Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 21:36:22 -0500
From: Douglas West <brawlinauthor@gmail.com>
Subject: Brawlin - Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters, events and places described in this story are
completely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events or locations are completely coincidental.

Please be aware that this is in fact a love story and my first go at any
non-academic style of writing. I would love to hear any feedback but please
be gentle. You can email me at brawlinauthor@gmail.com Also, please be
aware that this is a story about a relationship, not just sex, while sex
will certainly be a fair chunk it will not be the only focus. I'm going to
try and submit every week.

________________________________________________________________________

Josh -

"Stop worrying so much" The bus veered left as he stared aimlessly out the
window pondering upon the words his mother had spoken as he had left this
morning. What had she meant exactly? He wondered how he could possibly not
be worried about starting his senior year at a brand new school. He knew in
his heart that this was exactly what his mother needed, a new job, a new
life. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder what things would be like if he were
home right now, walking through a metal detector in the main lobby of his
old school rather than the wrought iron gates he was passing through now.

The bus continued along the main drive which rounded about the outskirts of
the campus, passing a few parking lots and many athletic fields substantial
enough to make some University's envious. He admited to himself that the
campus certainly was easy on the eyes as he fiddled with the new student
packet in his hands. "Rockshire Academy - Educating the Leaders of
Tomorrow" it sounded so unbelieveably cheesy to him. The bus eventually
made a sharp right leading into a small line of a few other identical
buses. To the left, he could see out the window, were steps leading up to
the only building which he had been in thus far, the administration
building. To his right was a sprawling lawn with a few buildings encircling
it. It was unbelievable to him that this was just a high school.

As soon as the bus stopped kids began flooding out onto the sidewalk
heading out in every direction. "Here we go" he said to himself as he made
his way to the front of the bus and out into the brisk morning air. He was
left in a trial of dust behind all the other students with nothing but a
dumbfounded expression on his face and not a single clue as to how he was
going to find his way to his first class. He hadn't really attempted to
make friends on the bus for two reasons. The first being that everyone
seemed to have their own cliques and he didn't want to seem like he was
intruding. The second was that he seemed to be the oldest person on the bus
and not by just a year or two. He could only assume that it wasn't the norm
for a senior to be taking the bus based on all the odd looks he had got
when he stepped on this morning. It hadn't bothered him in the slightest at
the time, he'd just ignored them, but now faced with the daunting expanse
of grass and buildings he was starting to regret not trying to make a
friend or two.

For the first time since his move here he began to feel intensely alone.
Selfish thoughts of "why me, why now" which he had been so stoic in fending
off throughout the summer creeped into his mind. Nothing sounded nicer than
catching the earliest flight back to his home town of Gavington. He began
to imagine the beach and the salty air of the gulf. His mind raced to the
secluded spot on north beach where he and his friends had spent his last
days in town soaking up the summer sun wishing that life could simply stay
like that forever. Those days seemed so far away now.

As his mind continued to spin with memories of Texas he felt something tap
him ever so slightly against the shoulder, knocking him back into the
reality of the surrounding mountain landscape and the smell of engine fumes
escaping from the bus behind him.

Michelle-

"Hi, I'm Michelle" she said with a smile as she gave him a slight tap on
the shoulder, "what's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Josh" He replied, looking a little dazed and confused.

"Nice to meet you Josh, so you're new here?"

He grinned while placing a hand behind his head saying, "Is it that
obvious?"

"Well it isn't like it's that big of a school and I've never seen you
before" Michelle said, trying to comfort him a bit "And you also look a
little lost..." she added with a slight cringe.

As they spoke she couldn't help but notice how cute he was. He was tall
with broad shoulders and beautiful eyes. Literally, Michelle couldn't seem
to stop staring at his eyes: a deep blue with swirls of dark grey. Those
eyes graced a slightly roundish face topped by a mess of short, light brown
hair with a trace of five o'clock shadow brushing his jaw line. Add his
face to the filled out football-boy frame and you had a very handsome
combination indeed. "He will move up the ranks here very easily" Michelle
thought to herself as the new kid began to speak again.

"A litte lost? I'm a lot lost!" Josh said, "This place is just so big I
can't wrap my head around it... and this little map the guidance counselor
gave me isn't really helping at all" He added with a laugh.

"Hmmm, well let me see your schedule and I'll help you to your first
class!" She replied, taking the paper as he handed it to her. "Oh, well we
have the same first period so we can just walk together then!" Michelle
said, trying not to sound too excited, not just because he was cute but
because Rockshire never seemed to get new kids in her class and judging by
his schedule he was a senior just like her.

"That would be awesome... I'm not really sure how I'm ever going to get
used to this place" He stated as they began walking across the main lawn
towards their first class.

"Oh its not really that big once you get a feel for it. It's just a little
spread out is all, but most of the academic buildings all surround this
lawn"

"I guess, but where I come from we only had one building with everything in
it... so this is still pretty new for me" Josh said, as she continued to
notice how handsome he was, including how well his muscular frame seemed to
fill out the uniform, a blue button down shirt and khakis, that all male
students were required to wear at Rockshire.

"Wow, how did you fit all of the classes into one building?" Michelle
asked, seriously shocked.

"Most highschools don't offer as many classes as Rockshire I guess"

"Hmm I guess your right, I've been here since the 7th grade so it all just
seems so routine now. Where is home if you don't mind me asking?"

"Gavington, Texas... Its a little town on the gulf coast."

"Oh wow, that must have been incredible to grow up down there!"

"It was, I really miss it... Don't get me wrong North Carolina is great, I
love the mountains, but it just doesn't compare to being able to go to the
beach every day, y'know?"

"I'm sure it doesn't" she said chuckling "Your going to lose that pretty
tan of yours being up here in the cool mountain air" she added as they
entered the front doors of their building. "This is Langly Hall, all of the
History and English classes are housed here" Michelle informed him as they
shuffled into the lobby.

"Wow, are all the buildings like this?" He said turning circles.

"Yes, they are all pretty much the same, an auditorium style classroom on
the main floor, main classrooms on the second and offices on the third...
we're in the auditorium this morning" She answered as they entered the
large room to the right of the lobby.

"I didn't catch your last name Josh" she said as she walked through the
door he was holding for her.

"It's Holt... Josh Holt" He replied as she began descending the stairs to
the front row where she usually sat.

"Will I see you later then?" He almost shouted down the stairs to her.

"Maybe, if you're lucky" she replied without turning around to face him.

Josh-

Josh took his seat on the far upper right of the small auditorium near a
window. He realized once he had taken his seat that he hadn't caught her
full name either.

"Oh well" he thought, "We'll have this class together every day for the
rest of the year so it shouldn't be that big of a deal to ask later". As
those thoughts finished running through his head the teacher simolutaneosly
finished writing his name on the board. "Mr. Savage" Josh read as the
teacher began to call roll, skipping over the names that he recognized.

"Josh Holt" He called.

"Present!" Josh spoke, raising from his seat, giving an awkward wave which
seemed to amuse the other students.

"How do you like our little establishment so far Mr. Holt?" Mr. Savage
questioned while peering over his coke bottle glasses.

"It is definitely different sir!" The student replied, glancing for a split
second at Michelle.

"I'm sure it is..." He spoke, looking back down at his roll sheet "Well I'm
sure you will settle in nicely" He added before returning to the roll call.

"Thank you sir" Josh said, finally taking his seat again.

To Josh's utter suprise, Mr. Savage began lecturing immediately after the
roll was called. Josh of course wasn't prepared at all to be taking notes
on the first day, not to mention the fact that it was only supposed to be
an orientation, so his attention inadvertently floated to the window to his
right.

Outside he could see the lawn which he and Michelle had crossed earlier; it
reminded him of a football field. As he stared, memories of Friday night
lights and daily practices began filling his head. He smiled, excited that
at least that would be one thing that wouldn't be changing. He had missed
summer practices but the coaches still allowed him to join the team
considering his record. Football had been his life back in Texas and in
fact it was one of the main reasons he was enrolled at Rockshire now. The
school had offered him a subsidy on his tuition based on his athletic
performance. He was glad they had, otherwise he and his mother wouldn't
have been able to afford it even with his mothers new job. Not that it
bothered him going to a public school, Josh had always attended public
school before coming to Rockshire, but the school he was zoned for here
simply didn't have the football program that Rockshire did. Rockshire
wasn't amazing by any means but they did make it to the playoffs
consistently. Making it to the playoffs here would at least keep him on the
radar of some of the recruiters who had been interested in him last
year... or at least he hoped it would.

Thoughts of the moves impact on his college dreams began to freak him out a
bit. "Don't worry so much" his mother had said. He decided to take her
advice, turning his attention to something else... Of course, tuning in to
the teachers lecture was out of the question, so his eyes naturally fell on
Michelle.

Michelle was gorgeous, long dark hair and a perfect olive complexion. She
was obviously very popular considering the large number of people who
congregated around her after she sat down. Though, he could have easily
guessed that she was very popular just from the confidence she had shown in
approaching him. Josh wondered if she was dating anyone. More than likely
she was, someone as beautiful as she was couldn't possibly be single,
besides there was also a vacant seat next to her that had to have been
saved for someone special.

"Pity" Josh thought, "she would be excellent to date".

Of course for Josh 'dating' was a relative term. To most guys his age it
meant going steady but for him it literally meant a single date or as he
liked to call them 'cover up operations'. You see, dates for him were a
means of keeping everyone from asking too many questions about why he
didn't have a girlfriend. The answer was actually pretty simple... he
wasn't interested in a girlfriend. To be precise he wasn't really
interested in girls at all.

Josh had always just been more attracted to guys and while not ashamed in
the slightest of who he is, for him it had always just been easier not
having to explain that he wasn't looking at his teammates dicks while they
were showering. He'd grown out of that (mostly...). Though due to his
little locker room predicament he had figured out a long time ago that the
easiest way to keep people from talking about his lack of a lady friend was
just to keep up a reputation of having multiple lady friends. It was always
pretty simple for him really. Among the lady's he had a reputation of being
a sweet and charming date, they always had a good time and he never
pressured them which they thought was extremely gentleman-like. Thankfully
he was attractive enough that they usually overlooked the fact that he
wasn't interested in committing to anything more serious with any of
them. Among the guys, on the other hand, he was known as a man-slut. It
always amused him how his guy friends always just assumed things the way
they did. The virgin man-slut. The thought made Josh grin.

At that moment Josh heard the doors to the lecture hall open only to have a
broad chested young blond waltz confidently into the room. As Josh watched
him bounce down the stairs to the front row he couldn't help but stare at
the young man. He quickly realized who Michelle had been saving the seat
next to her for.

Rob-

"Fashionably late again I guess" He thought to himself as he walked into
Mr. Savage's history class. Looking at the clock though he realized it was
a quarter till nine "maybe more than fashionably actually..."

"A bit late aren't we Mr. Tilton?" Mr. Savage said, as Rob took the empty
seat next to Michelle.

"I'm sorry sir, I guess I must have overslept... It won't happen again"

"I doubt that Mr. Tilton... you forget this isn't the first time I've had
you in one of my classes. Please make sure if it happens in the future that
you take a seat in the back. I can't have you disrupting my class so that
you may sit in the front"

"Yes sir!" Rob replied with a smile while reaching his arm around Michelle
at the same time

"Hmmm, I guess I better be on time then if I want to keep sitting next to
the hottest girl in school" He whispered into his girlfriends ear, though
she seemed to ignore the compliment.

"Almost a full period late Robert, why did you even bother coming to this
class?" She replied, mockingly, though Rob knew she was actually more
serious than she was letting on.

"Well if I didn't show to this class how on earth would I ever make it till
after lunch before seeing your pretty face?" He said, desperately trying to
sound cute, though if he was honest with himself he really didn't give a
damn if she was mad.

"I'm sure you'd find a way to manage" She replied, returning to her pad and
pen to continue taking notes.

A few minutes later the bell began to ring signaling that it was time to
change classes. Rob took his things and began the climb up the stairs
towards the door. He was following closely after Michelle when he noticed
him. The look made Rob pause abruptly. He was unsure of who the guy was but
something about him intrigued Rob nonetheless. They glanced at each other
only for a moment, a very strange moment. In fact, it was a downright
awkward moment, but strangely, Rob wasn't anxious to turn away at first.
The new kid looked again quickly as he neared the door and the strange
feeling that had come over Rob quickly faded into a tormenting
embarrassment. He looked away in a flash, replacing his featureless face
with one of casual indifference, which tended to be his usual defense
mechanism in situations he deemed awkward or unfavorable.

"Aren't you coming?" Michelle said, looking down at him from the top of the
steps.

"Yeah... just spaced out for a sec" Rob replied, starting up the small set
of steps again. As he neared the top a weighty realization set in on him.
He'd thought the guy was beautiful. He resented the feeling almost
immediately, pushing it away somewhere deep within his gut, attempting to
deal with it the same way he'd dealt with similar feelings in the past:
ignoring it.

Michelle-

"Who's the new kid?" Rob asked nonchalantly.

"The one who walked out the door just now?"

"Yeah, is he in our grade? I've never seen him before."

"Yes he is, isn't it exciting that we finally have someone new in our
grade? We haven't had a new kid since Cindy Harper and I came in seventh
grade!" Michelle replied with excitment.

"His name is Josh Holt and he's from Texas... not sure exactly why he moved
here but I like him, we should invite him to your party tonight!" She
added, trying not to sound too anxious.

Rob sat there looking as if he were lost in thought, something which didn't
happen very often. Typically Rob had a tendency to react immediately to
situations rather than think through them. She couldn't help but think that
Rob was schemeing something. Then again, it was almost time for recruitment
wasn't it?

He doesn't think I notice the bruise...

Michelle wasn't worried that Rob was being bullied, nor was he a victim to
some tragic home life... that is, at least abuse wasn't a part of it. No,
Rob essentially had it all. He was the star of the wrestling and lacrosse
teams. He had the car, money, looks and the family reputation to go
anywhere in life. He threw the best parties and even the faculty seemed to
be on edge whenever he was in their presence. Yes, Rob was certainly
something. Yet despite all that Rob had a need for something she couldn't
quite put her finger on. He tried to find it in fights, a fact that she
hated, but he never seemed to walk away fully satisfied.

His thinking pause prompted her to begin remincsing about when they had
first met. It had been in Michelle's first semester at Rockshire near the
middle of their seventh grade year. She and her family had moved from East
Tennessee because her mother was offered an admin job at the Hospital in
Rockshire. Michelle had absolutely hated it, the girls were cliquey and
everyone seemed to have known each other all their lives. In fact over the
course of that fall semester she had steadily convinced herself that it
would be better to run away and join the circus or something. At least that
was her plan up until the annual middle school winter formal dance.

She had sat there, all alone, in the bleachers of that shabbily decorated
gymnasium thinking to herself that she would rather be anywhere else on
earth other than that dance. Looking down from where she was seated she
thought about how funny it was to call the winter formal a dance when no
one seemed to be dancing. Michelle imagined what a real dance would be like
and how fun it might be when she got older, away from Rockshire. Yet
something pulled her back to that gym and her white formal dress. An
unfamiliar voice belonging to a boy whom she only faguely recognized. She
couldn't have told you how long he had been standing there but it could
have been hours for all she had known.

"I'm Rob..." He said, beeming his braced teeth.

"Um... I'm Mich... Michelle" she responded nervously "nic... nice to mee
you."

"I'm sorry Michelle, I just noticed you sitting here by yourself and
thought that you might like to dance with me. Everyone else turned me
down..." He said looking at his shoes for a split second but bursting his
head up with confidence again as he added "And its pretty silly to call
this a dance if no one is dancing, right?"

She giggled at the fact that they were thinking the exact same thing.

"I would love to Rob" Michelle had said, taking his hand as she stepped
down from the bleachers.

Looking back it was probably the most awkward dance she had ever
experienced in her entire life. They had simply grabbed each others waists
and swayed with the music. But at the time it was perfect. For the first
time since she had moved to Rockshire she was happy with where she was at
and she owed that all to Rob. They saw each other a good bit over the next
year and half and Michelle slowly found herself becoming much more popular
as Rob introduced her to his many friends within the school. Somehow she
went from being shy and reserved to being outgoing and friendly, something
which she attributed to Rob entirely. Something about him just seemed to
rub off on her and it wasn't long before everyone just assumed they were
dating.

"Yeah... I think that is a good idea" He answered, shocking her back into
reality with his too plain answer. She had been expecting something witty
about how if Josh were invited then he might sweep her off her feet and
away from Rob, which would be Rob's typical response, but that didn't seem
to even cross his mind.

She was certain now, Rob most definetly was plotting something... and she
couldn't help but wonder what it was and what it had to do with Josh Holt.