Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:19:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: Dylan Harris <ryanwest25@yahoo.com>
Subject: Diving In Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Dirty Little Secret

	Cameron Wright didn't talk a lot, but that did not mean he was not
good with words. In fact, he had won the speech and debate tournament three
years in a row and had made several speeches about fundraisers for student
counsel. He usually only spoke to Travis and Alex, but he did speak a lot
to them. Yes, Cameron Wright was good with words. Yet, he still found
himself speechless as he stared directly at the boy he had met in a gay
club a few nights before who was now standing in Cameron's school.
	Cameron was already late for class, but at that moment it didn't
matter much to him, and it didn't look like it mattered much to Matt,
seeing how Matt grabbed Cameron's arm and dragged him into the boys'
bathroom. Once inside, Matt ensured that no one else was in there, and then
turned to face Cameron.
	"What are you doing here?!" Matt stammered.
	"What am I doing here?! This is my school! What are you doing
here?!" Cameron snapped.
	"You've got to be kidding me," Matt groaned as he leaned his head
against the wall. Cameron felt somewhat offended.
	"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea that me going to school here was such
an inconvenience for you! I'll leave!" Cameron sarcastically stated.
	"No, no. It's not that," Matt apologized. "Look, I'm not exactly
out yet here. My parents know and so do my sisters, but no one else. Well,
and you. I was hoping to graduate without anyone knowing."
	"Wait, what grade are you in?" Cameron asked.
	"I'm a senior. Why? Aren't you?" Matt inquired. Cameron shook his
head.
	"No, I'm a junior," Cameron explained. "That explains why I haven't
seen you really. Oh, and by the way, if your worried about anyone finding
out, no one knows about me. Not even my parents."
	"Really? That makes me feel a little bit better." Matt smiled. "I'm
sorry I snapped. I just freaked out when I saw you. Not that I didn't have
fun last Friday, I just am really afraid of being outed."
	"That makes two of us. Don't worry, your secrets safe with me"
Cameron winked.
	"Shit, we should probably get to class" Matt jumped as he realized
was time it was. "But, um, maybe we could meet up after school. My house
isn't that far of a walk. I could meet you at your locker."
	"Yeah. Okay. I just have a student government meeting until 3:30.
My locker is 456, it's on the second floor near the music room." Cameron
smiled. They both left with butterflies in there stomach about later that
day.


	James sat in his Math class listening to Mrs. Mendez discuss their
latest Math Project. She explained that it would consist of half of their
final quarter average and will be done in pairs. Each student was allowed
to pick his/her own partner, and Kevin Trainer was an obvious choice for
James.
	"I'm not doing all the work this time," James whisper to
Kevin. Last time they did a science fair project James had ended up
building the volcano himself.
	"Trust me, I won't make that mistake twice." Kevin laughed. The
volcano experiment had not gone to James' advantage and had exploded all
over the teachers face.
	Mrs. Mendez began calling on each student and taking down who they
were partnered with. "And Mr. Winters, who is your partner?" She asked.
	"Oh, Kevin." He said, pointing over to him.
	"I don't think so. I don't want the two of you working together."
Mrs. Mendez frowned. She then began to search around the room for another
partner for James. Suddenly, Cameron Wright burst in the room.
	"Mrs. Mendez, I'm sorry I'm late. I just had to.." Cameron's
apology was quickly cut short.
	"Ah yes. Cameron Wright, you will be working with James Winters."
Mrs. Mendez smiled at her own cleverness. Cameron looked at James, confused
and annoyed. "Oh and Mr. Trainer. I have a student in my other class who
you could partner up with. Her name is Alexis Lucas, very bright young
girl."
	"Fuck," Kevin mumbled.
	James wasn't really sure how to react to his partnering up with
Cameron. Part of him was excited, he did want the opportunity to become
closer with him, but Cameron's recent actions had made him reluctant to
think that Cameron was interested in him. Nevertheless, James knew that
Cameron was a good student and was excited to get an A for the project.
	After the bell rang, James approached Cameron's desk to try and
discuss a plan for the project. Cameron was already packing up his books
and seemed to be in a hurry. James stood blocking Cameron's path from the
door.
	"Hey," James smiled.
	"Hi, sorry I have to get to my next class" Cameron said coldly.
	"Okay, cool. But, um, I was thinking that maybe we could get
together after school and go over the plans for the project or something."
James said openly.
	"After school? I can't today. I have plans. But maybe tomorrow"
Cameron said as he walked out of the classroom. James realized that working
with Cameron was not going to be as fun as he had once thought.



	Marissa Tampa had often changed things in her life. The first week
of her freshman year she was a longhaired brunette, but by the end she was
a short haired blonde. She changed her fashion sense, making sure she was
always wearing what was "in". But not once had she changed her overall
attitude of superiority. Not once, until now. Many people had noticed a
change in her demeanor. Her close friends, like Megan O'Halloran, saw a
change in her style sense, or rather a lack of one. Marissa was now wearing
t-shirts and sweatpants.
	Marissa was also deviating from her social circle. She hadn't
spoken to her close friends, nor had she flirted with any of the lacrosse
players. People were beginning to talk. The strangest thing about all of it
was that Marissa didn't care one bit. It was as if she wasn't the same
person she had been her entire high school career. The only person that she
had hung out with lately was Mrs. Wilmer.
	After Marissa went to visit her at her house, Mrs. Wilmer had
called her out for coffee the next day. Mrs. Wilmer had wanted to get to
know the girl that her son had fallen in love with. Marissa also wanted to
learn about the boy that had loved her more than anyone else had in her
entire life. At first she found his "love from afar" somewhat stalkerish,
but not she saw it in a completely different way. She realized that no one
had ever cared for her that way.
	It was hard for her to explain her newfound appreciation for Kieran
Wilmer to anyone else. Especially now that he was dead. Despite her façade
of perfection, she really was quite lonely. Her parents loved her dearly,
but were overly concerned with there own marital troubles to express that
to her. And boys only wanted her; they did not love her like Kieran had.
	As Marissa made her way to her locker, she noticed that people were
staring at her but she didn't care. Part of her did care, but the new
Marissa wanted to tell everyone to fuck off. That is exactly what she
wanted to say when she saw Kevin Trainer leaning up against her locker.
	"Hey sexy," Kevin grinned. Marissa politely smiled.
	"Can you move? I have to get to my locker." Marissa muttered. Kevin
didn't budge.
	"As soon as you tell me what's been up your ass lately." Kevin
growled.
	"Nothing. I've just been busy." Marissa lied. She did understand
Kevin's reaction to her sudden withdrawal from social endeavors seeing how
they had been hooking up for a couple weeks. Kevin just looked at her for a
moment then moved away from her locker. Marissa seemed un-phased as he
walked away from her.



	Alex reported down to the guidance center right after she had been
called down on the loudspeaker. She sat in the waiting room for a few
moments until she was called in to Mrs. Mendez's office. Each teacher also
served as a guidance counselor for a certain group of students.
	When Alex entered Mrs. Mendez's office, she had not expected to see
Kevin Trainer sitting in one of the chairs opposite Mrs. Mendez. Actually,
he was probably the last person that she wanted to see. He was the epitome
of everything she hated. Once he had tried to hit on her and he ended up
with a black eye.
	"Hello Ms. Lucas, please take a seat" said Mrs. Mendez, gesturing
to the empty chair. Alex did as was told. "I have decided to make you both
partners in the Math research project."
	"I'm sorry, what?" Alex exclaimed.
	"Trust me, I don't like it as much as you do." Kevin mumbled.
	"Quiet, Kevin." Mrs. Mendez snapped. "Kevin isn't exactly the most
hard working student in my first period class, and I thought that you would
be able to teach him a thing or two."
	"But Mrs. Mendez, I told you I wanted to work alone." Alex
complained.
	"Well I'm sorry but what's done is done." Mrs. Mendez shrugged as
she got up from her chair and started to the door. "Oh, you both should
probably exchange phone numbers and emails." And with that she exited,
leaving Alex and Kevin alone.
	"Well my screename is Laxman34 if you want to..." Kevin started.
	"It's fine. I'll just do it by myself and put both our names on
it." Alex said. She started to get up but Kevin grabbed her arm.
	"No, let me help." Kevin said.
	"Are you serious? I'm basically giving you an A. You won't have to
do any work." Alex explained.
	"As I said, my screename is Laxman34. We can figure out a time and
place to start working on the project." Kevin said and then got up and
left. Alex was left not really sure how to react. It appeared that Kevin
wasn't the boy that she thought she knew.



	Travis McCarthy rarely smoked by himself. He found it quite
depressing and lonely. But he had just received some weed from his dealer
in school and had no one to smoke it with, so right after school he went
into the woods to smoke it. While there, he found himself depressed and
lonely just as he always felt when he smoked alone. But there was something
different this time. He figured it had something to do with his recent
rejection by Alexis, but it was more then that.
	All throughout Travis' life, he was always free to do pretty much
whatever he wanted. It wasn't that his mother didn't care, because she did
care. But, as a single working mother, she wasn't around to notice what he
was doing. This led to him thinking that people would allow him to do
whatever he wanted. This philosophy was changed when he suddenly lost
Alex. He didn't really understand what the big deal was. He obviously cared
about her, and the fact that he slept with two(three) other girls shouldn't
have changed that.
	Travis finished off his joint and then walked back into school. He
needed to get his schoolbooks before going home. He thought about going to
his friends Steve's house before heading home. He decided that he wouldn't
study for tomorrow's tests anyway, so there wasn't really a point of going
home.
	As Travis approached his locker, he noticed that pretty much
everyone had already left for the day. The hallway that housed his locker
was completely empty, except for one girl putting up Student Government
flyers. Travis knew the girl by her reputation. She was famous for being a
huge high-class prissy bitch. Her name was Marissa Tampa. She didn't look
as bitchy today though. She was wearing a t-shirt and sweats, which Travis
though odd because Marissa was always wearing the most annoying clothes.
	Travis watched as Marissa tried to stick a flyer to the
wall. Apparently the tape had become un-sticky, but Marissa kept trying to
get it to stick to the wall. She tried multiple times and then suddenly
collapsed onto the floor. Thinking that she might've had a stroke or
something, Travis rushed over to see if she was okay, but only found
Marissa crying hysterically on the floor. Travis knelt down next to her.
	"Are you okay?" Travis asked.
	"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Marissa sniffled. She tried to gain
composure, but then quickly burst into tears again. Travis awkwardly placed
a hand on her back. "Sorry, I've just had a really bad week. Couple weeks
actually."
	"It's okay. I don't care." Travis said, but then quickly realized
that he must've sounded insensitive. "Not that I don't care that your
upset. I just don't care that you've had a bad week. No. Wait. Sorry. I
mean, you don't have to explain yourself to me. It's fine."
	"Thanks." Marissa smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes. She
slowly started to get up, feeling somewhat embarrassed for crying like she
had. "Look, if you could not tell anyone about this..."
	"Yeah, it's cool. It's our secret." Travis smiled.



	Cameron's student government meeting had taken longer then he had
expected. Luckily, he got out of putting up flyers and just had to write up
a speech for the next weeks food drive. However, that had taken up an hour
and he was nervous that Matt had left without him. He rushed to his locker
to see Matt sitting on the floor doing homework.
	"Holy shit, I am so sorry, you have no idea." Cameron apologized.
	"No, don't even worry about it. I had to do some homework
anyway. It worked out perfectly." Matt said.
	"I'm seriously so sorry. Do you think we still have time to hang
out?" Cameron asked. He hoped that he had not blown everything.
	"Actually, I don't think we should hang out. I gotta go. Bye." Matt
said and then started to walk away. Cameron didn't really know how to
react, but then Matt turned around with a big grin on his face. "I'm
kidding..."
	"You asshole. You just scared the crap out of me." Cameron laughed.
	"Common, let's go. If we hurry we can still have an hour before my
parents get home." Matt said.
	"Oh, your parents aren't going to be home?" Cameron suddenly felt
nervous. He wasn't really sure what Matt had in mind, but he didn't want to
rush into anything. Yes, he did find Matt attractive, but he wasn't about
to lose his virginity a couple days after he had his first kiss.
	"Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you. I just thought that you'd
feel more comfortable if my parents weren't home." Matt explained. Cameron
felt relieved.
	"Yeah, okay." Cameron said. They both started to walk down the long
hallway together. Both of them were nervous about what was to come between
them, but they were also very excited.
	However, as they started walking towards the exit, they both saw
something. As they passed Mr. Reillys English classroom, they saw through
the half opened door something they were not meant to see. In front of
them, they saw James Winters and Mr. Reilly kissing.

Thank you so much for reading and please e-mail me at ryanwest25@yahoo.com
with questions, comments and suggestions. Thanks again, and I hope you
continue reading.