Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 11:51:27 -0700 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: Diamond Dreams Chapter 17 Greetings. The Chapter 1 disclaimers keep applying and will continue to apply. Please donate to Nifty. Be safe—always. In this chapter, Coach Gardner has his first meeting with the baseball players and the results weren't pretty. After the meeting the coach comes up with a plan to consolidate his power. Scott decides to defy Tama, while Rich keeps frustrating Marty with his endless waffling on the subject of their being boyfriends. You can write me at thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 17 GIRL TROUBLE Eighth grade, August-September Eric, Noah, Lars, Hunter, and the twins were enjoying Noah's pool. They were all naked and were playing and swimming. They were tossing a ball around and splashing each other when Noah's father, Seth, surprised them by coming out on the deck. Noah waved to his dad. "What are you doing home?" Noah asked. "I thought I'd give you some news before you heard it elsewhere," Seth McCall said. "News? What kind of news." "The school board approved the new baseball coach and the high school principal and athletic director just named him," Seth said. The boys felt their heart rates increase. All of them were hoping Coach Sanders would be named the new head baseball coach. "Well, don't keep us all in suspense," Noah said. "Who is it?" "I know you're all going to be disappointed to hear this. The new coach is Coach Gardner." "Well, fuck," Kevin said. "Ooops, sorry, Mr. McCall." "It's okay. Just don't make a habit of it." "That really sucks," Eric said. "Everybody says he's hard to get along with and doesn't know a lot about baseball and isn't real organized." "Well, boys, to start with it's never a good idea to go by what `everybody else' says. You might want to wait and make up your own minds. Besides, you'll all be playing for Coach Ecklund at the middle school this year." "I don't care," Eric said. "We all wanted Coach Sanders to get the job. He would have been the best." "Maybe yes and maybe no," Seth said. "Take care of business this year, and then see how things play out from there." "Who's the JV coach? Did they say?" Noah asked. "He'd already been hired," Seth answered. "He's the new science teacher at the high school. He's just out of college, played some college ball. He should be good. I don't remember his name off the top of my head." "Well, thanks for coming to tell us, dad. I guess we can spend the rest of the afternoon sulking now." "You guys can spend the rest of the afternoon having fun. Don't get too tired, though. Some of you have soccer practice this evening." "Well, at least something will be good today," Eric said. But the pall cast over the boys by the news didn't last for long. They went back to playing with the ball and playing grab ass, or just getting out and soaking in some of the last sun of the summer. It soon became time to dry off, get dressed, and go home to eat. Noah, Eric, and Kraig would see each other again later at soccer practice. The week before school started saw the incoming eighth and ninth graders involved in fall sports. The football players were busy with preseason turnouts, already in their second week for the incoming freshman and the first week for the middle school boys. The high school had a single soccer team and their turnouts had started as well. The middle school didn't have soccer and the soccer players were busy with their soccer club turnouts, their jamboree coming up Labor Day weekend. When school started the reactions of the eighth and ninth graders was different as well. The eighth graders were the kings of the hill, ready to rule Mayfield Middle School. The freshmen, on the other hand, were a bit timid as they had entered the four year high school at the bottom of the food chain. They were looking up not only to the big, burly juniors and seniors, but to the sophomores as well. Noah, Eric, Lars, Hunter, and the twins all sat at the same lunch table. They discussed their schedules, football, soccer, and, most importantly, baseball. They were interrupted by two sixth graders coming by their table—Chandler and Korey. "Are sixth graders allowed to talk to eighth graders at lunch?" Chandler asked playfully. "Only if they're cool," Kevin said. "I guess that means we can talk to you then," Korey said with a giggle. "Who said little brothers were cool?" Kevin asked. "I did. So there." The eighth graders broke up laughing as the bell ending lunch rang, breaking up the brief conversation. When Eric got up from the lunch table, Chandler pulled on his arm. "Can I ask you something?" "Sure. I'm always happy to help a poor lost little sixth grader." "Hah. I know more about this place than most eighth graders do. My dad teaches here, remember?" "How could I forget?" "You and Marty are good friends, right?" "Well, we're friends, but I don't know how good." Eric knew exactly how good that friendship was. He had some of Marty's biggest secrets locked in his brain. To Eric, that said a lot about their friendship, even if they didn't hang out together. "Why do you want to know?" Eric was afraid he knew exactly why Chandler asked the question. Marty must have gone out drinking again and Chandler was about to tell him the bad news. But that turned out not to be the reason at all. "Well, there's this kid named Dallas. I remember him from elementary school. He's a seventh grader." "I know who you're talking about." "I think he was stoned all morning and I know I saw him sneaking a drink of alcohol out of his locker." "What does that have to do with Marty?" Eric asked. "Marty's been to a drug rehab type place. He knows about that kind of stuff. I thought Dallas might need help or something." "I don't know what Marty can do," Eric said, "but I'll tell him what you said. I'll see Marty at our Go to State meeting this weekend." Eric looked over at Chandler, who was almost as tall as Eric even though he was two years younger. "You and Korey and your friends should come, too. You're going to be in high school when us eighth graders are seniors." Chandler gave Eric a wide smile. "Yeah, that would be cool. I'll ask everybody. When and where is it?" "It's Saturday at six at Noah's house. Everybody who has soccer games should be done by then. Food will be provided, probably enough pizza for an army." Chandler said he would try to be there. Eric told him he and Chandler could both talk to Marty after the meeting. Marty and Rich walked through the front door of Rich's house. They had been at the first football game of the season for the Mayfield High School Mustangs. Marty and Rich had both made the JV team. Their first game had been an afternoon game the day before, which they'd won 12-7. "Hi boys, how was the game tonight?" Rich's dad asked. "Pretty good," Rich said. "We beat Lakeshore 27-14. I think we're going to have a pretty good football team this year." "How did your meeting with the new baseball coach go?" Coach Gardner had called a team meeting after school to greet the returning baseball players plus the new freshmen. Since there was nothing athletic going on right after school, it was the best time to have a meeting. Rich and Marty exchanged glances. Marty answered the question noncommittally. "It went okay." "That's not a very enthusiastic endorsement." "Hard to be enthusiastic about baseball in September," Rich said. "I suppose that's true. Are you spending the night, Marty?" "Yeah." "I said it was okay," Rich's mother said. "Mikey is spending the night at Chandler's," she told the boys. Rich and Marty already knew he would be at Chandler's since the two sixth graders had been at the football game. The usual cadre of Mikey, Drew, and Korey would all be spending the night at Chandler's. After talking over the highlights of the football game, the boys retired to Rich's room. They undressed down to their underpants and started discussing the baseball meeting. "How come you didn't want to tell your dad about how the meeting went?" Marty asked. "You could have said something. All you said was that it went okay." "So I lied." "I can't believe the coach is going to be that big an asshole when the season starts. I think he was just scaring us like teachers do at the start of the school year." Both boys' minds went to the meeting that was held in Coach Gardner's classroom. He made the usual introductions, saying all of the returning players knew who he was, but that the freshman probably didn't. He told them that he was going to be laying down the law when spring came. He went over some of his rules, which were pretty much the same as coaches' rules everywhere. Then he got into what Connor later called his "asshole style." "First, I want all of you to understand that the baseball program comes first and you all come second. Don't think I haven't been having a lot of talks with Coach Collins, and don't think I won't continue to have them." He walked over to the desks where the Donkey and the Dawg were sitting. "I know what players in this program decided they were more important than the program. I also know they think that because they are pretty good baseball players and because they are seniors that they can just show up and make the team." He gave the two key senior baseball players a malevolent smile. "I wouldn't be buying me a new glove for spring high school baseball if I was them. Coach Collins was a good man, and he'd still be the head coach here if certain players had simply minded their own business." Then he turned and faced the section of the room where most of the freshmen were sitting. "As for you freshmen, I know all about your little club or whatever it is. I know how my friend Coach Parker never even got an interview with your group." Coach Parker had been one of the coaches of the combined Mayfield-Kentburg baseball team the past couple of summers. "I also know that the biggest reason Coach Collins isn't coaching is because of your little club." The smile returned to his face. "If any of you play for the team your little club started this next summer, you can forget ever playing baseball at Mayfield High School. You can tell your eighth grade buddies the same thing. You will be playing for the combined team with Kentburg this summer. That is the best of you will. The rest of you can play recreation baseball. "From this point on, the Mayfield Mustangs come ahead of anything else, especially your egos. You can close up shop on that club of yours, because it will not be your ticket to a spot on the Mayfield Mustang roster. "We should have a good baseball team come spring. Do things my way and it could be a great baseball team. That's all, gentlemen. I hope to see you all at the football game tonight, especially those of you on the football team." His attempt at a joke fell somewhat flat as the players walked out of the classroom, most of them stunned by what they had heard. "The worst part was that stupid senior, Ralph, saying shit after the meeting," Marty said. Ralph had walked up to the Donkey and the Dawg and said, "Looks like there's not much room for fags on this team. Too bad, I was hoping to be Mike's catcher." Mike the Donkey gave Ralph an amused look. "It's too bad there's a lot of room for assholes on this team. I really have better things to do with my fastball than throw it to you." "Mike put that asshole Ralph in his place," Rich said laughing. "Coach won't really cut Mike and Ryan will he?" "I'm afraid he might, but it's going to piss a lot of people off. They're good." "But why does Coach want us to play for the combined team instead of for our own Mayfield team? With our own team more of us can play at a higher level. You'd think that is exactly what he would want." "It's all a power trip for him," Marty said. "We pissed on Coach Collins's parade and now he's going to fuck us over." Rich was sitting cross-legged on his bed as they finished their discussion of the meeting. Marty got out of the office chair and sat next to his friend. "Want to mess around?" he asked. "Duh, of course I do." "I saw you talking to Trish in the hall." Trish had been Rich's off and on girl friend in eighth grade. "She wanted to know if she and I were still going out." "What did you say?" Marty asked. He was hoping that Rich had said no. He was desperate for him and Rich to cement their relatioship. "I told her I guess we were." Marty felt his stomach sink at the news, but he tried not to broadcast his disappointment to his friend. "Anyway, we're going to the Homecoming Dance together." The Homecoming Dance was scheduled to happen in two weeks, following then next home football game. "You should ask somebody to go with you," Rich said. "Trish's friend, Michelle, doesn't have a date." "I'll think about it." Marty so much wanted Rich to yell out, "I'm gay, let's be boyfriends! You agreed to be my boyfriend." It seemed that whenever it was time for Rich to totally commit himself, he found a way to weasel out of following through. Marty's disappointment didn't stop him from being horny, however, and within seconds the two of them were naked and eagerly sucking each other cocks—for the first of two orgasms each. The Mayfield Cemetery was on a hill at the west end of town. On this Friday, a twelve year old boy and his father stood next to a grave. The two placed flowers on it and the father gave the boy a hug. "He's thirteen today," Noah said. "He'll never know what it was like to be a teenager." "But he did know what it was like to be loved by you," Seth McCall told his son. Noah let the tears flow down his cheeks unashamedly. "Do you want some moments alone with him?" Seth asked. Noah nodded yes, and his father walked away to the car. Noah got down on his knees and, not for the last time, asked for forgiveness from the red head he loved so very much. Eric called the meeting of the Go to State Team to order promptly at six o'clock. They went through the routine parts of the agenda, from the reading of the minutes to the treasurer's report to reading the standing committee reports. Old business was discussed. The only item of new business on the agenda was the approval of their entry into a tournament in Salinas, California in July that Seth McCall had arranged. The proposal was rubber stamped with a unanimous yes vote. The next item of business was brought up by Rich. Everybody knew what the topic was going to be, and they weren't at all happy about it. Rich took the floor and talked about how the baseball meeting with Coach Gardner had gone the day before. "I'd call him an asshole, but that would be an insult to assholes everywhere," Noah said. "Whatever, he's an asshole," Connor said. "But what are we going to do about it?" "Well, I don't know about you, but I won't be threatened into giving up something we've all worked so hard for," Eric said. "I say that what we do about it is go about business as usual." "Just let him say I can't play baseball because I belong to this group." Marty said. "That just ain't gonna happen. I happen to be friends with a pretty good lawyer." "Who just happens to be on our advisory board," Noah said. "I agree with Eric and Marty. It's business as usual and we wait and see if he has the balls to keep the freshmen off the team. And us eighth graders will walk into that school next year after playing for the mighty Falcons, not for some half-assed team that is combined with the inbreeds from Kentburg." Everyone agreed with Noah. Getting the freshmen to agree was the important part, because they were the ones who would be in the firing line in February when baseball turnouts started. "We aren't going to be pushed around, and that is that," Marty said. "The Go to State Team rules, and Coach Gardner better learn that or a lot of people are going to be royally pissed, and I don't mean just us kids." No vote was necessary for them to understand that they were all on the same page. They had come too far and accomplished too much to see it all end because of the whim of a coach they didn't like. "But no matter how much we don't like him, we have to find a way to work with him," Eric said. "We can't just thumb our noses at him." "That will be your job as president," Rodney said. "You get to figure out how to work with him." "Which brings us to the last thing on the agenda, the elections for the next year," Eric said. "Before we do that, I have one more thing to bring up under `other new business,'" Noah interjected. Everyone listened as Noah proposed having elections in the spring rather than in the fall. "That way the new president gets to start with the new summer season," Noah explained. Since Noah's proposal was a by-law change, it could not be voted on until the next meeting. For now all the membership could do was vote to bring the change up for a vote at the next meeting. The motion to do so passed unanimously. But for now, it was time to vote for the board for either the next year or the next six months, depending on whether or not they changed the by-laws. The election would be for the four members of the executive committee: secretary, treasurer, vice-chair, and board chair. Rodney was voted secretary and Noah was re-elected to be the treasurer. Neither one of them had any opposition. It was when the nominations were called for vice-chair that things got interesting. Eric had phoned some of his closest buddies and teammates the night before to meet him at Noah's house early for a pre-meeting, meeting. Marty, Rich, Noah, Scott, Lars, Connor and the twins were invited. They met with Noah's father and Mr. B in the den. Eric told them what his proposal was. Except for Noah, whom Eric had talked to the night before, they were all surprised by his scheme. However, once they got the gist of what Eric wanted they were willing to go along with it, albeit somewhat reluctantly. It was now, with the nomination for vice-chair, that his idea started to take fruition. "I nominate Eric for vice-chair," Kraig said. "Eric?" Rodney yelped. "Eric is the chair and always will be the chair. I mean he's the chair for life. This is his baby. Are you trying to get him fired, Kraig? What the hell is going on?" Everybody was trying to outshout each other and it took Eric a couple of minutes to restore order to the meeting. When the room finally quieted down, Eric was able to answer Rodney's question, which was essentially the same question being asked by everybody who hadn't been at the morning meeting. "I talked with Mr. McCall and Mr. B and with my parents about this," Eric said. "First of all, the Go to State Team isn't MY baby, it's OUR baby. It took all of us to make this work and to make the first year of the Falcons a success. Now we have somebody who doesn't understand what we're doing and wants to bust us up." "You got that right," Connor shouted out. Eric ignored him and went on. "I think it will really help us to have our president at the high school, which means I need to step down. Kraig nominated me for vice-chair, which is cool. I'd rather let some other guys run things, but if you elect me I'll do the job." "What if we decide to elect you the chair?" Jerome asked. "I'll do it, because it's what you guys want. But I wish you wouldn't." "So who is gonna be the president then?" Danny asked. "I think we're supposed to vote for one, doofus," Connor said. Eric and Danny both glared at Connor, who shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying..." "Let's vote for the vice-chair first," Noah suggested. Eric asked if there were any more nominations. Since there were none, Eric was demoted from the chairman of the Go to State Team to the vice-chair. However, until a new chair was voted in, he still was in charge of running the meeting. As was agreed on at the pre-meeting, Scott nominated Marty as chair. Carl, who didn't know about what had been agreed on at that meeting, nominated Connor, who declined the nomination. "You need somebody who won't run around calling everybody assholes," Connor said. "That isn't me then," Marty told him. Vince nominated Jerome and then the nominations were closed. It was agreed to have a secret ballot. After everyone voted, the ballots were turned over to Mr. McCall and Mr. B, who were in the den. A couple of minutes later Seth McCall came out and said Marty would be the new chair. What he didn't tell them is that the vote had been close, with Marty winning by three votes. Marty then took over the meeting. "Well gang, we got our work cut out for us. Coach Gardner doesn't like us and Eric is right...we can't go fighting him, cuz that won't work. We gotta find a way to get him to like us, and trust me, that ain't gonna be easy. And just so everybody knows, I won't go around calling everybody I don't agree with an asshole." Before adjourning the meeting the boys asked Mr. B and Seth McCall to come into the family room. Marty then added one more admonition. "We don't tell Gardner nothing. Or Collins, or anybody." "What about Coach Sanders and Coach Miller?" Eric asked. "I'll talk to them," Seth said. "I don't think you will need to keep the business of the meeting under wraps for long. The high school coaches just need some educating. But I understand why you don't want them knowing who the officers are for now." The meeting was adjourned. Marty reminded Eric that they would need to get together so Eric could show him how to run a meeting. While Marty might need to learn the finer points of leading an organization, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that he was prepared to be a leader. After talking to Marty, Eric saw Chandler waiting to the side. "Hey, Chandler, what's up?" Marty asked. Chandler told Marty about what he noticed with Dallas. "Do you think you can help him? I don't know him much, but he seems pretty nice." Marty told Chandler there was nothing he could do. "Dallas will just tell me to quit poking my nose into his business, and he would be right. Mr. B says you can't help anybody until they want to be helped, and that included helping me. But, if you want, you can give him my phone number. Tell him if he ever wants any help, he can call me." Marty felt badly about not being able to do more and he could tell that Chandler was disappointed. With Dallas in the middle school he wouldn't have a chance of "accidently" running into him when he was high. He'd seen Dallas wasted a lot and he knew the seventh grader needed help. He just wasn't sure he was the one to give it. Sarah Brock walked into Coach Gardner's class before the start of home room. "Good Morning, Sarah," Mr. Gardner said. "Hey, Mr. Gardner. You said you wanted to see me." Sarah was fifteen and a sophomore. She was also a very good looking girl with well developed breasts emphasized by a slender body. "I'm looking for a favor and I think you can help me out." "For real? I'll do whatever you need." Sarah had a huge crush on Coach Gardner and the coach knew it. Coach Gardner asked her if she knew Rodney, who was a freshman. She replied she knew him some from middle school. Sarah had no problem with chasing boys, and had lost her virginity at the end of eighth grade. Rodney was one of the boys she flirted with and she even made out with him a couple of times, but she kept that bit of information from her teacher. "I remember he's pretty cute and he had a reputation." Coach Gardner knew exactly what that reputation was about. "Do you think you can get to know him? Maybe find some things out for me?" "Like, what do you want me to find out?" Coach Gardner explained what it was he wanted to know. "Get me the information I want and I'll make it real worthwhile for you," he said. Sarah had a feeling she knew exactly how he would reward her and it gave her a definite tingle in her loins. "I'll be the world's greatest spy for you," she said. By the end of the day she had made contact with Rodney. And by Thursday she'd arranged for him to come over to her house after school on Friday, the one day Rodney didn't have football. Sarah's mother was at work after school and she was an only child, so she always had the house to herself. She'd been a latchkey kid since fourth grade, and from seventh grade on she'd enjoyed entertaining boys after school. Rodney knew of her reputation in middle school, and she knew of his. He'd been invited to her house twice, even though he was a year younger than her. While they'd gotten down to just his boxers and her panties and made out that way both times, things didn't go any farther. Sarah was still a virgin. As much as she liked having boys over, sometimes more than one, she was afraid of going all the way. That ended a couple of months after she'd had Rodney over when she went to a party. She was drunk and got laid by a freshman. After that, she quit being shy about going all the way, and had gone all the way with five other boys. Now she was going to have Rodney over to her house again, only this time she planned to go all the way with him while she tried to learn all she could about what happened at his baseball group's last meeting. She would then report the information to Coach Gardner. She got everything she wanted as she and Rodney got naked quickly and made out for awhile. Before he'd been in Sarah's house for an hour he'd fucked her twice. Rodney always made sure he carried more than one condom with him—to him, one fuck was a slow day. She was somewhat surprised to learn that he was better in bed than the boys in her grade that she'd had sex with. During the brief time they'd had pillow talk she got the information Coach Gardner wanted. She'd see him before school on Monday and make sure he received it. When Sarah came into Coach Gardner's classroom before homeroom, she saw Coach Collins sitting next to the teacher's desk. The sophomore exchanged greetings with the two teachers, and then sat on top of one of the front row student desks. "Find out anything interesting from our boy?" Coach Gardner asked. "Yep," Sarah said with a smile. "I found out everything you wanted to know. They're going to keep right on going like they were and they think you'll end up being okay with it." The two coaches nodded and Coach Collins asked the next question. "Is that little eighth grader still in charge?" "Nope. They elected, like, a new president or whatever he is." "Oh?" the two coaches both asked at the same time. "They, like, want a kid here at the high school being the boss. So, they, like, elected Marty." Again the coaches said nothing, but Sarah could see the surprise on the faces of the two coaches. "Thanks for your help, Sarah. Stop by my room tomorrow morning," Coach Gardner said. "We'll talk about your reward." Sarah left and Coach Gardner looked at Coach Collins with a sly grin. "What are you smiling about?" Coach Collins asked. "We got them right where we want them," Coach Gardner said. "Okay, so tell me what you mean by that and when do you plan on shutting them down?" "We don't do a thing until just after the season starts. Let them have their fun, then we cut some of those assholes who think their shit doesn't stink. That should scare the eighth graders and they will quit the whole enterprise." "I don't know if I can wait. Those kids destroyed my coaching career. I want to put their balls right into a nutcracker." "Be patient, coach. Like I said, we got them where we want them." "Okay, so tell me what the fuck it is you mean by that." "In one word, Marty. I've heard all about his drugging and drinking. I guess he's a first class lush. When February comes, we put the screws to him and use him to end that entire bullshit organization. You will get your revenge and I won't have to deal with a bunch of overinflated egos. Mustang baseball will keep going in the direction we want it to in the way we want it to." The two coaches shook hands. At the same time the Go to State Team agreed that they needed to find ways to work with the high school coaches, the high school coaches had agreed they needed to abolish the organization that Coach Collins felt had been instrumental in getting him fired and that Coach Gardner saw as a threat to his authority. Much of the angst associated with being a young teen and in the eighth and ninth grades was built around hormones. And a lot of those hormones are sent into motion in the teen bloodstreams by sexual situations and thoughts. Two boys got lessons on the matter from their girlfriends of the moment. Both lessons occurred during the midday lunch break. For Scott it happened when he decided to eat at the jock table. After all, the Mayfield Titans had a home football game against archrival Kentburg, which was a very big deal. Scott couldn't think of anything more important than eating with his teammates and friends. The way he saw it he'd sat with Tama the entire week and would probably sit with her at lunch tomorrow. Besides, she'd promised to get naked for him after he broke up with Eric, and that still hadn't happened. In fact, not much at all had happened since school started. Tama caught up to Scott as he walked to the lunchroom with Eric and Kevin. She yanked on his arm and said she wanted to talk to him, so he waved at his friends and stopped to hear what she had to say. "Pussy whipped," Kevin said to Eric as they walked away. "Big time," Eric agreed. He'd been a victim of Scott's infatuation with Tama. "I thought you were sitting with me and Mary Alice and Debby." "I was going to sit with my teammates. I mean today is a big game and we gotta talk it up." "You never said anything about that before." "Well, Danny and Carl are sitting with the team, so they won't be sitting with you and the other girls." Danny was going out with Mary Alice and Carl with Debby. "I thought we all talked about it yesterday." "Maybe they did, but we didn't." Scott found himself getting a little hot under the collar. Tama was becoming more and more demanding of him and he didn't like it. "You want me to do stuff for you, but you never do stuff for me," Tama said with a pout. "What do I want you to do?" he asked. "Like, you want me to get naked, for one." "Yeah, well you promised you would, remember? When I told Eric I wasn't going to mess around with him no more, you said you'd get naked with me." "And I won't if you keep sitting with your friends instead of with me." "I sit with you almost every day," Scott protested. "You decided not to sit with me today, even though I asked you to." "You're right, I did. I am not sitting with you today. I am sitting with my friends and talking football. So there." Scott turned and walked down the hall. He knew he was about ready to cuss at Tama, and he didn't want to do that. But he'd had enough of her bossing him around. He was going to sit with his friends and worry about the consequences later. When he got his lunch and sat at the table next to Kevin he received a surprise look. "I thought you'd end up sitting with your girlfriend," he said to Scott. "She made me mad. She always wants to boss me around." "Welcome to the crowd," Danny said. "Mary Alice is letting you sit here with us," Scott said. "Tama won't even let me do that today." "Trust me, I had to make a ton of promises to Mary Alice to get game days off." "Are you and Tama going to break up?" Eric asked hopefully. He wished right away he hadn't said anything, because he knew he sounded like he was jealous. But, he realized, he was jealous . "No way, but I'm sure she's gonna make me pay for this." "Why do you want to go out with somebody who bosses you around all the time?" Hunter asked. "Because she's fine," Scott said, as if that explained everything. The other incident happened at the high school during lunch. Rich was stopped in the hall by Trish. He'd planned to sit with Marty and Rodney and he knew Trish, his girlfriend, was going to sit with her best friend Michelle. Who was going to sit with whom and when and where was not the issue. The issue was actually something deeper and it ended up giving Rich the impression of what his life might end up becoming. "We need to talk," Trish said. "Can it wait until after I eat?" Rich asked somewhat testily. "I'm hungry." Trish sighed and agreed as long as Rich ate quickly enough to meet her in the commons area in fifteen minutes. Rich obliged and headed quickly to the lunchroom where he sat with Marty and Rodney. He told them about Trish's mysterious request for a chat. "She probably wants to talk about you bonking her," Rodney said. "I can't believe you two have gone out together this long without you doing it." "Is fucking all you think about around girls?" Marty asked. "You mean there's something else?" Rodney asked with a smirk. Rich ate quickly and headed for the commons. The day was cool and gray, a typical Northwest fall day. He saw Trish sitting on a bench looking very serious. "Hey, Trish. So what's the big emergency?" Rich asked as he sat down next to her. Trish started talking about how the two of them had been going out for almost a year and that except for some kissing and feeling up through their clothes, they hadn't done very much sexually. "In fact, we hardly even saw each other all summer," she said, "which is hard to do in this little burg." Rich thought she was complaining about the situation and tried to defend himself. "I kept thinking you didn't want to do all that much. I'd suggest stuff and you'd always find a reason to say no." "Maybe you didn't suggest things hard enough," Trish said. At that moment Rich had to agree with his peers about the complexity of the female half of the species. However, Trish surprised him with her next comment. "And maybe you didn't want to push things for the same reason--I didn't want to have sex either." "Why? Because we were raised that way—raised not to go all gaga about sex like some people do?" "No. I think maybe it's because you spent most of the summer hanging out with Marty. Just like you hung around with him before we started going out." "What's that supposed to mean? And how is that the same reason you didn't want to make out a lot and stuff?" "It means I didn't want to make out with you because I was doing it with somebody else." Rich felt his blood pressure rise when he heard that. His first thought was that all this time he thought he was Trish's boyfriend when in fact she was going out with some other guy. "What's his name?" he asked angrily. Trish waved to somebody across the courtyard, who rose from a bench and walked toward them. "It's not his name," she said quietly, "it's her name." Michelle plopped herself next to Trish and took her hand. "You mean you two are, like, lesbos?" Rich asked incredulously. "It means we are lesbians. We've been friends for a long, long time and this summer we started to realize we wanted to be a lot more than friends. I want Michelle to be my girlfriend." "And now you're coming out to me? I mean you two are fourteen like me. We're only in the ninth grade. How do you know you're lesbos or lesbians or whatever you are?" Rich didn't realize how much like a doubting adult he sounded. He also repressed the fact that he had pretty much admitted to Marty that he was gay. "We know," Michelle said. "Trust us, we know. We have no doubt." "That's why I never wanted to make out seriously," Trish said. "I really wasn't interested, but I had to see if I was into boys." Trish grabbed Rich's hand. "Oh, Rich, I never wanted to hurt you. If I was going to have a boyfriend, I'd want it to be you. You are the sweetest, kindest, most trustworthy boy in the ninth grade. I always felt safe around you." Rich looked down at the ground, saying nothing. "I want us to stay friends. I like you a lot and hope you aren't too mad at me." "I don't know what to say," Rich said. "I really don't know what to say." Rich felt like he'd been used. He felt like yelling at both Trish and Michelle, but he had too much integrity to create a scene in the middle of the courtyard. Then Trish's words struck him again. "What do you mean we're alike?" "I didn't seriously want to make out, and you didn't either. I know part of that is because you're a good guy, but I think part of it is because of somebody you really like a lot. And I think you like him a lot, because you're the same and Michelle and me." "Who do I like a lot?" Rich asked, knowing what her answer was going to be, and afraid to hear it. It was Michelle who answered the question. "Marty," she said softly. "Trish and I could both see it, especially when we saw you together this summer." Rich stood up quickly. "If you're saying I'm gay and like Marty that way, you're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong." He walked away muttering wrong, totally wrong, to himself. Yet he had told Marty he wanted to be his boyfriend, and then didn't have the guts to follow through. At the same time he told himself that Trish and Michelle were wrong he also had memories of making out with Trish and thinking of Marty while he did so. "Wrong," he said out loud has he entered the school building. "Just so totally, absolutely wrong!" But he knew it was right, and knew he was hurting Marty by saying one thing and doing something else. He wondered why Marty didn't hate him for the way he was being treated. "I'm the one who's wrong. It's me who is totally, absolutely wrong," Rich muttered to himself. Two junior boys turned and looked at him as he stomped by. One turned to the other and shook his head. "Freshmen," he said, "completely weird—no other way to think of them." Next: Relationships I would like to make a comment on a recent news item. While all of the openly gay boys playing for the Mayfield Mustangs is, of course, a piece of fiction and unlikely to be found anywhere, there are many gays who play middle school, junior high, and high school sports who have to hide who they are. I hope that NBA player Jason Collins coming out as gay will set a example for these kids and their peers that it's okay to be gay and play sports. It would be wonderful if his courage will allow those gay athletes in hiding to become proud of who they are.