The Maxwell Thomas Project
Chapter Nine
Eric Case


Legal Stuff
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts between two consenting male teenagers.. if you don't quite get what that means... THIS IS A STORY ABOUT GAY PEOPLE! It is a "fictional" story, and any likeness to events which may have happened in real life is coincidental. This story should not be read by people under the age of 18, homophobes, or if it is illegal to view material of a sexual nature wherever you are.
© 2000 The BookCASE - Eric Case. Do not post this story to any website other than the bookcase with the exception of the Nifty Archive, or ASSGM without permission from the author.. me. Just ask and you'll get it; I wanna keep track of where it's posted is all.


To those whom it may interest, this story, and all my others - some of which won't be on nifty - are available at my website "The BookCASE", so you can check it out and let me know what ya think. Oh and if ya go puleeaaze sign the guest book! :)
http://thebookcase.tripod.com/ - The BookCASE


Foreword:
OGuess what! I got my first flame about this story the other day! Yup it's true lol. It was one of those bible hugging literalists who decided my story sucked. I really didn't take much offense though since the person who thinks gays are evil read a gay story. Who's kidding who here? Sounds like someone's an 18 year old homosexual with a severe case of denial! lol and if you're reading this dude, it's okay to be gay lol. As for the rest of you, your continued support has been what held me up through this... *sniff* difficult time LMBO. But seriously though, I love you guys. You're the best and your emails really really do mean a lot to me. Over the past year and a couple months I've had.. probably close to 3500 emails and of all those I've answered a total of maybe 2000 which is a number I'm sorta ashamed of. I've received 940 messages since ohhh Februaryish I guess and I've tried to answer most of them but I'll be honest and frank with you, I've had a *ish* load of stuff goin on in the last six months between school, work which I recently quit, and a few other things. I'm almost through with a lot of it and the summer time should give me some more time for writing and for friends and all that kinda good stuff except for my three weeks vacation in July. I might not be around then but the rest of the time I'll be there lol. Kay well anyways you've probly had enough of reading my junk sooooo thanx for your patience and here's Maxwell Thomas 9! Hope ya like it!
Talk to ya later and thanks for reading!

Eric


Chapter 9:

        Will wasn't a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination and I still don't know if he meant for things to happen the way they did, but in the long run I guess they've worked out for the best anyway. Will Fernside needed to borrow my English book to copy notes from class out of. Had I paid better attention, everything would've been okay, but I gave him my notebook without thinking. He flipped to the back of the book where my loose sheets were and out they fell onto the desk.

"Boys On The Farm?" Will said questioningly. I began breaking into a sweat as I realized what he was looking at.

"Oh uh.. that's mine," I said reaching over to grab the sheets of paper.

Will raised his elbow to ward off my reaching hand, and sat back to read the sheets of paper. I watched in growing horror as Will read, glancing to me every couple lines, and then he hit that wonderfully explicit scene when David and Tristan make love for the first time. I looked on as his eyebrows rose causing ridges to form across his forehead. Will's eyes grew wide and he looked, searching my face for some indication that it was a joke. "You're pulling my leg right?" Will asked dumb-struck.

"What?" Chad Ferrel asked reaching out and grabbing the paper off Will's desk. Will tried to grab the sheets before Chad could get hold of them. Chad scanned down the page as his face twisted into a contorted look of disgust. "What the fuck??"

"What's up?" asked one of Chad's buddies.

"Jared here's got faggy fuck stories in his notebook!" Chad said with his top lip curled up revealing his front teeth.

"Shut up Chad, he probly found em on the floor or somethin and stuck em in there to put in the recycling box.. you know Jared's always pickin stuff up and puttin it where it belongs," Will said trying to defend me. The explanation he made up on the fly was hopeless but at the time I found it adorable despite my situation. Will really was a good guy.

"What is he your boyfriend?" Chad asked mockingly.

"No," Will answered simply. "He's a good friend so lay off."

By now the whole class was talking about the new-found issue and debating it as if I wasn't there. That's when the teacher walked in, and the open discussion ceased, while the whispers and weird looks continued. I knew that the gossip would spread through the school like a flame through dry grass, and by 6th period "Jared the fudge-packing freshman," was my new nickname. The laughing and pointing, shoving, and name-calling began almost instantaneously, and brought the wonderful high I had been on crashing to the ground. To add insult to injury, the coach heard about it and immediately "released me" from my duties as the football-team's manager.

I walked home that day - too ashamed to face the team, even to wait for Max to give me a ride home. Leo and Davis would be in the Jeep and I didn't need to hear what either of them would have to say. I also didn't know how Max would react to me being "outed"... I mean would he treat me the same, or would he shy away not wanting to be labeled. I wouldn't have blamed him if he did shy away, and I couldn't take it. I didn't even want to see him, so I sneaked away before he showed up at my locker and took the 40 minute stroll home.

I walked in the door and immediately burst into tears as I walked through the empty house to my bedroom. My parents wouldn't be home for another 30-40 minutes.

"Jared!" Max's voice carried through the house waking me. "Jared are you up here?" I heard him climbing the stairs followed by a gentle knock at my door. I rolled over to see Max poke his head in the doorway. "Can I come in?" Max asked quietly.

"I guess," I said, my voice cracking. Max walked in, closing the door behind him and sat down gently on the edge of my bed. "I'm surprised you still wanna talk to me.. I really messed up."

"Messed up?" Max asked quietly.

"Yeah... getting myself 'outed' and all, and now I can't even," I paused choking back a sob. I tried to continue but all that came out was a weird kind of squeak. I sat up and pulled him to me hanging on for dear life. Max held me tightly in his big arms for a moment and then pushed me off gently.

"Hey," Max raising my face till my eyes met his. "Hey," he repeated. "We're gonna get through this," he said.

"We are?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah Jared," Max said. "I told you before I didn't care, and I still don't. I'm not gonna desert you when you need your friends the most!"

Max sat talking with me for the next few hours and listened to me pouring my heart out to him. I told him everything that was bothering me with the exception of course that I was hopelessly in love with him. I figured my parents would find out within the next few days anyway with how news traveled in our neighborhood so I decided I would just tell them myself. I sat in a chair opposite the two of them on the couch and I told them, told them I was gay. They nodded their heads as if I was confirming their suspicions and they told me it was okay. There wasn't any yelling or arguing like I had always expected, just a few tears and lots of hugs. I told them about what had been happening at school before, and what had happened at school that day and they agreed to let me have a couple of days off to get my head together.

A couple of mornings later we got up and pulled the usual routine loading ourselves into the Jeep and headed for Leo's place. When we pulled up, Leo sauntered slowly down the driveway and looked at me with a sad expression like he'd just been beaten.

"You okay J-man?" He asked as he got into the back seat.

"Yeah I'm alright," I said nervously.

"No," Leo said shortly grabbing the back of my seat giving it a slight shake. "I mean are you doin okay. I know it's gotta be botherin' you an' all."

"A bit," I said quietly. "Are you weirded out too?" I asked.

"Nah man," Leo said with a big toothy smile. "It took me a little time to think it over, but it's cool lil' man."

I smiled back at him, and relaxed a little. When we picked up Charlie, he acted pretty much the same way. It was almost as if they were afraid I was mad at them, and when I was calm they perked up. When we pulled into the student parking lot, Max looked over into the back. "Now remember what we talked about," Max said. "Nobody." Leo and Charlie both nodded, and the four of us got out and headed for the doors. The three seemed to take up a weird formation around me where Max was to my right, Leo to my left, and Charlie behind me to my left so that he was almost between Leo and me. (I GOT IT RICHARD :)

They took me to my locker, and then to class with Leo telling everyone "you touch Jared, talk to Jared, or even look bad at Jared and we gon' bust y'all asses." That was enough for everyone to leave me alone. I sat down and will looked over at me and took out my notebook handing it back to me.

"I'm really sorry about all this," he said sincerely.

"Don't worry about it. It's My fault for havin that stuff in there," I answered back just as sincerely. I wasn't mad at Will in the slightest. He was a good guy and had, after all, tried to stand up for me. The rest of my day passed pretty uneventfully until I was getting my books after lunch.

"Soo... not only are you a worm-shit freshman, but you're also a fudge-packer huh?" came the familiar voice of Jack, the ass. I turned to see him standing with his two goony buddies towering over me.

"Heh heh.. Jared, the fudge-packing freshman," the taller buddy laughed.

"Shut up," Jack said silencing him. "This is no joke! We don't like faggots in our school," he continued, turning back to me with his teeth bared.

Suddenly, Jack was spun around and slammed into the locker next to me. "An' just what you doin' Jack?" Came the deep resonant voice of Leo.

"Hey Power-house what the fuck?" Jack yelled.

"You put ya hands on Jared again, I'm 'a kick y'ass," Leo growled.

"That's right," Jack said in a cocky tone. "Jared here, is the football team's pussy boy!"

It was like a bolt of lightning shooting out towards Jack, but unfortunately for Jack, the it I'm referring to was Leo's fist which connected squarely with Jack's gut. Jack dropped to his knees but Leo picked him back up and smacked him against the locker again. "Now listen you punk ass. I don' know who you think you dealin' wit', but you gon' show Jared respect from now on, or you'll be worryin' about more than one punch y'understan'?"

Jack could barely nod still gagging and coughing for breath, before Leo dropped him back onto the floor. Leo grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me down the hall. "Where are we goin?" I asked a little nervously.

"The lounge," Leo answered quickly.

Leo led me through the school quickly down to the gymnasium's wing. Now at our school football is like the biggest thing imaginable. Our team is always full and usually does pretty well and because we're not the biggest town the school gets a lot of public funding for athletics as a source of entertainment for the populace. So the football team has all its own equipment, from a lounge where players hold their own team meetings to a locker room, weight room, and a room that was originally supposed to be a second green-house for the science department, but it was converted into small cafeteria. No food is served there like in the real cafeteria, but there tables the players can sit at and eat discussing the current news and generally just acting as the higher-classed students they're often viewed as. The whole idea was to build team unity through giving the players their own area which worked as far as improving team work, but it also gave them an exclusive group to be a part of. If they put in the work it took to be a part of the team, the rewards were pretty nice!

Leo pulled me through the cafeteria area and into the lounge where the players were all seated talking, but when I came in all the talk ceased and all the eyes turned towards me. I swallowed hard since this was definitely a new situation for me to be in, but I looked at Max who was seated near the center of the room and he smiled and gave me that wink that told me everything was all right. The faces turned to Max as he began to speak. "Jared, we're glad you could join us," he said slowly. Leo pulled up one of the softly padded arm chairs for me to sit in. I sat down glancing around the room afraid someone would snap any second in the near silence that filled the room as Max paused. 

"Look before you guys go kicking my ass, I just wanna say..."

"Shut up Jared," Leo said silencing me as he stood behind my seat. "You think we're gonna drop you as our manager because of trivial shit?"

"Yeah man because of trivial shit?" Charlie chimed in.

"Pull up a seat and chill. Nobody here cares if you're gay cause who else can stand on a field and pick out how we can beat down the other team with easy moves?"

The whole team was looking at me nodding in agreement. "It's cool with us Jared," Max said looking at me seriously. "We've talked things over, and made a few decisions..."

 

 

        It was on the Wednesday night's practice that the team had reached its breaking point. Absolutely nothing was going right, and the players were a little more than frustrated as they entered the locker room from the practice field. "Man what the hell is wrong with us?" Charlie asked to no one in particular.

"We have no fuckin manager," Leo growled.

"Better to have no manager, than a gay manager," Dean, one of the second string receivers said.

This had led to an argument between a few players about what was wrong with having a gay manager, and who else they could find. "Personally, I think you're all fucked," Max's voice rang out for the first time silencing everyone else. He was standing wearing his football pants, with nothing on his top. "Jared came out in the middle of the playoffs, and in less than a week had this team running smoothly. We always had water, and we always had everything else we needed. When Tyrone lost his cheek pads, Jared stayed late to find them just so Tyrone wouldn't get hassled about losing equipment. What he didn't tell any of you was that he had to go through the garbage bag full of game-tape to find it. All that filthy, nasty tape off of your ankles, your wrists, and your shoes that you all cut off and leave on the floor for Jared to clean up, is what he had to rummage through. He'd do anything to keep you guys in equipment and ready to play, and because you found out one insignificant piece of info you guys have to go and turn your back on the one person who I guarantee would never turn his back on you when you were in need. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, and of this team as a whole." Max stood silently looking around the room at everyone. Tears ran down a few players' faces, and no one seamed very proud of themselves. The captain they looked up to had actually scolded them, and it probably stung a lot of them more than they'd admit.

"I didn't see you doing much arguing," Dean said faking defiance.

"I've got nothing to argue about," Max said. "I've known Jared was gay since before he even became our manager. It didn't matter to me then and it doesn't matter to me now."

"You don't care that he's gay?" Dean asked as if the whole idea was outrageous.

"No! I don't care if he's gay," Max said angrily. "All I care about is the fact that he's a great friend, a great manager, and a great person, and if you think his orientation is more important, then like I said earlier, you're fucked."

"Yeah but look how many times the damn fag's seen us all naked. I don't want some queer checkin me out after every practice and every game!" Dean continued pushing.

"Has he stared at you? Touched you? Even so much as batted his eyes or winked at you?" Max asked looking around the room. "He's seen me naked more times than any of you and he hasn't at any time come on to me in any way and hell I live with him!"

"Yeah, so what? What does it matter now? He's seen everything and doesn't make a big deal out of it.....so why should you?" Charlie asked joining in the discussion.

"He don't make a scene about you telling the whole team how you fucked Belinda Merlot last week, do he? He just does his job," Leo added.

"So," Dean said grasping for a point of argument.

"So shut up and do your fuckin job and warm the bench." Max said shortly.

The room fell silent again as Max sat down, and a players started to look around to see other people's reactions. Without words the players started looking from one to the other nodding agreement. "So how we get him back Cap'n?" Leo asked.

 

 

        Coach Harrison entered the lounge in a huff. "Now what's this urgent situation all about?" He called out as he entered the room. He slowed his speedy pace when he saw me standing in the room. "What's he doing here?" he asked with a little fear, a little shock, and a little anger.

"He's our manager," Max said in a tone just verging on cold.

"Look," Coach began. "We have enough to worry about this week without worrying about... this."

"Yeah coach I agree," Max said. "So let's deal with it next week when we've got our championship rings being molded for us." My hope sank a little at this since my first reaction was to assume Max was gonna leave my situation until later. I wouldn't have blamed him if he did, but I'm sure by now you know that Maxwell doesn't operate like that.

"So we're in agreement that Jared participates as a fan from the stands at the championship, and we discuss his permanent removal from the team later?"

"Oh Hell no," Leo said shaking his head.

"Guys, I know Jared's a good manager, but this could tarnish our team's name," Coach Harrison said simply.

"Coach, the whole team's in agreement already. We want Jared back. After the last practice you should feel the same way!"

"I will not sacrifice the team's name for our gay manager!" The coach said growing angry.

"And I won't sacrifice my time, or body to uphold the name of a team who's coach won't allow the best manager in team history to be a part of the team because of his sexual preference," Max said growing angry himself. I felt like I was gonna throw up, and then tension between the coach and Max could probably be felt way out in portable 10! "Jared's the best manager we've ever had. He gets things done quickly and never ever acts inappropriately and we want him back. Jared's more than a 'queer'" Max said defiantly. "He's Jared Matthews and he's as much a member of our team as I am, or anyone else is. I won't play for a team that's incomplete because somethin' about one of it's most important members makes him different."

"Yeah.. me neither," Leo said standing up. He pulled his XL jersey off over his head and tossed it on the floor as Max pulled his shirt off. Davis, Eric, and Baker all stood up and started pulling their jerseys off over their heads. Coach Harrison stood looking around the room as my vision blurred slightly from the tears welling in my eyes.

"So what if he's gay coach?" Max asked solemnly. "It doesn't change the season we've had, or that we're number one headed into a championship. Jared's the best person to be our manager. We've talked it over and agreed that if Jared isn't our manager, we quit. No championship, no ring, nothing."

"So that's the way it's going to be is it?" Coach Harrison asked sullenly.

"Yeah coach.. I'm sorry but that's the way it is. We'll cut a deal. You're worried about the team's rep so okay. If we lose the game this week, then Jared leaves, but if we win he stays on as manager permanently. This season, next season, and any other season he chooses to help out until he's finished highschool." Max said with a look of seriousness.

"That's a big bet," the coach said. "Are you okay with this Jared?" He asked turning to me.

"Yeah I guess I can live with it," I said feeling about ready to cry yet again, only this time it was from the release of the incredible tension from moments before, and a burst of joy brought by the knowledge that my team still liked me.

"Okay it's a deal then," Max said glancing around the room at the nodding players. "If anyone has a problem with it, they better speak now cause there's no turning back later." When everyone sat silently looking around at everyone else the coach gave a slight nodded and paced out of the room. "Okay Jared we have one practice to get ready for tomorrow's game. We're playing under the Friday Night Lights and it's gonna be cold. This aint Odessa, but we're under even more pressure than the Panthers."

Leo chuckled, "now you're talkin my kinda ball!" All the guys laughed at this having heard before Leo's tales about the "great and powerful" Permian Panthers of Odessa Texas where he had grown up.

The team hit the practice field that night and worked hard for nearly four hours. The team's mood seemed to shift from what had been the usual playful atmosphere, to an intense businesslike demeanor. Everyone had a stern game-face through the drills, and the hitting (though low key), was done with precise movements. In the 25 minute scrimmage, not a single blocking assignment was missed as the coaches ran through the game plan. I heard a few comments about how much more smoothly practice was running that night, than it had the three nights before while I wasn't there. It made me feel really good to know that I actually made that big a difference, and knowing that the team, or rather Max had stood up to the coach like that for me was meaning more and more. The other guys were cool and were being supportive, but I knew no one but Max would have had the guts to stand up to Coach Harrison for me.

"You gonna be ready for the game Power House?" Max asked Leo as they came out of the locker room into the lounge to sit down and cool off before going home.

"Aw hell yeah," Leo said confidently. "I'm gonna kill people for J-man tomorrow!"

"Hey guys, I appreciate all this, but it's really not that big a deal," I said not wanting to be any trouble.

"No Jared it is a big deal," Max said sternly. "And there isn't a player on this team that won't be playing for you tomorrow. It's not about the championship anymore."

"Yeah," Leo chimed in. "Just make sure that the special jersey's we got from the sponsorship are laid out ready for us in the locker room an' we'll run the Trojans into the ground!"

"Those new black jersey's are gonna look real sharp," Max said with a pensive smile as he stared off into space. "The Panthers versus the Trojans..."

"Yeah, the big championship," came Coach Harrison's voice from behind us. "Don't mind me boys, I just came in to get a few papers from the office," he said looking at the three of us - me seated between Leo and Max. They stood up and headed out of the lounge.

"J-man, we'll meet you at the Jeep," Max said over his shoulder.

"Jared, for what it's worth I think you're a great manager! The best. My concern is, and always is for the reputation and name of this team and I didn't want to jeopardize it if it wasn't necessary, but after seeing how the team is pulling together to keep you on as the manager, I know that you're as much a part of the team as any player, or even myself. What I'm saying is that whether we win or lose tomorrow, if you want to come back and help next season there will be a spot for you. You're professional in your handling of the situation, so there's no real problem as long as I don't get any complaints about you molesting any of these poor little football players," coach said with a wink.

"Thanks Coach," I said quietly starting to feel that tingling joy I had been feeling the previous week.

"And try to keep your private stuff private from now on okay?" Coach said over his shoulder as he left the lounge heading for his office. I didn't have a chance to answer so I just sort of smiled to myself and nodded. I leaned back in my seat. This was at the very least being thrown for a few loops. Going from high, to low, and back to high again, so many times in such a short period was starting to make me dizzy and confused. My whole life kept getting tossed into turmoil and I felt like I was in some little boat in the middle of the ocean during a big storm; every time I bailed the boat out, some huge wave would come crashing down on it and fill up the bow all over again. But through it all, I knew that I could always count on my best friend, Maxwell Thomas.


Okay that's it. Maxwell Thomas Chapter Nine. Hopefully you liked it! Remember comments / suggestions are always welcome at eric_case@hotmail.com so talk to ya later and thanx again for reading!