SCENE A

Josh walked into Atlantic City High School with a lot on his mind. He came twenty minutes earlier than everyone else would arrive, except, of course, for the smart kids. It was already well into the second week of school and he was having headaches he usually didn't get unless they were from school work. He had tried to tell himself it was okay that his best friend was gay. But it bothered him for some reason.

'I did make a promise, though,' he thought to himself. 'I told Coy I was going to really try my best to handle it.' Even though he was bothered by the situation, he didn't want to lose his best friend after just getting him back. He opened his locker lost in thought. He felt a hand on his back.

"Hey, Sexy," a male voice said from behind him.

Josh chuckled uncomfortably. "Coy … that's not…" He turned to see that it wasn't who he was expecting. "Who are you?"

"Nick," he said biting his lip. "Nick Pagan. But for a curly haired Adonis like yourself, I can be whatever or whoever you want me to be."

Josh turned a bright red blush. "Um, I think you got the wrong impression," he said taking a step back. "I'm not gay."

"You don't have to be gay," Nick said with a sly chuckle. "Just horny."

Josh tried to laugh it off, but when he was threatened he would begin to get angry. He wanted to deck Nick in the face right then and there but he made a promise. "Look, dude," Josh said, still trying to be polite. "I'm flattered, but I am not gay. I have a beautiful girlfriend. You may know her … Carmen Gianni?"

"I don't care about her … just you," Nick said reaching his hand out to touch Josh's bicep.

Reflexes kicked in and Josh shoved Nick back. "Fucking Faggot," he said as he jumped on top of Nick. Apparently Nick wasn't as feminine as Josh stereotyped him because he easily gained control of the situation and flipped Josh over on his back. A small group of Chess Club members spilled out in the hall.

"Sweet," one said as he watched the two wrestle. "I love it when jocks fight."

Josh was slightly stunned from hitting his head on the floor, giving Nick opportunity to pin him down.

"Sorry, Dude," he said as he raised his fist. "I prefer top."

"Nick!" A voice called out from behind him.

"Fuck," Nick muttered. "Yes, brother?" Nick jumped up quickly. A pissed-off Josh stood up ready to fight Nick but made a strange observation.

"Twins?" He asked looking at the boy beside Nick. "So now I got to beat two faggots' asses? I'm down for that."

The guy pushed Nick to the side and walked up to Josh. "First of all, I'm not a faggot," he said to Josh. "Second of all, I seriously advise against you doing that. Josh is it? I remember you from tryouts earlier this month? In case you don't know, I'm Anthony Pagan and between Ky James and my brother here we pretty much run the football and lacrosse team. So if you don't want to be my bitch for the season I seriously advise you to walk away."

Josh seethed with anger. He was not used to being talked to this way. But he was new here and sports were his life.

"This is seriously not over," he mumbled, turning to walk down the hall. "Not by a long shot."

Anthony watched Josh as he retreated. He turned to his brother. "Starting fights during the second week of school? I can only imagine how the rest of your year is gonna go, Rocky," he said messing with his brother's hair.

SCENE B

"Mr. Diogostine?" I asked knocking on the coach's door.

He looked up from his playbook and gave me a warm smile. "Coy James," he said to me. "Good morning."

"Morning," I said as I walked into his office. "You know, you're pretty much the only person who can tell Ky and me apart?"

"Well, from coaching him in middle school, I can usually tell the troublemaker from the smart one," he joked and we shared a small laugh. "What brings you by the office? Interested in being Sports Trainer for the football team?"

"Ha! Actually, I decided this year I'm going to leave the sports and all it's related activities to Ky," I said, handing him a sheet of paper. "I was actually coming to do the inventory for the bookkeeper in the front office. She wanted me to come down here to see if you guys needed any new equipment for the team or for your gym classes due to the merge of the schools."

"I'm pretty sure we probably do," he said looking over the paper. "Usually, my class size is about thirty-five students or less, but since Ocean merged with AC, my gym classes are now pushing sixty. We had to hire six new gym teachers as well. But it's time we put all this unused space to use anyway."

Atlantic City High School was a rather large high school. It was designed on the beach front and looked more like a college campus than a high school. The school was designed to hold 5600 students from what I heard, but Atlantic City only had about 2900. Now with Ocean City here, the school is close to its mark at well over 5300 students.

"Well, if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna go ahead and get started," I said with a small sigh. "I want to try and get my homework for Bio done before the period is over. Ha, ha.  Ky convinced me to come to the scrimmage and I was so tired, later, that I forgot to do it last night."

"Are my ears deceiving me?" Coach asked, handing me the key to the supply closet. "Coy James is not on the ball? That's a first."

I smiled and then waved as I left his office. Of the two of us, I generally was the one focused on going to a good college with a great psychology program, while Ky was interested in a college with a high girl-to-guy ratio. Sometimes it sucked being labeled the 'smart one,' while Ky was often labeled the 'fun one.'

"Story of my life," I muttered to myself as I unlocked the door to the supply closet. I heard a faint banging noise coming from down the hall from the corridor.

My curiosity kicked in and I walked toward where the locker rooms were. It sounded like a yelp of pain coming from inside. I pushed open the door and walked in. The banging and yelping got louder as I walked down the corridors. I soon discovered what was making all the noise.

"Oh, my God," I said, covering my mouth. Matt stood fucking Giselle up against the locker.

"SHIT!" Matt said, dropping Giselle out of panic.

"OUCH!" she said rubbing her ass as she got up. "I thought you said your friend was going to watch out for anybody coming in?"

"COY…" Matt said, ignoring her. He struggled to get his jeans on. He was speechless. Hell, I was speechless. "I … I … It's not what it looks like."

"It's exactly what it looks like," I said, finding my voice. It sounded angry. I was angry for some reason. "What the hell are you two doing?"

"It's PE," Giselle said as she put her bra back on. "I'm just getting my exercise. Ooh, I'm out of breath. You woulda thought I ran a mile or something."

I rolled my eyes and walked toward the door. "You two are sick and dirty as hell," I said to them. "In a locker room? A boy's locker room at that."

"Coy," Matt said as I turned to leave. He tried to run after me but as he zipped his pants up he accidentally zipped himself in his jeans. "OW! SHIT!"

"Well, based on how pissed he's looking," Giselle said, as she checked herself out in the mirror. "You could definitely tell he's a virgin."

Matt looked at her with a bewildered look on his face as he stood in pain … shock … embarrassment … and guilt.

'But why do I feel guilty?' he thought to himself.

SCENE C

"UGH!" I groaned loudly as I looked at the clock. "Lunch time."

Carmen looked over at me with an amused look. "I've never heard anybody sound so depressed that it's lunchtime," she said, as we walked out of biology.

"It's not the fact that it's lunchtime," I said to her as I walked to my locker to put my books away. "It's who I have to see together at lunch."

"Oh, Coy," Carmen said, looking a bit hurt. "I thought you said you were okay with Josh and me."

I scoffed at her. "Conceited … much?" I asked her, shutting the door to my locker. "I'm still trying to get use to Josh being around but that's not who I was talking about. I meant Matt and Giselle!"

"Ooh, yea; she told me they were going back out this morning. Since homeroom," she said to me. "It's cute because from what I hear they were a pretty hot and heavy couple before coming here." I snorted at that last comment. "But why don't you want to see them together?"

"Long story," I said to her walking into the cafeteria. She stopped suddenly behind me and I looked at her.

"OH!" she said with a wild expression. "OH! OH! OH!"

"You gotta teach me how to orgasm without touching MYself," I said sarcastically. "What are you OHing for?"

"You … like … Matt," she stated emphatically with a big// grin on her face. "You like Matty G!"

I pinched her side. "Say it louder, why don't you?" I hissed at her. "The deaf kids over by the vending machines didn't hear you."

"That is so cute," she whispered to me. She grabbed a tray and begin putting French fries on her tray. "I've noticed how you've been checking him out, but you do that to a lot of guys, so I didn't really think too much on it."

"Let's hope nobody else notices," I said as she was fixing my plate. "I had to go the gym to do some inventory bull, and I walked into the locker room and saw the two of them having sex."

"Well, that is to be expected, Coy," she said as we paid for our lunches. "They go out. You realize he's straight; right?"

"Yes, I realize that," I said to her even though I didn't want it to be true. "I just … I don't know."

"You were hoping that he was gay as well," she said sympathetically. "That's understandable, but you can't beat yourself over the fact he's not. Just come sit down and forget about it. Your guy is out there somewhere."

'But I want Matt to be my guy,' I thought. "Nah, you go ahead over there," I said with a weak smile. "The heartbreak is still raw inside, so I want to go eat by myself and think for awhile."

"Okay," she said with a sad glance. She walked over to the table I'd indicated, while I walked outside to the court yard.

"Where's Coy going?" Ky asked as she sat down beside Josh.

"Um … he just made a shocking discovery and wanted some time alone," she replied, leaning in for a kiss from her boyfriend.

'Oh, fuck; he knows I hit that guy,' Josh thought to himself.

"Way to leave me hanging, Josh," Carmen said throwing him a confused look.

"What kind of discovery did he make?" Ky prodded.

"I don't think it matters," Josh spoke up trying to change the subject.

"Probably when he walked in on Matt and me having sex in the locker room during gym," Giselle said pointedly.

Ky spat his chocolate milk out all over Matt out of shock.

"Thanks, man," Matt said sarcastically wiping his shirt.

"What? You and Giselle were pop, lock, and dropping it in the locker room?" he asked bewildered. "I thought you two weren't dating."

"He asked me out again this morning," she said, drinking her milkshake. "I figured since I got part of what I wanted, I might as well get the rest. We've always been the spontaneous type. Schools, Airplanes, Churches…"

"Churches?" Carmen, Ky, and Josh echoed.

"I was telling Matt that Coy was probably reacting badly because he has a crush on me or something," she continued on. "He completely spazzed over nothing important."

Carmen and Josh both shared a knowing smile about that one.

"Well, Coy does have good taste, I see," Ky said with a sly smile. "And apparently Giselle here is a straight-up freak."

Giselle smiled at Ky. "Matt, babe, maybe I should go talk to him," she said. "This always happens. I feel bad having to break the hearts of so many boys."

"No, don't worry about it," he said, getting up and grabbing his backpack and tray. "I'm going to find him and talk to him. He's been a pretty good friend and I would hate to lose him over something like this."

Ky waited until Matt was out of ear-shot. Then he walked over to sit beside Giselle.

"So. GiGi." He said throwing his arm around her shoulder. "What other exciting stories do you have to share? And please be very detailed."

SCENE D

"Mind if I sit here?" a voiced asked me. I looked up from my tray to see a guy standing in front of me. I gave him a confused look. "It's just that I usually eat here and do some thinking. But I see you already are doing both of my activities."

"Oh," I said jumping up. "I'm sorry to invade your space like that. I'll just go find somewhere else to eat."

"Coy, it's cool," he said to me with a warm smile. "My spot is big enough to become our spot."

"How do you know my name?" I asked him. I didn't recognize him from anybody whom I talked with.

"I play on the team with Ky," he said to me. "I can definitely tell you are NOT Ky, so I figured you had to be Coy."

I nodded my head and sat back down with him on the perch overlooking the courtyard. "Yea, that's me," I said to him extending my hand. "What's your name?"

"Anthony," he said with a nod, flashing that same warm smile. "Also, one-half of the other set of twins here at school."

"Ah, I heard about you two, too," I said with some interest. "The Pagan brothers."

"All good things I hope," he said and then laughed. "Doubt there's any good that most people can say about us?"

"I hear you guys are trouble," I replied. "Major thrill seekers and trouble-makers. I can see why you know Ky."

"Yeah that's a nice way of putting it," he said to me confidentially. "My brother, Nick, and I are just who we are, and we like it. I hope you aren't the type who goes only on what he hears, because if you're on my good side, I'm a good guy. My bad side … and I'm an asshole. Anybody who has a problem with it can be handled. "

I shook my head no. "I prefer to get to know people on my own before I judge them," I explained to him. "It's cool that you love who you are. I wish I loved who I was." I looked away from him quickly. "Forget that I said that. I should probably go."

I stood up to leave but he grabbed my arm. "Sit," he said to me. "I'm curious to know exactly what it is you don't like about yourself. From what I hear, you're like one of the smartest people at school but you aren't exactly a nerd. You're rich as hell living in a phat-ass house. And from what I see, you're a pretty good looking guy."

I looked at him questioningly. "Are you … flirting with me?"

"What if I am?" he challenged. "Is that a problem?"

I looked into his eyes. He had a quality that almost hypnotized me as I looked into them. He was by no means a 'Matt,' but he wasn't anywhere near ugly.

"No," I said softly. "No, it's not."

"Good," he said to me with a smile. Initially, he'd had an arrogant swagger about him, but while we were talking, it was kind of like I was looking at a shy person.

"How did you know that I was…"

"I didn't," he said with a small laugh. "I kinda always thought Ky was cute but knew he wasn't gay. I figured I'd try you, and if it didn't work, I'd have to kick your ass."

I laughed at that. "Risky," I said to him, "but I'm sure glad that I AM gay, because I doubt I could take you."

He laughed at my joke even though we both knew it was probably more true than a joke. "You never told me what it was you didn't like about yourself," he said to me. "As far as what I know about you and see, I like it. So why don't you?"

"That's just it," I said to him. "All that people know me as is … the smart kid. Or as Ky's brother. Or Carmen's Best Friend. Never for Coy. I don't know. Sometimes I want to be more like Ky and not the smart twin. Even my mom shows more enthusiasm for Ky and his need for trouble. Reminds her of my dad who left us a few years ago. Ohhhhh … I don't know; I'm just rambling."

"I understand what you're saying," he said after a moment of pausing. "So … if you're tired of being THIS Coy, then stop being him."

"Stop being the boy I've been for almost sixteen years?" I asked with a skeptical look. "How do you propose I do that?"

"Hang around me long enough and you'll see," he said with that same hypnotic glare.

"Actually, that won't be happening," Matt said coming, seemingly, from nowhere.

"Matt?" I asked surprised to see him standing there.

"Matty G, my man," Anthony said with a chuckle. He stood up to face him. "How's it been going, man?"

"Don't even…" Matt said firmly. "I heard how you and your shitty-ass brother were starting trouble with Josh Jackson this morning."

"He started something with Nick," Anthony replied with a shrug. "I have my brother's back, no matter what."

"And I have Josh's back … no matter what," Matt said stepping to them. "Coy's back too. And if you fuck with either of them … you're dead meat."

"Big threats coming from a little man," Anthony said with a laugh. I looked at him sideways. I could tell Anthony was a very confident person, but Matt was a big muscular guy. That would be a tough fight for Anthony.

"You wanna go right here?" Matt asked him. "Because I'm not afraid of you."

"It's not me, who you should be afraid of, Matt," Anthony said calmly. "All those inner demons of yours that you have going on inside of you; I can see why you're as fucked up as you are."

Sensing trouble, I stepped in between the two. "Come on, guys," I said to them both. "I am only 5'10 and 130 pounds. You can't fight with me in between you guys, so let's just cool off and walk away."

Matt showed Anthony a dark look, while Anthony looked at him with a teasing smile on his face. "Fine by me, Coy," he said, grabbing his bag. "I should find my brother, anyway. Meet me here after school if you want to continue our conversation."

I turned to face Matt as Anthony walked off. "What the hell do you want?" I asked him. "How dare you interrupt my conversation like that?"

"What is your problem?" he asked. "I came to talk to you about this morning. Why are you acting like an ass?"

"Because that is fucked up what you did this morning," I replied angrily. "Real fucked up."

"Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you liked Giselle," he said apologetically. "I would never ever try to rub that in your face if I knew that…"

I looked at him disgusted. "You think I like Giselle?" I asked him with a wild laugh. "That's fucking hilarious."

"Then what the hell is it?" he asked, getting angry himself. "Because since this morning, you've been acting like an asshole. Now you're hanging around scum like Pagan, and if you don't like Giselle, then I want to know what it is, so I can fix it and make it right."

I thought about what Anthony had said. If I hated being me, then I should stop being me. I was always shy and never direct. I always beat around the bush. So I decided to stop being me.

"It's not Giselle that I like," I said to him as the bell ending lunch rang. "It's you, Matt. YOU!"

He looked at me, shocked. When he didn't say anything, I decided to grab my stuff and go.

Without saying a word, I walked past him and toward my next class.

Matt stood there stunned and speechless as people poured around him.

SCENE E

"MATTHEW!" Giselle said waving her hand in his face. He snapped out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he asked, confused as to what was going on.

"Where the hell are you?" she asked, looking concerned. "You've been looking dazed since lunch. And now when you should be heading to the football field for practice, you're just sitting there with that deadpan look on your face."

"Sorry," he mumbled as he followed her out of class. "I just got a lot on my mind."

"What happened when you talked to Coy?" she asked. "Ky and the others have been bugging me about it. They said Coy's acting even weirder than before."

"I don't want to talk about it," he barked and then forced a fake smile and tried to change the subject. "What do you have planned for today?" One thing he knew about Giselle was that she loved to talk about herself. That was the best way to get her to shut up about what was on his mind.

"Carmen and I are going to be hanging with the varsity cheerleaders," she answered excitedly. "We are the only two underclassmen on the team. I mean, besides that girl, Brianna, whose sister is the Captain. Brianna is like the co-captain. I hate her, though, because she's a slut and always trying to steal somebody's boyfriend, from what I've heard about her. I hate girls like that…"

Matt tuned her out as he noticed me walk out of the science building and toward Anthony and Nick.

"…I heard she slept with Mr. Diogostine to get an 'A' in PE," Giselle ranted on. "Although, I can't say I blame her. He IS a hottie."

'Coy,' Matt thought to himself.

He was concerned about seeing his friend hang out with a guy he knew was bad news. But even more so … he felt jealous.

'But why, though?' he wondered to himself.

Posted: 12/31/10