7: Big Lies Told at School

The receptionist, Hope Johnson, glanced up when Rudolf and Taylor entered. Hope’s attention was immediately drawn to Taylor’s face, bearing a large bandage and bruise. The ever cheerful worker graced them with a forced smile that seemed to quiver in place, fighting conflicting impulses.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, we need to change Taylor’s contact information and home address. There’s been an incident at his home, and he’ll be staying with our family for an indefinite period.”

She glanced down, rather than continuing to stare at the local football hero. “You’ll have to discuss that with Principal Waters. Take a seat and I’ll call you when he’s ready to see you.”

Rudolf smiled. “That’s what we’re here for.”

It didn’t take long. When the lead football star, who is one of the school’s top academic students, shows up requesting something unusual, things tend to move faster than normal.

“You may go in now.”

Rudolf tipped his head. “Thank you. We appreciate it.” Taylor didn’t say anything, following Jacob’s father, remaining two steps behind.

“I understand you’ve got a slightly unusual request?” Principal Walters asked.

“Yes. There’s been an altercation at Taylor’s home. He’ll be staying with us for the rest of the year.”

Principal Waters stared in Rudolf’s eyes, measuring his resolve. “Do you have a Court Order, a Police Report, anything to confirm the change in his status?”

“No, we don’t,” Rudolf said, “but he’s already eighteen years old. This is strictly to change the contact information. The relocation is his choice, and I’m more than prepared to do whatever I can for him.”

Waters frowned. “That makes this tricky. You’re right, legally it’s his choice. However, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t alert Mr. Barnes that this is happening. As you know, he’s been a prominent supporter of the school.” He glanced up, examining Taylor. “Have you discussed this with your family?”

“Not yet, but they’ve made it abundantly clear I’m not accepted in the family.”

“Well, since you haven’t informed him, allow me to act as an intermediary and contact him. You may not be giving him the opportunity to reconsider. I’d hate to think you’re taking such an extreme response due to a simple misunderstanding, your injuries notwithstanding.”

Go ahead. I imagine he’ll take the call from you better than he would from me. We ... didn’t exactly discuss this with them, but we’re pretty sure they won’t object.”

Walters glanced at Taylor. The large bandage across his nose and his black eye were impossible to miss. Still, this was an unusual situation, and he wanted to ensure he wouldn’t be held responsible however it turned out. As they waited, he picked up his phone, looked up the number and dialed. Rudolf turned to Taylor to determine how he was handling it, but he showed no emotions whatsoever. He nodded that he was okay and sat back. Rudolf leaned forward, his arms on his legs and his hands hanging over his knees.

“Good morning. Is this Andrew Barnes? This is West Biltmore High School, Principal Wal—” His eyelid shot up, his eyes widening. He was a man of medium height. Short hair with close cropped sides. He wore a thin mustache and beard, kept trimmed to a two week’s growth at all times. He brown shirt was neatly ironed, without any telltale sign of dust or dandruff. The man appeared to like order in his life. He had deep bags under his eyes, but was still young and in good shape. “There’s no need for profanity, Mr. Barnes. We’ve always gotten along in the past.” Rudolf and Taylor could hear yelling over the phone, despite the distance. “I understand, but we wanted to inform you of our transferring control of—” There was another remote tirade, and the principal’s head involuntarily twitched.

“As long as you don’t object, I’ll make the changes—” he said, arching his eyebrow and studying Taylor’s face. He removed the receiver from his ear, allowing more bellowing to escape. “Very wel—” He moved the phone in front of his face, examining it for some clue as to what happened.

“I can see why this action is necessary,” he said, hanging the phone up. “Since there’s no objection, I’ll authorize the transfer. I’m sorry it’s come to this. You have my sympathies.” The principal turned to Taylor, considering him. “He made some ... claims about you. Do you have any comment about them?”

“No,” Taylor responded. “He’s speaking out of anger. Without knowing what he’s saying, I can’t validate it, but I wouldn’t trust it. He was drinking all night, and would do just about anything to hurt me at this point, either directly or indirectly.”

The principal glanced down, jotted something on the papers on his desk and stamped the form. “Okay, it’s taken care of. Taylor, you’d better hurry to class. There’s only a couple minutes till first period.”

Taylor leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs. “One more thing, this is all ... confidential, isn’t it?”

“Of course, everything concerning our students is confidential.”

Rudolf glanced at the door. “Are you sure everyone understands that?”

Waters sighed, tapping his pencil on his desk. “I’ll have to discuss it with a few people, but I’ll ensure word doesn’t spread.” He bit his lip as he considered it, but didn’t add anything more.

“Thank you for your time,” Rudolf said, standing and holding his hand out.

Walters reached out, shaking his hand. “You both have my sincere sympathy. This ... can’t be easy.”

“It isn’t, but so far, we’re managing. We’ll see ourselves out. Thank you for your time.”

“I’m just glad I could help resolve this quickly. Good luck over the next few days. Things are likely to be uncertain.”

Rudolf and Taylor exited. Once they left the principal’s office, Taylor headed to class. Rudolf waved, waited a minute, and when he didn’t respond, turned and left the building.

Taylor strode down the hall, biting his lip. He wiped his eye, hoping no one noticed. He observed people staring. It took a few moments to remember his black eye and bandaged nose. “Football injury during practice yesterday,” he mumbled as he passed. When he entered his API Calculus class, everyone stared, but once the lecture started, they focused on the subject matter.

As the day progressed, he got used to the curious glances, but thought he noticed a certain undercurrent, a hard-edged aggressive stare. He assumed he was getting paranoid, reading too much into it.

During the sixth period shuffle, as he headed to his last class, someone stopped him in the hallway.

“Taylor, there’s a lot of talk about you, and—”

Taylor winced, holding his left hand up halting the discussion. “Look, I appreciate the concern. Showing up with a bruise gets people guessing about other issues, and soon every crazy theory seems justified. Take it from me, even without knowing the specifics of your claim, I can categorically tell you that it’s false. I’m pretty boring. I don’t do much besides play football, study, eat and sleep. There just isn’t that much interesting about me.”

“Yeah, but...”

Taylor patted him on the shoulder, already moving away. “Classes are about to begin. Don’t get so wrapped up in gossip. You’ll be happier if you don’t get so invested in idle speculation.” He was gone before the student could say anything more.

After school, as he changed for football practice, two teammates, Juan and Robert, approached.

“Taylor, we ... wanted to...”

“People are talking,” Juan jumped in, “and we wanted to know whether it was true or not.”

“Who the hell is talking about me?” Taylor growled, cocking his head and glaring at the two.

“Actually, it’s your sister, Caitlyn,” Robert said, blushing slightly. “She’s saying some outrageous things. We didn’t know whether to defend you or what.”

“My sister?” Taylor asked, his voice cracking. He’d know how to respond if it was some stranger or school administrator, but if his own sister was spreading tales of his sexuality, it would be hard to deny. She not only knew what was happening, but could prove her assertions. He leaned back, running his hands over his face, taking a deep breath. Dropping his hands, he walked towards the larger central area of the locker room, motioning Robert and Juan along. “I’ve got an announcement to make. Get the coach. Juan, get everyone out of the shower. I want to clear this nonsense up once and for all.”

As the two ran off, he raised his voice. “All right, everyone, there have been stories running around the school about me. Gather around, I want to set the record straight.”

Everyone found a place to stand, eager to discover what was up. When they’d all gathered, Taylor swallowed, clenched his fists, and began.

“As many of you have heard, rumors have been floating around the school.” He paused before continuing. “Many of them spread by my own sister. As you can tell, we had a bit of a family altercation last night, and everyone’s emotions are running high. As a result, they’re speaking out of turn.” He glanced around the room, taking in everyone’s reactions. “Without knowing the full extent of the rumors, I’ll admit this much: I’m gay.”

Taylor paused. There wasn’t a sound to be heard as everyone absorbed what he’d revealed. “I’ve known I’m gay since I was a boy. It’s never affected my performance, nor how I responded to any of you. However, I realize this changes everything. I’ve long planned on getting a football scholarship to an Ivy League school, and hopefully making it into professional football. As most of you know, my family has always pushed me hard to achieve that goal. Even if I didn’t have to worry about the rest of you, I’ve got to take into account how the scouts will respond. Despite improved perceptions, it’ll still have a highly disruptive effect on the team. Rather than embarrass myself, and the team, I’m hereby resigning.”

“Taylor, you don’t need to...”

“No, Coach, there’s no sense maintaining a brave front. If there’s little chance of achieving my goals, I’d rather not waste everyone’s time. By stepping down now, I can save the team embarrassment. Luckily, my grades are good, so I can still arrange an academic scholarship—which I’ll need since I can’t count on my parent’s help. It’s been nice knowing you, but honestly, you’ll have an easier time without stumbling over me.”

With that, he turned, walked to his locked, dumped his stuff into his gym bag, tossed it over his shoulder, and walked out. Not a word was said behind him.

Jacob strode across the park, rushing forward as if his target might scramble away. “There you are. I’ve been searching all over for you. Why didn’t you come home? What the hell happened in school today?”

Taylor waited until he caught up with him. He was sitting on a swing in a nearby park, swinging idly, observing the world pass by. “I’ve been ... thinking.”

Jacob signed, slapping his head. “Trust me, having been through this before, obsessive worrying is the last thing you should do. It’ll develop into a rat’s hole in no time. You’re better surrounding yourself with friends who’ll distract you when you need it, and who’ll stand beside you when called for. Most of all, they’ll recognize when you’re in too deep and in need of someone to drag you out of the abyss.”

Taylor waved his concern aside. “Don’t worry. I’m not a danger to myself. I’ve just been ... considering where my life has been heading, and where it’s likely to go in the future.”

“Again, while it makes sense to ponder those issues, you need distance before you can put those considerations into perspective. Now, you feel like you’re at the bottom of a hole looking up, unable to climb to the surface. You don’t have the distance to properly evaluate the facts yet. You need people beside you who can catch you when you start losing your way.”

“I told you, I simply wanted to be alone to consider things. I’m not going to try anything.”

Jacob sighed, seeing he wasn’t getting through his armor, so he took another tact. “Look, whatever you do, promise me you’ll give yourself time. As bad as things seem, they won’t be any worse a week from now. When you’re at the bottom of your own world, it’s easy to act on your depression. You’ll see no way out and decide there’s no sense continuing, and you’ll figure there’s nothing keeping you from acting. If that does happen, pull back and give it time. Wait two weeks. If things don’t improve, we’ll reevaluate things then. But the key isn’t acting before you plan out the repercussions.”

Taylor stopped swinging, patting his lap. Cocking his head at the unexpected welcoming gesture, Jacob did as he requested, sitting down and holding onto the chains for fear they both might topple over. “I’m not suicidal. You don’t need to worry about me. I know a lot of your friends either tried or succeeded in killing themselves, but that’s not where I’m at.

Taylor whispered his explanation in Jacob’s ear, in a moment of honesty and sensitivity. One which Jacob wasn’t sure he could trust at the moment. “You suggested that I need distance, and that’s what I’m trying to give myself. My thoughts are in a tumble, and the last thing I need are people hovering over me, constantly asking how I’m doing. Instead, I’m pulling back and letting everything pass by while I reevaluate where I stand.” He took a deep breath before continuing.

“My sister’s been telling everyone she can that I’m gay. As such, it’s a little hard to deny any longer. As a result, I confessed everything to my team.” Jacob turned, ready to confer condolences, but Taylor continued, not giving him the chance. “I wanted to make a clean break. The future I’d planned was a million-to-one shot. I realized the abysmal odds, but had a decent chance to make it as long as I played my cards right.

“This ... latest bump in the road changes the situation. Now, not only do I have to beat unbelievable odds, but I’ll have to confront everyone along my path and consider whether they’ll stab me in the back for who and what I am.” Jacob tried to say something, but again, Taylor didn’t let him. “That’s always been a constant concern. When you’re in this line of work, everyone is always scheming. They’ll pull every trick in the book to upset you so you’ll stumble. If you do, they’ll rush in, shoving you out of the way and taking your place. But those are concerns that I’m used to, so I know how to handle them. This... , “ Taylor made a wide sweeping gesture, not indicating anything in particular, but Jacob understood what he meant, “is different. I don’t know how to defend myself from someone’s preconceptions, from their bigotry and hate. They aren’t trying to get ahead any more, now they’re willing to hurt themselves just to knock me down me.”