A Chance At Love (Camp Nanowrimo Winner 2014)(boyxboy)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

The week flew by with Chloe and Jack making my life at school a living hell. I was no longer welcome at the jock table, even though I was still the starting quarterback, but I was not used to not having any friends. Jason seemed to be at a loss for words with all that was going on. Jack was going around bad mouthing me whenever he could. But what was the most concerning, was that Chloe was insinuating that I was gay because I had never tried anything with her, not even a kiss. 

Jack had even taken to being rough on the practice field and I could tell that it was starting to piss the Coach off. 

"Jack, what are you trying to do? Kill our quarterback? Knock it off, I don't care that you're mad at him, but leave it off the field. You're a team, act like it!" Coach bellowed after Jack had attacked me for the fifth time that practice. 

I had gotten to the point that in order to avoid Jack and his cronies, I would wait until everyone else had left before taking my shower. Unfortunately, this particular day that was a bad idea because when I got out to my car it had been vandalized. All of the tires had been slashed, the doors had been keyed, and the words "faggot" and "queer" had been written all over the windows, including the windshield. 

I was not looking forward to telling my parents about it. I had been able to keep from them the name-calling, being knocked around the hallways when going to class, but this wasn't something that I could hide. I pulled out my phone and called AAA before I called my mom to come and get me. Thankfully, she had the day off so I knew that she would be at home. 

"Mom, can you come get me?" I asked when she answered the phone. 

"What's wrong with your car?" she asked. 

"Well, apparently someone thought that it would be funny to slash my tires and write horrible things on the windows. I've already called AAA and a tow truck is on the way." 

"Ok, I'm on the way. We'll talk about this tonight," she replied before hanging up the phone. 

All I could do was wait, so I used my phone to take pictures of the damage for the insurance report that would be filed by my parents. I knew that Dad would be pissed. Thankfully, it was not too serious and most of the damage could be taken care of that day. 

About fifteen minutes later Mom pulled in at the same time as the wrecker. Once we got my car loaded, Mom and I followed the wrecker to the mechanic shop to get the tires replaced. While we were waiting I got some heavy duty cleaner to clean my windows off once the new tires had been put on. 

Once the car was ready Mom said, "I'll see you at home, Honey." 

When I got home, Mom informed me that she had ordered pizza for dinner and that Dad was on his way home. 

"Ok, Mom; I'm gonna go do my homework before dinner." 

I had no sooner gotten upstairs when my phone chirped telling me that I had received a new text message, but when I looked at the number it wasn't one that I recognized. It unnerved me, but I went ahead and opened the text. 

"It's Jason. U ok?" I was curious how he got my number. 

"I'm fine, pissed, but fine." I texted back. 

After I replied I saved his number in my phone so that I would have it later if I needed it.  

"What's wrong?" asked Jason. 

"Jack and his cronies vandalized my car today." 

"I can't believe Jack would do that," replied Jason incredulously. 

"I can, he's pissed that I broke up with Chloe." 

The next thing I knew my phone was ringing. When I checked the caller ID, I saw that it was Jason. 

"Hey man," I said as I answered the phone. 

"Whatcha doin' tomorrow?" he asked. 

"Just practice and homework. Why? What are you thinking?" I asked. 

"Well, I was hoping that we could hang out, maybe get to know each other a little better." 

"I'd like that, it seems like I am short on friends at the moment." 

"You want to hang out at my house? You could even stay for dinner," suggested Jason. 

"Sounds good to me. I gotta go; it's time for dinner. Thanks for calling." I heard the doorbell ring and knew that the pizzas were there. 

"Ok, I should probably be going as well. See ya tomorrow." There was a dial tone in my ear when I heard the front door open and close and knew that Dad was home.  

Hanging up the phone, I quickly headed downstairs because I was starving, although I was not looking forward to the conversation that I knew I was about to have with Dad. 

"What's this I hear about the car being vandalized?" Dad asked after we had all sat down to eat. 

"When I came out of practice, all four tires had been slashed, the doors were keyed, and derogatory words were written on the windows, as well as the windshield." 

"Why would someone do this to you? I thought you were popular," Dad commented. 

"Well, I was until Chloe and I broke up. Jack took it personal and has been making my life hell at school. My friends have jumped ship, well, the ones that are also friends with Jack. He's even attacking me on the field in practice. Coach jumped his ass about it today. I think that is what brought on the vandalism." 

"Why did you break up with Chloe? You guys made a cute couple," commented Mom. 

"I broke up with her because I didn't feel the same way about her that she feels for me. I wanted to end things before they got any worse. Obviously, I didn't do it in time because she has been spreading nasty rumors about me to anyone who will listen to her. Jack is pissed that I hurt his little sister and is taking her side, as any brother should. I just wish he had left my car alone.' 

"That doesn't sound like Jack, but if he did it, then I will have a word with his dad about reimbursement for the tires and getting it repainted," replied Dad. 

"I'm sure that it was him or one of his buddies, but they will never admit to it. I just want this over and done with. Oh, just so you know the new kid, Jason, invited me over to his house to hang out tomorrow and said that I could stay for dinner if that's ok with you guys. Is that alright?" I asked. 

"Sure, just be home before it gets too late and make sure that your homework is completed," Mom said with a chuckle. 

*** 

After dinner, I headed back up to my room and decided to get online to surf the net for a research project for school. However, I couldn't get my mind off of Jason. I finally gave up after a couple of hours. I tried to think about some of the girls at school, but none of them did anything for me and I knew that with Chloe bad mouthing me, no one would give me a second look. No one is going to date someone that is accused of being gay, besides, I wanted to get my head around what I was looking for before getting into another relationship.  

I finally decided that it was time to go to sleep and that I would deal with everything the next day. I hoped that it would allow me to start fresh, but I doubted it.