Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 04:19:16 EST
From: SammySagitarius@aol.com
Subject: Of-My-Own: Soccer Lovker 4

The next morning, Matt was standing at my locker when I got there. I saw
that he was holding the note. It took me a moment to notice Brandon was
standing beside him.

"You just threw my note away?" Brandon pondered to me.

Matt turned his gaze from Brandon to me. "Can I ask you a few things?"
His tone was deceptive. I said, "Sure..."

Brandon looked at Matt, he put his hand on Matt's shoulder. Matt looked
at Brandon's hand for a breif moment, and Brandon moved his hand away. He
said, "Please, Matt. This was a bad idea. Let's not do this."

"I'm gonna' ask my questions, Brandon, just go away," Matt said coldly.

Brandon couldn't bring himself to look at me, so he walked off. I turned
to Matt. He leaned in towards me, "This homophobia I have? Just an act, a
reputation. You shouldn't have thrown this away."

Two things hit me, "a"- Matt was playing a mind game, and "b"- Brandon
was actually hurt that I tossed the letter. I needed to apologize to
Brandon. "Matt, I've got no time for this head trip. What do you want?"

"Look, Sam. Brandon and you would make a great couple. I don't know why
he's doing some things, but he just wants to keep that side of his life
hidden. You can understand that."

It hit me quickly. "You haven't read the letter, have you?" I reached out
grabbed the letter.

"Of course I have, why would you..." He knew I was right. "Fine, I
couldn't do that to someone I like. I mean, I'm no--" He sighed. He
caught what he had just said.

There was a still moment. I looked at Matt. I stared over his light
caramel complexion. I noticed his gel-hardened, short, black hair. But
mostly, his melting brown eyes. He was looking into my eyes, as well. He
was wondering if I'd heard what he hadn't meant to say.

The pause was prolonged. It was a staring contest. Our reality shatterred
when Denny, the guy beside my locker, jumped in with, "Who do you like,
Matt?"

How much had Denny heard? He was smiling big. Of course, he always did.
Track team, muscles, and only a sophomore. Mere perfection, this student
was. Matt turned sharply to Denny, then looked back to me. He felt
trapped. It was a forced moment. He turned towards Denny. In a low,
stutterred voice came, "D-Denny. I... I love Brandon."

Denny's body went tension free, his shoulders dropped. He eyed Matt's
face. And what was I thinking? "Sammy to the Rescue" -- I broke out into
hysterical laughter. Matt and Denny turned towards me. I positioned
myself to block my body, except my head, from Denny's eyesight. I went to
jab Matt's side, to break his sare, so he'd laugh, thus completing the
fraud and leaving Denny unknowing. Of course, I was staring at Denny, so
I missed his side and went more to his hips. This still broke him and we
fooled Denny. He just laughed and said, "Sam, you're crazy, man." and
went on his way. Matt turned quickly. Our eyes locked, he darted to my
left, and down the hall. I opened my locker, grabbed my book, and headed
down the hall.

I walked into the class, and was followed in by Mary, a girl I knew very
little about. She raised her left eyebrow and said, "Why did you grab
Matt's ass?"

"Dear God." I thought to myself, "Why can't I get a break today?"

I looked her dead in the eye and said, "I meant to get his side, but
Denny distracted me."

She laughed, said something slighly less funny than a pun, and took her
seat. I walked to the back of the room with enough time to hear the
"30-seconds-left bell" and realize I had dropped the note. Sammy, do you
risk a Morning Detention or do you risk Brandon's reputation? Him or you?
Sacrifice or Shame? I sat down in the seat. I watched the clock tick away
10 seconds. I stood up and walked to the door. My teacher was walking
down the hall. I'd have to wait for him to come in, so I didn't get
stopped. There were 8 seconds left. 7... 6... He walked thru the door, to
see me sharpening a pencil. He turned up the aisle, I left the pencil
dangling in the sharpener and jumped out of the door. There was the tone.
I was walking towards my locker. Sure enough, around the first corner was
the note. I picked it up and tried to decide how to possibly get back in
the room. I was near the door when I looked into the glass panel. I could
see my empty desk. I got to the door, and Mary looked at me. I waved my
hand and that genius of a girl got up, and walked to the pencil
sharpener. She saw my pencil in the way, so he sharpened it. She tossed
her pencil towards the guy beside the door. He looked at her, she
motioned to the door. He stood up, she sneezed loudly. Everyone looked
back at her, the door opened, the guy jumped into his seat, I slid down
beside his desk. Mr. Kay looked back at me when she heard the door close.
She only heard the sound, so she didn't know i had slipped in.

"Sam, what are you doing out of your seat?"

"I'm, uh, helping James, sir."

"If he didn't do his homework, it's his problem."

James started laughing, and I walked to my seat. Mary looked at me and
started to giggle. She asked, "Can I see that note? You went through a
lot to get it..."

"I'm sorry, it has some info about others. I wouldn't have been that
daring if it was just about me."

She laughed again, and Mr. Kay started his presentation.

By the time that class was over, I was half asleep. I walked out the door
to my locker. As I got to it, Denny, who was standing at his locker
beside me, looked over and said, "Is Matt gay?"

I stopped trying to get my combination lock open, sat my books on the
floor, and looked at Denny. "No, he's not. And neither is anyone else I
know. But if they were, would you feel any differently towards them?"

He was honest, "Yes. But I wouldn't stop being a friend..."

"Okay then," I said, "Then I'll give you this much: as far as I know, he
isn't. But I won't garauntee it."

Denny was smiling at me. He said, "Can you be more detailed?"

I told him that's all I knew, opened my locker, and went to find Brandon.
I owed him an apology...

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

Woah! What a tense day for our cast of characters... wait up, what a
tense hour...it was just one class! I love writing them into trouble. And
I love trowing these storylines off the generic track. I'm saddened to
say that soccor-locker 6 will be the final... I have enjoyed writing
them, but with school starting back, I think I'm going to find ways to
exagerrate my real life now... This Soccer Locker series has been
COMPLETE fiction. I want to work on a semi-fiction story... I'd like some
feedback. Should my next stories be 3rd person narration (narrator tells
about all characters) or 1st person (stories from one of the character's
point of view, like these have been)?