There was no way he was going to get out of this. He had tried to convince his mother that he was sick, but she still made Cole go to school. Even after he'd forced his finger down his troat and barfed into the toilet! She was a hardass, that was for sure. Sighing, he dragged himself upstairs and opened the bathroom door next to his room. The harsh yellow lights illuminated the messy area, and he scanned it for his glasses. Slipping them on, Cole looked at himself in the mirror. These made him look smarter and more professional, which was exactly why he decided to skip his contacts. After the stunt yesterday, he needed to seem level-headed, now more than ever.

Cole straightened out his oversized long-sleeve shirt, he trudged back into the bedroom to look for his shoes. There was a particular pair that he wanted to show off today. They were only worn on special occasions, and to him, this was very special. It was "Show Noah You're Not Emotionally Unstable" day. After flipping over dirty band shirts and witty tees, he all but gave up. Suddenly he remembered that the last time he'd worn them, he'd gone to a party in August. His dad had forced him to go so that they looked like one big happy family. Cole opened the creaky closet door and shuffled through the mess on the ground. He found the brown box and lifted the lid. Inside sat the two shiny black shoes.

He grabbed them and smiled in satisfaction. The expression slowly faded when he looked into the box once more. A sense of sadness washed over him, and he put the shoes down on his bed. He sat down next to them, box in hand. Filled with memories, this box had been the highlight of Cole's summer. He removed a broken string of Mardi Gras beads and smiled. There was a notebook of instructions on how to look sexy when you really weren't, signed by Naomi. She said it was for her fans when she got famous. Cole thumbed through a stack of movie ticket stubs that were held together by a small rubber band.

And then Cole found the picture.

Behind three males, the sun was setting. They were glowing, both literally and fictitiously. Cole stood in the middle, Noah on his right and Brent on his left. They looked as happy as could be, sporting dazzlingly white grins. Matching swimming trunks hug from their hips. Cole still remembered how nice the sand had been that day. Part of him wanted to crumble up the photo and pretend it never happened. Instead, he dropped the picture into the box and closed the lid. After returning it to the mound of crap, he put on his shoes and left for school.

Noah sat at the table, his nose buried in a copy of "Hamlet." Cole had never taken him for a reader, but spoke nothing of this as he slid into his seat. He picked at his nails and scrolled through his Dashboard on his phone, hoping to get this day over with without any complications. Noah looked at him out of the corner of his eye and surprisingly said nothing. Cole noticed the whites of his eyes were still white and not red. That was good.

"I'm sorry."

Noah looked away from his book. Cole could tell he was still upset about what happened. "What?"

"I said -"

"I heard what you said. I just didn't know how you wanted me to react." Cole looked away, guilt and irritation stirring in the pit of his stomach. Noah had every right to still be pissed off. He'd had a drink thrown in his eyes, after all! At the same time, he hadn't been completely innocent. He'd pressed each and every one of Cole's buttons, gotten the reaction he wanted, and yet here he was, playing the victim.

"I'd like to get past this."

"Yeah, well, let me thrown a drink in your face and then we'll talk," he huffed.

"That's not what I meant." Cole took a slow breath. He couldn't believe he was doing this. "I meant... what happened."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with us. If I hadn't... If I hadn't done what I did -"

"Can you still not say it, Cole? Do you always have to find a way to sugarcoat things? Why can't you just say it out loud, Cole?"

"Because, I -"

"Just say that you used me. Just say that you only wanted one thing from me, and that was connections." Before Cole could respond, the bell rang and Ms. Baxter stood from her chair. She walked to the front of the room and clapped her hands happily.

"You all know what day it is, don't you?" she asked with aduible eagerness. A boy in the back nudged his female partner and said,

"I sure do. My girl's having a baby, and she skipped the fun part of making it." She rolled her eyes and shoved him back. The classroom laughed, and Cole even smirked despite himself.

"That's right, Anthony. Today, you'll be getting your babies! You'll keep them for two weeks. That means one week your little bundle of joy will be with mommy, and the other week with daddy."

"What about Noah and Cole?" Anthony asked. "Which one of them is mommy? My money's on Cole." A few students around him snickered. Noah laughed and turned around in his chair.

"That's pretty funny, man. But I'm gonna be mommy. After all, you are what you eat. Ask your mom about it," he winked. Cole choked down a laugh and glanced back at Anthony. Everyone oohed together, some even hissing "buuuuurn."

"That's enough, Noah," Ms. Baxter chided. She turned her attention to Anthony. "They're both going to be daddy if they both want to." Cole looked at Noah, a small smile on his face. Noah tried his hardest not to smile, turning away from his partner. Ms. Baxter headed to her desk and pulled the tub of babies out from behind it. "Alright, these little guys and girls will turn on at six o'clock tonight. They cry, whine, get fussy, need to be changed, and sometimes, if you're lucky, they coo happily."

She made her way around the room, handing back the babies everyone had claimed a few days earlier. "Today, we're going to watch a few tutorial videos on how to take care of them and what you need to do when they cry. After school today, you'll all come back to this classroom and pack a few things for the weekend. Clothing, a bottle, an extra diaper, and a carrier for it."

"Sounds like a lot of work," someone to Cole's left said.

"It is, but it's worth it. Plus, the grade is high, so don't ignore it. These babies have sensors inside. If you hit, throw, shake, or neglect the baby, it will be recorded and you will lose points. On top of that, why would you want to abuse something that's nearly six hundred dollars?" That silenced the entire classroom. No one wanted to pay that much for a fake baby. Ms. Baxter smiled to herself and placed Cole and Noah's baby in front of them.

"There's my girl," Noah said without affection. Suddenly his entire outlook on this assignment had changed.

"Our girl," Cole corrected him.

"Whatever. Robert De Niro... I can't believe you..."

"We can nickname her Bobbie."

"Or change her name entirely," Noah suggested. Cole snorted and shook his head.

"Not a chance. She's named Robert De Niro, and she believes she's a boy."

"Well, I support our daughter no matter what," said Noah. He lifted the doll up and rocked her slowly. He was caught off guard by the head. Instead of staying still, the neck fell back. He remembered what she said about shaken baby syndrome, and it made sense to have the head move. He rested her head in the crook of his arm and rocked her slowly. "She's actually kinda cute."

"Wait until she turns on," Ms. Baxter said from the back of the classroom. Noah and Cole shared a look of anxiety. Noah put the baby in Cole's arms and looked him over once.

"Anthony was right. You'd make a good mommy."

"Shut up," Cole said, a hint of a smile on his lips. This was nice. It was nice not to fight with the other boy. That took so much effort. It wasn't easy to be witty, sassy, and still look good. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, so no more questions."

"Anyway. Why did you say that back to Anthony?"

"Because I really did eat out his -"

"Seriously, Noah." Cole picked at his nails, absently bouncing the baby in his lap.

"Because I don't like bullies who don't have a reason to bully someone."

"You have a reason," Cole said. It was said under his breath, and meant for his own ears, but Noah caught it.

"Yeah, I do..."

"Well, let me know when you're ready to forgive me."

"You'll be senile by then, Cole."

Those words sat heavy on Cole's mind, and although he didn't want to accept it, it was true. He had a lot to make up for.