Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 18:58:00 -0500
From: Bill Porter <wep363@myexcel.com>
Subject: Tossed Away Kid Chapter 14

Tossed Away Kid - Chapter 14

This is a work of fiction.  Any similarity to anyone in real life is a
coincidence.

A special thanks to Ed for his editorial help.
Please let me know what you think wep363@myexcel.com
My Web Site http://wpstories.tripod.com/

********

This is a story of love, hope, and trust.  It also deals with rejection,
false hope, and mistrust.  It is not a sex story. However, this story deals
with love between two male teenagers. If you are offended by stories
involving love between two teenage boys, please do not read this
story. There may be some sex scenes in this story; however, sex is not the
main theme and will not be graphically described.  If you are under age 18
or 21 or it is illegal to read this story where you live, don't get caught
reading it. Reproducing this story for distribution without the owner's
permission is a violation of that copyright.

********

Getting caught with Danny is not a new experience for me - we've been
caught by Danny's parents before.  Let me set the stage for you.  It was a
warm night so we had kicked off the sleeping bag cover.  We were facing
each other with our arms around each other.  Our legs were intertwined with
our noses almost touching.  Both of us had morning wood with the heads
touching each other.  Talk about a Kodak moment!

The words, "What the hell," woke us from a sound sleep.  Quickly I grabbed
the sleeping bag and covered us up.  Then I looked to see the source of the
words and saw Bill looking at us with his mouth half-open.  Then he did the
one thing I least expected.  He started laughing.  No just a giggle either.
It was a great big belly laugh.  He was pointing at us and laughed even
harder.  He was laughing so hard soon tears were running down his face.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"The...The look on your faces!  It was priceless.  I wish I had a camera.
But seriously, if you guys want to fool around you should at least keep
your sleeping bags separate.  There are lots of old folks around and they
might get pissed if they catch you naked in each other's arms, sporting
wood.  I know that lots of guys our age fool around and it doesn't mean
you're faggots or anything like that but you should be more careful."

"Have you ever fooled around with another guy, Bill?"

"Nope, so don't ask me to join ya."  And he laughed again.  "Get up, you
guys, we're going fishing with Mike and Mark.  The early bird gets the
worm.  Hurry up and get dressed and you better unzip and separate your
sleeping bags before one of the adults finds them together."

I went from being embarrassed to being pissed off.  First, our privacy was
invaded.  Second, plans were being made for me without my consent.  Third,
I didn't plan on getting up at the crack of dawn.  Fourth, he implied that
we might want him to join us.  Fifth, he's telling us what to do as if we
have something to hide.  Sixth, he said the Fag word, which I really hate.
Danny could see I was pissed and came to my rescue.

"What makes you think the adults don't already know we sleep in each
other's arms, Bill?  And NO, it's not about piddling with each other.  It's
about love.  Who told you to come into our tent and wake us up to go
fishing?"

 "Rick."

"Well, that explains everything.  We're not going fishing with you until we
have talked about it.  Now please do me a favor, Bill.  You can tell anyone
you want about what you saw heard this morning except Rick.  If he asks you
any questions about what you saw, tell him just two guys in a tent.  Act
like nothing happened.  You can tell him the truth, you don't have to lie,
just don't tell him all the truth.  Okay?"

"Yeah, sure, you don't mind if I tell anyone else but Rick?  I don't get
it?"

"We'll explain it to you later.  Right now I'd appreciate it if you gave us
some privacy.  If you guys are ready to go fishing now, go, don't wait for
us."  With that Bill left us alone.

"That really pissed me off, Danny.  Good thing you spoke up or I might have
lost it."

"Don't be pissed at Bill, Tommy.  That's just the way he is.  He speaks
whatever is on his mind at the time.  You don't have to agree with him but
he's just being honest.  The one I'm pissed at is Rick.  He just outted us.
He wanted Bill to find us sleeping together so he can bring the subject up
with Bill, I suspect.  We have all weekend to sort this out.  Look at the
bright side.  At least he didn't react badly."

"That might change when he finds out the truth.  To him we're not gay,
we're faggots."

"That bothered me too.  We'll talk to him later.  Now that we're up, we
might as well get some breakfast."

Our tent is large enough to stand up in so we stood up and quickly got
dressed.  We headed straight for the bathroom.  It felt so good to go.  The
whole time Bill was talking to me all I could think about was how
uncomfortable I was with my bladder full.  As soon as we left the bathroom
we ran into Mike and Mark.

"Hey, guys," said Mark.  "We've been looking for you.  We just got done
talking to Bill.  He seemed real confused.  We told him to go talk to his
dad.  This morning we asked him and Rick if they wanted to go fishing with
us.  Rick asked if you guys could go too.  We told them sure.  We didn't
mean for them to disturb you.  I just told Rick that we changed our mind
and want some time alone.  It sounds like you guys have some things to sort
out.  We'll be back around lunch time."

"Okay, have a good time, guys," I replied, not really wanting to go fishing
anyway - what a bunch of stuff over nothing!  I'm supposed to be having
fun, not dealing with all this stress.

As we got back to the campsites, Mrs. Stevens, Mike's mother, called us
over for some breakfast.  Danny's parents were there along with Jeff and
Sally, Mark's brother and sister, and Mr. Stevens.  The Browns were nowhere
to be seen so I guess they were not up yet.  Also absent was Rick.

"You boys are up early?" inquired Mr. Stevens.

"Bill rudely awakened us to go fishing.  It was a bit embarrassing.  Now we
have some things we need to take care of and it's not even 7:00 AM!"  I
replied.

"Anything I can do to help?" responded Mr. Stevens.

"Rick used Bill to out us this morning.  Bill is talking to his dad right
now.  We haven't seen Rick yet.  We need to talk to Rick and let him know
we're not happy about what happened this morning without ruining anyone's
holiday.  We also need to tell Bill the truth about us and make sure he's
okay with us.  If you like, you could help us talk to Rick.  We really
don't want to involve his parents.  It's up to him to talk to them."

"What do you mean when you said Rick used Bill to out you?"  Asked Sally.

"That means Rick had Bill embarrass Danny and Tommy, Sally."  Replied
Mrs. Stevens.

"It sounds like I can help you guys out with Rick if you'll let me."

"That would be great, Mr. Stevens, if you don't mind."

"It would be my pleasure to help you out.  That way we can put this behind
us as soon as possible and you can enjoy your holiday weekend off."

With that somewhat resolved I started enjoying my breakfast.  From what
Mike has told me about his father I knew that everything would work itself
out.  We still needed to decide what we are going to do for fun today.
It's not even 7:00 AM and it's already quite warm so going swimming is
definitely an option.

After breakfast Danny, Mr. Stevens, and I went looking for Rick.  While we
walked we filled in Mr. Stevens all about Rick and how he might be gay and
in love with Bill.  We explained that we felt he had sent Bill into our
tent to try to bring up the subject of homosexuality with him.  We spotted
Rick sitting on a bench down near the beach.  Mr. Stevens told us to let
him do the talking.  When Rick spotted us approaching him he had a look as
if he knew something was up.  Kind of like a kid with his hand in the
cookie jar.

"Mind if we join you, Rick?" asked Mr. Stevens.

"Sure," Rick answered quietly.

"I thought you were going fishing with Mike, Mark, and Bill this morning?"

"I asked if perhaps Danny and Tommy could come too.  I asked Bill to wake
them and find out if they wanted to go to.  When he got back he pulled Mark
aside and then he went off to talk to his father.  Mark then told me he
changed his mind about us going fishing with them.  So I came down here to
wait for Bill to finish with his dad."

"When you asked Bill to wake up Danny and Tommy, did you tell him to just
walk into their tent and surprise them?"

"Yes," Rick said very quietly, looking at the ground.

"Let me tell you a story, Rick.  This is a real story.  My wife's brother
has a son a few years older than you.  He's Mike's age, his name is John.
He lives in a town in West Texas of about 80,000 people called San Angelo.
The town itself is not what you would call progressive.  John has a secret
- he's gay.  I guess it kind of runs in the family.  Anyway, he had a boy
friend named Brian.  They were very much in love but they had to keep it a
secret.  Another boy, Curt, found out about Brian and outted him to the
whole school.  Brian got harassed and finally beaten up and was forced to
move away.  However, Curt never found out about John.  Now John is a fairly
good size teenager and very popular.  He's very athletic so no one has ever
suspected that he's gay.  Including Curt.  What do you think John did to
Curt for all the trouble he created?

"If it was me I would have rearranged his face."

"That's not what John did.  Instead he became his best friend.  He got to
know Curt real well.  John also started to notice that Curt was falling for
him.  It all came to a head last spring when Curt admitted to John that he
was in love with him.  Curt was persecuting gay guys because he was
insecure about his own sexuality.  Then John slam dunked Curt.  Curt had
fallen in love with someone who will never return his love.  First, John
was not attracted to Curt.  Second, John is still in love with Brian.  I'm
not going to tell the whole story right now but everything did work out for
all three boys.  Curt had to go through hell first.  I'm trying to make a
point.  You said that if someone did to you what Curt did to Brian you
would rearrange his face.  What you did to Danny and Tommy this morning
isn't any better than what Curt did to Brian and John.  And from Bill's
reaction, you're not going to have any more luck with Bill than Curt did
with John.  Bill is totally straight.  However, he's not a homophobe so at
least he's not going to tell the whole world about what he saw this
morning.  And don't try to tell me you didn't intend for Bill to catch
Danny and Tommy together.  You seem like a good kid to me, Rick.  I think
you just made a selfish mistake.  I'm sure if you ask Tommy and Danny to
forgive you they will but I don't think this is over.  I've gotten to know
Bill's and your parents well enough in the last two days to figure that
your parents are going to hear all about this as soon as they wake up.  It
would sure help if you tell them first."

"I'm sorry, Danny, Tommy, I guess that I didn't consider what would happen
if Bill reacted badly.  I was just trying to bring up the subject.  Will
you help me talk to my parents, Mr. Stevens?"

"Yes, I will.  Now you're going to have to deal with both your parents and
Bill.  And it's going to take some doing to get Danny's and Tommy's trust
again.  I just hope you have learned your lesson, Rick.  It's no fun to be
embarrassed.  I get the feeling before this day is through you're going to
be embarrassed too.  Now let's go find your parents."

Rick and Mr. Stevens left and they no more than left when Bill approached.

"Hey, guys, I just wanted to apologize for disturbing you this morning.  I
had no right to disturb your privacy the way I did.  Are we still friends?"

"Do you know about us?"

"Dad talked to me and explained about love and sex.  He said that there is
nothing wrong with two guys loving each other as long as they respect each
other.  By respect Dad meant that one is not forcing the other to do
something they don't want to do.  He went on to say that although some acts
are against the law that they are rarely enforced.  He also said that this
is true of straight relationships too.  I'm truly sorry about some of the
things I said this morning.  I didn't mean anything by it.  I guess I just
wasn't thinking about how you two might feel about each other.  Will you
forgive me?"

"I forgive you, Bill," I replied.

"I do too," replied Danny.

"Do you have any idea why Rick sent you to disturb us this morning, Bill?"

"My dad had some ideas about that.  He told me to be careful with Rick.
Dad thinks he might be falling for me.  I don't want to hurt him but I'm
just not that way.  Just the idea of kissing another boy makes me want to
puke.  I know he can't help how he feels.  Dad says you can't choose who
you fall in love with - it just happens.  Anyway I'm not ready for that
kind of relationship.  There will be plenty of girls to chase when I'm in
high school.  I'm not mad at Rick, I just wish he'd be up front with me and
tell me the truth.  If he's in love with me he can look all he wants - just
as long as he doesn't touch.  Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about you
guys - it's our secret."

"I think you will find that Rick's secret is out.  We just had a talk with
him and Mr. Stevens.  He'll probably be looking to talk to you sometime
today.  Anyway, what do you want to do today?"

"Lets have some fun!  This is too much stress this early in the morning."

We walked back to the campsite and Bill went to talk to Rick, Rick's
parents, Bill's parents, and the Stevens.  We went skateboarding with the
twins and Jeff.  They have this old pool at the campground with no water in
it that is perfect for us to practice.  It's only 5 feet deep and it's not
so easy to get hurt.  A couple of older kids approach, I say about 16 or
17, and inform us that it's their practice time and we have to leave."

"I don't see your name on a signup sheet," I respond.

"Well, if you don't leave, then we'll just have to force you to leave!" one
of them replies, sounding just as mean as he can.

"I count 5 of us and only two of you.  I could probably handle you myself
if I need to but I don't want to fight.  Why can't we just share?  There is
more than enough room for all of us."

"Because I say so, now leave before you end up with a bloody nose!"

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm promising you, not a threat."

"Well then, you're under arrest for assault.  You see those two twins over
there?  Their dad is a sheriff.  Another one in our group is a State
policeman and two more are City of Chicago Police officers.  I'm sure one
of them would be more then happy to assist me in a citizen's arrest.
Because I'm a nice guy I'll give you one more chance, back down or there
will be trouble."

Some people never learn.  One of them takes a swing at me and I easily
dodge his punch and I kick him in the stomach.  He doubles over and his
friend squares off with me.  I could tell by his stance that he's had some
training.  Also he's got 4 inches and 40 pounds on me.  Danny tries to
tackle him and that distracts him just enough for me to take him off his
legs.  In the meantime Jeff has gone for reinforcements.  The twins jump in
and help us restrain the two bullies.  Rick, Bill, Sheriff Brown, and
Bill's dad arrive.  They told us to get off the two bullies and then we
explain what happened.  Bill's dad handcuffs the bullies and explains to
them that either they can tell him where to find their parents or they can
go to jail.  They tell him what site their folks are at and soon their
parents are there too.  After a long discussion it's decided to let the
bullies off with a warning.

Sheriff Brown pulled me aside and explained that although I did nothing
wrong, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  He explained that
one of the bullies could have pulled a knife and one of the little kids
could have been hurt.  Perhaps it would have been better if we just left.
He also explained that now we'll have to be looking over our shoulders the
rest of the weekend.  He had a good point.  I was acting a little cocky
until the one bully showed me he knew how to fight.  Good thing Danny
helped me.

We went to lunch with grilled hamburgers.  Rick and Bill seemed to be
getting along so I guess they managed to work out their problems.  Mike and
Mark returned with 5 large walleye each that they had caught.  Looks like
fish for dinner.  We spent the afternoon boating and swimming.  The water
was cold but the sun was hot.  The boats were fun to just cruise on.  The
wind also helped to cool us off.  We went out quite a ways so we could dive
off the boat.  Pontoon boats are very stable and versatile.  We had a great
time.  After dinner we all played beach volleyball.  Then it was campfire
time.  By now I was really feeling comfortable even with all the people
around.  Funny thing is everyone knows about me and none of them seem to
care.  It's a great feeling, holding your boyfriend's hand, singing around
a campfire.

Sunday morning we went fishing with Mike, Mark, Bill, and Rick.  Bill said
that he and Rick had worked everything out and gotten back to normal.  We
all caught fish.  That afternoon we went bike riding through the woods.  A
late afternoon thunderstorm cut our trip short.  We ended up going to bed
early.

Monday the fourth of July we slept in late.  Then we went skate boarding
again.  This time no bullies disturbed us.  We also had Mike and Mark with
us.  Mark is enough to discourage most adults from causing problems.  They
weren't really into the boarding like we were but just kept us company.
Monday afternoon we went boating.  That evening we all piled on the three
boats and went about an hour south until we were off the shore in northern
Chicago.  From our vantage point we got to see a great fireworks show with
the Chicago skyline in the background.  It was breathtaking.

If you're getting the impression that my three-day weekend went real fast,
you'll be right.  In all my life I've never gotten a feeling like I did
that weekend.  Having the twins, Jeff, and Sally was like having little
brothers and sister around.  Having Mike and Mark was like having big
brothers.  Although I do have older brothers they are much older.  As far
as the adults go, I felt like I could talk to any of them at any time about
anything.  The one common bond between all of us was Danny and I.  All too
soon we were headed back to the campsite for our last night together.
Actually half a night, as Mike, Mark, and myself have to leave at 3:30 AM
to get back to training early Tuesday morning.

Before we went to bed we said goodbye to everyone.  Mike's dad,
Mr. Stevens, gave me his phone number and address.  He told me that he'll
be in contact with me later about my financial situation and said he'd help
with finding me an attorney when it came time to for me to face down my
parents.

I think I only got about an hour's sleep when it was time to get up and go
back to RTC.  Danny insisted on going with me back to the RTC gate.  We
arrived at about 4:00 AM and went back to bed.  I got one more hour's sleep
before the light went on.

* * * *

To be continued...