Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 11:51:27 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
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

<Tuesday, August 26, Noah's house>

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.

<Wednesday, September 3, Mayfield Middle School>

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.

<Friday, September 5, Rich's house>

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.

<Eighth grade, Friday, September 5, Mayfield Cemetery>

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.

<Eighth grade, Saturday, September 6, Noah's house>

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.

<Eighth grade, Tuesday, September 9>

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.

<Eighth grade, Friday, September 12>

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.

<Eighth grade, Monday, September 15>

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.

<Eighth Grade, Thursday, September 24>

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.