Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 00:49:24 EDT
From: William Watts <bwstories44@hotmail.com>
Subject: You Pass This Way But Once - Chapter 15

Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if:
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**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
**Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

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		*    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

You Pass This Way But Once - by BW
            Copyright 2000 by bwstories44
Chapter 15 - The darkness envelops us.
                   March 2000

The next morning I waited for Seth outside of the school before we went
into the locker room.  We had discussed this yesterday and we decided that
it would be best to wait for each other so we had some support when we
entered the school.  Even with this strategy, we weren't ready for what we
found when we entered the locker room.  Hanging above our lockers were two
huge signs.  One sign had "fag" scrawled on it while the other had the word
"queer" written on it.  Without saying a word to anyone, we walked over,
tore down the signs and wadded them up.  That's when we made our next
discovery.

Looking into our lockers, we found that our helmets had been painted pink
over their normal white covering.  Seth looked at me and asked what I
thought we should do next.  I told him that we would have to wait until we
got out to the practice field and for coach to spot them.  At that instant,
we should have a pretty good idea of his attitude toward what was going on
and we would know where we stood with him and the team.  We put on the rest
of our gear and that's when we discovered that the word "fag" had been
spray painted on one of our pant legs, over the pads.  Hesitantly, we
finished dressing, grabbed our helmets and we walked out to the practice
field.  Everyone else was already there.  Coach saw us walking down,
carrying our pink helmets and he called us over.

"You boys don't like the school colors?" he asked skeptically.

"No, someone else thought we'd look better in these, coach," I answered
him.

"You think that someone on the team did that?"

"Well, our helmets were in our lockers overnight and they were white when
we left yesterday.  Unless someone else has the key to our locker room I'd
say that that's the only other possibility."

"Why don't you boys walk back up to the locker room with me so I can
replace those for you.  My assistant can handle things here and it will
also give us a chance to look around a little.  We followed the coach to
the locker room where he began to search the trash and the other lockers
for evidence about who might have done this.  Coach found the paint can in
the trash, wrapped in a wad of paper towels.  He also found a pair of
sneakers in one of the other lockers that had pink paint splattered on the
toes.  He noted the name on the locker and then he went to replace our
'damaged' equipment.  Seth and I changed into our new gear and we walked
back to the practice field with coach as he carried one of the pink helmets
in his hand.

"Chambers get your sorry butt over here, now!" coach bellowed out in his
drill-sergeant voice.  Randy Chambers came running over to where coach
stood.

"What do you want coach?"

"What do you know about this?" coach asked him as he held out the pink
helmet.

Randy held his arms out waist high, palms up in front of him in a gesture
to proclaim his ignorance.  "Why are you asking me coach?"

"Well, it might have something to do with the pink paint on the sneakers in
your locker and the pink paint smeared on your hands."  We all looked at
Randy's hands and saw the dabs of pink paint on his fingers.  Randy looked
up sheepishly at the coach and put his hands behind his back.

"Do you want to tell me who else was involved with this?" coach asked him.

Randy looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar but he
wasn't about to give up one of his friends.  "There was no one else, coach.
It was just a little joke."

"Do you see me laughing, Chambers?  Destruction of school property and
sexual harassment are not just a little joke.  They're very serious issues
and action needs to be taken.  You're off the team, Chambers.  Just leave
your equipment in your locker and I'll check it in when I get back up
there."

"You're kicking me off the team and you're letting the gay boys stay on?"

"Let me put it this way, Chambers.  You're no longer needed or wanted on
this squad, end of story.  Now, go change and get lost.  The principal and
the superintendent can decide about your academic status when school starts
next week."

"What do you mean by that?  Are you trying to tell me that I'll be kicked
out of school too?"

"Well, I guess that you're smarter than you act if you were able to figure
that one out by yourself.  Your future as a student at this school will be
up to the school administrators to decide, not me."

"All of this is happening to me because we have a couple of fags who want
to play football?"

"No.  All this is happening to you because you decided to be stupid and
spray paint school property and defame two of your teammates.  Face it,
Chambers.  You only have yourself to blame for your actions and no one
else.  Nobody held a gun to your head or fed you stupid pills to make you
do these things.  That was done by you and you alone."

Randy started to say something else but the coach silenced him and pointed
to the locker room.  Randy left the field and headed toward the school but
Seth and I knew that it probably wouldn't be the last that we heard from
him or his friends.  It looked like the coach was thinking the same thing
as he called everyone in for a team meeting.  He held up the helmet as he
began to speak.

"If anyone knows anything about this I suggest that you speak up now before
I find out on my own."  He waited for a response but received none.  "All
right, have it your way.  Mr.  Chambers is no longer a member of this
football team and school officials will be asked to decided next week what
punishment he will face for his involvement with this little incident."
There were shocked expressions on the faces of the other guys on the team
as they looked back and forth at their friends.  Then a buzz washed over
the group as they began to talk to one another.  The coach finally got the
team's attention again and he resumed his comments.  "This is destruction
of school property and it will not be tolerated.  Neither will the sexual
harassment of any students of this school or members of any of the sport
teams.  If there are others who were involved with Mr. Chambers, they will
face a similar fate, especially since no one is willing to own up to their
part in this debacle.  I'll be in my office after practice if anyone wishes
to speak to me about his part in any of this or if any of you can shed any
light on who participated in this affront on decency and good taste.

After practice, Seth and I hung back on the practice field to avoid any
confrontations in the shower room.  When we finally went in nearly everyone
was gone.  We were almost completely undressed when Jeff came back into the
locker room and approached us.

"Seth.  Logan."  He was very meek acting for Jeff and I knew that something
was up.  "I'm sorry that things got out of hand like this.  I didn't mean
for this to happen."

"What are you talking about, Jeff?" Seth asked.  "Are you saying that you
were responsible for what happened today?"

"In a way I guess I am.  When we slept out after my birthday party I saw
you two cuddling with each other when I went into the house that morning.
When I got up later I saw you two were gone so I went out to find you.
That's when I saw you guys kissing each other behind a tree.  After you two
left for camp, I remembered about that time in the showers when you two
were in there alone and you were both hard.  Everything began to fall into
place and I realized that it was likely that you were gay.  I wanted to see
if anyone else had noticed anything like that, besides me.  I was asking
Keith about that one day at the pool and he asked me why I wanted to know.
I took him away from everyone else and explained to him what I saw.
Neither of us saw Randy and one of his friends resting against the edge of
the pool with only their heads above the water.  They heard everything but
neither of us knew it at the time.  When we did see them there it too late
to do any good.  We didn't know for sure that they had heard what we were
talking about until the rumors began to spread.  I didn't mean for this to
happen.  I only wanted to know if Keith had noticed anything of the things
that I had."

"Thanks for telling us.  We understand that you didn't do it maliciously,"
I told him.  "I'm glad to hear that it was an accident and that you didn't
have anything to do with today.  I'm glad that we're still friends."

He hesitated briefly before he spoke again.  "I didn't exactly say that,
either.  I don't have a problem playing football with you guys because
you're good and you make me look good too.  We can work together on the
team but I don't want to hang out with you outside of football.  I mean,
you two are gay and that's just not right and it's not natural.  I wouldn't
want anybody else thinking that I might be gay, too, just because I hung
around with you guys."

"At least we know where we stand with you.  We're OK to be around as long
as we make you look good, like at football, but you don't want our disease
to rub off on you," I told him sarcastically.  "Don't worry, Jeff.  We
understand perfectly how this works and you don't have to worry about us
hanging any where near you in the future."

Jeff didn't know how to react to my last comment so he just turned and
left.
  Seth and I just looked at each other while we absorbed the implications
of what Jeff had said.  I think we both knew that he probably wouldn't be
the only one who felt that way.

"That took guts, Logan," Seth said looking me in the eye.  "He comes in
here and admits to us that he's the cause of all of our problems and then
he has the nerve to tell us that he doesn't want anything more to do with
us.  You've got to admit that doing that took big balls."

"The size of boulders," was all I could add.  Seth went with me to my house
so we could decide how we were going to handle any future incidents.  We,
also, were going to try and determine if there was anyone else we could
count on to stand by us, now that the cat was out of the bag.

Our little meeting was very bleak.  The only person we felt that we could
count on was Robbie and he would be putting himself at risk if he said
anything in our defense.  Other than teachers, and we weren't sure how many
of them would defend us besides our coach, and some administrators, Seth
and I were basically on our own.  We talked about telling our parents.  I
was going to speak to my mother and father tonight and let them know what
was happening.  Seth was afraid to tell his folks.  He wasn't sure how his
mother would react but he was pretty sure his father wouldn't take the news
well.  In fact, he thought his father might react very strongly if he knew
his only son was gay.  Seth wasn't ready to take that chance even though I
told him that it was better if his father found out from him than from
hearing the rumors that were bound to start spreading like wildfire.  He
agreed with me in principle but he couldn't bring himself to face his
father, not yet.

I told my parents that evening that I was gay and I informed them what had
happened to us at football practice.  They were both very supportive, as I
knew they would be, and I told them that Seth wasn't ready to tell his
parents just yet.  They agreed to avoid mentioning anything while Seth's
parents were around and they agreed to let Seth plan his own time line for
informing them.

The remainder of the week passed quietly, especially at practice as no one
dared to invoke coach's ire by attacking us in any way.  As the weekend
passed by, Seth and I became very concerned about what types of things
might happen at school next week.  We know how other kids had been treated
in the past when someone thought they might be gay and there were guys out
there that thought they had proof that Seth and I were gay.  My dad told us
that it would do us no good worrying about things before they happened and
such endeavors would not prevent things from happening and they would only
make us feel worse.  He suggested that we should try to find something that
would take our minds off any possible problems but we were unsuccessful in
finding anything that would do that.

The problems at school started slowly.  At first, there were only the
whispers and giggles as we walked down the halls or the pointing and
staring at us as we sat in classes or in the cafeteria.  Then our problems
began to escalate.  The next level included finding notes stuffed in our
books or pushed through the vents in our lockers.  These notes varied in
style and content.  Some were simple and direct such as 'Gays will burn in
Hell', 'Gays have no right to live' or 'Boys loving boys is an
abomination'.  Others were jokes left for our benefit such as 'How can you
tell if a bank robber is gay?  He ties up the safe and blows the guard',
'How can you tell if you're in a gay church?  Only half of the congregation
is kneeling', 'What's the difference between a freezer and a fag?  A
freezer doesn't fart when you pull out the meat' or 'Which is better, being
born black or gay?  Black because you don't have to tell your parents'.
Some notes were very graphic, describing the acts (in detail) that the
writer found objectionable.  Some were not notes at all but just a
collection of derogatory names and phrases.  The creative ones even
included pictures that the author or one of his friends had drawn while the
more perverse ones included threats of violence or even death.

There were also obscenities written on the doors of our lockers with magic
markers, nail polish and paint.  This, however, came under the
investigation of school officials (because of the damage to school property
issue, although there were not as much concern about how this was affecting
us) and this form of harassment quickly abated.  In its place, notes were
soon glued or taped to the lockers but they spread the same hatred that the
graffiti had symbolized.  This was becoming a constant problem as new signs
were appearing almost as quickly as we could take the old ones down.

Things weren't going all that well at football practice either.  Randy's
friends blamed us for Randy getting kicked off of the team and they did
their best to make us look bad.  When we were scrimmaging and Seth and I
were to carry the ball, Randy's friends would just bump or brush block
their assignments.  This meant that their defender would come through
virtually untouched to tackle us, sometimes multiple bodies felling us on
the same play.  Sure, the coach would scream at them and they would look
bad too but Seth and I were the ones having to survive the hard, almost
instant tackles that were being doled out.  We were getting hammered play
after play and the physical abuse on our bodies was beginning to add up and
it was affecting our play dramatically.  Their tactics were beginning to
have the effect on us that they desired.

Things were beginning to escalate in school as well.  The non-violent
harassment of the notes, signs, jokes, comments, etc. were beginning to be
replaced by a more physical aggression.  Suddenly Seth and I found
ourselves being bumped and shoved in the hallways as we passed between
classes.  Small groups of guys would knock us into walls, trip us or knock
our books and things out of our hands.  In the classrooms, someone was
constantly knocking our things off of our desks or trying to knock us out
of our chairs.  The first few times we ignored the abuse but then we began
to fight back.  That didn't work either.  There would always be three to
four boys for each one of us and one or more of them would pummel us as the
others restrained our defensive instincts.  This was becoming more that we
could handle gracefully.

One of the worst acts against us come in the cafeteria.  Seth and I sat
eating the school lunch when one of Randy's non-athletic friends came over
and spoke to us.  "How can you guys stand to eat the crap they serve in
here.  They shouldn't even call it food it's so bad."  He smiled at us and,
while we were concentrating on his face, we missed his next move.  He had a
test tube hidden under his right shirtsleeve and he reached over and
removed the stopper that sealed it up.  Once the stopper had been removed,
he emptied the contents of the test tube over our plates.  When we realized
what he was doing we looked down and saw a white creamy substance on our
food and we knew immediately that it was probably a semen sample that he
had donated for the purpose.

"There, now.  That should improve the flavor for you.  You boys always like
your meals with a little cream, don't you?"  He began to laugh and I became
furious.  I flipped my plate of food up onto his chest.  I started to crawl
across the table but Seth pulled me back as the kid's friends stormed our
table in his defense.  Both sides started screaming at each other and
throwing punches across the table before teachers and administrators
started streaming into the room.  They asked multiple questions to try to
determine culpability and, then, both the instigator and I got detentions
for inappropriate behavior.  The detentions didn't seem to phase Randy's
friend at all, as he had no place else to go after school, but they would
interfere with my football practice.  Seth promised me that he would
explain the situation with the coach and he would try to lessen the effects
of the incident with him.  I had no other option so I agreed.

When I finally got there, practice went horribly.  Between my nerves, my
anger and the actions of Randy's loyal friends, Seth and I look totally
pathetic and inept at our offensive positions.  As much as we had discussed
this situation, Seth and I could find no solution to our problem and we
were beginning to resign ourselves to the fact that we would probably ride
the bench the entire season.  This would be a hard pill to swallow just
because we were used to playing but to have this happen because we were gay
and not because of our abilities on the field made it an even more
difficult to accept.

After practice we hung back to talk to the coach.  We told him about all of
the things that were happening to us and we explained how this was
affecting us, both academically and athletically.  We told him that we
weren't sure if we'd be able to continue with football under the
circumstances and that we'd even considered transferring to another high
school.  This last consideration had been put on hold because it would mean
that Seth would have to tell his parents why he wanted to transfer and he
still wasn't ready to do that, although we didn't tell that part to the
coach.  The coach never asked us if the rumors were true and he didn't seem
to care one way or the other.  His primary concern seemed to be Seth's and
my welfare and how we were coping with what was happening to us.  He said
that he would support any decision we made and, if we still wanted to play
football, there was no question in his mind that we belonged on the squad.

We cleaned up and headed to our own houses.  Seth said that he had to get
home and eat quickly because he needed to get to the library and do some
research for a report that was coming due.  We said good-bye and set out in
opposite directions.  When I got home, I discussed our situation with my
parents over dinner and we agreed that we should start looking into some
viable alternatives, like checking out some of the other high schools in
the area.  Mom and dad both said that they'd provide taxi service for both
Seth and me if we decided to do this and if Seth could convince his parents
to allow him to transfer with me.  My parents were very helpful and we
agreed that I'd take some time off from school next week to go with dad to
visit a couple of other schools.  He told me to talk to Seth and see if he
wanted to join us.  I'd have to convince Seth it was time for him to admit
things to his parents if this was going to happen.  I knew that he'd be at
the library tonight so I'd discuss this option with him tomorrow.

I was just getting ready to head up to bed when the phone rang and my dad
answered it.  He called me to the phone and explained that the call was for
me.  I couldn't imagine who'd be calling me at this hour so I took the
receiver to find out.

"Hello."

"Hello, Logan?  This is Seth's father.  Something happened to him on the
way home from the library and he's really upset.  He won't talk to his
mother or me about it and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to
come over and see if you can find out what happened.  Maybe you can get him
to tell you what this was all about.  I hate to bother you so late but I
didn't know anyone else that Seth would be more likely to open up to about
a problem.  I could drive over and pick you up if you're willing to come
over."

"Could you hold on a second, Mr. Eldred?  I'll ask my dad if he could drive
me over instead."  I spoke to my dad and he agreed to drive me over there.
"Mr. Eldred, my dad will drive me to your house.  We'll be there in a few
minutes."

I explained the situation to dad as we drove to Seth's house and I left my
dad to talk with Mr. Eldred as I went to Seth's room.  I knocked on his
door and eventually it opened.  The room was dark and Seth stood back where
I couldn't see him.  He asked me what I was doing there and I told him that
his dad was worried about him and he called me to help out.  Seth let me in
and I turned on the light as he shut the door.  I wasn't prepared for what
I saw or what he told me had happened.

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If you enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://www.teenboyauthors.org/thewolf/, in the 'Other Stories' section.
E-mails may be sent to: bwstories44@hotmail.com.