The library wasn't crowded, though a few kids were around. Chance pointed me to the computers, and I moved toward the back tables that held them. Sitting down, Chance sat in the seat beside me, carefully not touching the computers, I noticed. I hid my grin from him. He sure was paranoid about this computer thing.
"Okay, what do we need to look for?" I asked him.
"Newspaper articles. December 14th, two years ago," he replied. "We want anything that mentions the name Dominic Hale."
"Got it," I said as I started typing. It took me a minute to find the right search engine for this through the school's internet provider. They had the internet on this system pretty restricted.
"So what's with your interest in this kid?" I asked him as I typed.
"I knew him," Chance replied. I remembered him saying that before. "Pretty well, actually. Everybody said it was a suicide. Even the cops said so. I have two problems with this. First, like I said I knew Dominic and he would never have killed himself. He was depressed a lot, sure, and was picked on all the time, but he was a tough kid. He wouldn't have given up like that." I nodded. That made sense to me.
"And second," he continued, "who kills themselves by cooking themselves in an oven? I mean really, there have got to be easier, less painful ways to go." I gave him a half-smile.
"You have a point," I answered, "I can definitely think of a few easier ways to do that." Chance looked at me sharply and I laughed.
"Don't worry, I can't die yet," I told him, "I haven't even had my first kiss." His sharp look suddenly became a flirtatious grin.
"I can help with that, you know."
"Easy there, tiger," I laughed. "I don't swing that way, remember?"
"I don't know, if you're not into a girl as hot as Jennifer, there may be hope for me yet," he retorted. I made a face at him.
"Shh!" came the stern whisper of the librarian. Chance and I looked at each other and snickered quietly.
"Yeah, keep it down," Chance whispered. I was about to reply, but something caught my attention.
"Wait, here we go," I said as the incredibly slow internet search came back with a hit. Wow, this school needed a lot more than just light rewiring. This was dial-up slow. "We have one here from the county paper. Let's see what we've got." I loaded it up and began reading from the article.
"'Turnbridge Tragedy'. Catchy headline," I joked. Chance's eyes were locked on the page though, so I continued. "Fourteen year old Dominic Hale was found dead Thursday morning by Turnbridge Middle School cafeteria workers, after having turned on and then locked himself into the school's large bread oven.
"According to school authorities, Dominic was a normally happy boy, though he had recently become depressed after having attempted to come out to his parents. Picked on by his peers for his sexual orientation, he had sought the counsel of a local minister, who has regretfully admitted that his attempts to console the boy had been unsuccessful...'" I tapered off and looked at Chance. "He was gay, too." I said. Chance nodded.
"Yeah. His parents didn't take it well. It was pretty hard on him," he replied.
"Is that how you knew him?" I asked, unsure if I should be more specific and ask if they'd been together. Chance shook his head though.
"No, I knew him before either of us knew we were gay." I nodded, but I watched him closely.
"That's why you want to find out what really happened," I realized out loud. Chance looked at me.
YOU ARE READING
Without Chance
Teen FictionRyan had lost everything. His mother recently died of cancer, and his father had completely shut down after her death. His father even dragged him away from the city he'd grown up in, forcing him to leave all of his friends to move to a tiny, backwa...
