Dear readers; this is the first strictly fiction piece I've posted with Nifty. I hope you like it. All those high school stories, but none from the teachers point of view. Well here it is.
Disclaimer: This is a Relationships and High School fiction story with Male to Male sex and love relationships. If you are under the age of eighteen, then you should not be here. You have been warned.
Hard Questions ~ Prolog by dymondbolt
Woody was rather pleased with the class size this semester. Eighteen instead of twenty eight. They still insisted on calling it Political Science, as if anything political could ever really be scientific.
The name on the blackboard said "Sociology 201" Woody's joke about the actual level of education humans get with how we treat each other. Life up to High School Senior Year was Sociology 101 and the rest after college was either post graduate work or the school of hard knocks. So that's why Woody insisted on giving a questionnaire on the very first day of class.
He called it Hard Questions because he believed those were the really important ones. The ones you hardly ever get a chance to answer in your own good time. Mostly we have to answer our friends and family, bosses and coworkers those hard questions as were trying to live our lives. Woody hoped asking them before life did it in it's own way, would give the kids a fighting chance to answer them the way they really wanted to. Not with someone poking at them for a quick answer, or an answer that just pleases the one asking.
Part of the first days lesson was going to be "Even Good People Lie". And also the fact that "A Lot of Things are Just Not Fair". The prime lesson was the kicker. Your power in life lies in "Knowing Yourself". Knowing yourself, Accepting you strengths and weaknesses, Changing what you can, and how you want to change; Leads to Happiness.
That Jeffersonian/Declaration of Independence/Not Attainment but the actual
Pursuit of Happiness was what Woody saw as his guide for the course. Each semester was guided by the ideal of the pursuit of happiness.
Seventeen and eighteen year olds. Jacked up with their hormones, and video games and the Internet, TV, Media overload, and the fear of the unknown,
Woody knew that fear. He had jumped out of eleven airplanes before he broke an ankle. When he was going through the course for skydiving, they practiced jumping off a five foot tall platform onto the ground to make sure they would land correctly. As big as Woody was, that still was more scary than actually putting your feet out an airplane door and pushing your self out. By the time the airplane got up to where you were safe to jump, the land did not look real anymore. Your mind said ground, but your eyes said " Too far away to hurt." So it was the fear of the unknown that gripped you before you jumped. Woody thought that life after school was a lot like that. Once you jump, you are going to get to the ground. It's the manner you do so that was the scary part. If you didn't know you had a main and a back-up chute; you would not let yourself get near the door. Woody was hoping to show at least a few of his kids that they did in fact have a parachute and a back-up, and probably a few more in reserve.
Woody started putting the questionnaires on the desks in the proper order. Since the papers were marked with invisible ink, the students wouldn't know until the third questionnaire, that their anonymous answers to the first one were in fact very personal.
He finished and set up his pal pilot to start organizing students to desk numbers. His roll call would furnish the identification of each students questionnaire.
His students started to show up in spurts. Then the majority came in five minutes before the bell. The curious tried to figure out what the paper was on their desks, but the side facing up said " Please do not touch until you are told to." So they just socialized or not like any other High School Senior Class would on the first day of the Fall Semester.
The last student to round out the class was the biggest. He had to be six foot four and the size of his body made him look to be about three hundred pounds of dense solid muscle. He wasn't shy, but he didn't let his size go to his head. He had grown into a playful giant. In fact his best friend was almost a foot shorter. And he was also in that class and had held the seat beside him for the big guy.
The dynamics were not lost on Woody, since he had been an assistant coach in the PE department for the last two years. He'd seen these two stay friends even though one seemed to just grow non stop and the other took it in stride and became the captain of the Martial Arts Club.
The bell rung and Woody said " Good Morning and welcome to Political Science 101. My name Is Mr William R Wood. You may call me Mr Wood or Woody. Any other name used with out my permission will be considered disrespectful and will carry the appropriate penalty. Now lets take Roll Call and get the names out of the way. Please respond when I call out your name with the word 'Here' and a raised hand. As in other of my classes, when you need to get my attention, I respond better when you raise you hand first and I acknowledge you want my attention."
Woody called out each name and each student followed the guideline until a very beautiful girl said " Present "
This stopped the roll call as Woody marked down a note in his palm pilot. It was a stenographers notation of her looks and attitude. It took thirty seconds. Then Woody said "Tianna Bergman"
Tianna looked up and said " I said present Mr Wood."
Woody had his face tipped down to the pal pilot but looked into her eyes as he smiled and said " I know you did Tianna. Your sister took my class last semester, didn't she?"
Tianna frowned and shrugged as she said " Yes, she got a B plus."
Woody noticed that while this was going on, a third of the class was paying attention to their conversation and the other two thirds were in various stages of staring at The very large student. Woody stood up from his desk and the attention swiftly focused back on him. A lot of the time wide equates to fat in the minds of students. This was his third year teaching this course and so most students recognized his name associated with the PE department. Not too many PS teachers were six foot five inches, three hundred and thirty eight pounds of muscular perfection. That was Fred's description, not Woody's.
Woody walked in front of his desk and sat down slowly. The desk groaned slightly and Woody continued with "Right Word//Wrong Word".
Woody tipped his head up to look straight at Tianna and said " She got the B plus because she also was a bit stubborn about the difference between the word 'Here' and the word 'Present'. Am I making myself clear now?"
All this heavy calm masculine teacher attention with the loaded questions made Tianna's heart race a bit and realize her mother's favorite word no longer fit. She said " Yes Mr Wood."
Woody said " Good. Lets try that one more time. Tianna Bergman?"
Tianna said " Here." and raised her hand too. She had successfully clued in to the real lesson.
Woody smiled like the sun on a spring day and said " Thank you." Then he went on but when he got to " Jess Haskel?" all heads twisted to see a truly huge arm raised in the air.
Jess said " Here!" but he left his arm up for another half a moment so he could flex it and show off.
Woody saw the bodybuilders pose twist of a truly fine looking arm. No baby fat left on this kid.
Then Woody said " Jessop T. Haskel" at a drill instructors volume.
Jess' eyes flew off of his own arm as did most of the rest of the class. Woody's face was in a scowl and until he had the classes attention, it stayed there. It didn't take long. A few seconds at most.
Jess said " Yes sir, Mr. Wood?"
Woody dropped the angry act and smiled as he put the palm pilot on the desk and said "Jess this is not Physical Education class. That is no more an appropriate attention getting device than this." Where upon Woody grabbed his own light sport jacket and ripped right off his body. The entire class responded with either an earthy expletive or a lengthy gasp. Jess comment was the one Woody heard last. Jess just slumped and said " Whoa". Jess was rather intelligent and so while he did have his mouth open for quite a few seconds he did finally shut it himself.
Woody was massive. And under that flimsy sport jacket, Woody had a wife beater in a very bright white. It contrasted well with his even tan, and just barely covered his nipples. But only because his pecs were so big they pointed downward. When he turned sideways you could spy them pointing to his rock hard abs.
Woody chuckled and walked slowly over to his gym bag where he pulled out a sweat shirt that was just the right size and said " But since this is not PE class and we are trying to understand how humans relate to each other, this is also not an appropriate way to teach this class."
As the sweat shirt went on half the class groaned in disappointment. Woody still gave them a little show as the shirt slowly covered his fine flesh.
Woody chuckled and said " lets finish Roll Call and then we can start taking your first questionnaire for the class." More groans and the silence as the proper word was used for the rest of the students.
Woody put down his pal pilot and said " OK. Please turn over the paper on your desks and fill in your own name, the correct time as seen on the classroom clock and the current date, which I have written on the blackboard, next to my name."
The rummaging sound of pencils and pens coming out of backpacks were followed with the scribbling sound. Woody said " When that is done please raise your hand." A snapping sound motivated Woody to reach over and open his desk and pull out a sharpened pencil. Before Jess' friend Matt could raise his hand and ask for it, the pencil was headed for his head.
Matt grabbed it out of the air a full fifteen inches from his head. The point was very sharp. Matt smiled and said " Thank you Woody."
Woody knew what was coming but had to say it anyway. He said " You're welcome Matt."
Jess just looked away and Matt deliberately looked back down as he finished the date on his paper. He was the last to raise his arm. Some of the class were still steeling glances either at Jess' meaty body or Woody hulking form.
The questionnaire looked like this: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sociology201 Mr. William R. Wood (Woody) Rivenwood High School Name____________________________________Date / / Time : AM/PM
HARD QUESTIONS No 1 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Are you Honest?
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With yourself?
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Have you ever Hurt someone you care about?
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Did you Apologize?
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Has anyone who cares about you ever Hurt you? (Your feelings, self esteem, pride, etc) {Non-Physical in nature}
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Did they ever Apologize?
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Have you ever been Afraid? <Xtra crdt: Describe briefly: What, Who,etc>
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Did you Manage it?
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How?(try to be brief)
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Do you Know your Sexual Orientation?
<M( ),F( ),He( ),Ho( ),Bi( ),Unc( ),Private( )>
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Do your Friends and Family Know?
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Enumerate Your Living Relatives:
Mother( ),Father( ),Other Guardian{M( )F( )}
//MM( )MF( )FM( )FF( )//MB( )MS( )FB( )FS( )//
//B( )S( )//MC( )FC( )//
//A( )F( )
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Do you have Someone to Talk to?
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Are you a Good Friend?
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Do you want me to know who you are?__________________________________.
(Please Print)
Not exactly what you'd expect from a high school class. Woody let Matt hold his hand up with the rest of them for a good twenty seconds. He watched as some looked to see who was left. Then he said " We will go through this together and answer within the time I give you. This is not a test. This will not affect your grade or your GPA or your social standing in the community. This is meant to affect your self. Yes. Your Self. The person who you are. These are questions that life will throw at you in the most inconvenient of times. And in ways that will not be spelled out so well. Or with so little else attached to them. Life has a way of making things very complex when all we really want is something simple. With this answered for you and only you. You students will be ahead of the game,(hopefully). So question number one. Are you honest? Well? are you? Do you see and tell the truth as you see it as you experience it? Or are you forced to present a facade, a mask of the truth you really see but changed by the way the world is telling you it wants to see it? Don't go too far here. Just a Yes, No, Sometimes, Most times, Hardly ever. Write down the truth. When you are all finished with this, you will be asked to fold the paper over covering your answers but leaving your name and the class information, uncovered. I'll collect them and then cut the identifying data off and use the information that is left as statistical data for our enlightenment." Various sounds of acceptance were followed with scribbling. Woody said " As with all of the rest of the questions on this paper, When you are done please raise your hand." The next one was a little different. " Ok moving on. Number two. Are you honest with yourself? Do you keep track of the lies the world has forced you to tell? Or have you been able to walk the sharp and narrow path of honesty? When you tell a lie, does it affect the you inside?" Heads frowned and started to write. Then hands started to rise. When two thirds were up, Woody said " OK, moving on." Some groans and Woody said " People, please focus. Remember this is not a test. It is a simple way of gathering data and allowing you to remain anonymous. And for our purposes it is a way to get your brain accustomed to really thinking about truly important questions. The Hard Questions. The ones that matter most to the most important person in your life. You!" Woody watched the clock tick out five seconds and then said " OK. Question number three. Have you ever hurt someone you care about? And no don't say yes remembering the time you hit your cousin with a toy train. This is the non physical kind of hurting. Feelings, pride, self worth." Woody wished he could find a way for his questionnaire to be able to get the students to write down the first thought that came into their heads after the question was fully explained. He had an idea the majority of students had the phrase " I'm sorry" pop up right about now. Hands flew up and when half were there he said " OK, moving on. Question number four. Did you apologize? And I don't mean a hurried 'Oh sorry about that.' I mean an acknowledgment of guilt on your part and a statement of remorse. An apology." Tick-Tick-Tick. The field of hands grew faster on this one and Woody said " Ok, Question number five. Has anyone who cares about you ever hurt you. Same type of question as number three except you were the injured party. If this is something that feels like it has skirted the word abuse, but only a little... " Woody chose his word carefully. His tone became softer and no one made a sound. Woody said " No one has the right to use their relation, their relationship, or their position in society, to make you feel inferior, strange, less than equal, less than intelligent, abnormal, or without value. Other than myself, only one of you in this class is actually a legal adult. Which leads to the fact that seventeen of you are minors. Considered children by the state of California. Thus you are a Dependent. You have parents or a guardian. They are supposed to care for you, care about you, teach you the fundamentals of our society, raise you to become a healthy happy adult capable of supporting yourself and later, a family of your own." Woody said " Notice while we are still at question five, I mention the words 'Supposed to'. If your experience with any adult or person in a position of power over you has deviated from the rosy picture I've tried to paint... Please, Please,Please.. Have faith that whatever the abuse is. It Can Be Stopped! If you don't feel you can trust bringing that sort of a problem to me, Please find someone you can trust ( and I know there is someone this world you can trust ) and tell them what is going on.." Woody said " OK back to question five. Well? Has anyone who cares about you ever hurt you?" The pencils were evenly divided. Fast scribbling or deep thought, then fast scribbling." In two minutes every hand was up. Woody said " Question number six. Did they ever apologize? And I don't mean an excuse like 'That's how my parents taught me.' or " it's happen to me and everyone before you, so take it like we all did.' This class will be going over the classic fallacies we often run into. No I want to know if they said along the lines of ' we hurt you, we shouldn't have, we're sorry we hurt you'. Anything less is another form of misuse of power." Scribbles all. That was different. Woody thought it would be divided again. Hands shot up like waves cresting in the ocean. Only a minute and all had spoken to their papers. Woody said " OK. Question number seven. Have you ever been afraid? With this one, it is so emotionally charged from the very beginning that I will let you be the judge of just what a true fear is and how long it has to be with you for you to be able to call it that. And please not the transitory fear of failing a test, or a did I just screw up. " The pause was a bit longer and all students did pause. Then deliberate short sentences. The honesty of youth on a subject most adults pretend does not exist. Or only exists to be used against people. Woody gave them three minutes and then saw the hands start to rise and gave them a few more. Then Woody said " OK. Moving on. But just a little. Question number eight. Did you manage it? Did you find a way to end, avoid, ignore, or resolve your fear?" Pencils flew. Hands went up. Woody said " And Question number nine. A big one. How? How did you manage your fear? Please be brief. None of these answers to these questions are going to be judged by anyone but you yourself." Pencils flew again. another little surprise. usually it was half and half. Wow. These kids could take honesty about themselves when in a poor light and still tell how they performed. A secret pride began for his students. Strength does not lie in ignoring you failings, but in seeing them for what they are and finding a way to better yourself. Hands and hands. Woody said " OK. Now for the real slippery one. Question number ten. There are letters following the question that indicate whether you are Male or Female I expect one check mark in one or the other. Then the following mnemonics are H E for Heterosexual meaning Male and Female copulation.. H O for Homosexual, meaning Male and Male copulation, or Female and Female copulation. B I for Bisexual, meaning the desire for Both Male/Female copulation and same sex copulation. U N C for Uncertain, meaning you are not sure at this time. Do not add that with any of the others. If you are uncertain, that is a perfectly reasonable condition. And of course Private means you do not wish to add you data to the questionnaire and mind my own business." Chuckles and then Woody said " Of those you must only put one check mark in one box. This doesn't push you into a pigeon hole you can't get out of. This gives you a chance to actually tell yourself in writing what your sexual orientation is. The power to control your life has the seeds in knowing yourself. And this is a real big one for a lot of us." Woody walked around to the chalkboard and wrote the word GAY. Woody turned and looked to see if they all read the word and wondered where this was going. Woody said " This is no news to the current Administration here at Rivenwood High School. All my fellow teachers and coaches know I am Gay. Just being able to say that with out the ghost of Fear peeking over my shoulder, has taken me fifteen years. I was sixteen when I finally was able to admit to myself I was gay. Oh not you the big sports jock. How could your teammates let you stay with the team. Ya pervert. Homo. Fag. Faggot. Any word can slip over our tongues and through our minds and still not mean the same thing to two people. I have read that in Medieval times when a homosexual was discovered and punishment was given to the accused, they would take the kindling used to start a fire in the hearths of any one of the villages homes ( for that is what a Faggot was, a bundle of kindling), and use it to burn the men to death. Really quite Joan of Arc kind of behavior. Hear voices and rally your people. Have sex with a man and be a man. Well. Then you're for burning." Woody smiled and said " Now that I've given you the 'Don't ask/ don't tell' Freddy Kruger version of Sexual orientation..." Woody walked around and sat on the desk again. He looked at his left hand at the simple gold ring on his third finger. Fred was nine inches shorter than Woody, but In his lovers mind and heart, Fred stood ten feet tall. Woody rolled the ring around on his finger as he held it up . He loved showing one of the visible symbols of his love from and love for Fred. Woody said " Fred Gadget is my Mate, my partner, my lover, my best friend, my real strength that lets me throw love back at every single cruel, mean, hateful thing that homophobic people throw our way. And this says 'Our way' not my way, or his way. Fred and I called our marriage a Commitment Ceremony. The state of California currently will not recognize same sex marriages. We actually had a ceremony celebrating our Domestic-Partner Registration. Fancy lawyer terms that gave Fred and I the same Rights and Obligations as Marriage in regards to Inheritance, Income Tax, Insurance, and Hospital Visitation." He looked fondly at the ring of gold. It was just metal formed into a ring. But to Fred and Woody it meant their Love rang true as any other two people in love. Woody said " My commitment to Fred and expression of my love for him was not just one day. It was close to a year before that date and every day that has passed form that day to Now. I have committed myself to Fred and Found a way to express my love for him every single day I have been blessed with him in my life. I have felt the same coming from him every one of those very same days. I'm not very religious. Fred is, but I look more to a person's Faith, first. But I still thank God every day for Fred...." Then he looked up and said " OK. Enough sappy older adult stuff." Woody looked at the time and saw he was going to be cutting it close. He said " Question number ten needs to be marked." Heads bent down and in a minute all hands were up. Woody smile a sly smile and said " Question number eleven. Do your Friends and Family know? For this, it has to be either you have told them or they have said we think you are this way sexual orientation-wise and you agreed. Otherwise these words could have been used to try to hurt you or influence your outward appearance. That is not letting them KNOW your sexual orientation. And if this is something you feel offended writing about, then please just write the word Private. Just like the section in question ten. But let me give you a little wisdom from Robert A Heinlien. In one of his books he made the comment about Masturbation . He said Its certainly cleaner than sex with another person, and it avoids the mess that copulation seems to invite. But its lonely." Woody said" OK start writing." Pencils danced as tongues lost track of where they should be. Hands went up in a few minutes and Woody said " Question number twelve is simply an assistance for the statistics this data will go with. Please mark a check for your mother, father or guardian. Then the rest of the mnemonics indicated need a number in the box for the amount of living relatives. And that, in order is Mothers mother Mothers father Fathers mother Fathers father. Mothers brothers Mothers sisters Fathers brothers Fathers sisters. Brothers and Sisters. Mothers cousins Fathers cousins. and finally Acquaintances and Friends. Please put what you know off the top of your head and don't worry about perfect accuracy for this question." Pencils stabbed and slid on the papers and in only two minutes fifteen hands were raised. Woody said " OK moving on. question number thirteen. Do you have someone to talk to? this can be a real gut wrencher, because a lot of the time people really do have someone who will listen, but they just don't know it. Or you have had someone, but now for whatever reason, now you don't. The first and last resort for those who desperately need to hear their thoughts spoken in the air to someone who won't make them feel small, Please don't forget good old Teddy or Poukie, or your faithful dog or cat. The summer before the second year of college, my best friend and I were in a nasty car accident. A guy in a KingCab truck ran the light. Wasn't even drunk. Just in a hurry and should have let the mechanic replace the brakes. Brett was driving. And it is when I know absolutely that Brett is one hundred percent straight Heterosexual. Whatever I might have mistaken for play as kids was no longer of any interest to my best friend Brett And knowing this, even seeing him happy with his string of girlfriends and then finally just one for a year; I still had an aching crush on him. I learned later he had planned to tell me he knew how I felt and that He loved me like a brother. But that he didn't want to loose his best friend because he could never be in love with me. Well the accident put that on hold. And Brett was in much worse condition. They avoided saying he would never walk again, but the damn doctor danced around those word so many times in my hearing, I nearly bent the guard rail on my bed completely off. We weren't in the same room and for the first two weeks we could only communicate through notes and our parents. The phone was just not getting the real words across. My mom is an angel. She wasn't getting anything from me, even though she really knew what was up with Brett and me. So she brought in the family cat Ghost. She really knew how to own us humans. The head nurse had to be distracted by my younger brother while my older brother made sure the nurse assigned to me was at the other end of the floor. Mom pul e shopping bag sized purse and plopped her down onto my chest. I could only scratch her with my left hand, but she forgave me when she learned that no one would scold her when she started to use my arm cast as a scratching post. Mom said ' You need to talk about a few things. I know you love me Will, but it looks like your mother is not the one you want to hear these things. Whatever is making you think we would ever stop loving you, Well it's just wrong. But you have to tell someone first, just to hear how it sounds. Then you can set it against these words. William, your father and brothers and I, will always love you. You've always shown your love for us. Nothing will ever break that apart.' Then she put her hand on my head and Ghost's head as she kissed me. Then she left and helped make sure no one came in. Ghost listened to all my doubts and fears and after one really stupid sounding thought, She just decided to start purring. I wasn't even scratching her. Suddenly I was the most wonderful thing in the world." Woody said " Lets get a name down for Number thirteen. We are close to the bell, people." Pencils spoke the true friends name in eighteen different papers. Woody saw the speed that that took. Yes they were good kids. Woody said " And now question Number fourteen. Are you a good friend? Is it really fair to ask a person to answer that question? Isn't it our friends job to do that for us? Any and every answer you put for this question is good and valid and appropriate. If you could keep it to two sentences or less, it would be best for this questionnaire." Random response marked the last real question on the papers. Each student had a different action and movement that lead each up to writing at least one sentence. Only three students had two. Hands became expressive this time. Some propped on their head or locked up straight. A Few slowly shifted back and forth. And five minutes before the bell Woody said " OK now for Question Number Fifteen. You can let me know now if you want me to know that these were your actual answers. It will have absolutely no affect on your grade or anything else regarding your permanent record. In this regard, I would have to look on this as psychologist or a lawyer. My duty would be to keep all confidences private and never tell anyone else. But that is only if you want me to know. Other wise put the word private and fold the paper over so that it covers the words Hard Questions number one, but leaves your name visible." Time to let that get going and Woody said " And would you please pass them all to the front." Four piles appeared on the front desks and Woody took them and tapped them at the top so the same length of paper could be cut off of the Questionnaires. He gripped them firmly and put the inch and a half in under the electric paper cutter. The paper holder locked in place holding them for Woody to press the activation button. Button pushed the three inch wide blade sliced down through all eighteen papers, cutting the names off the papers. Woody pulled those out of the cutter and flipped them into the trashcan. The papers were slipped into Woody's briefcase with a two rubberbands collecting them together and a post-it with thew class number and date. Woody turned to his now attentive students and said " Your homework for tomorrow is a two page paper describing Family. What it means to you, or how you see your own family, or your ideas and dreams of having your own family, or.... or.... " The bell rang and the kids started to get up as Woody said " Two Pages. Title: Family. Due tomorrow. Thank you, my students." Of the eighteen students that heard woody thank them, fifteen said " You're Welcome." at some volume or in some way. The three that didn't, made eye contact with Woody and nodded. One of those was Jess. Jess was a member of Fred's Church choir. For a Senior who was quarterback for the football team, Jess seemed to be able to get a lot done in his day. Woody was going to give Jess one more thing to juggle. Jess let everyone leave before Matt and he left the room. Jess was going to actually ask Matt is he thought Jess was a good friend when two huge heavy hands fell on Jess shoulders. Woody said " Jess my boy. Did you know that the Music and Drama department is going to be having auditions for the Musical 'Carousel'?" Jess was slowly turned around and now faced Woody with his best friend Matt at his elbow. Woody had a look like a hungry tiger. His prey was unable to escape. Woody said " And knowing that you will be in my fifth period Drama class leads me to think that you would be perfect for the lead role." Jess was regretting every time he showed off at football practice and either imitated some celebrity or was able to act out something from the TV shows. Woody had been the assistant PE coach and around each time Jess had played around. Jess couldn't say he didn't know how to act. And while Woody hardly ever went to Fred's church, Jess knew Fred had mentioned to Woody how good a singer Jess was. It was because Fred knew Jess was on the Football team Woody coached. This all ran through Jess mind in a second and he groaned. Jess verbalized the distaste. He said " Carousel?!" Woody said " Yes. You would be perfect for part of Billy Bigelow. And strangely enough the rehearsal schedule fits in perfectly with football practice." Jess saw the wheels turning and he wasn't going to win. He said " It's because of that stupid remark I made second to last practice, isn't it?" Woody grinned and said in a teenager voice " Aw Woody. Can't we try something new for practice. I'm bored!" while Matt was Jess best friend, he still had heard Jess say the from the bleachers on the other side of the field. Matt had chimed in and said the same two words at the end Just when Woody said it. Jess looked down and said " You too?" Matt said " Big guy. Nothing my best friend in the world has done in the past year has ever been close to boring. And that operatic comment had five people beg me to say you weren't the one who said it. I couldn't lie with so many people who knew your voice from church. Look at it this way. You aint gonna get near bored this year." Woody said " Just to let you understand the dynamics here. This year I am officially the Assistant Football Coach. I get to decide just where and how far I run your ass into the dirt during practice. Or not. You still have the power to choose. And refuse." Woody's smile didn't leave his face. Matt whispered " Pick the Musical, pick the musical." Jess burst out with an artificially happy voice and said " Well Jonny I think I'm going to go with Door number one." Matt picked it up and said ' Well what does our contestant get?" Woody cut them off and said " Door number one has a fascinating practice work load for the star quarterback, leaving him plenty of energy to still go to choir practice and the rehearsals of the school Musical. His life may be full but it will not ever again be ..." All three said " Boring!'" with different degrees of enthusiasm. Woody turned as he said " Thank you Jess. You really will like the musical. See you fifth period." Jess walked off with Matt as he said " See ya Coach" The end ~ The prolog Well I hope you liked this, the next chapter is already three quarters done and should be out in a few days. This is my first piece with no fancy stuff. Just people.