Boyish Secrets

Prologue: Hypnotic by Nature

Boyish Secrets

M. A. Gacem

To my dear friend Roni Lynn Russell.

No good deed goes unpunished.
-Clare Boothe Luce

Table of Contents:
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Too Good To Be True
June: Dear Eddy, Love Billy
Fact#1: Boys just want to blend in.
Prologue: Hypnotic by Nature
July: Phantasmal
Fact#2: Boys fight more than girls (you probably knew this).
1-Read between the Lines
September: Ghosting
Fact#3: Boys brains are designed by a different architect.
2-Minus One
3-Blowing Red
4-99 Problems... And Mom Is One of Them
5-Necromancy
6-All Narcissistic Cute Boys Go To Hell, Especially When They Kiss and Tell
7-Aspiring Valedictorians Often Double-Check Their Answers
8-Mike Is In Love with His Best Friend's Girlfriend... God Knows He Means Well
9-When You Eat Like Crap You Feel Like Crap, And Vice Versa
10-Loose Lips Sink Ships, or in Seth's Case, His Family
11-Dirt
12-Aggressive
October: 8th Grade
Fact#4: Boys benefit greatly from silence.
13-It's perfectly Normal for a thirteen Year Old Boy to Have Suicidal Thoughts
14-Leaving William Behind for Good
15-His Perfect Replacement
16-Hearts of Ice
17-See! Eric Is Truly a Well-Adjusted Youngman
18-Long Story Short, We're not perfect
November: Sun of Mine
Fact#5: Approval is at the heart of working with boys.
19-You Lost It All When You Gained Your Appetite Back
20-Mama's Boy Has Some Skeletons in His Closet
21-The Sun Didn't Rise Again For Four Years
December, 1st: Hush-Hush
Fact#6: Boys mature differently to girls.
22-Dollhouse
23-Copperhead
Last April: Fake Smile
Fact#7: Loyalty is high driver for boys.
24-William Elliot Taylor, the King of Crimson Falls Day
25-Eric Kelly, the Most Beautiful Boy in Town
26-Seth O'Connell, Almost Perfect
27-Morgan McKenzie, Birthday Boy
28-Edward Thompson, Family Guy
29-Andy McKenzie, Melancholic Suburban Kid
December, 2nd: No Gold, Only Death awaits at the End of the Rainbow
Fact#8: Boys are more likely to be heuristic learners than girls.
30-Distant
31-Ironic
32-Outsider
January 2020: Wishing Well
Fact#9: Boys are more likely to be visual learners.
33-Killer
34-Look Closer
Epilogue: Who Says Dead Boys Don't Cause Trouble
Acknowledgements
About The Author
About The Series
Also By M. A. Gacem
Credits

Too Good To Be True
Imagine you're wandering alone during gym class, it's near the end of fourth grade, the sun is burning hot and all of your classmates have taken the best hangout spots, they're sitting under a shady oak tree exchanging jokes, few of them could be about you, you're probably the most handsome boy in your grade, yet no girl would ever talk to you, instead they just stare awkwardly, you could see their lips moving up and down like they want you to know they're talking about you, you feel wrecked, out of place and like a complete loser, and out of the blue this one boy comes and says hi to you, you recognize him, you've seen him before when you first moved to this town, a town where looks are more times than often deceiving, he's quite impressive appearance wise, he has that cunning "no matter how hard you try I'll always be ten steps ahead of you" smile on his face and everyone likes him, he seems like he has everything, unlike your life which is full of shameful memories and short comings you wish you could just erase, his is perfect, you think to yourself that you don't deserve to be friends with someone so special, and you start to question what did he see in you that made him come and talk to you in the first place, just you out of many other boys in your class.
Days pass and you quickly become best friends, it's lovely at first, you're inseparable, and he's the kind of friend who will help you move a dead body, until you realize that he doesn't come without a price.
When you let someone indulge you for too long, it comes a time when they start demanding payment, it could be a simple favor like helping them move a couch or doing their homework every once in a while or keeping them company while they baby-sit, or it could be something else, something far more dark, far more twisted, and far more disturbing, and before you start feeling sorry for yourself, know that at times when you're being taken advantage of or mistreated and manipulated, in other words being a passive victim who just takes it, you're acting like a Trojan horse, unknowingly setting-up the groundwork for the demise of who you thought was your friend.
June: Dear Eddy, Love Billy
Fact#1: Boys just want to blend in.
Boys are group-oriented by nature. They want to fit in. They tend to play group games and form themselves into structured friendship groups. Boys generally don't want to stand out from the crowd.
Don't put them down in front of their friends and understand that they may make poor friendship choices rather than be in a group of one - by themselves. They prefer the "wrong friends" rather than no friends at all.
From the article "9 Facts about Boys That You May Not Know" by Michael Grose, published 21st August 2017.