Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 16:35:44 -0400
From: Stan Unknown <stan992001@hotmail.com>
Subject: Chapter 24 of Beating The Odds

			    Chapter Twenty Four

They had almost reached the front door when someone shouted, "Look, here
comes the faggot parade." They looked over and saw Billy smirking beside
several of his friends.

Brian started to stop and confront him, but Jim came up behind him and
pushed him forward. They got inside without any further problems.

"We aren't going to start anything. No matter what they say, we have to
take

it. You know what Dad said last night, Brian," Jim said when they were

safely inside and in a corner away from everyone else.

"I know. I know.  It's just really difficult," Brian answered.

"We have to do it, though. We all know there's going to be people who say
things today. But you just have to keep walking like you never heard what
they said. If they touch you or start something physical, that's a
different story," Jim continued.

"Then I can kick their asses?" Brian asked, smirking.

Jim just shook his head.  "What am I going to do with you?" he asked.

"Love me?" Brian asked, giggling. "It's your fault how I act, you know."

"My fault? How can it be my fault?" Jim exclaimed.

"You're the sculptor, remember? I'm just the humble modeling clay. If you
had done your job properly, I'd be a model citizen by now," Brian kidded,
as he playfully pushed Jim away.

Everyone laughed, and Bruce said, "He has a point, Jim. You started this
earlier.  Brian's learning quickly."

Jim laughed along with everyone else. "Ok, I accept responsibility. But
Brian, no violence unless someone starts it first. Ok? That goes for
everyone. Do we all agree?"

Everyone agreed. Josh and Kevin were the last to agree, but they were
finally united. And they all walked to their home rooms, uncertain about
how their day would go.


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

It took a while for the rumors to start to spread. It really wasn't until
lunch that anything major happened.

Ryan and Rob had their trays and were walking to their regular table, when
Matt, the senior quarterback on the football team, stuck his foot out and
tripped Rob. He didn't fall down, but his tray fell out of his hands and
fell to the floor, spilling everything.

"Watch where you're going, fag boy," Matt said.

"Really funny," Rob answered.

"Yeah. Since you're not good enough to get a college scholarship, at least
you have a future in comedy," Ryan said, standing up for his boyfriend.

Matt, Mike, and several of their friends stood up and got in both boys
faces. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say. All I was doing is stretching
my legs and fag boy here tripped over my feet. And then you insult me to
boot. What should I do, guys? Think I should make an example of these two
fag boys?"  Matt asked.

"I don't think that would be a very good idea," Josh said from behind.

The other boys all whirled around and saw Josh and Brian standing there.

"They're kind of small to be picking on, don't you think? We're more your
size. If you want to make an example out of someone, maybe Josh and I would
work better," Brian said.

"I don't have a beef with you too right now. This one insulted me," Matt
said, pointing to Ryan.

"Yeah, right after you tripped his boyfriend and made him spill his lunch
on the floor.  We both saw it. So did lots of other people here. You really
do want to get kicked off the football team, don't you?" Brian asked.

"No, of course not.  I didn't do anything, right guys," Matt asked, as he
looked around at his buddies. They all quickly agreed. "All I did was
stretch out my legs. What are you two, fag body guards?"

Brian started to walk towards Matt, but Josh pulled him aside. "You
promised Jim, remember?"

Brian stared at Josh and then at Matt. Then he reached for his wallet and
pulled out two dollars.  "Here Rob. This is all I have. You should be able
to get something to eat with it."

"I've got it, Brian. Keep your money," Josh said, as he got out his wallet
and handed Rob a five dollar bill. "Matt, you do think you can watch where
your legs go if Rob walks by here again, don't you?"

"I'm not sure. I get cramps in my legs all the time. Just tell your little
fag buddy to stay away from me, Ok?" Matt, said, as he sat back down.

"We'll try and remember that," Josh said, as he and Brian walked off.

"Oh, and one more thing," Matt said.

Josh and Brian turned around and stared at him.

"About the little fight we had on Friday. We aren't through with you fags
yet," Matt said.

"None of us are going to start anything. But if you start something, we'll
defend ourselves," Josh answered. Brian just stared at all of them and
didn't say a word. Then, they turned and walked away.


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

The rest of the day went by quickly. A few people said some rude things to
the smaller boys, but there wasn't any violence. Several people did come up
to them and ask if the rumors were true, but no one denied it.

The worst thing that happened was to Josh after lunch. His best friend Dan
came up and said, "Josh, there are ridiculous rumors going around that
you're gay."

"They're not ridiculous. It's true," Josh answered.

"IT CAN'T BE TRUE!!!! We've been best friends forever. We've spent the
night together so many times, I can't count them," Dan exclaimed.

"So? What does that have to do with me being gay?" Josh asked.

"What does it have to do with it?  You never came on to me! We never did
anything like that together!" Dan yelled.

"Dan, lower your voice, OK?" Josh asked.

They both looked around and saw lots of people staring at them. "Let's go
over here," Dan said.

Josh followed him away from where everyone else was standing until they
were by themselves. Dan finally whirled around to face him and said, "Why
couldn't you have told me the truth? I thought we were best friends."

"We are. Maybe I couldn't because I was afraid you'd react just like you
are now," Josh calmly answered.

"How can you betray me like this?" Dan yelled.

Josh just laughed. "When you were so in love with Cindy, did I get mad at
you?"

"No.  Of course not. That was totally different," Dan said.

"How do you figure that? You told me all about how hot she'd get you, then
she'd stop you just when you thought she was ready to go all the way. We
talked about it every time you had a date. Remember?" Josh asked.

"Yeah, I remember. What does that have to do with you being gay?" Dan
asked.

"Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. I don't like girls, Dan. They just don't
do anything for me. I knew you did. I was glad for you. I did everything I
could to help you with Cindy, didn't I?" Josh asked.

"Sure you did. You were my best friend. If I couldn't talk to you, who
could I talk to?" Dan asked.

"Were?" Josh asked.

"You know what I mean," Dan answered quickly, and he turned away.

"Yeah. I'm afraid I do," Josh answered, as he turned and walked away.

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

Everyone met just inside the school, facing the parking lot, when school
finally ended. No one was expecting any trouble, but they all wanted to be

together, just in case.

"Is everyone ready?" Jim asked.

"I sure as Hell am," Brian said.

"I'm going to kick your big round butt. No trouble, remember?" Jim scolded.

"I won't start anything. I promised that. But that's all I promised," Brian
answered, as he stared at Jim.

"Come on, let's go. Nothing's going to happen," Bruce said. They all agreed
and they exited the school together.

They made it almost to their cars before they saw the group of boys, led by
Matt and Mike, cutting them off.

"Oh shit," Tim shouted, as he saw them.

They were out numbered almost two to one. Lots of other students were also
following the lead group, and they were almost all football players.

Everyone stopped in the center section of the parking lot between
rows. Matt walked up with a big grin on his face and said, "I told you we
weren't through with you fags yet."

"What do you want, Matt?  Why can't you just leave us alone?" Jim asked.

"No one wants fags in this school. I just brought some friends with me to
help persuade all of you that you might like it better at another school,"
Matt said, as he laughed with his buddies. "If you need your butts kicked
for it to finally sink in, then we're all ready to help teach you how it's
going to be around here from now on."

Just then, everyone heard the roar of a high powered engine rev up,
followed by a squeal of tires. A red Z-28 Camaro drove up quickly and
parked in the middle of the parking lot, blocking all the other cars in
their parking spaces. 4 boys quickly jumped out and two were carrying metal
baseball bats.  They all walked up, headed by Dan.

"What's going on, guys?  We were just about to go to the batting cages and
get in some hitting practice. Want to come, Josh?" Dan asked, as he held
his bat in both hands and started swinging like he was warming up.

"Uh, I'm kind of busy today, Dan," Josh answered.

"You're best friends with that faggot over there?"  Mike asked Dan.

"Yeah. What's it to you? That's between Josh and myself.  It's really none
of your business. You don't exactly have good taste in friends either," Dan
answered, as he motioned towards Matt.

"Fuck you, Dan," Matt yelled.

"You couldn't get it up long enough to do it, shit for brains," Dan yelled
back. "That may be why Elaine broke up with you today.  Either you can't
satisfy her or she finally got tired of your macho bullshit. It really
doesn't matter. I'm taking her to the football game Friday night. Hey Josh,
want to double date?" Dan asked.

"WHAT?" Matt yelled.

"You heard me, Matt. I was there when she broke up with you at lunch. I
asked her to go to the football game Friday before she even got out of the
cafeteria. Lots of people are tired of your act. Not just me.  So, if you
want to try me, I'm standing right here," Dan said calmly.

"You talk really big with a baseball bat in your hands," Matt answered.

"Oh, this? I don't need this to kick your ass," Dan said, as he tossed it
to

Josh. Josh easily caught it, and handed it to Bruce.

"Thanks, Dan," Josh said.

"Thanks? For what? I've been wanting to take on this piece of shit ever
since last baseball season. Matt thinks he's just as good in baseball as he
is in football. You're really good at quarterback, Matt, but you suck as a
pitcher. Everyone knows it. Anyway Josh, you want to double date Friday?"
Dan asked.

"Sure. I'd like that. But what if I bring a boy?" Josh asked, grinning at
Dan.

"That's cool with me. Elaine already said that would be cool with her. But
you drive. There's no way you're going to mess up my back seat," Dan
kidded.

"You guys are really sick," Matt said.

"We're just fucking with your little bitty brain, Matt," Dan said.  "The
news that Josh was gay fucked with mine, too. But then I finally realized
that he was still the same guy that had been my best friend for all this
time, and I didn't want to lose his friendship. Who each of us has dated
had never been a problem before, so why would it be a problem now?  None of
these guys," he continued, as he pointed at Josh and the rest of the gay
guys, "have ever bothered anybody here. They've never come on to
anybody. They've kept their sexuality like it should be, something
personal. They're still the same people that they've always been, and we
liked all of them before we knew they were gay. So I say we support them
now. I think they have more guts than any of us here. Who else would be
willing to take on the football team in a fight?"

The football team continued to stare menacingly at the boys, but the crowd
around them started to murmur and then talk loudly.

"Leave them alone. They haven't done anything," someone shouted.

"Who cares if they're gay?" someone else shouted.

"Yeah Matt. If you want to prove how bad you are, why don't you fight just
one of them," another one shouted.

"Now I like that idea," Josh said, as he stepped forward. "Why don't we
settle this? Just the two of us?"

"Yeah. The loser gives the winner a blow job," Dan kidded, as he walked up
to Josh and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Bad idea, buddy.  Matt's mouth is going to be really bloody after I kick
him once or twice," Josh kidded. "He probably would suck at it anyway,"
Josh added.

Josh walked calmly towards Matt, just as everyone heard the coach screaming
in the background. "Where is my damn football team? Why isn't anybody
dressed and on the field?"

All of the football players looked panicked. They all looked at Matt for
what to do next.

"We've got to go. This isn't over between us," Matt said.

"Yeah it is. If you ever want to make a point again, just come look me up.
You don't need all your friends backing you up, do you, just to kick a
faggot's ass?" Josh asked, as he grinned at Matt.

"Hey, I'm best friends with a faggot," Dan said, as he walked up and put
his arm around Josh once more. "If you don't think you can take Josh one on
one, which you can't, by the way, you can try me. I'd really like that."

"Fuck you guys. Come on, the coach is going to kill us as it is," Matt
said, as he ran off towards the gym, followed by all of the other football
players.

No one left. Everyone watched as the football players ran off, and then the
crowd congregated around the other boys. Everyone started to talk to
individual guys at the same time. Their new club, Gay Teens Unite, was
mentioned and lots of people seemed genuinely supportive.  Someone brought
out a note pad and before anyone knew it, people were signing up.

Josh finally walked up to Dan and stuck out his hand. "Thanks, buddy."

"I don't shake hands with faggots," Dan said, as he faked turning around
and walking away, then spun around and hugged Josh to him. Everyone around
them laughed and applauded.

Over thirty people had signed up to join the Gay Teens Unite club as
non-gay supporters. Three others had gotten one of the boys off to the side
and asked if they could talk sometime, just the two of them. Each assured
him that they would gladly talk to them about anything they wanted and what
was said would remain with the key members of the group. They had already
talked about the possibility of other gay students coming out, so it was
made clear that they would discuss anything said with the other members,
but no one else. That seemed to satisfy all three of the other boys.

It took a long time before everyone finally started to go towards their
cars. The boys were sure that they wouldn't have any problems from now on.
They had made a lot of friends today, and all had sworn that they would
support them from now on. There wouldn't be any more gay bashing at this
school, like had almost happened today.

                                     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 enter comments about this story for everyone to see.