Welcome to Gaia! ::

Phineas hated him. No...hate was too strong a word. And it didn't describe his feelings properly anyways. It was more like he envied him, loved him, worshipped him even. Jason Gailing. Why? Because. Jason was smart, he was funny, he was confident. He dyed his hair crazy colors, he painted his nails, he wore canvas sneakers covered in Sharpie doodles. He was what most people called a 'flamer'. But at the same time he wasn't. There was an air of confidecne around him that said, quit simply, 'I am no one's bottom b***h'. And so, it was for all of these reasons that Finny had the feelings he did for Jason. Not that it made much of a difference what Phineas thought. Jason would never notice him. He was too plain. He wore his hair however it happened to fall in his face in the morning, he never wore makeup, he wore his school uniform the way he was supposed too. Far too plainfor Jason's attention. Finny didn't realize how long he'd been staring at the other boy until he felt a sharp pain in his shin.

"Psst! Space cadet, pay attention!" his deskmate (and best friend) Tyler Morrison hissed.

"Mr. Collins! Did you hear me?" their teacher, Mr. Donnally advanced on Phineas like an overgrown bat. "I asked you a question Mr. Collins. Am I to understand that you are refusing to asnwer it?" he asked, his voice loud and pompous and his breath smelling of the liverwurst he had eaten at lunch.

"N-no, I m-mean yes I-I-I-" and while Finny stuttered on useulessly, Tyler steppin in.

"What Phineas means to say is, Mr. Donally, is that he didn't understand the question." he said ieasily, as if addressing a classmate rather than a teacher.

And so, Mr. Donally repeated the question and someone else answered and Phineas resumed his previous task of staring intently at Jason. But Tyler's heroics came at a price.

"Honestly Finny, if you like him so much, just tell him...then when he says no maybe you'll stop staring at him like that." he commented later, his voice taking on the all too familiar, slightly derogatory and uninterested tone he had when he spoke of Jason...or any boy in their class for that matter. With the exception of Phineas himself perhaps. Finny could only assume it was becasue he was a homophobe or something. A homophobe in an all boy's school with a gay best friend. Talk about poor planning.

"No way! That's ridiculous! And why would you tell me to do something you know is only going to upset me?" Finny protested indinantly, his cheeks flushing. Tyler just shook his head and didn't reply.

The two continued walked out to the buses and then parted ways. Tyler lived in the lower end part of town. His private schooling was paid for by his well-off grandparents who wanted to see their only grandson make something of himself. Despite being absorbed in his thoughts, Phineas at least managed to get off the bus at the right stop. He trekked up the driveway through the snow, ignoring the fact tha tthe ankles of his pants became quite damp. He walked in the door, kicked off his boots, shouted a general, "I'm home!" to anyone who may have been listening and then climbed the stairs to his bedroom, where he spent the rest of the night doing homework and occasionally chatting with Tyler via instant messaging. Such was the typical night life of one Phineas Collins. Eventually he decided it was time for him to go to bed, at which point he sent Tyler a message of farewell and logged off the site. He spent the next half hour or so thinking about Jason as he readied himself for bed. And as he laid in his bed, closing his eyes and on the verge of sleep, he gave his final thought to Tyler, and whether he was doing the same thing.