6 Chasing Canaries
Chapter 1

The cheerleader uniform fabric stretched a bit as Becky's chest expanded, then retracted as her sigh whistled faintly through perfectly symmetrical nostrils.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Of their own volition, Chet's eyebrows arched with skepticism. "Oh?"

She had expressionless eyes; or was the careful suppression ... the expression?

"I'm sorry you feel bad about it," she said. "I had fun. But I have to go."

She made a quick heel spin; then he watched her escape down the high school hallway as the warning bell for the first class of the day rang out. He sensed the curious glances from passersby. He could almost feel the viral spreading of the news through the student body –

Did you hear Chet cheated on his girlfriend, Lori, at Becky's party this weekend? Becky slept with the head-cheerleader's boyfriend behind her back, pass the word...

Images flashed through Chet's mind. He could remember Becky's face reflected in the mirror over the bathroom sink in her parent's bathroom; grinning. The party's volume kept rising outside the door; he felt the music vibrating the floor under the soles of his feet as he thrust into her. Hanging onto her hips for balance, his head spun from the ... what had he been drinking?

What had he been thinking?

He decided there was music he had to face of a different kind...

"I'm sorry," Chet blurted to Lori a few minutes later in a nearby hallway. "I don't think you should be with me any more."

No one had known why Lori, the head cheerleader and past homecoming queen, had inexplicably chosen to date Chet in the first place. He figured somewhere they were already starting to build a monument to his stupidity for this. But he felt he had to do the right thing now, belated as it was.

Her eyes had such beautiful blue irises; the white pools surrounding them had gone impossibly wide.

"But ... why?" she asked.

'Why?' indeed. He'd been asking himself that non-stop since he'd staggered out of Becky's house.

"Becky said you'd understand, but I know there's no excuse."

Her eyes showed her confusion. "'No excuse for what? What happened, Chet?"

He couldn't say it. She would hear all about it soon enough, anyway. In fact he could see Darlene, another member of the squad, hurrying up to Lori. She pulled up short with an angry glare when she spotted Chet.

To make matters worse he noticed Rhonda, one of his oldest friends, standing close by, watching carefully.

"Look ... just, don't get back together with Tommy, okay?" he said hurriedly, starting to back away as tears came to his eyes. "The guy's an ass. All he wants is..."

He stopped himself, realizing how completely ridiculous his words were, coming from a cheater. "Well, he's even more of an ass than I am," he said lamely.

Lori looked like she was going to protest again when Darlene stepped forward and put a hand on Lori's arm, startling her. Lori saw Darlene's hateful look at Chet, and turned back to him, understanding and incredulity beginning to form.

He turned away before she could say anything more, fully feeling the role of the fleeing coward.

Coach's hands were knuckles down on the hardwood desk supporting the considerable weight of his barreled chest; Chet's playbook was centered between them.

"Coach, I've got a scholarship to play baseball at Carolina, not football. Who knows, I could even get drafted by the pros some day. I can't have somebody fall on me in a football game and fuck all that up."

"I heard you broke up with the head cheerleader, now this. What are you, gay?"

Chet clenched his eyes closed for a moment, the muscles on his jaw line bulging. The school grapevine had even reached the football coach, although the 'Chet's gay' mutation was an interesting twist. Maybe since he was a straight A student, people without all the facts were looking for a reason other than stupidity.

Quitting the football team was something he'd discussed at length with Lori the week before. He wasn't sure he could have resolved to do it without her support. God, I'm an idiot... he thought, not for the first or last time that day.

Coach slowly sank back into his chair. "And what the hell is this thing about wanting to be a trainer? Kid, as accepting as I might be of your new lifestyle, you will get your ass kicked if you quit the team and then want to come to practice to tape guys up."

"I'm not gay, Goddamn it! I'm planning to study sports medicine in pre-med at college."

"Oh. Well if you're not gay, you sure are stupid. Why that girl ever asked you out was the biggest mystery in school history."