Angst

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not write about frank sexual situations, nor do I have any desire to.

This is a story about teen love and discovery. Still though, it is a gay work of fiction.

If such work offends you or you are not old enough to read in your area, then do not continue reading.

Please do not copy and paste onto another website without emailing me first. In most cases I'd be glad to let you post on another site, as long as you ask first!

Angst Episode 33 "The Fast Times at Jefferson High"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Is this it?"

Eric walked closer to the car to get a better look at it.

"Yeah this is it," he replied.

J.T. walked over to the car himself and rubbed the outside of it with his hand.

"Fucking sweet ride to belong to such a fucking asshole," he said.

"Whatever man, are we gonna take it or what?" Eric asked.

J.T. debated it for a moment before beginning to jimmy-open the lock.

"The guy fucking deserves it," he replied, after he managed to get the door open.

Eric smiled an evil grin before walking over to the passengers side and hoping in.

"Tricked out car yet no alarm. Big no no if you wanna keep it," J.T. said, working on the wires to hotwire it.

"This is gonna be so sick to race out in the drags," Eric replied, looking the interior of the car open.

J.T. worked with the wires some more before the car started up. He gave the gas pedal a little push to hear it roar.

"Come on man," Eric said, after J.T. didn't shut his door to leave.

"Wait a second," he said getting out of the car. "I think I wanna leave our little friend something to remember us by. For old times sake."

Eric sighed with annoyance as he watched J.T. tag the free side of the driveway with spray paint.

"He'll know it was us when he sees that," Eric said.

"Which is exactly why I know he won't be calling the police," J.T. replied. "Besides, it's not like he's ever gonna see this baby again anyway."

Eric and J.T. laughed before J.T. shut his door and put the car in gear, backing out of the driveway and zooming down the street, effectively setting off a few car alarms as he did.

"Hi." I said.

Adam turned from his locker to reply.

"Hi," he replied, noting my uncanny grin. "What's ah...what's up?"

"Guess what I did," I started.

Adam turned back to his locker while still acknowledging me.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Guess."

"Okay.....you finally got Michelle to admit she got a nose job," Adam replied.

"Yeah I don't think that's ever gonna happen," I replied. "Besides, it has to do with me, not her."

I was undeniably happy today. For starters, it was the first day back to school after the long winter break. I'd finally be able to tell everyone about what I had told my family. I started with Adam because for once, he was without Vanessa.

"I don't know Brandon, you won the lottery," Adam smiled.

"Fine, I'll just tell you," I said.

"That'd be nice, yeah," Adam said.

"Well I sat my family down and had a long talk with them about my life and my past. And when it was all over with, I was comparing how hot the gardener on Desperate Housewives was with my sister and mother."

Adam turned from his locker and flashed me a serious look.

"Wait a second.....did you?"

"Yep. I told them I was gay," I replied.

Adam smiled and turned to face me completely.

"And they seriously took it that well?" he asked.

"Well I don't think my dad is quite convinced. I think maybe he thinks it's a phase or something, but no one was upset with me or anything. No pots and pans were thrown. No bags were packed," I replied.

In hearing myself talk about it today, it really made me feel good to know that I had a loving family that really would stick by me no matter what.

But I noticed Adam's look of happiness suddenly fade somewhat.

"You didn't.....you-"

"No. I didn't mention you at all. It's not my place," I replied.

"Well I wish I could say that probably mattered, but it doesn't. Not now anyway," Adam sighed.

"Adam...what's going on?" I asked, concerned.

Adam looked more and more down with each passing second. It was like he was slowly wilting away before me and I knew something drastic had to be going on for him to be acting like this.

"Adam, tell me," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

I noticed Adam seemed to relax a bit when I did. And after a few more moments of him not saying anything, he turned to me and looked around before he said anything.

"I think.....my mom might have read the note you gave me," Adam replied.

I took my hand off his shoulder and stepped back.

"What? How?" I asked.

"Well...some paint from the paintballs got on my jeans and I gave my pants to my mom to wash without thinking," Adam replied. "And I was on the phone with Vanessa all day and I didn't think about the note until.........."

"Well, what makes you think she read it? Maybe it got washed in the-"

"I checked, afterwards. Besides, my mom has this thing about checking the pockets of my clothes. If she got my wallet, chances are, she got the note too," Adam replied.

I looked down. This was bad. Really bad.

In the note I talked about how much I was beginning to remember my love for Adam and how much I wanted things to go back to how they were. When we were dating.

I was glad now that I hadn't been sexually explicit in the note, but it was pretty damning otherwise.

"Brandon...what did the note say?" Adam asked.

I was torn over what to tell him. Did I tell him that it pretty much outed him to his mom if she did read it? What was I supposed to tell him?

"Oh....uh,"

"Adam!"

It was Vanessa. She was with Krystal and Michelle and the three of them were headed towards us.

"Adam I-"

"We can't talk about this now. My girlfriend-"

"Adam, but-"

"Not now," Adam replied. And before turning around to face his girlfriend, he put on a somewhat convincing happy face and straightened up so as not to look so down.

"Hey baby," Adam replied, kissing Vanessa on the cheek.

"I missed you," Vanessa replied.

"How was Cabo?" I asked Krystal.

"Well it would have been nicer if we didn't have to come home just for Michelle's party," Krystal replied, looking over at Michelle.

"Hey I had midgets!" Michelle replied. "That party probably cost me more than all the other ones combined, so hell yes you had to be there!"

"Adam, is everything okay?" Vanessa asked, staring at her boyfriend.

Adam flashed me a quick glance before smiling and replying.

"Yeah. Everything's fine."

He shut his locker and put his arm around Vanessa.

"Look, we'll talk later or something okay?" Adam said.

"Whatever," I replied, a bit pissed that he wasn't taking his situation as seriously as I wanted him to take it.

It was bad enough he didn't even get to read the note, but to have had his nosy mother reading it? And what if she showed Adam's father? He wasn't exactly known for his well kept temper. Actually it was quite the opposite. I was concerned for Adam and I knew Adam was concerned himself, but the way he'd have rather been all 'happy happy' with Vanessa like there was nothing to talk about.....it just bugged me.

"Okay so I'm off to find Alicia Rice. I think I saw the bitch stealing some of the Christmas tree party favors from the donation tree," Michelle said, before leaving my side.

I was alone at Adam's locker, thinking about more than one thing. My mind was going a million miles an hour. I didn't know which one thing to actually think about.

"Hey," came the voice of Gino, who was now standing behind me.

I turned around to face him.

"Hey, how was break?" I asked.

I noticed Gino's look turn a little blue as well.

Great. More problems.

"Mind if we walk and talk? I gotta get my English book from my locker," Gino spoke.

"Sure," I replied, joining Gino at his side as the two of us began to slowly walk down the spacious hallway towards his locker.

"So you're never gonna believe what I found out," he started.

"Please don't let it be something horrible," I said.

"It's worse," Gino replied.

Like I was ready for worse.

"Get this, my rich company owning father, married to a woman for seventeen years, turns out...he's gay!"

"What?"

That was shocking. I'd met Gino's father once. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he definitely didn't come across to me as being gay. Plus it wasn't like I'd even suspect, what with him having been married to a woman before.

"Yeah. Apparently, that's the real reason why my parents got a divorce," Gino replied. "And.....well nothing."

"And what?" I asked.

Gino wanted to mention that it was probably the reason he was gay as well, but decided against it.

"Look, what am I gonna do? I cant keep spending time with my dad knowing he's been living a lie all these years," Gino replied. "It's the reason why my parents split up. Otherwise they'd still be a happily argumentative couple just like everyone else's married parents."

"Gino, your dad still loves you regardless," I replied.

A very large part of me was hoping that Gino didn't find his father's being gay as repulsive or something. I mean how much of a hypocrite would he be if he accepted my being gay but not his own father?

"Love doesn't come with lies," Gino replied. "He fucking should have told me!"

"You know, maybe he didn't tell you because he wanted to protect you."

"From what?"

"I don't know. Maybe he didn't want you to think that he didn't love you or your mom," I replied.

Gino seemed to be thinking about this as he opened his locker and began looking around for his book.

"It's not the fact that he's gay that gets to me, obviously," Gino started. "It's just....how could he have married my mom knowing he was gay?"

I knew that there were a lot of gay guys out there that denied who they were because they were afraid to live life being labeled as something the world viewed obscene. And truthfully, it was scary to think that when I got old enough to want to settle down, that I would be one of those people. One of those people that others looked at differently because I was married to a man with my adopted children instead of a woman with my blood related ones.

But with my friends and the support of my family, I was ready to face all of that head on.

"You know, my dad kinda...moved back in for the time being," Gino said, sounding a lot more calm. "I guess since I know the real reason they divorced, he feels like he needs to be there for me now or something. Yet, they're still divorced."

"He wants to be a good father to you," I said. "And you should let him."

"I want to.....it's just...."

There were a lot of reasons why Gino wasn't ready to fully commit to the idea of having a gay father while he himself was gay, but he didn't want to share his problems. At least not yet.

"You're right," Gino replied. "I guess I have a lot to think about."

And I was sure that he did. I can't say that it would be easier having a father that gay, especially considering he had been married to a woman. I didn't envy the dilemma Gino was going through.

"So can we talk about something else? Please?" Gino asked, shutting his locker.

"Okay. Oh, uh, I told me family about me," I stated, beginning to walk alongside Gino.

"You did? How'd they take it?"

"Like there were a lot of other worse things I could have been telling them."

Which was true. I could have told them I had cancer and was dying. Or that I had gotten amnesia again, although I'm not sure if it was possible to tell them I had amnesia without forgetting who they were. But the point was, they took it well and I was happy. Happier than I had been in a while.

"So while you were telling your folks you were gay, my dad was telling me he was gay," Gino said. "I'd say we had an eventful weekend, wouldn't you agree?"

"Why I'd say you were absolutely correct," I laughed.

And Adam had had his own problems as well. I just hoped that when I caught up to the rest of my friends that they hadn't had any bad weekends themselves.

I was a bit surprised when Chris showed up late to Government. Chris, despite being somewhat of a bad boy, was never late. Or absent. Yet, he arrived when there were only five minutes left in class. He looked extremely pissed off, and hadn't said a word of greeting to me when he sat down.

I didn't bug him until after class was over when I followed him to his locker, which after several unsuccessful attempts to open it, he started kicking at it furiously. I had to pull him back to stop him and took him to the restroom to talk.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

Chris was breathing heavily and walking back in forward in slow semi-erratic circles, looking like he was ready to fight.

"What's going on? What's going on?" he asked, looking at me with a furious expression. "I'll tell you what's going on. Somebody stole my fucking car, that's what's going on!"

"Oh my god!"

I'd seen and been in Chris's car many times and could see why he was so pissed off. It was one of those Honda Civics that he'd spent a lot of money on to add custom parts to like nitrous boost and decals....his car was probably worth more than his house!

"Yeah.....only it's not just somebody.....I think I know who," Chris added.

"Well, that's good right? I mean if you know who it is, you can get it back," I replied.

"Yeah, well it's not that simple," Chris replied, walking over to the sinks while looking into the mirrors. "I don't know who exactly...but....ugh shit!"

I wasn't sure what to do or say. It was like I was the only person who showed up to school happy today while everyone else had some kind of problem.

"Chris, I don't know what to say," I started.

I really didn't. I could tell that if I said the wrong thing, Chris would probably explode and punch the glass in the mirrors out with his bare hands or something.

"Yeah......" Chris said.

He said that in a lot calmer of a voice than the one he'd been using. I took that to mean that he was cooling off.

"You know, if you want...I could help you..." I started.

Chris looked at me in the mirror.

"Thanks, but I don't think there's anything you can do," Chris replied, flashing me a slight smile.

"I wish there was," I said.

"Yeah, I know you do," Chris replied, turning around. "Come on, let's get out of here before they start to think were in here sucking each other off."

"Right, cuz we wouldn't want that now," I smiled following Chris out of the restroom, still wishing I could help.

The rest of the day hadn't gone much better. In fact, I think it got worse. By lunch, I had learned that Alex was grounded for trying to sneak out to go to rave. Jade had been turned down to one of the colleges she wanted to attend. And Ryan had injured his arm in a dirt bike incident.

Our normally happy, talkative lunch table was replaced by a silent, tension filled, gloomy bunch of kids. No one really said much of anything to each other at all, which was weird.

Adam, Chris, and Gino, despite their reassuring me that things would be fine and that we'd talk later, hadn't talked to me at all. I was sure Vanessa made sure that I wouldn't talk to Adam. And Chris and Gino each seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

It was literally more unbearable than having to tell my family I was gay. And I hated that all of my friends were having one problem or another. This was supposed to be a new year. A time for us to be trying to work on our resolutions for ourselves. Instead, we'd all been faced with problem after problem and it was starting to get to me.

Still though, I had to at least try and revive my basically dead table of friends.

"Ahem, so did anyone get a chance to go see that new Jennifer Lopez movie?" I asked.

No one really acknowledged that I'd even spoke. I don't even think they'd heard me.

"Well....happy new year to us all then," I mumbled, turning my attention to my uneaten pizza.

Adam's mother looked at the note that she'd found in her son's pants pocket the other day. She'd had a lot of time to think about what she'd found and through her thinking, she'd only managed to come up with more questions than answers.

She didn't want to believe her son was gay, but she also didn't believe that what was written in the note was all a bunch of lies either. In fact, she believed them all to be true.

She wondered if Brandon's mother knew about her son being gay? If she did, it would certainly benefit her to know. Maybe if she talked with his mother, she could shed some light on the things about her own son that she'd obviously been missing.

So picking up the phone, she dialed the number she'd debated on calling for a while now, and sat waiting for what she was sure to be the answering machine.

"Uh, hello. This is Ellen, Adam's mother. Uh, I'm calling because....well I'd love it if I could talk with you Deborah. It's about your son. Well actually it's about both of our sons. Just..please, give me a call back when you get this message. Thanks."

Even though it wasn't my birthday, I made a wish that with a good nights sleep, all of my friends would be back to normal and that Tuesday would be a lot better of a day for all of us.

I wasn't expecting much. And I definitely wasn't expecting Chris to show up at my door before I was all set to leave.

"Chris?" I spoke, surprise evident in my voice.

"Hey...uh, can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied, stepping aside to let him in.

I was shocked to see him for more than one reason. For one thing, Chris had never been to my house before and I didn't even know he knew where I lived. And two, I was shocked to see him here before school. That was strange.

Chris followed me into the living room and took a seat at the couch.

"Uh...want anything to drink? Or-"

"No, thanks. I'm good," Chris replied.

I nodded and looked around.

"So....what's up?" I asked.

"Well...remember yesterday when I told you my car was stolen?" Chris asked.

How could I forget? He practically beat the hell out of his own locker!

"Yeah. Why, what's going on? Did you find it?" I asked.

"Something like that," Chris replied.

But before he could elaborate, I saw my mother and sister coming down the stairs. What shocked me was the fact that they seemed to be a bit mixed up in the wardrobe department. While my sister was normally in her p.j.'s this time a morning and my mom was dressed for work, today, my mom was in the p.j.'s and Jaime was all dressed up like she was going somewhere.

"Mom, don't you have work today?" I asked.

"Oh, no, I took off," she replied without elaborating. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

The way she'd said it and the way she was awkwardly smiling, I could tell she probably thought that Chris was probably my boyfriend or something.

"Oh right, mom Christian Murphy. Chris, that's my mom and sister Jaime in the kitchen over there," I replied.

"Nice to meet you," Chris said, standing up to shake my mom's hand.

"Chris huh? I think I've heard Brandon mention you one or two times before," my mom spoke.

"Um...mom, don't you like..have something to do then?" I asked.

"Okay, I'm going, I'm going," my mom said, smiling with a goofy grin.

Jaime was gone when I looked up. I hadn't even heard her leave and truthfully didn't care where where was going. I was more concerned with why Chris had made the effort to find out where I lived and pay me an unexpected house call.

"So about the car," I started.

"Right," Chris replied. "Remember when you said you wished you could help?"

"Yeah," I replied, not liking where this was going.

"How would you like to take a trip downtown?" Chris asked, a sly grin on his face.

He was up to something.

"Look at him. He looks so down," Vanessa said.

She, Krystal, Michelle and Jade were at Jade's locker which was a few feet away from Adam's. All three girls were watching him as he stood at his locker.

"Well it can't be anything you're doing, sweetie," Michelle spoke. "I mean, Adam's just not as horny as he used to be."

"Michelle," Jade said.

"Well he's not," Michelle replied.

"I'm just worried. He won't talk to me. I know something's wrong but he pretends like everything is okay," Vanessa sighed.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about, really," Michelle said. "I mean, sure you found out that he kissed his ex boyfriend and sure he's been acting strange ever since he went out with the guys on the weekend where he spent even more time with his ex-"

"Michelle, you're not helping," Krystal spoke.

Vanessa had known from the start that Adam wasn't the type of guy she was used to dating. But she put that aside for his sake because she really believed that he wanted to change. But now...it seemed like he was worse off than when she met him. She didn't want to say it was a problem for her, but it was a definite turnoff, nonetheless.

"So go talk to him," Michelle spoke. "Take it from someone who messed up with him, talking makes all the difference."

Vanessa looked over at Michelle before taking a deep breath and heading towards Adam.

"Hey....Adam," she started.

Just like she thought he would, Adam put on a fake smile and straightened up, acting like nothing was wrong.

"Hey sweetie," Adam greeted, reaching over to kiss his girlfriend.

Vanessa allowed Adam to kiss her but she had things she wanted to say and didn't allow herself to be fooled.

"Look, I know something's wrong with you, and I just wish you would tell me what it is."

"Look, Vanessa, I told you-"

"I don't want our relationship to be based on lies," Vanessa replied.

"It's not!"

"See that was a lie right there! Because I know somethings wrong."

"Vanessa-"

"Hey, has anyone seen Brandon?" Alex asked, interrupted them.

Adam turned to face Alex while Vanessa flashed him a pissed off look.

"Oh, right.....I just wrecked a moment didn't I?" he asked. "My bad."

"Brandon's not here?" Jade asked, walking up with Krystal and Michelle.

"Nope," Alex replied. "But I'm not worried though."

"Why not?" Jade asked.

"Because..I'm his best friend. I have the best friend sense," Alex replied, moving back and forward.

Everyone stared at him.

"What?"

"Just call his cell and see what's up," Jade replied.

"Fine, but I'm telling you, we don't have anything to worry about," Alex said, dialing the number.

I looked down at my phone.

"Don't answer it," Chris said, stopping at a red light.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Brandon, if you're gonna do this, I need you to be completely focused," Chris replied.

"And I will be. I just want everyone to know that I'm okay," I replied.

"Fine. But don't tell em where we're going," Chris replied, turning left.

I nodded before answering the phone.

"And what does my best friend in the entire world want this lovely morning?" I asked.

"Uh, where the hell are you man?" Alex asked.

"I'm.....taking a little time off," I replied. "Don't worry, everything's fine."

"So....the second day of the semester and you're already skipping. Man, for a gay guy, you sure do know how to break the bad boy rules."

"Hey tell everyone I'll see them after school, okay?"

"Yeah whatever, just bring me back some of that movie theater popcorn will ya?" Alex replied.

I laughed as I hung up the phone.

It was about time we got here anyway. I was really nervous and wasn't sure I really wanted to do this but it was too late to turn back now.

"Okay, before we go in, I think I should mention that we're downtown. The rules are a lot different here than they are in the suburbs," Chris started, as he looked for a place to park.

"Chris, it's downtown Dallas, not Compton," I said. "I'll be okay."

"Well, as long as you stick with me you will be," Chris replied, pulling into a parking space.

I put my cell phone back into my pocket and got out of the car, walking around to meet Chris on the other side.

"Yeah....we're definitely not in the burbs," I replied, looking up.

Chris walked over to me and placed his arm around my shoulder.

"Welcome to Jefferson High," he stated. "High school to the percent of teenagers that don't live in t.v. land."

Yep. I was completely out of my element. And scared out of my mind.

"So where did Brandon say he was again?" Gino asked, as he and Alex walked to class.

"Skipping. Which is so unlike him, but I guess he wants to live up his last year of high school, huh?" Alex replied.

Gino wasn't so sure, but there was nothing he could do about it anyway seeing as though Brandon was already gone.

"So, your daddy is gay huh?" Alex asked.

"What...?" Gino asked, shocked.

"He's my best friend, we tell each other stuff," Alex replied. "Just be glad his best friend isn't Michelle or else Stephen would have had his scandalous article by now."

Gino wasn't really upset. Maybe last year when he and Alex were at odds he would have been. But Alex was his friend now. And he was right, at least it was him that knew and not Michelle.

"So did his big revelation come before or after you told him he had something in common with you?" Alex asked.

"Ugh, why do we both have to be gay?" Gino groaned. "You know, my mom blames my dad for me being gay. She thinks it's like hereditary now."

"Maybe it is," Alex replied.

"Come on, it can't be. Adam's dad doesn't strike me as the gay type. Neither does Brandon's," Gino replied.

"Hmmm. Well maybe it's just your family then," Alex said.

Gino flashed him a serious stare.

"Kidding."

"I just wish Brandon was here so I could talk to him about it," Gino sighed, slouching against a wall.

Alex stopped and crossed his arms.

"Well, what's wrong with talking to me about it?"

Gino flashed him an amused look.

"No offense, but what do you know about being gay?" he asked.

"Considering I have three gay best friends and now one with a gay dad, a lot," Alex replied.

Gino took comfort in the fact that Alex had referred to him as one of his best friends and decided that maybe it would be nice to let Alex in on some of his problems.

"Soooo, how much time do you have?" he asked.

Alex looked down at his watch.

"What do you say we skip first period? We'll call it taking a break too," Alex replied.

"Sounds good to me," Gino smiled.

"You got a problem bitch?"

"What?" I asked.

"Hey back off before I beat your ass!" Chris exclaimed, pushing the kid away.

This place was definitely not like my own school. For starters, it was nowhere near as nice.

The Angst was constantly being remodeled and looked more and more like a new Californian high school every year. Sure, it was home to thousands of students, but it was so big that it was never really crowded. And it was always clean and bright and fresh.

Jefferson High, on the other hand, was crowded. Really crowded. And not as big, with the same amount of students probably. It was easy to see that the school wasn't making enough money to renovate anything, as it looked like it hadn't been updated in at least a decade. The paint on the walls was peeling, some of the panels in the ceiling were missing and tiles on the floor were either cracked or missing.

And then there were the students. It was plain to see that there was a very good reason why Chris had insisted I change out of my Abercrombie clothes when he showed up to my place. And why he himself was dressed more hip hoppish than normal.

It was safe to say that a good forty percent of the school was black while another forty was Hispanic. The last twenty was a mixture of white, Asian, and native American kids. And every last one of the different races were talking with their own race. I didn't see a single black person chatting with a white kid. Or a single Asian kid laughing with a Hispanic kid.

That aside, there were even more differences between them and the kids back at the Angst. For starters, everyone at the Angst seemed more happy. And less concerned with the people around them, opting to spend more time with their friends. Here, everyone was in big groups, standing around looking at everyone else in the halls. There was talking sure, but the paranoid stares and low mumbling proved that this was definitely not the place for social conformity.

None of them seemed friendly at all, and I was starting to think that maybe I was in Compton or something after all!

"Come on, we have to go to the office to pick up our schedules," Chris said.

I had to hand it to him, he certainly made up unique plans. He called in a few favors and managed to get one of his old friends that worked in the office to get our information into the school's computer system so that it would look like we were students here.

It was like we were two cops going undercover to bust some criminals. It would be more fun if I didn't get the feeling that everyone at the school actually was a criminal.

"Uh....why don't you wait out here while I get the schedules," Chris spoke.

Part of me didn't want Chris to leave me alone with these people. But I realized that I was a senior in high school. Pretty soon I'd be on my own in the world. An adult. So I figured I could face a bunch of.....really scary looking kids.

I watched as Chris went into an office room and shut the door behind him, leaving me just outside the main office.

Sighing with slight annoyance, I turned around and stared out into the crowded noisy hallway. Looking around, I couldn't tell who was friends and who wasn't because no one really looked happy to see anyone.

And I certainly wasn't happy to be here.

"Yo, fool, you checkin in?"

I turned to my left to see who'd asked me the question.

Next to me was a black guy about as tall as me and as light as me. He was slightly more bulky, but he was completely bald and looked less 'hard' than the majority of the other kids at the school.

"Uh....excuse me?" I asked.

"I mean, you going here now or sumthin?" he clarified.

"Oh, uh, sure," I replied.

I didn't want to give him a definite yes because there was no way in hell I'd be coming back to this school after today.

"I'm Luke. Who you be man?"

Fortunately, I'd watched enough BET to get the lingo that was probably the norm here.

I thought for a moment. I actually considered giving him my real name but since I wasn't a real student here and I'd never see these people after today, I figured it'd be fun to have an alias.

"Uh...I'm..Br..Brian," I replied. "My name's Brian."

"Cool," Luke replied, knocking fist with me.

"So uh, how'd you know I was new?" I asked.

Luke moved over to a bench that was outside the office and took a seat while I followed and did the same.

"When you spend as much time as I have up in this place, you notice every nigga's face after a while," Luke replied. "Never seen yours before."

"Oh," I replied.

"That and...I kinda work up in the office as an office aid," Luke added.

"Right," I said.

Luke sat back and looked around.

"I gotta tell ya, yo ass don't look from around here."

"Oh I'm from..." I started to say where I was really from but once again, I realized that I could be from anywhere in the world and wanting to sound tougher, I told him I was from "Compton."

Luke looked me over with a highly skeptical look.

"Yo ass ain't from Compton, nigga," he replied. "And my advice to you is, don't tell anyone here that bullshit either."

"How do you know I'm not from Compton?" I asked, standing up.

"Because you're alive, aren't you?" came the voice of a tall pretty white girl.

She reminded me of Michelle in the looks department.

"And how would yo pretty white ass know, huh Shelly?" Luke smiled standing up.

"I got an uncle up in Compton," Shelly replied. "Rough place."

"Shelly thinks she's connected to the whole black world cuz her step daddy's black," Luke replied.

"But I tell her, that don't make her ass black," came the voice of yet another girl, this one a thick black girl with braids.

"Would ya'll shut up already, I told you-"

"Yeah yeah, once you go black, you don't go back," Luke and the one girl said in unison.

"Eh Paco!" Luke exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

I turned around to see a tall Hispanic guy coming towards us all.

I guess I was wrong. Apparently, there was a mixing of the races after all.

I watched as the Paco character greeted Luke the same way all guys greeted each other while Shelly and the other girl watched as well.

"Eh, who's the new guy?" Paco asked, eying me.

"Oh, yeah, Shelly, Paco, April, this is Brian, who's definitely NOT from Compton," Luke replied, introducing me.

"Hey, are you the exchange student from Africa? Because if you are, I gotta say, you don't look very ethnic to me," Paco said, looking me over through squinted eyes.

"No, stupid," April said, slapping Paco on the back of the head. "He's too light to be African."

I was starting to get a sense that these people might have been the alternate universe, across-town versions of my own friends. April, reminded me of Jade and the way she slapped Paco across the head, he reminded me of Alex. And Luke was obviously this universes Adam. I wasn't attracted to him, but he did remind me of him. And Shelly was Michelle.

It was a weird situation, but I almost felt comfortable around them. At least they weren't trying to beat me up or anything.

"Okay so I volunteer to show sexy Brian around," Shelly said, wrapping her arm around mine.

"Oh can't you take a break from thinking about sex for two seconds?" April asked. "You're like a trashy white Lil Kim."

April said all that while wrapping her arm around my other arm and soon I had two beautiful ladies leading me down the hallway.

"Hey, actually I think I should wait around for-"

"Don't worry, we have everything under control," Shelly cut me off.

"Yo, why's your boy picking up two chicks the minute his ass gets here?" Paco asked Luke.

"Come on, let's go stop those bitches from jumping on homeboys dick," Luke said.

Chris walked out of the office and looked around.

"Brandon?" he said out loud, looking around.

Well, it saved him some time to not have to stay with him anyway. Besides, he was sure he'd be fine without him anyway.

"Uh, so...would you like something to drink? A mineral water maybe?" Adam's mother asked.

Brandon's mother nodded.

"No, thanks. I'm fine," she replied.

Adam's mother took a seat on the couch opposite of the one Brandon's mother was on and folded her hands in her lap.

"Uh, well I just wanna say that you have a lovely son," she said. "You've really raised him well."

"Well thank you," Brandon's mother replied. "And Adam. He's really been a great friend to Brandon. You've obviously done a great job with him as well."

"And Brandon? Has he been doing well since...the unfortunate..uh-"

"Yes, he's been doing fine actually," Brandon's mother replied. "I gotta say though, I'm still a little confused as to why you wanted to talk. I mean, if we both agree that we have wonderful sons, then what is there to talk about."

Adam's mother sighed and unfolded her hands.

"Yes, well this isn't exactly an easy subject for me....you have to understand, I'm only trying to understand my own son better," Adam's mother started.

"Ellen, just go ahead and tell me. I'm sure it can't be that bad," Brandon's mother said.

Adam's mother sat for a moment before pulling out the note.

"What's that?" Brandon's mother asked.

"It's....a note from your son. To mine," Adam's mother replied. "I think.....I think my son might be.....I think Adam might be gay."

Brandon's mother sighed and put her head in her hands.

"Oh boy...not again," she sighed.

"Again?" Adam's mother asked.

She got up from the couch she was sitting on to join Brandon's mother on the one she was sitting on.

"What do you know?"

Brandon's mother looked up at Adam's.

"I think we have quite a few things to talk about," she said.

"So you almost drowned in Corpus Cristi because one of your ex best friends was plotting to kill you?" I started, pointing to Luke. "And you broke your arm after one of your friends threw you down a flight of stairs, Paco. And April, you were almost kidnapped by a couple of dopehead losers?"

This place was so unlike the Angst, but the people that I had met up with were actually like the people that I saw everyday. It was weird. Unsettling a little.

"Yeah but it's all good, we all cool now," Luke replied.

"Yeah, now if only chica would let a nigga score every once in a while," Paco spoke, running his fingers through Shelly's hair. "Then we'd be great friends."

Shelly threw Paco's hand from her hair and sat back.

"So how were your first few classes?" April asked.

Well, considering that I had no idea where in the hell to go because I never got my schedule from Chris, I pretty much went to whatever class Luke had each period.

And speaking of Chris, I had yet to see him and it was lunch time, now. I was starting to get a little worried.

"Hey, didn't you say one of your friends went here?" Shelly asked.

"Yeah, and I should probably be looking for him right about now," I replied, looking around the cafeteria for Chris.

"Oh come on, forget about him. We the best damn friends your ass is ever gonna meet up in here!" Luke joked.

"I could do better," I found myself joking back.

"Not better than me," Shelly said seductively as she ran her fingers over my hair.

"Yo Shelly!"

I watched as a pair of tall rough looking white guys made their way over towards our table.

"Look what the crackhouse blew in," April mumbled.

"Now why you gotta be like that April?"

"Because, Eric, your ass is played out. Whack," April replied, rolling her eyes.

Eric chuckled as he bent down and joined April at her side.

The other guy got behind Shelly and started rubbing her shoulders, all the while glaring at me.

"Who's this fool?" he asked.

"J.T. what the hell do you want?" Shelly asked, sounding annoyed.

"Another chance. Come on, get back with me," J.T. replied.

"No, sorry, I think I have other prospects," Shelly replied, smiling in my direction.

I looked up at J.T. who seemed to be glaring at me harder now.

"Eh what you can't find your own African woman so you gotta take a dip into the white pool?"

'J.T.!"

"Eh man, I think yo ass needa calm down before I calm you down!" Luke said, sternly.

He didn't even get up or raise his voice, but the look he was giving J.T. was scary enough.

"Whatever, look, Shelly, I'm around you know," J.T. replied. "Come on Eric."

All of us watched as J.T. and Eric made their way to their own table in the lunchroom.

"Man, that guys a joke," Paco spoke.

"I can't believe you used to date his ass," April said.

"Hey it was freshman year. Call me stupid," Shelly replied.

"Oh I'll call you," Paco said. "Won't be stupid though."

"Shut up Paco," April sighed.

I noticed that all the way across the room the J.T. guy was still glaring at me. I hoped he wasn't gonna turn into a problem for me.

And where was Chris?!?

"You think I'd look good as a brunette?" Michelle asked, flipping through one of her magazines.

"It all depends, is it gonna make you any smarter?" Krystal playfully replied.

Michelle put the magazine back into her locker and turned to see Alex and Gino coming towards them.

"Well, well, well, guess who decided a life of truancy wasn't for them after all?" she spoke.

"Where've you two been?" Jade asked. "I had to pick up your assignments all day!"

"Oh my god, you two weren't like...doing each other were you?" Michelle asked. "Although, it'd be such a turn on if you were."

"No, Michelle we were just talking," Alex replied, opening his soda bottle.

"All day long?" Jade asked. "We have like an hour left of school."

"It's just one day," Alex replied.

"I guess you two are like friends now," Michelle said. "Last year you couldn't stand each other."

"Yeah well I remember a time last year when none of us could stand you either," Gino spoke. "So I guess you can't really say much can you?"

Michelle sucked in her stomach as if she'd been punched and turned towards her locker.

"Everything's okay, right?" Jade asked. "I mean, whatever was wrong....it's okay now?"

Gino and Alex exchanged glances.

"You know what? I think it is now," Gino replied.

"Oooh, what about as a redhead? You think I could pull that off?" Michelle asked, holding up a picture of Lindsay Lohan.

"You think you could pull 'those' off too?" Krystal asked, pointing towards Lindsay's breast.

"You're probably right. They don't look as good on her as they obviously do on me," Michelle replied.

"So did you ever get a hold of Brandon?" Jade asked.

"Oh yeah, he's fine," Alex replied. "Still don't know what he's doing though."

"Can't be much, he's not really that wild of a guy," Michelle replied.

"Yeah well you're probably right," Alex replied. "He's probably at home catching up on an anime marathon or something."

"So I'm thinking tomorrow, I show you were everybody goes to light up during lunch," Paco spoke.

The day was nearly over and we were all standing around Luke's locker, something I'd be doing back at the Angst.

I felt so comfortable here after only a day. It was so weird. Before I met Adam and Gino, my only two friends were way more popular than I was and I myself had been a loser who didn't easily make friends. Yet I show up here and made four friends in less than ten minutes. Maybe all it took was a bit of a scenery change for me and suddenly I became Mr. Joe Popularity.

"And you wonder why his ass is flunking three classes," April said, flatly crossing her arms.

"So Brian, maybe you and I could get to know each other a little better," Shelly spoke, getting closer to me. "I mean go on a date sometime"

"Uh..."

"Don't do it fool," Luke started. "Going out with one of these two is like selling your soul to the devil."

"Coming from a guy that wishes he could tap that," Paco spoke.

"Hey shut up, Bobby Fathead!" Luke playfully shouted.

The entire time I'd been at this school, I almost felt like I didn't want to leave. And I would have a good time if it weren't for the fact that Chris pretty much abandoned me. I just hope his ass managed to get his car back so this would all be over with.

"Hey did you ever catch up to your friend?" Luke asked.

"No," I replied, with annoyance.

I was beyond annoyed with Chris for just abandoning me. After all, it was his idea in the first place to play 'undercover brother' and act like I was some new kid at this school just so he could MAYBE find his stolen car.

"Don't feel too bad man, I lose people in this school at least once a week," Paco spoke.

"That's because all that damn smoking has fried all the good cells in your non existent brain," April replied.

I couldn't help but to laugh along with Luke and Shelly at Paco's expense. He was an interesting character. They all were.

They were like my backup friends. If I ever had a falling out with my real ones, I could come back here and fall back on them. Or something like that.

"So! You come here and mack on my girl and jump your ass into her circle of friends while you pretend to be some poor kid like the rest of us? Is that what you did?" came the booming and very threatening voice of J.T.

I turned around to see him and Eric practically right behind me, and J.T. looked pissed off.

"J.T. I told you-"

"Stay out of this Shelly, this is between me, and this fucking faggot ass pussy!" J.T. exclaimed.

"Yo-"

"Not now man," Eric said, holding Luke back.

For a minute, it looked as though Luke was considering knocking Eric in his face. But he realized that this wasn't his problem and stepped back.

"I had a little chat with your friend," J.T. spoke. "You know, the guy you came here with pretending to be a student."

"What?" Shelly asked.

I looked over at her for a moment before turning back to J.T.

"I should have figured a faggot like you'd have been here with a fag like him," J.T. replied. "What's he doing, running away because he fucked up some guy up at your fancy rich boy school? Huh!"

"Hey, look...I'm not sure what you think you know-"

"What I think I know? I know that I fucking stole your friends car-"

"J.T., man come on-"

"Shut the hell up, Eric!" J.T. shouted. "I knew he'd try and do something to get it back. Although, I never knew him to be much of a planner. I gotta say, this one....was pretty good. I almost figured you to be a normal fag!"

"Brian....is this true?" Shelly asked. "I mean...are you-"

"Who the fuck cares who he is?" J.T. exclaimed. "I'll tell you what though, you'll never show your fucking face back up to this school when I get through with you!"

I wasn't sure where it came from, but all of a sudden I was clutching my stomach and gasping for air.

"I'm gonna tear your fucking ass to pieces!" J.T. exclaimed, jumping on me.

The two of us fell to the ground.

I wasn't much of a fighter and that blow to the stomach caught me completely off guard. To the point where I had no energy to even try to fight back.

Then came a punch to the face. Followed by another one. And another one.

The crowd around us was getting completely rowdy practically begging for us to fight.

I looked up at my so called new friends to see not a single one of them lifting a finger to try and stop the fight.

So much for me ever wanting to come back here.

"I'll kill you!" J.T. exclaimed.

"Hey!"

I knew that voice. It was Chris.

I looked up to see him flinging J.T. to his back, falling on top of him.

Eric rushed over to Chris and pushed him off of J.T.

I tried to stand myself up, but it was hard.

"That's right, protect your fag," J.T. said, getting up. "I gotta say, you sure know how to pick em!"

"You shut the hell up!" Chris exclaimed, slamming his fist into J.T.'s face.

Eric made a rush towards him, but Chris jumped out of the way and punched him in the stomach.

He jumped on top of Eric and began punching him like crazy. He only managed to land a few hits before J.T. rushed him to the ground.

Chris kicked J.T. off of him and stood up.

I could tell he was about to continue the fight but he must have caught sight of what I had, which was a pissed off man in a suit I guessed to be the principal and a couple of security guards rushing through the crowd.

"Come on!" Chris shouted.

I didn't have to be told twice as Chris and I pushed our way through the crowd and ran out the front door to the parking lot.

We found the car we'd came in.

"Chris-"

"Get in! I know where my car is. We'll pick it up on the way home," Chris replied, getting into the car.

Part of me didn't want to get into the car with him. Because of what happened. It was Chris's fault I nearly got my ass kicked. And he left me! All day!

He was fucking more trouble than he was worth!

"Get in!" Chris shouted.

I finally got in when I saw the two security guards exit the front door.

I got into the car because I didn't want to get into any more trouble than what we'd caused.

But I knew for sure that I wasn't going to be getting into any cars with Chris any time soon after today.

Because I was starting to see why my friends had warned me to stay away from him.

A/N

I've gotten a little behind here on Nifty. Blame summer boredom for that, lol. Of course, if you'd like to get ahead, you can always visit my Yahoo Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/.

Or you can send me your thoughts directly at: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com. I always reply.

Copyright 2005