Before going to chapter 9, you should read the summary below to capture what have happened to Dan and Jack, our main characters of "THE PLAYER".
Summary of Chapter 1-8 of "The Player":
Chapter 1-"THE CONFUSION": Dan Nguyen, the Asian soccer player at University of Houston, went to a football game with his girlfriend-Jenny, and his bestfriend-Bill, and saw Jack Kirkpatrick, the linebacker for the first time. For some strange reason, Dan was attracted to the linebacker although he had never had sexual attraction toward a guy before. Days later, Jack met Dan for the first time in the library. Jack was drawn to the beautiful soccer player and decided to go to Dan's soccer practice to see more of the person who captured his breaths and heart.
Chapter 2-"STRANGE ENCOUNTERS": Dan and Jack accidentally met again in the library one day, but this time, Jack had the courage to approach the soccer player and asked him to help him on his math problems. They talked and had fun in the library and in the cafeteria when Jenny, Dan's girlfriend, walked in. Jenny flirted with Jack and it made Dan jealous. So, she ran away. Meanwhile, that night, Dan had a wet dream in which he made love to Jack as if they were long time lovers.
Chapter 3-"AWAKE": Next morning, Dan went to his soccer tryout while still thinking about the wet dream. Because he was too confused about his sexuality, he couldn't concentrate and did badly during both games. After the games, Dan met Jenny, Bill and Jack in front of the school gym. Bill suggested they should go out tonight together, but Jenny couldn't make it. So, Bill, Dan and Jack went to an Italian restaurant without her. After 15 minutes, Bill had a job emergency and left. Dan and Jack enjoyed their evening together, despite the fear and anxiety Dan had. After dropping off Jack at his place, Dan realized that he was attracted to the football player. He realized that he was gay.
Chapter 4-"THE MODEL": To complete his assignment for his portrait class, Jack asked Dan to be his model. Dan came to Jack's apartment in his "lucky" soccer uniform. After one portrait of Dan standing with his soccer ball on his hip, Jack suggested another one. This time, Dan could sit on the couch. After a while, Dan was tired and drifted of to sleep. Jack put his pencil down and observed his model in detail. He couldn't control his desire for the soccer player, so he went to his bathroom to masturbate and release the tension. After Jack went back to the living room, he kissed Dan's lips, despite the fear of being caught. The second time he did it, Dan woke up.
Chapter 5-"SECRET": Dan woke up and pulled Jack into his lips for some more actions. The soccer player confessed that he had a thing for the linebacker too. They kissed and made out, but when Dan wanted to go farther, Jack pulled back. He said he didn't want to rush into things, plus he had an intimacy problem. Next day, Dan had his second soccer tryout. He got back to his usual self, and made the best out of it. He made the team, as a striker, with Eric Lopez. When Dan got out of the gym, he saw all his friends there. In front of Jenny and Bill, Dan couldn't say the word "I LOVE YOU" to Jack, so he used his hands to draw it out. Jenny saw the action and knew for sure that Jack and Dan were in love.
Chapter 6-"GENIE IN A BOTTLE": Bill asked his friends to buy tickets to the Halloween party, which was sponsored by the school's paper, the Daily Cougar. Dan came to his cousin, who was a make-up artist, to transform him into something different. Meanwhile, Jack came to the party as a superman, Bill was a Gladiator, and Jenny was a Snow-White. Jack couldn't get a hold of Dan, so he thought Dan had dumped him to go with his girlfriend. At the party, nobody saw Dan, but Bill was attracted to a girl who dressed up as a genie. Jack was drawn to her too, although he had no doubt that he was gay. For the whole evening, Jack and the Genie went everywhere together. They kissed. They danced. They made out in front of everybody.
Chapter 7-"IN AND OUT": At the end of the party, the Daily Cougar had a contest for the best-looking Halloween's costume, both in male and female categories. The winners were Count Dracula and the Genie. Everybody wanted to see the real person behind the genie dress, so the genie had to remove "her" make-up and other accessories to reveal who "she" really was. The crowd came to a chaos when Dan appeared in front of them with the Genie dress still on. Too embarrassed, Dan ran out of the party and back to his dorm. Jack followed him to make sure he was okay. At his dorm room, Dan told Jack why he wanted to dress up as a girl: to see how it felt to be another person. Bill came to their sanction later to ask Dan about his secret. Dan came out to Bill and said that he and Jack had been secretly seeing each other. Bill told Dan to come out to Jenny as well.
Chapter 8-"JUST OUT": Dan tried to look for Jenny in school to tell her the truth about his sexuality, but he couldn't find her. Dan drove to her place and had a long conversation with her. She accepted him although it wasn't easy. The next day, Dan came to his practice and confronted a naked, Latino beefcake, Eric Lopez. For the biggest surprise of his life, Dan knew that Eric was gay too. Plus, the captain also had a thing for the Asian player. When Eric tried to make a move on him, Dan pushed the Latino guy out and apologized for his misunderstanding behavior. When two bullies, Aaron and Mike, came and harassed them, Dan and Eric fight back. Dan's eyes were bruised, and his lips were bleeding, as a result of the brutal fight. The coach had to pull all of them out from the fight. He requested to see Dan and Eric in his office after the practice.
And now, to continue, we have chapter 9: THE PICTURES
Chapter 9: THE PICTURES
1
Mark Nelson had been transferred to the University of Houston, Cougar soccer team for five months. Before coming to Houston, Mark was the head coach for the UCLA soccer team. Under his talented coaching style, the UCLA team won two consecutive national championship titles. And Mark himself had gotten numerous coaching awards and trophies.
After only five months being the head coach of the Cougar soccer team, Mark single-handly brought the team back to life. The Cougar had never been better. They won all three games in Houston against Texas A&M, Texas Southern University, and Rice University. They played efficiently but very beautifully at the same time. And for the first time in four years, their soccer team was named the most promising team among the Cougar sport teams for the fall semester.
All the hard works were credited to every members of the team, but Mark Nelson was the man of the hour. Every player respected him, and at some levels, they were even scared of him. The coach seldom talked to his players, but whenever he talked, they listened and followed what he said. He trained his players based on discipline and fairness. He taught his students how to exercise their minds and bodies through various techniques, which were very efficiently, but never overly done.
In that particular afternoon, Mark was sitting at his desk and doing some tactical plans for the next game when Dan and Eric came to knock on his door. The coach invited one person to come in. He said that he only wanted to talk to one of them at a time, and he pointed out it was Dan who he wanted to talk to immediately.
Dan walked in, chose a chair, and sat down nervously. He had never come to Coach Nelson's office before. It was a surprise for him to see many trophies, medals, and award papers hanging on the wall.
"Coach, why do you want me to be here?" Dan asked him directly once he was calm down.
"About the fight today, Dan..." Coach said.
Dan jumped in before he could finish:
"Coach, I told you the reason, Mike insulted me and Eric."
Mark stared at the soccer player, and exclaimed, "That does not give you any right to beat the hell out of him." He paused for a second, then continued, "Mike is your teammate, son. How could you play together if you fight like dogs and cats all the time?"
The soccer player looked at his coach's questionable eyes, still feeling angry, "But I can't work with anybody who has no respect for me..."
The coach said, still looking intently at his player, "Was it about him disrespected you or you were feeling insecure about yourself? I've worked with athletes all my life, son, and I've seen lots of young people, like you, who couldn't control his bad temper. Why? Because they felt less of themselves. Yes, they had low self-esteem, Dan. Instead of being proud of who they were, they always felt ashamed of themselves.
You can't satisfy everybody, Dan. Let it be the way it was. Don't bother to think if your friends had ever thought less about you. Be yourself. Act like you always did before you discovered the big secrets inside you." The coach paused for a moment, then looked at Dan and said, "Do you understand what I'm saying, Dan?"
Dan sat on his chair and thought about Mark's words. His coach had made a good point of telling him that he was insecure about himself. The soccer player realized that since he discovered his sexuality, he was always fear of other people's rejection. He always wanted to please everybody. And worse, he had thought too much about the possibility of people disliking him because he was gay.
Now, sitting here and listening to Coach Nelson's words, Dan had understood himself more than ever. He promised himself not to walk on that path again for the rest of his life.
"Thanks, Coach. I understand what you're saying." Dan said.
"You're welcome, son." Mark said and smiled sympathetically.
"Coach, can I ask you another question?" Dan asked.
"Yes. Go ahead." The coach said.
"Do you think it's wrong if a person is a homosexual?"
Mark replied softly, " No, Dan, I don't think it's wrong. It's not a choice that you can make. You are born with it, just like you were born with brown hair and hazel eyes. Homosexuality is just like that, nothing is wrong. Nothing."
"So why did you say at the beginning of the semester that you hate sissy? And you don't want any sissy in our team?" Dan had to ask the coach that question. He was worried that once Coach Nelson knew his sexuality, he would kick him out of the team.
Mark smiled, "Yes, Dan. I meant what I said. I hate sissy, and I don't want anyone of them in our team. You're a homosexual man, but you're no sissy, son. I never praised a player in front of him, but I have to tell you that you are the best player in the team. Dan, you're strong. Plus, you're skillful with your legs, heads and mind. No sissy can do what you can, mate."
"Thanks, coach." Dan said shyly.
The coach turn his head away from Dan and looked at his medals on the wall. He asked, not turning his head back, "You know why I chose you for the team, despite your lackluster first tryout last September?"
"No, coach. Why?"
"Because I trust you, son. When I came to the school varsity team in the beginning of the semester, Coach Gonzales, your old coach last year, had told me that you're a rising, young star. The team came to the state championship's final game last year because of your not-so-small distribution to the team."
The coach stopped for a while to observe his player, then continued, "But...when I saw you at the first tryout, I was so disappointed. Then, at the second tryout, you made your name be heard with the skills you have. So, against all odd, I took you for the team. And you haven't disappointed me since, mate."
Dan blushed when hearing such compliments, "Thanks, coach."
"But you still have to work on your appearance, you know that?"
"Huh?" Dan was confused.
"You can't afford to appear humiliated on the school paper one more time, you understand me?" Coach Nelson said words by words slowly with a stonewall face.
"Coach, I don't understand, what are you saying?" Dan was still confused.
"Did you read the Daily Cougar today?"
"No, sir."
The coach smiled mysteriously, "No wonder you are like a confusing child when I talked about that. Ok, let me see." And he came to his desk to look for the paper. After a minute, he handed the school paper to Dan and said, "Here, read this."
Dan held the paper on both hands and started looking for the thing his coach had talked about. His eyes were caught to the article in the middle of the front page. The article said:
"GENIE IN A BOTTLE: A COUGAR SOCCER STAR DRESSED IN DRAG AT THE HALLOWEEN PARTY."
Below the headline were two pictures of him, one captured Dan in his soccer uniform after a game, and the other was taken at the party, when Dan was still in the Genie dress, but without the make-up and all other necessities. Below the two pictures lay the words "BEFORE" and "AFTER" and 3 long paragraphs described the Halloween party in details.
One of the paragraphs read:
"A talented, young Cougar soccer star who came to this party dressed in drag, had won first price for the best Halloween costume in the female category. This soccer player dressed in a beautiful, flashy genie dress and a long, curly blond hair and the state-of-the art make-up to go with everything else. The young star was seen kissing a hunky man whom dressed up as a superman. Our source said that the superman in question is the outside-linebacker of the Cougar football team. We're happy to report this news since this is the first time two major sport figures in two very different sports have displayed affections to each other under the public's eyes. This Halloween party can be called a coming-out party for both players. We wish them best of luck in the future."
Dan read all the word slowly. Beads of sweat ran down the temple of his handsome face. He couldn't breathe. He wanted to run out of the office to avoid the curious eyes of his coach, but instead, he just sat there, still holding the paper tightly in his hands. The soccer player was too embarrassed to do anything else.
He managed to say something after five minutes staring at the paper, "Coach, I..."
Mark looked at his player, smiling encouragingly, "Yes?"
"I..." Dan spluttered and stopped. What could he say in this situation? Nothing, he was too embarrassed, and words could not explain what he was feeling right now.
"It's okay, Dan." Mark calmed him down. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." He came to his player and patted his shoulder lightly and continued, " I'm not judging you or anything, because I know you were just playing. I know you just wanted to have fun at that party."
Dan said softly, "Thanks, coach."
"But I don't want things like this happen again. Understand?" The coach's voice was firm and authoritative now.
"Yes, sir."
"Now get out of here and call Eric to come in," the coach said. Then, as if to forget something, he patted his head and asked bluntly, "By the way, is Eric your boyfriend?"
Dan shook his head, "No, sir."
The coach exclaimed, "Good. Because based on what I read on the paper, you and the linebacker are already an item. I don't want to interfere with your love line, but don't cheat on him, okay? Plus, it's best if you and Eric are not lovers. I can't stand lovers in the same team. They always made things go badly." Then, he gestured for Dan to get out.
The soccer player walked out of the office with the school paper in his hands. He felt drained and tired, like a hundred pounds of steel were resting on his shoulders.
2
When Dan and Jack came back to Dan's dorm room, Dan was exhausted. Lots of things had happened today. The soccer player wondered how he could survive after such catastrophic events. He was physically and emotionally drained. His head was pounding, his face went pale and gray, and the bruises on his eyes and lips became darker and visibly worse.
Dan dropped his body on his bed immediately after he walked into his room. Jack left his boyfriend on the bed for a second while he went down to the service desk to borrow some ice and band-aid kits. When he came back, he saw a sleeping creature lying motionlessly on the bed, curling in a fetal position. Kneeling down beside his boyfriend, Jack cleaned up the mess on Dan's face, and applied antiseptic cream on the bruises and cuts.
"Jack?" The creature on the bed suddenly spoke up.
"Yes, Dan?" Jack said, still caressed his boyfriend's face.
"I have a confession to make". The other guy said.
"Yeah?" Jack said.
Dan opened his eyes slowly to look at his lover, feeling the pain spreading all over his face. He had to tell Jack what happened in the locker room. "Jack, I...I did a horrible thing today."
"Yeah?" Jack said and gently swept off the sweats on the soccer player's forehead. He then planted soft kisses on his boyfriend's lips and whispered, "How so?"
Dan felt tears running down from his swollen eyes. "Stop it, Jack. You're making it worse."
"Why?" The big guy kept kissing his patient's tears away while whispering soft words into his ears, "Why?"
"Because...because...I cheated on you."
"No you didn't. Eric told me everything that happened in the locker room, Dan. You didn't cheat on me, babe."
"But...I...I looked at Eric's cock and I...lust after him." Dan confessed.
"That's not cheating, Dan. You're new at being gay, so it's perfectly normal for you to look at other guy's cock and feeling attract to it."
"But..." Dan mumbled.
Jack pulled Dan lips together to stop him from talking more nonsense words. "Stop it. I'm not mad at you for looking at a guy's cock. In fact, I'm proud of you, pumpkin."
"Huh?"
"You stopped Eric's come-on and you stood up for yourself and for him when the bullies attacked you. That took lots of guts. I'm proud of you."
Dan smiled sheepishly, "You always know what to say when I'm down."
"Uh huh." Jack agreed. Then, he lay down next to his boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around Dan's waist, snuggling real closely. His head rested on the soccer player's chest, while his hands stroked the bare skin gently and carelessly.
"Dan?" Jack suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Is it big?" Jack whispered against Dan's chest.
"What is?" Dan asked, confused.
"Eric's cock?" Jack said shyly.
Dan raised his eyebrow in a mock expression, "Why?"
"I just want to know."
The soccer player suddenly reached down and touched his boyfriend's genitals gently. Then, he gave it a little squeeze and raised his palm up in a measuring gesture. He winked suggestively at the wide-eyed boyfriend and said, "Not as big as this."
Jack blushed, "How do you know mine is bigger? You've never seen it." He pouted.
"Oh, I know. I didn't see it, but I can feel it, baby. It's a monster down there, especially when you're excited. " Dan demonstrated his words with three fingers putting together.
Jack smacked the other guy's head and said, "You're nasty."
Dan groaned, "You're killing me here, mister. I'm in pain and you're hitting me like that? You're the thoughtless boyfriend, aren't you?"
"Yeah." Jack kissed him. "How about that? Feeling better?"
"Very much, babe, very much." Dan moaned in appreciation. He was tired, but who could resist such passionate kisses? Without saying anything else, they lay there kissing and making out for a good fifteen minutes. Then, remembering the school paper still lying around unmentioned, Dan pulled his face out from the feverish kisses of his boyfriend and said, "Jack, I have to show you something."
He gestured his hands to his backpack, where the paper was kept. Jack looked up to the direction Dan's fingers pointed out. He asked, "What's that?"
"The school paper inside my pack. Read it."
Jack stood up, and something in his shorts was pointing out vertically.
"Oh, look at that monster down there. Oh, baby..." Dan pointed his fingers to Jack's hard-on, then whistled dramatically and laughed.
Because he was too busy trying to cover that misbehavior thing from growing, Jack tripped one of his feet to the carpet and falling down, flat on the floor. Dan laughed his heart out again after seeing his boyfriend lying flat on the floor.
"You're mean, Dan." Jack complained and stood up, the hard-on was still there, not intended to leave very soon.
"And we have a winner, ladies and gentlemen." Dan gestured his hands up to the air. "This is the biggest thing I've seen."
"Yeah yeah yeah. Shut up already." Jack laughed and walked to the backpack to get the paper. He glanced at it quickly and laughed out loud, "Who are you laughing at, Genie? Look at these pictures. Ha...I can say that I should be the one who has the last laugh, baby." And he jumped to the bed and onto it, next to his boyfriend who smiled weakly. "I got to frame this paper. This is great."
Dan punched his boyfriend's shoulder playfully, "No you don't."
"Give me one reason why not? This is the best thing I've ever seen in the school paper all year."
Dan pouted, "You can't, Jack. Because it you frame it up, I will tear it down."
"I definitely will do that, without your permission, of course." Jack laughed and ran to his backpack, stuffing the paper inside while his boyfriend was lying there helplessly looking at him. Dan was too weak and tired to fight for it, so he just let it go.
Jack and Dan were happy to know that they wouldn't have any more problems hiding themselves in front of their classmates. They were out and proud. And best of all, they were in love.
3
The next day, while Jack was busy getting dress in the locker room, he saw his teammates gathering around and arguing loudly on something important. He came to the crowd, peeked in and turned his head away. He knew what they were talking about. It was the Daily Cougar paper that made them mad. They obviously had read to the part about an outside-linebacker who kissed the genie/drag queen at the Halloween party.
"Who the hell was this linebacker?" A guy exclaimed. "I didn't go to the party. Anybody went there?"
Another guy shook his head, "No, I didn't go either."
All the guys looked at each other, but all of them shook their heads in denial. They told themselves that they went to Barry's party on that day instead. All of them went to that party. All of them, except Jack Kirkpatrick.
The linebacker looked at them and smiled to himself. He had thought about coming out to his teammates before. If he didn't tell them now, there would be no more chance. However, Jack also thought about his boyfriend, who got bruises and cut because of his homophobic teammates. He hesitated. He considered his options. Then, he thought for some more. And, he came to a decision:
"A guy got to do what a guy got to do."
Jack stepped to the in-crowd, and spoke up, "I went to that party."
Silence became them.
They stared back at him, wondering if they should ask the obvious question. But they were just standing there, and looked strangely at him and said nothing. Finally, Barry Johnson, the quarterback, came to Jack and asked friendly, "You went to that Halloween party, Kirkpatrick? Do you know who the...?" And he stopped his mid-sentence since he suddenly realized that Jack was one of the outside-linebackers.
"Yes I did." Jack said while looking straight ahead.
"You know who the linebacker was?" Martin Flores spoke up, "I am an outside-linebacker too, but it was obviously not me, since I was at Barry's party that night."
Everyone, except Barry, looked at him and talked at the same time, "Who was that, Jack?"
"How come they were so stupid?" Jack thought to himself. "I already said enough. Do I need to spell out all the words?"
"It was me." He said calmly.
"It was you?" All of them said.
"Yep, I was THAT linebacker. And yes, I'm gay." Jack said, then looked around, and continued, "Anybody has any problem with it?" He was ready to get into a fight. He had never been to one before, but he could not care less.
"We have a fag in our team." A guy yelled out.
Jack looked at that guy calmly and said, "Watch your mouth, buddy. If you say it one more time, I'll punch your face."
"Fag!" That guy exclaimed and spitted on the floor.
The linebacker punched the other guy squarely on the face. Then, he stopped and stood there looking at him in disgusting. The loud-mouthed guy raised his hands to defense himself, but somebody pulled him back and held him tightly. It was Barry, the team's quarterback.
"Shut up and keep your hands to yourself, Will." Barry said. "If you say another word, I'll hit you too." The quarterback's strong hands held him down, tight and secured. He could not move a finger.
"You're with him, Barry? You're one of them, too?" Will asked stupidly.
"No, I'm not, Will. But I'm the captain here, so you have to listen to me, dude. We're teammates, not enemies, okay?" Barry said. Then, he looked around at his teammates, "Go on, guys. Continue with your warm-ups. Get out of here, all of you."
Everyone walked away after the powerful command of the captain. They respected Barry too much to objecting what he said. They respected him because he was the best captain they had ever had. Barry was a good leader; he played very well; and he was freakily strong too.
The football players walked away from Jack and Barry, but they kept talking about the article. Each guy had his own comment, and they looked like they never agreed with each other on the sexuality issue. For it or against it, they would never come to one conclusion.
But who cared?
4
Barry approached Jack after the game. "Jack, we need to talk," he said.
The linebacker turned his head to the team's captain and said, "Ok." Then, he looked at Barry expectantly.
"Can we talk outside?" Barry gestured his hands to the gym's door, as if to say that he rather talked out there, without any interrupt from their teammates.
"Sure," said Jack.
They walked out of the gym together. When they came outside, Jack saw Dan waiting for him patiently at the door. As soon as Dan saw his boyfriend, he walked toward Jack and punched his shoulder playfully, "Here you are. I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes already. What're you doing in that locker room so late, big guy?" Dan joked around with his boyfriend, unrealized that Barry was by his side.
"Dan..." Jack smiled apologetically, "Sorry..."
Barry spoke up, "And this should be the famous soccer player." He extended his hands and introduced himself, "What's up, man? The name's Barry."
Dan looked surprisingly at the big guy who stood next to Jack. For the first time since they came out, he realized that Jack was not alone. A guy was with him!
"Sorry, man. I didn't see you for a second." Dan shook Barry's big hands and continued, "I'm Dan."
"Dan, listen," said Barry, "can I steal your boyfriend for five minutes? I need to talk to him."
Dan looked at Jack full of questions. The linebacker shrugged his shoulder lightly and mouthed the words: "I'll talk to you about it when we're home, okay?" Then, they walked away from the soccer player without any other words.
Barry spoke first when they were alone, "Look, Jack. I know you're probably thinking right now why I want to talk to you alone. To save time and everybody's energy, I'll explain, okay?" And he looked at Jack for his approval.
"Ok, go ahead." Jack said, still confused.
"But first, for the record, I'm not coming on to you or anything since I'm not gay, dude...So, relax..." Barry joked around before he started and then he continued, "What I want to talk to you about is that you should look out for the coach, man."
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"Our coach, you know? That asshole?" Barry explained. "You'll be careful with him, okay? Don't talk to him about your sexuality, because he's like, a...wait...what's the word for it?" And he scratched his head and looked confused for a second.
"Homophobic?" Jack supplied the words.
"Yeah, something like that...Anyway, coach Finch was famous for throwing gay players out of his teams. I don't want the next one would be you, man." Barry stopped and patted Jack's shoulder friendly, "I like you, dude...You're okay for a gay guy."
"Ummm...thanks...I guess." Jack smiled back.
Barry became serious all of a sudden, "I talked to all the guys already. They won't tell coach Finch a word about you or the incident in the locker room today. And I guess he was too busy to read the paper, because if he did, he would say something today, right?" He looked at Jack for an answer, but when seeing Jack standing there speechless, Barry continued, "So, I think for now, you're safe. But don't be a hero and tell him yourself, okay?"
Jack looked furious. He exclaimed hastily, "I don't think he can kick me out just because I'm gay, Barry. It's against the law, man."
Barry put his arms around Jack's shoulder and said in a lower tone, "I don't think he will do that. However, he will find reasons to kick you out sooner or later if he finds out you're gay. The guy's an asshole, I tell ya. He knows a million ways to kick you out without having to explain to the school official any reason, man."
Jack understood Barry's words now. In this society, the one who got authorities were the one who could do anything to you, no matter what the law said. "Disgusting," Jack thought to himself. Then, he turned to the quarterback and said friendly, "Thank for the info, man."
"No problem, bro! Just chilling, okay?" Barry shook Jack's hands and walked away. Before going very far away, he turned his head back and said, "You're alright, dude. Hey, why don't we hang out sometime after school? Cool?"
Jack nodded his head and said, "Thanks, Barry. We'll do something later." Then he walked away without saying anything else.
To be continued...
That's it, folks. Thank you for continuing reading my series. And thank you for sending me emails with all the good and encouraging words. Chapter 10-"The Hippie Hollow" will come up soon.