Trials and Tribulations - 1. Chapter 1 A New Year

Chapter 1
A New Year

Why in the hell did I just do that? I knew what the consequences would be if I got involved. I guess if I had been thinking, it must have been damn the consequences, full speed ahead; because that’s exactly what I did. What was I to do? Just stand there and do nothing? Or worse, walk away?

I looked down and offered my hand to Joey. He looked up at me with blood running from his nose.

“Thanks.” Joey said, as I helped him up and onto his feet.

He looked so small and vulnerable, as he bled from his nose and tears in his eyes. Oh my God, what eyes he had. They stopped me cold. They were such a deep blue that they pulled me in. Once I pulled myself from those eyes, I realized I had stopped breathing.

I stammered, “Its… it…was… I mean it…” I cleared my throat. “It was nothing.” God, where had my brain gone? It was like I couldn’t talk anymore.

Joey was looking around at everyone, while they stared at us. Then he looked down at James Thomas McCray III, who everyone called JT. He was still lying on the ground out cold; where he had folded like a house of cards, after I hit him with a right upper cut. Joey looked back at me with a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

Okay, maybe I should start from the beginning, or at least, from last night, before I dreamed wild and uncontrolled dreams. I’ll get into that a little later. Let me explain how everything unfolded, and what led up to me defending Joey. My name is Michael Andrew Collins. Everyone calls me Andy. That’s by my request. I mean, there are all kinds of Michaels and Mikes. I wanted to be different. So by the age of nine, I started asking everyone to call me Andy. It was at the start of little league baseball for me back then, and I was a big Yankees fan. I was also an Andy Pettitte fan. So Andy it was.

I’m a fifteen-year old sophomore, in a small town high school, nestled away in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. I guess you could say, I lived in the heart of the coalfields, where coal is king. Everything revolves around coal. The stores, the restaurants, the banks, the vocational schools, even the churches are all here for the miners, and their families. Most boys grow up knowing that one day they’ll be miners, or working in some way supporting the mines, or miners. But I have no intentions of walking down that road.

I had finally this past summer decided that I would somewhat follow in my father’s footsteps, and become a lawyer; but, I would find a job in a big city somewhere, and get away from small towns like Pine Hills. I’ve lived here all my life; and the one thing that bugged the crap out of me was everyone knew everyone’s business.

I didn’t want everyone knowing my business, because I had a big secret, I’m gay. Once anyone knows the secret, the whole town would know it. That’s just the way things work in a small town. So, I knew as I started the new school year tomorrow, I was going to have to watch how I acted around everyone. That was my last thought as I fell asleep, and then dreamed of having sex with every boy in my class. This was NOT going to be easy.

I’m really not a morning person, so when the alarm went off at seven, I was ready to grab it, and throw it out the window, or smash it against the wall with my best fastball. Instead, I hit the snooze button, and rolled over pulling the covers over my head.

The next thing I know, I heard a “Boom! Boom! Boom!” I swear I thought we were under attack.

But no, I heard a voice calling out, “Michael Andrew, get your butt out of bed. You’ve got twenty minutes to be dressed and downstairs for breakfast!”

That would be my dad, Judge Samuel A. Collins. Moaning, I rolled out of bed and answered, “Be right down dad.”

I headed toward the bathroom with my morning wood in the lead, and started what would be my morning routine for the next nine months: pee, shower, spanking little Mikey (my pet name for my dick), dress, and eat breakfast. Yeah, I know, weird. I call myself Andy, and my dick Mikey. So, I’m a weird kid. Get over it!

As I stepped under the warm water to wet my hair, I noticed my hair was hanging in my eyes, and over my ears. I guess I should have gotten a haircut last week. Oh well, sometime this week I’ll get my mob of light brown hair cut. As I was washing my arms and chest, images of different guys at school flashed in my head. First was Randy, the cute basketball player, whose eyes were like mine. They were bluish green too, but his changed between blue or green depending on his mood. My eyes are like a deep, clear, blue, pond with a splash of green radiating out from my pupils, like a star burst. The girls seemed to love them, and I seriously don’t mind the attention.

Gary was next to waltz through my mind, with his long brown hair, and hairy legs. I was always fascinated with long hairy legs, since mine wasn’t hairy at all. I wonder if he was hairy everywhere. I smiled at picturing his crotch all hairy. Since I’ve never seen him naked and hard before, I tried wondering what he looked like really hairy down there, and hard.

My best friend Roger, of course, was up next, who had all the girls after him, and I’m sure all the gay guys staring at him too, even if I was the only gay kid in Pine Hill. His electric smile and dimples just showcased, what could only be described, as a beautiful face. Sometimes I wished I had dimples like Roger, but at least I’ve been told I had a better smile. I doubted it. There were times when I looked at Roger, I would get really horny. The thing is, I’ve seen Roger naked plenty of times, but truthfully, I’ve never seen anyone hard before. The one thing I would have to say is, Roger did have one nice looking soft dick, and we looked like about the same in the pubes department.

I moved my soapy hand to little Mikey, who stood at attention and demanded some attention. My mind drifted to JT, the tall black haired kid, with an amazing looking body that always made me a little weak in the knees, when I talked to him; I tightened my grip on my above average dick, and quickened my pace, as that image was all it took to take me over the edge. So, like any normal teenager, I threw back my head, splashed the shower wall with my morning offering, and I let the water take the evidence down the drain. Defense lawyers the world over, would be proud of me for not leaving any evidence.

As I sat down at the table for my bowl of cereal, with two minutes to spare, Dad asked, “Are you ready for the new school year, son?”

I looked up at him. “Yes sir. I just wish baseball season was already here.”

You see, I was a baseball freak. I’d loved playing baseball, every minute of every day, if I could. And I was pretty okay at it, too. I wasn’t the best, but I wanted to be, and worked hard at it.

Dad smiled, “I’ll be late this evening. We have a new trial starting, and I want to get in as much of it as we can today. That way we don’t have it go all week, if I can help it. So, you can either cook pizza tonight if you want, or have something delivered.”

It’s just Dad and me, since Mom died three years ago of cancer. It wasn’t easy for either of us, but Dad was there for me, when I really needed him. I knew he felt bad not being home tonight, and making sure I had a good dinner. Dad, I can say without feeling weird, was a good looking man. He stood at about six feet, with brown hair, with some grey around his ears, and he was lightly tanned from all the golf he played. He also had a really inviting smile that put everyone at ease, and blue eyes, which is where I got half my color from. The green came from my Mom.

I smiled, as I looked up, and told him, “No sweat Dad! Just don’t let those land sharks give you a hard time today!”

He chuckled, reached over, and ruffled my hair.

I frowned, and pulled away as I moaned, “Daaaad!”

That just caused him to laugh harder. I mean, I love my Dad, and everything, but don’t mess with the hair!

He finally got control of himself, and asked, “You want me to give you a ride to school, or do you want to take the bus?”

I figured since I had to take the bus home today I’d take it this morning too. “I’ll take the bus.”

“Okay son, I’ll see you tonight.”

He left me sitting there pondering what the first day of a new school year was going to bring.

After shaking the thoughts of the future out of my head, I figured I had better get started on the present. I put my cereal bowl in the dish washer, ran upstairs, brushed my teeth, and made sure I looked okay. I got all my stuff together, looked around making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, headed back downstairs, and locked the door behind me. Then, I stepped out into a new chapter in my life.

I lived in one of the better neighborhoods; it was mostly lawyers, bankers, teachers, and store owners. Dogwoods lined both sides of the street and there is a nice covered bus stop down on the corner, just below my house; so, it was a short walk. As I neared, I noticed Roger was already there.

“Hey Andy.” he nodded and waved.

I smiled, “Morning Roger.”

We bumped fists, and he asked me, “Are you all set for another boring year?”

Roger was never all that interested in school, except for sports. However, anyone would be mistaken if they thought he wasn’t smart.

“I reckon so; as set as I will be, I guess.” I answered. We continue to talk about the summer that officially ended yesterday, and the start of the new school year today.

A few more students arrived, as the bus pulled up, and stopped to let us on. Roger and I hung back to let everyone go first. Then we got on, walked to the rear of the bus, and sat in the back row. I looked back towards the front and four seats directly in front of me, a blond curly head caught my attention. As I said before, in a small town like Pine Hills, everyone knows everyone, and this was a head I didn’t know. But whoever it was had disappeared by the time I got off the bus at school.

Roger and I met up with Debbie, Gary, and Timmy who waited for us, by my locker.

Debbie rushed up to me threw her arms around my neck, and whispered in my ear, “It’s good to see you Andy.”

I thought, ‘Oh my God, is this going to happen every morning?’ I smiled, and said, “It’s good to see all of you again, too, Debbie.” as I turned, and kissed her on the cheek.

Roger and Gary were grinned at me, while Timmy seemed to frown. I made note of Timmy’s frown, as Debbie let go of me; and I reached out to bump fists with Timmy, and saw his smile had returned. Then I bumped fists with Gary, and he asked if we rode the bus this morning.

I nodded, and told him, “Yeah, Dad offered a ride, but since I’m riding it this afternoon, I figured I would this morning as well.”

I put my backpack into my locker after I got out my American Government book which had been assigned to me, when I got my schedule last week, along with the locker. All non-freshmen signed up for classes, books, and lockers the week before school started. We all headed to our homerooms. Gary and I had the same one, Mr. Ison, while Debbie, Roger, and Timmy had Mrs. Lewis. Mr. Ison was also my government teacher; so I didn’t have to change rooms this year after homeroom. Thank God for small wonders.

I thought back to the encounter this morning at my locker, and I began to wonder what was up between Timmy and Debbie. If I didn’t know any better, I would think Timmy was jealous of Debbie when she hugged me. But who was he jealous of?

I jumped out of my thoughts as the tardy bell rung. Gary was sitting next to me and smirked at my daydreaming. I rolled my eyes at him, and went back to my thoughts. Could Timmy be jealous because he liked me? No way. I think I would have picked up on that at some point. So, that meant he liked Debbie. I’ve known them both all my life, and Timmy never once said anything about Debbie. Most of our group, except Roger, seemed to think Debbie was out of our league, that way. I mean, she made varsity cheerleader this year, after being on the junior squad last year. Her Dad was President of The First Security Bank, and her Mom was the Principal of Pine Hills Elementary School.

For the second time this morning I was jerked from my thoughts as I heard a name I had never heard before.

Mr. Ison had just called out, “Mr. Joseph Matthew Adams?”

I quickly looked four seats in front of me and one row to the right after I heard spoken in a soft tenor voice, “Here sir.”

For the second time today, I saw the back of that curly blond head.