Chapter Eleven

 

 

        A quiet sigh escaped Greg's mouth as he walked somewhat slowly through the fairly crowded hall. He had been a little on the downside ever since Friday. After the talk he had with Zach during the morning on that day, Greg had reflected on what the Junior said during the course of the school day. It had made Greg feel a little more comfortable about possibly trying to get into a relationship again and the more he did think about Zach's words, the more he actually wanted to ask him to homecoming.

        When he had finally came to the decision of trying to ask the older male to the dance, it was just before sixth period. Greg tried looking for him, but when he did find him, he saw Lisa hugging him. It hurt him to see that because he thought that they were getting back together again, and he tried not to get too upset about it, but it failed. He figured it to be his fault though since he was too careful about entering a relationship, so he knew that there was really no one else to blame but himself.

        The bell rang about a couple seconds after Greg stepped foot into his study hall. He sat down at his usual desk, saying a greeting to Zach as he did so. There was a couple moments of silence before Zach started to talk.

        “So how was homecoming?” Zach asked in a slightly hushed tone of voice so the teacher wouldn't yell at him.

        “I didn't go,” answered Greg.

        “Really? But I thought you said you were going?”

        “I . . . was busy, so I wasn't able to go.”

        “Oh.”

        “Did you have fun at homecoming?”

        “I told you I wasn't going. I didn't have anyone to go with, remember?”

        A slightly puzzled look came onto Greg's face. “I thought you maybe went with Lisa though?”

        “Lisa?” Zach gave a small chuckle. “Why would I go with her?”

        “I thought you two were getting back together again?”

        “Why would you think that? You're the one I like dude, not her.”

        “I saw Lisa hugging you in the hall Friday.”

        A look of realization appeared on Zach's face upon understanding what all this was about. “I never hugged her back though.” He shrugged. “Sure, she was wanting to get back together again, but I told her no. Like I said, you're the one I like.”

        “Oh, right,” Greg replied as he smiled sheepishly and gave a small, weak chuckle. He felt a little stupid now for making such a foolish assumption. It was just a simple hug after all. Not like it was a kiss or anything. And like Zach said, he never hugged Lisa back. However, Greg did feel a little more at ease now knowing that his assumptions were false.

        Even knowing this though, Greg lost all courage in possibly getting into another relationship. Part of him wanted to ask the Junior to the movies or something like that, but the other part of him immensely disapproved. Both sides screamed at him in his mind, making him a little frustrated and nervous altogether. Eventually though, his fear had won, and during the entire period, it held him back like chains binding him to the wall. When the bell rang, he left the room, trying his best to ignore the nagging in the back of his mind.

 

        Zach set his tray down as he took a seat at the table where his friends sat at. The three boys didn't pay any mind to him though as they continued on with some small argument they were having. Zach didn't bother joining in, but instead listened with little interest as he slowly began to eat his lunch. After a few minutes, the argument finally ended and Nick looked towards Zach, giving a small smirk.

        “So Zach, I heard Lisa wanted to get back together with you,” he said.

        “Yeah, but I told her no,” Zach replied.

        “Why? She's hot dude.”

        Zach shrugged. “I'm interested in someone else right now.”

        “Who?” inquired Nick, the smirk growing wider.

        “Greg,” Zach said nonchalantly without giving any hesitation.

        “So you do roll that way. Ha, I knew it!”

        “Oh, so you do have a brain,” Zach said with a smirk.

        “Yep. Surprising huh?”

        Buck changed the topic after that and nothing else was said about Zach's sexual orientation. Zach couldn't really say that he was surprised that the others didn't care about him being gay though. The worse he would probably ever get from them was jokes about it here and there, but that was the extent of it. He almost felt that he wouldn't have really cared if they did mind anyway.

        When lunch finally ended, Zach left the cafeteria and headed to his sixth period class.

Reviews

I think it's nice that Zach is finally being honest with himself in pursuing a relationship with Greg. Now I just wonder how jealous Kyle's going to get when he realizes the one he mistreated will eventually move on. Will Kyle have an impact on Greg stepping up and finally embracing Zach's love for him?