Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:19:38 -0700
From: Owen Wright <superwrighter13@gmail.com>
Subject: Redefining Normal Chapter 3

Redefining Normal
By Owen Wright

Hi guys, this is the third chapter in what I hope will be a very long
series following the journey of Kasey, the narrator, as he learns to
redefine the concepts that construct his world.

The disclaimer: There will be sex in this series, and although it will most
likely be sparse, those 18 and younger, as well as those who shouldn't be
reading this for whatever reason, please stay away for your own good. The
characters are purely fictional, any relation to actual people/stories is
absolute bull shit. I'm serious.

Author's note:

Please, enjoy the series, and if you want to contact me, please do so at
superwrighter13@gmail.com. I'd love to hear your comments, and although I'd
rather not hear any harsh criticisms, I'd be more than happy to accept
constructive ones. I'm trying to respond to this round of emails right now
so hopefully you'll get one before this chapter is posted. Thank you so
much for the emails, as that really is all I get for writing these.

Also, I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long to get out to you! I
actually wrote most of it a month ago but I got really busy and I wasn't
able to finish it until tonight. It's a rather slow chapter, but we're
still introducing all the characters so please bear with me, and trust that
it will be all worth it. They're all loveable though, so please enjoy.

Last, (sorry about the long author's note) does anyone know how to post to
nifty as a web page? I'm using Microsoft word and evidently it's web page
format is not acceptable so if anyone could help me out with that please
email me, I'll be forever grateful. Thanks guys!

Chapter 3-Meeting the Gang

"So word is that a new kid is joining our club soccer team," Ross crunched
into an apple as he sat down across from me at out usual lunch table.

"As if we need any more new people in our lives," Zeo remarked
sarcastically as he shot me a playful look.

I rolled my eyes, smiling.

We were sitting together at the lunch table, enjoying what could only be
described as the semi-edible slop they served here at Lincoln High. It
wasn't absolutely horrid most days, though, and today's attempt at a
burrito wasn't half bad, mainly because most of the cafeteria workers were
Spanish and specialized in the make. They were nice people, but the
language barrier often prevented them from having normal interaction
between us.

'Our table' referred to the circular, eight-seater in the corner of the
square cafeteria where we met for lunch everyday. Due to the difference in
classes, we eventually made it a constant thing, as to avoid the need for
class-to-class texting wondering where we were meeting to eat. Unlike some
other high schools, we weren't allowed off campus for any meals, which
meant that we spent five days a week eating the meals planned out for us by
the cafeteria staff.

I think the school had every intention to make the cafeteria a happy place
to enjoy lunch, it just never really followed through on its
expectations. Sure, the clichˇ "got milk?" posters featuring the
Fantastic Four (which wasn't a bad movie, I just got tired of watching 'The
Thing' gulp his milk every day for the past semester) and Kelly Clarkson
(back in her skinny days) were posted along the dusty walls in an attempt
to get on board the health revolution. There were some paintings done by
classes probably older than my parents, which hung in their musty frames,
colors dulled over the passing of time. They themselves weren't too
terrible, framing the Oregon landscape, one featuring what was either Mount
Hood or an awfully large grey triangle. Our school colors were red and
black, our mascot the Cardinal (the bird, as religious references in public
schools were outlawed) but the cafeteria seemed resistant to the normal
palette and was instead outfitted in a beige and orange mixture, although
whether it was white 80 years ago is a question I would rather not have the
answer to.

Needless to say, the cafeteria wasn't the most interesting place to hang
out, or have a conversation, but when surrounded by friends, all of that
kind of faded away. Kind of. Mind you, we never forgot where we were, but
we still had some funny moments and great times nonetheless.

Currently, the seats of the table were occupied by the boys I considered my
close circle of friends; we never really referred to ourselves by any sort
of name as to avoid being too similar to a cult, but when references were
made to 'the group,' or 'the boys,' by those who knew us, we knew they were
talking about us.

Zeo Thompson, my best friend, to whom you have already been introduced, sat
to my right, poking at his burrito with his fork. He claimed he needed to
make sure whatever was in it wasn't poisonous before he tried to eat
it. Typical.

Ross Henderson, the extroverted, multi-sport athlete who was kind of the
unestablished leader of our little group, was seated across from me,
grinning beneath his backwards baseball cap. His muscular arm was currently
wrapped around the shoulders of Joni, my study buddy, who was better known
as his girlfriend. Evidently, he did remember it was their anniversary and
left a special love note in the locker with a promise of later reward. I
didn't question any further; she seemed happy about it. Joni was fairly
pretty, by any standards; her bubbly personality and curly locks always
kept me interested in the subject matter at hand and she was one of those
genuine people who always seemed sincere in what they cared about. I was
happy for the two of them, although how long they would last was still up
in the air. After all, we were only Freshmen.

James Yamamoto was Ross's best friend, as Zeo was mine. His parents didn't
exactly provide the best living situation for him; they were separated and
he mostly lived with his Mom now. Unlike the typical 'go for the gold'
Asian parents, his Dad turned to drug dealing to bring in most of the
family's money. His Mom had good intentions and was really a nice woman,
but she spent so much time playing the obedient role under his father's
grip that after she finally lashed out, she still had a hard time being
independent. She was currently trying out a job as a receptionist at Ross's
father's Optometry clinic. Things were starting to look up for James, but
his dark past still haunted him daily; he turned to soccer and us, his
friends, as an escape and he rarely spent any time at home save for when
his Mom wanted to spend some time with him. He was currently staring at his
Physics notes with his eyebrows furrowed, half-eaten celery stick in hand;
he had a quiz next period.

From the outside looking in, their friendship would seem anything but
conventional. But, for us, everything made perfect sense. When we all
became friends, we were no more than 9 or 10 years old. By some hand of
fate, we all ended up on the same soccer team that year, a passion we
always shared. At that age, backgrounds, social standings, those things
didn't matter. We all became fast friends, and James and Ross took to each
other as strongly as Zeo and I. It was the following year that Ross
supported James through his parents' breakup, his parents helping out in
any way they could as well.

It was Mikey who joined us in middle school, the awkward but cute little
Japanese-Caucasian who started 7th grade a year early. He was supposed to
be this bright prodigy, which he was most days, but sometimes his lack of
common sense caused me to question whether or not he really belonged with
us in the 9th grade. We all loved him, though, and Ross and Joni kind of
took it upon themselves to be his protectors, which brought us all closer
as a group. Contrary to popular belief, Mikey wasn't the nerdy type to stay
at home all day studying blades of grass under his microscope; although he
benched a lot, he was on the JV soccer team with us, and had a very avid
social life which corresponded with his happy-go-lucky personality. The kid
could always put a smile on my face, and even though he was the baby of the
bunch, he was as mature as the rest of us when he needed to be and was a
very good listener. In fact, at the moment, he was completely engrossed in
the story Ross was telling about our new teammate.

"His name's Orion," Ross shared, "evidently he's pretty decent, he's just
never played club before."

"Do you know why?" Mikey asked, listening closely but inspecting his carton
of milk through his black, rectangular glasses, frosted hair sticking up
every which way.

"Not a clue, but I mean really, that news is minor compared to what Kasey
just told us."

I had just finished telling them the story of Keith, and how he ended up at
my place. Zeo knew most of it already, so he helped me make sure I was
covering all of the bases and helped qualify some of my beliefs. We left
out the gay part, though, which seemed customary at this point, I was more
than sure that Keith was going to make his sexuality a known fact at our
school soon enough.

"So which one is he, Kasey?" Joni regarded me beneath her blonde bangs,
"rumor on the street is he's cute."

"Hey, I'm your boyfriend, remember?" Ross shot at her playfully.

"Yeah I know, but God gave me eyes, Ross, I might as well use them," she
winked at him and gave him a quick peck on the nose.

Their eyes sparkled with the sincerity of love, and as jealous as I felt, I
couldn't help but smile myself because I was so happy for them.

"He's sitting over there, on the football table. I told him to come and say
hi, though, so I'm sure he'll stop by before lunch is over."

Sure enough, a mere five-minute interval passed before I heard the sound of
a chair scraping against the ground, pulling up next to mine. He sat on it
backwards, arms crossed against the backrest as I introduced him to my
friends. It seemed he was quickly making friends, and I had nothing to
worry about. He might have stepped into this school in the middle of his
junior year but with his charisma, he was seeking friends in the right
places, and that eased my worry a lot.

"Hey, Kase," he grinned at me then acknowledged the rest of my friends,
"and hi to you folks, too."

"Keith, these are my friends, Mikey, Joni, Ross, James, and you already met
Zeo."

"Right, nice to see you again. And it's nice to meet the rest of you," he
was beaming. There was definitely something wrong with this kid; most
people would feel a little awkward or uncomfortable meeting new people, but
not Keith. He just smiled with his sparkling char and blinked his wide
green eyes like these people were his best friends as well.

"So where are you from, Keith?" Joni ventured, clearly intrigued by his
All-American good looks.

"Seattle, I used to go to a high school up there, but my mom really wanted
me to come here and live with my dad after she passed away," his smile
faded a bit, but perked up again once Ross pitched in.

"So do you play any sports?" Ross, of course, would be the most interested
of us all, seeing as there was a fairly good chance that Keith actually
played one of the three that he did.

"I played a bunch of different ones when I was younger, but since I entered
high school I only play football."

"Damn," Ross looked a little disappointed but he was still glad that Keith
was an athlete, "what position?" he added.

"Receiver," he smiled, and Z winked at me, all three of us in on the
underlying joke.

Keith sat with us for the rest of lunch, just shooting the breeze, until
the bell rang to signal the need to move out to our next class. We cleared
out of the cafeteria, but all the while I couldn't stop thinking about the
name, Orion. I just felt like I'd heard it somewhere, multiple times, and
when Ross mentioned it, it was almost as if something sparked a memory in
my mind. As I entered the door to Biology, it suddenly became clear.

I took my usual seat behind the scraggly-haired Medina Arculio, whose crazy
do managed to hide my rapid texting in the middle of class. Biology was
something I wasn't all that interested in, and since Mikey probably knew it
better than the teacher did, there was no reason to be worried about any
tests. This, of course, explains why I never paid much attention to
anything while in class, and by anything, I mean even the people in my
class, which is probably why I only realized at this moment that the boy
who sat two rows ahead of me, three seats across, was Orion Jensen, the
same boy Ross mentioned at lunch.

I whipped out my iPhone.

Me: Dude, I figured out who that Orion kid is.

Zeo: Serious?

Zeo was in his art class, taught by the frail Mrs. Dodson. She could barely
see anything beyond her large, horn-rimmed spectacles, so we often texted
during this class because Z could draw and text without her even noticing
the difference. He was quite the artist anyway, and I'm sure the works he
produced while texting me were still 50 times better than anything I could
create with a fully focused attention.

Me: Yeah, he's in my Biology class.

Zeo: Thought his name sounded familiar. You didn't realize that until now?
We've been in school for over a semester already, haha.

Me: Ah, shut up. You know I never pay any attention in class anyway.

Zeo: True. So what? Is he cool?

Me: Well I don't really know him at all. He didn't go to our junior high
school or anything. But he seems pretty chill.

Zeo: I guess we'll see at practice tomorrow, then.

Me: We have practice tonight. Not tomorrow.

Zeo: What?? I was going to take a nap after school.

Me: Uh, yeah. I really don't see why coach gives you a schedule. It's not
like you ever use it.

Zeo: Fuckkkkkkkk. Alright. And shut up about the schedule, you know that's
what I have you for.

I slumped in my chair, exhausted by the thought of the upcoming practice. I
was tired after the long weekend of getting Keith settled in, and club
practice was never easy. Hopefully, we wouldn't do too much running today
and focus on drill work.

"Mr. Sanders?" my teacher was looking straight at me, her chubby face
waiting for an answer.

"What was that?" I sat up straight suddenly, and out of the corner of my
eye I caught Orion stealing a glance back at me, eyes hidden beneath blonde
bangs.

"The two major chemical compounds needed in the production of
photosynthesis are?" Ms. Martin normally didn't call on me in class, as I
usually at least pretended to pay attention, but I had been so caught up in
the excitement of the new soccer player that I hadn't kept up the act very
well.

"Water," I managed a guess, "and oxygen?"

"Water, yes. But plants don't need Oxygen because they can get it from the
water molecules. Does anyone know what the other chemical is?" she turned
her attention back to the rest of the class and I breathed out a sigh of
relief.

"Carbon dioxide?" I heard a smooth voice that sounded like the strings of
an auburn cello near the front of the class enounce.

My ears perked up in time to hear Ms. Martin say, "nicely done, Orion."

He sent an apologetic look back my way, but my thoughts were completely
engrossed with that voice. Today would be an interesting practice indeed.

"Nice to see you again boys," Coach Ryan was giving us the usual start of
practice talk, "hope you all had a good weekend, not up to too much
trouble."

He smiled and shot a glance over at Ross who put his hands up in the
'surrender' position with a laugh. Coach was a really great guy and we all
liked him; he pushed us really hard, and although at times I'm sure we'd
like to give up, he never asked more than he thought we could handle.

"Before we start practice today I want to introduce you to your new
teammate. I know we had tryouts the other week, but he told me why he
couldn't make it. This is Orion Jensen, and technically today is his tryout
but I've seen him play before and I think he'll be able to keep up."

Standing at Coach's side, Orion smiled at all of us, nervously, of course,
which was understandable given the situation. His teeth sparkled a
brilliant white, and his eyes peered out beneath the blonde bangs that
stuck out from his dirty blonde hair. He had a soccer body, much like the
rest of us, but was less muscular, it seemed, and a bit slimmer.

Once we started practice, though, there was no question whether or not he
was in shape. He was very quick, and unbelievably graceful. What he lacked
in force he made up for in smooth fluidity, easily distracting the
defenders with his moves. Combined with his speed, he made for a formidable
halfback, which is the exact spot Coach planned to use him for.

I nearly tripped over myself at practice watching him. I don't know what it
was, in fact, I don't think I'd ever been so interested in watching another
human being. There was just something about him that was just
so...beautiful. That's the best way I could describe it. It was almost as
if watching him, I was watching art in motion, a painting whose
brushstrokes flowed together flawlessly so much that the colors and lines
blended together into some sort of undeniable perfection.

His feathery dirty blonde hair bounced as he glided through the grass,
jersey clinging lightly with sweat to his thin, toned frame. A dancer, I
guessed, by the way he moved. The sun was setting over the west bleachers
after the fairly clear day. What clouds were left in the sky cast a
springtime orange and pink glow on the field, illuminating his soft skin as
practice drew to a close.

I don't know what it was about him, but there was definitely something
special, something different. All I knew was I needed to be friends with
this boy.

"Hey, so what did you think of the new guy?" I casually tossed the question
in the air as Zeo and I did some homework after dinner. He was over at my
place again, so we were on the wooden kitchen table working on a Geometry
assignment due tomorrow. Mikey was at home, though, so the two of us were
struggling a bit to get through it without him.

"He was damn good at soccer. Kind of odd, though, like a soccer fairy or
something," he chuckled at his own joke, clearly pleased with himself.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, a bit puzzled, and not just by the
geometry.

"Well, like he was just so...graceful. Like that thing in the zoo, you know
that leaps and stuff?"

"A gazelle?" we hadn't been to the Oregon Zoo in a while. I made a mental
note to schedule another trip soon so Z wouldn't be asking me what the
green thing with the big mouth and lots of teeth was. I swear, sometimes
that boy needed more education than the schools offered.

"Yeah, that. He seemed like a cool guy, though, nice and all. What did you
get for number 34?"

"A or B?"

"There's a B?"

"Yeah, it's the area of the sphere formed with the radius you find in part
A."

"Which is?"

"4 cm."

"That's all I needed," he grinned and jotted down the answer I
inadvertently gave him.

"Anyway, thanks for getting off topic." I threw my eraser at him and he
swatted it down with his pencil. This prompted a waving about of the
defensive piece of stationery accompanied with light saber sounds.

"Hey Luke, can we focus here?" I joked as he 'switched' his light saber
off, "I was thinking about inviting him over on Friday night, just so he
can feel like he's more a part of the team."

"You mean Friday night when we all hang out here and eat dinner?"

"Yes, Z. The same thing we've done every Friday night for as long as I can
remember."

"We didn't do it last Friday."

"That's because we turned it into a movie night. We went to go see Percy
Jackson," I had to explain everything to this boy.

"Oh right! Cool, so he'll come over this Friday and hang out. Sounds like a
plan to me."

"Good. Now let's go raid the fridge, I'm getting hungry."

"Grab some milk, I think I saw some of your mom's snickerdoodle cookies on
the counter and I call dibs."

"Fine, but you better save some for me."

After we finished our homework and Z actually went home (he hadn't seen his
mom for almost two days so he felt obligated) I headed to bed. I was
surprised when I passed Keith's room because I almost forgot that he lived
here now. It would definitely take some getting used to; seeing that room
full instead of empty still made me jump sometimes.

"Hey big bro," I stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. He lay on
his bed in only a pair of sweatpants, in the middle of reading The Count of
Monte Cristo by the looks of it.

"Hey Kasey. You heading to bed? Looking a bit sleepy there, champ," he
smiled over at me and placed the book down on his well-defined chest.

"Yeah, I think so. Z just went home and I'm done with my homework so I
don't see why not."

"I told him I'm gay."

"I know, we talked about it last night," I noted, making my way over to sit
next to him on the bed.

"Is he okay with it? I mean he seemed a little offhand when I first told
him."

"I think he was a little surprised but he's totally cool with it now."

 "Would you tell him if you were bi?"

"I don't know, Keith. I mean, he's my best friend."

"I know how you feel, but once I got over that and told my best friend, he
was accepting, it just took him a while."

"Maybe that's what I'm scared of. I don't want to lose our friendship even
for a little while. Anyway, enough with this deep talk, what are you doing
on Friday?"

"I got invited to dinner with a few of the people I just met, why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you were going to be around. All of my friends
come here every Friday so you could hang out with us if you want to."

"Thanks, kid, but I need some friends my age, too," he smiled
appreciatively, "but I tell you what, I'll be home after we come back from
dinner, will you all still be here?"

"Definitely. They sleep over here; well, except for Joni because they're
afraid Ross will try something," I laughed at the thought.

"Okay well I won't miss a thing, then. Maybe I'll pick something up on the
way home, a movie or something?"

"Sure. I'd like that. Well, good night," I held out my fist for a fist
bump, as customary among my friends.

"C'mon, Kase, you know better than that, I hug, man, that's all."

I lowered my fist and stood up as he rose from the bed as well, we
embraced, warm and comforting and I walked into the bathroom to brush my
teeth and get ready for bed.

"Good night, big bro."

"Night, little bro."