Mike had a seat at the table where Jared was sitting for lunch. Mike saw Stanton and Chris at the popular table as usual. Stanton’s jaw was bruised where Mike gave him a solid right hook. They hadn’t exchanged so much as a glance since that incident. Chris had not tried to contact Mike either since that day. Mike guessed whatever shreds of their friendship was left was long gone at this point.

  There was a tall, lanky guy also sitting at the table with Jared and Mike. He had a buzzcut and a large, hooked nose. His beady eyes were brown, and he had a gap between his two front teeth. He was wearing similar attire to what Mike was getting accustomed to these days: Rocco’s hat, a band t-shirt, a flannel shirt, and baggy jeans.

  “Hey Mike,” Jared said. “This is my friend Rusty. Rusty meet Mike.” The two nodded to each other. “Mike and Rocco are boyfriends?” Jared asked unsure of their status.

  “That’s right,” Mike said and eyed Rusty.

  “Rocco, the guitarist of Fred?” Rusty asked.

  “The one and only,” Mike said.

  “Righteous,” Rusty said and held up a fist. Mike immediately felt at ease—Rusty seems to not care about his relationship with Rocco.

  “We’re going to see Fred at the park in a couple of weeks,” Jared said pointing to Rusty.

  “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be working it,” Mike said and cut into his lasagna.

  “You work at the park?” Rusty asked wide eyed.

  “No, I help the band set up and get them whatever they need during the show,” Mike explained to Rusty.

  “Nice!” Rusty said. He had a very distinct California surfer accent.

  “Are you from here? I’ve never seen you before,” Mike asked.

  “Nah, I just moved here from San Berdoo,” Rusty replied.

  “Where?” Mike asked confused.

  “Oh, San Bernadino. I forget that’s not a thing around here,” Rusty explained laughing.

  “Oh, that’s in California, right?” Mike asked.

  “Yep, Inland Empire man,” Rusty replied.

  “Cool,” Mike replied not really knowing how to respond. Mike didn’t know much about California other than the stuff he learned in geography classes. He certainly didn’t know much about Californians as a group of people.

  “Man, I’ve been hearing lots about Fred. Can’t wait to hear them,” Rusty said. “It’s pretty dope you’re going out with the guitarist.”

  Mike had not heard this turn of phrasing, but from what he gathered Rusty was okay with gay people. “Thanks, man. Hey, I’ve got a question.”

  “Sure,” Jared said.

  “Do you guys know how to skate?” Mike asked putting his fork down.

  “Of course, man,” Jared said.

  “You think you can teach me sometime?” Mike asked. He wanted to learn for Rocco since it meant so much to him. He would probably never do tricks, but he wanted to share in an experience that Rocco liked. Rocco could teach him, of course, but he wanted to surprise him.

  “Fuck yeah, man!” Rusty said nodding at Jared.

  “I tried once and fell off, but I want to give it another shot,” Mike said in a way to convince himself that he wanted to give it a go again.

  “When you want to learn?” Jared asked.

  “Maybe tomorrow after school?” Mike asked.

  “You got it, little guy,” Rusty said lightly punching Mike on the shoulder.

  “What do you want to learn?” Jared asked.

  “Just how to ride without falling on my ass right now,” Mike replied laughing.

  “You got it,” Rusty said.

  “I don’t have a board,” Mike said looking at his plate.

  “No worries. You can rent a board at the park for the afternoon,” Jared replied. Mike did not know this and was a little surprised.

  “Hey, do you know what Fred’s going to play at the show?” Rusty asked.

  “No idea but I’m pretty sure they don’t take requests anymore,” Mike said smiling remembering Troy’s party.

  “I made you something,” Austin said as he pulled out a piece of wax paper from his inside jacket pocket. “I was inspired after Troy’s party.” He handed the piece of paper to Rocco. On the paper were three equal length strips of white electrical tape laid out flat. On each of the strips was a word Austin had written in a black Sharpie marker. The three pieces of tape put together read “Queer as Fuck”. Rocco looked at the present and let out a belly laugh. He showed the tape pieces to Raz and Pete who joined him in laughter.

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  “What’s this for?” Rocco said.

  “If you wanted, you could tape those to your guitar,” Austin said with a proud smile on his face.

  “I can’t wait to do that. I’ll have it on there with pride, man,” Rocco said looking at the homemade sticker. He was deeply touched by Austin’s gesture as well as his progressive way of owning the heckling incident at Troy’s.

  “I want to get a t-shirt made that says that so I can wear it when we perform,” Pete said.

  “I’d wear that,” Raz added.

  “Count me in,” Austin said.

  “You guys, that’s so awesome of you. If you are wearing them, of course, I’ll be in,” Rocco added.

  “Well, it might actually kinda be subversive for the gay guy not to wear it,” Pete said pondering the idea.

  “But I don’t want to be left out,” Rocco said.

  “4 shirts then, well, 5?” Pete asked. “You know, one for Mike. He’s a member of our band now.” Austin and Raz nodded in agreement.

  “Sure, but I’m not sure he’s the type to wear a shirt that reads ‘Queer as fuck’,” Rocco thought.

  “I don’t know about that. Those quiet one are the ones you gotta watch out for,” Austin said.

  “Yeah, I know!” Rocco said thinking about all the times Mike instigated their intimate encounters.

  “Oh? Is Mike the one that starts the engine?” Raz asked.

  “You’d like to know!” Rocco exclaimed and laughed.

  One of the popular students that Rocco had never met approached their table.

  “Hey, are you the guys in Fred?” the popular girl asked.

  “We are,” Pete replied.

  “I’m having a birthday party next month and wanted to know if I could hire you to play it?” the girl asked.

  “It depends,” Pete replied. “You get to make two requests. The rest of the playlist is ours.”

  “Oh, you can play whatever you want. I loved how you guys handled that Skynyrd song,” she said

  “You did?” Pete asked curiously.

  “Oh, yeah, everyone’s talking about it. How you made it all metal,” she replied.

  “Well, it wasn’t metal. We punked it up. But I see your point,” Pete said.

  “My name is Tina Mailer by the way. What do you charge for like a two-hour show?”

  Pete looked at his band members. Raz gave him a shrug. Pete turned back around. “How about $100 and a few bottles of liquor.”

  “Deal,” Tina said. She waved one her friends over from another table. The friend got up and stood next to Tina. “This is my friend, Dana. She has a party the next weekend after mine but was too afraid to ask if you’d consider playing her party too.” Tina looked over at her friend, “Dana, they charge $100 and some alcohol.”

  “What weekends are you talking about?” Pete asked cautiously.

  “My party is the weekend before the Halloween dance—the 25th. Hers is the weekend after the dance—the 2nd,” Tina replied.

  Pete looked over at the band mates who all nodded in agreement.

  “Ladies, you’ve got yourselves a band. Give me your numbers and we will be in touch,” Pete said. Tina and Dana wrote their names and numbers down and gleefully handed it over to Pete. He put the numbers in his pockets.

  “Wow, two shows booked during lunch,” Austin said. The conversation reminded Rocco of the Halloween Dance.

  “Hey, are you guys going to the Halloween Dance?” Rocco chimed in.

  “A school dance?” Pete sneered. “I kinda doubt it.”

  “Well, I’m thinking of taking Wendy,” Austin interjected. Pete looked over in a surprise.

  “You are?” Rocco asked.

  “Yeah, she’d really like to go and it’s my last year here so, why not?” Austin replied.

  “Would you want to make it a double date?” Rocco asked.

  “You and Mike are going to go?” Austin was interested in where this was going.

  “We’ve talked about it. We haven’t decided for sure,” Rocco said.

  “Like as a couple?” Austin asked.

  “Yeah. We’d dress up in something that disguises us well so no one would recognize us. But we’d go together. Maybe sneak in a slow dance,” Rocco replied.

  “I like where this is headed,” Pete inserted himself in the conversation.

  “I think if we went as a group, it could persuade Mike to say yes,” Rocco posed.

  “You really want to go to a high school dance?” Pete asked.

  “Yeah. Austin’s right. This is our senior year, we should enjoy all this shit while we can,” Rocco said.

  Pete looked over at Raz. Raz nodded his head to indicate that he would be in for going to a dance. “Okay. It could be fun. If not, we could make it fun,” Pete said with an evil grin.

  “Since we are all going, do you guys want to go as something together?” Pete asked.

  “Maybe…” Rocco thought. “I want to see if Mike wants to go and if he wants to go as something together.”

  “Oh man, you are already pussy whipped,” Pete said but then corrected himself. “I mean peter whipped.”

  Rocco rolled his eyes and laughed.

  “Do you like s’mores?” Mike asked as he turned around to Rocco in the minutes before class started.

  “Of course, who doesn’t?” Rocco said making a face. “What kinda question is that?”

  “I wanted to make sure. I was going to bring the stuff for them this weekend,” Mike said. Rocco smiled big at this coming weekend—their outdoors getaway, just the two of them. Rocco had been thinking seriously about spending the weekend with him. He was thinking that this was going to be the weekend that he would give himself fully over to Mike. Rocco wanted to bring it up numerous times, but he chickened out. That was such a big step. Seeing Mike’s smile and his hair falling over his eye this morning sealed the deal.

  “Ah, yes, this weekend,” Rocco said putting his head in his hands.

  “Yeah, I feel the same way,” Mike was also thinking the same thing as Rocco, but he was also afraid. Seeing Rocco dreamily looking forward to their time together took all his anxieties away. Rocco would not care about Mike’s anxieties. He certainly wouldn’t do anything that would hurt Mike.

  They stared at each other for a minute when Toya and Moni walked in.

  “Oh, I want to tell you. I think I’ve convinced the guys in the band to go to the Halloween dance. We could make it a group thing if it makes you any more comfortable,” Rocco said.

  “You really want to go, don’t you?” Mike said.

  “Only if my boyfriend goes with me as my date,” Rocco said and smirked.

  “How can I possibly say no to that?” Mike said laughing.

  “You can’t,” Rocco half smiled.

  “Then fine, I guess I’ll be a good boyfriend and go,” Mike said rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner.

  “Now the important question,” Rocco said. “What are you dressing up as?”

  Mike sat thinking for a moment. “Now, that is something I haven’t thought about.”

  “The guys were thinking of going as something together,” Rocco said.

  “Hmm.” Mike put his finger to his chin in thought. “Like maybe as KISS?”

  “Holy shit Mike!” Rocco exclaimed. “That’s brilliant!”

  “So, if you’re going as KISS, what could I be?” Mike pondered. “I’m kinda wanting to go as something really creepy since it is Halloween.”

  “Like the Grim Reaper?” Rocco proposed.

  “OOOO, that’s good. Or like one of those medieval plague doctors with the bird mask and a black robe,” Mike posited.

  “Wow, I didn’t know you were so dark,” Rocco said semi-impressed.

  “I’m learning,” Mike nodded.

  “It wouldn’t bother you if we didn’t go as something together?” Rocco asked.

  “Not really. I mean, how can you pass up the chance to be KISS for the night?” Mike said.

  “I’m more impressed that you even know who KISS is,” Rocco smirked.

  “Of course, I do. I can’t say I know any of their songs, but I know who they are,” Mike said. “Now, which one are you going to be?”

  “I’d say Pete would want to be Gene Simmons,” Rocco immediately replied. Mike gave him a look of confusion. “You know, the guy with the tongue.”

  “Oh, yeah. Definitely,” Mike agreed.

  “I guess since I play guitar, I’d be Paul Stanley—the guy with the star. Or I could be Ace Frehley—silver mask eyes,” Rocco pondered. “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I gotta propose the idea first.”

  The bell rang indicating the start of the day.