Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 01:57:46 -0400 From: One Shy Rugrat Subject: Sleepless Nights Series Chapter 1 (Revised) Warning: This is a story about two boys falling in love. If it offends you, please don't continue reading. Copyrights@ 2001. One Shy Rugrat. All Rights Reserved. It has taken me awhile to finally get my act together and write this. The story will develop slowly to make it as realistic as possible. Hope you enjoy it! Sleepless Nights Chapter 1 Joey's my name. I've always thought that the name 'Joey' sounded a bit more like a name for a girl. At 17-yrs old, I'm still several years away from the final year of high school and head off to university. With brown eyes, black hair, and a height of 5'8", I'm just an average guy. Though many girls considered me cute, I've never paid much attention to their endless howling of my name. My grades, well, in my opinion they are average, but to the people around me, they are 'amazing'. I've never really considered myself as a smart person, just an average student that just happens to do better than others in school. I'd like to think that I'm, well, 'lucky'. Many of my friends would dream to have my scores, but, of course, that really isn't that important to me because if you're 17 and still haven't dated anyone yet, well, its kind of embarrassing. Since my grades are pretty attractive, I was able to brush off the 'Why are you still single? Are you gay or something?'comments and lie that "I'm only focusing on my studies right now". Talk about lame excuses... I'm surprised most people actually believe bullshit like that... Oh no! Its almost 8:30am, I better grab something to eat and head for school! I've got a big test today! Being a school-mark fanatic, I won't want to be late for it and miss out on 2 minutes of extra time to go over the paper! After grabbing a piece of toast my mom prepared for me, I ran out the door towards the same old school I've been going to for the past 3 years, Snow Crest High. I hated when I couldn't get a drive! 15 minutes of walking would totally piss me off for the rest of the day! On the way to school, I saw my best friends Kerry and Ada. I don't know why, but I just make friends with females a whole lot faster than guys. Odd, isn't it? Well, both girls are 5'6, but Kerry is quiet and seldom talk while Ada is a blabber mouth. She can talk all day. But her obsession with the Backstreet Boys can sometimes be something for me to tease her with. "Hey, Joe! I saw Christina Aguilera last night on Leno. Her dress was so tight. Why doesn't she ever stop showing her navel?" complained Ada. "I have no idea why you like her. She's such a slut." "Whatever! (My generic answer) She's the best!" was all I said. "The performance was totally amazing. Even though I'm not into Ricky Martin, I still love the song!" And I start singing Christina's verses for 'Nobody Wants to be Lonely' in her face. It's weird, I'm not too into Ricky Martin. Being a gay teen, you'd probably expect me to masturbate thinking about Ricky Martin. Well, I don't! Sometimes I even think about Christina. Sometimes I think I'm bi. Haha. Then I would have a lot more choices! Wouldn't I? "JoJo, what are you smiling about?" asked Kerry. "Don't tell me you're thinking about Christina again..." This girl can totally read my mind! What's wrong with her? No wonder she's my most trusted pal. If I ever tell her I'm gay or bi or whatever I am, I'd totally tell her first, but I prefer to stay in the closet for awhile. Maybe she already noticed by now that my eyes are always fused to hot guys' buns at school. Well, at least Ada suspected and keeps telling me "We'll still love you even if you are?". Well, the closet is quite comfortable at the moment and I prefer staying there for a while. "Are you ready for your Calculus test?", she interrupted. "Ready as ever! Studying for 5 hours should be enough. If I don't get at least 95% I'd puke!" "Shut up! You're so obsessed!" scolded Ada. When we made it to school, Kerry and me departed since we didn't have the same home-form as Ada. At my locker, I spotted Kenneth. "Hey! What's new, champ?" said Kenneth as he leaned onto my locker door. Oh. I guess he saw me too. God, another stupid conversation with my competitor... "Nothing much. Just the usual nervous breakdowns before a test." I joked. "You'll do fine." was his reply as he slapped me on my back. "Ouch! What's wrong with you? You want to knock me senseless?". As I said that, I shoved him off my locker door, slammed it shut and then took off to do my test. Kenneth, all I can say is, * he is a maniac!* Sometimes I think he's a potential serial killer. One pad on the back by him would put you in a coma! And I mean it too! He has no idea how much force he uses. Sometimes he likes choking people and he doesn't realize they really can't breath with a pair of hands wrapped around their necks. Despite his ridiculous actions, he's a hottie. All the female freshman in our school wants him. With his 5'10" built and boyish cutie pie looks, all the girls would bow to him with no questions asked. I wonder if I hurt his feelings pushing him off? Oh well, no time to worry about that right now. People say I'm oversensitive. After that cheesy test and a long boring class of physics with a bunch of idiots, it was lunchtime. As I headed towards the cafeteria, I saw Anthony and his pals. Anthony, the guy I've had a crush on for one and a half years is still absolutely gorgeous. He had blue eyes, blonde hair, and stands 5'9". Just right for me. He's the shy guy in the school. Its so cute to see his face turn red when you harass him. Rumour has it that he jacked some guy off in class at the back of the room. That's when people started to think he was gay. Living in a society that generally resents homosexuality, he denied everything. As thirty people tried to push through the two doors towards the caf, I purposely leaned onto Anthony just to feel his body for a moment. It was so strong, not even I could believe he's gay. How do these rumours start? After rummaging through the crowd for my friends, I located them occupying our usual table in the far left end corner doing their usual chitchat. So, I joined them. "How was your day, Joe!" cried Leo. The outcast in our grade, we just try to make him feel welcome because nobody in school really likes him. Why? He's terribly annoying... "Same old. Same old" I didn't want to start a conversation with him, it'll last literally forever. I quickly got out my lunch and stuffed my mouth full of food so he'd shut up and stop asking me questions. He did and went off to bug the others around the table. He chose Lily, the spoiled beauty queen, and she started complaining about how the teacher yelled at her for answering her cell phone during class. "How'd you do on the test? JoJo" asked Kerry peeking from her book. "I totally lost it after doing 8 pages of derivatives." After taking a bite of her sandwich, she continued, "That last question was so hard!" "I thought the questions were pretty easy actually." Being straightforward as usual. Sometimes, I may seem like a snob to people who don't know me, but my friends know that's just me, I tell the truth. I just hope there doesn't come a day when they ask me if I'm gay or not. I'd probably tell the truth. After telling her how to do that difficult question, we started talking about what was on TV last night. Suddenly, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I was kind of pissed off since I was talking about the best part of Dawson's Creek that was on last night. What can be bigger than little old Joey Potter having sex with Pacey Witter? I slowly turned around with my angry eyes ready to fire at whoever it was, but found Anthony standing before me. My heart jumped. And I quickly mumbled, "Um, hi, what's up?" "Um, hi Joey, I just wanted to ask you how to do a calculus question since I have a test next period." Anthony said quickly, "Oh, if you are busy, its okay. I can come back later." And started turning around to walk away before I grabbed his arm. Oh my god, am I that desperate to spend a moment of time with him? "Oh, I'm free. Just give me a second." I quickly made room for him to sit down and shoved Leo off his seat, did the question, and kept looking at him from time to time. As he was looking at the page, I studied his face. It was smooth, and gently. Its so cute! I finally snapped out of that trance after a while noticing that he was telling me he understood the concept now. Oh my god, he must have realized that I had the hots for him for looking at him for so long. "Thanks Joey.", saying that while looking at the floor getting ready to leave. "No, thank you.", was my response. When I get nervous, I always thank whoever is there. Looking puzzled, Anthony walked off towards his friend. "Why is your face all red, Joe?" joked Ada. "You have the hots for him, don't you? He just might consider you since he's gay. Its okay, we'll all support you. Hahahaha." I glared at Ada and replied, "Yeah! And you should make out with Leo!". Good thing I'm pretty good at comebacks. Ada and I started to engage in another one of our long hour battles. I wonder how long this one would last? Our last playful argument lasted for 3 days. All we did when we met was argue, its actually good practice for my debating skills. The day passed by quickly and I headed home right after school with Kerry. We were working on our chemistry project together. As we entered my house, Kerry suddenly spoke, "JoJo. I have a question to ask you," "Sure, you're my best friend, you know I'll tell you anything." Not knowing what she's getting at. "I've wanted to ask you for a long time. I noticed you always stare at guys..." Kerry said cautiously. I was shocked. She spotted my secret. "I...I..." was all that could get out of my mouth. What should I do? I can't possibly tell her, can I? "Kerry, I..." "Don't worry, Joe, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone. It's just that I've noticed you stare at Anthony a lot. Every time you see him, you would look as if you're in a dream and smile." She held my arm to comfort me. I nodded slowly and mumbled, "Kinda." My secret was out. I felt scared, but relieved. At least now I can tell someone about my feelings. I cautiously asked "Am I that obvious?" "A little bit. You always seem mesmerized after Anthony walks by. But don't worry, everyone is too busy doing their own thing to notice. Haha, Anthony is pretty hot, I can understand" The scene was a lot more relaxing after that and I laughed, "I know, I still remember when you liked him. I was kind of jealous, but I tried to hook you guys up. So I can see him more often! Hahahahaha." "Hey!", she screamed. Then we all started laughing. Months continued as usual. I continue to rule the Science stream and Kerry would continue to sit on her Arts stream throne. Everyone says we're the most compatible teammates, together we can conquer. I thought we would make a pretty cool couple if I was didn't set my eyes on Anthony. Haha. Even if I didn't, I'd be lookin' at some other guy. Then, reality decided to surprise me. One day Anthony started dating a girl! An ugly dominating girl named Edith! Sorry, I didn't go home and cry and cry and curse the whole world. Sorry, I don't really cry at all. Sometimes people call me cold-blooded, maybe I am. Quite on the contrary, I stopped liking him and felt no sparks flying anymore. Anthony and me actually became really good friends, me being his love-adviser. My mentor in this field would be Lily, she dumps a guy every now and then. It was approaching the end of the school year and my friends were planning this big bash. We all decided to take a huge group picture. I'm quite popular in school, I hang out with a lot of people other than Kerry and them. Let me introduce you to some of them: Yvonne the Drama Queen, literally she loves drama; Fanny the God preacher; Jean the pretty face with a killer mouth; Albert and Nicole the French kiss masters; Jennifer the really tall dark complexioned Chinese; Eddy the short handsome boy always flooded with girl problems; Gary aka porkchop for his 'built' and height; Laura and Kyle the perfect couple; Lawrence the karaoke junkie; Ronda, Eva, and Amy the three shopping musketeers. Everything was planned and we were going to go nuts. Movie, dinner, and a night of fun. (Everyone mentioned already was going!) This is the end of Chapter 1. I bet you guys won't guess what I have in stored for chapter 2. Comments are always welcome. Yes, even the bad ones. Not too harsh though. Until next time, One Shy Rugrat =) Copyrights@ 2001. One Shy Rugrat. All Rights Reserved.