"Nothing much," Joey said, "just to smack you upside the head a bit. Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Chris said, "sure. Hey! Ow." He rubbed his head and glared at Joey's back.

"I warned you."

"I didn't think you were *serious.*"

"If you're gonna be an idiot, you're gonna get hit over the head."

"I hope Brianna's a genius then, or you're gonna get locked up for child abuse."

"Did I hit you when *you* were a little girl?"

"No," Chris said, "but that was due to my charming good looks and ability to pout cutely on demand."

"If I'm immune to Justin, I'm immune to anyone."

"Hah! I'm gonna teach Brianna everything I know. You'll have the world's sweetest little girl, and you'll never be able to say no to anything."

"Don't you want to know why I hit you upside the head?"

"I was hoping to move past that with my witty banter."

"You gotta stop mooning over J. It isn't fair."

"I'm not mooning!"

"Chris," Joey said, "you worked out a way to squish your names together because the hyphenation was too long."

"I did then when I was a 12-year-old girl!"

"And yet I have documented proof of you doodling 'Christopher Alan Timbertrick' all over the place. With little hearts over the 'i's."

"Well, if you wouldn't snoop, you wouldn't be burdened with these things."

"Chris. He's not gonna love you back, you know that, right?"

"Of course I know that!" Chris flounced onto the sofa and sighed. "He and Brit are the perfect couple, perfectly in love with each other in every way. In a few years they'll get hitched and have perfect little children, and then grow old in their perfectness and have perfect grandchildren and - ow!" He rubbed his head and glared at Joey. "Don't you think once was enough?"

"You were mooning."

"I was not mooning!"

"You were mooning."

"I like to think of it a more a sort of star. Okay, maybe a constellation."

"Chris, you've got to get over this. He likes his best friend, not the 12-year-old girl who screamed and fainted and threw a temper tantrum in the middle of his favorite shoe store."

"He liked me."

"He hated you."

"I was cute!"

"You were 8, almost 9 years younger than him."

Chris folded his arms and glared. "Are you saying there's something *wrong* with liking someone 9 years younger than you?"

"If that someone is 12, yes!"

"I happened to fall in love with him 3 years ago, asshole."

"Don't you think it's about time to stop now, then, before more people get hurt?"

"Well, I fail to see how I'm hurting anyone other than myself here, so I'll just keep on Orion-ing over Justin and no one will be the worse for it."

"You're mooning," Joey said, "and it's killing JC."

"What are you talking about? Jayce has been the only cool person through this entire ordeal."

"That's because he's in love with you, you idiot!"

"What?"

Joey turned bright red. "Nothing," he said.

"JC is..." Chris trailed off. He remembered when he first changed, and JC hugged away his tears and went looking for his mother. When all the other guys dumped him, and JC did makeovers and baked cookies and braided his hair. When, later that night, he was feeling funny, and sad, and JC, who had stopped by his room to check on him, sat on the edge of his bed and sang until he fell asleep. When, earlier in the day, JC had gone looking for him, and let him moon over Justin, and gave him a piggyback ride to rehearsal.

"Carry me anyway?"

"Always," JC told him. "Always."

"I'm an idiot," Chris said.

"Well, that was never in dou-where are you going?"

"I have to find JC."

"Chris-"

"I have to find him," Chris said. "I *have* to."

"Okay," Joey said. "Let's get looking."
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