Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 07:48:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Christoper Lock Subject: Staring Contest, Chapter 3 Sorry this took A LONG TIME, but here it is, all rights are still mine.. Moanalua High...Man this place brings back bad memories. I left this place with the sole purpose to never come back, and here I am breaking that vow, and all for what? A guy that I don't even have a clue that's gay or not? "what the hell are you getting yourself into V?" I said to myself. I tried to push that thought aside because I was here to cheer on Jay and Brandon. With my thoughts in check I headed to the football field. But one thought remained, do people still remember? "He's off to the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10 TOUCHDOWN!!!!! MOANALUA!!!!!!" The announcer yelled into the microphone, and the crowd went bananas, people literally jumped off their seat and started hooting and hollering. That touchdown made the score 27 Moanalua( Blocked one of the Points after Touchdown) 14 Campbell after the 3rd quarter. This game couldn't have been more frustrating to watch, not only because our teams losing, but I constantly keep watching out for my back to see if I would spot James McAllister. You're now wondering who this James is right. Well lets just say he is the main reason why I transferred schools, you see James and I use to be "together" If you could ever call it that. He was one of the jocks, yet was smart as hell too, I think that's what attracted me to him that he has both brains and brawns. since he was smart enough to get into some AP classes; he happened to land into one of my AP History classes, things started off normal, we started off just as acquaintances but at one point during class we got paired up to do a presentation on the civil war. From that moment on we were more than just acquaintances, we got to know one another with the time we spent doing our project. We got an A on the project, I never had a doubt about it we work so hard on that piece, and as a celebration for hard work he decided we go out to celebrate, being 16 and still having conflicting feelings about the same sex I never thought nothing of it. Lets just say that the dinner was a hit and one thing led to another and the next thing you know I was in his bedroom making out with him. Those memories were such a blur that I am surprising myself right now, that I remember this. What really bothered me the most, and the one thing that angers me at the same time was what came after it. Someone had the audacity to spread rumors about me that I was gay, I don't know how they got a hold of that information but they did. Being the boy that I was I didn't want this to ruin me so I just kept denying to whom ever asked, but this type of shit you just couldn't ignore, within the next coming weeks I was harassed and humiliated, picked on and beat up through no fault of my own. The worst part about it, James never looked at me after that, I was a complete ghost to him, at one point I tried talking to him but he just shoved me to the ground and told me to never speak or look at him ever again, and that nothing ever happened that night. He was too caught up with the high school royalty system that he didn't want to fuck up, he would rather uphold a fictitious persona that he plays to the crowd than rather be true to himself, fuck I couldn't blame him I was denying everything that came my way, but unlike James I was an average Joe, good enough grades, good enough looks, and did enough in school to get by, I never joined any teams or any clubs. I was just like everyone else, and that's what ruined me. Eventually the bullying and the harassment got so bad that I had no choice but to transfer out to a different city to a different school and that was fine by me. I thought of this as a new beginning. After all that drama, I vowed to never get too close to someone that I cant trust whole heartedly, that's why my friends are few but that's all I need quality not quantity, sure I hang with a big crowd now but I wouldn't consider all of them friends, acquaintances more than anything. I also vowed to hit the gym and bulk up, take some boxing classes to toughen me up. With emotional pain came the physical pain as well, If you looked at me I was a walking bruise, cut lip here, swollen eye there, but not anymore, im not going through that again. "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!CAMPBELL!!!!!!" What the fuck?! What the hells going on? I looked at my surrounding and at the score bored, Campbells down just one touchdown for the win, and we are in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter. Was I dwelling that much on the past that I fucking forgot what the hell was going on? Damn I got to stop with this nonsense, I mean the past is in the past right? And I shouldn't dwell on it? I took a second look around and I saw Red with a couple of sodas and a hot dog heading towards me. "bro where were you?" "V? are you serious? I told you that I was getting something for us to drink and eat man, you seemed preoccupied so I just went a head and got our shit." "oh, okay, thanks man." He just nodded. This couldn't have gotten any more close than it already is, Campbell just needs a touchdown for the win and its 3rd and a long 7 yards towards the end zone with only 30 seconds left. Brandon made a crucial tackle during Moanaluas possession and that allowed for us to get the ball, man he makes it look so effortless, I don't know If I was seeing things but when he jogged to the sidelines he took off his helmet and looked towards my way and was just beaming with pride, I wonder if that was meant for me? Maybe one of his family members was near me and was smiling at them, yeah that was probably it. I look back out onto the field and saw that the ball was hiked to our schools qb, and the clock had just expired this was it, one throw. "AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!!!! CAMPBELL DID IT! CAMPBELL DID IT!" yelled the announcer, I swear if he kept it up he would lose his voice in no time, but what he said was true, Campbell just beat Moanalua, with a last second pass. Man that was a crazy ass play; I couldn't believe we got it too. I was still pumped up after that as I walked towards the locker room doors to wait for Jay and Brandon to see what the plan for tonight was, no doubt we would be throwing a party; we always do anyways, win or lose. "Where the fuck are they? Jesus does it really take this long for a couple of guys to change and get out of the damn locker rooms?" I know what your thinking, that im an impatient person, and to be quite honest I am, I don't like waiting, but seriously its been 30 minutes, does it really take that long? I bet they're playing grab ass...*lucky*. After Campbells come from behind win I called up some of the people we all cruised with at school and told them to meet everyone at our local beach, its very remote, hardly any security there so that's a plus, and we've been there on numerous occasions that there wouldn't be confusion among our group about which specific beach it was. "Yo V!" I turned towards the locker room and saw Jay jogging towards me in just his sweat pants and tank top. "Man what the fuck took so long brah?" He just looked at me and laughed" impatient fucka, I was changing man! But enough of that, what we doing?" Before I could answer him my cell rang indicating that I had a message, it read: all of us are headed to the beach now, we got some pupu's(Hawaiian for appetizers)and a couple packs of Heinekens! I turned to Jay, "that was the boys, there all headed to Nimitz Beach right now as we speak, got a couple of Heinekens and pupu's, prolly bon fire like last time, so get your gear and lets dig out!" He looked at me with widen eyes. "oh shit I almost forgot my bags, eh wait a sec den, imma grab um right now from the locker room" With that Jay ran into the room , as he was going in I saw Brandon coming out, and what a sight to behold, he had on some basketball shorts that complimented his body oh so well!, and was in the process of putting on his t-shirt, and I got a glimpse of his rock hard abs and with that vision I started to salivate. It made me aware of two things as I saw him put on his shirt, one: he is FUCKING HOTT!, and two: it made me feel really self-conscious about my body, and how its still under construction. Brandon came walking towards me with a smile. "Hey V, how'd you like the game man?" I just smiled back,(for some odd reason, he makes me smile a lot) "the most exciting game I've seen ,ever! in a high school game anyways..haha" he was just beaming with pride now "glad you liked it." Silence came after that, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one, we just kept staring off somewhere else and took peeks at each other when the other wasn't looking. "Say, Brandon, what are you doing now?" He looked at me with a straight face. "well it seems to me that im talking to you?" What an ass, and I was going to let him know too "ASS!" we both started to laugh after that, but I got the strength to stop and look at him again. "Seriously." He stopped laughing too, "Well nothing really, I was just gonna head on home and relax." Maybe he might be interested in coming? But he said he wanted to rest, should I interrupt that? These questions were circling through my head but I had to ask, just in case he was remotely interested. " why don't you kick it with me and my friends, were celebrating your teams win at Nimitz Beach, got a couple of beers and some food, me and jay are going to be there so you wont feel out of place, and I'll introduce you to my friends." It wasn't too long before I got a reply, "sure, that sounds like fun man, would it be okay if I rode with you? I don't know where Nimitz Beach is." I just nodded, "Sure". Just as I said that Jay came rushing out of the locker rooms, "Brah lets dig out! I need me a beer", I just shook my head, "take it easy, we got a lot of time fo' spare, Brandons coming with us too" Jay just looked at Brandon and smiled " the more the merrier, that's how I looked at it, your gonna like my friends B, stupid buncha guys but cool none the less." We got to Nimitz beach close to 930pm, we were just in time too because our friends just started to pile in as well, the lay out of the beach was simple, one side of the street was the parking ,and across the street was the beach, its nothing to gawk at during the day, but when night rolls around, man it makes you wanna get down and dirty under the stars..haha, or is that just me? We stopped by the local 7-11 to grab a pack of Red Bulls, usually these type of things went on through the night and early morning so that's what I was carrying while making my way to the camp fire, with Brandon right behind me if im pulling an all nighter, I gotta have some Energy Drinks handy. When I got there everyone started to call my name. "V!!!!!" I just smiled back and yelled "Wassup you FUCKAS!!!!!" everyone started laughing, including Brandon, I could hear him snicker, I turned around and grinned at him. "eh everyone wait a sec, I wanna introduce you to Jay's team mate Brandon." With that I took him around to meet all the guys, from the ones he already met like Red, to the ones he hasn't met yet like Mark and Ace. After the formal intro. I walked to an open spot near the camp fire with 2 beers in hand with my pack of Red Bull, Brandon had a plate of food with him and a bottle of water. We sat near Jazz and Red " eh Jazz member Brandon?!" Jazz just nodded and said sup, and Brandon did the same as well. I opend my beer and tapped Brandon on his shoulder, "want one?" he just shook his head no, who am I to force him to drink one, with that I downed my beer in literally one chug, I never knew I was that thirsty. I turned to Brandon again. "Your gonna be a senior next year right?" he just nodded with a mouthful of food. " Any thoughts about college?" " well I was approached by a couple of mainland schools to show their interest in me, but to be honest Im thinking about staying home maybe go to UH." With that he took another bite of his food. " sound like a plan, im planning on going to UH myself to try and take up medicine." " oh that's cool , maybe if your still there and I attend we could chill and stuff."" Yeah sounds like a plan." He took a swig of his water and then asked me a question. " you always wanted to do medicine?" I looked at him into his eyes and saw that he was listening intently " to be honest, no, its what my mom wants me to do, she says its where the moneys at, but I really want to take up culinary, learn to cook and who knows own my own restaurant." He just smiled at me. " why not go for it, V my philosophy on life, well career wise, why work at a job that you don't like while dreaming about the job that you could have gone and done." I just looked at him with bewilderment, man he's so mature for a guy that's a year younger than me, that's what attracts me to him soo much. " True." I took another swig at my drink. " How about you? You have any ideas as to what you want to do in college? Major wise?" He thought about it for a minute. " Doctor, well Physical Therapist in sports, I want to be involved with sports as long as possible if im not playing it, why not help out?" I just nodded in agreement. Our conversation was interrupted with hoots and hollering, I turned around, low and behold, girls. Im guessing Jay had invited them to come and celebrate with us, Jay is known around school as a "man whore", the guys with a different chick every other week, we mess with him about it but its all in fun. "Im guessing Jay asked some of his "friends" to come and chill with us, I know a couple of them, want to meet them?" I turned to look at Brandon to see what he wanted to do. "umm..sure I guess." With that we got up from our spot and headed to the girls, as I approached them I heard three of the five girls I knew call my name. "Hey V!!! Where you been?" I just laughed aloud, "None of your bizz..nah just kidding, been here the whole time, I wanna introduce you to a friend of mine." As I approached closer, so did the three. "Girls this is Brandon, a new friend of mine and Jays teammate on the football team." He just waved at them and whispered a barely audible "hi" I wonder why he's all shy?. "Brandon these three sexy women are Krystal, Tiani, and Janessa." They all just waved and shook hands, Krystal and Janessa made small talk with him while I got pulled aside by Tiani. "Whats up?" she just looked at me. "Is he your?.." I smiled at her, besides Jazz Tiani was one of the other few people that knows about me being gay, she kept her word that she would never tell and becomes a big sister here and there every time im with a guy that she hasn't met or known of yet. "I wish, I just met him no less than 2 weeks ago, for all I know he could be a gay basher." She just kept looking at me. "Just wondering, here I am, having not seen you in a week or so and your with this new guy, who is by the way really hot." I had to stifle a laugh which got Brandon's attention with a confused look but smiling all the while, I mouthed "sorry" and focused back on Tiani. "If anything ever comes up that is news worthy you know I will call you first, you know that right?" She just smiled and gave me a big hug with her small frame. " I know, I just don't want you to get hurt like last time." I forgot to mention, she knows about the situation with James back in Moanalua. "Don't worry about me, im a big boy now." I just grinned at her, which gave me a slap on the arm. "Ow!" but I was smiling, and she was to. "to be completely honest, im glad that you're here, a weeks been the longest I haven't talked to you." She smiled, "I know, I know, with college applications and the Graduation Committee underway ive been busy, but well get together this weekend." I smiled, and saw that Krystal and Janessa were waiting for her. " Well talk more later about the specifics, your girls are waiting for you." with that I gave her a hug and headed towards her girls while I made my way back towards Brandon. But when I approached him, he seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face. " a penny for your thoughts?" he just smiled at me and said. "nah don't wanna bother you with it, but your friends are pretty cool, Krystal and Janessa know a couple of my other friends and they seemed to be genuinely interested in the game of football, which struck me as odd cuz what girl, let alone two are ever interested in football?" I just looked at him and laughed, " man those two girls are die hard UH fans, both have brother on the UH team so more of a reason for them to watch and cheer them on. "ahhh, ic." It went quiet for a bit. "Is Tiani your girlfriend?" I looked at him with a confused look, what gave him the idea? "No, shes like my big sister, ive known her for a while now, and we were just catching up." When I looked at him when I said that, it seemed to me as if his face showed a sudden relief. But maybe that was just my imagination. "What gave you the impression that she was?" he seemed to have gotten red with embarrassment, "well by the way she dragged you off to the side and when she hugged you, I thought you guys were together." With a straight face I said, "so you were watching me the entire time?" His face got even more red. "well, i...uh, ummm" I just had to laugh, "haha, Brandon im playing with you man, don't sweat the small stuff." And I gave him a playful nudge with my elbow, which I got bac k in return with his shoulder. Man even the slightest touch from him, gets me hot and bothered. Now it was my turn to ask about him. "So what about you? You got a girlfriend?" he just looked at me silently and said "its kind of a touchy subject, do you mind if I tell you another time?" I just nodded, I mean im not one to pry, but I thought that we were getting a bit closer as friends that he would have told me, I guess not. The rest of the night, went off without a hitch, but after the question that I asked Brandon earlier, he seemed to have been a bit reserved throughout the rest of the party, I was watching him, mingle a bit, but not fully interact as I thought he would have. Oh well, maybe when he's ready hell tell me. That's it for now... Thanks and mahalo's