Chapter 2

"Holy shit! Jeez, Lou, would you PUH-LEEEZ get a haircut? I almost 'accidentally' rubbed your ass, thinking you was some chick!"

Louis Wilson popped his head up from where he was bent over digging in his bottom locker. "Looks like I saved you from getting your face slapped, Ed," he grinned.

Ed Powers grunted. Lou REALLY needed to deal with some shit -- it wasn't just his hair that made him look girlish! Hell, that ass in itself would probably put a bunch of chicks in Jefferson High to shame, and he didn't have any hair on his legs to speak of... Oh, and he was short, too -- Ed stood five feet ten and Lou was a good three inches shorter -- maybe four. "I'd rather have gotten my face slapped than get caught fondling a guy's ass!" Ed retorted.

Lou said nothing -- what he was thinking would NOT fly with Ed... He and Ed had been friends since the third grade, but Ed was a jock -- and some things you just did NOT say to a jock...

Lou, on the other hand, was on the cheerleading squad -- the only male in Jefferson High's very competitive program. Ed REALLY hated that, but Lou just didn't have it in him to be competitive at sports. He COULD, however, manage to toss a girl in the air -- with help -- and he had pretty good balance, so he got to do cheers at games. The competition team, however, he was locked out of -- guys were a handicap at cheerleading competitions. He went, anyway, and played 'Manager' and wished he was a girl...

That idea had come up a lot, lately -- being a girl. Guys were fun, but sometimes they seemed to be an alien species -- but the girls on the squad did and said things that made more sense to him. He kept his mouth shut around them and tried not to bring undue attention to himself, and slowly they had warmed. He was still 'the enemy', but he was becoming 'our spy in the enemy camp' to the girls on the squad. Things had more or less come to a head at a competition a couple of weeks before; Emmylou Valdez had left her gym bag in the van and stuck her head out of the locker room -- topless -- to ask him to get it -- and he kept his eyes in his head and on hers and didn't REALLY know afterward what they looked like...

Since then, the girls had thrown more than one opportunity to screw up his way, but it was like the games the guys played in the locker room -- you did NOT want to get caught looking...

Frankly, things were a lot tougher in the boys locker room -- being a cheerleader was the next thing to being queer, and Lou caught his share of shit. What made it worse was the fact that he WANTED to look...

Lou didn't think that queer -- or gay, or whatever you called it when you weren't saying nasty things about it -- described him. There was more to it -- a LOT more. Stupid stuff, like the horrible things guys wore -- girls had a LOT better taste... Ed's comment that morning had pointed things up, too -- Ed had a hot ass, in Lou's opinion -- but he wasn't on the football team, so he had NO excuse to spank it! Ed had this big, gnarly-looking dick, too -- they'd jerked off to porn together a zillion times, and Ed's just kept getting bigger -- but Lou's didn't. It had reached the point of being SERIOUSLY embarrassing...

Did Lou want to suck Ed's dick? Well, yeah, but that wasn't the totality of it. Ed always grunted and gasped and muttered about how he wished he was the dude on the screen pounding the chick when they were jacking off -- and Lou watched him out of the corner of his eye while he wished that he was BEING pounded. Girls just seemed to have more fun -- they had three holes and those man-magnets on their chests... Lou didn't have tits, quite, but he was a little puffier than some there; he wondered what it was like to have a guy sucking your nipples. Girls seemed to really get into it and his were pretty sensitive...

"Busy tonight?" Ed asked. It was almost a code phrase. It was Tuesday, and they both had football on Friday -- and that was Lou's only public outlet. No, Ed wanted either to come over or for him to go over to Ed's and watch some porn. Ed was getting more and more into that stuff lately... They'd been doing it since they were thirteen, but Ed seemed to need it every night!

"Nope," Lou muttered, wondering if he was going to be able to get Ed in and out of his house on time. Dad seemed to be off early a lot lately...

"My place?" Ed offered.

Lou sighed in relief. "Yeah, cool." That solved THAT problem...

"Great! See you after..." Ed swatted Lou on the shoulder and they parted company -- even though they were both entering the Boy's Lockers. Ed had been shamefaced, but he had asked Lou to stay away from him there -- the other football jocks gave him too much shit... Lou went to his locker near the door, got into his cheerleading outfit, and got out of there, headed inside to the gym while Ed suited up for football and went outside.

Cheerleading practice was comfortable; Coach Cartwright talked about weight and balance and had Lou help with several of the demonstrations, mildly embarrassing him with, "He's really not much bigger than most of you, but..." Arguably, stocky Emmylou was bigger, actually -- but there was no way Lou was going to point that out...

Sitting around taking a break after going through a sequence, Marlene and Kitty started discussing their current boyfriends. "Dean is getting seriously pushy!" Kitty lamented. "He wants all kinds of stuff..."

"What's he doing for you?" Marlene asked.

"Well, he DOES get me hot and bothered first, but every time it's something else... They're so aggressive..."

"It's testosterone," Lou announced abruptly. "They work out and get a flood of it and then there's nothing on their minds but blowing it off! I could tell you tales..."

"Please do!" Marlene simpered.

"Uh, sorry!" Lou ducked and blushed.

"So it's all about football?" Kitty pressed.

Lou flashed a look at Marlene. "It's all about being male. They don't operate the same -- until the pressure in their, uh, balls comes off, they can't think clearly. Most guys are CONSTANTLY horny -- not just a couple of times a day..."

"Most guys?" Marlene pressed. "What about you?"

"Yeah, well..."

"I don't ever remember seeing you, um, hard..." Marlene eyed him sidelong.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm not as affected..." Lou wanted to escape the subject badly.

"What are we to you -- guys?" Emmylou asked.

"Well, sort of..." Lou mumbled.

"No," Marlene smirked, her eyes dancing, "you have it all wrong, Emmylou. It's as plain as the nose on your face -- Lou is one of the girls -- aren't you, Honey?"

"I..." Lou cudgeled his brain for some tactic that would turn Marlene's remark back on her -- but nothing came. "Maybe."

Kitty was eyeing him as if he'd just changed color. Emmylou asked, "You're not gay or anything, are you?"

"I don't think so," Lou stammered. Things were going straight to Hell...

Marlene's smile showed ALL of her teeth as she announced, "It's no, Honey -- or it's yes, if you get my meaning."

"Well..." Lou hung his head. She'd KILLED him! Tomorrow, this conversation would be all over school! "I've never done any of that sex stuff."

"Male or female?" Marlene was still pressing.

"Either one."

"Don't you..." Emmylou made the pumping motion with her hand, "jerk off?"

"Sometimes..." This was safe ground.

"Do you cum a lot?" Kitty asked.

Lou opened his mouth to lie -- and couldn't do it. "No," he muttered, turning his head. Most of his cums were dry...

"I have to be REAL hot to squirt..." Kitty muttered.

Lou's head flashed around. "Girls squirt?"

"Only if it's REAL good!" Marlene laughed. "And even then, not everybody and not often." She cocked her head. "I'm not wrong, am I?"

"About what?" Lou asked, his throat dry.

"You're one of the girls -- or you want to be."

Tears sprang to Lou's eyes. "I'm not gay!"

"I didn't say you were, Honey -- this is different," Marlene replied. "This is more... in your head..."

"I -- I..."

"It'll be our secret, Honey," Marlene said softly, squeezing his hand. She got up and walked off -- not flouncing or prancing in celebration of her victory, or anything, just leaving.

Kitty was eyeing him with her head cocked. "You have 'way too much fashion sense for a boy. We'd always assumed that your mother dressed you..." Lou didn't say anything -- just looked flustered.

Emmylou's eyes were understanding. "Did you want to touch them?"

"What?"

"My breasts."

"Well, yeah, maybe some," Lou admitted. "How would it have felt to you?"

Kitty's eyes popped. "Now THERE'S a question!" Guys didn't ask that kind of thing -- they just groped...

"I'm sure you'd have been VERY gentle..." Emmylou smiled at him fondly.

Lou nodded. "Definitely."

"I'm sure we'll all bear that in mind," Emmylou said softly. Coach Cartwright blew her whistle and they went back to practice.

"Shit!" Lou stewed, walking home. "Marlene is gonna shit on me and by Friday I'll be 'that queer on the cheerleading team' -- if I'm not already!" Undoubtedly, a great many of his classmates wondered, anyway -- why would a guy go out for cheerleader? This would put everyone's mind at rest -- but Lou's. Lou still REALLY didn't think that 'gay' described his situation -- but maybe 'one of the girls' did! Most people undoubtedly wouldn't see any difference...

When he got home, he decided that the last thing he wanted to do was go over to Ed's -- besides, he needed Ed out of the picture when Marlene blasted him. He called Ed and bowed out; Ed wasn't thrilled, but he let it ride...

Despite Lou's concerns, Wednesday was a normal day at school -- no one said or did anything that might indicate that Marlene or one of the other girls had crapped on him. Practice went well, too; halfway through, Lou realized that Marlene had taken to calling him Honey -- and Marlene called girls -- ands ONLY girls -- Honey... The other girls didn't drift off to talk about girl stuff, leaving him alone; instead, he got, "Lou, Honey, what do YOU think of my new nail polish?" from Kitty -- and when he said he thought the color was too light a pink, Marlene cackled and told Kitty, "I TOLD you so!" The conversation swung around to the maintenance of French manicures -- and pedicures. "Do you like them?" Emmylou asked.

"They're more than I can get away with," Lou admitted. "I'd have to go Goth to be able to wear nail polish."

"You have beautiful nails, though," Kitty observed, taking up his hand. Kitty's fingers were always chewed and covered with hangnails. "I wish I had these..."

"Thanks," Lou muttered, and didn't mention the fact that he seldom broke a nail, and that his father was a bear about him keeping his trimmed; "It's girlish!" his father complained.

"What color should I paint mine, since a French manicure is out?" Kitty asked.

"A coral, I think," Lou replied, not thinking about it. "It'll go well with your skin tone..." He glanced around. "What?"

"Guys don't know any colors but, like, red, blue and green," Emmylou tittered. "Coral -- that's 'way out there..."

"Oh." Lou blushed, but Emmylou rubbed his back. "I think it's great!" she announced.

The rest of the week went by smoothly; apparently, he was safe. The girls were protecting him rather than ostracizing him and ruining his reputation; he was getting visible attention from them -- and if it was the wrong type, most people didn't catch on, anyway...

Saturday, Ed called. "Hey, Man, why don't you come on by and I'll throw on some videos..." Ed's folks worked weekends and took Thursday and Friday off, so he was alone.

"Sure." Lou had nothing to do but read the fashion magazine he'd picked up on Thursday after practice so that he could talk intelligently about it. Hip-huggers and thongs were THE thing -- but the school administration had fits if a girl let her thong ride up and be visible like everybody ELSE important seemed to be doing -- or at least, that was Marlene's take on the situation...

Ed wasn't alone when Lou got there; Mike Fox was there, too. Lou didn't like Mike -- he was... slippery. "What's he doing here?" Lou asked Ed when he could do it without making a scene.

"Jacking off by yourself isn't fun, Man," Ed related, "and you didn't seem to want to come around. Mike talks about doing it all the time, so I didn't have to worry too much, you know?"

"Oh," Lou said shortly. "Is this the first time, then?"

"No," Ed related, "We got together Thursday. You should see Mike's porn library!"

"Maybe he'll invite me over some time," Lou muttered, nodding. This was better; doing something like this the first time with Mike wasn't something he wanted to get into -- not without backup. If Mike and Ed had done it, he should be okay...

Mike kept giving him shit, though. They'd settled on the couch and Mike made Lou scoot over next to Ed so he could have the left end -- and then he kept up a constant line of chatter -- and a ton of it was aimed at Lou and not complimentary. "Is that a dick, Man, or a clit?" Mike remarked at one point. "Does it even work? I've seen girls with bigger shit..." Of course, Mike had a good-sized joint, which made it worse. He caught Lou glancing at him once and he didn't say anything, but he leered at Lou -- and after that, he started doing other stuff, like rubbing his oozing dick on Lou's thigh or rubbing his side. Comments got quiet, but they weren't any nicer: "You got soft legs, Man. I bet there isn't a hair on your ass!" And when Ed wasn't around after he'd gotten a nut, Mike harassed Lou by reaching for his cock -- and trying to get Lou to touch his. Lou fought the whole thing until Ed returned and he could break free -- but it was scary. Then Mike blew a nut ON Lou -- on purpose -- coating his chest with goo. Ed thought it was funny, but Lou didn't for DAMNED sure! "Why don't you lick it off?" Mike goaded Lou. Ed just laughed some more, totally missing the underlying tone of the whole thing.

Monday, Lou managed to pull Ed aside. "I don't want to hang out with Mike -- he wasn't nice at all!"

"C'mon, just because he juiced on you?" Ed chided. "It's happened before..."

"That isn't everything, Man -- he just bugs me. You didn't see a lot of it because you guys had me wedged in the center," Lou insisted.

"You worry too much," Ed waved it off. "Man, what is he gonna do? What is he gonna say? I was jacking off with Lou, and..."

"Yeah, well, I'm not thrilled..." Lou insisted.

"It's all cool," Ed waved it off. "Forget it. I'll talk to him."

It was Wednesday before Ed came back and said, "It's handled, Man. Mike says he's sorry he juiced on you and he'll, like, be more respectful, or whatever."

"Yeah, okay," Lou grunted -- and didn't believe a word of it.

But Ed kept pressing. "We're gonna, uh, do it up at Mike's tonight," he told Lou. "You gotta see his library -- really, Man -- I'm not kidding! It's awesome!"

"I dunno..."

"Aw, c'mon, Man -- he wants to be friends -- really!"

In the end, Ed kept at him until Lou took down the address -- and he made it clear that he really, REALLY needed to be there, so with some reluctance, Lou found himself ringing Mike's doorbell at five-thirty.

Mike opened the door and stepped back. "C'mon in, Man."

Lou did so; Ed was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Ed?"

"Running late," Mike replied. "Coach got assed up over something and held them for a few. He'll be along..." He eyed Lou. "Besides, it'll give us some time to get through this thing that's going on. What did you tell Ed, anyway?"

"Just that I wasn't comfortable with you. Ed figured it was the jizz thing," Lou temporized.

"But that's not all there is to it, is there?" Mike asked.

"No," Lou admitted. "It's just... You got real personal, you know?"

Mike nodded. "You and Ed never got... personal? In all the time you guys have been doing that shit?"

"I don't know what Ed told you, but we never, uh, invaded each other's space," Lou replied. "Oh, the jizz thing has happened to both of us, one time or another, but only by accident. Neither of us really wanted the other to..."

"Get personal?" Mike interjected, looking bemused. "I wonder if you've ever gotten personal with anybody, ever... Ed's your best friend, right?"

"Yeah," Lou agreed. He'd been going to say 'queer, ' but the way Mike said 'personal' made you figure that it came to the same thing, so he let it slide. "Ed has a reputation to uphold, you know? I'm, well, a problem for him, sort of, anyway."

"Yeah, I get that." Suddenly, Mike was all fellowship and goodwill. "No sweat -- I'll be more... respectful. Okay?"

"Yeah, great." Lou let Mike lead him downstairs into a nice basement den. "Ed can let himself in, and the folks are out for the night, so we can look at the whole catalog. Sit. Relax. Want a soda or anything?" Lou said yes, so Mike went over to a minibar in the corner and produced a Pepsi. "Here..." Then he very ceremoniously shucked his jogging shorts to his ankles and settled onto the couch.

This was the way Lou and Ed did things -- Mike had collected all of the rules on Saturday, if not before. For Lou not to shuck down was an insult, more or less, so he did so -- and settled on the other end of the couch. One change -- a major change in Lou's opinion, was that Lou and Ed seldom sat on the same piece of furniture before last Saturday. Now they were doing it again...

Mike played with a couple of remotes, mumbling, "One remote NEVER runs everything..." and the TV lit up displaying a fuck flick. Lou slowly settled in, carefully keeping his eyes away from Mike's handling of his good-sized cock and concentrating on getting pleasure from his own.