Kyle gave Jason a conspiratorial glance. "We went to watch the sunrise."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Nelson grumbled. "I wanted to see that."

"You needed to sleep," Jason told him. "We'l go back for sunset."

Nelson stared at Kyle and Jason. At least it seemed they were getting along better.

After he'd taken a shower, the three of them drove to Grand Canyon Vilage. They spent most of the day trying to escape the heat by hanging inside the AC of the visitor's center, the cafeteria, and the lodge lobby. They were stil beat from the night before and took turns sneaking a nap wherever they could. And al the while, Kyle kept prodding Nelson to drink more water. "The doctor said you have to stay hydrated." Around five o'clock, it finaly began to cool outside and the boys wandered to the trail overlooking the canyon.

"That's it?" Nelson peered over the edge. "It's just a big hole."

But the sunset was pretty awesome, and it was sweet to see Kyle and Jason holding hands as they watched it.

Early that night al three of them crawled into their sleeping bags. And early next morning they set out on their final stretch to L.A.

Nelson found the drive through western California realy, realy boring: mostly more desert and bleak jagged mountains-pretty much the same as the last three states they'd left behind.

Then bam! As they crossed the San Bernardino Mountains, the first L.A. suburbs appeared in ambush. Except they didn't look like Nelson expected: with green lawns and kidney-shaped swimming pools, like in movies. Instead, concrete strip mals spread out in every direction, seemingly forever.

"L.A.! We made it." Jason punched the horn at the sight of downtown's skyscrapers, shouting, "Woo-hoo!"

"Hey!" Nelson pretended to scold him. "That's my job. Woo-hoo!"

"You need to take Highway 101." Kyle guided them from the backseat toward the school. In spite of his directions, they almost overlooked the old Spanish-style stucco building wedged between a warehouse and a film lab.

"It's not exactly Beverly Hils High," Nelson remarked as they parked in front.

But inside, the Harry Hay School appeared newly remodeled. Hammers banged from down the hal. Phones rang. Several families waited in the lobby. Among them, an African-American mom clutched her hands. A dad gazed uneasily toward the ceiling. Beside them sat an uncertain-gender teen dressed in jeans and baggy shirt. His/her head gleefuly bobbed to the music from headphones.

Nelson wondered, What would it have been like to go to an alternative high school like this ? To be able to go through the day without being called a gazillion names? To not have to fight a principal who tried to block them from starting a Gay-Straight Alliance?

"We're here to see the principal, Ms. Yamamoto," Jason told the receptionist.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"This is Jason Carrilo," Kyle answered. "He's speaking at the opening tomorrow." From behind the receptionist's filing cabinet, a boy with briliant pink hair appeared. Nelson's jaw dropped. As their eyes met, he couldn't help but smile, as did the boy.

"You're Jason?" the boy asked, walking over to Nelson.

Nelson felt an immediate, almost electric connection. The boy looked to be about his age. They were the same height and thin build, though the boy had brown eyes, tan skin, and lips so tender-looking Nelson wished he could kiss them. Right then and there.

"Um, no." He pointed. "That's Jason. I'm Nelson."

The boy's eyes shifted briefly to Jason but came back to Nelson. "I'm Manny." He extended his hand. "That's short for Manuel."

"Hey, I like your hair." Nelson grinned, feeling the warmth of Manny's palm.

"Yeah, I like yours, too." Manny laughed.

"I'm Kyle." They shook hands and Jason folowed. "Wha's up?"

But Nelson noticed Manny didn't shake their hands anywhere near as long as he'd shaken his. Could Manny possibly be interested in me? Nelson wondered.

Nah. Surely anyone that cute already had a boyfriend.

"We're realy excited you guys are here," Manny said. "Ms. Yamamoto said to let her know when you arrived. You guys want a Coke or something? How was your trip?"

The boys told him about the trip as Manny got them sodas from the teachers' lounge. Then he explained that he was working at the school temporarily, to help with the opening. The folowing week he'd start community colege.

While he spoke, Manny kept smiling at Nelson. Nelson's heart sped up. He glanced away, excited. If Manny already had a boyfriend, why would he be flirting with him like that? Could he possibly be single?

The school's principal, Ms. Yamamoto, turned out to be nothing like Nelson's principal, hyper, hard-ass Mueler. Behind her boxy little rectangular glasses she seemed calm and easygoing. "Thanks for driving al the way across the country," she told the boys, and they al responded, "Thank you."

"So, are you al set with your speech?" she asked Jason.

"Um ..." Jason cleared his throat. He shifted his feet across the floor. "Not yet." The question made even Nelson squirm. Like Kyle, he'd also worried about when Jason would get jamming on his speech. But like Jason, Nelson had also managed to put it out of his mind.

Ms. Yamamoto didn't seem fazed. "Wel, just speak from your heart," she told Jason. "Tel the kids your story. Share your experience. You have lots of fans here.

I know you'l do fine." She smiled reassuringly. "Now I imagine you're tired and want to get settled. We have a dinner arranged with some of the school's board and faculty this evening. Manny wil help guide you around."

Manny grinned at Nelson, his teeth so beautifuly white against his cinnamon-colored skin that it made Nelson wonder, Why are you torturing me like this?

He felt a little jealous when Manny sat beside Kyle in the backseat, guiding them through streets with familiar TV names: Melrose, Santa Monica, Sunset Boulevard.

At the hotel Manny helped them unload the trunk and carry their bags. And inside their eighth-floor room he drew the curtains to the picture window. "If it wasn't for the smog, you'd have a great hilside view of the city-al the way to the ocean." Jason squinted, trying to peer through the haze. "I always wanted to see the Pacific."

"We can go tomorrow, after your speech." Manny grabbed the ice bucket off the counter. "I'l get you some ice." He glanced at Nelson. "Want to come with me?"

"Sure!" Nelson leaped off the bed.

"I figured they'd like a moment alone," Manny whispered as they left Kyle and Jason in the room. "They're a couple, right?"

"I think so," Nelson replied, half-joking. "I'm not sure, after this trip."

Manny grinned. "How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No ..." Nelson answered, his heart racing ahead of him. "Do you"

"Not anymore," Manny replied, as they reached the ice machine. "We broke up twenty-seven days ago. It was pretty serious. We'd been together over three months. I guess I'm what you cal 'relationship-oriented.'"

While Manny looked at him, Nelson tried to calm his breath. Was this boy for real? Could someone this cute, this nice, this sweet, his own age, and so sexy, actualy be single and interested?

"How long wil you be here?" Manny asked as ice plunked to overflowing in the bucket.

"We head back the day after tomorrow," Nelson said sadly.

"No way!" Manny exclaimed. "You drove this far to leave so quickly? Why don't you stay longer? I'd love to show you around and hang out." Nelson gazed at this smiling pink-haired angel and his voice nearly broke as he explained, "Kyle and Jason have to return for colege. And it's my car, so I have to go back with them. Besides, Kyle lost his license, so I have to help drive."

"Oh," Manny said, his smile fading.

Then they walked silently back down the hal til Manny said, "You should at least get your windshield fixed before you head back. My uncle owns a salvage yard.

I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

Nelson held the door as Manny brushed past him into the hotel room. For an instant their hands touched, and Nelson thought his heart would break from longing.

chapter 34.

Kyle had perceived the spark between Nelson and Manny the moment it had ignited.

He watched their two pink-haired heads step from the hotel room for ice and whispered to Jason, "They're so perfect for each other."

"That's so funny about their hair." Jason grinned. "What did those two old guys in Texas say? Similars stay together."

"Not just the hair. The way they look at each other. They're like magnets."

"Except for one detail. They live a continent apart."

"That sucks," Kyle agreed, cupping his hands behind his head as he lay on the bed. He'd always wanted Nelson to have a boyfriend. Manny seemed ideal.

"I've never seen so many Mercedes and Beamers," Jason commented, staring out the window at the bilboards and traffic on Sunset Strip. "I feel like a rock star being here."

Kyle gazed at Jason. He looked so radiant in the afternoon sunlight, the AC unit gently blowing his curls back. "You sort of are." Jason glanced back at him, a knowing look on his face. "Come back to Earth, Kyle. I'm not a rock star."

"You're right. I'm sorry." Kyle patted the double bed. "Come lie down."

Jason kicked off his sneakers and lay beside Kyle, wrapping his arm across his chest. "I'm kind of starting to freak out about my speech." Finally, Kyle thought. It had driven him crazy al trip how Jason kept putting it off.

"We can work on it after dinner," Kyle suggested. "I'l help you with it."

He kissed Jason, first on the cheek, then on the lips. It felt so great being able to stretch out with him in a real bed again. No sleeping bags. No rain pelting the roof.

No sun roasting them alive. No squeaky sofa bed. No noisy campers next door.... Now if only they could have some time alone together.

Jason must've been thinking the same thing because in the middle of kissing Kyle he murmured, "Think we can get Nelson to go out with Manny tonight?"

"That shouldn't take much," Kyle replied, just as Manny and Nelson came back with the ice.

"Hey, guys!" He waved at them on the bed. "I'm going to let you get ready for dinner-and pick you up at seven. Let me give you my cel number in case you need anything." He jotted down his number and handed it to Nelson. "Do you guys have a cel?" Kyle darted a glance at Nelson, who was turning red as the carpet. To spare him any embarrassment, Kyle said, "It accidentaly got wet."

"I know that sucks," Manny replied. "Once mine fel in the toilet. Talk about embarrassing." Kyle, Nelson, and Jason exchanged a look.

"Anyway," Manny continued, "I'l see you later." He gazed at Nelson. "Cal me if you need anything." Nelson walked him to the door. When he returned, he threw himself onto the other bed, pounding the mattress with his fists and kicking his feet. "It isn't fair!" he screamed. "Why does he have to live three thousand miles away?"

"I think he realy likes you," Kyle said.

"Don't tel me that," Nelson protested, then added, "Do you realy think so?"

"Dude, totaly!" Jason agreed. "His eyes are, like, glued to you."

"But why?" Nelson sat up on the bed. "With al the cute boys out here? I swear everyone looks like a model. And you know they're al gay. So why would he be interested in me?"

"Because!" Kyle propped himself on his elbow. "You're as cute as anyone out here. You're inteligent. You have a great sense of humor ..."

"And you both have the pink hair thing." Jason grinned.

"You're good-looking," Kyle continued, "and a heck of a great guy. Why wouldn't he like you?"

"I wish I could have a smoke." Nelson nervously fidgeted with the nightstand pen, uncapping and capping it. "Except he doesn't smoke. I don't think anyone out here smokes."

"I think he's great," Kyle said.

"Don't say that!" Nelson fel back on the bed, then sat up again. "He is, isn't he?"

"Apart from being supercute," Kyle replied, "he's so genuine. He's realy sweet."

"Ugh, this sucks!" Nelson jabbed his hands into his hair, tugging on it. "What am I going to do?"

"Enjoy getting to know him," Kyle replied. "What else can you do?"

"Why don't you guys go out after dinner?" Jason suggested, nudging Kyle.

"Yeah!" Kyle agreed. "Have fun with him. Just be safe."

"Oh God, I wonder what he's like in bed." Nelson fel back again, staring up at the ceiling. "I've never done it with a Latino guy."

"Dude, we're the best!" Jason smiled proudly.

"What should I wear tonight?" Nelson sprang to his feet and began yanking clothes from his bags. "What's even clean? We've got to do laundry." Each of the boys tried to find clean clothes for dinner, in between taking turns showering and caling their moms. While Jason showered, Kyle told his mom about the Grand Canyon and she asked, "How are things going with Jason?"

"Better," Kyle whispered into the phone. "We had a real good talk. Except now he's stressed about his speech tomorrow. I kept teling him to work on it during the trip."

"You're a good writer," his mom said. "Offer to help him."

"I did!" Kyle screamed a whisper. He felt almost as stressed as Jason about the speech.

At dinner the conversation didn't help his jitters either. A big bearded man on the school board asked Jason, "Al set for your big day tomorrow?"

"I can't wait to hear what you have to say," interjected a woman with black spiky hair, the school's librarian.