She found it super easy to talk to Garret and she soon realized why.
"Oh, and I'm gay," he said.
Jaide paused for a moment, making sure that she heard right before making a fool of herself. "Cool! That's awesome! Does everyone know?"
He nodded. "Well, just the guys. The whole school doesn't need to know, if you see what I mean. It’s not a good thing to reveal in the middle of an all boys school."
She nodded. "For sure, but that's awesome!"
"Yeah, so tell me about yourself. What do you do for fun?"
"Well ... besides soccer, I, um, mm, I like to read, and go dancing."
"That's awesome." Garret nudged Blaize gently. "Jeez, Blaize, stop talking so much. You’re hogging the conversation."
Blaize rolled his eyes. He didn't find it amusing.
"What's your deal, man? You’re never talkative, but jeez."
"Shut up, no one asked you." Blaize went back to doodling on his notebook.
Jaide felt a little awkward during the rest of the class period. She was relieved when the bell rang to release them for their next class, one she was excited about. It was Computer Aided Design, which she found very interesting.
Bhrade was in the class also. She smiled when she saw him. They talked all period. The class flew by, along with Creative Writing, where both Bhrade and Blaize were with her. By the time lunch rolled around, she was starving and even more sore than she had been that morning. Bhrade, Blaize and Jaide met up with the other boys in the cafeteria. She realized this was her new crowd, and she would be hanging with them for the rest of the school year.
She liked that thought.
They all got in line. Lunch was sandwiches of all types, with fruits, vegetables, and other goodies. She picked a lunch that would be healthy but filling to give her energy for practice. She noticed the boys didn't care much, and just grabbed whatever looked good. They sat down at the normal table and dove in. Jaide thought the boys seemed to be acting a little weird, shooting each other purposeful glances and nudging each other, with the exception of Blaize, who seemed to be the only one not interacting. This went on for about ten minutes. It mostly seemed directed at Chance but every time she gave a questioning look, the boys looked away innocently.
"Ok guys, what's up?” asked Jaide. “You're all acting weird."
The boys all looked around at each other, and then to Chance.
Bhrade nudged him. "C'mon," he whispered under his breath.
"Why me?" Chance muttered quietly.
"Because …...” Bhrade hissed firmly.
"Ok, ok." Chance straightened in his seat, hesitated, then, "So ... Jaide ..."
"Yes?" she asked, trying not to laugh.
"How do you like the school so far?"
"It's good, I like it."
"Cool, cool ..."
Leith nudged him.
"How are your classes? Good?"
"Yeah, Computer Assisted Design is my favorite so far. I'm looking forward to Trig, too. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, you know, just curious."
"Oh, for Christ’s sake, Chance!” Bhrade blurted. “Get to the point."
"Ok, ok."
"What is it, Chance?"
"Umm well, the guys and I ...you see ... that is, I ... we were just wondering if you ... you know, if you have a boyfriend."
Jaide’s head shot up, her face puzzled. Then she smiled. "No guys, I do not have a boyfriend."
There was a collective sigh and a few smiles, and she couldn’t contain her laugh.
Chance recovered quickly. "Not that we care either way, of course. We were just curious."
"Right," she said, her laugh fading into a friendly smile.
A loud voice interrupted.
“What’s wrong with this picture?” bellowed Coach Robinson.
They all looked up to see the coach at the end of the table, shouldering a case of bottled water. "Umm ... "
He dropped the case hard on the table and grabbed Bhrade's soda, holding it aloft. "Pop? Before practice? And with your sore muscles?" He shook his head in disgust and tossed Bhrade’s soda into the trash behind him. He grabbed Alex's and Chance's juice and read the label. "High fructose corn syrup? Come on, now. Water, folks, water! You need to keep hydrated to keep your muscles strong and healthy." He tossed all the juices and any other drink on the table into the trash, and handed out a 2-liter bottle of water to each of them. "There you go. Congratulations on making the team, everyone. See you at practice."
He walked off to find more soccer players to harass. The boys looked dubiously at their giant waters.
"He's right, you know. It’s good for us."
The boys shrugged, but to Jaide they all seemed tense and apprehensive. She tried to lighten things up. "What's up with you guys now? You already asked me and I told you, I don't have a boyfriend."
Matt spoke up. "We just don't want you to think that we all want to get with you. It’s not like that. We were just curious."
"I know." She smiled. "I was kind of expecting it, eventually."
The boys relaxed. Alex spoke up. "But! We are all insanely jealous of Blaize because he has the best chance of seeing you naked."
The boys all looked up, afraid she was going to be mad or something.
"What?" Alex asked. "I was just speaking truth, a fact. Blaize, you seen any of the goods yet?"
Blaize turned red and glared at him. "No."
"Darn."
"This morning, he saw me in just a towel."
A couple of the boys whistled. Even Chance gave a little grin.
Bhrade was grinning ear to ear. "Damn, lucky bastard. Was it a short towel?"
"Moderately short," she said.
More whistles.
"Anyways!" Matt interrupted. "Anyone have Trig next, other than me and Blaize?"
Garret nodded. "Yeah."
"Me too," Jaide said.
"Sweet, you any good?"
"I took Trig last year. They just didn't accept the credit because it was technically Pre-Calc and it was an online class."
The bell rang to warn them to get to their next class. They all hurried upstairs to get their books and head to their classes.
Jaide noted the Trig teacher, Mr. West, was young and serious looking.
As soon as the bell rang again, he tapped a ruler on his desk sharply to quiet everyone, and then drove straight to the point. "On your way out of class today, you will pick up a syllabus. Read it and keep it. You will need to refer back to it. I am not going to read it to you. You are all adults and can read it yourselves. In case you are wondering, this will not be a slack day. It will not be free time. I do not tolerate tardiness or chatting. I do not accept late assignments. I will be issuing the equivalent to an Algebra 2 final today. If you do not pass, you do not belong in this class and will not be in this class. Clear your desk. I want to see only a sheet of paper, a pencil and a calculator."
Everyone blinked, absorbing the information. Jaide looked at Matt, who seemed to be holding back a smile. Mr. West passed out the tests. It was short, but covered a lot. It was all review for her, and she blew through it easily.
She turned it in first. Eventually everyone else turned theirs in, as Mr. West graded them. After grading them, he wrote their names on the board. She saw hers go up, and then Matt's, Garret’s and Blaize's until most of the names were written. There were about 20 names on the board in a class of 30 students.
"Alright, anyone whose name is not on the board, please stand up."
About 10 people stood up. “You all may leave, and go to the scheduling office. I will call to notify them of your situation."
The students, looking a little dejected, all left. Mr. West made a quick phone call from the phone on the wall. "Ok, I don't believe I introduced myself. My name is Mr. West. You can call me Mr. West. I'll be teaching this Trigonometry course." He paced back and forth across the room. "As you all have noticed, we have a lady in the room. While I was given strict orders not to give her any special treatment, she will be treated as a lady in this classroom. I will not have any sexist or lewd comments made in my class, nor in my presence. Seeing as how she aced that little test you just took, it might be wise for you to respect her, as she is probably the smartest person in the class right now. I have listed the named up here in the order of how well you scored on the test." He gestured to the board. Jaide's name was on top, right above Matt's. "I want you to organize yourselves so that the highest scores are on the top level and the lowest scores are on the bottom level."
Jaide and Matt were already on the top level so they didn't have to move up. Garret had to move to the middle level, and Blaize to the bottom. He had scored the lowest on his test.
Mr. West announced, "I am going to hand out another placement quiz. It has more advanced problems that we will be reviewing. You may use your textbooks and consult your neighbors quietly. Finish it for homework."
He handed out the quiz and everyone opened his or her books. With about 10 minutes left of class, everyone got started. Quiet talk broke out and Mr. West returned to his desk and looked through the tests some more. Jaide knew she didn't need any help with the quiz but worked the problems slowly, being careful not to miss anything.
Mr. West came up their row to Matt's desk. He leaned down. "Come on, kid. You should have aced that test."
"I know, I know. I'm rusty. Give me a break." Matt smiled.
They seemed to know each other. "Do you know if Blaize's roommate is taking a Trig class from me this year?"
Matt nodded.
"Good, what's his name?" Mr. West pulled out a notepad.
"Her name is Jaide." He jerked a thumb at Jaide sitting beside him.
"Oh! Ok Jaide, could you give me a moment after class?"
"Yeah, sure, hey ... are you guys like brothers or something?"
They looked so alike now that she noticed. Matt chuckled and Mr. West returned to his desk with a smile. After class, Jaide gathered her stuff and went to Mr. West's desk. Blaize was one of the last leaving the classroom, and Mr. West called him back. "Blaize, give me a second, will ya?"
He shrugged and lumbered up the aisle. "Yeah, sure."
Mr. West leaned forward, his palms on his desk while giving Blaize a hard look. "You did not pass that test, Blaize."
"I know."
"I'm keeping you because I know you missed a bit of class last year. You’re a bright kid, and it would be stupid for me to put you back in Algebra 2. I know you can catch up if you work at it."
Blaize didn't respond, just looked down, shuffling his feet.
"That's why I'm assigning you a tutor - your roommate." He gestured to Jaide. "Conveniently for you, she is already ahead of the class. I am assigning you more work to catch up but I think with her help, you can handle it. That is, if you would like to tutor him?"
Mr. West looked at her. "Yeah, of course. It’s no problem."
"Good. Blaize, you don't have a choice. Be tutored or join Algebra 2 again with a bunch of snotty sophomores."
Blaize frowned. "Whatever, can I go now?"
Mr. West gave him another hard look and handed him a stack of papers. "You have ‘til the end of the week to finish these. It is the first of your review. Now you can go."
Blaize walked out without further comment, dejectedly holding the stack of makeup work.
Jaide nodded at Mr. West before leaving. Blaize sat away from the rest of the class in last period, obviously in a sour mood. After classes, everyone headed to their rooms to take a little break before practice.
Blaize was still in a bad mood and obviously didn't want to talk to her. But Jaide persevered when they were alone in their room. "Hey Blaize, do you wanna get a head start on that review?"
"I can handle it," he mumbled.
"But I want to help."
"I said, I can handle it."
"But Mr. West ..."
"I don't need your help." He grabbed his soccer gear and slammed out of the room.
After practice, Blaize didn’t join the rest of Jaide’s new friends lolling on the grass, exhausted and chatting. He emerged from the locker room fully dressed and headed for the parking lot.
Leith sat up. "Is he going to visit Maddy?" Jaide saw the boys all tense up and give Leith the ’you idiot’ look. Matt whispered harshly to him and knocked him on the shoulder.
Jaide asked, "Who's Maddy?"
The boys all glared at Leith. "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention, jeez."
Jaide asked, "Well, what gives?"
No one answered her. They just looked back and forth to each other.
Chance stood and held a hand down for her. "Come on, let's go for a stroll so we can talk."
She stood and they walked away from the group, but then saw Blaize coming toward them. Jaide saw that he looked really annoyed. "Where are you guys going?"
Chance shrugged. "Just for a walk."
He gave them a quizzically weird look, half embarrassed. "Can I borrow your truck?"
"Yeah sure, but what's wrong with yours?"
"It's blocked in and I don't have time to find the idiot that parked there."
Chance nodded. He tossed him his keys and Blaize mumbled his thanks as he turned away.
Jaide waited patiently for Chance to start telling her what was up, but curiosity prompted her to ask, "What kind of errands does Blaize have that he can't do after six?"
Chance started walking toward some deserted open lawns. "Well, he's going to the hospital. Visiting hours end soon."
“Is someone in his family ill?"
"Not exactly.”
“Huh?”
“Jaide, we've always kept this on the down-low but really, everyone knows about it. It’s just not something that we talk about around him, ok?"
"Yeah, of course."
Chance hesitated, cleared his throat, and said, "Last year, Blaize had a girlfriend. They were super close, and she was awesome. They had been going steady for about a year. They were a great couple. Then she got in a car accident. They were rear ended by a semi and she died. Except she didn't die. She’s a vegetable. The machines are living for her. She has no brain activity at all. She would die immediately if they unhooked her. He took it really hard. They can't let her go, like pull the plug on her, because her idiot parents said no. It was a big thing last year and they just kept her alive for the media. It broke Blaize's heart and now he visits her about once a week. He still feels like he should be attached to her. He has always been a sad kid, but that just killed him and he hasn't gotten past it."