Chapter Four

Chris pushed open the big door leading into the locker room. Before he stepped inside, he heard a familiar voice calling his name. He spun around to see none other than Jonathan bustling down the hallway towards him.

“Jay, what are you doing here?” he asked, still holding the door open.

“My gym and lunch got switched,” Jonathan explained as he stopped in front of Chris. “So I guess we're in the same class.”

“You have lunch next?” Jonathan nodded, and Chris grinned the cheesiest grin he possible could have. “This is so awesome!!!” He almost jumped up and down and smothered Jonathan with a hug, but he decided against it when he remembered that his hand had continued to be attached to the door of the locker room. So instead, he walked in and past a large group of boys gathered by a wall of lockers. Jonathan was close behind, watching his feet as he made his way through.

“Better cover up, boys, don't want Queer checking out your junk.”

Jonathan was so shocked when he heard it that he nearly dropped dead of a heart attack. But he looked up, and saw that Chris merely shot a condescending smile in their direction and kept going. Jonathan quickened his pace a bit to catch up to Chris as they walked towards the stalls in the back.

“Chris, you're just gonna let them talk to you like that?” Chris stopped and turned, not looking fazed in the least.

“Oh, please, Jay,” he said, “have you seen these guys? They're a bunch of stupid jocks, who cares what they say?”

“If you're sure,” Jonathan unhappily muttered. He walked into the stall beside Chris's and began to change into his gym clothes. He of course never really believed that Chris could deal with everything on his own, and he wondered if there was a specific reason then that Chris chose to change in the stall.

But he didn't dare ask, and he didn't even say another word to Chris until they were in the gymnasium itself. They stood to the side nearly up against the wall, waiting for the coach to finish roll call.

“So, I was thinking that maybe I'd stop by Kirsten's after school today and see Ty,” Chris said to Jonathan, restlessly swinging his arms about. “Since I haven't seen him in, like, a week. No, it's been longer than a week, hasn't it?”

“You haven't seen him since Devon came back, at least, and that was nearly a week ago,” Jonathan replied.

“Yeah, so it's been a while.”

“Everyone gather up here, please,” the coach called, gesturing to the center of the room. The students all moved and sat down as directed. “Because it's the first day back from break, we're just going to be playing kickball. I think you all know how to do that. What we need is for two volunteers to be captains. Anyone?”

Naturally, the hands that raised were those of the more athletic kids. The coach picked the most predictable two, and they stood in front of the rest as they began to pick their teams.

“Uh... Jonathan,” the one kid said, about two minutes in. Jonathan was a tad surprised that anyone would pick him; he figured that he'd just be part of those left to be assigned a team by the coach. As he stood up and walked over to the line, he and Chris exchanged glances, and Chris shrugged and gave him a smile.

The other captain was conversing with one of his teammates, trying to reach a decision on who to pick next. Their eyes scanned the group before them, and as they stopped on one kid they smirked and laughed.

The kid who was captain started to motion with his hand as he said, “Come on, Queer, you're on our team.”

“Thomas,” the coach warned, and in turn Thomas shot an apologetic look in his direction. Chris quickly joined them, waving at Jonathan as he stopped behind the last person in the line. Jonathan waved back, rather disappointed that they weren't on the same team. It didn't help, either, that he knew no one else in the class besides Chris.

Slowly, the rest of the students were put onto teams until there were none left and that was when the game finally began. Jonathan's team was up to kick first, so he basically was able to stand there until enough of the people ahead of him got out.

The teams switched sides, and Chris ran past Jonathan, tapping him on the arm and smiling. Jonathan stopped near one of the bases, which he quickly realized was probably a bad idea. He continued on towards the back of the gym, where he figured that he wouldn't have to participate much.

Chris's turn had come relatively quickly, and when his foot collided with the ball, it was sent flying all the way to the back wall. Chris sprinted through the bases, making it back to home before anyone even got the chance to grab the ball. He jogged past his fellow teammates, who were all eager to try to high-five him, though even from the other side of the gym Jonathan thought he detected quite a bit of mocking.

The game and class in general went on for much longer than anyone would have liked. It surprisingly ended in a tie, as Jonathan's team had just snatched a run as the coach told them it was time to change. Of course, Jonathan's lack of athleticism did nothing to contribute to his team's success, but it was not as if he didn't at least try.

“I'm obviously just not as skilled as you are,” he said to Chris as they left the locker room, talking specifically about how he managed to kick the ball in the direction where there was only one kid standing- the ideal situation, really- yet he sent the ball right into the kid's arms.

“No, no, Jay. Anyone can run around bases. What you did- that takes skill.”

“Oh, well, if you say so,” Jonathan laughed. “I don't think it's a good skill to have, though.”

“Yeah, you'd be right in thinking that.” Chris stopped at a locker right on the corner near the end of the hallway, presumably a locker that was his. He threw his gym bag in and took out a few books, then continued to walk with Jonathan to the cafeteria. “Any idea what's for lunch today?”

“Food, probably,” Jonathan helpfully replied.

Chris shrugged and said, “Eh, good enough for me.”

Chris led the two as they walked into the cafeteria. Jonathan watched in passing as a large group of girls seated at a round table giggled in their direction. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and as he and Chris finally settled at a table he saw one of the girls stand and walk towards them.

“Do you wanna go up there with me?” Chris asked Jonathan, gesturing to the lunch line.

“Yeah, sure.”

Jonathan placed his stuff down on the table as Chris dug in his pocket for money. Out of the corner of his eyes, Jonathan saw the girl stop in front of them, heard her clear her throat.

“Excuse me, Chris?” Chris raised his eyes and saw her smiling face, her eyelashes batting like there was something stuck in her eye. “I was wondering if you finished the chemistry homework?”

A look of disappointment swept across Chris's face as he replied, “I didn't, sorry.”

“Oh. Well, thanks anyway.” The girl gave a little wave and walked away. Chris went back to looking for his money, which he found with relative ease. He walked around the table and grabbed Jonny's arm, dragging him through the crowds of people across the cafeteria.

“Who was that girl?” Jonathan asked as they stopped at the end of the line. For some reason, he suddenly felt as though his strange dreams were now reality, and he felt like he should be shielding Chris from something.

“Her name is M... hmm... shit.” Chris shook his head a little. “She sits next to me in Chemistry.”

Jonathan felt a little relieved, though he didn't know why. He tried to hold back his next words, but they wriggled free of his hold with a powerful force. “I think she likes you.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at the crazy notion that obviously had not occurred to him earlier. He thought about it for a few moments, but shrugged in the end. “It doesn't really matter to me.”

“Well, yeah. I was just thinking maybe it would be good to know, so you can... watch out... or tell her to back off,” Jonny mumbled. He scuffed his shoes against the dirty floor and mentally smacked himself for acting like he did.

The boys moved up a little in the line, silent and a tiny bit awkward. Chris played with the money he held in his hand. Jonathan watched for a while, with nothing better to do. At one point, Chris quickly looked up and around the room, then he gasped rather loudly.

“What is it?” Jonathan asked, trying to see what Chris was gasping at.

“Over there,” Chris said, tilting his head and turning to face Jonathan. “Look who it is.”

Jonathan tried his hardest to locate to person Chris was referring to, but he had no luck. Chris stared anxiously at the wall behind Jonathan, waiting until it was safe to turn back around.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Jonathan told him. Chris spun and scanned the area where he'd seen the offender before.

“He's gone,” Chris said with a sigh of relief. Then he looked at Jonathan, and Jonathan almost immediately knew the answer just by the expression in Chris's eyes. “James was over there. I forgot he's in this lunch.”

“Oh,” Jonathan meagerly replied. “Sorry.”

Chris nodded. “It's OK. After all, it's not like I own the cafeteria,” he added with a laugh.

Chris gave Jonathan a reassuring smile then looked down at his own feet. Jonathan felt like he should say something as he watched Chris go back to playing with his money. But, as he had done plenty of times before, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

The line moved rather quickly, and within five minutes Chris and Jonathan were sitting back down at their table, trays of food resting in their hands. Chris shoved his books to the side and set his tray down.

“I still don't know what's for lunch,” he joked. “This looks like it could be anything.”

“It probably is anything and everything,” Jonathan laughed. “But as long as it satisfies my hunger, right?”

Chris laughed along, and the two began to eat. Then another person slid into the seat beside Chris.

“Hey, Chris,” a new voice spoke. It came from a boy with dark brown hair flipped to the left and covering his dark brown eyes. The right side of his bottom lip was pierced with a small hoop. Chris looked up at him and swallowed the food he'd been chewing.

“Hey, Damien,” Chris said. Jonathan decided that he was going to need to make a list of all the names of the new people he was meeting today. Even though there hadn't been that many yet, he figured he was going to have trouble keeping track of them all. “How was your break?”

“It was all right,” Damien coolly replied. “Got to stay home and sleep in for two weeks. How was yours?”

“It was good,” Chris smiled. “Jonathan,” he gestured across the table, “and I played a lot of video games. Um... I got a hair cut. That was about it.”

“Oh, yeah. My mum keeps telling me I need to cut my hair. I think she can go fu-” Damien trailed off and cleared his throat, as he noticed a teacher walking by, shooting him a nasty look.

“I think your hair looks fine,” Chris shrugged, and he returned to eating his lunch.

“Yeah, tell that to my mum.” Damien sighed and looked over at Jonathan. With a quick nod, he asked, “What's your name, again?”

“Jonathan.”

Something in Damien's mind clicked and his eyes lit up with remembrance. “Oh, right, Chris talks about you a lot. It's nice to meet you.”

“It's nice to meet you, too,” Jonathan unenthusiastically replied, “Damien, is it? I don't think I've heard Chris mention you before.”

“Ah, what a shame. Well, I better get back to my table. See you later, man,” he said to Chris, tapping his arm lightly as he stood up.

“See you,” Chris brightly replied. He watched as Damien walked away, and Jonathan watched Chris. “Right, what were we talking about before?”

“Uh... the food?” Jonathan replied.

“Oh, yeah. Well, after eating half of it, I'm not entirely convinced it actually is food.” Chris twisted his mouth at the tray and moved his fork around a bit. Then, almost out of nowhere, he suddenly asked, “Jay, will you come with me after school? To see Ty, I mean.”

“Sure,” Jonathan automatically replied. “Wait, is it because of Devon?”

Chris glanced up at Jonathan. “He still scares me,” he quietly said.

Jonathan smiled a little and nodded. “Sure, I'll come with you.”

As promised, Jonathan did indeed accompany Chris to the familiar blue house. Jonathan had planned on returning home first, but Chris was so eager that he pulled Jonathan down the sidewalk as soon as they descended from the bus.

The cold winter air pushed the boys to nearly run to their destination. When Chris knocked on the door, he thought his hand might fall off. Then they waited on the porch for a few minutes longer before the door was finally answered.

“Oh, boys!” beamed Kirsten and Devon's mother. “It's so nice to see you!”

“It's nice to see you, too, Lorraine,” Chris cheerfully replied.

“Which one are you here for?”

“Ty.”

“Right-o! Come on in.” She held the door open as Chris and Jonathan walked in. They entered the well-kept living room where Ty was resting peacefully in his carriage. Chris immediately walked over and greeted his son with a big smile.

“Tyyyy, my main man!” Chris reached into the carriage and lifted Ty out, carrying him over to the couch where they both sat down. “We have so much to discuss.

“Are you aware that it has been well over a week since I last saw you?” he asked. Of course, he didn't receive an actual answer, but that didn't matter. “In fact, I'm not even sure where I should begin with my storytelling.”

“It's not really going to matter, is it? It's not like he understands a single word you're saying,” a voice sneered. Chris looked up to find that Devon was standing behind him.

“I think he does,” Chris said. “I think he understands everything. Ty is a very smart boy, I can tell.”

“You'd think differently, I'm sure, if you actually had to live with him.” Devon swung around to the front of the couch. “Without the pleasure of being able to ignore him for weeks at a time, you'd find that he's far less tolerable than you make him out to be.”

“It's not like I purposely avoid seeing him,” Chris bitterly replied. “And, personally, I think you're just being testy.”

“Testy?” Devon incredulously repeated. Chris drew into himself a little, but he nodded. Noticing the near-angry look on Devon's face, Jonathan decided it was time to intervene.

“Devon,” he called. Devon looked up, for a moment with disgust, then changed his expression to a more pleased one. “We still have a lot to catch up on, man.”

“Right,” Devon agreed. He walked away from Chris and began to lead Jonathan out of the room. Before he left, Jonathan glanced back at Chris, who was staring at him with a most thankful countenance.

“All right, Ty, looks like it's just you and me again. No scary Uncle Devon,” Chris said. “Uh, but you shouldn't be afraid of him, though. I think he's only mean to me. He seems like he's always nice to Jay... then again, they have been friends since... forever. And I did kinda have a baby with his sister...” Chris smiled and bent his head down closer to Ty, and poked Ty's nose with his index finger. “But that baby is you, and I wouldn't trade you for the world.”

Ty cooed in return, drawing a small laugh from Chris. “Aw, how cute!” Lorraine said from behind the couch. “You know, Chris, I think you're a great father.”

Chris turned around, made speechless by the nicest compliment he had ever received. “Well, thank you.”

“And I know Mitch agrees with me,” Lorraine said, directing her voice in the vague location of the kitchen. “Isn't that right, Mitch?”

Mitch popped his head into the room and looked over at his wife. “Huh?”

“Don't you agree that Chris is a great father?” Lorraine asked.

“Oh. You are certainly a great father,” he said to Chris. “You know what would make you a better father? When you're old enough, you marry my daughter.”

“Mitch!”

“What?” Mitch innocently replied. Lorraine tilted her head towards Chris and made a face, trying to convey why she felt his statement was inappropriate. Then he suddenly realized the error of his ways. “Ohhhhh. Duh. I am so sorry.”

“Uh... it's OK,” Chris laughed. “I'm not, like, offended or anything. And I'm definitely not surprised that you would want me to marry her.”

“But you won't,” Mitch finished. Chris looked up at him apologetically and shrugged his agreement. “Well, I suppose as long as you two can raise him well enough, then there's no harm... Still, it would be nice for him to have a family that wasn't so messed up. No offense,” he quickly added.

“No, I agree,” Chris replied. He raised his arm and gently smoothed down some of Ty's dark curls. “It probably would be better for him to grow up in a stable family. But I don't think that's really possible. Ty's a strong kid, though, I think. He'll be able to handle it.”