The Little Things [Book 1]

Chapter Fourteen: Foul

"Hey, Rach, do you know why Mark has been skipping classes?" Thomas asked as Monday rolled in.

It had been almost a week since the last time Thomas had seen him, during the first game of the season. Rachel turned to look over at the empty side of the table that Mark normally sat on. She bit her lower lip and let out a sad breath.

"Dad said he's not coming due to some health-related issue," she said with a small shrug. "It must be something serious because normally he doesn't excuse four days of absence".

"Wasn't he there during the match?" Dean asked while stuffing the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth.

"Yeah, he said he would come to practice to show us the pictures..." Thomas replied.

"He never showed up?" Rachel asked him, very interested now.

"He didn't come to class. You think he'd come to practice?" Blake interfered. Rachel turned to him.

"I was there when he told Thomas. He said he needed your guys' permission for using some of the photos. He wouldn't not come," Rachel said.

"Come on Rach," Dean started, "we barely know the guy. Promises to him might not mean anything".

She disagreed, but she remained silent. While Mark did look like an asshole, she knew that he wouldn't break a promise so easily. Oh, she could see through his act. She knew more about him than they all thought. The whole tough guy act was just that; an act. Rachel Chevrolet knew that Mark McGregor was a man of his word. Whatever was going on, it must have been really important for Mark to disappear for six days straight.

***

To say that Thomas was worried would be an understatement. It would be yet another understatement of the fucking year. While for the past two, maybe three, weeks Thomas had been unable to sleep due to dreams featuring Mark, now he stayed up late thinking about why Mark had gone AWOL. He was getting paranoid at this point.

Maybe Hal had paid him a visit and finished what he had started. Maybe he had run away for some reason. What if he found Jack and something had happened? What if he and William had run off and eloped? Or maybe Mark had had a car crash and died.

No. If Mark had had a car crash the rumor mill would have snuff that out. Everyone would be talking about it. Whatever had happened with Mark was a well-kept secret.

Why did he even worry about Mark? They weren't friends, were they? No, Mark had made it pretty clear every time he pointed it out.

Would he show up for this match? Probably not. He hadn't come to classes, why would he come to a stupid soccer match.

Stupid?

It was not like Thomas wanted to see Mark. He didn't care about him. He didn't. He didn't? No, he cared. Of course he cared. Thomas couldn't sleep because of that asshole. It was clear to him that he cared for the guy.

Because he was gay? Was that why he cared? Thinking about it, Thomas realized he didn't know any other gay guys besides Mark. Sure, there were some actors and singers, but he wasn't really a music kind of guy and he mostly watched soccer matches. Were there any gay soccer players?

Could he be gay? That question often lingered in his mind. It was like a goddamn parasite. Whenever he seemed to forget it, some kind of entity brought it back and it was driving him mad. On one hand, he didn't think he was. Weren't most gay men not interested in sports? Why would he be an exception? On the other hand, he was sure that was totally a stereotype. Not all gay people like the same things. And he couldn't possibly be the only exception. So maybe he was gay.

Gay for Mark? Or gay in general? No other guy seemed to have the influence Mark had on him. He had never looked at Dean or Blake or Bryan that way. He had never sneaked a peek at anyone in the changing rooms. He had caught himself starring at Mark, but he didn't know if he did it in want.

Ugh, he didn't know.

Why did this have to be so difficult? Why could he just wake up on day and know whether he was straight, or gay, or pan, or whatever? Actually no. Why did he even think he was straight to begin with? It's not like he had ever felt attracted to girls.

"So what if I'm gay, right?" he said to himself as he looked into the bathroom's mirror. "I'm not going to start changing the way I dress and talk and act. Am I...?"

Exhaling, he finished washing up and quickly got dressed. As usual, Dean was parked in front of Thomas's house, with Bryan already in the car. Their next stop was Rachel's and then they would be off to school.

"Hey, get this," Bryan greeted Thomas as he sat down in the front passenger's seat. "How do you feel about us getting a cheerleading team?"

"With girls?" Thomas asked him with a frown.

"Hell yeah with girls!" Bryan's enthusiasm, as always, was too much for Thomas's liking.

"He's been going on about this ever since I picked him up," Dean muttered exhausted.

"I don't know Bryan, how would you find girls for a team?" Thomas asked him, laughing at Dean's expense.

"Thank you for asking!" Bryan said and gripped Thomas's seat. Just then, Dean pulled up and Rachel climbed inside.

"Hey, guys. What are you talking about?" she said with a smile.

"Cheerleaders," Dean replied, bored with the subject.

"We would have to have tryouts for them. We can't just have any girl join. We need to make sure that they are passionate and flexible enough for the job," Bryan replied to Thomas's question.

"Yeah, I bet you would love to know that," Dean said under his breath, causing Thomas to snort amused.

"No, no, you don't get it. Cheerleading is a very hard sport. It demands people who are focused and driven. We can't have just any pretty girl in our team," Bryan snapped.

"Bryan..." Rachel dragged, ready to complain but as soon as they entered the building she stopped talking because Mira ran towards them.

"Have you seen Mark?" she asked them out of breath.

"No, he's been skipping for the past week..." Rachel said, but now Mira looked even more crazed.

"No, I mean have you seen him? He's here. He's in school. And oh god, you haven't seen him?" At this point she was not making any sense to them.

"Hey, Mira, relax. It's okay," Dean started but she cut him off.

"No, it's not fucking okay!" the girl yelled. "You're in the same English class with him, right? You'll see him there..." she said and decided to walk off.

"What the fuck was that about?" Blake asked them, just now joining them. After a few shrugs, Bryan went back to their original subject of conversation. Apparently, Blake agreed with him on the idea being brilliant.

A/N: No, I wasn't late with this update... you're late... shut up...