Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 15:02:33 -0500
From: Dan R <pandemonium34@lycos.com>
Subject: Midwestern Beginnings: Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction.  Any similarities to real life
events are purely coincidental.  Don't read this work if you're under 18,
and if the idea of homosexuality disturbs you--please, for the love of God,
move somewhere where you won't be a hazard to yourself or others.  This is
the year 2003 for crying out loud.  If you're looking for a quick j/o
story, look somewhere else.  Everyone else (all 3 of you!), welcome!


Midwestern Beginnings
by Dan (2003)
Chapt. 2


...As I walked inside and thought of the fun I had just had with Travis, I
thought of him again.  How fun it would be to hang out holding his hand,
having him next to me.  I shook my head to clear it before I walked in the
door.  I heard noise coming from the family room, undeniably from the
television.  I went and made my way down to the basement and my bedroom and
shut the door.  I had a lot to think about.

I flopped backwards on my bed.  My cat, Apollo, was laying there, and was
none too amused being disturbed.  I scratched his neck for a while as I
just thought.  How could I let this happen?  How could I be falling for my
best friend?  And how much longer can I keep up this fake front before
someone calls me on it?

I had always wanted to come out to someone--anyone, before I graduated high
school.  Many times over I played all of the scenarios in my head; who I
would tell, how I would tell them, and all of the possible reactions.  This
probably isn't anything special to me, but it was very much mine.

Just then my cell rang.  Being the fact that it was pretty close to 11, I
wondered who it could be.  There was no number available on the display.

"Hello?" I answered the phone, much against my better instincts.

"Hello is your refrigerator running?" came back a youthful voice on the
other end of the line.  I groaned.  Damn prank callers.  Not one to lose
step...

"No, it's not running.  I'm not going down the street to catch it.
Furthermore, there's no elephant in my refrigerator, no I'm not answering
knock knocks, and orange you glad I'm not calling the cops."

**Click**

I snickered to myself.  I'm entirely too mean to little kids.  But that's
okay--I really don't like kids.  I stretched and yawned as I walked over to
my laptop and booted it up.  With all of the day's activities, I hadn't had
a chance to check my e-mail yet.  Call it force of habit.  Call it wishful
thinking.  But checking my e-mail is something I do religiously.

Today wasn't my day--not a single message that didn't have a subject line
like "Enlarge your penis, only $19.95 a month!"  I opened my Instant
Messenger, hoping that there was at least **someone** I knew that I would
want to talk to.

There wasn't.  I stretched and yawned, as a hint that maybe I should go to
bed.  I changed and lied down, but I couldn't sleep.  There just was too
much on my mind.

***

"Hey, Gage," he said.  I turned around.

"Oh, hey, what's up?"

He looked at me with piercing green eyes.  They were somewhat intimidating,
as he tried to look through me.  "Come on, Gage, you know you want to do
it," he spoke.

"I want to do what," I asked hesitantly.

"You know what you want to do," he said as he walked toward me, "You just
need to do it."

I was confused.  Why was he doing this to me?  What did I want to do?  He
was very close to me, brought his hand up and put it on my cheek.  He was
taller than me, so I had to look up to see his face.

"I know, Gage.  I've always known," Travis said as he bent down to kiss me.

The alarm clock went off.  I almost fell out of bed.  The dream was enough
to effectively stunt any desire I had to go to school, let alone do
anything today.  It was Friday, which meant major parties tonight.  Too bad
I wouldn't be there.  I was going through my morning routine when I heard
honking outside.  Travis was there.  I gulped.  Today I just didn't want to
have to go to school with him.  I had just finished brushing my teeth as I
ran up the stairs, grabbed my bookbag, and walked none to gracefully,
slipping on my face, out my door.

"God DAMNIT!" I screamed.  We had some nice freezing rain through the
night, it seemed, as there was a respectfully-sized patch of glaze ice over
my front step.  That and my already scattered attitude combined did not
fair well for me today.  I looked at the car, seeing Travis laughing so
hard I thought he was going to have a spastic fit.

I stood up, brushed the ice/snow mixture off the front of my jacket, and
walked over to the truck.  Travis continued to laugh, and judging by his
reaction I had a less-than-amused look on my face.

"Oh, lighten up, twinkle toes!" he said to me as I hopped in the
truck--extra-cautiously, mind you.  He got a nice bird in response from me.

We rode to school pretty much in silence, as was the routine.  This morning
Travis had popped the new Linkin Park CD in the deck, so I was mostly
enjoying the new tracks.  We pulled into the parking lot and hopped out of
the car.  I noticed Travis was watching me, just to ensure he didn't miss a
moment of the Gage Entertainment Channel.

"So klutz, will you be getting a ride home tonight a-la MTC or should I
wait up?" Travis asked me.  I didn't have anything going on after school on
Fridays, which was quite alright being the fact that I wanted to just LEAVE
the second the bell rang.  I didn't want to leave with him, but it got me
home soon.

"Yeah, wait up.  Who knows, I might have an encore performance coming down
the front steps," I told him.  That earned laughter from both of us as the
bell rang.

***

"What are some of your biggest concerns as you are teenagers in school
today," asked Mr. Jeffers.  We were having a discussion in my senior law
class about society and the reactions of people.  I thoroughly enjoyed law
class--the discussion was actually very intellectual for high school
students.

A brown-haired boy in the front of the class raised his hand.
"Mr. Jeffers, I think mine has to be the amount of hate in our so-called
advanced society.  I mean, supposedly after the civil rights movement we
fully embraced and accepted blacks into culture--but what about all the
other minorities today?  Like Asians and the Hmong and gays and everyone
else?  How can we say we're advanced when we still have so much hate?"

Mr. Jeffers nodded in agreement as the kid asked his question.  I started
tuning in much more attentively than I had been.  The conversation might
get even better.

"I agree with you fully, Chris," Mr. Jeffers said.  "We are living a
double-standard.  What are some other takes on this, ladies and gentlemen?"

A blonde-haired girl toward the back of the row next to mine raised her
hand.  The class groaned.  Her father was a Republican who ran in every
governmental race he could.  He would never win--Minneapolis was a
Democratic city since the beginning of time.  Everyone knew it.  And
everyone also knew that they tended to hold extreme conservative views,
even moreso than that of the state Republican party.

Mr. Jeffers nodded to her, "Yes, Charity."

"I think that the problem in society isn't hate, it's that while we seek to
supposedly accept everyone, others are trying to get a piece of the puzzle
and receive special treatment.  I find it interesting that Chris included
gays in his question, because there is the problem.  Gays are trying to get
the same rights as straight people, which is just wrong, it's unnatural,"
Charity said.  I could feel the blood rushing to my head.  I had started
gripping to the sides of my desk.  I wanted this day to be over.

Even though he was trying to be an unbiased moderator, you could tell that
Mr. Jeffers didn't agree with anything Charity said by the look on his
face.  It was a combination of fear, pain, and concern.  I couldn't blame
him: it was the same feeling I had at that moment.

"Thank you, Charity," was all he said.  He walked up to the board, and
began writing as he explained our assignment.  "I am giving you all an
assignment to complete over the weekend."  The class groaned its
displeasure.  "I know this is more of a civics class assignment, but I
think it serves a good purpose.  I want you to write a 3-5 page position
paper on a political issue of your choosing.  Tell me what issue it is,
what your thoughts are, how you arrived at those thoughts, and why you
think your views are superior to others.  That is all.  Have a good
weekend," he said as he dismissed us.  We packed up our bags and left.  I
saw Chris leaving the room and rushed to catch up with him.  I had only
seen him in passing before, although he was also in my freshman Algebra
class.  "Chris," I shouted after him.  He turned around.

"Oh, hi.  Gage, right?" Chris said to me.

"Yeah, hey man I just wanted to say that I really agreed with what you said
in class today.  Ignore that Charity girl.  She needs to learn the meaning
of her name before she can use it," I said with a laugh.  He returned the
laugh.

"Thanks, Gage.  You know I've seen you around but never really have gotten
to know you.  Maybe we could hang out sometime," he said.

"I think that sounds good.  I'd like that.  Maybe this weekend.  I don't
really have much going on, except for the position paper," I told him.

"Yeah that would be fun.  Here's my number," he said as he got out a piece
of notebook paper.  He handed it to me and smiled.

"Sounds good, here's mine," I said as I wrote on another piece he had
offered to me.  "See you later, man!"

"See ya around," he said, as we walked opposite of each other down the
hallway.  I had to get to my locker, then it was off to lunch.  I wouldn't
call what our school served exactly on the standards of the restaurants up
the street Downtown, but it wasn't half-bad, either.

I got to my locker, which was next to Beth.  Beth was Ms. Popularity at
Central High, and also my backyard neighbor.  She got along with everybody,
and everybody got along with her.  She was the kind of person that would
give you the shirt right off her back and not ask for a thing in return.
She was standing at her locker as I got to mine.

"Hey, Beth, what's up," I asked her.

"Not much," she said with a smile.  "Hey, you're going to lunch now,
right?"

"Yup, I'm starving," I replied.

"Good.  My teacher is having us eat this lunch mod today because we have a
lab.  Mind waiting up and walking with me?"

"Sure, not a problem," I said and smiled at her.  Beth was the only other
person that I had known since I was born.  During elementary and middle
school, her, I, and Travis would hang out a lot.  Once we got to high
school, the three of us started to drift apart.  Travis was your typical
jock, playing baseball and football, and stuck to the jock crowd for most
of the school day.  Beth and I were heavily involved, but in things--me in
French Club, Literary Magazine, Television Journalism, Choir, and weight
training, and Beth in basketball, Television Journalism, Newspaper, Band,
and track.  The combination of all of our schedules simply didn't fit
anymore, but we would all try and hang out when we could.

"There," she said as she slammed her locker.  "I tell ya, we need bigger
lockers!"

"Naw, I think you just need to have fewer books.  What classes are you
taking this semester," I said.

"Only the basics, Gage, only the basics.  I've got AP English, AP Law, AP
Econ, Statistics, Band, German 4, and Physics," she said matter-of-factly.
I couldn't help but think that her brain was going to explode.  Of course I
laughed and smiled.

"Well whatever it all is, you had better have a standing appointment with
your chiropractor after carrying all those books!"  I told her.  She
laughed.

"Hey, Gage, I was thinking, I haven't talked to Travis about this, but I
think it would be kind of fun to have a combination graduation party like
we used to have for our birthdays at the end of the year.  I mean, only if
it's all right with the two of you," she said, getting to the point of our
walking-and-talking.

"I think that sounds awesome.  You know our moms would go totally overboard
on the whole thing," I said.

"Oh, for sure.  Good!  I'll let you talk to Travis since you see him more,
and then want to get back to me this weekend," she asked as we got into the
lunch line.

"Sounds great, you know that's a great idea, Beth, why cant I come up with
things like that," I said jokingly.  It was true, though.  I never had
great ideas.  The greatest idea I had in the past ten years was probably
when I decided to wear clean underwear in the morning.

She turned around and put her finger on my chin.  "It's simple, Gage," she
said.  "Both of us can't have the brains.  That's why you keep me around."
We both laughed as we got our food dished by the ever-so-disturbing
cafeteria workers.


***

There we go.  Hope you all enjoy.  Thanks for all of the feedback, and
those of you who haven't written, please do (pandemonium34@lycos.com)!  I
enjoy hearing from each and every one of you.  If you're waiting for
action--you'll have to wait a little while longer.  But watch for an entire
posting on Travis in the near future!  -Dan