Chapter 5

Somehow everyone at school had heard about the movie by the time I got there on Monday. Somewhat to my surprise, the reaction was mostly positive, and I had several girls intimate that they would be taping the movie when it aired. I also got a lot of questions about my black eye, mostly from people who'd been at the shoot on Sunday. I told them I fell and hit the sofa, which was technically true.

David seemed not to believe me.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Of course, I'm sure. What, do you think I just made something up to fuck with you?"

"Well, no, but it doesn't make sense how you'd just fall onto your sofa."

"I'd left a pair of shoes out, and I tripped over them. Caught the corner of the sofa with my eye."

"Oh, that really sucks."

"Yeah, I just hope it's healed by Saturday."

Tonya spoke up. "My mom says it helps if you mix oatmeal with warm water and put it over the eye. I'll get you some this afternoon."

"Thanks."

The oatmeal worked, but her parents were even nosier than David when they got home. Still, we'd managed to agree on a premise. I would play a teenage boy who discovers his father having an affair. It had the double advantage of allowing us to cast a more established actor to play my father, and of not having any reason for me to appear nude. I was a little worried that this project would lead to me getting typecast as 'that naked kid, ' and I wanted a career that would outlast that fad.

The shooting for the special went well, and having so many people from school in the movie seemed to increase my social status. I started getting invited to parties on Friday and Saturday nights. This was great, because it gave me an excuse to avoid my parents, but raised the issue of dating. A lot of girls were suddenly eager to talk to me, whether it was because they had all seen me naked or they assumed I was rich, I don't know. Either way, they were likely to want to move pretty quickly from talking to touching, and I didn't know how to handle that.

I figured out a solution the week before the final shoot. I approached Tonya after school.

"Hey, I was thinking, there's going to be a wrap party at Maximum Sunday, and I was wondering if you'd go as my date."

She stopped for a second. "Umm ... Jack?"

"Yeah,"

"There's no easy way to say this, are you gay?"

"What ... Why?"

"The way you and David act around each other."

Oh shit! I thought to myself. If she's picked up on that, there's no telling who else has. I have to stop seeing him. Once we finish this damn script...