What a fantastic chapter! loved Nancy and Hannah is so annyoing!!!

Don't judge Hannah too soon, lol!
She's in for a it of a bumpy ride from now on.

Amazing chapter, so much detail and thought put into it... i loved that in class craig jumped in to help out jp.... but in the end jp proved yet again that he could fight all his own battles... be it with fists or words......

anyway, can't wait for the next one!

Luke babe? Next chapter pretty please!

Sorry I took a couple of days off, Eurovision beckoned (And don't even get me started on it...)
But I'm back now with a couple of shiny new chapters today!!

Much love,

Luke

OMG! A COUPLE OF NEW CHAPTERS!

YES! WE GET MORE THAN WE BARGAINED FOR! DO POST THEM ASAP~!

AND HOW EXCITED ARE YOU!?!? CRAIG AND JP FINALLY GET IT ON THIS WEEK!! MAY 16! MARK YOU CALENDARS MCDEANIANS!

PART 45

Sarah away her phone and clutched it to her chest, her eyes both defeated and distant as she stared into the recesses of the Dog In The Pond. Rolling her eyes at this latest tear in the treacherously weak thread that connected her network of friends, she returned to the table, her fraudulent smile fooling nobody into believing that everything was, as she intended to tell them, ‘fine’.
“She’s not coming is she?” John-Paul’s voice was drawn, deflated. His fingers indolently tapped against his pint glass as his eyes searched Sarah’s for the faintest glimmer of optimism.
“No.” The girl shook her head reproachfully, reaching a tentative hand to cup the boy’s own. He suppressed a reflexive shudder, not out of any distaste for her, but from his disgust in himself that he should be finding solace in the girl that he himself was betraying.
“What am I gonna do? She really hates me.”
He scanned the three faces around the table hopefully, finding himself instantly crushed by the deafening silence that met him.
“There’s nothing you can do.” Nancy at last spoke, though her words were scarcely of comfort.
“A woman scorned and all that.”
“Scorned by what?” John-Paul flared instantly, his anger quashed at once by Craig rubbing his hand under the table, imperceptible to the girls.
“She hasn’t spoken to me in two days and I don’t even know why!”
His eyes had drifted, as they had so often this evening, towards the table, as if the luxury of looking his friends in the eye was one he was to deny himself out of penance for his latest supposed crime.
“Can you not speak to her?” He allowed himself to look briefly to Sarah, before resuming his mournful gaze into the stained table top.
“And say what?” Sarah looked to Craig to back her up, though his attention seemed drawn to his melancholic best friend.
“John-Paul, it’s your word against Jason and…”
“And you believe I started on him?” He suffused the suggestion with a righteous fury, embittered at this apparent attempt to once again label him a villain.
“No.” Sarah’s response was uncharacteristically brusque.
“But she does. She believes every word that comes out of his mouth and if he’s trying to turn her against you…”
John-Paul rolled his head at the allegation, recoiling from it as if from a punch.
“Even your history with her won’t matter.”
The boy sipped at his drink. He despised confrontation, especially one as futile as this.
“I could speak to her.” Craig offered brightly, allowing his hand to once more graze his friend’s.
John-Paul looked at him with an affection barely disguised.
“Nah, mate. She’ll just end up getting p*ssed off with you.”
His fingers connected lightly with Craig’s, the briefest of touches but one which resonated with simple truth.
“Its bad enough her avoiding me. I don’t want to be responsible for you getting it in the neck as well.”
He stood, indicating that he was going to the toilet. Craig watched him leave and felt his heart sink. Yet again, John-Paul was accepting culpability for something that had hardly been his fault. He was always so ready to be painted as the bad guy, so lacking in self confidence that he felt he had no right to defend himself. Craig yearned for him to return to his carefree ways, the assurance he had when they first met that had so endeared him to the dark haired boy. He hadn’t been the same since that night at Hannah’s party, all those months ago. True, his insecurity was well hidden by a smile or a disarming comment, but Craig knew how much he tortured himself with his feelings of inadequacy. He resolved to restore his shattered ego, one way or another.

“Right.”
Sarah watched as John-Paul rounded the corner and disappeared into the toilet area. She turned back to her Craig and Nancy, with an inflection of her head she clustered them conspiratorially around her, her voice dropping noticeably in volume as she spoke.
“While John-Paul’s not here, I’d best tell you what Hannah said to me when I spoke to her.”
Craig raised a disconcerted eyebrow.
“Shouldn’t he be here to listen to this?”
“No.” The empathy in his girlfriend’s face entreated Craig not to question her.
“What is it, then?”
Sarah’s eyes darted from one face to the other. Whatever she had to say, it was obvious to both, was likely to be contentious.
“Well.” She was almost reluctant to commit her news to a vocalised expression.
“She said Jason’s asked if we want to go out for a meal on Saturday night. A sort of…”
The next sentence would be the clarifier, and Sarah almost cringed in saying it.
“Triple date.”
Craig shook his head, instantly acknowledging the implications of the offer.
“Triple date?” He reiterated. Sarah nodded sheepishly.
“You two, those two, me and Foz?” Nancy sounded every inch as incredulous as Craig.
“So, essentially, we give JP the cold shoulder?” Craig bristled at the impetuousness of the very idea. How could Hannah reasonably expect them to acquiesce to this?
“I think we should go.” Sarah’s words almost made him spit his drink back into the glass.
“Seriously?” Nancy questioned the girl on Craig’s behalf.
“Why? We couldn’t do that to John-Paul.”
“Yeah.” Sarah shrugged, opting for defiance over rational discussion.
“But we don’t wanna look like we’re picking sides, do we?”
“That’s exactly what we’ll be doing!” Craig’s voice was raised, taking both girls unawares.
“How do you think that’s gonna make him feel? He’s my best mate, after all.”
Sarah could only nod again, a placatory hand nestled itself on the boy’s shoulder.
“Then we won’t tell him.”
Craig shook his head emphatically, disbelief apparent in his widened eyes.
“I suppose it’d give us a chance to talk to her on her own.” Nancy’s approval for the idea caught Craig entirely off guard. He had at least expected her support in this matter.
“And you and Foz could try and make Jason see sense.”
The dark haired boy narrowed his eyes, his head shaking now through disappointment. He hated duplicity, and now having to lie to John-Paul as well as Sarah? The situation had become untenable.
“Come on Craig, I don’t wanna lie to him, either.” The hand that had found roost in the fold of Craig’s sleeve rubbed against his arm, as if beseeching his agreement.
“But if there’s four of us there pouring on the pressure, maybe we can get things back to how they were.”
Craig relented, Sarah’s twisted logic somehow appealing to his better nature. He truly disliked seeing his best friend so downcast and if he had any opportunity to rectify his misery, he had to seize it out of loyalty to him.
“Okay.” He mumbled eventually.
“And we won’t tell him, not yet at least…” Sarah allowed her voice to trail away, fearful that she may be asking more of Craig than was fair.
“Okay.” His response was muted, his hands encircled his pint glass out of agitation and his eyes scanned the floor. He only hoped the end result could justify the deceitful means.
“Hey.” John-Paul appeared as if from nowhere, taking the disquieted group entirely by surprise.
“What’s everyone talking about?”

By the way, the song/chapter title for that part was It's Beginning to Get to Me, in honour of Craig's conflicted loyalties.

i can't believe Nancy; she knows that Craig and John Paul are more than friends. Yet she's agreeing to this deceit! can't wait to see what you do with this next. great story, wonderfully written

All will be revealed in time...
Next chapter will be up shortly.

ooh! cant wait for more hun! xox

Amazingly wrote as always, I feel so much for John Paul Excellent Luke

love it!!! more soon

PART 46 – 9 Crimes

“Right, you.”
Sarah’s hand worked its way inside Craig’s t-shirt, her fingertips daintily teasing his nipples, leaving their indelible mark as the girl marked her territory on his body. She had downed several drinks by now, all thought for their duplicitous dinner arrangements by now suppressed by her basic carnal desires. It had been days since she and Craig had been intimate, and even then he had put on a perfunctory display, seeming altogether disinterested as she had offered herself to him. Now though, she had a captive audience with a noticeable shortage of excuses. She would have her man tonight, whatever it took.
“Lets move this upstairs, eh?”
She planted a lingering kiss on Craig’s cheek, a momentary panic instilled itself in his features as he looked over to John-Paul, who could only smile weakly in response. Nancy raised her eyebrows upon seeing the bizarre exchange, her newly acquired knowledge of the precarious situation that existed between the three forbidding her from passing a sardonic comment.
“Jack’s not even rung the bell for last orders yet!”
To the untrained ear, Craig’s pleading would have sounded like nothing more than a healthy appetite for beer, but John-Paul knew better. Knowing that Nancy was fully aware of their tryst, he decided on a utilitarian course of action and forced his own rampaging jealousy out of mind, if only for a matter of seconds.
“You go ahead, mate.”
His smile was moderately more genuine, an affirmative nod assuaging his best friend’s concern.
“It’ll give me and Nancy a chance to have a good old fashioned bitching session behind your back.”
Craig grinned superficially, feeling Sarah’s fingers entwine with his own and almost resenting the contact. The girl’s insistent tugging indicated that her patience had worn thin. She leaned in for another kiss, with which she attempted to seduce her boyfriend away from the others. John-Paul couldn’t help but note that his eyes remained open during the embrace, and assumed that Nancy had noted it too.
“Well, guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow…” Craig did his best to sound enthusiastic, but the effort to maintain the pretence had deserted him.
“Come on!” Sarah caused the boy to lurch sideways awkwardly, as she began her unrelenting advance towards the bar.
“Bye.” John-Paul waved meekly, quickly dropping his hand to his side as if thinking the gesture to be inappropriate. He watched the pair as they disappeared from view, Craig casting a final sorrowful glance towards him before his view was blocked by the pub’s milling patrons.

“You’re incorrigible, aren’t you?”
Nancy’s smile was devious, her tone playful.
“Huh?” John-Paul had allowed his thoughts to meander onto the subject of Craig, and he had all but forgotten the girl’s presence.
“You, watching him like a lovesick puppy.”
Nancy sipped at her drink, surprising the boy with how amused she appeared to be.
“Yeah well…” He blushed at how obvious his feelings for Craig had made themselves.
“Listen.” The pair had lapsed into quiet, and John-Paul had felt himself compelled to offer some form of gratitude.
“Thanks for not saying anything.”
Nancy smiled again, reaching out a hand to gently enfold his fingers with her own.
“It’s not my place to is it?”
John-Paul nodded beatifically, rubbing the girl’s hand with his thumb.
“But I feel bad.” He persisted, looking her in the eye.
“Expecting you to keep this from Sarah. You’re, like, best mates aren’t you?”
Nancy’s eyebrow raised itself quizzically.
“What do you mean?” Her voice was hesitant, not fully comprehending the boy’s statement.
“It’s a lot for you to keep from her, isn’t it, and I know that we should tell her but…”
Nancy retracted her hand sharply, her bemused frown transmuted to a look of abject horror.
“What do you mean, ‘we should tell her?’”
John-Paul misinterpreted the question entirely.
“You know, I hate that we’re having to carry on behind her back, but I just don’t think Craig's ready to come out, not yet.”
Nancy’s body stiffened, her teeth grinding together in fury at what John-Paul had revealed to her.
“You mean you and Craig…” She paused, barely able to summon sufficient adjectives for how she felt.
“You’ve been seeing each other?”
John-Paul froze instantly, noticing the disgust in his friend’s eyes and instantly withdrawing into himself. Had she misread the situation between he and Craig? He thought she had understood explicitly in class two days ago, and what she had said to him in the corridor afterwards had only served to clarify this further.
“Nancy, I thought you knew…” He began, the girl interjecting abruptly.
“So did I!” She spat.
“I thought you were still in love with him.” She was too incensed to regulate her tone, and John-Paul secretly thanked the inordinately loud volume of the juke box for sparing the entire pub of knowledge of his indiscretions.
“I thought that he might, possibly, feel something for you after your little weekend away.”
She shook her head with disapproval, looking disdainfully into the boy’s widened eyes.
“But John-Paul, that’s all I thought. You were pining, he was confused. I never would have thought for a second that either of you would be capable of…”
Her elbow rested on the table, she scratched her forehead in abject despair.
“Nance, we didn’t mean to, we couldn’t help it…”
“Oh, well that’s alright then, isn’t it?” Nancy growled the comeback with open contempt.
“We’ll just pop up there now and tell her that, shall we. We’ll all see the funny side of it come tomorrow morning.”
“Nance!” John-Paul’s voice was infused with desperation.
“Please, neither of us planned this. It just happened and now there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Nancy’s eyes were barely slits, each exuding hostility and disillusionment. Her arms folded across her chest, demanding further justification.
“Nance.” John-Paul ran a hand through his hair, as if to distract from the tears that had suddenly taken rest threateningly in the corners of his eyes.
“We love each other.”
The girl shook her head.
“That’s not enough.” She said eventually, regretfully.
“Not to explain what you’re doing.”
John-Paul’s head dropped into his hands. Despite the attempt to spare his dignity, his muffled sobs betrayed his abject despair. Fighting her every urge to reach out to the boy and offer comfort, Nancy questioned him further. She despised watching her friends suffer, but made exception in this instance. John-Paul had made his bed, and Craig had lain alongside him.
“Can’t you see that this is wrong, John-Paul? Do you really hate Sarah that much?”
He looked up briefly, his face blotched from tears. It was a sensation he had experienced numerous times in the past fortnight, though one he could never get used to.
“No.” His voice quavered.
“This is gonna kill her.” Nancy’s voice had softened, though the sentiment remained unremittingly harsh.
“She’s going to hate you, both of you, and I can’t think for the life of me why she shouldn’t.”
The boy’s head buried itself once more, his agony private even if his most sordid secrets were now being laid bare.
“No.” The word was barely audible, almost grovelling. He didn’t want to be hated but, as with Hannah, the decision was taken out of his hands.
“She has to know.” Nancy’s statement was the fatal blow. John-Paul’s shoulders juddered tellingly, a mournful howl his only response. The girl at last touched his shoulder, his body tensing as if suggesting he had no right to such compassion.
“I won’t tell her, John-Paul, cos I know how much this means to both of you.”
The boy looked up, wiping sodden eyes with the palms of his hands. Nancy smiled, though her eyes positively screamed their disappointment in him.
“After all, I’ve been shipping the two of you for ages.”
John-Paul gave a desultory grin, though he hardly felt entitled to it.
“But she’s got to know, John-Paul. Whether it comes from you or Craig, Sarah deserves to know the truth.”

Craig pushed into Sarah, trying with all his might to feign enjoyment. The girl moaned in pleasure, clearly enraptured by whatever degree of attention he was bestowing upon her. He kissed her neck, injecting passion where none was evident. His eyes remained closed, blocking from view the beautiful girl he once loved so dearly, for she was no longer who he saw every time his lips found purchase on bare skin. He moved again with sudden frenzy, his hands locking with Sarah’s, his body coursing with energy as he gyrated on top of her. She cried out, her inhibitions long since discarded.
“Craig!”
But he did not hear her voice. He saw John-Paul, groaning with delight as he kissed his neck, working his way towards soft, expectant lips. He moved with John-Paul, feeling his body stiffen reflexively as Craig fused with him, their essences combining, spiralling into a rapturous climax.
Though Sarah could barely contain her euphoric squeals, it was John-Paul whom Craig could hear yelping, demanding. In the moment, as two bodies exploded with a rush of undiminished ecstasy, Craig saw only John-Paul. In the moment, his ever nerve and synapse invested themselves into preventing him from screaming the boy’s name.

oh wonderful stuff there hun

very good!!! more soon

very good that was funny when jp told nancy accidentially.

craig shouted jp's name lol!_X bad craig! but also good craig! lol!_X xox

Brilliant can't w8 4 more

me either sugar! wats your real name hun? xox