TJ Ch. 04

"Rachel, I don't know what I did to you, but get over it. The way you're acting is pitiful."

"I wouldn't talk to me that way if you want your boyfriend playing this year at all."

"Sean's already talked to your dad. Sounds like he's not too happy with you right now. He and my dad have already talked about your attitude." I heard Josh gasp next to me. When I looked at him, my brother was wearing the biggest smile in the world. His dimples were showing big time.

She smirked at me. "What'd you do? Call Daddy crying after I called you a fag this morning?"

That comment made me realize what I did. Holy-fucking-shit! I just called Robert dad.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard Jenny laugh loudly. "Hey you dumb bitch, TJ's last name is Kennedy. This is his brother, Josh."

The expressions on Rachel's face were comical to watch as they went from confusion to realization and settling on fear. I looked her dead in the eye. "Call me that name one more time. Please. Especially in front of all of these witnesses." I smiled to myself. "This school has a zero-tolerance on bullying."

"Is there a problem here?" A booming voice interrupted us. I turned and saw a guy a few years older than Robert wearing sweat pants and a polo shirt. "Rachel, what's going on?"

"Nothing Daddy. I was just welcoming TJ."

Coach Wilson turned to me. "TJ? Is that true?"

"No sir. I'm sorry, it's not true. I read in the student handbook about the zero-tolerance bullying policy here. I'm starting a Gay-Straight Alliance here at the school and I was going to let her know that calling a person a derogatory name does count as bullying."

Coach Wilson looked at his daughter and sighed. "Come on Rachel, let's go to the office. TJ, you need to come too. Did any of y'all hear what happened?"

Everyone said yes. The coach shook his head. When he continued, he sounded defeated. "Alright, you three come on too."

So Josh, Amber, Jenny, and I followed Coach Wilson and Rachel to the front office. Robert was standing behind the Welcome Desk talking to the receptionist and looked up when we came in. "Hey Ronnie, what's going on?"

Coach Wilson shook his head and said, "Mr. Kennedy, I think we need to have a meeting in your office. We have a situation involving possible bullying."

Once we were in the office, I decided it had gone far enough. I looked at Robert and smiled. "Actually, Dad, I think it was more of a case of ignorance regarding the school's policy on bullying. Yes, Rachel called me a derogatory name. I told her about the school policy and to think about using different language next time."

I could tell Jenny was not liking how things were going. She was staring at me hard. I shook my head and continued, "Things were said on both sides. I think it's best if we just move on from here."

Amber finally spoke up. "Mr. Kennedy, TJ's right. If we're going to start a Gay-Straight Alliance, we need to focus on educating people about tolerance."

Robert looked at us. "Ms. Wilson, we're not trying to force people to be friends with everyone. We want our students to realize there are people in the world who have different lifestyles. You might not like their way of life, but you need to learn to tolerate it. You have a choice now. You can either continue talking about Sean and TJ and calling them names and get suspended, or you can learn to tolerate their lifestyle and move on. It's up to you. Do you understand?"

When she didn't speak up after a few moments, Coach Wilson said in a stern voice, "Rachel, did you hear what Mr. Kennedy asked you?"

I swear this girl was a work of art. She tried to turn on the charm and looked up at Coach Wilson. "Yes Daddy. Sorry Mr. Kennedy. I was only joking around with TJ. I just didn't think it through. I didn't mean to be insulting."

Josh finally lost it. "Cut the bs Rachel. Nobody's buying it."

Robert quickly cut him off. "Okay Rachel. Consider this a warning. You won't get another. Y'all go on to class now. Josh and Teej, can y'all stay for a second?"

Coach Wilson gently grabbed his daughter's arm and led her out of the office. I stopped Amber and Jenny from leaving. "Hey. Thanks for having my back. It means a lot to know that y'all really consider me a friend."

Jenny crossed her arms and said, "You could've at least let him suspend her for two or three days."

Amber looked at her best friend. "What would that have accomplished? She would've gotten a two or three-day vacation from school. Now she knows we all are watching her and listening to everything she says. While it might not change her thinking, it will change her behavior. Which means less hate."

Jenny glared at Amber. "Stop being so rational. I wanted to see her go down. At least I can make her an alternate cheerleader instead of varsity. Perks of being head-cheerleader."

Amber chuckled. "Co-head-cheerleader. I still have to agree to that."

Robert walked over to us. "Jenny, let it go for now. Doing something like that to her might make her react badly." He turned to Amber. "That statement is proof of why you are the top of the class. So Teej told y'all about the GSA?"

"Yes, and everyone is excited to help him get it started," Amber turned to me. "So, which is it? I've heard you address him as Robert and Dad."

Before I could answer, Robert cleared his throat. Jenny took the clue and grabbed Amber's arm. "If TJ is okay with it, I'll explain on way to class. Come on, let's go."

They left and I then heard Sean's voice coming from the Welcome Desk area. "Is TJ back in Mr. Kennedy's office? I saw him leaving with Coach, Rachel, and everyone else. But I couldn't catch up to them."

He must have spotted Amber and Jenny. "Where is TJ? Is everything okay?"

I took pity on my boyfriend and walked out to him. "I'm back here in Dad's office. Come on."

He looked at me for a minute without speaking. Finally, a smile spread across his face. "Dad? Huh? What happened?"

"I'm not sure," I smiled. "It sorta slipped out." I told him what Rachel had said and how Coach Wilson caught her.

We walked into the office and Robert said, "Thank you, Sean. I know you don't think you've done anything, but TJ is happier than I've ever seen him, and you're the reason." He turned to me. "So, did you mean to call me Dad?"

"Yeah. when I was talking to Rachel, she tried to pull the 'If you want your boyfriend to play football this year' blah blah blah card. I'd heard enough and told her so." I finished by telling them the story and kept mentioning multiple times that it had just slipped out.

Robert looked at me with pride, and then he smirked. "So what about when we were in here and you called me Dad? Did that just slip out too?"

"No, that one was intentional. It felt right at the time. Don't get used to it."

"I'll take what I can get." He turned to Sean. "How is everything going for you? Anyone giving you a hard time in any way?"

Sean shook his head. "I've gotten some looks from some of the guys on the team, but no one has said anything to me. It's like they don't know what to believe. I'm going to tell them today before practice and Coach said that I have his support. Hopefully it will go alright."

Robert placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure it will go fine. Now, y'all need to get to class. Let me write out a hall pass for y'all." He handed us our passes before he continued. "Josh, Teej, I need to speak with y'all tonight. I hired a lawyer and I need to go over what we discussed."

I could tell there was something he wasn't saying, but decided not to bring it up right then. He walked the three of us to the main office doors. Josh took off for his English class while Sean wrapped me up in a huge hug.

"Babe, we gotta get to class."

He sighed. "I know. I just want to hold you a little bit longer." He pulled back a little and smiled down at me. "I love you so fucking much. I'll see you in physics next period."

"I love you too. Thank you for...well everything. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm so lucky I got a flat tire."

"I'm lucky I happened to be driving by right then. I still can't believe you can't change a tire," he smirked while responding.

Before I could get too mad, we heard from behind us, "I thought I told y'all to get to class. Now go. You're late enough already. Sean, you're welcome to come to the house when you get out of practice."

"Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. I'll see you then." He placed a kiss on my cheek and took off down the hall.

"Thanks, Robert. Ummm..."

"Robert's fine, Teej. You don't have to start calling me Dad if you're not ready. I understand. But, thank you for making my day earlier. I love you. Now, scram."

"Okay, okay. I'm going. I'll see you after school."

I was only five minutes late for my next class, which was Honors Government. I handed the teacher my pass. I turned to look for a spot and the only empty desk was right next to Rachel. Thankfully, Amber was on the other side. She took one look at me and then at Rachel, and she switched to the empty desk. I mouthed a thank you her way and took a seat.

Our government teacher asked us if there was anything we wished to discuss. As long as it had to do with government, anything was fair game. Nobody said anything for a bit. Finally, I raised my hand and asked, "How about we discuss the Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage?"

The teacher smiled, but before she could say anything, Rachel gave a dramatic sigh. "You would want to talk about that."

I wasn't going to let her bait me. I looked at the teacher, smiled, and continued. "If I remember correctly, the Court decided any law against same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. They ruled that same-sex marriage should never have been illegal to begin with. By ruling this way, they can technically avoid being known as the Court that legalized gay marriage. Instead, they put the blame on the states that originally made gay marriage illegal."

Ms. Powers smiled at me. "Does anyone else have anything to say on this topic? Yes, Kevin, go ahead."

I turned to see who she had called on. Kevin sat towards the back of the room. He was easily a good three or four inches taller than my 5'11", and weighed a good fifty pounds more. All of that weight was pure muscle. This guy was fucking huge. I couldn't tell by his face what he was about to say. Great, now let's hear from the jock-meathead how wrong being gay is.

He cleared his throat. "I think that was the smartest decision they could've made. If they had ruled gay marriage should be legal now, they would have turned a state matter into a federal one. That would have left the decision open to being overturned by the Tenth Amendment. Making any law against gay marriage unconstitutional leaves the states no wiggle room. They can try all they want to appeal the ruling, but it will stand."

I sat there in shock. Not only was his response positive, it was well informed. He noticed me staring at him and winked at me. I quickly turned around, feeling very uncomfortable suddenly. The rest of class passed discussing the topic of gay marriage, the Tenth Amendment, state's rights, and related topics.

When the bell rang, Rachel quickly gathered her things, glared at me, and pushed past me. I turned to Amber. "I really wish I knew what her problem is. If she keeps this up, she's going to get herself in trouble."

Before Amber could respond, there was a voice that answered from behind me. "She's a spoiled bitch who thinks because her dad is head coach she can get away with anything. She's not used to not getting what or who she wants. When Sean turned her down before summer, she thought he was just playing hard-to-get. After her failed try this morning and you calling her out in front of everyone, she was determined to get Sean kicked off the team and destroy you socially."

I looked at Kevin. "How do you know all of this?"

Amber spoke up. "TJ, this is Kevin Wilson, Rachel's cousin."

"Yeah, look, I just wanted you to know that Sean has some support on the team."

I guess was a little skeptical. "Thank you, but why are you doing this? Won't it piss off your cousin?"

His answer confused me, but only for a second. "Because family needs to stick together." I looked at him with confusion written all over my face. Then he winked at me and I clued in.

"You mean to tell me that you're..."

He whispered, "I'm not out to anyone at all, and I don't plan on coming out to the team. I plan on being the first person to stand up next to Sean after he talks to the team."

My therapist's voice spoke up in my head, reminding me I needed to start trusting people again. I decided to trust Kevin. "Thanks, this means a lot to me and I know it will mean a lot to Sean. Oh yeah, I'm starting a GSA here. Would you be interested in joining? Being a member doesn't make you gay. Amber's joining, so are Jenny and Alex and Jarrod and Mike, my brother Josh's best friends, and Josh."

He looked a little nervous for a moment but then he gathered himself. "I'll be there. But hey, I gotta go, my physics class is starting in a bit."

I smiled. "You have physics last period with Mr. Peters?" He nodded and I continued, "Well come on, let's go. We'll meet Sean outside of the class." I turned to Amber, gave her a hug, and she said she would see us later. Then Kevin and I walked towards our class.

Sean was standing outside the classroom looking sexy as hell. He was leaning back against the wall with his right foot propped up. A smile lit up his face when he noticed me. When I got close, he hugged me and whispered, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, babe."

We were brought out of our blissful world when Kevin loudly cleared his throat. We both turned and Sean tensed up. Kevin leaned in and whispered, "As hot as it is to watch you two, we should get in class."

I looked at my new friend and chuckled. "We need to find you a boyfriend."

Sean took all of this in with a slightly confused look on his face. "Huh? What did you just say to Wilson?"

I shushed my boyfriend. "He's not out, and he's not ready to come out either. But, he is willing to support you when you talk to the team this afternoon. Come on, the bell's about..." I was cut off by the bell ringing.

After class, I told Kevin I would see him the next day. I wished Sean luck and told him I would see him at my place after practice. Josh was waiting for me by my car. We got in and started driving home. Josh asked, "What do you think Dad wants to talk to us about?"

"I'm not sure, bub. Hopefully, everything's okay though."

When I pulled into the driveway I noticed a black sedan parked on the street. "Come on Josh, let's go find out who's here."