Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 13:18:37 -0400
From: Stan Unknown <stan992001@hotmail.com>
Subject: Chapters 17 of Beating The Odds

			     Chapter Seventeen

"JOSH, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mr. Corwin yelled.

"Sorry, Dave. Remember your blood pressure. What's this about a club? Can I
be president?"

"Like we would have you," Kevin answered.

"Oh, now you've hurt my feelings. I can't join your little faggot club?"

"We wouldn't have you if you begged to join."

"Oh, but I really do want to join. I apologize for everything that I've
said. I'll just be crushed if I can't join."

"I'll bet you've never joined anything. You probably don't have any friends
at this high school. You don't even matter to this school," Jimmy said.

"Are you talking again?" Josh asked, as he turned towards Jimmy. "Ok, so I
don't matter to this school. But you do, I suppose?"

"Sure I do. I'm the Junior Class President. I'm in all the main clubs here."

"I'm in the Physics Club," Tim said.

"Excuse me. Did the cripple say something?" Josh said, as he turned his
attention to Tim.

"You call him that one more time and I'm going to tear you to pieces,
whether I get suspended or not," Kevin yelled.

Mr. Corwin was just about to intervene, when Josh said, "Sorry. What should
I call him? I didn't know it was such a big deal."

"I'm handicapped, not a cripple. And I said I was in the Physics Club," Tim
answered.

"Oh. The Physics Club! Cherry?" Josh asked, pointing at Jimmy. "Are you in
the Physics Club?"

"No, of course not. That's an academic club."

"Oh, well, what's the difference? Are you in any clubs together?"

"I'm also in the Math Club," Tim said.

"What?" Josh asked, as he turned back towards Tim.

"I said I'm also in the Math Club."

"Ok. What's your name?" he asked Jimmy, turning back to him.

"Jimmy."

"Ok, Jimmy. Are you in the Math Club?"

"No. Of course not."

"And why is that?"

"Because academic clubs aren't the same as the clubs I belong to."

"Oh. I see. So yours are social clubs?"

"Right. And none of them would ever accept you."

"No. I can see that. I'm a social misfit. Of course none of your elitist
clubs would take me. But would they take him? What's your name?" he asked,
pointing at Tim.

"Tim."

"Ok Jimmy, would any of the clubs you belong to accept Tim?"

Jimmy saw the trap Josh had led him into. He knew he didn't have any way
out.

"Well, would they?" Josh asked loudly.

"No, probably not!" Jimmy yelled back.

"Oh, I see. So, does he not matter to this school either, simply because
he's a cripple?"

"I told you I'm not a cripple!" Tim yelled, clearly hurt.

"I'm going to kill you, mother fucker," Kevin yelled, as he got out of his
chair and started to try to get to Josh. Mr. Corwin had seen this coming,
and he was already in between Kevin and Josh before it started.

"Kevin, don't do it! Josh, that's enough. That's way more than enough!" Mr.
Corwin yelled.

"What did I do? If I'm going to be president of this new club, I have to get
to know all the members, don't I?"

"If  yo you're go going to be pre president of this club, I I'm going to b
be a starting pitcher for the Bra Braves this year," Bruce stuttered.

"Hey, I haven't even started on you yet, stuttering boy," Josh yelled, as he
also tried to get to Kevin.

Jimmy got up and got between Josh and Kevin, just as Mr. Corwin did with
Kevin. All of them were congregated in the aisle. Jimmy and Josh ended up
face to face, as Brian and Jim moved around behind Josh, just in case.

"Stop this now! Josh, I want you to go to the back of the library right now.
If you can't behave any better than that, you can just spend the rest of the
day by yourself. You're acting like you're twelve, not sixteen or
seventeen," Mr. Corwin yelled, as he tried to separate everyone. He was
scared that another fight was going to start at any moment. Brian was right
behind Josh now, and Josh didn't know it. And by the look in Brian's eyes,
he was still really mad.

Everyone crowded around Josh, but he just pushed away and pulled Jimmy
closer to him, until their faces were inches apart. "Not gay, huh? Let's
perform an experiment," Josh said, as he crushed Jimmy to him and kissed him
roughly on the mouth.

Jimmy was totally surprised by this and it took him a second or two to
react. Then he started to push against Josh and fight to get away. Everyone
else was as shocked as Jimmy, and just stared at them in an embrace that was
clearly not consensual.

Jimmy finally pushed him away. "YOU ASS HOLE!!! I can't believe you did
that!" he screamed at Josh, as he wiped his mouth off with his hand. "I hate
you!"

"Yeah? You couldn't hate me if you tried, sweetheart! I'm just the type of
guy you've been looking for. You need someone to teach you to be who you
really are. You're rich, but you don't have that kind of money. You can't
afford me," Josh said, as he pushed his way out of the crowd of boys.

"Look, fuck all of you! I've tried my best to get you to see just how
pathetic all of you really are. But I'm out of patience. I really don't want
to hang out with all you losers any more. Dave, I think your idea is
perfect. Why don't I go and sit in the back of the library? I'll find
something to read. You talk to all your gay boys up here and I'll stay out
of your way," Josh said, as he walked away fuming, knocking things off the
shelves as he went.

"Shit!" Dave said, as he watched him walk away.

"You really ought to kick him out of school, Mr. Corwin. He's been verbally
abusive to everyone. You, more than anyone. He can't get away with saying
those kinds of things to a teacher. Plus, he sexually assaulted me. Everyone
saw it. I'll be glad to tell the principal what he did on Monday morning. I
think he ought to be kicked out of school for good," Jimmy said.

"I'll be right back guys," Dave said, as he walked towards where Josh had
gone, picking up what he had knocked over as he went. He had finally lost
his temper. If Josh wanted a confrontation, now was the time.

He finally found Josh in a corner with a book open in front of him, but he
was clearly not reading. They were far enough away from all the others where
Dave knew they couldn't be heard.

"What's wrong with you? Do you want everyone here to hate you? If you do,
you're well on your way."

"Why should I care if they like me or not?" Josh asked.

"Those boys would all be your friends if you would just let them."

"What if I don't want them as my friends?"

Dave just stared at Josh for a few seconds. "You know what I think?"

"No. What? Like I really care."

"I think all of this is just an act. I think you're afraid you will show the
real Josh inside if you ever let down this big act you cover yourself up
with."

That statement startled Josh a little bit. It was far too close to the
truth. But he recovered quickly. "Oh, so, you're a shrink too, huh?"

"Not really. But my insight into people is usually pretty good. How far off
am I?"

"Off the scale, Dave. Don't you need to go back and organize your new faggot
club or something?"

"Yeah, I do. Are you sure you don't want to come join us?"

"No way. I've had as much of that crowd as I can stomach in one day. Thanks
anyway."

"Ok, suit yourself. I'll be back to check on you later."

"Great! I really look forward to another of these one on one talks," Josh
answered sarcastically.

Dave just shook his head and walked back to the other end of the library.

                                     *******************

"I really like the idea. Are you sure it's all right if we meet at your
house to start with?" Jim asked.

"I think the principal will agree that it's better if we start off campus.
Especially until everything about the fight simmers down. You guys want to
meet one or two days a week, to start with?" Dave asked.

"I would like two," Rob answered.

"Me too," Ryan agreed.

"Ok, how about Tuesdays and Thursdays? My class work would fit better on
those days."

"Fine with us," Neal answered. "If you really do want us to call you Dave, I
think it would be better if we did that at your house anyway."

"Yeah, me too. But remember, you see me around school when other people are
around and it's Mr. Corwin."

"I think we can remember that," Kevin laughed.

"Yeah. No problem here," Tim echoed.

"Jimmy, have you made up your mind yet?" Dave asked.

Jimmy had been staring out into space. He hadn't heard a word anyone had
said for a few minutes. "I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. What did you say?"

"I asked if you had decided to join us or not."

"Oh sure. I'll join," he quickly agreed.

That kind of confused Dave. "Are you sure this time? Yesterday you seemed
eager to join. This morning, you didn't want to join. Now you do."

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I'm just thinking of something else. I'm sorry about this
morning. I guess I'm just not a morning person. Guys, I'm sorry for the way
I acted this morning," Jimmy said, getting to his feet. "What you do or say
together is your own business. This is supposed to be a support group for
gays and I guess I was acting like a gay basher myself. I'm sorry, OK?"

"That's Ok. Anyone can be irritable in the morning," Brian answered.

"Coming from you, that's an understatement," Jim laughed. "I had to threaten
to pour a glass of cold water on him this morning to get him out of bed. And
I had to get into the shower with him to get him clean," Jim laughed.

Brian laughed out loud. "I came up with that idea yesterday, remember?"

Everyone laughed with him, even Jimmy.

"Look, I want to be part of this club. I really do. But I guess I am kind of
new to this whole gay thing. Can I ask you guys some questions?" Jimmy
asked.

"I don't mind," Jim answered. Everyone quickly agreed.

"I think that's a great idea. Why don't we all stop talking about the club
for a while and get better acquainted? Everyone will introduce themselves
and tell a little bit about themselves and that should open up more
conversations," Dave said.

"Uh, Mr. Corwin, I mean Dave. Can we eat lunch first? I'm getting kind of
hungry," Brian asked.

"You, hungry? No way! Oh, I forgot. All you had for breakfast was a huge
bowl of oatmeal with raisins and a peanut butter sandwich made out of the
bread you cooked last night."

"That doesn't seem like so much," Kevin said. "I eat a lot too."

Jim laughed. "He saw Mom's bread maker and had to go to the store and make
his own. You won't believe this bread. It has molasses for the sugar and
wheat germ to give it texture. One loaf is like ten pounds when he gets
through with it. No one will eat it but him. And each slice is like an inch
thick," Jim giggled. "Then he adds peanut butter and honey. Each sandwich
must have 1000 calories."

"Hey, I'm a growing boy," Brian answered, blushing a little bit.

"Well, you're my growing boy and as long as you don't develop a gut, that's
fine with me," Jim giggled.

"It gives me energy. You do like me to be energetic, don't you?" Brian
asked, giving Jim a leering grin.

"Guys, keep some things to yourself, Ok?" Dave laughed. "OK, lunch time. I
have a roll of quarters in my desk. I'll treat everyone to a soda. Does
someone want to go and get Josh? He's the only one who didn't bring a lunch.
He's on his own to buy whatever he wants out of the vending machines."

"Uh, Dave? My mom packed way too much for me to eat by myself. I thought I`d
share with Josh, if that's Ok with you," Jimmy asked.

Dave was taken totally off guard. "You want to share your lunch with Josh?
The Josh back there?" he asked, as he motioned towards the back of the
library.

"Yeah. I just don't think he's the big tough guy he thinks he is. If I am
going to be part of this club, I think I want to start by trying to make
friends with him. Is that Ok?" Jimmy asked.

"Sure Jimmy. I think that's a great idea," Dave said. "OK guys, get off your
butts. Sodas are on me, as long as you follow me to my office. Now, or you
have to buy it yourself," Dave said, as he walked towards the library door.

Everyone looked at each other and followed him. Jim put his arm around the
bigger Brian and smiled. He just nodded his head back at Jimmy and giggled.
Brian looked back and looked at Jimmy, but didn't get the joke.

                                      ****************

"Hi," Jimmy said.

"What're you doing here?" Josh asked.

"I brought you a soda and you can share my lunch. I have way too much for
just me. I bought a bag of chips for each of us."

Josh just sat back and stared at Jimmy, with a sly smile on his face. "Why'd
you do that?"

"Well, you didn't bring a lunch and I had too much. When I bring a lunch to
school, my Mom always sends way too much for me to eat by myself. I just
thought I'd share it with you. Is that a crime? If so, I can go," Jimmy
answered, as he turned around to walk away.

"No, wait. Thanks. I'm touched. Anytime someone like you reaches down to us
lower level people, we should be really thankful, right?" Josh asked, as he
got up and walked close to Jimmy.

"God, you're such a bastard," Jimmy said, as he threw the food down on the
table and tried to get away from him.

Josh caught him by the shoulders and turned him around, pulling him against
him. "You can't get away this time. You know that everything I've been
telling you is true. I'm totally wrong for you. Both of us now that. But you
just can't stay away. I've been thinking about you too, you know that? I
don't know why, but I have," Josh said, as he pulled Jimmy closer and kissed
him hard on the mouth.

Jimmy resisted at first, then finally gave in and kissed him back just as
enthusiastically. They finally pulled apart and they just stared at each
other. Their arms were still around each other's backs.

"I can't believe I just did that again," Josh said softly. "I thought you
weren't gay."

Jimmy smiled at him. "I thought you weren't either."

Josh returned the smile. "Well, I guess we are going to have a lot of
splainin' to do, Lucy," he laughed.

			      To Be Continued

E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions or other 'constructive'
comments or advice may be sent to: stan992001@hotmail.com. All e-mails will
be answered. You can also visit the young gay guys support group I created
after my "Matt and Mike" story at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/gbct or our web
site at www.gayteensunite.org. There is a forum section there where you can
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be forwarded to the eleven guys from the group that are in the story.