A Different Road
Chapter 7
The meeting with Coach Davis was emotional. I’d already been wracked with emotion dealing with
Brett, now I’d told the coach I’d be back to practice on Monday. Well, not actually told him. He told
me to be there and he wasn’t asking. I knew if I didn’t show up, he’d make the rest of the school year
hell for me.
I loved running track in the spring; I’m sure he’d tell Mrs. Simmons, our track coach, not to let me
run. This was one sport that Brett and I didn’t participate in together. He preferred baseball to track,
so we usually didn’t see much of each other during the spring. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the spring. It
was only the end of September and we had a whole year to go before we’d graduate.
Something else that was bothering me was that Brett’s 18th birthday was in a few weeks. We had
spent each other’s birthdays together for as long as I could remember. It was going to be hard not
sharing this one, especially since it was a special one. Mine wouldn’t be until March, so he had a
long time to think about it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Open your present, Dirtwad.” Brett was hovering over me, anxious for me to open my present. I’d
just turned ten and we had spent the night at my house celebrating with ice cream and cake.
Afterwards, we went over to his house and his mother and father took us out for ice cream. Both of
us were on a sugar high.
He had handed me a small box crudely wrapped in last week’s Sunday comic section of the
newspaper. He’d used masking tape instead of scotch tape. It looked awful, but I was happy
because he’d gone to the trouble of doing it himself.
“What is it?” I said, holding up to my ear and shaking it.
“Would you just open it.” He was becoming frustrated. I tore open the wrapping and looked at the
flat red box I was holding.
“Hurry up. Open it.” He screamed excitedly. I carefully opened the box and looked inside.
“You didn’t!” I got up and jumped around the room. “Where did you find this!”
“My dad took me to a sports trading show last week.” He beamed. “It took all my allowance for the
next four months.”
I carefully took out the Michael Jordan trading card. It was a 1986 Fleer rookie card. They were hard
to find and I’d wanted one for several years. It must have cost him over $100. I grabbed him and we
danced around the room.
“You must have spent a fortune on this.” I screamed, examining it again. I don’t think I’d ever been
so happy in my life.
“Yeah, well. Duh.” He stood smiling at me.
“You’re the best friend anyone could ever have.” I said pulling him into another hug. “You shouldn’
t have spent so much on this though.”
“Rule Number 44.” He said as he pretended to read his palm. “Money doesn’t matter when it makes
your friend happy.” He looked over at me and laughed. “Just remember that when my next birthday
comes.”
“Anything you want Brett.” I gave him another big hug. “Anything.”
For his birthday, I had to do extra chores around the house for six months. He wanted a ten-speed
bike.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I finally made it to third period with about 15 minutes left of class. Brett watched me enter and let his
eyes follow me to my seat. When I sat down and I looked at him and he gave me a small smile. I
turned my head away.
I was able to catch up on the assignment from a girl who sat next to me. When the bell rang I quickly
headed for the door to avoid Brett. I rushed past him as he turned to speak. I hurried to 4th period.
Adrian was waiting for me. He was sitting in the front row and had placed his book bag in the seat
beside him so no one else would sit there.
“Hey.” He had a huge smile on his face. “I saved you a seat.” He removed the bag for me to sit down.
“You look happy.” I said with a smile. His face began to redden and he quickly looked away.
“Sorry.” I apologized. Just then the teacher entered and the room quieted. After receiving our
assignment we were again free to talk.
“Can you help me with this problem?” Adrian asked. He was chewing the eraser off his pencil.
“Yeah.” I said, scooting my chair closer to his. Our legs were pressed against each other. We sat
working on the problem when he began to rub his leg against mine. At first I thought it was just an
innocent movement, but then he began to do it more forcefully. I looked over at him and he shyly
smiled.
I then began to rub my leg against his. As I did so, I could feel my cock start to harden. I had never
gotten hard over another boy before. I had never thought of having sex with another boy but Brett,
and now my heart was beginning to pound feeling Adrian’s leg rubbing mine.
I moved slightly in my seat and lowered my hand and rearranged my cock. It was pressing
uncomfortably against my jeans. Adrian giggled as he watched me and then did the same. I looked
down and saw his cock protruding nicely through his jeans. When I looked up, his eyes met mine
and he again began to blush.
“If we don’t stop.” I whispered in his ear. “We’ll never be able to stand up when the bell rings.” He
started laughing, and then pulled his leg away.
“I know.” He whispered in my ear. I looked at him and he was blushing brightly. “Sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” I said boldly as I let my eyes drop again to his bulging cock. His
face reddened even deeper. We continued working on the calculus problems, only this time we kept
a safe distance from each other. Occasionally, I’d look down but his erection had softened and his
pants were no longer bulging.
When the bell rang, we stood and Adrian stretched with his hands above his head. I looked down
and saw a wet patch in the front of his pants where he had been leaking precum.
“Uh, Dude.” I laughed as I looked at the wet spot. He looked down and saw it and gasped. He
quickly covered himself with his book bag. I had to sit back down in my desk because I was laughing
hysterically. He blushed and headed for the door. I ran out and quickly caught up with him.
“Hey, fellow.” I laughed as I walked beside him. “Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you glad to see
me?” I was trying to do an impression of some woman that I’d heard my dad joke about one time.
“Shut up.” He replied. “It’s not funny.” I threw my arm around him and laughed.
“Dude.” I said. “It is totally funny.” We walked down the hall with my arm still around him. When we
came to the boys’ restroom he headed inside.
“Wait here.” He said as he walked into one of the stalls. “I gotta clean this mess off.”
“I can help.” I said. I couldn’t believe how bold I felt around Adrian. It was obvious that we had both
been turned on by our leg rubbing, and for the first time I was having sexual feelings for someone
else.
“You’ve done enough.” He replied. I heard him unzip his pants and pull some toilet paper off the
roller. Out of curiosity, I stood on my tiptoes and peeked over the top of the stall and saw Adrian
wiping his cock clean. It was still semi-hard and hung about four inches. He looked up and saw me.
“Corey!” He screamed. I fell against the wall and started laughing. Minutes later, he exited with a
red face. He threw me an angry look and walked quickly out of the restroom and down the hall. I
tried to catch up with him, but he ran out the side door. By the time I got to the parking lot, he was
already driving away.
“Where’s Adrian?” Charlie asked as she sat down beside me where I was lying under a shade tree
outside school.
“I dunno.” I said. “He took off a little while ago.”
“Why?” She opened one of my eyelids and stared into my face.
“I think I embarrassed him.” I said sadly. I then told her about how we’d played around in class and
both of us got an erection. Then I told her how he had spotted his pants and then went into the
restroom stall to clean up. I was embarrassed when I told her how I’d peeked over the stall to get a
look at his cock.
“Damn, Corey.” She said angrily. “You can’t do shit like that with Adrian. He’s extremely shy. I’ve
been amazed how open he’s been with you. I’ve never seen him like that with anyone else.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. I sat up and listened intently. I was confused by Adrian’s action in the
restroom. I hadn’t meant anything by it.
“You know his dad, right?” She asked. I nodded my head. “He’s been so freaking hard on him, you
wouldn’t believe.”
“I know.” I said. “I got a dose of it the other night.”
“Yeah,” She said. “He told me. Anyway, Adrian’s scared shitless of him. His father’s always telling
him he’s going to hell, and the poor kid hasn’t done anything.”
“Does his father know he’s gay?” I asked. It was obvious after last period that Adrian probably was.
“Corey.” Charlie said sadly. “Adrian won‘t even admit it to himself he‘s gay. I tried to tell him a few
years ago when he started asking questions about sex. He said he couldn’t be gay because he’d go
to hell.”
“But what about last period?” I asked. “He got hard rubbing my leg. He even seemed to be enjoying
it.”
“I don’t know.” She sounded worried. “I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’d say you probably opened some
doors he’d probably been keeping locked for a long time.”
“I still don’t understand why he ran away.” I said. “He could have just told me to stop.”
“He probably panicked.” She said. “When you saw his cock, he probably freaked, thinking you both
were going to hell or something.”
“So what do I do?” I asked her. “I really like him. I don’t want to lose his friendship, now that we
were just starting to get to know each other.”
“Let me talk to him.” She said. “I’ll try and see what’s going on inside his head.”
“Tell him I’m sorry.” I said sadly. “I didn’t mean to embarrass him. Tell him I just want to be friends. I’
m not even looking for a boyfriend.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow and stared at me. “Yeah, right.” She said knowingly.
The bell rang and I headed to chemistry class. This was one class I shared with Brett in which Cindy
didn’t attend. So far I’d been able to avoid him. However, today he was sitting at my lab table. I
looked for Sheila but she was sitting with stoned out Jason. She gave me a sad look when I walked
into the room.
The bell rang and I looked around the room for another chair, but unfortunately the only one
available was the one beside Brett. The teacher told us to take a seat, so I had no choice but to walk
over and sit down. Brett looked over and smiled. I dug in my book bag looking for my chemistry
book and ignored him.
“Aren’t you even going to say hi?” He asked me.
“Nope.” I said sternly.
“Corey.” He said sadly.
“Drop it, Brett.” I insisted. “Please. If we have to work together, then fine. But please don’t try to
talk to me. There’s nothing more to say.”
“Fine.” He sounded upset. “If that’s the way you want it, Corey.” He opened his book and
pretended to be reading. I almost started laughing when I noticed the book was upside down.
The next forty-five minutes were awkward. We had to work together mixing chemicals and writing
out equations. It was a team effort, so we had no choice but to talk to each other about the problems
on the assignment sheet. I was happy when the teacher finally told us only five minutes remained
and to start cleaning up.
“Someone told me you quit the team.” He finally said as we were putting things away.
“Nope.” I said. “I didn’t.” He looked over at me with a puzzled look. I guess Coach Davis hadn’t
talked to him yet. Just then the bell rang ending class.
“Good.” He said as he walked past me and patted me on my back. I watched him walk out the door.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“What’s your name boys?” Coach Davis was shouting at us. It was our first day of practice our
freshman year. Coach Bob, as he liked to be called, was the freshman coach but Coach Davis had
come onto the field to watch us practice. I guess he was looking over his prospects for the following
year.
“Corey Singer, Sir.” I shouted back. I don’t know why, but Brett and I were standing at attention like
new army recruits. We’d already heard about Coach Davis’s reputation, and I don’t know about Brett,
but I was having trouble keeping my legs from shaking.
“Brett Weaver, Sir.” Brett shouted back.
It was hot as hell outside. Our first practice began in July, weeks before school was to start. Coach
Bob wanted to get a head start on the other schools and have us conditioned when the season
started. Sweat was dripping profusely off my forehead. Brett and I had removed our jerseys and
were now standing half naked in front of the coach.
“I’ve been watching you boys,” he said. “You played in junior high together?”
“Yes, Sir.” We said in unison.
“Where?” He asked.
“Gorman, Sir.” Brett said sharply.
“Gorman.” Coach said admiringly. “You boys won the championship last year, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.” Brett responded.
“That’s right.” He suddenly recalled. “Weaver, you were quarterback. And you, Singer, were the
wide receiver. Am I right?”
“Yes, Sir.” I said.
“Coach Bob.” He turned to our freshman coach and called him over. “I want these boys to try out for
varsity next week. I want to see what they really have.” He turned abruptly and walked away.
Coach Bob stood staring at us. “Do you boys realize that Coach Davis hasn’t had a freshman on his
varsity team in about six years? Congratulations.” He reached out and shook our hands. Brett and I
slapped hands and then began to wrestle on the ground while the coach and our teammates
cheered us on. We had to stop when the team manager threw a cold bucket of water on us.
Everyone laughed uproariously at us as we stood shivering in the hot summer sun.
We did try out the following week. We waited anxiously for a week until Coach Davis posted the
varsity team. We had made it!! Brett was designated as second string quarterback. I had also made
the team as second string wide receiver. We didn’t get a lot of action our freshman year, but the
early experience prepared us our sophomore year when we both started.
We won the city championship that year, but were blown out in the district finals. Our junior year we
won the regional championship, but lost in the state competition. The quarterback of the winning
state championship team graduated last year, so we were heavily favored to win the state this year.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When I drove home after school I was surprised to see my mother’s car in the driveway. She still had
some of her clothes at the house, so I figured she had come back to get them. I was shocked when I
walked in the door to find her and Reverend Baker sitting in the living room. They stopped talking
and Reverend Baker rose from his chair and approached me.
“What do you want?” I asked angrily. Reverend Baker neared me and put his hand on my forehead.
“Get on your knees, Corey.” He shouted. “Tell the Lord you are a sinner and ask for his forgiveness.”
“Get your fucking hands off me!” I shouted back, removing his hand from my head and stepping
back.
“Corey.” My mother rose from her seat. “Listen to Reverend Baker. He’s only here to help you.”
“I don’t need his help, Mother.” I shouted back at her.
“Oh, Heavenly Father,” shouted Reverend Baker. “Show this boy the way to eternal salvation.”
They both approached me and began laying their hands on me and continued to pray. I was trying to
pull away, but the reverend was tightly gripping my arm.
“Confess your sins, Corey.” He screamed. “Give up this perversion that has taken over your soul.”
I continued to wrestle away from them, but he had a tight grip on me. My mother was holding my
other arm.
“Corey, please.” She begged. “You can’t be one of them. How will I explain it to our friends?”
“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” I pushed her hand away and finally wrestled myself from their
grip. “Your poor fucking image. You don’t give a shit about me. All you worry about is what your
goddamned society friends will say behind your back.”
SMACK!
I held the side of my face from the slap she had given me. We both stood looking angrily at one
another.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, you pervert.” She spat. “You’re a disgrace.” She reached out to
slap me again, but this time I saw it coming and grabbed her hand.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp blow to my side. Reverend Baker had just hit me. I leaned over and tried to
catch my breath from the harsh blow he had given me.
Just then the front door opened and my father came barging in.
“What in the hell is going on in here?” He rushed over to me and stood between me and Reverend
Baker.
“I’m trying to save your perverted son and make him right with God again.” Reverend Baker
screamed.
“You’re going to see your God soon enough,” my father shouted, “If you don’t get your goddamned
ass out of my house. You too, Sheila. Get the fuck out!”
My father approached Reverend Baker and grabbed his arm and led him to the door.
“Get out!” He screamed. “Both of you. Sheila, if you ever come back in here again, I’ll have you
arrested.”
“Oh God.” Reverend Baker raised his hands to the sky. “Please forgive them for they know not what
they are doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” My father shouted as he pushed them out the front door. “Throwing
out the trash!” He screamed as he slammed the door shut.
He turned and walked over to me and wrapped me in his arms.
“You alright Son?” He asked. I nodded my head. I was still too shaken up to speak. My own mother
had slapped me and Reverend Baker had hit me in the side.
Just then the phone began ringing. I walked over and picked it up, expecting it to be my mother
calling with some final words.
“Corey.” It was Charlie. She sounded frantic. “I’ll pick you up in ten minutes. Something’s
happened to Adrian.”