chapter 2

So, two periods later, I walked into Phys Ed and looked around for Piki. He wasn't around. He would never ditch and I was sure I saw him in the locker room...the locker room! I went in there and looked around. I heard somebody crying in a bathroom stall. Hate to say it was Piki.

"Piki...what's wrong? What happened?"

"I don't want to talk to you," he said. "I don't ever want to talk to you again."

"I will kick the door open," I said. He groaned and opened it. His hair...was tied up in ribbons and he had on loads of make-up. He looked at me with his almond shaped, teary eyes and stood up.

"You've come to laugh at me just like your friends." I felt my stomach tighten. Howie and Lenny did this.

"Come on, let's go clean you up." He walked past me and towards a sink. He pulled the ribbons out of his hair and turned on the water. "I didn't know they'd do this to you. I swear."

"But does it make a difference? Would you even care if you had?" Of course I would have. I wouldn't have let this happen. Not now anyway. He scrubbed his face vigorously.

"I'd totally care. I care now!" His words were like daggers, stabbing me over and over again in the chest. He had cleaned his face and looked at me.

"Conner, you walk around with your backwards cap and lettermen jacket and your two friends and you know what? Everyone hates you. They might laugh along with you and tell you how awesome you are, but they don't mean it." He was getting all weepy again. "I thought for the longest you were halfway decent. I told Jo and Sun that you didn't mean the awful things you say or do, but I have to believe them when they tell me you're no good."

"I...I'm a good..." He was really letting me have it, and I guess I deserved it. I was a two-faced bastard.

"You can beat me up when I tell you this, but I...I liked you. I was so happy to help you with your math homework and I thought we got along pretty well, but I guess I was way off on that one."

"Listen Piki, I'm confused and...and you said you wanted to start the Gay-Straight Alliance to help people and I think I might need the, uh, help you've been talking about." He probably thought I was ***ing with him.

I always just went along with what Howie and Len wanted to do. I never stopped anything they wanted to do. Sure, my conscience told me I was being a dick. But I'd rather be a dick with friends than a likeable loner.

"Yeah right. I'm over it," he said. "Like I told you, graduation is only three months away." He walked pass me out of the locker room. Damn.

I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself. He said he liked me. I saw my face turn a bright red. I wasn't pasty, but I wasn't incredibly tan.

I was pretty tall, about 6'3", and I worked out a lot. I had the muscularity to prove it, although I had a bit of a sweet tooth. I had rust-colored, red hair. It wasn't long really, only about three inches. I also had blue-green eyes.

"Why would he like me?" I asked myself; I kind of liked Piki as well. He was really attractive and...exotic. He was nice to me even though I was awful to him. He helped me with stuff I didn't understand. He was honest. He was refined.

I figured I just had to show up to a meeting on my own. I only knew three people in the Gay-Straight alliance: Jo, Sun, and Piki.