“Dude you should have been there last night at my place. Me and Rachel and Nadine watched that stupid movie and I got to wrestle with Rachel. She’s a tough chick man but I had a chubby the whole time and at one point I let her pin me to the ground. She sat right on my dick,” Brad told the story in a hushed but excited way as they stood at William’s locker. William faked a smile. It was their lives and they could do whatever they wanted but there was still something sleazy about the whole notion. Maybe Rachel was a slut or else Brad took advantage of her or maybe neither and they both wanted it.
“Sounds fun,” William said. He let his books fall with a clunk to the back of his locker before pulling on his bag and closing the door. “You’ll have to invite me over next time and not after I’ve already got plans.”
“Aw harsh,” Brad said. “You could have come over though. What were you doin’ beatin’ your meat to some porn at the school library? Dude check your fuckin’ messages every once in a while.”
“I checked my messages but I was busy.”
“So then you didn’t want to come over and if you didn’t want to come over then don’t blame me for missing out. But it was hot though. Rachel wants my dick.”
They began to walk.
“I’m sure she does. Everyone wants your dick.”
“That’s sick dude but kind of flattering,” Brad replied.
They separated at the next intersection and William was making his way to Trig class when he spotted Shane standing outside a classroom with a t-shirt that said, “Straight as an Arrow” and had a curved arrow underneath the words. He was about to look away when Shane waved to him so he nodded his head back in acknowledgment but kept walking.
After dinner the night before William had been up until midnight talking with Shane on messenger and trading MP3’s. They both were doing their homework at the same time so it was sporadic at times but for both of them it was the longest they had talked to a friend in years. Shane had mentioned he was going to try and be provocative the next day but he wouldn’t say what he was going to do. That’s provocative alright, William thought as he entered class.
Four hours later and William was in the locker room changing before practice. He had always found his own remote corner to change away from the rest of the guys. Most of them liked to talk and goof around with each other in the locker room. Some guys liked to walk around in their underwear and some liked to walk around naked while others just liked to tease everyone else and of course there was the hazing of the smallest guy, usually a freshman but sometimes it was even an unpopular senior. It was a good day when none of that happened but rarely did anyone say anything to William in the locker room. Even Brad who had once changed with him in a bathroom stall at a water park found his own place in the locker room.
Once he was dressed he stretched a little before closing the locker door and spinning the combination lock for security. When he made his way out to the court he thought for a moment that Rodney had called in sick and he was happy to have another day, another week without something being said. At least not anything more than what Nadine had said. But had she really said anything?
But then there he was aligned with the rest of the guys in front of coach. William took his place in line and readied himself for the coach’s instructions. He was ready to block out any fear when he heard someone laughing at the end of the line and he looked down to see Rodney nudging the guy next to him and gesturing down to William. At least it could have been to him or it might as well have been to him.
“That’s enough,” coach said. “Alright I want all thirty-two of you to stretch.”
William followed his routine until the coach told them all to stop.
“I want you to dash to the opposite end of the court and back. Twenty times. The loser gets to be the captain of the skins during practice.”
William gulped and looked down to Rodney who only stared straight ahead. He missed when the coach said to start and found himself running behind everyone else. Got to make up time, he told himself, and he began to run at double speed finding some renewed energy in some sense of desperation. He passed both guys on either side of him and found himself almost breaking away from them but he only managed to maintain a lead until finally the coach’s whistle blew. He stopped and the guys near him stopped as well. Even though he had run as hard as he could he feared the coach would still pick him but he was glad when he pointed out one of the freshman players was last and had to be the captain of the skins.
He was ready to rejoin his teammates when he felt the coach smack him on the butt and say, “good hustle out there. Better than I’ve seen you for some time.” He walked a little slower but joined his teammates. The guys broke into two teams and those with the slower runner quickly pulled off their shirts. William was glad he wasn’t on their team. He made his way with the rest of his group to the other end of the court where the captain picked out the starting players. He was happy Rodney was also on his side and put on the bench which meant they would spend little time on the court together. He took up his post as power forward and was ready to play until just before tip-off he saw Rodney gesturing his way again breaking his concentration. He didn’t see the tipoff and he didn’t see the ball which hit him squarely in the eye causing him to stumble back. It was such a shock that he barely had time to register the pain. Instead he turned and watched to his embarrassment as one of the skins dribbled the ball down the court and scored with an easy layup.
“When I tell you to keep your eye on the ball that’s not what I mean Stone. Now get after it.”
William looked to the coach still dazed from the hit.
“Alright you’re out Stone. Dillan get in there. Come on Stone hit the bench.”
William followed the orders and made his way to the bench where he sat at the far end away from Rodney. He leaned forward on his knees and tried to shake out the cobwebs.
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