Shane - 18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The alarm jarred him awake at 6am and he reached out from the blankets and smacked it with the butt of his hand. His stomach was all sticky as he’d fallen asleep pretty much the same second he got off the phone with sam only six hours earlier.

He threw back the covers and put his feet down on the floor. Shep stirred on the other side of the of the bed then got up and licked his face. “I gotta go back to school today boy. Remember the routine just in case.” He knew he was way too far from school to run all the way home but figured just in case he’d better let Shep know.

Don stuck his head in and smiled. “Just makin’ sure you were up.”

Shane nodded and rubbed his eyes. “I am.”

Don walked in and sat down by him and Shep. “You nervous?”

“Uh huh,” Shane said grinning as he’d been asked that question like fifty times over the past week. “But I met a lot of people at that party. I’m glad I went. Least now I’ll know more then just Seth.”

“Did you like them all?” Don asked not really having had the chance to talk to him the day before with their guests and him talking to Sam all night on the phone.

“Yeah, they all seem real nice. I pretty much stayed in the same room with six other guys and we talked and laughed all night. Seth says it’s the gay club.” He chuckled and wrapped his blanket tighter around him as it was a pretty chilly morning. “Most of them are coupled off. They all seem to really love each other.” Shane sighed and looked over at Don. “There’s one kid that reminds me so much of myself. He’s small and frail looking, his boyfriend is like twice the size of him. Kinda like me and Derek were. And we all found out last night that he was beaten by his dad. He had scars all over his stomach. I guess I should be real thankful that I’m not covered in scars like that. I just feel so sorry for the kid.”

Don rubbed Shane’s back through the blankets. “He’s not still living with his dad is he?”

“No his dad kicked him out he was homeless for a while then he moved in with his boyfriend.”

“Wow.” Don couldn’t get over the similarities. “How does he seem?”

“Quiet but nice. He sure loves his boyfriend and his boyfriend really loves him. Sticks up for him all the time. Sure not like Derek.”

“You think about him much?”

Shane shook his head. “As little as possible.”

Don turned and looked at the clock. “Well you best get showering. I’ve got to leave.” he leaned over and kissed Shane’s temple. Shane grinned and rubbed his hand down across his temple. He loved that Don did that but it still made him feel funny when it happened. Don squeezed his knee and chuckled. “Tonight we’ll have your favorite dinner. Just to celebrate your return to school.”

Shane threw off his blankets and stood up looking very forward to having scallops for supper. He hugged Don goodbye and took of to the bathroom Shep hot on his heels.

He dressed in a pair of jeans and dark green pullover shirt put on his sneakers and socks then checked himself in the mirror. “You sure do look different.” He adjusted his shirt and ran his hand through his hair then let out a long sigh. “Just don’t act like an idiot and you may be okay.”

He took off down the stairs hopefully catching Shep off guard but as always Shep darted ahead about half way down and he wondered again why he bothered racing him at all. He opened the door and let him out then walked into the kitchen. “Pancakes and bacon this morning.” Tad said putting three slices into a plate beside a tall stack of pancakes. “Need fuel for a full day of learning.”

Shane chuckled and sat up at the island. “Okay Mr. Rogers.” He scarfed down his pancakes and drank down his juice. He and Tad went out to the car and Shane kissed Shep goodbye then gave him a big hug before getting into the car.

“So you got it down where the shop is in association to school right?”

Shane held up a thumb then dropped his hand back to his bag. “Check!”

“And if you don’t come right to the shop after school you have my number so you can call and let me know right?”

He held up his thumb again. “Check!”

“And you are gonna stay at school all day, if you have a major problem you are gonna go to the principal and not just leave right?”

Another thumb in the air. “Check!”

“Nervous?”

Shane laughed. “Check!”

Tad grinned over at him. “Tired of hearing that question?”

“Check!”

“Got your condoms?”

Shane snapped his head over to Tad and grinned. “Un check!”

Tad laughed. “Good!”

Shane started trembling the moment they pulled into the school parking lot and he saw tons of other kids making their way into school. Most talking in groups of twos, threes and fours while some straggled in alone. He scanned the parking lot for Seth but didn’t see his car.

Tad squeezed his shoulder. “You’ll do fine Shane. Once you get in there and get a few classes under your belt you’ll stop being so nervous.”

“Yeah okay, give me a hug.”

Tad leaned over and squeezed him tightly Shane took a deep breath in his arms then pulled back. “Okay, I’ll see you at around three.” he got out of the car and Tad watched him til he got in the school feeling very much like Shane’s real dad watching his son go off to school for the first time.

Inside the doorway Shane stepped out of the stream of traffic and pulled his schedule out of his back pocket. Seeing he had locker number 413 he started walking again looking at the lockers as he went by all the ones around him started with ones. He looked among the other people wanting to ask where the 4's would be but didn’t dare.

He jumped considerably when a hand clapped down on his shoulder. He turned quickly and smiled with relief seeing it was only Kyle.

“You lost new boy?” Kyle said grinning at him.

“Very much.”

Kyle smirked at him. “Damn new kids. What you looking for?” He leaned over towards Shane and looked at his schedule then took it right out of his hands. “Hey we got English together.”

“Awesome. But I gotta find my locker.”

Kyle looked up to the top of the schedule. “Well you are not even close.”

“Well I told you I was lost.”

Kyle chuckled put his arm over Shane’s shoulders and guided him down the hall up some stairs through two other halls and into another one that was much quieter with some classrooms doors lining one side and lockers lining the other. Kyle walked down the row of lockers saying then repeating the number 413 aloud. He stepped forward about halfway down. “Here it is. They put it here cause your home room is right there.” He turned and pointed to the nearest door across the hall. “That way you don’t have to run to your locker then run to home room.” He looked back at Shane and grinned. “You can just sorta hop.”

“If we got the same English you must be a junior.”

“Oh yeah, me Nathan and Kenny are all juniors.”

“But don’t you have the same home room?”

Kyle made a show of laughing and shook his head. “Oh you small town boys. There’s way too many kids in the junior class to all share one home room. There’s like six. Mine is in that hallway we just came through. I’ll come get you before your first class so’s I can show you where it is.”

Shane nodded appreciatively. “That would be great.” Kyle patted him on the arm. “See you in half an hour.”

Shane turned back to his locker then rummaged through his bag for the lock Don had gotten him the week before. Something he could not believe he had forgotten on his own school shopping trip. It was a combination lock and Shane had the code well memorized so he wouldn’t have to write it down anywhere and keep it on him. He opened the locker and slipped the lock through the handle then closed it back up. There was nothing in there to get and no books yet to put in it.

He turned around and walked into his home room which according to his schedule his home room teacher would be Mr. Craft. He was very happy that five out of his eight teachers were men. The room was already half full of other kids and he found a seat over by the window feeling all eyes were on him.

Other kids filtered in and sat by their buddies some looking like they hadn’t seen each other all summer and Shane wondered how good a friends they could be. He looked around the room itself and noticed several differences between it and the classrooms back at Prescott High. First off it was a lot brighter. The desks and chairs didn’t look like they’d been bought at a rummage sale in the fifties and the floor was wood as highly polished as the gymnasium at his old school.

It was almost like going from black and white to color, like in the wizard of Oz. Like Kansas the old school was dull old and dismal. But this school like Oz was just real bright and pretty the feeling put Shane more at ease despite the fact this place would probably hold plenty of wicked witches the setting itself could almost make up for it.

The teacher a tall dark complected man dressed nicely in tan pants and a red dress shirt walked into the room and put his brief case up on his desk. He wrote his name out on the board just like Shane had seen teachers do in most movies that featured classroom scenes.

Shane watched him closely as he turned back to his desk and opened the brief case he pulled out several file folders and set them just so on his desk. If a personality could be told by looks Shane figured this guy must be nice. He was clean shaven and had no hard facial features. They were all soft and seemed to put forth an air of peace.

The bell rang, Shane looked around the room and every seat was full. His eyes fell on a girl with long blonde hair wearing a cute skirt suit thingy that was pale blue. She was pointing over at him while whispering to another girl and despite her cute outfit Shane filled with anger that he was already being talked about. When she and the girl she was whispering with started chuckling he turned back to the teacher who was now in front of the desk with a sheet of paper in his hand.

“Class. Welcome to a new year.” he smiled that was good. “Two years left and you guys will be out of here so keep that in mind as you are piled high with homework. First I’ll do roll call please raise your hand when I say your name.”

He read down through the names looking up only long enough to register each name to a face. “Shane Campbell.” He looked up longer this time as a young man over by the window tentatively raised his hand. He’d heard about this one from the principal, heard about his abuse, his temporary homelessness and the way he was treated at his last school including being assaulted by the entire basketball team. He was told to keep a close eye out on this one and had no problems doing so as the kids life had been a virtual hell.

He hadn’t expected to see such a handsome young man raise his hand to that name though. He figured since the kid was horribly teased all through school he’d be a geeky little scrawny thing. But this boy was well dressed well muscled and had a face he’d already caught half a dozen of the girls whispering about. He hadn’t heard what they were saying only knew from 15 years experience of watching girls whisper excitedly about some new heart throb that they had been talking about Shane Campbell.

Realizing he’d stalled too long and Shane was looking at him fearfully he quickly looked back down at his list and read off the next name. After seeing everyone was present and accounted for he sat back on his desk. “Now for you new students.” he said looking from Shane to the three other new kids in his home room. “Home room here is only thirty minutes long. It’s used to catch up on that last minute homework you were too busy saving someone’s life to finish or just redoing it say if your dog ate it or something.”

Shane smiled as half the class chuckled feeling more sure he’d like this teacher who was also going to be his Government teacher. He sat and talked with them told them what to expect from the year and enforced that he was there for all his students should they need help or guidance in anything.

Shane tried to shake the feeling that he was looking at him more then anyone else as he talked. It worried him that the principal had gone blabbing to all the teachers what a miserable wretch he was trying so hard to try and not be.

The bell rang and as promised Kyle met him right outside the door. “What do you have next?”

“Art.”

Kyle grinned. “What a fairy.”

“Yeah I know,” Shane said shaking his head. “I figured it was the queer thing to do.”

Kyle laughed and led him again through the maze of hallways. At the end of another hall he stopped. “Right in there Monet. Next we have English. It’s on the first floor in the hall you first came in.”

“Okay, thanks.” He turned and walked in the room where two long tables were set up with stools surrounding them. Past the tables were a dozen or so easels surrounding a raised platform he hoped would contain some nude male models sometime during the year. The walls were all decorated with art work some of it looking pretty old and he figured it all must be past student’s work.

He set his book bag down on one of the tables again over by a window and looked around more at the paintings. More kids wandered in looking to be in all different grades and he sat down when the bell rang. There were two girls across from him and he smiled politely and was very relieved to see them both smile back.

The teacher was a woman. Tall and bony looking with a hooked nose much like one you’d see on a witch. She had pretty long dark hair clipped on both sides with barrettes and several beaded necklaces hanging down her chest. She wore so many rings Shane wondered how she could keep her hands held up under their weight.

She didn’t read off names instead she set them to work drawing anything they wanted to draw saying it was so she could get taste of their abilities. She handed out white paper and very sharp pencils and set them to work. She asked them to all sign their papers and hand them in after class and at the end of the week she would hand them back and try to guess who was who soley by getting to know them more and see if she could match each students art with them. Shane thought this was a really cool idea and though he still hated woman in general thought he just may like her.

He had Shep’s head all drawn out and was just starting to work on his body when the door opened again and Kenny walked in. His heart lurched a bit as he’d thought of him many times over the last day. He went to hand the teacher a note and she stepped back from it.

“No dear. I don’t want to know your name yet.” Shane chuckled to himself at her adherence to the rules of her own game. “Just tell me why you were late?”

“I had to change my schedule. I was in the office.” He said it quietly but being quite close to where they were Shane could easily hear him.

“Okay dear,” She grabbed him a pencil and a piece of paper. “Sit anywhere you’d like.”

Kenny’s eyes looked over the room then lit up seeing Shane. He walked over and sat down beside him. “How are you?”

Shane smiled. “Good how are you?”

“Good,” He set his bag down and put the paper and pencil on the table. “What the hell is up with her not wanting to know my name?”

Shane explained it to him and he made a funny face. “That’s kinda weird.”

“I think it’s kinda cool. I can’t wait to see if she gets them right.”

Kenny smiled and tapped his pencil to his lips thinking on what to draw. He looked over at Shane’s paper. “That your dog?”

Shane nodded.

“German shepard?”

“Yeah,” Shane said happily. “Guess I must be doing pretty good.”

Kenny chuckled. “It is real good. Jimmy’s got a dog. A Dalmation. I think I’ll draw his cat though.” he smiled then started in.

Shane kept glancing over at him out of the corner of his eye. Kenny was totally involved in his work and didn’t notice him once. In fact he seemed so involved Shane didn’t even dare talk to him til he was done. He wasn’t done til about ten minutes after Shane was. He set his pencil down and stretched his arms letting out a good yawn.

“Not sleep last night?”

Kenny shrugged. He leaned closer to Shane and turned his head away from the girls. “It’s hard living with your boyfriend sometimes. You don’t get much sleep.” He pulled back laughing and Shane laughed right a long with him. “It must suck with yours way up in Maine.”

“It does. But we talk on the phone all the time and I got a dirty email yesterday.”

Kenny grinned sheepishly. “Naked shots?”

Shane blushed and nodded and Kenny laughed again. “Did you ever meet Sam?”

“I saw him a couple times at Soccer games with Matt watching Seth. He seems real nice. Real cute that’s for sure. You guys must look real good together.” He put his hand on his chest. “Not like David and Goliath like me and Jimmy.”

Shane chuckled. “I had a Goliath boyfriend once. Felt great sleeping by him every night.”

Kenny nodded looking totally in agreeance. “It is, like sleeping wit a big ole teddy bear.” He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. “I think I’ll go home and go back to bed.” Shane laughed and pulled him back onto his stool.

“Not a good idea?” Kenny chuckled.

“Probably not it’s not good to skip school on the first day.”

“Uh oh,” Kenny’s eyes widened as he looked at Shane.

“What?”

“Are you a nerd too?”

“Yes,” Shane snickered. “Cept I’m a nerd that gets bad grades.”

“Well then you aren’t a full fledged nerd.” Kenny said as he shook his head emphatically. “Besides you haven’t even got the look.” he pointed over at Shane. “You got muscles. You don’t dress like Urkel.”

“Well neither do you.”

“Jimmy helps me pick out my clothes now. I used to. Can I see your schedule.” He asked leaning back over towards Shane.

“Sure,” he dug it out of his back pocket and handed it over. Kenny took his out of his pocket and flattened them out on the table side by side. “Wow we got gym together. And sign language. Awesome!” He looked over at Shane. “You know what that means don’t you?”

“What?”

“You gotta be my locker room body guard. You know them gym folks get rowdy and like to shove the little guy in his locker.”

Shane was absolutely flattered. “Well I’d love to. I don’t know how good I’d be but I’ll give it my best shot.”

Kenny smiled happily and patted him on the thigh. “Maybe you and me could be good friends.” He said with heart warming sincerity.

“I would like that.”

“Me too.”

“Scuse me dear?” they both looked up at the teacher who was pointing over at Shane. “Yeah you hon. Can you please collect all the papers. Shuffle them up then bring them to me.”

Shane nodded then got up and gathered the papers he shuffled them up and took them over to her at her desk. She thanked him at the same time the bell rang he nodded then went over and got his book bag.

He and Kenny walked together as far as his next class then they said goodbye saying they’d see each other at lunch. Shane’s Algebra II teacher turned out to be the biggest bitch of his morning classes. She kept them all after the bell saying that when the bell rang it didn’t mean she was done teaching and they were not dismissed until she said they were dismissed.

After she said they were dismissed she called Shane to her desk. His heart felt like it shrank to the size of a prune as he walked slowly to her desk. “Son I’m told here on my student files that you wear glasses. Why aren’t you wearing them?”

Shane turned his head and was relieved to see they were alone in the room.

“I don’t think you’ll find any answer there behind you.”

He snapped his head back to her. “I’m not used to wearing them yet I forgot.” He repeated for himself to stay calm over and over in his head wanting this woman to hate him for him if she was gonna and not anything he had done.

“Can I see what you copied down from the board.” She reached out her hand and Shane pulled his notebook out of his pack knowing it was not a question but an order by her tone.

She took the notebook and opened it to the first page where Shane had written out his problems. She turned to the board and checked them over. “Honey you got most of these numbers wrong. How do you expect to learn anything if you don’t wear your glasses and can’t see the board?”

Thrown by her calling him honey he only shook his head. Now not sure if she was a bitch or not.

“I want you to make sure and wear them tomorrow. I don’t want to tell you in front of the whole class to put them on. I’m not here to embarrass you I’m here to teach you.” She smiled handed him his notebook then another sheet of paper. “Take my copy of the problems. I’ll recopy them you need to go eat lunch.”

Shane tucked the paper in the notebook not able to take his eyes off her as she had him completely baffled.

“You okay Shane?”

He turned his head to one side then nodded. “Yeah fine. Thank you.” He shoved the notebook back in his bag slung it over his shoulder and hurried out of the room.

Melanie Chambers the teacher began copying down the problems from the board as surprised as Mr. Craft had been by Shane’s outward appearance. She as well was expecting a feeble looking boy. In fact she’d been sure of it as one day in the doctor’s office she’d been looking through yearbooks and came across Shane’s picture it had stuck out to her because the principal had just talked to her about him a few days before. The boy she saw in the picture and this boy were obviously the same boy but he was much different now then how he looked last fall.

She knew he was living with two men now and figured things must be going much better for him as he looked to have gained like 30 pounds and it looked like a lot of that was muscle.

By the time Shane got the cafeteria it was packed. Instead of dozens of round tables the tables here were long and rectangular with benches to sit on instead of chairs. It as well was brightly lit and looked oz-like with it’s brilliantly colored banners hanging all over the walls. He realized within and instant of walking through the doors that this schools colors were red and white.

The food line like in the other cafeteria was at the other end of the room, though this room was much larger then at Prescott and the tables were set up on either side of the room so you had to walk down the middle kinda like you were getting married to get your food.

He turned back to the hall thinking of ditching lunch all together then told himself he was stupid and took a deep breath. He walked down the aisle the wedding march ringing in his ears. He saw a couple hands go up on a table about halfway down to his left and smiled seeing Seth, Tim, Kyle, Pete, Nathan, Jimmy and Kenny all sitting together near the wall at one of the tables.

Shane gave them half a wave then went up to the lunch line. He held his tray up for everything then put it down on the metal bars and slid it over to the cashier. He grabbed two pints of milk then took two dollars out of his back pocket two dollars that Tad had given him that allowed him to buy his lunch and not have to just say his name so he could get checked off a free lunch list. He wondered if they even had such a thing at this school.

Derek Kirk sitting back to Kenny, Jimmy and Seth at the next table sat in stony silence as he was sure the person who had just come into the cafeteria was Shane. Though he was sure one half of his mind was still arguing with the other half saying it couldn’t have been him. That he looked so different so wonderful, so drop dead gorgeous. He’d always known Shane was real cute but the boy he just saw was eye bulging-ly hot.

He clutched his stomach as one of the boys behind him called out the name Shane a minute later. He turned his head to the wall not wanting Shane to see him knowing Shane hated his guts and had every reason to. He wanted to run from the room but didn’t dare get up for fear of being spotted.

He wondered how long Shane had been going to this school. He wondered if he transferred here after what he had done to him. The boy beside him nudged him. “You alright?”

Derek nodded not able to find his voice. The boy beside him’s name was Walter. He had met him in class just the period before and thus far was the only boy he had talked to at this new school. He hadn’t wanted to come at all. Would rather be in the mental hospital he’d spent 3 months in where he felt like everyone else. Where he wasn’t a freak. Where everyone was as much of a nut as he was.

Shane sat down between Kenny and Seth and they all asked how his first day was going. Shane shrugged and took a bite of potato. “Is that Miss Chambers a bitch or does she just pretend to be?”

“She’s a bitch in class but if you meet her out of class or talk to her alone she’s real nice. I think she just is that way in class so she keeps everyone’s attention.” Pete answered. “I had her last year. She’s also my faculty advisor.”

“What’s a faculty advisor?”

“A teacher that you go to whenever you have a problem. It’s like a guidance counselor. We don’t have actual guidance counselors here. The teachers do it.”

“Well how do I know who mine is?”

“Should be your schedule.” Seth held out his hand. “Let me see it.”

Shane pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to him. He started laughing. “You got Looney Miss Moon.”

Shane grinned. “Whose Looney Miss Moon.”

Kenny smacked him on the arm. “Your art teacher dufus.”

“Oh I liked her.”

They all started laughing at him. “She’s a hippie.”

“Well she’s a nice hippie whatever that means.” he gave a wave of his hand. “She calls everyone honey and dear. I think it’s sweet.”

Seth chuckled and squeezed his arm around Shane. “I just think you’re sweet.”

Derek dared to turn around now only because he wanted to see who was saying this to Shane. He figured it must be his new boyfriend and had to have a look. He saw the boy looking at Shane lovingly and jealousy coursed through him seeing his arm around him.

The boy looked over at him and Derek quickly turned back to his tray. The boy was hot, Shane was hot. Damn the whole next table was hot.

Shane put his hand on Seth’s thigh and squeezed it. “You get paid for that too?”

“Sure,” Seth laughed and returned to his food. “Besides Tad’s a hippie too no wonder you like her.”

“Tad ain’t no hippie.”

“You don’t even know what one is how would you know,”

Shane blushed and chuckled. “Good point.”

“So I hear you are gonna take care of my boy in gym class.” Jimmy said wrapping his arm around Kenny’s shoulders.

“Well I’ll try Jimmy. I’ve never beat anyone up before so’s I’m not sure how effective I’ll be.”

Jimmy reached out his hand and shoved Shane’s head playfully to one side. “It’s not something you gotta practice.” he said grinning. “Just kick ‘em in the nuts. Do that a couple times and they’ll know not to mess with you. They probably won’t anyways. You look as though you could do some damage.”

Shane blushed taking his words as an incredible compliment. Kenny smiled at him from deep in Jimmy’s arms. Shane smiled back thinking he sure was cute and glad he had someone looking out for him like Jimmy whose first concern always seemed to be Kenny.

“You gonna come watch us practice after school Shane?”

“Soccer?”

Seth nodded. “It’s the field right out front. Kyle and Kenny are gonna be there. It only lasts til 4:00 so you’ll have plenty of time to get to the store. I can give you a ride anyways.”

“Or you could be cool and come watch foot ball practice.” Pete spoke up.

Shane made a face. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t like football?”

“Not one bit. Guess it’s the queer in me.” They all laughed while Seth pulled Shane closer. He kissed his temple and Shane ate the rest of his meal with Seth’s arm around him feeling very content there with his new friends.

Kenny sat by him again in Sign language class where they learned the alphabet that first day. “This is so cool.” Kenny said as he packed up his book and they waited for the bell to ring. “You and I can talk this secret language and no one else will have a clue what we are talking about.” He put his finger to his lips and thought for a minute. “I wonder if they teach swears.”

“Oh I already know one.” Shane stuck up his middle finger and Kenny laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair.

“Everyone knows that one though. It wouldn’t be much of a secret language.”

“Well we’ll make up our own.” Shane held out two finger and pressed them into his wrist. “Like this.”

Kenny did the same thing. “So what does it mean?”

“Anything we want. Say like ‘fuck him.’”

“So if some guys being a shit I just do that to you and I’ll be saying fuck him?”

Shane nodded and Kenny grinned. “Oh I like that one.”

“Oh you know what though. We shouldn’t make it so obvious like they would know something was up. We should pick something someone would normally do. Like scratch behind our ear or something.”

“Oh yeah!” Kenny clapped his hands together and held them there. “Great plan.” He reached up and scratched behind his ear. “How was that?”

Shane grinned. “Great”

The bell rang and they walked together to gym. The locker room was not as fancy as Prescott’s but since it was obvious not all the money at this school was not spent on sports it didn’t surprise him much.

The gym teacher was waiting near the lines of lockers. “Names?”

“Kenny Salisbury.” Kenny said quietly.

The teacher looked down at his chart. “Locker 214.” He pointed out to one of the rows of lockers then looked at Shane.

“Shane Campbell.”

The coach’s head snapped back up from his chart and studied him. Shane wanted to shrink down so small no one could see him under his gaze. He was feeling like smashing the principal’s head into a wall as it was obvious by all the looks on the teachers faces that day they all knew all about him.

He looked back at his chart. “219.” And pointed to the same row. Kenny was waiting for him at the end of the row.

“Name?” He heard the teacher say. “Cat got your tongue son?”

“Derek Kirk.”

Shane’s head snapped back his mind whirring he knew that voice and certainly knew that name. Derek was looking back at him and his heart froze right there in his chest. Shane felt like he was gonna throw up or faint or something but he couldn’t take his eyes off him. He’d prayed he’d never see him again. Yet here he was at the same fucking school, the same fucking gym class.

He stopped short crashing into something solid and pain shooting through his shoulder and head. Kenny who had no idea of his distress started laughing beside him. Shane turned his head back in the direction he’d been walking and saw he’d crashed into the side of the lockers.

“Watch where your going Shane.” Kenny said still chuckling as he pulled Shane by the hand into the row of lockers. Shane sat down heavily on the nearest bench. “hey what’s wrong?” Kenny asked sitting down beside him.

Shane shook his head his throat feeling like it had closed up and swallowed his tongue in the process.

“You look like you seen a ghost or something.”

Rubbing his hand across his forehead he shook his head again. He remembered he was supposed to be watching out for Kenny and stood back up. “I guess it’s good we got lockers close together.

Still eyeing him nervously Kenny nodded. “You know you can talk about it with me Shane. I’m sure you know about me like I know about you.”

Shane put his hand on Kenny’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you Kenny just not right now. Let’s just get changed and get this over with.”

Kenny leaned down where there were sweat pants and shorts laid out on the benches. “What size are you?”

“Medium I guess.” Shane answered walking over to his locker. He opened it up and put in his bag. Kenny handed him a pair of medium grey sweat pants with Cliff Side written in red up the side of one leg and a red T-shirt. “I gotta go change in stalls. I’ll be right back.” He picked up another set of gym clothes and took off to the stalls.

Shane closed his locker and leaned his forehead into it pleading with himself not to start crying right there. He hated Derek told himself that every day. But seeing him again had brought back as many good memories as it had bad. He wiped his hand along his face took a deep breath and turned around setting his gym clothes down on the bench he peeled off his shirt and put on the T-shirt as quick as possible. After bringing it down over his eyes he looked ahead and saw Derek standing across the way against the other set of lockers. Less then five feet from him.

“How are you Shane?” He sounded scared but it did little to put Shane at ease.

“I don’t want to talk to you Derek.” He slid off his pants not feeling at all funny about doing it in front of Derek as he’d seen him a million times and the fact he hated him now did nothing to change that.

“I know you don’t Shane. And I don’t blame you.” Derek was holding his hands in front of his chest in a pleading manner. “But I never got to apologize to you. I need to apologize to you.”

Narrowing his eyes as he pulled on his sweat pants he looked up at Derek. “That gonna make you feel better Derek? Til next time you decide to deck me anyways. I shoulda known it all along.” He stood up straight and looked him straight in the eye realizing he must have grown taller as he’d always had to look up to him before. “You don’t hit people you love Derek. Didn’t you know that?”

Derek shook his head and tears seeped out of his eyes. “But I did love you Shane. I still do.”

Shane shook his head and threw his clothes into his locker slamming it hard. “You don’t know what it is Derek. If you did you never would have done what you did to me.” he looked over and saw Kenny stopped dead in his tracks looking from him to Derek. “Come on put your clothes in your locker. We gotta get out there.”

Kenny nodded though it was obvious he wanted to know what was going on. He walked over and put his things in his locker then giving Derek who was still sobbing a wide girth he and Shane left the locker room.

“You gonna tell me now?” he asked once they got into the gym.

“I’ll tell you at soccer practice. As long as we are alone. If Kyle’s there I’ll tell you after okay?”

Kenny nodded as he looked up into Shane’s eyes. Looking very worried about what he may hear.

Shane had little reservations in telling Kenny what had happened. In the short time he knew him he considered him very trustworthy and it wasn’t only cause he had tons of dirty secrets of his own. Kenny seemed like the type of guy where what you saw was what you got. He didn’t seem to put on airs to impress people. He seemed the type that could really care less if he had tons of friends or not. He seemed happy with the few he had and paid little attention to everyone else. Those qualities made him very trust worthy in Shane’s eyes.

The teacher blew his whistle and all eyes in the room turned to him. “Everyone grab a mat. Today we are gonna test your endurance and your strength. See what we have to work with.”

“Oh great.” Kenny rolled his eyes and he dropped down onto his butt on a mat. Shane sat down on the next one over. “I love this first day of gym humiliation. Damn fool knows I ain’t got no strength.” he was grinning like he was joking but Shane got the feeling he wasn’t joking at all.

Derek walked in five minutes into sit ups and the teacher spent a good minute yelling at him which Shane thoroughly enjoyed. Kenny who was red faced and sweating still managed to chuckle at him seeing how happy he was that the other kid was getting yelled at.

The coach walked over to them as they were doing push ups. “Work it Salisbury. You gonna be a wimp your whole life.”

Shane looked up at the coach anger surging through him. He looked over at Kenny who it was obvious to him he was doing his best.

“Switch to leg lifts.” he called out after blowing his whistle. Kenny moved over onto his back taking deep breaths.

“Come on Salisbury I said leg lifts. Can’t you manage that?”

“Let him alone.” Shane shot out.

“Don’t you tell me what to do young man. It’s for his own good he needs to toughen up.”

Shane propped himself up on his elbows and glared at the man. Kenny reached over and touched his arm and Shane looked over at him. “Just forget it Shane. He’s just like that.”

“Yeah that’s Kenny’s way of life.” Coach said laughing sarcastically. “Just let people walk all over you. Get shit on. It don’t matter.”

“Wouldn’t it be better sir,” Shane said sitting up all the way and trying to sound polite as possible. “If people just stopped shitting on other people, instead of people having to toughen up to ward it off?”

Half the gym class started clapping and Shane blushed from his toes all the way to the top of his head.

“In an ideal world that would be good. But this is not an ideal world. There are a lot of jerks out there and Kenny merely needs to learn how to defend himself. His big brawn boyfriend ain’t gonna protect him forever.”

Kenny who was doing his leg lifts looked very shocked at this.

“You don’t know that sir, you don’t know what you are talking about at all. This world would be an ideal place if people like you would stop showing off how mean you can be. Every little bit helps you know.”

Another round of clapping went through the room and Shane could see the coach was getting angry. He shrugged and looked apologetically at him though he didn’t feel sorry at all. “I’m sorry sir, I’m just giving my opinion.”

Huffing the coach walked off but said little else besides which exercise to do next for the rest of the class. Shane was not at all surprised to be called into his office the moment he had changed.

He sat down opposite the coach behind his desk feeling fearless and having no idea why.

The coach eyed him as he tapped his pen on his desk. “I’m not a mean man Shane. I’m sorry if I come across that way. I feel bad for kids like Kenny I just try and push them harder cause I hate to see them picked on by other kids. I’d like to see them defend themselves.”

Shane leaned forward in his chair. “Well if you don’t mind my opinion sir you just came off mean. You think he doesn’t already know he’s a wimp? You think he really needs to be reminded of it in front of a room full of kids that like to pick on him in the first place?”

The coach rubbed his chin for a minute, then let out a sigh and put his hand down on his desk. “Most kids I’d yell at ‘em and tell ‘em to mind their own business Shane. But you’ve been there. I can’t bring myself to do that with you.”

Shane sat back in his chair angrily. “What did all you teachers sit around and have a big meeting about me or something?”

“No, principal Webber did tell us all though. Not in a big meeting more one on one I think. I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

“You think any of you guys are gonna tell the other kids?”

“No, it’s confidential Shane don’t worry about that. Derek Kirk went to Cliff Side too, you gonna have a problem with him being in the same gym class?”

Shane shrugged he did have a problem with it but was not about to start whining about it. “Long as he don’t bug me I won’t have a problem.”

Coach chuckled a bit. “To tell you the truth son, he looks more scared of you then you look of him.”

Shane smiled very glad to hear that though he didn’t really believe it.

“You have the body of a swimmer or a gymnast Shane. I was watching you out there. You have good endurance and good muscle. You want to join one of the teams?”

“I was thinking about swimming. Well diving actually.”

“Have you done much diving?”

Shane grinned. “Never. I’ve done a lot of swimming though.”

“What do you have next period?”

Shane thought for a minute the next period was last period. “I have study hall.”

“I have no class. What do you say you don swim trunks and show me what you got?”

“You mean for swimming? Cause really I’ve got nothing for dives. I just want to learn.”

“That’s fine.” he said with a nod. “First you can show me how fast you swim then we can try out a few dives. Swim season starts in two months. I could get you on a work out routine so you’d be more ready for tryouts.”

Shane pulled at his lip glad this man was coming to him with this cause he really wanted to try out but wasn’t sure he would dare. But now since it was being presented like this it seemed easier somehow. “Okay,”

He clapped his hands together and stood up. “Great!” he opened a cupboard behind him and pulled out a red Speedo with two white stripes down the left front side. Coach handed them over. “Whose your study hall monitor.”

Shane pulled out his schedule again and checked it over. “Mr. Metcalf room 221.” he dropped his hand down to his thigh. “You know we had ten classrooms at Prescott this 200 and three hundred crap totally blows my mind.”

Coach chuckled. “You’ll get used to it fast enough. I’ll go tell Mr. Metcalf where you are you get changed and meet me at the pool.”

He headed for the door. “Ahh sir?”

“Yeah?”

“Where’s the pool?”

“Oh yeah that may help huh?” He motioned for Shane to follow him and once they were back in the locker room he pointed over to a door. “Right through that door.”

Shane was looking down at himself in the form fitting Speedo when he got a sharp slap on the ass. He turned quickly nearly dizzy with fright to see Seth grinning at him. “What in hell are you doing you sexy mother fucker.” His eyes were wide as he looked over Shane in the suit.

“Well I was talking to the coach and he says I have the body of a swimmer.” he flexed his muscles and grinned. “So’s he wants to see me in action.”

“That’s awesome Shane.” Seth swatted his rear again. “We could be swimming buddies.”

“Not if you keep slapping my ass.” He chortled.

Seth wrung his hands. “It’s just so God Damn cute in that thing.” He shook as though to control his raging hormones. “I swim last period. If I do that and do sports it gets me out of gym. I can practice with you so by swim season you’ll be sure to make the team.”

Shane’s face lit up. “That’s awesome!”

“We gotta warm up though.” Seth shoved him against the locker and muckled onto him with his lips. “The..lips...are...the.. Most important....to warm...up.”

“Seth could you stop molesting the swim team hopefuls.”

Seth pulled back and they both looked over at the coach who had his hands on his hips but a grin on his face. He walked down the aisle of lockers. “You two a couple?”

“Well no sir, I just come in here and found this hot guy and thought I’d slam him up against the lockers and have my way with him.”

Coach cuffed Seth playfully upside the head. “Are you ever serious?”

“No sir,” he shook his head emphatically. “But we are sorta a couple. Part of a foursome really. See...” he stopped as the coach held up his hand.

“I think we are heading for territory I don’t want to know about.” he said looking a bit red in the face. “Come on Shane. I’ll save you from him this time. You swimming today Greenway?”

“Yes sir,”

“Good you can help me show Shane the ropes.”

“Sure thing.” he went to his locker and got changed while Shane followed coach out to the pool. Shane’s eyes widened the second he stepped into the room. It was as fancy and as well equipped as any he’d seen on the Olympic shows. The room was huge and the pool nearly filled it. The bleachers were up on a balcony looking over both sides of the pool which had blue lining and ten black lines running along the bottom and each end of it.

At the far end of the pool he saw the pedestals the swimmers dove off and in the middle was a tall ladder leading up to three separate diving boards all of different heights the top one being way up near ceiling which he had to really crane his neck to see.

“Pretty impressive huh?” coach said squeezing Shane’s shoulder. “Bet they didn’t have anything like this at Prescott.”

“They didn’t even have a pool at Prescott.”

“Well hop in.” Shane walked over to the edge of the pool sat down on the side and lowered himself in. The water was refreshing but nowhere near as cold as the ocean or that river in Maine.

“Why don’t you start at that wall swim whichever stroke you like best go to the other wall kick off then come back.”

“Kick off?” Shane asked looking up at him.

“Boy we have work to do.”

Shane chuckled as the coach shook his head and grinned. “I never was formally trained in swimming sir, I just used to go out swimming in the ocean. For fun really. But I think I went pretty fast.”

Seth walked into the pool room and Shane took a deep shuddering breath the sight of the bulge in his Speedo nearly making him dizzy.

“Seth show Shane what a kick off is.”

“Oh sure,” Seth put the goggles that were around his neck up over his eyes and jumped into the pool and swam over to the middle. “Go stand by the side Shane so you can see better.”

Shane nodded and walked over to the edge of the pool near one of the black lines. Seth swam over to him did a sort of somersault thing then kicked off bolting him forward off the wall.

He stood up again in the water.

“Can you do it one more time?”

“Sure,” Seth swam back out to the middle then did it again.

“Okay,” Shane said once he’d resurfaced. “I think I can try it now.”

“Okay,” Coach said smiling down at him impressed with the boy already though he had yet to swim a stroke. “Try what Seth just did just swim in from the middle and kick off. Get that down first.”

After a few failed attempts one sending him slamming painfully into the bottom of the pool he finally got it down. Coach had him do it a few more times til he was sure he had it down then had him swim the length of the pool and back.

Shane was glad Seth was on the other side of the pool doing his laps and hopefully paying little attention to him. If he was gonna make an ass of himself he’d rather have as little audience as possible.

“On my whistle.” Shane nodded and backed up against the wall putting one foot flat out on it and his arm up on the side. The whistle blew and he kicked off as powerfully as possible and swam his heart out reaching the other end he fumbled a little on the kick off but still got a little distance and swam his heart out back. Coach was clapping as he came up and his heart flooded with relief that maybe he’d not made an ass of himself. “You can’t just dive Shane. You are too good a swimmer.”

“Well that’s okay sir, as long as I can at least try diving.”

“Sure, but first I want you to go back and forth here four times. I want to see how you would do in a longer swim. I’ll give you a minute to rest.”

Shane nodded glad of that as his lungs were feeling deflated at that point.

“And when you go out on this one don’t go for speed so much as longevity. Go fast but only fast enough so that you can keep up the pace okay?”

Shane nodded again taking another deep breath.

“I’ll be right back.” He was back less then a minute later and handed Shane down a pair of goggles. “Helps when you can see where you are headed.”

Putting them on Shane smiled at him as he adjusted them.

“You ready?”

“Ready.”

He blew his whistle again and Shane took off going at a pace he hoped he could keep up with though he could feel himself slowing more on each lap. When he finally reached the last one he put his hand up on the side pulling his head up out of the water.

“Not bad Shane. But I’d say you are stronger at sprints. Want to try some dives?”

“Yes please.” He climbed out of the pool and snapped the bottoms of his Speedo back in place around his ass. Seth whistled at him and he grinned over where Seth was resting on the side of the pool his legs dangling in the water.

“This sure is weird.” He said absentmindedly as he walked alongside the coach.

“What’s weird?”

“That Seth is whistling and being all flirty and you ain’t kicking him out of the pool.”

Coach laughed and shook his head. “It’s no concern to me son who loves who in this school. Seth is a good athlete he can love whoever in hell he wants and I won’t kick him out of my pool.”

Shane smiled at the man wishing he’d not been so much of an ass earlier but more so hoping the man had listened to what he’d said about Kenny. He could see now the coach was a nice man just maybe confused on how to deal with kids like Kenny, kids like him.

“Start on the lowest one and work your way up. Just jump off if you want. Or try something fancy it’s totally up to you. Do what you feel like you can do.” He stepped back. “Oh wait.”

Shane turned his upper body towards him while Seth tamed his expanding cock at seeing Shane’s rippling muscles.

“Put this on. And take the goggles off.”

He slid off the goggles and set them on one of the platforms then put on the red rubber cap the coach handed him. He pulled it down tight over his head and snapped the strap.

“Oh look the red baron.”

“Hush up over there Seth.” Coach called out grinning.

After each of his first two dives Seth and Coach exchanged opened mouthed looks of total shock. “He’s lying when he said he hadn’t dived before isn’t he?” Coach asked before Shane surfaced from his second dive.

Seth shook his head. “I don’t think so coach. I don’t know where he ever would have got the chance.”

Getting out of the pool Shane’s heart tremored as the highest dive was next. The one he was most excited about. He climbed the ladder which took him a good two minutes then stood at the top feeling like the king of the world. He wanted to raise his arms up and yell it out just like Leonardo Dicrapio had done in Titanic.

He never felt so excited or thrilled with anything before and felt like maybe up here high above the world was where he belonged. He walked to the edge of the board and curled his toes over the edge. He smiled down at Seth who looked about the size of an ant below him.

He decided he was not just gonna jump. He decided he was gonna try one of those fancy rolls he’d seen so many times on TV. Surely with this much room between him and the water he could accomplish one. He slid his feet back just a hair and jumped a couple times on the board amazed at how much bounce it had. He looked up at the ceiling that was only a few feet above him now and wondered if anyone had ever bounced so high they’d hit their head on it.

He grinned as he put his arms out to his sides feeling more powerful then he’d ever felt in his life. He slowly raised them up over his head like he’d seen on TV feeling his muscles expand and contract with anticipation.

He jumped twice more then flew into the air feeling a rush of excitement nothing like he’d ever felt before. He tucked his hands down to his feet grasping his ankles and keeping his legs straight he flipped over in the air. Feeling plenty of strength still he flipped once more then straightened out like a board with his hands out ahead of him pressed tightly together.

He hit the surface of the water hands first and slid in and under the surface.

Coach stumbled back a few steps feeling for the wall to brace himself. When Shane surfaced he couldn’t speak so instead he just clapped. Seth joined in then jumped in the water and swam over to Shane who was now at the side. Reaching him he threw his arms around him and kissed him full on the lips. “My God Shane I think you found your hidden talent.”

Shane kissed him full on the lips then pulled back and laughed. “That was just the best thing ever. I had no idea I would love it that much.” He looked back up at the board and shivered just from the memory. “I felt so powerful. And Seth...” He paused and took a deep breath. “I ain’t never felt powerful before.”

Seth smiled warmly at him the squeezed him extra tight wrapping his legs around him too.

Shane holding himself up with only one arm pushed him back. “You are gonna drown me you oaf.”

Finding his voice coach walked back to the edge of the pool. “Shane I don’t think you are gonna have to try out. I’m signing you on right now. I have never seen anyone in this school do a high dive as well as the one you just did and though I think you lied to me about never diving before I can’t stand the thought of you not being on this team.”

Shane wanted to cry from joy right then and there but instead he hugged Seth again. “Can I do it again?”

“Please do.” Coach said with a laugh.

Seth was so excited back in the locker room he was nearly dancing. Between ‘dances’ he’d stop pull Shane’s head forward and plant big ole kiss right on his lips. “God Shane. You better not think you are a loser anymore, if you do I’ll beat the shit out of you myself.” He stood up and pointed over towards the door of the pool. “I ain’t never seen anything like that. Jesus.” he pulled off his Speedo and flung it across the room and into his locker like and elastic.

“You are gonna make us state champs this year I just know it.” He danced around some more while Shane now fully dressed tied up his shoes while watching him out of the corner of his eyes. “Would you put your damn pants on. I’m having a problem in my pants over here.”

“I’ll give you a problem in your pants.” Seth grabbed onto him and playfully wrestled him over the bench. Shane was laughing so hard he could barely fight it but managed to get out of his grasp. “Man you are hyper when you are excited.”

Seth laughed and slipped on a jock strap then bending over provocatively and picking up his soccer shorts. Shane laughed again and dropped back down onto the bench.

“Yuh,” He sighed and put his hands behind his head cracking his knuckles. “I think I’m really gonna like school here.”

“Well I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” Seth grin popped out from the neck of his shirt.

“There is one problem though.”

Seth’s face dropped. “What?”

“Derek is going to school here.”

His face turned white and he dropped down on the bench beside Shane. “What do you want me to do?” he said it like he would do anything and everything Shane asked.

“I don’t want you to do anything Seth. Just leave him alone. If I leave him alone hopefully he’ll leave me alone.”

“Has he said anything to you yet?”

“He said he was sorry.”

“You didn’t accept it did you?”

“No,” Shane laughed a short and bitter laugh. “I’ll be fine, I just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t find out on your own and beat the hell out of him or something.”

“Well that’s what he deserves.”

Shane shrugged. “Well I don’t want to be the one behind it. I really think he feels bad for what he did and though I don’t forgive him I don’t want to be downright mean to him. We did get a long well when we were together and had some good times. I know he’s not all bad. I just think he made some bad choices.”

Seth shook his head rubbing Shane’s thigh. “You are a bigger person then me Shane. I could never be this calm.”

“Well it’s been a long time. And I really don’t want to rehash the same issues over and over. It’s in the past and I’d rather just leave it there.”

Seth squeezed his knee. “Okay, but if he harasses you or anything and I find out and you haven’t told me I’m gonna be pissed.”

Shane nodded and put his head on his shoulder. “Thanks Seth.”

They left the locker room together. In the front lobby Shane headed to the pay phones while Seth walked outside. He dialed the number to Tad’s shop and before anyone answered Kenny walked up beside the phone and leaned against the wall. Shane smiled warmly at him feeling so damn good he had to fight not to reach out and muckle onto Kenny who he still thought was real damn cute.

Not so much cute as in hot. More cute as in boyish good looks. He looked his age but had many qualities that made him appear younger.

“Homestead antiques.”

“Can I talk to Tad please.” Shane smiled again at Kenny who put his fingers in his ears. “I’m not eaves dropping.”

Shane pulled a hand at a time away from his ears and shook his head grinning. Jimmy walked up and kissed Kenny so passionately Shane had to turn away and think gross thoughts before he had another problem in his pants. By the time Tad came on the phone Jimmy was gone and Kenny was smiling happily.

“Tad here.”

“Shane here.” Tad laughed.

“Already got plans do you Mr. Popularity.”

Shane snorted and told him to shut up. “I am gonna be a little late though. More like quarter to four.”

“Detention?”

“Nooo,”

“How was your day?”

“Oh I can’t wait to tell you, but it would take too long so I’ll tell you when I get there okay?”

“Sure thing, can’t wait. See you in one hour and fifteen minutes.”

“Well don’t set your stop watch, I might not be exact.”

“Just make sure you’re here by five thirty our you’ll have to hitch home.”

Shane laughed knowing full well he was only kidding. “Okay see you later.” He hung up the phone and he and Kenny walked down to the soccer field. They sat high up in the bleachers.

“Kyle’s not here.”

Shane smiled over at him. “You been thinking on what happened all afternoon haven’t you.”

Kenny nodded with a hint of embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t like seeing you so upset.”

“I’m okay really. I was a bit shocked but I’m better now.”

“So what’s with that guy?”

Shane put his hand on Kenny’s which was on his knee. “What I tell you has to be our secret. Seth knows but I don’t want anyone else knowing. Not even Jimmy.”

Kenny nodded looking very honored that Shane had chosen him to tell.

“That guy used to be my boyfriend. We only went out for a couple months. He was pretty great most of the time. But sometimes he got mad and hit me.” he looked out at Seth on the field who had the ball and was heading for the goal. “I was getting hit all the time back then so I didn’t think much on it. I know now though that, that isn’t right.” Kenny turned his hand over under Shane’s and squeezed his hand.

“So that was your Goliath?”

Shane nodded and grinned slightly as he looked back at Kenny.

“He don’t seem much bigger then you.”

“Well he’s not so much anymore. I used to be real scrawny, I had no muscle and a stiff breeze could have blown me over.”

“Like me?”

“Well a little. I was always taller then you but I had no weight on me.”

“So did you break up with him or did he break up with you?”

“Both I think. And this is what you really can’t tell anyone.” Kenny squeezed his hand harder and nodded.

“One night I was kicked out of my house and I was wandering around the streets trying to find some change so’s I could do my laundry that weekend. It was a Saturday night and I only needed like seventy five more cents. I found a whole bunch of change and started picking it up. It turned out though that it was a trap. It was put there so I’d stop. Everyone knew how poor I was so they knew that’d be a good way to get me to stop.”

“The basketball team surrounded me. They beat me up, put me in a car and took me to some party. They beat me up some more and...” Shane stopped and swallowed hard having thought he could say but when it came right down to it found out he couldn’t.

“Did they rape you Shane?”

God Bless Kenny he thought for saving him from saying it himself. He nodded and Kenny immediately wrapped his arms tightly around Shane. “Was that guy on the basketball team?” He asked his voice muffled from his mouth being pressed into Shane’s chest.

“Yes, he was there.”

Kenny squeezed him tighter and Shane felt wetness seeping through his shirt telling him Kenny was crying though he was making no noise at all. Shane put his hands on Kenny’s biceps and held him out away from him. “I’m sorry Kenny. I didn’t want to make you cry.”

Kenny shook his head and smiled sweetly. “I just feel bad for you is all. I shouldn’t say that. I hate when people say that to me. But I do I can’t help it.” He wrapped his hands around Shane’s wrists. “I can’t believe you stayed so calm seeing him. I would have melted into a pile of shit, puke and pee on the floor.”

Shane grinned. “I thought so too. But I didn’t when I actually saw him other then smashing into the locker I didn’t do too bad. I guess we can surprise ourselves sometimes.”

Kenny put a hand over his mouth. “Oh God Shane.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I laughed at you about that. I just thought you were being klutzy.”

Chuckling Shane shook his head. “I imagine it was pretty funny. Hurt a little though.”

Kenny grinned. “Well I’m sorry I laughed anyways.”

Kyle bounded up the bleachers towards them and sat down on the other side of Shane. “You okay Kenny?” he asked seeing his eyes were red and puffy.

“Just got sneezing. Damn fall.”

Shane grinned at his great excuse not feeling one bit nervous about his secret being exposed to Kenny. They all stretched out their legs and leaned back on their elbows on the bench behind them.

“So whose Tad?” Kyle asked amidst his gum chomping.

“Guy I live with.”

“Just you and him?”

“No him and Don and me and my dog.”

Kyle pushed himself up a bit on his elbows and looked back at Shane. “You live with two gay men?”

Shane furrowed his brow and nodded.

“Oh my God that must be so cool.”

The corner of Shane’s mouth turned up in a half grin. “Well I like it. They are both real nice.”

“Do they make out in front of you and stuff.”

Kenny and Shane both laughed. “You’re such a perv Kyle.” Kenny said shaking his head.

Kyle laughed. “I know.”

“Usually he sits here with a boner all practice.” Kenny said to Shane who got laughing again. “And he sits in that position like he’s proud of it or something.”

Kyle eased back on his elbows. “It’s just my pennant. To cheer my team on you know.”

Looking up at the sky Shane shook his head. “Oh my God you guys are so funny.”

Kyle patted Shane’s hand. “You’re pretty funny yourself there Shane. You’ll fit right in with the gay club.”