Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:39:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: Aiken Liam <aikenliam@ymail.com>
Subject: Sam's Life: Chapter One: Greetings

	This story involves homosexual relationships between minors.  If
this is illegal in your area, please do not read on. This story is a work
of fiction.  Any characters, places, events, ideas, etc. in this story are
strictly fiction and do not exist.  This story is (c) 2008 Aikenliam. Any
and all rights reserved.  If you have questions, comments, or suggestions,
please feel free to email me at aikenliam@ymail.com.


	So as I'm sitting here, trying to figure out how to start this
chronicle of the latest events of my life, I guess I'll just start with
me. I suppose it would help the reader to know about the main character of
a story, so here I go. I'm a junior in high school.  I'm not very popular,
but pretty much everyone knows me and I can be nice to anyone.  However,
this wasn't always the case. My junior high years were clearly my worst
years. Here in the little town of Greenwood, you have to be a skinny
athlete with rich parents to be popular.  I had neither of those qualities.
I was a fat, poor kid with three friends.  I was picked on, wasn't popular,
and I just didn't fit in anywhere.  To make matters worse, I couldn't
escape my woes at home.  My older brother constantly picked on me, using
his fist more than once.  My parents were pretty supportive of me, though
they were busy.  My mother worked from six in the morning to midnight.  My
father worked nights, but slept during the day.

	This all changed the summer after my eighth grade year.  We were
moving!  This news made me completely happy.  We ended up moving away from
the "ghetto."  This move was not just away from the house or area, but
ended up letting us move away from our ways.  Living in a bad house, in a
poor community, we really didn't do much to improve.  The light was just
too far away in the tunnel.  So after we moved to a nicer house, we did a
complete turnaround, taking care of our house, our land, and our lives.
Not only did this change my view on things, but during the course of my
freshman year, I lost about 150 pounds.

	You may be wondering what kept me going throughout these tougher
years, and I have an answer.  I couldn't have done this without music.  As
embarrassing as it is to admit, my father played the banjo.  And he was
good at it (if you can be good at a banjo..haha..).  When he was in school,
he also played cello.  So in fifth grade when the middle school orchestra
teacher came to visit us, I immediately jumped on the idea of joining
orchestra.  I had my sights on playing the cello.  But during the meeting,
I had a revelation!  If I pick the violin, I could carry it while I'm
riding my bike!  So I picked the violin.  Haha...after realizing how stupid
this decision was, I wish I had chosen the cello.  But I'm afraid that if I
had chosen the cello, I wouldn't enjoy listening to them as much as I do
now.  Besides playing the violin, I listened to pretty much any music that
reached my ears, and played any piano I could get under my fingers.

	I continued to play the violin throughout my high school years, and
pretty much can't wait for orchestra class.  I just got a piano last year,
so I've been practicing up on that, too.  I've lost more weight, too.  But
what really helped me was joining journalism.  It allowed me to vent my
feelings without much fear, and helped me to break free from a shell that
was forming since middle school.

	*****

	My sophomore year was when it started.  The first hour of the first
day of sophomore year.  It was orchestra.  We always played these stupid
games that let people get to know each other.  We all got in a circle and
each person went around and said their name, and one thing that someone
might now know about themselves.  So when it got to me, I stammered a
little,

"Sam Gruselle, I like black licorice."

And on it went, each person telling something about themselves.  Then I
heard it.  It was about halfway around the room.  The most soothing voice
I've ever heard in my entire life.

	"Um..my name's Kyle Holster.  Um..I'm wearing socks that don't
match."

After he said it, several people giggled a little.  I looked over at him,
and he had this huge grin on his face.  He was sort of looking down at the
floor, and looked up, straight at me.  I looked away quickly.  Oh God.  Did
he look at me?  Did I have that big, goofy grin on my face?  Was he
blushing?  Was I blushing?  Is this normal?

	Gosh!! All day, I couldn't keep my thoughts away from this boy!  As
I went through the lunch line, I still had the vision of him in my mind.
He was kind of short, but not overly so.  He was wearing faded jeans with
brown shoes.  His t-shirt was tan with some band logo on it.  It seemed to
hug his slender body, but wasn't too snug.  His blond hair swept into his
eyebrows and over his ears.  His lips curved graciously over his braces.  I
just couldn't get over how beautiful he was.  Was this normal?

	Just about the time I thought I got Kyle out of my mind, I walked
into my last hour of the day, Journalism.  As I sat at the table, waiting
for class to start, the door opened to the room, and Kyle walked in.  Oh
God.  Beating heart.  Fast.  So fast.  I looked down at the table.  Act
busy.  My face is hot.  I'm blushing.  Damn.

	"Hey."

	So cute.  So smooth.  Just a little hint of breaking.  "THIS BLOWS"
is etched on the table.

	"Hey," he says again, sitting down across the table from me.

	I look up at him.  A huge smile is spread across his face.  My face
is hot.  I'm blushing.  Damn.

	"Hey," I finally say, smiling nervously.  Is this normal?

	"So you play the violin?"

	"Yep.  What do you play?"

	"Violin.  The audition music looked pretty easy.  Maybe I'll get a
good spot."

	"Yeah.  She usually picks easy stuff for the first concert."

	"That's good.  So what are we doing in here?  I hear we got a new
teacher."

	"Yeah.  I'm not sure who it is.  I think I'm going to shoot for ads
editor.  I'm not sure, though."

	"Oh yeah?  That'd be cool.  You could like, leave school and
stuff."

	"Yeah..." I laughed.

	Damn.  There's that cute smile again.  I know I'm blushing.  He's
blushing, too.  What does that mean?  Is this normal?

	Several other people walked in and started talking.  I'd sort of
become a cool weird kid.  People talked to me and joked around, but I never
really fit into a clique.  During the rest of the class, I didn't talk
much.  I said hello to a couple of people, but that was it.  I noticed Kyle
wasn't talking much, either.  He kept looking over at what I was doing.
Did he notice me looking at him?  Did other people notice me looking at
him?  Shit.  I'm blushing again.  Everyone's getting up to leave.  The bell
rang.  Kyle's looking at me with that huge smile.

	"Hello?" He laughs.

	"Yeah?"

	"I said I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

	"Yeah," I smile, "See ya."