Intertwined - Chapter 1
The locker slammed shut and Blake turned the lock a few times...
The locker slammed shut and Blake turned the lock a few times to make sure the code was scrambled. Although he didn't keep anything of value on the inside, he wanted to make sure none of Chris' items were stolen. Because of their relationship, they decided it would be best to share a locker for their books and stuff. This way not only was their stuff easy to get to, but they also gained the ability to see each other throughout the day.
Blake was on his way to third period, which meant he didn't run into Chris at the locker. Chris had Physical Education third period, so he had to quickly get to the other side of the school, leaving no time for a short hug or conversation. P.E. was a class that only freshman and sophomores were required to take. Blake had gotten it done and over with two years ago, so he had more time for his electives, including theater which he was on his way to now.
He pulled the text books closer to his chest and walked into the auditorium. When the audience-also known as the house-lights were turned on, the theater stage didn't have its fluorescent glow. It looked more like a rundown platform than a place for people to show their talents. The students all sat in the first three or four rows so that they could listen and hear everything their teacher said. Blake continued down the aisle and grabbed his usual seat in the middle of the fourth row.
"Quiet down people!" The theater teacher yelled out above all of the side conversations. She was sitting on the ledge of the stage with her legs crossed and her glasses on the tip of her nose. She looked back and forth across the rows until everyone was silent and waiting for further instructions. Blake pulled out his cell phone and tried to keep it hidden from his teacher's eyes. The screen lit up and displayed a small illuminated line: one new message.
"Thank you. As you all know in a few months our next show, Down in the Dark, will be showing, which means that it's almost time for me to begin casting. If any of you are interested, auditions will begin next Tuesday. You will need to have two contemporary, contrasting monologues ready to perform and each have to be 30 to 45 seconds in length. Are there any questions?"
A few hands went up, but Blake was too distracted to pay attention. He clicked open the message and looked at the picture of Chris in the upper right hand corner. The smiling Lab made him chuckle a bit before he pressed "open" and watched as a picture loaded. A photo came up of a tall husky wearing nothing but underwear in the boy's locker room. His back was turned and he was completely unaware that the picture was being taken. The caption below the photo stated: "I give him an 8/10, what do u think?"
Blake laughed a little under his breath, mostly because he recognized the boy inside of the picture. "That's Skylar," He typed back, "he's in my home ec class." The send button lit up as he pressed it and he quickly put the phone away and out of view. When he looked up, he nearly jumped in terror as he saw two Tiger eyes staring back at him.
"Blake," his teacher asked, "that wouldn't happen to be a phone would it?" He swallowed the emotional lump in his throat and quickly came up with a response.
"It was my mom, I was just making sure I had a ride home." Even he thought his excuse was stupid and cliché, but his teacher was pretty lenient and he'd usually get away with anything.
"Well don't let me see it again." She lifted her glasses higher up on her striped face and gave him a stern look. "Will I be seeing you at the auditions Blake?"
"Yea, of course." Blake was the type of Dalmatian that auditioned for everything. He'd spend hours practicing and reciting and then got on stage and gave the casting director his all. Although 90% of the time he would deny the roles he was given, he enjoyed the entire auditioning process. He loved to see exactly which characters he would get casted as and judge how much he fit the role or how much he could add to the part. Unless it was a lead or a really funny character, he'd turn it down immediately.
The Tiger shook her head in laughter and proceeded on with her schedule. "Okay everyone, circle up on stage." A few laughs and cheers were heard across the house as the kids jumped up onto their feet and rushed onstage. The term "circle up" meant to get on stage in a giant circle and get ready for some sort of game or discussion. The class always got excited when they heard this because the theater games were usually very exhilarating and unique; it was a time when they could act like idiots and nobody ever judged them.
Vibrations filled Blake's left leg as he received another message. He quickly hid behind a crowd of talking kids and opened the text once again. He read the words to himself. 'Haha wow, what are the odds? Well, what do you think?'
He shook his head in embarrassment and typed back a message before the crowd he hid behind dispersed. "I'd give him a 9. U know I like younger guys ;]". Blake hastily pressed "send" and made his way to the outer ring of the circle. After about a minute or so, everyone was lined up perfectly and the teacher began to speak.
"I understand that we've only been in this class for a few weeks, so I've decided to give you all a chance to meet each other and learn a bit about what makes every person who they are." She turned to the side and grabbed a tall, black top hat from behind her back. Her paws held the lip tightly and she lifted it high above her ears. "I'm going to pass this hat around the circle and everybody is going to grab a piece of paper with a number in it. When I say 'go', you are going to try to find the person that has the same number as you and learn a bit about them. I want you to find out their name, their age, where they were born, what they like to do in their spare time, things like that. Any questions?"
The room remained quiet, yet filled with excitement. Meeting new people was always weird and awkward, but in theater it was relaxed. It was an environment where you could just be yourself and not be judged by anyone. Blake loved it. The Tiger passed the hat to the Greyhound on her right, and Blake watched as it traveled down the circle. Person after person, he watched with anticipation as they unfolded their papers and read the number it possessed. When the hat finally reached him, he quickly dove his hand in and pulled out a slip of paper. He ripped it open and read the number as if it contained the answer to life: 17.
He passed the hat down, watching and waiting as it continued to the end. The last few people grabbed their numbers and the hat finally returned to the teacher. She looked into it, making sure that all the numbers were grabbed, and began to speak. "Well what are you waiting for?" she asked sarcastically, "go find your partner!"
The class leaped up and began to scramble around the stage. The noise level reached high and Blake listened closely to the sporadic yelling of numbers. "17!" he called out above everyone, "Who has 17?" If there was a response, he could not hear it over all the other yelling. The room sounded like a kindergarten playhouse, although the kindergarteners were probably more mature.
Suddenly, he heard what he was listening for. Someone else was calling out the number that he was searching for. He pushed his way through the crowd of people trying to find the source of the sound. "17!" He heard again as he jolted to the left. He weaved in and out of a few more people before finally landing on the guy who had been calling it out.
"Do you have 17?" Blake asked the Beagle standing in front of him. As he focused in on the small boy, the sounds around him seemed to die down in his ears.
"Yeah, you're 17 too?"
"Yeah," Blake said as he held out his paw and introduced himself, "I'm Blake."
"Alex," the Beagle replied with a wide smile, "My name is Alex."
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***
Vincent could almost hear a bone crack as he slammed the kid against the bathroom wall. His fangs were shining bright as he snarled in anger. The look of fear on the kid's face was easy to see, but he tried to keep his cool. He was a friend, he had been for a while, but that's what made him even more furious. If Vincent asked something from a friend, he expected it to be followed, end of story.
"I'm sorry man, just let me go," the boy begged, beginning to lose his composure. Vince was holding him high up on the wall and his feet were dangling almost a foot above the ground.
"I'd love to," he growled back, "but I'm not quite sure I can trust you."
"You can t-t-trust me man, no w-w-worries."
"Really? Then how come when I specifically told you not to get Skylar involved with any shit, you go and give him weed?" Vincent teeth were just inches away from the boy's neck and he was ready to snap at any second. His paw gripped his neck tighter and tighter and he listened as the kid gasped for air.
"Vince," he struggled to say between breaths, "I swear I won't do it again man, just let me go." He glared up into his now crying eyes and finally began to loosen the hold he had. His arm pulled back away from the wall and he watched as the boy fell down onto his knees. He reached his paw up and rubbed his neck, trying to settle the pain he was feeling. He took quick, heavy breaths and slowly gained his energy back until he had enough to watch Vincent leave the bathroom.
Vincent let the door to the restroom swing shut as he turned down the hall and continued towards the front of the school. He was a junior at his high school, but walked around like he owned the place. He got decent grades in all of his classes, yet his teachers loved him like he was a friend. He could somehow always get on their good sides and they let him get away with almost anything. If he needed a pass out of class, they'd always give it to him for any reason. If he had his cell phone out in class, they'd just pretend they couldn't see it. He built strong relationships with each and every one of them and it always worked to his advantage.
He continued down a few stairs until he reached the gym doors in the front of the school. They swung open with ease and he continued into the gym. He climbed up to one of the top rows in the bleachers, sat down, and waited for the students to come filing in.
The thoughts of the previous night began to flood into his head. He could still remember exactly what Alex's face looked like as he slept so soundly. The Beagle was so gorgeous, so innocent. Vince knew nothing at all about Alex's life, but at that moment in time he looked completely tranquil and perfect. It was as if he was looking peacefulness itself, and he wanted to see it again.
His thoughts were interrupted by the loud screeching of sneakers sliding against the gym floor. Vincent looked down as the freshman and sophomore P.E. classes scattered across the room. They were all wearing the same gym shorts and the same ugly t-shirt that had a picture of their school mascot printed on the front: Gladys the Glimmering Gecko of Glassford High School. 'Odd that they'd pick a female reptile for a male-only canine high school,' Vincent thought.
He scanned the crowed carefully, trying to spot a particular Husky among them. There were many boys spread out across the floor, so it was hard to pick out the needle from the haystack. Suddenly, his eyes locked onto the target that he was looking for, standing in the corner next to a few other guys around the same height and age.
Vincent stood up and quickly walked down to the bottom of the bleachers. He stood out of the crowd easily seeing how he was the only one not dressed in gym clothes, but no one really gave it a second thought. He proceeded towards Skylar with a friendly smile, finally wiping all the anger off of his face. As he grew closer, Skylar turned and saw him walking towards him; he was surprised that Vince was ditching to come to his gym class.
"Hey Vince," Skylar said, still looking a bit confused, "what are you doing here?"
"Just stopping by before I went back to class. Hey, can I talk to you alone for a second?" He put his paw on Skylar's shoulder, hinting at him that he didn't have much of a choice.
"Yeah, sure I guess." Vincent gave him a small shove towards the corner of the gym and followed closely behind as they walked over to the area. Skylar could tell something was up, and he had an idea of what it was.
"Look. I talked to Rodger about the drugs," Vince whispered to him quietly, "He should be leaving you alone now, but if he doesn't, you come and let me know, okay?" Skylar looked down and nodded.
"Okay, and I'm sorry for being such a wimp. It's just, my parents would completely murder me if they found out about it."
"No, you're not being a wimp Sky. I told them not to bring you into that shit and they should've listened. Trust me; I've got your back."
"Are you sure? I don't want them to hurt me or anything."
"Yeah I'm sure; I'll protect you from them. They're nothing." Skylar laughed and looked back up at Vince. He couldn't help but feel a little attraction towards him. Vince was the type of guy who would protect his mate and hold them with his strong arms; how could he not want that?
'Too bad he's straight,' Sky thought.
[http://www.sofurry.com/page/255122]
"Now get back to class, you're going to get in trouble." They both laughed at how ironic his comment was and Sky watched as he walked away. Vince held up two fingers as if saying 'peace' and slowly jogged for the exit. He pushed open the door and walked back into the courtyard, letting his red fur light up in the sunlight. He looked down at his watch and examined the alignment of the hands.
'Awesome,' he thought, 'I've still got five minutes to blow.'
***
"Wait, wait, wait, now you're telling me you've never had a sleep over?" Blake shouted out in disbelief. His jaw was wide open and Alex was laughing at the funny faces he was making.
"Nope," Alex replied, "My dad doesn't really approve of me being alone with other guys."
"Does he know you're gay?"
"Yea he knows; we don't really keep secrets from each other. He knows about me and my boyfriend."
"That's so cool!" Blake exclaimed, "Does he know about your-you know." Alex cocked his head to the side in confusion and waited for more explanation. "Your sexual activities." Alex busted into laughter due to both his amusement and embarrassment.
"I'm a virgin," he admitted, still laughing. Blake's eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped even farther than before. Blake had always been a very sexual and wild person, which is why it was so hard for him to fathom the beliefs of virgins.
"But, but why?" He asked as the laughter died down.
"I don't know, it just hasn't happened yet." They were both still chuckling a bit under their breaths, but not enough to actually be labeled as laughing.
"Well are you waiting until you're married or have you not found the right guy?"
"No, I've found the right guy, it just hasn't really gotten to that point yet."
"Well how long have you been dating?"
"It's going to be three years on Christmas Eve."
"Three years?" He yelled in disbelief.
"Yup, three years." Their laughter began to intensify once more.
"How have you not done anything in three years?"
"I've told you, I don't know. We just haven't really done anything like that."
"Do you want to?"
"Well-I..." As he began to answer, he was saved by the bell, literally. The school bell echoed through the theater walls and all of the students disappeared within seconds and headed to lunch. Alex quickly grabbed his bag and began to head towards the exit.
"Hey!" Blake called out from across the house, "Don't think this conversation is over!" He laughed loudly as he headed for another exit on the other side of the auditorium.
"I won't," he giggled, "I'll see you later Blake." They both progressed through two separate exits and Alex was nearly blinded by sunlight as he pressed through the door. He looked up and his heart nearly fell to the floor when he saw what was waiting for him on the other side.
There Adam was, standing and waiting for Alex to walk through the door. His eyes were lit up and his smile was as wide as could be. Alex jumped forward and collapsed in his arms like Jell-O, shedding a tear as Adam's arms wrapped around him. He couldn't believe that his one and only true love was here, in Vegas, and he was praying that he was here to stay.