He stood.

“I think we need a hug, both of us. And a kiss. Do you agree?” I grinned

Dan nodded, and we hugged each other, close and personal. Then I kissed him, on the lips. A soft kiss, just lips. I’d never kissed another boy before. I planned to do it again, to kiss this boy again. In fact, again, and again, and again….