*At the same time *

Hayden ran as fast as he could out of the school not wanting anyone to see his red face strewn with streaks from all the tears he'd shed as he ran. He couldn't figure out why he felt heartbroken at seeing Cam and Jonathan kissing on the roof. Clutching his chest as he ran towards the park that was located between the school and his house, “why do I feel like this?” I thought. Slowing to a walk as he entered the park, he tried to calm his racing and aching heart.

“Who can I talk to about this? Normally, I'd talk to Cam but since it's about him I don't think I can” I thought as he walked.

“Maybe Amy can help,” I thought debating on whether or not to tell my slightly older twin sister, Amelia. As I stepped through the front gate of the house, I could hear the soft melody of the piano coming through the open window of their living room.

“Oh I forgot Amy had piano practice today. I'll wait until later tonight to talk to her about it,” I thought as I opened the door. Heading towards the stairs, the soft melody stopped followed seconds later by Amy coming through the living room entry way towards the foot of the stairs with her beautifully long chocolate brown hair streaming out behind her. Today her hair was pulled up into a half ponytail with a single braid hanging from just behind her left ear and she was still wearing the same outfit she'd worn to school just this morning.

“What's wrong Hayden bear?” she asked using the nickname she had given me when we were just children.

“It's nothing. We can talk about it later, go finish your lesson” I said as I headed up the stairs to my room. From her position at the bottom of the staircase she said, “you know I can tell when something isn't right. You also know you can tell me anything and I won't judge or tell anyone right?”

“Yeah, I know sis. We'll talk about it later” I said as I opened my bedroom door.

“I love you, Hayden bear” she said turning to go back to the living room.

“Love you too, Amy” I said and went into my room. Closing the door behind me, I slumped against it and curled into a ball as the next wave of tears began to fall.

Before continuing her lesson, Amy sent a quick text message to Cam to see if he knew what had happened that had Hayden so upset. Knowing they had Ike-do practice today and she probably wouldn't get an immediate response, she went back to her piano lesson.

*Back at the Do Jo*

*ping* Cam heard his phone alert him to a new message as he put on his workout clothes which consisted of a loose pair of black pajama like pants and a black tank top. Pulling his phone out of the pocket of his black jeans, he tapped the screen to see two new messages. The first was from Jonathan and the second was from Amy. He opened Jonathan's message first and smiled. Then he opened the one from Amy that read

[Hey Cam, something is really wrong with Hayden. He came home red faced with what looks like streaks of dried tears running down his face. Any idea what happened to him today that could have caused this kind of reaction from my usually goofy faced brother?]

“Did it really upset him that much? Not that I'm comfortable telling her about what he saw...” I thought knowing full well there were few to no secrets between the twins. Deciding to reply I quickly typed

[I have one idea. I think he saw something that he wasn't entirely prepared for and it made him uncomfortable. If he tells you about it, I hope you can help him understand and accept it.] then locked my and placed it back into my locker on top my clothes. Closing the locker and latching the lock into place, I removed the hair tie from my half ponytail and using both hands pushed the rest of my hair up into a full ponytail for practice. Heading out into the main room, I began to wonder if Hayden would continue to avoid me or if things would go back to how they had always been. Luckily it was a weekend, so I figured I could give Hayden the time and space he needed to figure things out until Monday.

*Back at the Andrews house*

About an hour had passed since Amy sent the message to Cam. Her lesson finally ended so she made her way out of the living room, grabbing her phone off the end table as she went. Pausing, she checked her messages to see that Cam had replied though she didn't fully understand what he meant. Making her way to the stairs, she began the ascent towards her brothers room. Hearing the soft sobs coming from just inside the door as she approached, she softly knocked on the door.

Hearing the soft rapping on the other side of his door, Hayden moved over in front of the wall behind the door still curled into a ball.

“Hayden, it's me. I'm coming in little brother” he heard Amy say before the door inched open. Entering the room, she found him huddled behind the door. Closing it gently she crouched in front of him and placed her hands on his forearm and the side of his head. Kneeling forward, she pulled him into her arms as his sobs increased.

“What's wrong baby brother? Please talk to me,” she whispered into his chocolate brown hair as she stroked his back with one hand trying to comfort him. Clutching tighter to her so he was sure she couldn't see his face, he said “I don't know what's wrong with me” and sobbed some more.

“I texted Cam to see if he knew what had happened but he just gave me a rather vague reply that sounded kind of like he was giving me permission to know something important” she said and then read him the exact message.

“That's exactly what he was doing. More or less knowing that you and I share everything, he was giving me the okay to tell you everything” Hayden said sitting back up against the wall so he could see his sister as he began his tale.

“Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. You've noticed all the changes Cam has been doing after having quit the swim team right?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I just assumed it was his way of finally rebelling,” she answered looking confused and unsure what this had to do with why Hayden was upset.

“Well, you're half right. The other half of the reason he quit swimming is that the day of try outs freshman year our swim coach raped him in the locker rooms after everyone else had already left” I said looking straight into her matching emerald green eyes to make sure she knew I was serious.

“Oh my God! Did he report it?” She asked covering her mouth with both hands in shock and horror.

“No, the coach must've threatened him which is why he kept quiet and quit the team instead. It's also why he is going to such lengths to change his appearance so much” I explained wishing Cam would've told me the day it happened not a full year later.

“Oh wow. Okay, now all his odd behaviors make sense,” she said still gaping.

“Then when school started, a new kid transferred in named Jonathan. Anyway long story short he got mobbed by everyone at lunch causing Cam to step in and save the guy then disappear to the roof with him” I explained. Continuing I went on, “I went to find them when I noticed Cam had disappeared. When I got to the roof I heard them talking.”

“Okay...” she prompted.

“Cam was telling Jonathan about how long we've been friends and about what happened to him. The most shocking part was when he admitted to Jonathan that he's gay and has been in love with me for years. And he said all of this knowing I was on the roof, just out of sight since he has the ears of a fox and heard the door latch” I said pausing to watch her facial expression change from shock to disbelief.

“Oh my god! Are you serious?” She asked still not sure I wasn't making things up.

“100% and then because he's Cam, he called me out on the fact that he knew I was there prompting one of my more legendarily confused freak outs to work through everything I had heard. And the strange part is I wasn't upset that he'd been keeping his sexual orientation a secret. I was more upset that I felt like he didn't trust me enough to tell me what happened to him when it happened” I said toying with the seam of my black cargo pants.

“Okay, that explains part of what's going on. What about today?” She asked getting back to the reason I had been crying all afternoon.

“That's the part I don't get,” I sobbed wiping my right eye with the sleeve of my blue zip up hoodie, I kept going “today seemed like a normal day but at lunch I went to get food and when I got back to the classroom Cam and Jonathan were gone. So, I assumed they had finished eating and went to the roof to hang out like always. I was half right. When I got to the top of the stairs just inside the door, I could hear them talking but when I opened the door I saw them holding hands and kissing. Seeing that hurt for some reason making me cry so I ran. I heard the door slam as I bolted down the stairs to an empty classroom where I cried so hard I couldn't breath. I sent Cam a message that I wasn't feeling well and wasn't gonna be at practice, then grabbed my stuff and ran home” I explained as more tears began their rather slow descent down my cheeks.

“Oh baby brother, I think I know what this is but you're not gonna like it. Not that it's anything to be ashamed of” Amy said wiping tears away from my eye as she spoke.

“What is it then? What wrong with me sis?” I said genuinely wanting to understand.

“Nothing is wrong with you baby brother. Know that I'm not making fun of you or anything when I say this but I think the reason you're so upset is because somewhere deep down you've been in love with Cam too all this time but you could never admit it. So, you've buried it. Then you find out he's felt the same way about you but he thought you could never be together. So, he started dating someone else which made you jealous and heartbroken when you saw them this afternoon. Yes, I know you've thought you were straight all these years but maybe you're Bi and just couldn't admit it to yourself or anyone else” She said grabbing both my hands to comfort me as the tears kept falling. Pulling me into a hug, she said “Hayden, you know I'll always love you no matter what and even if you can't accept it right now, know that when you're ready I'll always have your back.” I nodded into her shoulder as my tears increased in volume. After a few minutes, she pulled back and said “hey, why don't we get changed into more comfy clothes, and I'll go get you a glass of water, then we can cuddle up on the bed and I'll hold you while you cry until you're finished.” Nodding, I let go so she could leave the room. After a minute or two, I stood and pulled a pair of crescent moon covered pajama pants and a dark gray long sleeved shirt out of the chest of drawers to change into. Removing my hoodie, I hung it on the hanger on the back of my closet door. Removing everything from my pockets and placing it onto the table next to my bed, I took off my shoes and stripped out of my pants, shirt and socks. I quickly redressed in the the pajama pants and shirt, then crawled onto my bed laying with my back to the wall and waited for Amy to return. A few seconds later, a soft knock sounded on the door before Amy reentered the room wearing a pair of dark blue leggings and an over sized red t-shirt covered in pink hearts carrying a glass of water. Closing the door behind her, she crossed the room and knelt onto the edge of the bed to hand me the glass saying, “now I want you to drink as much of this as you can okay?” I nodded, took the glass from her hand, and drank as much as I could which turned out to only be about half the glass. Handing it back to her, I laid back on the pillow while she put the glass on the side table. She then crawled up to join me and laid with her head and back propped on the pillow and headboard. I snuggled up into her arms, laying with my head cradled in the crook of her shoulder with both arms wrapped around her. She wrapped me in a hug and stroked my hair while I cried until I had cried so much that I must have fallen asleep. Once she was sure he was completely asleep, Amy pulled her phone out of the pocket of her leggings and texted Cam.