Starting Over

Eric stayed over that night and him, Tj, Steven and I stayed up most of the night talking and joking around. We all fell asleep in the upstairs family room. Me and Steven on the couch and Tj, and Eric curled up together on the love seat. When we awoke, we found sheets on all of us. We assumed mom and dad put them on us. We all got up and went to our rooms, to use the bathroom and get dressed, when Tj and Eric went into his room Steven couldn't resist.

"If you two aren't out in ten minutes I am calling the fire department" with that Steven busted out laughing and I was giggling. Tj just shot us a grin and the middle finger and closed his door.

We all meet downstairs and ate breakfast, then went over to Eric's house. We stayed there for a few minutes then went out walking.

Later that day mom and dad took me shopping. I couldn't believe all of the stuff they bought me, all new clothes, games, roller blades, books, even a computer for my room, just like Steven and Tj had. I was going to have my own phone line as well. It turns out that Steven and Tj, also had there own phone line, and there was a separate one in dads office, but his and moms room had the main house phone in it. I would share all of the other games in the game room with Steven and Tj, I didn't mind at all.

We got home, put up all of my new stuff, and put my computer together. I didn't bother to ask what mom and dad did but now I was curious. I walked downstairs to the living room and saw them on the couch cuddling together. When I walked in I was kinda nervous, they could tell.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Mom asked me.

"Well I hope you won't be made but I wasn't wondering. Today is Tuesday and I haven't seen either of you go to work anywhere. I was just wondering what you two did. I hope you're not mad." I said with my head down. Dad just chuckled.

"No son we are not mad. That is very good of you to observe that. Well if you must know, you know that restaurant that we ate at last week and the week before when we came and got you?" he asked. I nodded my head. "Well, we own that. We also own several clothes shops and computer stories. That is how we could go in and get you all of that stuff. The slips of paper that you saw me and your mom signing weren't bills. They were for the inventory, so they know what we took and can write it off." he said smiling at me. I couldn't believe it. WOW.

"So you mean you own all of those different places?"I couldn't believe it. They looked at me and sorta frowned I was scared I just messed up.

"No son we don't, WE ALL do, that includes you. You would still have to have one of us with you or at least have us call if you were to go there to get anything, but you are also one of the owners as well." I got tears in my eyes and hugged them.

"Thank you" was all I could get out.

Two months later was the beginning of the school year. I was terrified. I mean it has been what, just over 2 years since I was in middle school. I was going to go to the private school that Steven and Tj were to go to, called Pines Academy. I took a tour of it last month and it's a pretty good school, nice and big and well kept. I really didn't care if I go to public or private but since Steven and Tj were going to Pines, I was advised to go but, they still asked me what I thought, so I took my chance and said ok.

When they enrolled me, the school had me take a placement exam. I knew I couldn't do too well, but I wanted to do better than average. It was a week later when the results came back. I was to be in about 3 advanced classes and the rest regular classes, mom and dad sure were proud and I was scared stiff. As it turns out, Pines Academy was from grades k-12 but I was still going to be separated into the middle school part of the school, at least I knew Steven and Tj were going to be there.

School started and was terrified we really didn't have a massive dress code, just slacks, and a button-up shirt. I could handle that. The cool thing was on Friday's was jeans day and re could wear jeans and a regular shirt, now I could diffidently handle that one.

My first day of school was somewhat scary. Not knowing anyone and still learning what was going on around the school. I meet a few people but, because of my shyness, not too many.

My homeroom was ok. My teacher, Mr. Barley was pretty cool, he introduced me to the class and I told them a little about myself, just that my parents died last year and I was adopted this summer. I told them I was from Virginia, but had lived down here the past 4 years. After that, I sat down and just keep quiet. A few of the boys seemed to kinda snicker at me but I didn't care, a few of the girls, on the other hand, were really nice to me, unfortunately for them, I"m gay, so I wasn't worried about it.

My first two classes were advanced English, and advanced History. I loved both of those classes from when I went to school the first time, so I knew I would love these too, BUT when I walked in, I found I was the only 7th grader in the class, with a bunch of 9th and 10th graders, now I was scared. I sat near the front and kinda keep to my self. One of the other boys snickered and made a joke about me being in the wrong class, that I should be in the kindergarten English. I was hurt and didn't say anything, but the teacher did.

"Well Jerry, the thing is that when Alex here got tested for English, he could have been in advanced English on the Senior level, but they decided to keep him with students closer to his actual age level. His scores were better than yours" with that the teacher got on her way and introduced us to Advanced English.

History was pretty much the same way with the same students, turns out that this English teacher also teaches the advanced history as well. Jerry almost made the same comment but decided against it just in case I was better then he was. We started the class in the same way as English, but this time we got into ancient Greece, my FAV subject. I just listened. I wanted to say a few things, but keep my mouth shut instead. I think that the teacher was trying to see how much we actually knew by changing a few of the dates. I finally had enough. I raised my hand, and when the teacher called on me I asked her about the dates and I told her the correct ones, some of the other kids kinda snickered about it thinking I was stupid, but Mrs. Barns just smiled.

"Your right Alex, I did change those dates to see if anyone could get the right ones. Very good." She then continued with her lesson. After those two classes were over there was a 15-minute break. I went to my locker not noticing any of the guys following me. I changed my books and turned around to see Jerry and a few of his friends there, I was scared for a minute, until Jerry smiled.

"Hey dude, sorry about that, I was just having fun. You really know all of that stuff don't you?" he just asked me. I just gave a shy smile and replied.

"Umm yeah, I love history, especially ancient history. So I made sure I knew what I needed to."

"Well, that's cool. Maybe we can all get together and study," he said holding out his hand. I was scared at first, not knowing if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe they were just trying to get to me and hurt me. I saw Mrs. Barn walk by and she just nodded and smiled at me. I shook his hand and we agreed to a study session this Friday at my house. I think they decided my house so I could learn to trust them. We all agreed and went on our way.

My next class was Algebra. I'm not really good in math, but I do ok. I wasn't really that worried about it. We did the introductions, then we talked about what we would learn that semester. After we finished the basics, the teacher let us have the rest of the time to meet each other. I was just going to sit there and not do anything till one of the boys in my class came up and started talking to me. He said he saw me talking to Jerry, Ricky, and James and was wondering how I knew them. I told him, he couldn't believe it. I was a 7th grader in advanced History and English. Well, that kinda spread around by lunch, and everyone thought I was some kinda of a brainiac. If only they knew the truth.

My fourth class was Advanced Geography. Turns out that Mrs. Barns's sister teaches that one in the same classroom as my advance history class AND most of the same students were there as well. When I walked in Jerry saw me and his eyes got kinda big, but He just kinda snickered and pointed to a seat by him, Ricky and James. I took my seat and we chatted a little about where I came from. I was finally making friends. Mrs. Barnes came in, saw me and smiled. She had heard about me from her sister and liked the fact that I was in this class and was making some friends. After class was lunch. I ate with Jerry, along with Ricky and Jame. We all had the same lunch and they asked me to join them. I accepted and we went into the cafeteria. We got our lunch and then sat down to eat. I saw Steven and Tj walk in with some of there friends including Tj's boyfriend, Erick They saw me and couldn't believe I was around a bunch of 9th graders talking and having fun. They smiled at me and waved. I waved back.

"Who are you waving to Alex?" Ricky asked. I pointed to Steven and Tj, and there friends.

"Those are my brothers, Steven and Tj. the only one I know out of there group is Eric, the boy standing by Tj," I said. They said that was cool and James got up to get us a soda. When he came back he was talking to Steven. Turns out he asked them to join us. Most of the cafeteria kinda quieted down seeing a bunch of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th graders all talking, like it was something new to them. I was kinda nervous. "Umm guys what is going on? Why are people staring at us?" I asked visibly shaking. Jerry just put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry little dude, they aren't used to seeing this many different grades sitting and talking together. Most of them think that whatever grade you are in, is who you should stick with" he said, patting me on the back. I just nodded my head and we kept talking. I saw this one boy just sitting there and not doing anything but reading and eating. He seemed to be about Tj's age. Maybe a year or so younger and shorter than he was. He seemed kinda quiet, but I didn't think too much of it at the time.

We all joked and kidded with each other. They REALLY let into me about being a brainiac and stuff. I just blushed and shrugged it off. A few minutes later the bell rang and we headed to our next class. For me, that was gym. I was really scared now, having to shower in front of the other boys. Afraid I was going to get hard looking at them. Turns out that Steven, Tj, Eric, James Ricky and myself all had the same gym class, Jerry went to Physics. At least I knew a few people in there. We all sat down and talked until the gym teacher came in. He went over the rules and the fact that we were to ALL shower no matter what. We had to. I was kinda nervous and the teacher told all of the new boys there not to worry, we all had the same thing. Yes, some boys do get erections and that it is normal and they should NOT be teased because of it. I sighed a sigh of relief and saw Tj, Eric, and Steven looking at me and knowing why I sighed. We didn't do anything that day, except talk about the class and how things went.

My next class was Biology. I was actually in a regular, 9th-grade Biology class (what can I say, I was too advanced for physical science) the only person I knew in there was Ricky, at least I knew someone in there. We sat by each other and I got ribbed again, but Ricky took care of that, telling them how smart I was and I actually made some cool friends.

After Biology I went to Computer typing, now here is where everything REALLY paid off. I was really good at computers. I was considered a hacker. We went over all of the rules once again, and after about 10 minutes we took a typing test. We had 5 minutes to finish it and I was through in about 2 and a half. The teacher came up to me to see why I was finished and kinda just stared at the screen.

"Where did you learn to type so fast?" she asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders and looked at my hands in my lap. She patted me on the back. "Well, where ever it was, you are good." She then went around and saw how everyone else was doing. She told us what we should read in our books to get ready for the semester. We were allowed to talk the last 15 minutes of class, then the bell rang to go home. I went to my locker and got out my books that I needed for homework. Now, this is messed up. What teacher gives out homework on the first day.

I went outside to wait on Tj, and Steven, when Jerry and the gang walked out. They saw me, waved, then headed to the parking lot. I guess one of them had a car. A few minutes later, Steven and Tj walked out. We talked about our day and how things went. Mom finally pulled up and we headed home. We told her one at a time about our day. She was happy that we all had a good time and made some new friends as well as rekindled some old friendships. She said she was VERY proud of me for trying to make friends, and succeeding. I told her about Rick, Jerry, and James and about us studying together this Friday if it was all right with her. She said that was fine. I just smiled back. We got home, changed to after school clothes, did our homework and then played in the game room till dinner was ready. Dad got home and we told him about our day as well. He was happy for us and was glad we all made new friends. He told us about the restaurants and stores and what had been happening. After dinner, we took our baths or showers and got ready for bed. We watched TV for a while then finally went to bed. I didn't think I could sleep. I was SO excited, but I was able to fall asleep quite easily

That first week blew by, making friends and everyone sitting together at the table like we did that first day. I was having a blast. Then Friday came. We were waiting after school for mom, we knew she was going to be late. She had already told us. I saw the boy that I had seen that first day that was sitting by himself in the cafeteria, being chased by three other boys. I saw this, and saw RED. When Burt got me, I was shocked. I couldn't react, but this was different. I started running after them, Steven saw me take off, and him and Tj followed. I saw them push the boy down and kick him. Some of the other kids that were left over were yelling about the fight. I ran through them and into the open.

"Leave him alone," I said. They stopped and looked at me. The bigger one just saw red.

"Get out of here brainiac, this doesn't concern you, only the FAG here," he said pointing to the boy.

"Why are you beating him up?" I asked again. The older boy was starting to really get annoyed now, and faced me again.

"If you must know, it's because he's a FAG! And if you know what is best for you, yourself, you'll just leave."

"No, you're just assuming he's gay...I have an idea, if you want to beat up a real fag, then beat me up." `Did I just say that!?` Everyone turned to look at me. "Yeah, that's right, I'm gay. So what are you going to do about it?" I said, just staring him down.

"Boys, let the shrimp go," he said. The other two let him fall to the ground.

"Get out of here man, NOW!" I said. The boy crawled to the other side. I saw someone helping him up, I noticed it was Jerry. He just kinda stared at me. I gave him a half smile and then turned back to the advancing boys coming towards me. I took my stance. They saw this and chuckled, they started to run towards me. I was able to kick the leader in the nuts and he went down hard. When he was on his knees I took my knee and got him in the nose. Now he didn't know which was in more pain, his nuts or nose.

The other two saw this, and at first, didn't know what to do. But they decided to try and get me at once. They came at me and I did a roundhouse, kicking one into the other and they both went down, HARD. I knocked one of them out at least. The third got up and saw me and decided to get me on his own. He threw a punch and I blocked it. I grabbed him with one hand and went down on with his back over my knee and him looking upside down. I had one hand around his wrist and another over his shoulder.

"I can break both in less than a second. Do you understand me?" I asked him. He was too scared to speak. He just nodded and took a deep gulp of air. "Good, now if I see you bothering him again or hurting anyone else, I, WILL come after you myself. I HATE to fight, and because of YOU MORONS, I just outed myself to the school." I said looking at everyone in the circle. No one said anything. "I may have lost ALL of my friends because of you but you know what, I DON'T care. I HATE bullies." With that, I dropped him on the ground,, grabbed my book bag and started to walk back to the school grounds where I saw mom waiting. I just started running to the Navigator and jumped in the back seat. Steven and Tj jumped in as well. I didn't know they were right behind me. I just started sobbing and didn't know what to do. I was SO upset and scared. Mom asked what was going on and Steven told her. She looked at me astounded.

"I didn't know you could do Martial Arts," she said.

"When Burt hit me, I was too stunned to do anything. And by the time I could you all came in. I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to out myself. They just made me SO mad. I couldn't help it. OH GOD, I don't have any friends anymore, I'm all alone again." I just sobbed out. Tj, unhooked his seat belt and hugged me.

"You still got us," he said giving me a hug. I just hugged him back and cried harder. When we got home we all got out, I saw dad's SUV in the driveway. I knew he was home. I ran to the door almost knocking him over when he opened it. I ran straight upstairs, slammed and locked my door. I through my book bag down and laid on the bed crying. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have any more friends. I knew I had Steven and Tj, hell even Eric, but by Monday, it would be all over school, what I did, and what I am.