Fletcher stared at everyone he passed. He had never been to a high school party before. To be honest, the last party he had been to with kids his own age had been his own tenth birthday party. This was completely different, and he was a little nervous.

“Hey, CatMan!” A girl Fletcher didn’t know suddenly threw herself at him. She was wearing a skimpy nurse’s outfit and looked like she couldn’t stand on her own. “I haven’t seen you around before.” She laughed and tried to kiss him.

Fletcher pushed the girl away, a little freaked out. He had no idea who the girl was, but when she tumbled back, a muscular boy dressed as a cave man caught her. He snarled at Fletcher before picking the girl up in his arms and carrying her away. The girl clung to his neck.

“So, what are you supposed to be, anyway?” Lance asked. He had drained another cup of whatever everyone was drinking.

Fletcher looked down at his costume. Holly had made it for him and insisted that he wear it. “A feline assassin.” Holly had designed it because of Fletcher’s fascination with assassins, and his love of cats. He was a little embarrassed about it, but at the same time he loved it. His only real complaint was how short the shorts Holly had made were.

“Cool.” Lance said with a nod. The boy who was passing out the cups passed by, and Lance grabbed two. He offered one to Fletcher.

“Um, no thanks.” Fletcher declined. He wasn’t sure what was in the cup, but he suspected that it might be alcohol. Before he had moved, his neighbour had been an alcoholic. Fletcher could still remember the day he had stumbled into traffic and gotten hit by a truck.

“Okay.” Lance drained one of the cups and tossed it aside. Then he took a sip from the second one. “Come on.” He jerked his head toward the stairs. “I’ll show you around the house.”

Fletcher nodded and followed Lance through the crowd.

* * *

“Ngh.” Fletcher closed his eyes tightly. He couldn’t breathe, and he didn’t understand how this had happened.

Lance had shown him around the upstairs of the house. Each time he had opened a door, Fletcher had seen at least one couple in the room, either making out or having sex. So when Lance had come to a room at the end of the hall, Fletcher had looked away when he opened the door.

But the room had been empty.

Lance said it was his room, and had invited Fletcher inside. He had placed his empty cup on the dresser and gone to flop down on his bed. He told Fletcher to sit down, and he did, tentatively.

“You know, Nicole’s the only one I’ve ever shown my room to.” Lance said, looking at the ceiling.

“Oh.” Fletcher had looked around the room and noticed all the baseball posters on the walls. It wasn’t hard to see just how dedicated Lance was to the game.

Then Lance had suddenly rolled over, pushing Fletcher down on the bed. Fletcher had gasped, and Lance had suddenly kissed him.

It was Fletcher’s first kiss.

Right away he could taste the alcohol on Lance’s breath. The other boy was drunk. Fletcher tried to push him away, but Lance was too heavy. He wouldn’t budge.

While he was kissing him, Lance brushed Fletcher’s hair away from his face. The motion knocked Fletcher’s cat ears off his head. Then Lance started to reach up under Fletcher’s shirt. His hand was cold, and Fletcher shivered. Lance’s hand started to reach higher and higher on Fletcher’s body.

No! Fletcher mentally screamed when Lance’s hand reached his chest. With all his might, he pushed Lance’s hand out from under his shirt. The motion made Lance pull away and Fletcher stared into his eyes.

Lance stared back at him, but his eyes were cloudy. “I thought…” He slurred.

Fletcher knocked one of Lance’s arms out from under him and the other boy fell over. Fletcher took the opportunity to run out of the room.