Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 15:40:07 -0400
From: Ronyx <ronyx@woh.rr.com>
Subject: Birds Don't Sing Before a Storm  Chapter 5

The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities to anyone are purely
coincidental. The story is intended for a mature audience. It may contain
profanity and references to gay sex. If this offends you, please leave and
find something more suitable to read. The author maintains all rights to
the story. Do not copy or use without written permission. Write
ronyx@themustardjar.com with your comments. Ronyx is a prolific Nifty
author. Visit my personal website at www.themustardjar.com for more
stories.


Birds Don't Sing Before a Storm    Chapter 5


I was sound asleep when someone entered my room. I felt a weight on the
bed, and I squinted to see who it was. I really didn't need to see. I
already knew.

"Better wake up," announced Lane as he took two fingers and pulled open my
eye.

I rolled over and groaned, "Let me sleep, Lane." He threw his body on top
of mine and attempted to tickle me in my ribs. Since I'm not ticklish, it
didn't bother me; however, I let out a scream so he would think I was.

"Stop!" I shouted as I rolled onto my back. He straddled my body as he
looked down at me. Suddenly, he pushed his butt against my erection.

He started giggling and jumped off me. "Someone's got a woody!"

"Like you don't get them," I muttered as I pulled the cover over my head
and rested on my side.

He started pushing on my shoulder. "You better get up."

"Why?" I asked as I turned toward him.

"Randy told me to wake you up. You're supposed to come upstairs for
breakfast."

Just then, I heard my father's voice at the top of the stairs. "Lane!
Casey! You boys hurry up."

I pulled the covers off me and stood. Lane stared at the obvious protrusion
in my underwear. I covered myself with my hands. "Do you mind?"

Lane giggled and stood. He grabbed the front of his shorts and pressed
against them. "I'm getting a woody, too."

I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him toward the door. "Well, you take
your woody and go upstairs while I go take a shower."

He giggled and asked, "You going to play with yours?" His face reddened as
he added, "I play with mine in the shower sometimes."

I pushed him out of the room. "That is too much information," I laughed as
I closed the door.

After showering and getting dressed, I went upstairs to the kitchen. My
father, Karen and Lane were just finishing up breakfast. I sat down at the
seat beside Lane where there was a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk.

Lane grinned widely when I sat beside him. "I hope you like Fruit Loops,
Casey," he said. "I like Fruit Loops."

He smiled when I responded, "Yeah, sure. I like Fruit Loops." I looked over
at Karen and asked, "Do you have any coffee?" She started to rise, but I
told her she didn't have to wait on me. I poured myself a cup of coffee,
and then I refilled her cup.

"My, what a nice thing to do, Casey," she said appreciatively. My father
grunted when she added, "Randy, you should take tips from your son on how
to be a gentleman."

When I was finished eating, I started to get up and go back to my room, but
my father stopped me. "Casey," he said. "I've taken the morning off. I'm
taking you to school to enroll you in classes."

I asked surprisingly, "What? It's Friday. Can't we wait until Monday?"

He shook his head and responded, "I can't on Monday. I'm meeting with
out-of-state clients all day." He put down the paper he had been
scanning. "It has to be today."

Lane asked excitedly, "Can I ride to school with you?"

My father looked at me and laughed slightly. "If Casey moves his butt now
so you won't be late to your morning class."

Lane stood and grabbed my hand. "Come on, Casey." He pulled me to my
feet. "I don't want to walk to school."

I looked around the room. "What about Rodney and Curtis?"

"Rodney has a car," my father informed me. "He and Curtis have already
left."

I looked down at Lane who was still holding onto my hand. "Why don't you
ride with your brothers?"

He frowned and replied sadly, "They won't take me to school." When I asked
him why, he shrugged his shoulders.

I felt repulsed when my father kissed Karen on the cheek as we left the
kitchen. She hugged Lane, and for an instant, I felt she wanted to hug
me. I hurried out the door before she had a chance.

As we drove to school, my father asked me in what grade I would be
enrolling. It hurt me that he didn't even know. "I'll be a junior," I
replied with a tone of irritation in my voice.

He immediately responded. "Listen, Casey," he said as he turned to look at
me. "I know I should have..."

I interrupted him by turning and looking at Lane in the backseat. "You want
me to meet you outside after school, and we can walk home together?"

His eyes lit up. "Yeah, Casey. That would be cool." I ignored my father's
stare.

When we arrived at school, my father and I escorted Lane to his class. I
looked around the room while my father talked to Lane's teacher. It was
interesting to observe all the assignments that were taped on the walls. In
my former school, some teachers might have a motivational poster or two,
but most of the classroom walls were rather bare.

In Lane's classroom, students' works were prominently on display. There
were written assignments, drawings and completed homework. All had a bold
comment written by his teacher. She also liked to display stars on the
work. Most assignments had five red stars.

I jumped when Lane walked up, gripped my hand and pulled me over to the
back of the room. "I did this," he exclaimed proudly as he showed me a
colored map of the United States. "I even copied all the states right," he
said with a smile.

My father stepped up beside him and put his hands on his shoulder. "Good
job, Lane," he said as he observed the map. He looked over at me and asked,
"Don't you think so, Casey?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied as I walked away. I felt saddened because he had
rarely been involved in my education. My mother was the one who attended
the parent-teacher conferences. She always made excuses that he was too
busy at work to attend. However, when we would return home, he would
usually be asleep in his recliner.

After leaving Lane's room, we made our way to the office. My father kept
insisting how much I was going to enjoy the school. "Rodney and Curtis are
very popular," he exclaimed proudly. "Both play football, basketball and
baseball. I'm sure they'll be happy to introduce you to some of their
friends."

I snidely remarked, "They haven't even introduced themselves to me yet."

"Yes, well," he stammered. "They are very busy boys."

"Yeah, sure," I replied as I opened the office door and stepped inside.

The principal was talking to the school secretary when we entered. He
looked up, walked over to my father and shook his hand. "Randy, Old Boy,
how are things going?" He glanced over at me. "What brings you here today?"

"George," he replied. "I want you to meet my boy, Casey." I reluctantly
shook his hand. "This is Mr. Snyder, the principal here," he informed me.

Mr. Snyder seemed surprised as he stated, "I didn't know Karen had another
son."

My father's face reddened as he replied, "Casey is my son." He looked over
at me nervously, "from my first marriage."

"I see," replied Mr. Snyder. He shook my hand again, as he asked my father,
"And how can I help you today?" My father nervously explained how I was now
living with him, and that I needed to enroll in school.

While my father remained behind to talk to Mr. Snyder, I instructed to go
across the hall to the guidance office. I was told to report to a room
where a young woman, probably no more than about twenty-five years old was
talking on the phone. She motioned for me to have a seat. I waited until
she was finished with her conversation.

After hanging up, she smiled pleasantly and extended her hand. "Hello,
Casey," she said, "I'm Ms. Moore. I'll be your guidance counselor." I
followed her down a narrow hallway to a small, cramped office. She had me
sit in a chair beside her desk while she typed something into her computer.

"Oh!" she said surprisingly. "A teacher has already requested you for his
class." She gave me a puzzled look. "I thought this was your first day
here?"

"It is," I replied. I then recalled meeting the baseball coach in the
hallway. I assumed he was the teacher who had made the request. She
finished typing, and then waited for my schedule to be printed.

"There you go," she said with a smile. "All set. Now, look over it to see
if you have any questions. I tried to match you with the same classes you
were previously taking at your other school."

I quickly scanned the schedule. I had seven classes. At my old school, I
only had six. I noticed that I had Mr. Wentworth fourth period for Junior
English. The other classes matched the ones I had been taking with the
exception of a seventh period gym class. Again, I was assigned to
Mr. Wentworth.

I pointed to the class. "I already took gym during my freshman year. Do I
have to take it again?"

She took my schedule and studied it. "It's just an elective," she informed
me. "Since we are on a seven period schedule, it's a way for students to
take classes that may be more interesting than the normal studies like
English, history and science." She looked over at the computer, and then
she added, "It appears Mr. Wentworth requested you take the class."

I questioned, "But why?"

She quickly scanned my body. "Mr. Wentworth has an eye for athletes," she
said. "He grabs up all the good ones before the other coaches have a chance
to recruit them." She scanned my body again before asking, "Did you excel
in sports at your old school?"

I started laughing. "No," I replied, "Unless you want to call skipping
classes a sport."

"Well," she said, "I'm sure Mr. Wentworth sees some potential in you."

I laughed again and said, "I don't know what. If he's looking for a
baseball player, he's going to be disappointed. I've never played
baseball."

"Maybe it has something to do with your stepbrothers, Rodney and
Curtis. They play baseball for Mr. Wentworth."

She jumped when I said angrily, "They are not my stepbrothers."

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "but I thought you were Randy Barrett's son?
That's what Mr. Snyder told me on the phone."

"He is my father," I replied tersely, "but I'm no relation to the other
boys."

"I see," she responded apologetically as she studied me
carefully. "Anyway," she said as she stood. "Let me escort you to your
first period class." She looked at the clock on the wall. "Class should be
over in about ten minutes, but you can meet Mr. Snowden, your chemistry
teacher."

"I have to start classes today?" I asked surprisingly. "I thought I would
just register today and start on Monday."

"Nonsense," she said as I followed her down the hall. "Why waste an entire
day."

She laughed when I replied, "I'm okay with that."

I was embarrassed when Ms. Moore took me to my class. I followed her across
the room to Mr. Snowden's desk. I heard several students giggle as I
crossed the room. When I glanced out of the corner of my eye, I saw three
girls staring intently at me. I quickly looked away when one gave me a
flirtatious wink.

Mr. Snowden was a small, wiry man with a shrill voice. I wanted to laugh
when he extended his hand to mine. His felt like a cold, wet fish when I
shook it. The three girls giggled again when he looked around for an empty
desk. He had me sit behind one of the girls, a tall, buxomly blond. She was
wearing a tight sweater that left little to the imagination. The other two
girls gave her a jealous look when I sat down behind her.

Mr. Snowden went back to the board to finish discussing a problem he had
been working on when Ms. Moore and I interrupted him. No one in the class
was paying attention. Many students pulled their book bags from the floor
to await the bell.

When the bell rang, I rose from my desk and pulled out my schedule to see
where my next class was located. The blonde snuggled up beside me and
looked at the schedule as she pressed her breast against my arm. She gave
me a puzzled look when I took a step away from her.

"Hi," she said as she gave me another flirtatious look. "I'm Monica. Are
you new here?"

"Yeah," I replied as I looked down at my schedule. She once again took a
step closer to look at it. The two other girls giggled as they watched her
attempt to seduce me.

"You have Mrs. Bedlaw next," she cooed. "We're in the same class." She
wrapped her arm around mine and led me from the room. "I'll show you how to
get there." I glanced behind us to see the other girls following us. They
had cold, angry looks on their face. I felt like a bridal bouquet that had
been fought over at a wedding reception, and Monica had wrestled it from
the hands of the others.

She attempted to find out as much as she could about me in the brief three
minutes it took us to walk to our next class. Other than telling her my
first name, I managed to ignore most of her questions.

However, she was more than happy to give me details of her life. She was a
varsity cheerleader, which I had already assumed. Besides being extremely
pretty, she was also athletic. She did let me know that she was `single'
for the time being, which elicited giggles from the two girls behind us.

As we approached the classroom, I noticed Curtis standing outside the door
talking to several other guys. Monica wrapped arm tighter around mine as we
drew nearer. Curtis scowled at us when he saw how closely we were
walking. Judging by the angry look on his face, I quickly assumed that he
might be the reason that Monica was temporarily single.

She led me over to Mrs. Bedlaw. Monica seemed upset when she told her to
take her seat. I was assigned a history book, and she then told me to have
a seat in the back. When I walked down the aisle, I saw Curtis sitting
behind the desk I had been assigned. He looked angrily at me when I
approached. I looked away and sat down.

After the bell rang, Mrs. Bedlaw told us to open our books to chapter
14. She gave us twenty minutes to silently read ten pages about the
Industrial Revolution, and then we were to answer the unit questions that
followed.

I opened the book and began reading. A minute later, Curtis kicked the back
of my desk, leaned forward, and threateningly whispered in my ear, "You
better back off Monica if you know what's good for you."

I ignored him and continued to read. Seconds later, he kicked the back of
my desk again. He asked angrily, "Did you hear what I said?" I quickly
glanced toward the front of the room to see if the teacher was observing
us. She appeared to be busily grading papers.

I turned slightly and whispered, "Fuck you." I looked back at his face as
it reddened with anger. Even though I did not intend to pursue Monica, I
had dealt with guys like Curtis before. If he thought he could control you,
then he could make your life miserable. I wanted him to know that I wasn't
scared of him. I realized it was dangerous territory because we would have
to live in the same house, but I did not intend to make it a permanent
situation. Sooner, rather than later, I was planning to leave anyway.

I turned back around, and he kicked the back of my desk again. He leaned
forward and whispered angrily in my ear, "You're dead meat."

I mumbled loud enough for him to hear, "I ain't scared of you, Fucker." He
kicked the back of my desk once again, but then he left me alone the rest
of the period.

When the bell rang and I got up to leave, Curtis brushed past me and walked
away. He said something to a friend at the door, and they turned to look at
me. Monica walked up with her two friends, wrapped her arm around mine and
led me to the door.

Once outside, we stopped and she asked to see my schedule. I started to
hand it to her, but a guy who had walked out behind us, snatched it from
her hand and scanned it. Monica tried to grab it, but he held it away from
her as he read over it.

"Give it to me, Mike," she pleaded in a whiny voice. He looked at me with a
satisfied smile on his face. He was very attractive. He was about my size,
but he had blue eyes, unlike my brown ones. His hair was blonde and
stylish. It appeared he had probably stood before the mirror before he came
to school to make sure each strand was in place. He had on expensive
clothing, not like the other students who wore jeans and cotton shirts.

After reading over my schedule, he extended his hand. "Hi, Casey," he said
with a firm handshake. Monica quickly snatched my schedule from his
hand. "I'm Mike McConnell." He looked over at Monica and laughed. "Monica
is my sister." I looked back and forth between them, and I could instantly
notice a resemblance. She was several inches shorter, but their facial
features were nearly the same.

She muttered as she looked at my schedule, "He's an asshole."

Mike grabbed me by my right arm and pulled me away. "Come on, Casey. We
both have Shivers for Trig. I'll show you where it's at."

Monica grabbed my left arm and pulled on it. "I'll show him, you dimwit."

"You're too stupid to be taking trig," he replied as he pulled me
away. Monica stormed off with her two friends trailing behind.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively as I walked beside him to class.

He laughed and replied, "No problem. Monica is like a piranha when a cute,
new boy enrolls in school." I glanced over at him when he said cute. As if
reading my mind, he looked over and grinned.

Mike introduced me to Mr. Shivers. He was a young teacher, and he seemed to
relate well with his class. He greeted everyone at the door with a warm
welcome.

"Well, Casey," he said as he handed me a book. He looked over at Mike. "At
least you're associating with the right people here." He looked at Mike and
winked. Mike shoved him gently on the arm, and we walked to the back of the
room. He motioned for me to sit beside him. Another boy approached and told
me that was his seat, but Mike politely asked him if I could sit there. The
guy shrugged his shoulders and took a seat behind me.

Mr. Shivers spent the first twenty minutes going over the homework
assignment. He had several students go to the board and demonstrate how
they had arrived at an answer for a problem. I watched in amazement as Mike
worked out an extremely difficult one. I could never stand as confidently
in front of a class as he did. He gave me a slight wink when he walked back
and took his seat.

For the last half of the period, Mr. Shivers gave an assignment from the
book, and he informed us we could work together as long as we worked
quietly. The class erupted into laughter. "Okay," he said jokingly. "At
least keep it down to a low roar. And if Mr. Snyder peeks into the room,
act like you're working."

The class laughed again when a boy off to my right hollered out, "Sure
thing, Teach. We got you covered."

Mike pulled his desk beside mine. "Wanna work together?" He laughed and
added, "Not like you have much of a choice anyway."

"Sure," I grinned as he scooted closer. He opened his book and we began to
work on the assignment.

After watching him work a few problems and then copying it to my paper, he
stopped, looked at me and asked, "So, what's your story? What brings you
here?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know," I replied. "Stuff."

"I see," he replied. "Parents get a divorce?"

"No," I answered. "They did that a few years ago." He looked at me and
waited a second for me to continue my story.

When I didn't say anything more, he laughed and said, "I guess I'm in the
mind my own business territory, huh?"

I grinned and replied, "Yeah. Something like that."

"It's all good," he said with a grin. "I'll charm it out of you later."

His eyes sparkled as stared into mine. I stared into them as I replied,
"You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?"

He winked seductively and said, "I got my ways."

My face reddened as I responded, "I bet you do."

We continued working the rest of the period on the assignment. We finished
it just before the class ended. Mike took my schedule off my desk and
examined it again. "Hey, this is kind of like Providence," he said
excitedly.

I gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"We have the same afternoon classes," he replied. I scanned my schedule
again.

I asked, "You have Mr. Wentworth twice like me?"

He replied, "Coach? Yeah, sure." He quickly scanned my body. "You must be a
ball player, too?"

"Nope," I said. "Never have."

"If you got Coach for two classes," he said, "then you're playing baseball
for our team." The bell rang, and we rose from our seats. Mike put his arm
around my shoulder as we started to exit the room.

"Let's go see Coach," he said as we walked down the hall with his arm still
around me. It felt awkward, but I was too afraid to step away from him. He
was making a sincere effort to be my friend. Besides, he was cute as hell,
and if he wanted to walk with me like that, then I wasn't going to be
stupid enough to ruin it. Besides, no one seemed to even notice. Mike did
seem popular, though, because almost everyone we passed called out his
name.

As we continued down the hall, I saw Curtis approaching. He stepped up in
front of us and stopped. He turned to his friends who were walking with
him. "Aw, look guys at the two little lovebirds." I immediately pulled away
from Mike's embrace.

Mike's body went rigid as he confronted Curtis. "Go to hell, Crawford."

Curtis looked at me and laughed. "Don't worry, Mikey. I'm not going to
steal your boyfriend from you."

"Fuck you," spat Mike. He turned to me and grabbed my arm. "Let's go
Casey. I don't have time to scrap his shit off the floors when I knock him
out."

"Ohhh," cooed Curtis. "Acting tough for your new boyfriend?"

I stepped between Curtis and Mike. "Why don't you shut the fuck up!"

By then students were beginning to gather around. Curtis seemed to quickly
evaluate the situation, and then he turned to his buddies. "Let's go," he
said as he pointed down the hall. He angrily looked at me and stated
threateningly, "I'll deal with you later when I get home."

I replied sarcastically, "I'll be waiting." He turned and hurried off down
the hall.

* * * * * *

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