Connor by Dormaine G

to explain who he was, but I couldn't remember him until he said he was the skinny boy with braces who sat behind Cricket in math class last year.
    I laughed so hard tears streamed down my face when I remembered who he was. We used to call him Peewee in elementary school—he was so skinny. He didn't find it particularly funny, but I did. I asked him what he did to get so buff and tall.
    “I was this tall last year, thank you, but you never noticed. I got my braces off, finally, and went through a major outward growth spurt soon after I turned sixteen. I work out, but honestly, I didn't do much. I worked on my skateboarding skills, and the abilities came with some added benefits. This year, I came back as a new man,” he said, asking me to feel his muscles as he flexed.
    I laughed and apologized, then laughed some more and apologized again every time I thought of how awkward he was. He made fun of himself too. I told him of some not-so-flattering stories of myself too. Before I knew it, I was home.
    I thought it was nice that he walked me all the way home. Wow, he is cute and courteous, nice. I still wondered what was up with him and Cheyenne. Maybe I'll ask him the next time I see him, who knows.

Chapter 7
    For the next few days, I lived and breathed in detective mode. I searched all over the house for any questionable family history. I dug through old letters, some paperwork, even an old rusty locked box that had old baseball cars in them but found nothing.
    Weeks went by and Tony and I passed each other in the halls with no more than a slight glance. We decided to play it cool for now, not do anything out of the ordinary to make our friends ask any questions, especially Angela.
    That was partly true; the other reason is I didn't want to stay hung up on a guy who may have a girlfriend. I didn't feel it was my place to ask, so I kept my distance even though I really wanted to hang out with him during school.
    Like usual, he hung with the individuals who did the sports thing, not your typical football or basketball. The only sport he would do in school was swim like me. He liked cycling and surfing. He was good at it and won most local competitions. Geez, I wonder why. He was major-league built, not huge or anything yucky, but lean and muscular.
    After school was a different story. Every day during swim practice, the male and female teams competed with each other. My coach wanted to push us harder, so she was adamant about pairing us, and as luck would have it, I paired with Tony. It was not so much as luck, as we were both captain of our swim teams. Each year, the spot of captain went to the fastest swimmer and who won the most competitions the year before.
    He seemed to like that we paired together as much as I did, so why didn't he say anything about Cheyenne? It was frustrating trying to figure him out. I couldn't tell my friends about him, so I couldn't talk to anyone about him. This sucked.
    Every day after practice and before my parents got home, I would search their room and my dad's office.
    On this particular evening after school, while babysitting Reptile Boy, I almost went blind when I stumbled upon my dad's dirty magazines. Gross, Dad, you are way too old for this stuff. Then I stumbled across my mom's naughty wear. Okay, now I am officially blind. I most definitely needed therapy.
    What were they thinking?
    I decided to call the bedroom quits and try my parents' office upstairs instead for the millionth time. I searched for loose floorboards, under drawers, behind the desk. I mean I dug everywhere. I grabbed a file off the desk right when I heard someone come up behind me.
    “What are you doing? You know you are not supposed to be in here. I'm going to tell.” It was Reptile Boy peeping in from the doorway, too scared to come in. This room was off-limits.
    “Oh, shut up. Go away, you…”
    Slam!
    The door shut in his face as if I wished it would in my head. I stood frozen in the middle of the room in awe,