The Highschool Years
by David Gaingridge
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: The following story is a work of gay fiction. It contains sexual acts between males. If this subject matter is offensive to you or if you are too young to be reading it, please exit now. You have been warned. This story is the property of the author under copyright laws, and may not be used elsewhere without written consent. Do not read this if you're a minor or are offended by gay situations.
This is a cheesy love story not just a quick fuck that you can jack off to. If you are looking for that this is not it!
Fated or free-willed? I stared at the words in front of me trying to formulate some sort of response to the question that we were supposed to write about. I think we are fated because…I let out a sigh and erased it. I think we have free will because of the choices that we make. Wait, but how do we know that's not fate I thought to myself.
My train of thought was interrupted by my phone buzzing in my pocket. I knew Mr. Simmons was very strict about technology in his classroom, but hey I'm a 17 year old kid and this is my lifeline! So, I carefully pulled the phone out and checked it.
"Who do you like???" My best friend Amanda Howe sent it. She knew that I was gay, but I asked her not to say anything because of my super conservative mother.
"Mitch Colborne is cute ;)" I replied.
"Haha knew it!"
"Shut up haha :P"
"Sidney!" I looked up when Mr. Simmons shouted my name. "Just what are you doing?"
"Well I could show you, but I think that's illegal 'cause I'm underage."
The class erupted into fits of laughter which gave me ample time to push my phone back into my pocket. Thankfully the bell rang right after allowing for a clean escape…or so I thought.
"Hey pretty boy, Mitch is over there," Christine (one of the catty girls) whispered in my ear.
"Yeah ok cool." I said brushing it off. But then more of Christine's friends started saying that. I put two and two together and realized that Amanda must've blabbed that I had a crush on Mitch.
I ran to the gym where I knew Amanda had just finished her class. She came out running her hands through her golden tresses.
"How could you?" I practically seethed at her.
"What's your damage, Heather?"
"I'm not in the mood. How could you do this to me? You told me you'd keep it a secret."
Amanda recognized what we were talking about. "I didn't tell anyone," she whispered.
"Oh really? Then why did you text me asking who I liked and then coincidentally all of Christine's clique are telling me where I can find Mitch."
"What??! But I didn…"
Before Amanda could finish she was cut off by Rachel (another of the catty girls): "oh sorry, Amanda, I think our phones got mixed up when we put our stuff in the lockers. Here's yours." She said as she handed Amanda her phone. "Oh, by the way, Sid, if you're not working out this afternoon I think you'll find Mitch on the basketball court. Toodles!" She said as she flicked her hair behind her ear and left.
And, just like that, that's how I went from being Sidney Roy funny-boy soccer player to the most talked about boy in school…
The rest of the school day was a blur. When you're the only out kid in a conservative small town suddenly there's only one thing to talk about. You really do find out who your friends are when shit hits the fan. Amanda and Dan Briggs (one of my good friends who was also from the soccer team) stood by me.
I honestly just wanted this day to be over.
"Oh my god, Sid! I'm scrolling through my texts and just realized that Rachel texted your mom!"
My heart sank. Suddenly this school day was nothing like what the after-school special would be like.
"You ok?" Dan asked me.
I put my hand over my mouth and just shook my head. I scrunched my eyes shut. I didn't want this. I didn't want any of this. The tears still came. I just wanted to get out of that school. Get out of this town.
"Sid wait!" Dan called out as he chased after me.
"Where's he going? Off to find Mitchy?" Christine laughed along with the rest of her clique.
"Y'know what?! How dare you! How dare you think that you can just take my phone and text one of my best friends that and out him to the whole school! But on top of that you told his mom that! You've met her at church! You knew she wouldn't react well to this! You're a fucking asshole with a loose vagina!" Amanda screamed at Christine which caught her off guard. She calmed down a little bit and said, "I knew that you were cruel I just didn't think you were heartless." And Amanda stormed off and tried to catch up to me.
"Y'know you don't have to do this," Amanda said as she pulled the car over a few blocks from my house.
"What choice do I have?" I whispered looking out the window and flicking away a tear.
"You can stay with one of us," Amanda said referring to she and Dan.
"I can't ask you guys to do that. And plus I just want to get out."
"We don't min…" Dan started to say before I cut him off.
"I know and thank you, but I have to do this."
"Ok, if you're sure…"
And we drove off to my house. I honestly didn't even know how my mom was gonna react. Was she gonna go ballistic and freak out? Or was she going to be cool and collected? And as we turned the corner that's when I saw two suitcases sitting on the curb and that's when I lost it. I buried my head in my hands and bawled my eyes out. I couldn't take it!
"We got it. You just stay here," Dan told me.
I couldn't help but just cry in this situation. I was homeless, hated by basically my whole town, and now I started hating myself. I just wished this were all a dream. That any second now my alarm would go off.
But it never did.
I heard the car doors open and close again and knew that Amanda and Dan were watching me.
"There was this…uh..on top of the bags," Dan said handing the envelope to me.
"I don't want to read it. I already know what it says!" I said wiping away a tear.
"Do you want me to read it and give you a condensed version of it?" Amanda asked.
I thought about it and nodded my head.
A few minutes later she put down the envelope and said, "well it's what you were expecting." I immediately broke down into more tears. "But," I looked up when she said that, "the address of your dad is on here." The city he lived in was a ways away.
My dad? I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years. From what my mom said he didn't want anything to do with me. Why would she give me his address?
"Do you want me to phone him?" Amanda asked. I weighed my options - either live in this car for the foreseeable future with people in this town who hated me or go to my father who had abandoned me. I had to at least give my dad a chance to see if he wanted me. At least then I'd know for sure. I nodded my head that she could call him.
Amanda punched in his number and waited for him to pick up. Meanwhile Dan put his hand on my shoulder and started rubbing it. I just looked over and gave him a weak smile.
"Hi, is this Mr…uh Mark Roy?" Amanda asked. I could hear his voice on the other end say yes. "I'm a friend of your sons…" immediately he asked what was wrong (there was quite a bit of panic in his voice). "Well um he's in a bind right now. He's not doing so well and uh…"
I could tell she didn't want to tell the whole story or reveal that I was gay.
"Long story short," she said, "is that he needs a place to stay." I heard him ask if I was ok then gave her his address.
How could this man abandon me? This didn't make sense.
I sniffled a little bit. I think he heard that because he asked if I was with her. She said yes and then he asked if he could speak to me. Amanda looked over at me and I inhaled a deep breath and nodded my head.
She passed me the phone and I spoke: "Hi."
"Hi son," he said. He called me son — he still acknowledged that fact.
I just sniffled into the phone and then he asked how I was. "I uhh…I need help dad." I broke down again.
"I'm on my way son," he replied. "Stay with that girl. I'll see you in two hours, ok?"
"Ok."
"I love you, son," he said.
I just cried at that. He did still love me. So that made 3 people: Amanda, Dan, and my dad.
"Sid, I'm about 10 minutes away, where are you?" I told him I was sitting in a diner with Amanda and Dan. He said he'd see me soon.
"Are you gonna go with your dad?" Dan asked.
"I guess. I mean if he offers. I don't have any other choice." I said playing with a french fry.
"I'm gonna miss you, man," Dan said taking my hand in his.
"Me too," Amanda whispered also grabbing my hand.
I raised my head and looked over at the two of them. They were both wiping away tears in their eyes.
"Thank you guys so much for everything. I couldn't have asked for better friends," I spoke fighting back tears.
Just then an elderly waitress appeared at our table and plopped down three pieces of apple pie.
"Hi kids, looked like you could use some pie," she said. Her name tag identified her as Dorothy.
"Thanks, but I can't pay for this," I said. I only had what money I had saved up and who knows how long that'd last.
"I got it, Sid, it's ok," Amanda said as she tore her hand away from mine and Dan's and fished through her bag and pulled out a ten dollar bill.
"Keep it. It's on the house," Dorothy spoke. She noticed that Dan still held onto my hand. I think she must've put something together because she said: "I know it's tough. And I don't know what you're going through. But eventually stuff will work out."
"Thanks," I spoke.
Ok… so maybe not all people are shit.
Just then I heard a car pull up outside. I looked out and there was a black luxury sedan. A man in his mid 30s got out wearing a button up that was tucked into a pair of crisp dress pants. He had a good tan, his hair was neatly trimmed, but also had a softness to him in the way his resting face was a slight smile.
"Dad," I whispered as soon as I saw him. He looked around to where I was and then saw me sitting inside and immediately rushed in.
"Son!" He exclaimed when he saw me. I tried to slide out of the booth but he got to me before I could. He saw that Dan was still holding my hand, but didn't care because he still went in for a hug. "How are you doing?" He asked when we finally broke the hug and sat down beside me.
I just told him that mom had kicked me out and that I needed help. I didn't want to tell him I was gay in case he rejected me like so many others had that day. However, my hand was still entwined with Dan's.
"I'm here for you son. Whatever you need. Do you want to come live with me?" My dad asked. I was just so overwhelmed, but I think he saw that I was just trying to find some way to say no so he added, "you could do a trial run if you wanted."
"Sure, dad, thanks." I said.
My dad's eyes glistened when I said that. He turned to my friends and said he was sorry he didn't catch their names. He thanked them for taking care of me.
Dad turned back to me and we started talking again. We were soon interrupted by Dorothy exclaiming, "as I live and breathe is that Mark Roy? Ahhh!" She screamed in glee as she came rushing over. "How the hell are you?"
They hugged and said that he was good and asked how Nick was (who I assumed was her son).
"Good good! Oh Nick," she looked away as if remembering "he and Mike just had twins. Two girls so they've got their hands full now. Well full of diapers I guess." She laughed when she said that.
"That's great Dottie!" I assumed that was my dad's nickname for this lady.
"So, how about you? What've you been up…" she stopped when she saw who my dad was sitting with. "Wait? Is this your son? I thought he looked familiar! Damn eyes are getting worse everyday now." She laughed again. "Oh sorry for interrupting just wanted to say hi! Pop by again and I'll save you a piece of pie." She hugged my dad again and then left.
"Sorry son, I didn't know Dottie still worked here," my dad apologized.
"It's ok. You grew up here so you probably know everyone." Probably knew all the parents of those kids who exiled me today.
"Yeah, but I only keep in contact with maybe four of them. This place is a little too small town for me." Was my dad trying to tell me that he was liberal in his thinking?
"Dad, before we go there's something I need to tell you," I took a deep breath again. "I'm gay."
I closed my eyes and waiting for him to say something.
"Son, look at me please," he said. I opened my eyes and stared into his grey eyes.
"I'm proud of you for telling me that it takes a lot of courage to come out. I honoured you shared that with me. That doesn't change the way I look at you. You're my son and I love you. Besides, I'm gay as well," he smiled.
My jaw dropped when he said that. I hugged him again and just started crying.
"Bye Sid," Amanda said as she hugged me. "Promise me you'll stay in touch, ok?"
"I promise. Thank you for everything. I can't pay you back everything you did for me," I spoke.
"Stop. I love you and I'm happy to do it. Fuck everyone else," she said.
The hug finally ended and we pulled away. Dan had just loaded the other suitcase into the trunk of my dad's car and came over and hugged me.
"I'm gonna miss you," he said. "No one can replace you on or off the soccer field."
"Are you really thinking about sports right now?" Amanda laughed. We all started laughing at that.
Finally Dan and I pulled away from that hug. And I pulled them both in for a group hug. "Thank you guys for…everything. I can't properly say just how thankful I am," I said into their ears. They just pulled me into a tighter hug.
We finally stepped back and realized this would be the first time anyone of us would be properly leaving. We figured this would happen when we all went away to college.
"Ok, I'd better get going. Got a long drive ahead," I said. Dad thanked them again profusely and then we waved them off.
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