"Fuck, Adri," Mandy leans her head back as I kiss down her neck. I grab onto her hips and push her into the sink of the school bathroom. She grabs onto my hair and wraps her legs around my waist.

"You're so beautiful, Mandy," I whisper in her ear but then she pushes me away and I hear the bathroom door open. The girl walks into a stall and Mandy and I pretend to do our makeup in the mirror. I glance at her and notice how messed up her lipstick is. I smile to myself.

The girl comes back out and walks up to the sink next to me. "Hey, Adri, tell your brother thanks. I got an A on my English paper."

"Yeah, no problem."

She then looks over at Mandy. "Damn, Mandy. What happened?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're makeup. Think you two were making out in here or something,"

"Well, we weren't, alright." Mandy snaps at her.

"I was just joking. Calm down." She walks out of the bathroom and I look back at Mandy.

I try to grab her hand but she backs away from me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not gay, alright," She says, avoiding eye contact with me.

I look down too. "Alright."

"We're just fucking around. We're just having fun. None of this means anything."

"Look, I know you're dad's all homophobic and shit but it's okay to admit that you like doing this with me."

"Just fuck off," She says before walking out of the bathroom.

------------

"Hey, Adri." I look up from my homework to see Mandy.

"Hey,"

"Where's your twin?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Not your problem."

"Are we not talking about what happened earlier or something?"

"Where's your brother?"

"Aisle over," I say, nodding my head in Ian's direction.

"Thanks," She says, walking over to him. She sways her hips as she walks. She knows I'm looking at her. She finds Ian on the ladder, stocking up on more products. I'm shocked when I see her pinch his butt.

"Hey, that's sexual harassment. Mandy?" Ian looks at her with as much disbelief as me.

She turns her head a bit, trying to start flirting with him. "Hey, Ian."

"Uh, what's going on?" Ian asks, crossing his arms, not knowing what else to do.

"I wanted to thank you for coming to my rescue in history class today." She says, leaning against the ladder. I notice Kash come into the room and we look at each other before continuing to watch Mandy and Ian.

"No problem. Mr. Bancroft's a prick."

"Well, I think you might be my knight in shining armor," She looks back at me after she says this to make sure I'm watching them. They both start to laugh.

Ian starts to walk down the ladder. "Right." He walks away from her to another aisle.

"You're funny, Ian Gallagher."

"Okay."

She rushes after him. "What time do you get off work?"

"Uh, I think it's, uh, inventory night, so probably not until really late."

"Alright. Well, I guess I'll see you around school tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah, right. Uh, see you tomorrow, Mandy," Ian tells her, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Mandy looks back at me again and smirks. She then kisses Ian's cheek and grabs onto his waist before leaving.

"Bye, Ian."

Ian looks at me as I angrily put my homework back in my bag and get ready to go home. "The fuck was that?" I ask him.

"I have no idea. Why? You got something going on with Mandy I don't know about?"

"That's none of your business, Ian. Have fun with your pedophilic boss," I say as I walk out the door.

------------

"Fuck, Adri. Oh god," I was at Karen's house. Sometimes we would fuck around and she said I was welcome to come over anytime I needed to so here I was. "Adri, right there."

She finishes and I back up from her, wiping my mouth off. I put my shirt back on as she pulls her pants back up. I get ready to leave but she grabs my hand.

"What's going on with you?" She asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't bullshit me, Adri. We've done this a couple of times now and every time it's because you're pissed about something."

"I'm fine, really. Thank you, though."

"Karen, there's a boy here for you!" Frank yells from downstairs.

"That's probably Lip. Be down in a sec!" She yells back.

"I should get going," I say, turning back towards the door.

"What, you're leaving without your twenty bucks?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Here," She hands me a twenty anyway and we smile at each other. We walk downstairs.

"Hey." Lip says. "What are you doing here?"

"Studying. I was just leaving."

"I thought you were studying with Ian?"

"Change of plans," I say and then I kiss Karen on the cheek and wave bye to Frank before heading out the door.

------------

I walk into my house to see Mandy sitting on the couch. God, she just won't leave me alone today.

Carl looks over at me. "Thank god,"

Mandy looks back and sees me and sighs. She then kicks Carl. "Get out of here, shithead."

"Ow. Fine. Whatever."

Ian then walks into the room from the kitchen holding two beers. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. Enjoy getting herpes." Carl says, walking into the kitchen.

I walk up to Ian and grab one of his beers. "The hell is she doing here?"

"When she leaves, you're telling me what's going on with you, alright?"

"Fine," I walk into the kitchen and sit next to Carl. I sit just in the right spot so that I can still see what's happening between Ian and Mandy.

He sits down next to her and starts to play with his shirt. He looks so uncomfortable. Can't Mandy see that? Mandy then starts to kiss him and climbs on top of him.

"Mandy. Mandy, maybe we should," She shushes Ian before he can continue. She then pulls out a condom from her bra and looks over into the kitchen at me.

"It's okay. I have one," She says and then she lowers herself to the floor, trying to unbuckle Ian's jeans.

"Mandy, okay. Okay." Ian tries to protest but she keeps going. "Mandy, get the hell off me, alright!" He stands up and nearly pushes her over the table.

"Fuck you, Ian!" She runs out the door and we both call after her.

Fiona then walks through the door. "Who did what to Mandy Milkovich?"

------------

"Where's my damn toaster, huh?" Kev shouts from the living room and walks into the kitchen. "Who borrows a toaster?" He sees Carl melting his action figures with the toaster. "Yo, yo, yo, Destructo, that's my toaster."

"I'm trying to make Melted Man."

"Carl, you're gonna burn the house down one of these days," I tell him.

Kev then picks him up and places him away from the toaster. "Yeah, well, use, a blowtorch like a normal kid. Hey, Fi, some flower delivery guy was looking for your address." He then hands her a bouquet of white flowers.

"They're from him. Toss them." She says, nodding over to Steve.

"No, they're not. Nope." Steve tells her.

Lip then walks into the room. "Back for more abuse. You're like a boomerang."

"Yeah, no, I lost a bet to Ian on the game. Need to see what tickets he wants."

"Probably Sox," I say, looking in the fridge.

"And we live in the 1700s where telephones haven't been invented yet so, of course, you couldn't just call," Fiona says.

"Not when I knew you were dying to see me."

Ian then comes into the room. "Yo, got my tickets?"

"Yeah, what game? Philly on the twelfth or Edmonton on the twenty-seventh?"

"Uh, the Oilers. Yeah, definitely."

"A good choice. The Flyers are a bunch of fags!" Kev shouts from the table.

"There are plenty of other words in the world, Kev," I say back.

"Goddamn it. The gas bill's late. No wonder it's freezing in here." Fiona says.

"I'm going over to the Milkovich's later today so I can bring in a couple," I tell her.

"Thanks, Adri. No drugs. No sex."

"Of course,"

Steve then takes the flowers out of the trash and reads the note. "Fiona, thanks for a night I'll never forget. Tony."

She snatches the note away from him. "Give me that,"

"Who the hell's Tony?"

"Tony the cop?" I ask.

"You hooked up with Tony? How charitable of you." Kev smiles.

"Wait, Tony the cop? That Tony? Really?"

"Yeah, and we had a real nice time, okay? Tony's sweet. And he has a real job."

Kev starts to snore. "Sorry, I fell asleep when you were talking about him. How long was I out?"

"Lip, phone," Fiona asks and Lip throws the phone to her.

"What exactly does hooked up mean?" Steve asks.

"Last time I checked, penis goes into vagina," Kev tells him.

"I guess I haven't hooked up with as many people as I thought," I say, and Lip and I start laughing.

"Wow,"

Fiona takes a bag of food away from Debbie. "No, okay? We're gonna have oatmeal this morning. Go get the hotplate."

"I'm gonna eat at Mickey's," I tell her.

"What about school?"

"First period's art. I won't miss anything."

"Sort things out with Mandy and Ian will you?"

"Jesus, you sure didn't waste time, did you?" Fiona looks at Steve and throws Debbie's food in the trash.

"I think I can see my breath," Ian says, breathing and rubbing his hands together.

"We need five hundred and eighty-seven dollars or they won't turn the gas back on," Fiona tells us.

"I'm taking the PSATs for some Polish kid over on Ridgedale. He's supposed to give me a hundred bucks," Lip says, walking Liam into the kitchen.

"I saw online that we could get an extra two hundred a month from the state if we say Carl's retarded," Debbie says.

"I get paid Friday," Ian says.

"I'll figure out the rest," Fiona says. She looks up at the clock and notices the time. "School. Let's go. Everyone out."

"I can loan you the money unless you wanna get it from Tony the cop," Steve says.

"You're still here?"

"Pay me back or not. Doesn't matter."

"You're gonna be late. Go. Everyone out. You too. Out."

------------

"An hour and fifty-four minutes. Now that's a record." I was walking with Karen and Lip. Mickey wasn't home this morning and Mandy refused to open the door for me.

"Yes. Now, all we have to do is figure out how I can go back the same day and take it for another kid."

"It's a miracle you've never been caught doing all this," I tell him. Mickey and two other boys start to walk up to us.

"Hey, yo."

"What do they want?" Lip asks.

"He probably just wants to ask me out again," Karen says.

"You're not interested?"

"If you like the smell of cow shit."

"Hey, Adri. How's your twin?" Mickey asks.

"I've been looking all goddamn morning for you Mick. Where the hell have you been?"

"Around." He turns towards Lip. "Got a B-plus on that English paper you wrote for me."

"Spread the word. I could use the business. Heard they're letting Iggy out of juvie."

"Yeah, my mom drove up to get him. Throwing a party for him this weekend. You should come, Adri."

"He'll probably be back in there before then." Lip says.

"Probably. So, Ian messed with Mandy."

"Ian?"

"Yeah."

"That's, uh, highly unlikely."

"That's what Mandy told us."

"Trust me you got the wrong guy."

"Mick, nothing happened," I tell him.

"Yeah, how would you know?"

"I watched the whole thing,"

"You watched the whole thing and didn't do nothing?"

"I didn't do nothing because nothing happened,"

"Right, the problem is that Ian's been avoiding us all day, and, uh, someones gotta get a beatdown until we find him."

"Could make an exception," Lip says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Not really, though,"

"Well, maybe, uh, Mandy's confusing Ian with any one of the other four hundred dudes in the tenth grade she's already blown." Mickey nods and then hits Lip in the gut. Karen and I stand back and just let it happen, knowing they just need to get it out of their system.

------------

Lip, Ian, and I were looking out the window to see Mickey talking with Steve.

"Hey. Yeah, you. You, uh, see Ian in there?"

"Not home."

"You know when he's coming back?"

"No, man, not a clue."

"Alright, fuckhead." Mickey looks up at the window and Lip and Ian back away. "Hey, Lip. How's your Lip? Yeah, I saw you up there. Tell your shithead brother we're waiting for him."

"Just go home, Mickey!" I shout back to him.

"Adri, you're not a part of this!"

"Tell Mandy I wanna talk to her!"

"Alright, I'll see you later then, Adri!"

I back up from the window and turn towards Ian. "You need to go talk to Mandy."

"She won't talk to me. She keeps calling me a perv." He then turns to Lip. "Sorry your face got busted up."

"It's okay."

"I didn't do anything to Mandy."

"I know that Ian, but her brothers think that you did."

"I mean, she tried to rape me, and I pushed her off, and now she's mad."

"Well, you're probably the first guy in her life who hasn't tried to jump her."

"She started screaming and crying."

"Maybe you should throw it in her, you know? She'll call off her brothers."

I take the cig from Lip. "No, Ian, don't do that."

"Yeah. Yeah, and maybe, uh, you should throw it in Kash, right?" He asks Lip.

"Why is he asking about me?"

"Yeah. He's trying to go through all the Gallagher brothers."

"Good thing I'm safe then," I say, handing Lip back the cig.

"You know you still have to tell me what's going on between you and Mandy," Ian says, taking a sip from his beer.

"It's nothing, really."

"Something's going on between you and Mandy?" Lip asks.

"We've been fooling around, I guess."

"Fooling around?"

"It's not a big deal. After all this, she probably won't want to do it with me ever again, anyway."

We sit in silence for a couple of seconds and then Lip turns to Ian. "Eventually, you're gonna have to take the beatdown for this, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

------------

Lip and I were in front of the Milkovichs' house looking for Ian. Lip had noticed the bat was gone so we skipped breakfast to come to try and find him.

"Shit," Ian gasps when we come up behind him.

"So, what's the plan?" Lip asks him.

"Hit Mickey over the head with the bat when he comes out of the house."

"What about the other brothers?"

"They'll probably beat me to death."

"We'll fight them off while you run," Lip says, picking up a rock.

"Don't involve me in all your boy drama," I tell them.

"This is my problem, alright, not yours."

"It'll be fun. I owe them one."

We stop talking when Mandy comes out of the house. I get up and run after her.

"Shit, Adri!" Ian whisper yells at me.

I grab Mandy's arm and turn her to face me. "Mandy, can we talk?"

"Adri, I got nothing to say to you."

"Mandy, please. Ian's here and he needs to tell you something." Ian runs out from behind the trash cans and over to us.

"Mandy, Mandy, hey."

"Get away from me, you fucking perv."

"We need to talk."

She points at him and pulls away from my hand. "You are a dead man, Ian Gallagher. Fucking dead." She starts to walk away.

"Mandy, wait," I say back to her.

"I'm gay," We both turn towards Ian.

"Should I leave you two alone?" I ask them.

"No, Adri. Come with us," Mandy says, taking my hand again and leading us to the park. After some silence between all of us, Mandy talks again. "For how long?"

"I don't know my whole life, I guess," Ian tells her. "Maybe since Justin Timberlake."

"Agreed," I high-five him.

"Ew, the both of you!" Mandy says. "No, J.C. Chasez."

"No, are you kidding? He's totally gay."

"Just your type then," I say and he slaps my arm.

"No, he isn't," Mandy complains.

"Hello? Yes, he is."

"Are you sure you're not just making this up?"

"About J.C. Chasez?"

"No, about being gay."

"In this neighborhood? Why would I make that up? You never questioned Adri about all this."

Mandy then slaps my arm. "You told him? What about don't kiss and tell?"

"Mandy, I think we've known each other long enough to know that I always kiss and tell."

"You're such a traitor. Ian's the only one, right?"

"Lip knows too."

"Look, us three and Lip are the only ones who know about all this, alright?" Ian says.

"I won't tell anyone. If anyone you should be worried about Adri telling people."

"Well, thanks."

"It's just that I thought maybe you were making this up so I'd call my brothers off, or I don't know, maybe, you think I'm, like, ugly or something."

I turn towards her and grab her hand. "Mandy, you're beautiful."

Ian starts to laugh. "Yeah, we all know you think that. Been gushing over her for years now."

"Shut the fuck up, Ian."

"Years? I didn't know it had been that long," Mandy smiles at me.

"Look, this has nothing to do with the way you look. I'm just not wired that way." Ian then puts his hand on Mandy's chest and takes her hand and puts it on his crotch area. "See? Nothing."

We go over and sit down on the swings. "I could pretend to be your girlfriend at school and stuff. Then no one would ever give you a hard time." Mandy tells him.

"You'd do that for me?"

"Sure. It'll keep the creepy guys away from me and me and Adri can keep fucking around without anyone questioning it."

"I thought you 'weren't gay', though," I say.

"I'm sorry, Adri. This is just a lot. My family's not the most accepting people."

"I understand."

"Besides, I've never actually had a real boyfriend before. Not that you'd be a real boyfriend but a boyfriend I could do things with instead of, you know, just getting finger-banged all the time. No offense, Adri."

"None taken."

------------

We were in Ian and Lip's room. Mandy was reading a magazine in his bed and I was on the floor leaning against her legs.

Fiona then walks in and points at them. "Hey, above the covers."

"You got it," Ian says.

"You look nice!" Lip yells back at her.

"Thank you."