Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 19:19:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Jo Jo Subject: Wayward People Chap 6 "And Then Things Change" Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy! Wayward People Chapter 6 "And Then Things Change" It's one thing to take in some kid from another country, but it's another when the kid turns out to be more than you expected. I would have been okay if the only thing that was different about Troy was that he was another race. I would have totally been okay with that. Hell, I would have preferred that. And I would have been okay if Troy wasn't incredibly gorgeous and outgoing and the total opposite of myself. I would have been okay with so much. Because it would have been unexpected, but normal. Things with the Troy that we got, however, were anything but normal. Things in my life had definitely changed because of him, in many ways. For starters, I was receiving more attention than I wanted from my classmates. Three in particular. First there was Evan, a guy who I'd always made the effort to avoid my whole life. All of a sudden he picks on me out of the blue a week before Troy comes, and instead of getting back to his non existent life, he decides he wants to torment me even more. Fine. Then there was his idiotic best friend, Andrew. Andrew was the very definition of a follower. If someone asked me if I'd jump off a cliff because everyone else was doing it, I'd ask things like "do I get a parachute?" "Is there a deep lake below?" Andrew? He'd just jump, no questions asked as long as it was 'cool' and find himself in a place much hotter than Nevada. Lastly there was Sienna, the girlfriend to that jackass Evan. While I hadn't exactly avoided her all my life, I also hadn't come into contact with her at all until the same week Troy had come. It was weird how a seemingly perfect girl like her was dating, of all people, Evan Parker. That baffled me and her always trying to find ways to talk to me alone baffled me. Those four people were the main people I'd found myself thinking about lately. But then there was someone else. Someone I hadn't really known before yesterday. Pete Reynolds. What was supposed to be his deal anyway? I mean, what was with him sticking up for me like that? I didn't know him and he didn't know me. And really, that should have been the end of it for both of us. All he did was just stick up for me when I was doing what I usually did, acting like a spineless coward. Only, why was I thinking about him now like I was....... My thoughts were interrupted when I heard knocking at my door. To my surprise, it was Troy. I was surprised because ever since that phone call yesterday, Troy had been acting even more unusual than before. He only talked to any of us all day if we had talked to him first, and even then it was just idle chit chat. No deep conversations at all. Of course, I'd only just come to expect that from Troy. After all, he'd told me himself that he was a complicated person and to some extent I understood that. What I didn't understand was why he didn't want to talk to anyone from home. Even at the mere mention of where he came from, he'd try and change the subject. I guess I was just going to have to get used to it. And I was trying my best at least. My parents, were a different story. They had spent most of yesterday debating what to do about Troy, as if there was something they could do at all. I guess my dad just wanted to sit back and see if Troy got a little more comfortable living with us before he did anything while my mom wanted to do any and everything possible to try and cheer him up. I wanted whatever Troy wanted, as long as he stuck to his promise of wanting to try and be a better person. He'd probably tell me more about himself and where he was from as he grew more comfortable with me. "So....I guess you wanna know about that phone call huh?" Troy asked. I never would have expected him to bring that up, especially after waiting a whole day. But I guess I was curious. "Well, I mean....we all thought it was kind of weird..you not wanting to talk to anyone from home," I replied, putting on my watch. "Yeah well...actually I know who is was," Troy replied. He walked over to my bed and sat on the edge of it, back turned to me. I just waited for him to finish before I said anything. "It was my...ex girlfriend," he started. So not what I wanted to hear. I mean, I guess most of me knew that Troy was straight. But now that he was admitting that he had an ex, an ex girlfriend, I guess that just ruined any hope I had of having a romantic relationship with him. "Really?" I found myself saying. Troy turned slightly sideways to face me before continuing. "Yeah, well...she called earlier and I kinda hung up...so I knew it was her calling again the second time." One thing I noticed was that even though Troy was telling this to me with full confidence, it seemed more like he was trying to convince me of something, rather than relaying the facts. "Bad break up?" I asked. Troy just forced a slight smile and looked up at me. "Nothing I really feel like getting into," he replied, standing up. "But...I just felt like letting you know what was going on.....I mean, I promised myself I was going to try and do better." "I know...and I think that's great..." I replied. But....well. maybe there was more. Maybe Troy just didn't want to tell me what was really going on because it was too painful for him. Either way, I wasn't about to start prying for information. What he told me was enough. For now. "Oh...hey guys, mom made breakfast," Max spoke, entering the room. "Is that the watch dad gave you like....three years ago?" I looked down at the expensive watch my dad had given me for my thirteenth birthday. "And?" I asked. "Just...weird that you're finally wearing it is all," Max replied looking me over. And once he said it, he had Troy also looking me over as well. "Did you out gel in your hair?" Max asked, messing with my attempted spiky hairdo. I swatted him away. Troy giggled. "You're so weird," Max replied, heading with downstairs. So I put gel in my hair for once and so I was wearing the three year old expensive watch. Didn't mean anything....did it? I mean, now that I think about it....I really have no idea what I was thinking with the gel. Maybe I was trying to impress Troy. I don't know. It doesn't matter now if I was though. Troy had all but confirmed that he wasn't ever gonna be into me. But I couldn't just ungel my hair now. I'd just have to leave it the way it was and deal with it. "You coming man?" Troy asked. I took one last look at myself in the mirror before giving him his answer. "Sure." *********************************************************************** I guess I mainly only went to school to write. I mean, sure I did what was expected of me. But I usually understood what o do right away and was done way before class was over. And since I didn't have any friends, I'd take out a notepad and start writing. So I guess you could say I was a little lost when it came to the names and faces of the people in my own classes. I figured, if they didn't give a shit, why should I? That was the way it had always been really. And I guess I'd actually come to enjoy it. Ignoring everyone and focusing on my stories had allowed me to get several books done over the years. Because for some strange reason, once I got home, I never really felt like writing anymore. "I've always wondered what you're always writing." I'd barely heard whoever had said it because I was busy killing off another character in my horror story. But when I looked up, I almost blinked twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "Pete?" I asked. "You sound so surprised," he smiled. Uh, yeah, I was surprised. I never really noticed him before, so I had no idea he was even in my class. Plus, he was in Liza's seat. I only knew her name because Liza was the first person I had tried to ask out when I was on my 'gotta play straight' phase. "Where's Troy?" Pete asked. Troy must have been skipping somewhere with Evan. I wasn't his keeper. I didn't know where he was really, just as long as he wasn't messing with me.... "I don't know," I replied honestly. I never had been a people person. I wasn't very good at starting relationships with people of my own accord. But if they did all the talking, eventually I'd grow comfortable enough with them to the point where I'd feel like I'd known them forever. The beginning was always the hardest. Since our teacher was gone for the day and we had a substitute that couldn't tell her own right from left foot, this period was basically a free one. One that I had been using well up until Pete had gave me the shock of my life. I never really thought of myself as being all that dense a person. But not knowing he was in my class just proved that I kinda was. "Um...." I didn't know what to say. I figured Pete might have been fishing around for a word of thanks for his part in saving me from Evan. "Thanks again....for yesterday," I said, not really looking up at Pete. Sure I was intimidated by him. He was another jock and I hated those. But he was also incredibly gorgeous and that scared me a little. Not him being gorgeous, but the fact that I felt the same way around him that I had felt when I first met Troy. Pete shifted in his chair a bit. "Well, let's forget about it," he replied. "I'm sure you don't wanna talk about it anyway." He was right. I didn't want to talk about it and I didn't want to remember it at all. "So...you wanna tell me what that story of yours is about?" he asked. Mentioning my work had me looking up at him again. He had a slight smile on his face that gave off a warmth that was making him seem less intimidating. "Oh...well-" I was about to respond but stopped when I heard a girl from class calling Pete over to a large group of other kids from my class. Pete looked back at them before looking back at me. "Maybe we can talk about it over lunch or something..." he started standing up. "Yeah...sure," I replied. Pete flashed me another smile before he joined his group of friends, leaving me alone like I almost always was. This whole thing was strange. Why was someone like Pete Reynolds being so nice to me? It made no sense. Then again, a lot of things in my life lately made no sense. *********************************************************************** "Hey..." I placed an apple down on my tray before looking over to see Troy standing next to me in line. I was mad at him. He'd skipped the first four periods of the day. I knew because he and I shared every class together and he was the only person that I would notice being absent from any one of my classes. And now he decided to show up for lunch? Hell, if you're gonna skip, why not stay gone until after lunch? At least that way you get to eat off campus somewhere. "Where've you been all day?" I asked. Troy grinned but looked away. "Do we have to talk about it?" he asked. "You expected me not to?" I asked. He was so cocky in the way that he did things and expected people not to question him. "Look," Troy sighed, placing a plate of pizza on his tray. "I was with Evan, okay." I groaned inwardly before sliding my tray along. "And so what? He dumped you off here or something?" I asked. Really. I mean, why all of a sudden did he feel the need to show his face to me? "I just thought you'd wanna know who I was with," Troy replied. "Because you already know Evan and I are best buds, huh?" I had to say, Troy certainly did bring out the worst in me. That was a special quality he had that I really hoped he'd learned to get rid of somehow. "Why are you being like this?" Troy asked. I sighed and moved along. "Is this what they do in Canada? Act like you don't have a clue how the real world is?" "Wha..." "In the real world, people don't just disappear and expect the people they live with to act like they didn't!" "Mike-" "No I get it, it's cool. I mean, time must really fly by when you're having fun with Evan." I didn't even wanna look at Troy right now. He'd pissed me off. Troy had said my name and grabbed my shoulder, not too rough, in an attempt to try and explain something to me, but the next thing I knew was that Pete had come up from somewhere and gotten in between Troy and I. "Hey....Troy right?" he asked, a big smile on his face, all the while slyly removing Troy's hand from my shoulder. Troy squinted his eyes as he looked Pete over. "Yeah," he replied, a bit coldly. "Nice to meet you man. I'm Pete...a friend of Mike's," Pete replied, holding out his hand for Troy to shake. A friend of mine? Troy still looked like he was still very skeptical of Pete as he took turns looking from him to me. But after a few seconds, he finally reached out and shook Pete's hand. While they were doing that, I had been feeling around in my back pockets for my wallet so that I could pay for my food. Then I remembered that my wallet must have been in one of the other pair of jeans that I'd changed out of this morning. Damn me trying to actually care about what I looked like at school for a change! I guess Pete must have noticed something was wrong. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing....just...left my wallet at home," I replied, a bit embarrassed. "Oh, well here," Pete replied, taking out his own wallet. Before he took out any money though, I watched as he went back and picked up a few more items and added them to both of our trays. "Might as well got our money's worth," he smiled, before handing a crisp ten dollar bill to the cashier and turning back around to face me. I looked at him as he was looking over at Troy, who was looking at me. "Well, I'm supposed to be eating with Evan..." "Great...don't let us keep you then," Pete spoke, a fake smile on his face. Troy sighed angrily before paying for his food and storming off. "You didn't have to do that you know," I said. "What, let you starve?" Pete asked. "You're right, but then what kind of a friend would I be?" Not that I particularly minded, but what was with everyone wanting to be my friend of all the people in the school they could actually be friends with? Then again, who was I to complain about that. At least Pete wasn't doing like Troy and spending all his time with Evan the day after he meets me. "Here, hold this for a sec," Pete spoke. He put his wallet on my tray and put his tray on mine while he bent down to tie up his shoe. Looking around, I noticed several pairs of eyes on me. Everyone was probably wondering what a nerd like me was doing with someone as popular as Pete. I was starting to grow a little uncomfortable with all the attention, but a few seconds later Pete stood back up and took his tray from me. "Let's find a table for just the two of us," Pete spoke. I was amazed at how casual Pete seemed to be treating this situation. It was almost like, to him, the two of us had been friends all year and that him treating me special and talking to me at all was something he'd done all year as well. He wasn't even trying to explain why he'd all but attached himself to me at the hip. And I wasn't even sure I wanted an explanation. The truth was, I liked all the attention. I just wasn't sure what kind of attention he was showing me. He led the both of us over to a table where no one else was sitting and took a seat to where his back would be facing all the people staring at us. I just tried my best to ignore them as I sat down as well. "Sorry about intruding like that," Pete started. "It just looked like Troy might have been giving you a hard time or something." Well, I did appreciate being saved again. But sooner or later, Troy and I were going to have a serious talk about a lot of things. Otherwise, the two of us might be spending all year at odds. I really wasn't sure what to say again. While Troy brought out the worst in me, at least with him, I had the confidence to speak what was on my mind. With Pete it was different, and I was constantly being reminded of that everytime he started another conversation. "So....I bet you wanna know what my deal is right?" Pete started. I had been hoping he'd explain this to me but I didn't dare bring it up. "Sorta, yeah," I replied sheepishly. Pete smiled at me smiling before replying. "I guess you just remind me of how I used to be when I first moved here last year. Quiet, observant. Not altogether outgoing." If he hadn't said that these were qualities that he himself used to possess, I might have been a little offended. "Sorry if you think I'm being a jerk-" "No, you're.....just..." I found myself looking around at everyone in the lunchroom, a lot of the people who were staring at the two of us. "Aren't you worried what people might think if they see us together?" "What are they supposed to think?" "I don't know...that were like....fags or something?" Don't really even know why that popped into my head. Probably because it's what I would think if I saw two guys all of a sudden talking and eating with each other. Two guys like us. "I used to worry about what people thought too," Pete replied. "In this town, you have to worry because everyone knows each others business." I looked dead at Pete. "So why-" "You just have to tell yourself that people are gonna talk no matter what." And I knew that, I really did. I guess I just put too much stock in the things that people did and said. It had been what had kept me from forming any serious relationships because I was always too afraid of what the person might be thinking about me. And I guess, as Pete was pointing out, I still thought that way. "And you changed?" I asked. "You can't just do it on your own," Pete replied. "Everyone needs a friend." There was that word again. Coming from yet another popular person who, unlike me, noticed me more than I noticed them. It just made me think about Troy, Sienna, and Evan, and all of our encounters. I actually wondered what they were doing right now...... "Look at them...like a couple of fags," Evan laughed with Andrew. Sienna and Troy continued looking in the general direction that most everyone else was looking. "Isn't Pete like captain of the baseball team?" Troy asked. "Doesn't mean shit. The only team that matters around here is the one that I'm captain of," Evan replied. "Besides, most fags play baseball anyway." Andrew and Evan had themselves a good laugh before they each calmed back down. "I always knew Max's brother was a pole sucker, but hell, Pete Reynolds man...that's new," "Can we not be idiots for like two seconds please?" Sienna spoke, sounding annoyed. "Awwwww, what's the matter baby? You wanna be those two's official fag hag?" Evan teased. "Oh god, grow up!" Sienna spoke angrily. Andrew laughed while blowing Sienna kisses in the air. "Hey, Troy.....you alright man?" Evan asked. "What?" Troy asked. "I'd be thinking hard if I lived with a fag too," Evan replied. "You know, I could talk to my parents. See about getting you to live with me..." "No, I'm good," Troy replied. "Alright...suit yourself," Evan replied. 'But I get to say I told you so when you wake up in the middle of the night and find the guy sniffing a pair of your boxers or something." Troy just managed a slight but fake smile and looked down. Lunch was nearly over, and I was finding it easier and easier to talk to Pete. The guy was so easy going, so that helped some. But the more time I spent with him, the more I was starting to realize that he was definitely someone that I was starting to grow feelings for. If not, feeling of lust anyway. "Shortstop...innings and homerun, now give me a story to write with words like that, not all this stuff about cats," Pete replied. "I know, and cactuses? Who's idea was that?" I laughed. We'd been talking about our creative writing assignment and how ridiculous it was the past few minutes. "Of course, you could probably turn anything into and interesting story, right?" I hoped to god I wasn't blushing. For once, I was actually surprised to hear the lunch bell ring. I normally spent most of lunch constantly checking my watch counting down the minutes before I'd be done with it. Most everyone in the cafeteria started to get up instantly but Pete and I just stayed seated. I stayed because he was staying and staring directly at me, smiling. "What?" I asked. "Nothing...just, I'm glad you don't think I'm crazy or something," he replied. "I mean, I know how weird it looked for me to be talking to you out of the blue." "No," I replied, standing up. "I didn't think....okay maybe just a little." Pete laughed before standing up himself. "Well this is where we say bye," Pete replied. I was guessing that meant we didn't have anymore classes with each other. I wouldn't really know. "Or just, see you around," I replied. "That we will, that we will," Pete replied, before picking up his tray and walking off. I almost felt like any minute now I'd start floating or something. I felt really warm inside. And happy for a change. I was never happy at school before. That was when I noticed it. Pete's wallet. He'd forgotten to get it after he put it on my tray and covered it with items from his own. And I'd forgotten about it as well. I picked it up and opened it up. He had quite a few cards and pictures in it, as well as money. I left the money and pictures alone and started to close it, but noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of one of the card slots. Curiosity possessed me to open it and read it. All it was was a note reminding Pete that he had baseball practice all week at four and that he was gonna be giving some guy named Reese a ride home. I had just managed to put the note up before I noticed Troy coming towards me. "I need to talk to you," he spoke, sounding like he was in a hurry. He stopped and noticed the wallet in my hand. "Is that his?" he asked. I looked down at it. "Yeah, so what." I replied, putting my backpack on and picking up my tray to dump. Troy followed me as I did. "People are talking...about the two of you," he started. "Really?" "How do you know you can trust this guy? I mean don't you think it's weird how he all of a sudden wants to be your best friend?' "No Troy, I think you're weird," I replied. I guess not only did Troy bring about confidence in me, but I also turned into a mean person around him. I noticed Troy look down and I instantly felt sorry for saying it but a moment later, Troy looked back up. "I just think you should be careful. Believe or not, I don't like seeing you hurt." I knew what this was about. Troy wasn't a very trusting person. He'd made that painfully obvious to everyone in my family and to me time and time again. I guess it was just in his nature to be suspicious of Pete. What I didn't get was why. At least Pete was telling me things about himself. Which was more than I seemed to be getting from Troy. And now he has the nerve to try and warn me away. Like he should be the only strange new person I allow myself to come into contact with or something. Bullshit was what it was and Troy was starting to make me rethink my decision to give him another chance. "Thanks for the warning," I replied. "But don't you have to get back to Evan?" I asked. It was mean and I knew it but Troy was going to have to start giving me reasons not to be so hostile towards him. *********************************************************************** "Pssst." Max turned around. "What?" he whispered. Evan leaned even closer to him. "Come back here," he replied. "What? No, you come up here!" Max replied. The two of them were in computer class and were supposed to be silently practicing their typing but Evan had quickly grown bored with it and wanted to talk to Max. Evan sat back and crossed his arms while Max sighed and begrudgingly got up and walked to the row where Evan was seated, taking the empty computer to his right. "So your brother's friends with Pete Reynolds now?" Evan started. Max flashed Evan a puzzled look. "What?" "We saw them...Troy and me...eating lunch together," Evan replied. "So," Max replied. "So? Dude!" "Not everyone thinks like you Evan," Max replied. "And I thought you said you were done picking on my brother!" Evan could sense Max's temper rising and figured he'd have to pace himself. "I am, I am...just...I thought it was weird," Evan replied. "We all did." "Yeah well a lot of things are weird, Evan," Max replied. "Doesn't mean it means something." Evan smirked to himself and stretched his arms. Max flipped to his side and sat back. "You know, I was thinking...maybe there's a way that I can make it up to your brother man," Evan started. Max flashed his a skeptical look. "Uh..." "I'm serious. You know the winter carnival is coming up soon right?" Evan asked. "And?" "I don't know....." Evan replied. "Nevermind." "Good. I just think it's be better if you didn't do Mike any favors," Max replied. Evan snickered to himself. The last thing he had in mind was doing anyone any favors. *********************************************************************** I'd been doing a lot of thinking about what I wanted to do about Pete's wallet. Should I wait until tomorrow to give it back to him? Or go to his practice after school and give to him then? Then I started thinking about what it would look like and I realized that was my problem. I was still worried about other people when I really should have been worried about myself. So, I decided that I was just gonna give him his wallet back at practice. It'd be the most practical thing to do. Of course, that also meant explaining things to Max and Troy, and those were two people that I really actually should have been worried about. Troy was warning me away from Pete and Max didn't even know I knew him. But I'd come up with something. Sure. "Hey...ready to go?" Max asked. He was with Troy who was with Evan. Why did they have to be with him? "Uh..actually.." Why did he have to be with Evan? It wasn't gonna do me any good to just to beat around the bush like this. Besides, I was the one with the keys. Max wouldn't have any trouble finding another ride and Troy could walk home as far as I was concerned. "I got a few things I gotta take care of," I replied, looking back between Troy and Max and just trying to avoid Evan altogether. "Like what?" Max asked, grinning a little. "Well.....I sorta ate lunch with....with Pete Reynolds today." "I know...Evan told me," Max replied. Now I actually looked over at Evan who had this coy look on his face. What was this guys deal? "He left his wallet and I was gonna go to his baseball practice and give it back to him..." I replied. Max flashed me a strange look. "Uh...okay," he replied. "Well...um...I guess....I could get a ride with Evan then." "Yeah, sure," Evan replied with a weird smile on his face. Troy was just staring at me like he was studying me or something. Evan still looked a little confused but followed Evan away to his car while Troy stayed. "What?" I asked. "Nothing....just....well whatever," he replied, walking off. God, he was so distant. Like in his mind, talking to a person about things didn't matter or something. "I guess he really did have lunch with Pete," Max spoke. "Told you it was weird," Evan replied. "Yeah..well, if he has friends now, that's a good thing," Max replied. "Not unless you wanna help him now like I do," Evan said. "Help him?" Max asked. "Just trust me....it'll be a good thing," Evan replied. *********************************************************************** With Evan, Troy and Max gone, I felt a lot more at ease. Then again, most of the school was gone as well so........ Only problem now was, I didn't exactly know where the baseball field was. Or any field for that matter. Didn't ever have a reason to pay attention. I did, however know where the swimming pool was, so I wasn't completely clueless. The halls were pretty much empty. I mean, I didn't see people but I certainly heard a lot of people who were still around for their various after school activities. But I'd been walking around for more than ten minutes and was starting to get frustrated. I just needed someone, anyone, to ask where the damn baseball field was..... "Lost?" I heard Sienna ask, from behind me. I stopped walking and turned around slowly. She looked a little sweaty and flustered. It was obvious that she was in cheerleading practice or something. "Uh....." The both of us started walking towards each other until we met up in the middle of the hallway. "I didn't know you were a part of any clubs," Sienna spoke. "I'm not..." I replied. Sienna nodded and looked at me. I guess now was a good time to apologize to her. "Listen....about yesterday.....I'm sorry," I replied. "I just...well, obviously, I'm not good with people." Sienna giggled and shoved me lightly. "Sure you are," she replied. "And apology accepted." "I guess with everything around me changing so fast, I just took it all out on you," I replied. "We all crash and burn sometimes," Sienna replied. "Totally understandable." I rubbed my left arm nervously. There was one thing I wanted to know though. "So...you really wanna be friends with me?" I asked. "Why not?" she asked. "Just...well, it's me were talking about," I replied, sheepishly. "Mike, you just need some friends...that's all," Sienna replied. "There's nothing wrong with you." Friends. My world was changing because I actually had friends. I had just thought of it all as being weird. But that was just because I had never had any to see something like Sienna wanting to be friends with me as being completely normal. "But...why are you here exactly?" Sienna asked, opening the bottle of water in her hand and taking a sip. "Do you know where the baseball field is?" I asked. "I'll show you," she replied. "But I don't think you're gonna find your car there." "Ha ha," I replied sarcastically, joining Sienna as we walked down the hall. ********************************************************************* "Keep throwing like that and you're arm might start being not so completely useless," Pete told his friend Harrison. "Right, and what's your excuse, captain?" Harrison asked. "I got other things on my mind," Pete replied, catching another baseball. "Don't we all," Harrison replied. Pete was going to respond when he noticed a familiar face heading his way. "Uh....I'll be back," he replied. "Maybe I'm dating in the wrong sport," Sienna said, looking around at all the baseball players practicing. "Hey, at least you're dating," I replied. "I'll have to hook you up with someone," Sienna replied. "So we can go on double dates." "Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen," I replied. Like I wanted to spend any time with Evan outside of school. "Hey," Pete smiled walking up to me. "Hey, I replied. "Well if my chauffeuring duties are done, I gotta get back to practice," Sienna spoke. "I'm sure they're all lost in there without me." "Thanks Sienna," I replied. "Bye." Pete and I watched her go before Pete turned to me, smiling. "What?" I asked, smiling myself. "When I said I'd see you later, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again today," he replied. I fished around in my back pocket and took out Pete's wallet, showing it to him. Pete took it from me and looked relieved. "I'm so dense I didn't even know it was missing," Pete replied. "Not missing..just safely tucked away in my back pocket," I replied. "Well," Pete started, looking back. "I don't have any pockets on me....I should probably put this away in the locker room." "Right....well, I guess I should go," I said, turning to leave. "Don't you wanna make sure that I actually put it away this time?" Pete asked. If it meant spending more time with him, I was all for it. "Okay," I replied. Pete started past me and I joined him at his side as he led me back to the locker room. "Do all team captains just get to leave whenever they want?" I asked. "Pretty much," Pete replied, as we entered the locker room. "That's probably not a good thing huh?" As we walked back to his locker I looked around. I'd never actually been in a locker room before. Just seen them on tv and in the movies. It had a weird smell of sweat and soap mixed together. I wasn't sure if that was a normal smell or not but it wasn't repulsive. "So you're friends with Sienna huh?" Pete asked, as he opened his locker. "Apparently, I am now," I replied. "She's nice huh?" Pete asked. I don't know why it surprised me to know that he knew Sienna, but it did. "Yeah," I replied. "Yeah, we live next door to each other," Pete replied. "She knows all my secrets and I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Funny how Sienna didn't mention she knew him. Maybe she had a reason. I don't know. "I wish I had someone to tell my deepest secrets to," I joked. "Oh, so you have secrets huh?" Pete asked. "Well........" There was this strange moment where Pete and I just stared at each other. Then I saw him...and I felt myself....but I wasn't sure what was going on....but the two of us were moving towards each other....until finally.....our lips connected. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and when I broke it, I was horrified. I thought maybe Pete would be ready to beat the shit out of me and start calling me a fag but when I looked over at him he was smiling. "You know, I've been wanting to do that all day," he spoke, a smile still on his face. "Wait a second..." "Just...shhh," he replied, before leaning back in and kissing me again. I guess I hadn't even thought it was possible. I never would have because I made up my mind without thinking. But now that I was actually starting to think about it.....I did like Pete. He was perfect and he was kissing me. Me! "I guess that means you have two friends now huh?" Pete replied. "Yeah..." I replied, still trying to take in what had happened. Two new friends, one of which I'd just kissed, all in a single day. I guess if things were gonna change like this, I'd want them to change the way they were. *********************************************************************** A/N I've temporarily put Wayward People on hold while I work on my other stories, but new installments will be coming soon. If you aren't familiar with my other stories Angst or This World, you can read them at my Yahoo Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/ Or if you'd like to leave me feedback, you can do so at: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com. I always reply. Copyright 2005