• Taylor Johnson was one of those boys, the one that all the girls wanted and all the guys wanted to be. He was five foot eleven, with lazily spiked blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes. He was a senior in high school and the star quarterback for the Fighting Eagles, his high school football team. He was the epitome of a stereotypical football player, right down to the hot cheerleader arm candy, a pretty but ditzy girl named Brittany.
    He was making his way to class, his girlfriend thankfully absent from his side for the only time that day. Brittany was hot but annoying, and Taylor enjoyed his time away from her when he could get it. He turned the corner, trying to get to his last class of the day without being spotted by his girlfriend, and ran straight into another boy. They were relatively the same height so they hit almost head on, smacking into each other with an incredible amount of force. The other boy hit the lockers while Taylor staggered back into a couple of other football players. They caught him and Taylor recovered quickly, reaching out and grabbing the other boy’s shoulder. The boy he had run into was slender, with wavy brown hair and amazing green eyes. He was holding his nose, those same splendid eyes wide. Taylor spoke, worried. “You okay, man?”
    The boy shook his head quickly and spoke, his voice muffled from his hands and whatever injury he had sustained. “I think my nose is bleeding…”
    Taylor nodded and kept a hand on the slim brunette’s shoulder, steering the other boy in the direction of the nurse’s office. When they reached it, the bell was just finishing its ten second ring, indicating the fact that everyone should now be in their classes. The boys sat down, the brunette looking at Taylor, visibly embarrassed. “You don’t have to stay.”
    Taylor arched an eyebrow. “It’s kind of my fault. I feel guilty, so I’ll stay until I know you aren’t dying from some terrible wound or anything like that. I’m Taylor, by the way.”
    “Jackie. I’ve seen you before. You’re a football player, right?”
    Taylor nodded. “Yeah. You go to the games?”
    Jackie looked away for a split second, checking out the room for the presence of a nurse. He was about to respond when the acting nurse came over. She was a frumpy woman, with a sickly sweet smile that did nothing to hide the fact that she hated children. “What happened?”
    Jackie relayed the story and then moved his hands. There was a thin line of blood dripping from his left nostril down to his chin, but it looked as if it had almost stopped. The nurse gave the boy a wet paper towel and he cleaned himself up as best as he could. After about three minutes of self-administration, Jackie looked at Taylor, who was looking back, awed. Jackie was almost too good-looking. The brunette spoke, his voice clearer now. “Better?”
    Taylor nodded. “You got it all.”
    Jackie grinned in return, showing off a smile that made Taylor doubt his sexuality even more. “Cool. We have English together, so you don’t mind walking together, do you?”
    Taylor shrugged and stood, stretching because he had been sitting for ten minutes and he was usually active. “Not at all.” They left the nurse’s office, lapsing into silence until Taylor broke it a few minutes later. “So… Why are you at all the games?”
    “Oh…” Jackie paused, flushing. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
    “Promise.”
    “I’m a cheerleader.”
    Taylor grinned. “Really? So you’re on the sidelines with Brit, huh?”
    Jackie made a face. “Look, I know you two are going out and all that jazz, but Brit’s just dating you for the status. I walked in on her and Ivan Cela screwing in the theatre department dressing room the other day.”
    Taylor sighed. “Yeah, I know… I’m kind of just dating her to keep up appearances, anyway.”
    Jackie smiled, running a hand through his brown hair. “I kind of figured as much. A guy as good-looking as you? No way you had feelings for her.”
    Taylor grinned, shaking his head affectionately. “Sounds like you know me already, Jackie.”
    They arrived outside their English class and Taylor looked down. “People will talk if we go in together, you know.”
    Jackie looked at him and smirked, his lips turning up slightly, making him look quite devious. “We can skip class, then.”
    Taylor arched an eyebrow, locking eyes with the other boy and smiling. “Seriously?”
    Jackie nodded, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Why not? It’s last period and we don’t have practice today because of the game. We just need to be back here by four in order to catch the busses to the stadium.”
    Taylor nodded, starting to go along with such an entertaining idea. “Yeah, okay. You have to be at the game, don’t you?”
    Jackie smirked, scratching his firmly toned chest unwittingly and making a decidedly satanic expression. “I’ll be cheering for you the whole time. Anyway, why don’t we just go get dinner or something like that?”
    Taylor grinned. “You are quickly becoming my best friend, man. Let’s go. We can take my truck.”
    The pair managed to get out of the school without being seen and went over to Taylor’s red pickup truck, climbing inside and heading to a local restaurant that gave a discount to high school students. While eating, both boys punctuated their meal with rather enlightening conversation. They were about five minutes from leaving when Taylor spoke, his voice more abrupt than it was usually. “Are you so toned because you’re a cheerleader? Because I could understand if your arms were toned, but not the rest of your body.”
    Jackie grinned, glancing down at his own body. “Checking me out? I thought you were mister macho man.”
    Taylor laughed. “Well, it is pretty distracting.” He shook his head, quickly throwing another thought out into the open, half-joking and half-serious. “I was just asking ‘cause if it wasn’t from cheerleading my next question was going to be if you’re gay.”
    Jackie took a long, drawn-out sip of his Dr. Pepper, his green eyes boring into Taylor’s blue ones. He finally set down his drink and wiped his mouth, shaking his head. “You can’t tell anyone, okay?”
    Taylor blinked, surprised. “You really are? I was just kidding!”
    Jackie shrugged, not over-exaggerating the movement but keeping it perfectly balanced, incredibly mysterious and classy. “But I am. That doesn’t like freak you out or anything, does it?”
    Taylor shook his head, his smile, which had been momentarily knocked aside from the news quickly returning. “There’s a gay guy on the team and he’s one of my best friends. I really don’t mind.”
    Jackie grinned, shaking his head fondly. “Thanks. So you don’t mind me cheering extra hard tonight?”
    Taylor grinned. “I would appreciate it more than you would imagine, Jackie.” He pulled out his cell phone in order to check the time and stood up, dropping a twenty on the table. “It’s three forty-five. We should probably get going.” He handed Jackie his cell phone and made a face. “And I have twenty-seven text messages from Brittany. Can you tell her where I am?”
    Jackie bit his lip, looking uncertain. “You see.. There’s a problem with that theory. She hates me.”
    “Then don’t tell her I’m with you.” He glanced back at Jackie. “At any rate, we need to go. Come on. I got the bill paid for, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Just text her pretending you’re me and let’s go so we aren’t late.”
    Jackie nodded, following Taylor out of the restaurant and back to his pickup. They got back to the school in relatively good time and Taylor was immediately confronted by Brittany, her hands on her hips and her expression one of pure evil. “Where have you been?”
    Taylor blinked. “Me and Jackie were getting something to eat before the game. Do you seriously need to know where I am all the time?”
    Brittany arched an eyebrow and spoke, her voice overly upset. “Yes, I do, you stupid player, especially when you’re with him.”
    Taylor crossed his arms, looking down at his (much) shorter girlfriend, his face the epitome of disregard. “I happen to like Jackie, thanks, Brit. And I like him a hell of a lot better than I’ve ever liked you.”
    Brittany looked beyond angry and she immediately reached out, slapping Taylor across the face with such a huge show of anger that it startled both Jackie and the surrounding football players. Taylor stepped back, his face stinging from the severe blow. “Hey!”
    Brittany spoke angrily. “Come on, Taylor! Him or me!”
    Taylor stared her down. “Look, Brittany, I don’t play whipped little boyfriend. I might have chosen you, but the whole ultimatum thing really doesn’t work for me. Kind of makes me have to choose Jackie over you, but only because I’m not the kind of guy to give up his friends for a girl.”
    Brittany looked outraged, Jackie had a self-righteous smirk playing across his face, and Taylor still had his arms crossed firmly. Brittany finally relented, turning on her heel and boarding the cheerleader’s bus quickly, thoroughly embarrassed. Taylor turned and looked at Jackie, shrugging. “Hey, man, you owe me. I just destroyed my social status to stay friends with you.”
    Jackie stood there, his smirk still affixed to his face. He grinned finally, leaning forward. “I promise you that you totally won’t be disappointed.” He licked his lips and boarded the bus after Brittany.
    Taylor shook his head, boarding the football player’s bus. He really did like Jackie, who was a hell of a lot cooler than most of the people he got to hang out with were, but he was beginning to wonder if maybe his like of Jackie was a little bit more than like and a lot more like love.