I don’t think either of us could believe that the other was there. From the look on Mikes face, I could tell that he had thought he’d locked the bathroom door. I could also tell that he was teetering on the edge of losing it, and what I would do next would either push him over that edge or possibly save him from a life of ridicule and shame.

My hands must have been sweating because my hand slipped off the knob. Having not realized I was doing it, I had been putting some of my weight against the door because when my hand slipped, I nearly fell over again. Quickly, I reached out and caught hold of the other wall to brace myself. That is when Mike appeared to partially snap out of his shame induced coma.

Forgetting about the condition of my shirt and only being concerned about Mike’s connection, I knew that I had to act fast. Without thinking any of it out, I put my hand back on the knob and said to him, “Lock this door behind me and don’t open it for anyone. I’ll be right back. I’ll knock three times, pause and knock twice more. That way you’ll know it is me.”

The door creaked slightly as I slowly opened it enough to look into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear. There were two girls standing at the far end of the hall with their backs to me. They were talking with some guy with green hair. Really, the guy had vividly green hair, which was cut semi-short and twisted into clumpy spikes.

Before I made my way out of the bathroom, I pulled my head back in and looked at Mike. He now had his face in his hands and his entire body was shaking uncontrollably.

“Mike? MIKE!” I whisper shouted to get his attention, but he was completely lost to his emotions. There was nothing else to do but hope that no one else tried to get into the bathroom while I went looking for his room and a dry pair of pants.

I doubt if I was gone more than five minutes, but I’m sure to Mike, it must have felt like a million years. I got lucky, the first bedroom I looked in, I knew right away was Mike’s. On the far wall was a poster of Mike in his full Judo gear. Mark had told me what they call the clothes they wear but I can’t remember right now what he said they were. Mike’s room didn’t look like the room of a teenager. I was expecting posters on all of the walls, clothes scattered all over the floor and well, I guess I was expecting a slightly more mature version of my friend Sean’s room. But Mike’s room was the exact opposite of Sean’s room. It was clean, tidy and best of all; it didn’t reek of stale pee. There was no dresser in Mike’s room, so I had no idea where he kept all his socks, t-shirts and underwear. I did find a pair of pants hanging inside the closet, which is what I had come for.

Upon returning, I tried the knob. Sure enough, it was unlocked. I slipped back in and made sure to relock it. Maybe Mike thought I had gone out to tell everyone about him peeing in his pants because when I returned, he looked utterly shocked at my presence. I thought Mike was going to fall backward into the tub when I showed him the pants I’d brought back with me. They weren’t kakis but they were nearly the same color and no one would know that he’d changed pants.

Mike blinked three times, but didn’t say or do anything.

“Come on! Get your pants off!” I said softly while double checking that I had locked the door.

He opened his mouth and I saw his lips move but not even so much as a squeak came out. Mike didn’t look like a boy who was entering his teen years. As the tears continued to flow from his glassy eyes, I couldn’t help but think how much he reminded me of little Damien.

I moved toward Mike and he must not have expected me to do that because that’s when he did fall backward into the tub and hit his head. I helped him back out of the tub and just like a young child who’s hurt himself, Mike again began crying and holding his head.

“Boy, Mike is having a ghastly introduction into his teen years.” I thought to myself as I tried to calm him down. Another thought crept into my mind. Actually, it was a weird thought to have, but never-the-less, my brain did come up with it. “Thirteen, both a young man and yet still a little boy at heart.”

After I checked that Mike’s head wasn’t hurt too badly, I made him stand up, and without asking him for permission, I began to unbutton the front of his pants.

The music out in the house changed to a hard punk rock song that I actually knew. It was by the group ‘OUTL4W’ and it made the walls vibrate from the thundering bass. I could even feel the bass in my chest, or was that the beating of my own heart?

I glanced up at Mike as I began to slide his wet pants down his thighs. He wasn’t looking at me, but instead, he was looking straight up at the ceiling light as thought he was trying to hide his eyes from me and the situation.

When I saw his bright-yellow SpongeBob SquarePants underwear, I almost laughed out loud, but I managed to swallow hard and forced it down into my stomach. His pants were bunched up around his ankles and I had to physically lift his left leg, and then the other to get them completely off of him.

The whole time, Mike continued to stare at the ceiling, so, without any hesitation, I reached back up and pulled down his SpongeBob underwear, exposing his nudity to me. That’s when I saw that, unlike Damien, Mike had already begun puberty. The majority of Mike’s body didn’t show the normal signs of puberty, but beneath his pee soaked underwear was all the evidence that Mike was changing. Actually, I think he had more hair down there then I did however, and this may have been due to him being wet and cold, but his plumbing didn’t seem to be much bigger then Damien’s.