Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 22:08:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Isaiah <brendell83@yahoo.com>
Subject: Discovering the Truth - Chapter 3

This story is 100% fictional.  Nothing written here has actually occurred
in real life.  Read this only if you are interested in a story about a
young man learning the truth about himself and the world around him.  Do
not read it if doing so will get you or the author in trouble.

On a further note, I would like to take a moment to thank someone who has
played a pivotal role in the creation of this story.  At the end of last
year, I stumbled upon a story here written by Ehman Penn.  Through
communication with him, I was resuscitated from an emotional slump I had
been in for quite some time.  Since then, we have become good friends
through the Internet and I am exceedingly thankful for everything that he
has done for me.  Most recently, he encouraged me to begin writing and this
story was born.  He also doubles as a valuable editor and proofreader for
this story, and without his assistance I doubt this story would be half of
what it is.

**********************************************************************

As I followed the Kinneys out of the room to go downstairs for dinner, I
locked eyes with Meric.  He slowed and then stopped in the hallway outside
of the hospital room and placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me as well.
I saw Mr. Kinney glance over his shoulder at us, but he just slipped his
arm around his wife and continued on towards the elevators.  I turned to
face Meric, wondering what he was up to.  It didn't take long to find out.

"Brandon...I want to be honest with you for a minute.  My parents have a
few reservations about allowing you to come stay with us.  I don't.  At the
restaurant...it was like...like you were a completely different person from
the one we had been with all day long."  I stood there, trying very hard to
control all of the different, conflicting emotions running rampant through
my body.  Things seemed to be going well for me, I was getting to go live
with the Kinneys, who seemed really nice, and I was gaining what I was sure
would be a best friend in Meric.  But this same best friend to be just
couldn't leave well enough alone.  He kept insisting on bringing up exactly
what I was trying to put behind me.

"Meric, I..." I began.  "I really can't talk about this...not yet.  But I
promise, if...when I'm ready, you'll be the person I come to."  He seemed
to be disappointed by this, but a smile almost instantly flashed back onto
his face.

"Okay, when you're ready.  Let's go get some dinner."  With that, he turned
and started walking down the hallway towards where his parents were waiting
in the elevator.  I glanced one last time at the hospital room where I had
slept for the past week, then turned and walked down the hallway towards my
new family.

Dinner in the cafeteria was...well...dinner in a cafeteria.  Slightly
better than airplane food and miles below home cooking.  Mr. Kinney was
eager to get going back home, so we were going to leave that night.  I had
never been on a long car ride before, and 7 hours seemed like an eternity
to be cooped up in the back of a vehicle.  I wasn't really looking forward
to it, but I'd have Meric to keep me company and hopefully I'd be able to
sleep part of the time.  Before we left, though, we had to stop by the
hotel to pick up the Kinneys' stuff.  As we pulled into the parking lot of
the Holiday Inn, I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes,
expecting to rest a little while the Kinneys carried down their bags and
checked out.  It was not to be.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?  You don't actually think you're
getting out of helping us, do you?"  I opened my eyes to see Mr. Kinney
looking over me, grinning.  I smiled back, sheepishly, and unbuckled my
seatbelt.  He patted me on the arm and turned to walk into the hotel.
Inside, I saw Mrs. Kinney and Meric as they stopped at the door to their
room on the first floor.  Mr. Kinney was at the front desk, talking to the
person working there.  I wandered down to the room and went inside to see
if I could help.

"Everything's already packed, Brandon...we just need some help carrying
everything out to the car," said Mrs. Kinney as I walked into the room.
Meric walked past me, pushing a large duffel bag into my chest and then
patting me on the back as he left the room.

"Hey, wait a minute," I called out to him, following him out into the
hallway, realizing that he wasn't carrying anything himself.  He was
already standing at the desk with his father, and seemed to be ignoring me
as I walked up behind them, carrying the bag over my shoulder now.  When I
got up to him, I tapped him on the shoulder.  He turned around and looked
at me questioningly.  I gestured towards the bag.

"It goes out in the car...but be careful, don't break my MP3 player," he
said, before turning to face the counter again.  As he did, I caught the
faint glimmer of laughter dancing behind his eyes.  He didn't really expect
me to be his personal bellboy, did he?  I was about to drop the bag right
there at his feet, but I stopped myself.  I realized that I didn't really
mind carrying the bag out for him, even if it wasn't mine.  It had been a
long time since I had had a friend who joked with me.  After everything the
Kinneys were planning and had already done for me, this was the absolute
least I could do.  I went out to the 4Runner and put the bag into the back,
careful not to damage anything in it.  As I was finishing, I saw the three
of them coming out of the hotel with two more bags.

"All set?" asked Mr. Kinney as he put the other two bags in the back.

"Sure am, Mr. K," I replied.  We all piled back into the car and I settled
in for the long ride.  I realized that I was pretty tired, and I drifted
off quickly, the swaying of the car easing my transition into sleep.

I awoke from a rough poking on my left arm.  I tried to brush it off, my
mind still not fully aware, eager only to return to sleep.  But the poking
was insistent, and was now accompanied with a soft whispering of the name
Brandon.  "That's me," my mind said, quickly rocketing back up to the
conscious level.  My eyes snapped open and I jerked upward in my seat only
to be stopped short by the seatbelt, digging into my shoulder.  I looked
around frantically for a moment, feeling a little disoriented.  The car was
no longer moving, and there was a hand resting on my shoulder.

"Brandon, it's ok...we're here."  A voice came out at me from the dark of
night.  It was Mrs. Kinney.  "I thought you'd rather sleep inside the house
instead of in the car."  I looked over at her and returned her smile.

"Thanks, Mrs. K.  Did I really sleep the whole way?" I asked.

"Yeah, and you snore too," said Meric with a chuckle from behind me where
he was unloading his bag.  I turned to Mrs. Kinney for confirmation of what
he had said.  I didn't snore.  Only old people did that.  She shook her
head slightly, still smiling.

"Come on, let's get inside.  Not all of us got to sleep for over 7 hours
and we'd like to fix that," she said.  I unbuckled the seatbelt and stepped
out of the car into the driveway, my legs feeling a little wobbly after
being in the car for so long.  I leaned against the car for a moment to
allow my legs to become reacquainted with normal ground before stumbling
after Mrs. Kinney and Meric up the driveway to the front door.  I stopped
just in front of the car, rubbing the last of the sleep out of my eyes.  I
turned on the spot slowly, taking in the neighborhood I was going to be
living in.  The Kinneys lived in a 2-story rather large blue house with a
bright yellow door and a well-kept landscape.  I looked down the street in
both directions to find many similar houses, yards, and driveways.  Fairly
standard practice for American suburbs, I thought.  But, I liked it.  I
smiled to myself and walked the rest of the way to the door, where the
Kinneys were all standing.

"Welcome home," said Mr. Kinney, smiling broadly at me.  I could feel the
tears rolling down my face to crash onto the upturned lips of the largest
grin that had ever graced my face.  I entered the house and was immediately
accosted by the most rambunctious dog I had ever laid eyes on.  I knelt
down, realizing that it must still be a puppy, and gazed into its two
different colored eyes.

"And now you've met the last member of our family - Striker.  He's a
huskie.  We just got him a few weeks ago from some friends I know at work,"
said Mr. Kinney from behind me.

"He's great!" I said, wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug.  I stood
back up, stretching my back a little.  Striker seemed to have given me his
stamp of approval as he quickly greeted everyone else before crashing out
the room in a blur of gray and white fur.

"Meric, will you show Brandon up to the room?  Your dad and I are both
exhausted and want to get some sleep," said Mrs. Kinney, yawning.  "We've
got a lot to do tomorrow, so make sure you are both well rested."  With
that, the two of them headed down the hall and up the stairs.  I turned to
Meric who seemed to be the walking dead.

"Didn't sleep at all during the ride?" I asked.

"No, I can't stand trying to sleep in something that is constantly moving.
It makes me ill."  He looked a little queasy even as we were speaking.

"Well, show me up to the room and you can get some sleep," I said.  He
nodded and headed towards the stairs, leaving his bag in the pile at the
door with the rest of them.  I followed him up, dodging Striker as he
darted in and around my legs.  I can't believe it - a dog!  At the top of
the stairs, Meric turned left and headed down to the end of the hall.  He
opened a door on the right hand side and stepped into the room behind it.
Following him in, I saw him stagger to the king size bed and flop onto it.
I looked around the room, seeing the TV and stereo against one wall and his
computer resting on a desk against the other.  Striker brushed against my
leg as he rushed into the room and leapt onto the bed, running up and
beginning to lick Meric on the side of the face.

"Ugh, I can't sleep with you drooling all over me," he said, picking up the
dog as he stood up from the bed and headed towards the door.  After tossing
him outside, he closed the door to ensure that Striker wouldn't return.

"Where am I sleeping?"  I asked.  I had only seen one other door in the
hallway, which I assumed was where Mr. and Mrs. Kinney slept.  Meric was
back beside the bed again and was stripping off his shirt.  I stood there,
staring at his back, unable to focus on anything other than the newly
revealed skin.  He had such a perfect figure.  No, damnit...not this time.
I tore my gaze from him just as he was flopping once again onto the bed.
He pulled the covers up over him.  I guess he hadn't heard me so I repeated
the question.  He patted the other side of the bed, meaning I was to sleep
next to him.  I gulped and forced myself to take one step at a time towards
the bed, fighting a plethora of strange feelings that threatened to engulf
me.  I managed to get myself under control just as I was slipping into the
bed and I pulled the covers up as well, trying to stay as far away from him
as I could.

It was becoming obvious to me that no matter what I told myself, I was
still going to feel a certain way towards men until I was able to fix
whatever was wrong with me and be normal.  Until then, I had to control
myself at all times and avoid any situations that would cause me to feel
like this.  Surprised to realize that I was still tired, even after
sleeping so long in the car, I closed my eyes and drifted off to the
soothing sound of the shallow breaths coming from Meric's still form.

When I woke up, daylight was streaming through the half closed blinds on
the window.  I rolled over onto my side and saw that Meric had already
gotten up.  I could hear a shower running and I realized that there was a
bathroom that connected directly to this bedroom.  I sat up in the bed,
rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the room once again.
Yep, still the same.  I swung my feet out of the bed and stood up,
contorting my body into a stretch that would rival the greatest of cats.
Realizing that I felt pretty dirty, wearing the same clothes through a day
and night, I figured I would wait for Meric to get out of the shower and
then take one myself.  On cue, the water stopped and I could hear a shower
curtain being drawn back.  After a few minutes, the door to the bathroom
opened and Meric stepped out fully dressed but still toweling his hair dry.

"Oh, good morning.  I was wondering if you were going to sleep the whole
day away," he said.  I looked around for a clock to see what time it was.
11:36 AM.

"It's not even noon yet!" I protested, smiling back at him.  "Umm...could I
borrow some more clothes so I can take a shower.  I feel nasty."

"Yeah, you look nasty too," he said, a mocking smile on his face.  "There's
already a towel, wash cloth and a fresh change of clothes waiting for you
in there."

"You really do think of everything, don't you?"

"Except when I forget something," he said, tossing his towel onto a hook
behind the door and leaving the room.  I quickly went into the bathroom and
showered, eager to get downstairs and see everyone again.  I couldn't think
of a previous day when I was eager for it to continue.  I was only ever
eager for them to end.

Striker greeted me once more on the stairs as I headed down to the kitchen
I had seen the previous night.  As I entered, the Kinneys were all seated
at the table in various stages of eating breakfast.  Meric looked up at me
while slurping the milk out of the bottom of his bowl of cereal.
Mrs. Kinney glowered at him before offering me the choice of a couple
different cereals.  I chose the Golden Grahams and sat down to enjoy the
crunchy goodness.

"Well, we've got a lot to do today," said Mr. Kinney as I was seated.  "We
need to get you registered at the school, buy you some clothes and a couple
other things for your room, stuff like that."

"Mr. K...I...thanks.  I'll repay you for all of this, I promise," I said,
feeling a little uncomfortable that the Kinneys were giving so much and
receiving only me in return.

"Nonsense," he scoffed.  "Look, Brandon...money isn't an issue for us.  I
don't say that to sound arrogant or anything, it is just the way it is.
And we are always thankful for it.  If we can share some of our good
fortune with someone, especially a member of our family, all the better.
And that is what you are...a member of our family."  I broke down again and
started crying.  I was beginning to think something was wrong with my eyes.
They seemed to be dripping water more often than not.  I stood up from the
table, walked over to Mr. Kinney, and then Mrs. Kinney, and gave them both
big hugs.

"Thanks," I said again, heading back around to my seat.

"Oh, no you didn't," said Meric, looking hurt.  I felt terrible and quickly
walked over to hug him as well.  "That's better, now eat your breakfast,
bro.  We got sh...err, stuff to do."  This earned him another glower from
his mom as I sat down and finished my breakfast, not hiding at all the grin
that was permanently on my face.

The rest of the day can only be described as spectacular.  We spent a
little over 4 hours at the mall, rummaging through Abercrombie, Structure
and several other stores.  It's amazing how many bags it takes to hold a
full wardrobe!  I still couldn't fully believe everything that was
happening.  I kept looking around for hidden cameras and obnoxious hosts to
jump out and confirm my fear that it was all an elaborate joke.  But, it
never happened.  After stowing all the clothing bags in the back of the
4Runner, we started driving again.

"Wow, I can't believe all of this.  Thank you all so much!" I said, feeling
extremely happy.

"You're very welcome, Brandon," said Mrs. Kinney, turning in her seat up
front to grin at me.

"It ain't over yet," said Mr. Kinney from the driver's seat.  I wondered
what he meant by that as we pulled into the parking lot of a Best Buy.  We
all piled out of the SUV and headed inside.

"Go pick out a computer and TV, Brandon.  And try not to take too long, we
still have to go to the school and get you registered.  Classes for both of
you tomorrow."  I barely heard anything he said beyond my name.  I just
stood there, my mouth hanging open and a look of utter disbelief stamped on
my face.

"You're liable to have some bug or something fly right in there if you
stand there like that.  Now, hurry up," he said, grinning at me.  "And
don't worry about the price, like I told you earlier."  This was all too
much.  Meric grabbed me by the arm and pulled me further into the store.
We spent about an hour looking at all the different models they had, before
I picked out a nice Hewlett Packard system with 17" monitor and a 27" Sony
TV.  Mr. Kinney didn't even flinch at the price of everything even though I
felt a little guilty, as I had picked things that were pretty expensive.
Mr. Kinney had said that he was a lawyer and Mrs. Kinney owned a small
restaurant downtown, but I never imagined that they would be this wealthy.
I know my dad had had a lot of money, but he never spent it beyond what he
had to, hoarding it all to himself.  This was a huge change.

"Well, I hope you like everything, Brandon," said Mr. Kinney when we were
once again in the car and on our way to the school.

"Like it?  I love it, all of it!" I couldn't think of anything else to say
and even that seemed inadequate to express how I felt about everything that
was happening.

"Well, good...because we won't be able to eat for about 2 weeks because of
all of it," he said.  I froze.  "Kidding, kidding!  Don't believe
everything I say, it will definitely get you in trouble."  I nodded, still
a little shaken, but smiling all the same.

We drove up to the school at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  It looked like a
pretty normal high school...a couple large buildings with a full parking
lot in front and stadium lights rising in the background.  The words
"Thomas Jefferson High School" were visible on the building behind the
whipping American and Arkansas state flags.  We pulled up in front of the
building on the left and parked the 4Runner.  I was a little nervous about
this.  Entering a new school is always hard, but entering in the 11th grade
several weeks into the school year was even worse.  I swallowed my fear as
best I could and followed the Kinneys into the building and through a door
marked "Office."

"Hi...we're here to see Mrs. Jackson about Brandon here...we called
earlier," said Mr. Kinney to the person at the front desk.  She smiled and
nodded before picking up a phone and saying a few words to someone on the
other end.

"She'll be right with you, Mr. Kinney.  If you like, you can have a seat
while you wait," she said, gesturing to the chairs arranged around the
room.  Students and official looking people were pouring in and out of the
office on different errands.  Not one of them even looked at us
until...Wow.  Standing at about 5'11" with shockingly black hair and dark
eyes that portrayed an anger at everything around him, this student seemed
very out of place when compared with everyone else I had seen thus far.  He
must have caught me staring at him, because he stopped what he was doing
and stared at me, anger flashing behind his eyes.  I couldn't tell if he
was angry because I was staring at him or if he was just angry all the time
and I was unfortunate enough to be currently caught in that gaze of hatred.

"You got a problem or something?" he asked, his voice brimming with a power
that belied his frame.  I shook myself out of the daze, surprised he said
something to me and then shook my head slightly.  He rolled his eyes and
walked away, muttering to himself.

"Justin Benton," said Meric from next to me.  I turned to him, surprised to
hear the tone of dislike in his voice.  "The resident asshole.  Stay away
from him, he's just trouble."  I half-nodded, assimilating this new
information.  I wasn't sure what exactly about him had caused such a
reaction, but I was fairly sure there was more to Justin Benton than met
the eye.  Just then, an elderly woman wearing a hideous gray dress walked
out and motioned to us to follow her to the back of the office and through
a door marked "Guidance Counselor."  After everyone was seated, she clicked
a few times on the computer, pulling up some information that I couldn't
see.

"Brandon Oswald, correct?" she asked.  This woman was all business.  I
nodded.  "All right, we've received your transcript from your previous
school.  I've taken the liberty of doing some preliminary placing for you
based on what you've taken before and how you did in those classes.  If you
don't like it, we can change it.  Here at Jefferson, we try to encourage
all of the students to do the best they are capable of.  We are on a block
schedule, meaning you have 4 classes a semester for 90 minutes each, with a
45-minute lunch in the middle of the day.  I signed you up for Honors
Pre-Calculus, AP English, Physics and French 3.  Does that sound all
right?"  I was still processing what she had told me and it took me a
little bit to think about the classes she recommended.  I realized that
they sounded fine to me and I told her so.  She nodded, appearing as if
this would have been my schedule regardless of what I had decided.  She
pulled a thin blue book out from a pile and handed it to me along with a
computer printout of my schedule, complete with classroom numbers and
teacher names.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked.  I turned to
Mr. Kinney, who shook his head.  She shook all of our hands and then waved
us out of her office.  What an unpleasant person.  Counselor my ass.

On the ride back to the house, Meric turned in his seat and grinned at me.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked?

"We've got three classes together...all except French.  I'm taking Japanese
instead."

"Awesome!  Wow, Japanese...isn't that hard?"

"As hell, but it's neat.  I'll teach you some sometime if you're
interested."  I nodded eagerly, thinking it would be cool to speak
Japanese.  I had already taken 2 years of French, which I enjoyed a good
bit.

We got back to the house a little after 6:30 and I realized I was starving,
not having eaten since lunchtime.  Striker felt the same way, and let us
know as soon as we walked in.  It took several trips to get everything in,
but we managed.  It turned out that there was a guest room downstairs,
which hadn't been ready yesterday, that was going to be mine.  After
dumping everything in there, we sat down to eat some dinner.  I thanked the
Kinneys again and again for everything, still not quite able to accept
everything that was happening.  After dinner, Meric and I headed to my new
room to get everything set up.  He seemed to know a good deal about
computers and electronics, so I let him do most of that while I took all
the clothes out, removed their tags and placed them in the closet and
dresser.

"Ahh...there we go," he said, sliding out from underneath the desk where he
had been assembling the computer.  He reached down, pushed the on button,
which lit up a light blue color.  "Cool."

"Definitely.  Thanks for your help."  I walked over to watch it boot up
while he sat down and got the stack of CDs ready that he would need to
install the extra software we had gotten for it.

"Anytime.  I actually enjoy doing this kind of thing, so it's no problem.
We've got a wireless router for the cable modem, so you should be ready to
go online with almost no problem."  I patted him on the shoulder and walked
over to sit on my bed.  It had been a pretty hectic day and despite all the
sleep I'd had yesterday, I felt tired.  Besides, tomorrow was going to be
my first day at this new school.  On one hand, I was very much looking
forward to it.  I was going to get a chance to start anew and this time I
wasn't going to screw it up.  On the other hand, I was absolutely terrified
of what the day would bring.  It helped a lot that I knew Meric would be
with me for most of the day.  I didn't want to only talk to him and no one
else, but it was good to have someone I knew that I could lean on.  I was
glad everything was going as well as it was.  Beneath this façade of
happiness that I had plastered up, I could feel the anger, self-loathing
and despair swimming around, eager for a chance to resurface.  I was
determined not to let them rule my life this time.

I woke up the next day to the horrendous siren of an alarm I had gotten.
It was the most God-awful sound ever heard, but it was what I needed to
wake me up in the morning.  Striker had been asleep at the foot of my bed
when it went off, but he leaped up when it went off, barked once, and
bounded out of the room.  I yawned, rubbed my eyes a couple times before
forcing myself to get up.  I didn't want to be late, not on this day.
Grabbing some of my new clothes and a towel, I trudged into the bathroom to
prepare for the day.

Feeling much more alive after a nice hot shower, I headed over to the
kitchen for breakfast.  Mrs. Kinney had made French toast for us, which was
delicious.  I glanced over at the clock and realized that it was just about
time to go.

"Ready for your big day, Brandon?" asked Mr. Kinney.

"I think I am.  A little nervous, but I think I'll make it," I said,
gulping down the last of my orange juice.

Mr. Kinney drove us to school, dropping us off about 10 minutes before the
first bell for homeroom rang.  I didn't have that with Meric, as it was
assigned based on last name, but he showed me to the room before hurrying
off to his own.  We would be in pre-calculus together in just a little
while.  I figured I could survive on my own until then.  Committing the
directions to my first class that he had given me to memory, I took a deep
breath and walked into my homeroom.

The teacher, a Mrs. Smith, waved me over to her, checked my schedule,
welcomed me to the school and then pointed to the only seat still open,
which was in the front row.  Great.  I slid into the seat, dropping my book
bag onto the ground next to me and trying my best not to be seen or heard.
It worked pretty well as no one in the room even looked at me that I could
tell.  Perhaps when I felt a little more comfortable here I would be
interested in trying to make friends, but for the moment I was happy just
to get through the day.

After the morning announcements and the pledge, the bell rang again.  The
classroom exploded as kids all around jumped up and headed off to their
various first classes.  I was one of the last to leave the room and I
entered the hallway hesitantly.  I recalled what I had been told about how
to get to the next classroom, and I headed off that way.  I rounded what
was supposed to be the last corner right as someone else did coming the
other way.  We slammed into each other.  He had been carrying a couple
books that were now sprawled out on the ground next to both of us.  I stood
up shakily and leaned down to help pick up the books.  However, the other
person grabbed them before I could and when I stood back up, I found myself
staring right into the brooding face I had first encountered the day before
in the office.

"Oh, great...it's you," he muttered, rolling his eyes.  "Watch where you're
going, asshole."  With that, he pushed past me and continued on down the
hallway before ducking into a classroom on the left hand side.  I just
shook my head, brushed my shirt flat against my chest and walked the last
10 feet or so and entered my first class of the day.  Meric was already
there, sitting in the second row, with his book bag reserving a seat next
to him.  He waved to me a little and I grinned back before heading over to
plop down next to him.

Mr. Fallon's math class proved to be fairly dull and probably fairly easy.
I had always been pretty good with math and I had no worries about
pre-calculus.  This was the first time I had seen Meric in a group of his
peers, and I was amazed.  He seemed to know everyone by first name, no
matter who they were or what they looked like and they all knew him as
well.  It wasn't that he was Mr. Popular or anything...he just had a
natural charisma about him that allowed him to talk to anyone about
anything.  I was very thankful that this was the person to be my new
brother.

The next class was more of the same, just a different subject.  I knew that
I could do well in all my classes, like I always had, with just a bit of
work.  About halfway through the class, Mrs. Pierce announced that we would
be doing a research project on a famous author with a partner and that it
would be due in two weeks.  I immediately turned to Meric, who was also
looking at me and smiling.  I reached down to get some paper out of my bag,
but when I turned back to him he had scooted his desk closer to the person
on the other side of him.  I felt hurt and just sat there staring at my
desk drawing small figures in the top corners of the paper.

"All right, everyone find a partner?" asked Mrs. Pierce.  I was about to
raise my hand when I heard a voice from the back of the room.

"I didn't."  I turned in my seat to see Justin sitting back there, looking
sullen as ever.

"Yes, well...anyone else?"

"Me," I said, both trepidation and excitement running through me.  Did
Meric intend this to happen, knowing that Justin wouldn't have a partner?

"Well, there you go...Justin and Brandon, you can be partners," said
Mrs. Pierce before she sat down behind her desk and began grading some
papers.

"Fantastic," muttered Justin as he got up from the back of the room and
came and sat down beside me in an empty desk.  "We're doing Kafka."  I had
never heard of this particular author, but I was eager to make this work so
I nodded in agreement.

"Do you want to get together some-" I started to say.

"No."

"Oh...well...how do you want to do this then?"

"I'll tell you what to do for research, you do it, and I'll write the
paper."

"Oh...ok...I guess that works."  It was actually depressing to talk to him.
He exhibited nothing that would hint at anything positive about his
attitude, and after having said what little he did, he didn't speak for the
remaining half hour of the class.  He pulled out a book, "Ender's Game" by
Orson Scott Card, and started reading.  It happened to be one of my
favorites, and I filed that piece of information in the back of my mind as
a possible future topic to talk about with him.  Maybe he would lighten up
when talking about something he enjoyed.

After what seemed an eternity, the bell finally rang, releasing us for
lunch.  I had brought some money, hoping to buy something small to eat.  I
wasn't a big fan of lunch as I was generally still full from breakfast and
tended to eat a large dinner.  Usually, a small bag of crackers and a drink
was enough for me, which I picked up from the cafeteria.  I headed outside
with Meric, as it was a nice day.  Some students were throwing a football
around on the front lawn area and I sat down at a bench where I was able to
watch them.

"I used to play football," I said to Meric in between bites.

"Really?  When?"

"When I was younger.  My da...well, let's just say I played quite a bit.  I
guess I was all right, but it's been a little while."  I had to catch
myself.  My father had basically forced me to sign up for football, and I
played for a few years.  Eventually, I came to love it even though it had
originally come from him.  Probably the only thing I enjoyed that involved
him.  I didn't really want to bring him up, probably never again.  Meric
either didn't catch what I was doing, or pretended not to.

"Awesome...our team sucks, though.  I don't think I've even gone to one of
their games since I've been here."

"I miss it, I guess...it was a large part of my life back then.  Maybe
someday I'll get back into it."  As I finished talking, the football that
the other kids had been throwing around bounced and stopped right at my
feet.  I looked up to see someone jogging towards us, probably to get the
ball back.  I put down my can of Coke and reached down to pick up the
football.  I looked back up to see that the guy had stopped about 10 feet
away from me and had his hands out ready to catch the ball.  I looked past
him to where everyone else was standing about 35 yards away.  What the
hell.

I planted my feet, raised my arm and gunned a pass over the head of the
nearest kid towards the group of the rest of them.  The tight spiral of the
pass cut through the air, landing right in the arms of one of the kids, who
quickly pulled it against his chest.  I grinned a bit to myself, happy that
I still had the arm I remembered.  I looked back at the boy who had come to
retrieve the ball.  He was just standing there staring at me, his mouth
agape.  He stood there for a few moments longer, before turning and
sprinting through the door that led to the cafeteria of the school.  I
shrugged, and sat back down to finish my drink.

"Damn dude, you've got a fucking cannon," said Meric from beside me.  I
shrugged, brushing it off.

"It's no big deal, lots of people can throw a football."

"Not like that, and not around here."  I shrugged again, a little
embarrassed by the attention.  I looked up and saw that the group who had
been playing were now standing around and talking to each other and every
once and awhile one of them would point in my direction.  I got scared,
thinking they were going to come try to beat me up for showing them up.  I
stood up, ready to run into the school.

"Where are you going?  We've got a good 20 minutes left," said Meric, also
standing, but looking like he didn't really want to leave.  I didn't say
anything, but began gazing around, assessing the situation.  I saw the boy
who had come to get the football coming out of the school again, but this
time he was followed by an older man who was wearing a ball cap.

"Hey...Hey!"  I turned to face them completely as he called out to me.  I
wondered if I was going to get into some trouble or something.  Why else
would he have gone to get a teacher?

"Tom here tells me you know how to throw a football...that right?" asked
the man who had come out with the boy.  I turned to see the other group of
kids had started moving towards us.

"Yes, a little," I said, turning back to the man.

"Little my ass," said the kid who I assumed was the Tom that the man was
referring to.

"I'm Coach Thomas.  What's your name, son?"

"Brandon...Brandon Oswald," I replied, wondering where this was going.

"Well, Brandon...have you ever played any ball?"

"Yes, sir...when I was younger for a few years."  The coach turned to the
approaching group of kids and looked them over for a minute.

"Bryce!  Get over here.  The rest of you, move out of the way," yelled the
coach.  One of the boys broke out of the pack and jogged over.  He was tall
and looked fast.  The coach turned to me.  "Do you know what a post pattern
is?" I nodded, finally beginning to see what was going on.  What Meric had
said and the way these boys all reacted to me was all fitting into place.
I grinned a little.  Bryce handed me the football, which I gripped firmly,
my fingers sliding familiarly in between the laces.  The coach and Tom
stepped back away from me, and I looked downfield to see that a long strip
had been cleared of students.  In fact, quite a few of the people who had
been eating lunch outside were now looking at us, trying to see what was
going on.

"Go!" I said, taking a 5-step drop, the football held up in my right arm.
I watched Jackson sprint about 15 yards down the field before cutting
diagonally inward.  I launched the ball and watched it sail toward him.  He
caught it mid stride about 25 yards down the field and continued running.

"Holy shit," said the coach.  I turned to him.  "Hot damn, you've got an
arm boy.  Look, we haven't been able to field a team because we haven't had
a quarterback worth a damn for about 3 years now.  Why don't you come play
ball for me, son?"  I stood there for a minute, making it seem like I was
seriously considering his offer.  I had already figured out what was going
on and had already decided, but I didn't want to seem overly eager.
Finally I nodded and smiled a little.  The gathered people gave a bit of a
cheer and the coach smiled for the first time.

"Great, come to the locker room tomorrow afternoon about 3:30 and we'll get
started," said Coach.  He turned and walked back inside the building,
leaving me surrounded by half of the Jefferson football team.  It was a
little intimidating.  But, they seemed genuinely happy to meet me.  All
except one, who glared at me from the back of the group.  I shrugged to
myself.  Can't win them all.  The team wanted me to come throw with them,
but I declined, wanting to just finish off my lunch and spend some more
time with Meric.  They seemed a little down but I promised that I would
play some with them the next day.

"Fucking awesome!" said Meric after they had all left.  "Your first day
here and you're going to be quarterback for the football team.  I'd say
you're fitting in well."  I grinned at him, feeling great.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  I had two further classes,
which went by pretty quickly and when 3:05 rolled around and the final bell
rang, I hurried down to the parking lot to catch the bus with Meric.  The
ride home was quick as we were only the second stop.  I passed the next
couple hours checking out my computer and playing with Meric and Striker in
the backyard.  It felt good.

Mr. and Mrs. Kinney came home a little after 6:00.  She headed to the
kitchen to start working on dinner while Mr. Kinney went upstairs to
change.  Meric and I brought the dog back inside when we heard them in the
house.

"Hi mom...dad!" yelled Meric as we came in.

"Hi honey.  Have a good day?"  Mrs. Kinney smiled at us from where she was
cutting up some carrots next to the stove.

"Yeah, but Brandon's was better," he said, a huge grin on his face.  I
could tell he was about to explode with the news.

"Nah, it's not that big a deal," I said, hiding the smile on my face.

"Not that...not that big a deal?!" sputtered Meric.  "Tell her or I'm going
to."

"Oh, all right...if you insist.  At lunch today, some other kids were
playing football and the ball they were using bounced over to where we were
sitting.  I threw it back to them and apparently they thought I was good
and Coach Thomas offered me the quarterback spot on the team," I said,
trying to act like things of this nature happened every day.

"No shit?"  I turned to see Mr. Kinney standing in the doorway of the
kitchen, his tie off and the top of his shirt unbuttoned.  "Sounds like
you're fitting in just fine here, Brandon."

I returned the smile he gave me.  Mrs. Kinney walked over and gave me a big
hug before returning to what she was doing at the stove.  I helped to set
the table for dinner, all of the fears I had felt earlier in the day washed
away by the happiness that radiated from everyone in the room.

***********************************************************************

Thus ends Chapter 3.  I must apologize for such a long delay since the
previous posting.  For the past two weeks, I have been beset with a
persistent case of the visiting relatives and have had almost no time to
try to write.  I hope that this chapter was enough to make up for the
delay.  I hope to resume a normal posting schedule, beginning with Chapter
4 coming sometime this weekend.  However, the new Harry Potter book comes
out Saturday and my story will be moved to the back burner if it isn't
finished by then.  As before, please feel free to write to me with any
comments, good or bad, at brendell83@yahoo.com.  I will reply to all
messages I receive.

~Isaiah