Halo I
Beginnings ?

By: Micah Diablo
(© 2010-2011 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 1
Sham pain for my sham friends and champagne for my real friends

SCENE A

"SKITTLES!!!" I yelled out as I tackled my best friend Carmen Gianni in the school's hallway.

I loved skittles. They were like my drug. Without them, I was like a fiend, and with them I was on a high.

"Well, it's nice to know that over the summer, you haven't lost your love for the little rainbow candies, Coy," she said handing me the pack. "I've been here for like ten minutes and I expected to see you in the student lounge but you weren't there. I knew if I cracked open some skittles you'd find me like the whore you are."

I smiled at her mischievously. "You of all people are calling me a whore? I wasn't the one who gave it up to Rick Allen at his graduation party back in May. The name Carmen Gianni comes to mind."

"And the homo wins," she whispered in my ear as my twin brother Ky made his way over to us. "But you know you would've, if given the opportunity."

Carmen was the only person who knew that I was gay. I didn't want to tell her but after she had been flirting with me for all of freshman year, last year, with no avail, and wondering why I always avoided being alone with her, she put two and two together. Well … that … and she caught me making out with her cousin, Andrew.

"Shut up," I hissed at her. "Hey, bro!"

"Hello, my fellow sophomores," he said as he threw his arms around Carmen and me, leading us down the hall. "This is so going to be our year, I can feel it."

"You said that last year," Carmen said shrugging him off her shoulders. "Besides me losing my virginity, Coy beating Alex's ass, and YOU getting some ass, how was it 'our' year?"

"I think you gave three good reasons right there, CG," Ky said to her with a smile. "Now if only we can get my bro here to lose his virginity, we'll be good to go."

"I doubt that'll ever happen," Carmen said. "He's afraid of it hurting."

I pinched her in the side. "What Carmen means is that I am afraid of hurting the girl I decide to lose it TO."

"Coy James … that's how you know you're good with your dick," he said to me in my ear. "When she's screaming in pleasure AND in pain at the same time."

"And this is coming from the guy who gets it every once in a girl's drunken while," Carmen retorted.

Ky rolled his eyes. "I still don't see why the two of you never hooked up as much as you're together."

"Anyway, enough of my sex life…" I began.

"Or lack thereof," Ky and Carmen said in unison. I flicked'em off.

"Isn't Ocean City High merging with us this year?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that," Carmen replied. "Yeah, somebody set the school on fire during the summer and it was badly damaged so the board decided to merge the schools together."

"Atlantic City and Ocean City High School as one," Ky said as he opened his locker. "That explains the extra crowds of people. You can almost bet there is gonna be a fight pretty soon."

"You might have spoken too soon," Carmen said as she noticed my face frown-up and both of them looked over to what I was looking at.

"Coy," Ky said reaching to grab my arm.

"Let me go," I said, shrugging him off as I headed towards a group of boys.

"Oh shit," Ky said following behind me.

"COY!" Carmen hissed at me.

Josh Jackson stood with his boys from his old school and they were talking about how the girls at Ocean City high were ten times better than the girls at their old school. He looked up and noticed a face he hadn't seen in almost two years and wished he hadn't seen it now.

Even though Josh wasn't as much of a troublemaker as he had been in the past two years, he couldn't allow his image as a tough guy to be damaged by the oncoming situation headed towards him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as Ky and Carmen caught up behind me.

He snorted. "I think you know why I'm here," he said to me folding his arms. "That's a pretty dumb question to ask, don't you think, Coy?"

Anger welled up inside me. I was a step away from hitting him. Josh was twice my size. Whereas I had a slim, slender build more for track, Josh was all muscle built for high contact sports like football and lacrosse.

"What I meant was, why are you here? Because there is no lacrosse team here," I said trying so hard to keep my anger down.

"Actually, my friend," he said to me, "Atlantic City decided to start a lacrosse team here this year. That's one reason to come. Reason two … the girls are hot. Hello Carmen..."

She blushed slightly and smiled at him. I shot her a look and she quickly wiped the smile off her face.

"Ky, you doing football this year?" Josh asked, looking past me.

Ky opened his mouth to answer but I stuck my hand up. "Don't talk to my brother or my friend," I shot at him with daggers in my eyes.

"Oh, come on, Coy," he said to me with a mocking smile. "Can't we all be friends again? What happened to the krew?"

"What happened to the krew was…" I began to speak, but realizing what I was about to say, I stopped. "Look, stay the hell away from us, and this year will be almost perfect. Minus seeing you here, I mean."

"Or what?" Josh asked, challenging me. He had the same mocking smile on his face that he had the last time we fought when we were in eighth grade.

I snapped and shoved him hard. Caught off guard by my sudden assault, he fell to the floor.

"And this is where we stand to the side," Ky said, pulling Carmen away as he signaled Josh's friend. "You, too, dudes."

My eyes froze on a guy who was really attractive. So attractive that I forgot all about….

"Oof!" I said as I felt Josh's big body tackle me, and I hit the floor sliding backwards.

"Didn't you learn your lesson the last time, Coy?" he asked me as I struggled to get back up. Then he kicked me in the stomach.

"One of you do something," Carmen yelled to Ky's and Josh's friends. "Coy's a hundred-thirty pounds to Josh's hundred-ninety of muscles."

"I can't," Ky said to her. "This is something they gotta get out of their systems."

A crowd began to circle around us. Josh pulled me up by my shirt and pinned me to the locker.

"You couldn't be cool," he said to me; "you just had to be Coy." He banged my hand against the locker door.

"The teachers are downstairs with the freshmen talking to them," one of Josh's friends yelled. "They'll be finished any second, though."

I felt just like I did two years ago. I felt like the small, little boy compared to Josh. Josh always had to be the one to protect me when we were friends. No matter what … Josh had to take the lead. Ky was always okay with it. Hell, Carmen liked him then, and she probably still did, so she didn't put up much of a fight. But being a good friend, I never put up much of an argument. Josh needed to dominate in order to better his ego. I was always jealous of Josh's confidence. I wish I'd had that confidence when I was beaten-up when my cousin overheard me coming-out to Carmen. I was tired of always being dominated by Josh.

"What you going to do?" he asked in my ear. "You're a weak little bitch. You can never beat me."

That sent me over the top. A burst of energy and anger welled up inside me, and I got out of his grip and pushed him back. With an elbow to his gut and a punch to the jaw, Josh was stunned. I remembered the fear I'd had when Josh and I last fought. I was so afraid of him that I didn't fight back. Each punch made me realize that I was finished being everybody's follower. I was done being the shy one. I did a roundhouse kick and Josh slumped to the floor, apparently defeated. I raised my fist for another punch but was stopped by somebody grabbing me. I turned around expecting to see a teacher. It was the cute guy from earlier.

"It's over, man," he said to me, and with a look into his eyes, I dropped my fist. I turned back to Josh to see Carmen aiding him.

"What… What is…?" I was speechless. Carmen was my best friend, but she ran to see if HE was okay first.

"They've been dating since last Friday," Ky clued me in. I looked at Carmen with extreme hatred.

"Coy … please don't be mad," she begged me. She was torn between her boyfriend and her best friend.

I could've said something in anger, but instead I chose to turn and head to the bathroom.

If she wanted to be with him … she could. As far as I was concerned, Carmen was the enemy as well.

SCENE B

"You didn't tell him?" Josh asked Carmen as they sat in the student lounge center. They decided to skip homeroom. Josh sat there icing his face before First Block started.

Carmen scoffed. "You see how he reacted before he found out. If I would've said something to him about it before the fight, he might've killed you. God, he looked at me with so much hatred. I've never seen that before. He feels betrayed."

Josh groaned in pain. "Well, this is so how I did NOT want to spend my first day of school. I was definitely not expecting this out-come. I guess Coy is learning to stand up for himself, now."

"Josh," Carmen said kneeling in front of him. "You know how we have been talking all during the summer and you promised me you were going to always tell me the truth?"

He knew what was coming. "Now you're going to ask me what happened two years ago, aren't you?"

"Please," she pleaded. "He's my best friend. We've known him since fourth grade. I want to fix this whole problem.

The bell rang signaling the transition period between homeroom and First Block.

"I know you want to be the mother and take care of all your young," he said bending down to kiss her. "But some things can't be fixed."

He grabbed his bag and left Carmen with a stunned look on her face.

SCENE C

"Why, Coy … you look like you've been through a bar fight," the office receptionist said pointing to my face. I was office aid and ran errands and did other tasks for them.

"You should see the other guy," I said with a smile. "So how much work you got for me to start off sophomore year with?"

She laughed and handed me an index card with some guy's name, 'Matthew Glesiner', written on it. "Pretty simple day today. I'm having all the aids show the new students around, and I decided to pair you with that young man. Oh, here he is now."

I turned at the sound of the door opening. My heart skipped a beat. It was that cute guy from before.

"Sorry, I was a little lost," he said with a sheepish grin. "This school is huge. Bigger than I realized."

"Matthew, I was just telling Coy, here, that I was going to have him show you around. Hopefully, ease your transition a little better here at Atlantic City High."

He smiled at me and stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet the calmer side of you," he said with a voice that made my knees weak. "I'm Matthew as you know, but call me 'Matt'."

"Coy," I said with my voice cracking slightly. I blushed and looked down.

"Well, boys, you can go ahead and get started," she said to us. "Coy, when you're done, don't worry about reporting here. Just meet the rest of the aids in the student lounge center."

I nodded and followed Matt out of the office. We began walking down the hall. It was pure silence. All I could hear were the echoes of our shoes and distant teachers' voices from their classrooms.

"Um … Dude," Matt said after a few minutes. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job but I think you're kind of supposed to show me where and what everything is."

"Oh," I said blushing again. "Sorry … I'm just a little nervous and not completely here." It was really uncomfortable being around him. Just standing next to him and smelling that cologne and shampoo was making my dick get hard. That would be a hard situation to get out of … no pun intended, of course.

"Look, I don't want you to think that I'm going to be an asshole because of what happened this morning," he said. "I've known Josh since he transferred to our school and everything. I don't know what the deal is between the two of you, but you're pretty much my first friend here and I'm hoping to make some more. So … whatever the deal is, with you two, it isn't my deal."

"Thanks, man," I said with a small smile.

"But um … What IS the deal with you two?" he asked. I laughed. "Hey, I said it wasn't my deal, meaning that I'm not going to hate you. Doesn't mean I'm not a nosey little bastard."

"We just had a real big falling out," I replied. "We used to be best friends. He was like my second bro. Then some fucked-up shit happened and we just stopped being friends."

"Wow," he said sadly. "He talks about you all the time."

I stopped walking and looked at him. "He does?"

"Well … I mean … not a lot … now," Matt said as he leaned up against the wall. "But when he first transferred to Ocean City, I remember Ryan Kelly—the other guy who was with us this morning—had called Josh his best friend. And Josh said he already had one best friend. Till this day, he still says that. One best friend he always felt he needed to protect. He used to tell us about the crazy adventures you four had. The time you got chased by a dog and you pushed him and your brother down and took off running and left them there to be bitten."

"Yea, I don't mess around with my life. When my life is on the line, it's every man for himself.," I said with a nostalgic feeling. I chuckled softly to myself. "I remember that. It was the last time we'd hung together."

"Look," he said to me. "You suck at showing me around. But it's okay because I feel like we're getting to know one another."

"Ha, sorry," I said with a small chuckle. "When she asks you to rate me, can you rate me a '10'?"

Matt bit his lip and gave me a naughty look. "You gotta do something for me to get that '10'," he said, looking at me intently.

I gulped. He stood in front of me. It was getting really difficult to keep myself from kissing those juicy lips.

"What's that?" I asked him, looking deeply into his eyes.

"You gotta give Josh a chance," he said. "Try to bury the hatchet. He told me before he came to our school he used to be a bully, but Josh has really changed. He isn't the same Josh you knew anymore. I just want you to get to know my friend the way we all know and love him.

I sighed to myself. "Of course," I thought. "Of course this is my hormones getting the best of me. Of course he didn't mean anything sexual."

"So … what's it going to be, Coy?" he asked with a sly grin.

Before, I could answer, I saw my brother following a girl down the hall.

"Oh, Giselle … come on," Ky said to her. "One kiss and I'll never bother you again."

"Matt? Is that you?" she asked, noticing him standing there.

"Hey, GiGi," he said, grabbing her into a hug. "Giselle, meet my new friend, Coy. Coy, meet my … um…"

"His off-and-on girlfriend but forever fuck-buddy," Giselle said sticking her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Coy. Cute name."

"Thanks," I said, let down by the revelation. Not only was he straight … he had this gorgeous Latina on his dick probably on the regular. Leave it to me to let my hormones get the best of me.

"Wait a second," Ky said pointing at Matt. "You're the guy they call 'Matty G'?"

"The one and only," Giselle said, wrapping her arms around him. "You two are twins, I see. Although, Coy is the cuter twin, but you still are cute my dear aid Ky."

I stifled a laugh as I saw Ky sigh in frustration. "You're the dude who knocked me off the top of the list," he said, ignoring Giselle.

"What list?" Matt and I said at the same time. We shared a smile. God, what the hell is the guy doing to me?

"The 'Most Fuckable' list," he replied. "Coy … you're still a virgin, so of course you wouldn't know about it."

"Thanks," I said flicking him off. "No, homo, but at least you know that you got beat by a good looking dude."

"Um, there is no way. Ky James does not get beat by anybody," Ky said indignantly. He pointed at Matt. "I don't like you, man. Come on, Coy."

"But I'm supposed to be showing…"

"COY!"

"It's cool man," Matt said to me, wrapping his arm around Giselle. I had to fight back the urge to vomit. "Giselle and I are going to find our class. We both got first period together anyway."

"Okay, I will see you around then," I said to him as I turned to follow after Ky.

"Hey," Matt said grabbing my arm. "Don't forget our deal." He flashed me a smile that I returned back to him.

"I won't," I said, and I ran after Matt, but not before I heard Giselle say they should skip first period together for some privacy.

SCENE D

I made it all day long without seeing Carmen and Josh together. Even at lunch, when I had seen them both, separately, but not together until now. I was standing with Matt at his locker talking about how we should hang out after school. I saw Josh and Carmen holding hands and walking towards us.

"I gotta go," I said and I tried to get around Matt but he stopped me and gave me a stern look.

"You promised," he said as he looked past me toward those two. "Carmen, I gotta get to know my friend's girlfriend better. We should go walk."

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said, looking at the two of us. Josh had an empty look on his face where I had the look of disgust on mine.

"It's okay," Josh and I said to her at the same time.

"It's nice to know you two still have the unison thing down," Carmen said. "But try not to kill each other."

Matt flashed me a hopeful look and led Carmen towards the exit. "We'll be at my house with Giselle and your brother. She can't seem to shake him off."

And with that, they were gone.

I looked at Josh with a stern look. Then, with a scoff, I walked past him.

"Guess that means follow Coy," he said with a sigh as he followed behind me. We went into a science classroom and sat across from each other at a desk.

We sat there looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. I honestly thought it had been an eternity, but I looked at my cell and realized it had only been about two minutes.

"Talk," I demanded. He looked at me with a sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Coy. I know I shouldn't have reacted that way when you told me…" He couldn't say it … even after all this time.

I laughed wildly. "That I was gay? Two years later, and you still can't say it, Josh? You haven't changed. You're still scared. You can't catch it, ya know."

"What the fuck do you expect me to do, Coy? To say? You told me that you loved me," he spoke angrily. "Were in love with me. I was only thirteen. We were always raised to believe it's wrong to be … to be … gay. There!  I've said it!  I didn't know what to say. How to act?"

"So you beat my ass? I asked him. "I told you that, because you were my best friend. WERE my best friend … I didn't want to lose you as a friend, but the more I kept it to myself, the more damage it caused. I was making myself sick. I knew you were straight. I just wanted you to know. For someone to know what kind of hell I was in."

"Oh, Coy…" Josh sadly said to me. He didn't know what to say.

"Did you know that killed me when you decided to transfer at the beginning of the year?" I asked him. "I lost my best friend. The one person who meant the most to me besides Ky ... my twin. I needed you. You weren't there when my cousin beat me up. You weren't there when I almost got raped last year."

"WHAT!" he bellowed. "Who did it? I swear I'll kill him!"

I laughed at his outburst. "You still have to protect me, don't you, Josh?"

"Coy, you wanna know why all these years I always pushed you and always fought with you to become stronger?" he asked. "Because if I didn't, who would? Ky is too wrapped up in himself to show you how to stand up for yourself, and Carmen always believes the passive way is the answer. When we fought today … I realized YOU finally realized YOUR true potential. You aren't some sissy boy. You're not what I think … thought … gays were. You're my brother ... my bro, Coy. No matter what … And I don't want us to keep going on like this. I miss you … and I miss … I miss … us."

He was about to start crying. Whenever Josh got in touch with something really close to his emotions he always began to cry. It's good to know the things that I like about him, haven't changed.

"I just want us to go back to before," he said with a hopeful look in his eyes. "I'm not that Josh anymore. I grew up, and I realized that no matter who you sleep with, who does you up the butt, whose dick…"

"What's your point? " I asked, cutting him off as he embarrassed me.

"My point is…" he said with a small smile; "my point is … YOU are still Coy. The same guy who, I bet, still freaks out over spiders."

"I've gotten better," I said with a small smile. "It's only really big spiders that bother me."

He stuck his hand out. "Truce?" he asked. I looked down at his hand. I've hated him for so long. Could I really go back to before?

"Only if you promise not to tell anybody about the rape," I said to him. "Nobody knows. It happened over the summer."

"I promise," he said, crossing his heart with his index finger, and then touching my chest with that same finger—like we used to do when we were little kids. "But I'm gonna want to know what happened eventually."

I shook his hand. "Let's just stick to you trying to get back on my good side," I said. As I tried to let it go, he pulled me into his hug.

"I missed you, little bro," he said hugging me tightly.

"I missed you, too, Josh," I said, gasping for air. "But you're suffocating me."

"Oh, sorry," he said, releasing his warm hold.

"Come on," I said as I grabbed my bag. "Let's get to Matt's before Carmen thinks I killed you."

"Right, like that will ever happen," he muttered behind me as he pushed me out the door.

Posted: 12/31/10