Justin threw his pen down, sighing heavily before stretching his arms over his head and yawning deeply. He glanced at the paper in front of him; his essay on drugs. The extra assignment he’d gotten. Man couldn’t they find a more interesting subject to write about; annoying fathers maybe or grounding for a living. He chuckled at his own joke, yeah that would be something. He wouldn’t be able to shut up about those subjects because let’s face it; he had the most annoying father in the world, he was sure of that and about the grounding, well it certainly did feel as if he was always grounded. If they would pay him for this, he’d be a millionaire himself and would give it all to Josh. Josh, he sighed, his Josh, he was probably worried sick right now. He quickly sent a prayer to ask Him to look out for Josh, to help him not too worry too much but he knew for a fact that Josh was worrying about him just as he himself was worrying about Josh. Tomorrow was going to be Thursday, the first Thursday he would miss, he thought sadly, and it would certainly not be the last. His mind wondered back to the conversation he’d had with Joey yesterday.

“I got caught” Justin simply informed his friend who was standing by his locker, pulling out some books for his next class.

“What the hell are you talking about Justin?” Joey asked a little annoyed, he was already annoyed by the classes he’d had this day and Justin’s statement didn’t make it better.

“I had this beeper from Josh and Mr. Stevens found it” Justin elaborated his earlier statement. Joey swiftly spun around, facing the boy.

“Idiot, beepers are illegal at school” Joey scolded him.

“Yes thank you for informing me Joe” Justin said sarcastically,

“Don’t you think I know that after I got sent to Mr. Thomas and he gave me three weeks of detention for it?!” Justin asked a little angry Joey had known about this and had never told him. Joey’s face darkened.

“Why are you even telling me?!” he countered angrily, was Justin trying to blame him for his own mistakes? No freaking way, Joey thought angrily. Justin realized his comment had been a mistake when he saw the anger on Joey’s face. Who was he fooling here? Justin scolded himself, Joey didn’t even know about the beeper, how could he have warned him? Did he have to screw up EVERYTHING? Justin wondered, angry with himself.

“Joey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t your fault” Justin apologized, slowly watching Joey’s face soften again. Damn straight it isn’t, Joey thought but he didn’t say it. He was curious what Justin had to say but didn’t encourage him to continue. He just waited.

“I got you detention” Justin stated softly.

“You what?” Joey asked a harsh tone in his voice.

“I’m sorry! I just, I got detention and my dad remembered I was tutoring you and suggested I’d tutor you during the detention” Justin explained.

“Oh man” Joey sighed, shaking his head, rubbing his hand over his face to compose himself.

“I’m really sorry, I tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn’t listen”

“Great thanks!” Joey said scoffing. Justin ducked his head in shame.

“How many times?” Joey asked, the harsh tone was still present.

“Just two” Justin said raising his head to meet his friend’s angry stare.

“Wonderful!” Joey scoffed again.

“I’m really sorry Joey, I didn’t mean to get you involved in this” Justin apologized once again.

“Justin you got me involved the first moment you told your father you were tutoring me” Joey roughly reminded him.

“I know,” Justin admitted softly,

“I’m sorry” he added.

“So you’ll come?” Justin asked hopefully, if Joey didn’t come he’d have some serious explaining to do, again.

“Do I have a choice?” Joey asked angrily. Justin didn’t answer him, just stared at his shoes in embarrassment.

“Fine I’ll go to your detention, now get out of my way” Joey said angry, practically shoving Justin out of the way as he stormed out of the hallway. Justin had felt so miserable, certain he’d lost his friend, kicking against the locker in frustration.

Joey had apologized later, telling him he was pissed at him and he said he was sorry for his outburst but Justin reassured him that he had every right to be angry, it was after all his fault. He didn’t want Joey to feel bad about this when it was his fault. Justin felt bad he’d gotten Joey into this, got him detention but Joey had assured he’d live, it was only two times. They’d laughed about it, Joey leaving him at his detention room at the end of the day with the comment, “See you on Thursday at detention” Joey winked at him before he disappeared out the door. Justin entered his detention with a good feeling, he hated arguing with Joey and he was happy it was solved, well partly anyway because he still felt bad he involved Joey in his mess.

Justin yawned once again; 7pm the clock read, he sighed; his favorite show, where they covered basketball games, was about to start. He glanced over his shoulder at the empty spot where his TV used to be. No basketball tonight, he told himself as he forced himself to concentrate on his essay. He picked up his pencil slowly and went on with it because the sooner he’d finish this, the sooner he could go to bed and forget about his boring life.

Still no message, Josh thought as he gazed at his beeper, it had been three days since he last heard from Justin and they used to send messages on a daily basis. Maybe he lost his beeper or it’s broken, Josh tried to tell himself but somehow he wasn’t buying it. Something in his gut told him there was something else going on and he immediately thought the worst; his father had found the beeper and locked Justin up in his room. It wouldn’t be the first time Josh thought sadly as he recalled a conversation he’d had with Justin weeks ago. He forced himself not to think about that but somehow the thought wouldn’t go away.

Thursday came and no sign of Justin, that was when Josh really started to worry about his lover. Was he alright? What had happened? How could I contact him? Should I go see him? No! He dismissed that thought almost immediately, if he just didn’t get the chance to get away on Thursday and his beeper was broken he would ruin his chances at seeing him again. He had to wait… there was nothing he could do but wait…

Justin went to school, followed his classes, went to detention and around 6 he went back home again; doing more homework Mr. Thomas had given him. It was never ending because once he handed in one assignment he’d get instructions for the next, it was frustrating to say the least and he did this next to his regular homework, feeling as if he was doing homework 24/7. Although his busy day of doing homework he still managed to think about Josh, he could never not think about Josh. He just hoped he wouldn’t be too worried, hoped he was alright. He’d thought about asking Joey to go over to him and to ask him to tell Josh what was going on, why he hadn’t contacted him in over a week but he couldn’t ask that of Joey. Joey had already taken so much from him and he feared if he asked Joey one more thing he would punch him in the face or worse; turn his back on him. It wasn’t fair of him because he never did anything for Joey, it was all taking and no giving for Justin. He decided that once his grounding was over he would treat Joey to a movie or something, just to show him his appreciation and he wouldn’t skip out on him halfway through to go see Josh, no he wouldn’t do that. He’d have to find another way to go see Josh. He’d been able to get through his detention and boring essays with the determined thought that he would see Josh again, he would soon but first he needed to restore his friendship with Joey before he lost the only friend he had.

Another Thursday passed and still no sign of Justin. His beeper didn’t get any new messages and Josh was worried sick. What if something happened to him? He wondered frantically, oh please he prayed, let my baby be ok. I can’t live without him. He prayed desperately. He has to be ok!

The third Thursday rolled around the corner and Josh still hadn’t heard from Justin and this time he was pacing the floor, tearing at his hair in frustration. But he couldn’t do anything about it, he still needed to wait…. or move on…