Geography Club

“It’s okay,” I said, and it really was. I’d forgiven another friend. But sometimes just because you forgive someone doesn’t mean you still love them.

“I can’t believe you’re really forgiving me,” I said. I felt incredibly grateful to Min, but I was frightened too, that I’d somehow misinterpreted her.
“Russel,” she said, “people make mistakes. If there was no such thing as forgiveness, there wouldn’t be any friendships left in the world.”

“How do you do it?” I said. I wasn’t sure if he’d know that I was talking about his being an outcast, but he did know.
“You get used to it,” he said simply.
“All day long, I’ve felt like I’m going to burst into tears. Everyone staring at me, whispering things.”
“No. You c-c-c-can’t think like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t c-c-care what people think. You’ll go c-c-c-crazy. You’ve g-got to save your energy for when people really d-d-d-do stuff.”

The secret to happiness in life: low expectations.

“It’s not fair!” I said, and everyone looked at me. “Why can’t there be just one place for gay kids, where we don’t have to hide who we are? Hell, straight people have the whole rest of the world! They go around holding hands and kissing and talking about ‘my-girlfriend-this’ and ‘my-boyfriend-that.’ And they say we shove our lifestyle in their faces? That’s a laugh!”

“Good-bye, Russel,” he said. It was weird to have the tears on his face for a change.
“Good-bye, Kevin,” I said. Then I turned and starting walking away.
I’d like to say I didn’t look back, but I did.
I think I always will.

But I knew the route he took to baseball practice went right by the school Dumpster, so I waited for him there. Of course, I hadn’t counted on the garbage stinking to high heaven. I thought, What is it about my relationship with Kevin and bad smells? For the rest of my life, I’d probably get a hard-on every time I smelled rotten eggs.

“So,” I said to Brian. “Here we are.”
Brian just looked at me. I definitely needed a new conversation-starter.

I doubted they’d get in trouble for their actions. Maybe they’d acted alone in this, but they hadn’t really been alone. They’d been acting for the whole school. That’s why no one, not even Brian, would tell on them. Besides, they were jocks. Jocks got special treatment. And as long as I ate lunch with them, I’d get special treatment too.
Funny thing, though. Even though I was sitting at a table jammed with people, I suddenly felt almost completely alone.

I scanned the bases. We had a guy on first and a guy on third. If I struck out, first and a guy on third. If I struck out, I’d be helping to cost us the game. But if I hit a home run, well, two guys plus me equals three, and that would actually win the game.
And if elephants laid eggs, it’d take sixteen people to eat a three-egg omelette.