Chapter One

I know this is long, but it's going to be a full-on novel, not a short or semi-short story like many on AP. Stick with it and: Enjoy!1

Chapter 12

    Dallas Taverra sat anxiously biting his nails on the soccer field after the team’s last pre-season practice. He had never had any type of nervous habit before, nor reason to be nervous. Dallas had been captain of the varsity soccer team since he was a sophomore. The entire team knew that in his senior year, Dallas would reclaim his title as their cap-tain and lead them to victory against Lancaster High School, the rival to New Castle High School. Or at least that is what they believed before Jaytin Swenson showed up.3

*    *    *4

    It was the first day of soccer training in mid-July and all of the players had congre-gated on the field, kicking the ball around, practicing their foot-skills in preparation for the next two weeks’ grueling conditioning. Dallas and the rest of the seniors took the north goal of the varsity field while the underclassman had to take turns shooting at the south goal.  5

“So Taverra,” Bryce Jacobs called out in his confident, saucy tone. “Have you and Natalie done it, yet?”6

    The ball was kicked to Dallas. He effortlessly wrapped his legs around it and flicked it up with his right foot over his head to Bryce who trapped it with his thigh. Ignoring him, Dallas kept his eye steadily on the soccer ball.7

“What does he mean? I thought they did it after prom?” Jared Abrahms asked curiously, as Bryce rolled his right foot over the ball in a fake to him, and then quickly kicked behind with his left, sending it flying to Matt Robinson.8

“Nice, Jacobs,” Matt called.9

Bryce raised his eyebrows with his signature self-assured smile plastered to his face.10

    All questions still unanswered, the guys turned to Dallas expectantly who avoided making eye contact but instead sprinted towards Tim Cramer and stole the ball in an eruption of kicks, turns, and tricks.11

    “Oh c’mon, Taverra! Don’t hold out on us,” Bryce pleaded. “You’ve been dating Natalie for nearly eight months now. You can’t honestly tell me that you didn’t tap that? I mean, if I had her for a mere eight seconds I’d have her hoppin’ on the good foot and doin’ the bad thing, if ya know what I mean!”12

The group of boys laughed.13

“Yeah Taverra, so tell us; did you ride her like a Dallas Cowboy?” Matt added with a guffaw. Again, there was a great deal of chuckling and sniggering amongst the boys.14

    Dallas blushed. “Look guys,” he began, “It’s not like that. Natalie wants to wait and I respect her wish. I know that your sex lives are so enervatingly dull that you have no choice but to wonder about my relationship, but could you all get your minds out of the gutter and focus on the ball?”15

    The guys let it drop and continued on to discuss another topic, but Dallas again remained mute. He felt an enormous relief at avoiding that conversation, which somehow was coupled with a growing apprehension. The subject of sex always left Dallas feeling awkward and confused…and embarrassed. In truth, it wasn’t Natalie’s idea at all to wait. She had tried to unzip Dallas’ pants prom night (and many a night after). That experience still left him feeling mortified; especially remembering his tongue-tied, alcohol-slurred explanation to her on why he didn’t think it was the right time. 16

    No, it was Dallas who was uncomfortable with sex. He didn’t see what all the hype was about. All of the movies showed these men and women rigid with pleasure, moaning in satisfaction; but frankly, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had had a hard-on from Natalie. The girl was beautiful with long, soft, chocolately tresses and even longer legs. Being the school’s champion cross-country runner, Natalie was in excellent shape. Every aspect of her five foot nine inch frame was perfectly symmetrical. She was every guy’s wet dream; every guy, that is, besides the one she happened to be dating.   17

    Dallas just couldn’t understand why he was this way; and the last thing he wanted to do was admit to the guys that he wasn’t ape about the one thing that seemingly controlled his friends’ minds. If he mentioned his reluctance towards Natalie or that it was he who was waiting to have sex, they would probably just call him a ‘fag’. Dallas despised the word.18

    Cheering from the other end of the soccer pitch interrupted Dallas’ thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder to see a large gathering of players forming a semi-circle around a tall boy who was heading a silver ball straight into the air over and over again; his long, straight, raven hair damp with sweat. The color drained from Dallas’ face. He had never seen anyone head the ball so many times in a row before. Then the new guy’s feet started kicking a series of complicated tricks. He was incredible.19

    Dallas jogged over to the assembled boys where Bryce met him. “Dude, Taverra. This kid’s incredible!”20

“I can see that, Bryce. Who is he? I’ve never seen him before.”21

“I dunno, man; but whoever he is, I’m glad he’s on our team!”22

“Well, let’s go introduce ourselves,” Dallas said, as Bryce, Matt, and Jared followed him through the crowd into the open circle.23

“Hey, man. That was some nice head.” Dallas said with a grin, causing a few of the underclassman to chortle. The new boy glanced around warily, smiled, and responded, “Thanks.”24

“No problem. I’m Dallas Taverra,” Dallas said extending his hand. “And this is Bryce Jacobs, also known as B.J.,” he chuckled.25

“Real funny, Cowboy,” said Bryce.26

“And Matt Robinson, and Jared Abrahms,” Dallas added, indicating each of his fellow players. The new boy took Dallas’ hand and shook it. “I’m Jaytin, Jaytin Swenson.”27

He smiled cordially. The two were eye to eye exactly and Dallas saw specks of gold glittering in Jaytin’s hazel irises. 28

“Swenson is it?” asked Bryce. “Sounds Nordic to me.”29

“It is,” Jaytin replied, letting go of Dallas’ hand and turning to Bryce. Dallas felt an odd sensation move through his body and a strange emptiness at letting go of Jaytin’s right palm.30

“Ah, a Viking!” Matt yelled with excitement.31

    For the next month and a half of conditioning, Jaytin was recognized solely as “The Viking”. He proved to excel in all aspects of the game. He was a fast sprinter, beating out Dallas a few times, and he had an excellent shot, always aiming into the top corners where the goalie was hard-pressed to reach. Often, the other varsity players would find themselves standing stationary, gawking in amazement at The Viking’s impressive foot-skills. Dallas recorded this with a sickness in his stomach.32

*    *    *33

    Jaytin had only been living in New Castle for fifteen minutes before he heard his doorbell ring. He had been up in his room covering his walls with tickets to and pictures of all of the concerts he’d seen with his friends of their favorite bands: The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phantom Planet, Fall-Out Boys, Incubus, Bright Eyes, The Bravery, and Blood Brothers, just to name a few. His mother, Opal Swenson, appeared in the doorway wearing a long, white smock with splashes of turquoise, red, lilac, and yellow all over it. Her stick-straight, orange hair was in a knot haphazardly plopped on her head and the thin smear of green paint on her left cheek made her jade green eyes sparkle. “Jaytin, there’s this really cute blonde girl at the door. ‘Says she’s our new neighbor. Come down and say ‘hello’,” she said with a wink in that annoying way that only parents can.34

“Okay, Mom.” Jaytin replied rolling his eyes.35

    With a fresh t-shirt thrown over his head, Jaytin slid down the banister, hopping off onto the hand-woven, leather rug in the foyer right in front of a girl who could have passed for twelve if not for her buxom bosom. She smiled broadly, showing off adorable dimples as she pulled on the roots of her short, shaggy, blonde and pink hair.36

“Hi!” She said rather loudly and exuberantly, as if addressing an audience. “I’m Ruth Lawrence. I live just down the street.”37

Jaytin shoved his hand into the right, back-pocket of his brown corduroys. “I’m Jaytin,” he mumbled, ruffling the black hair on his neck and staring at the almond straps of leather on the floor. The rug was really ugly and kept getting caught in the door, but his mother had spent weeks on it, so it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.38

“I saw you dragging a rather jumpy tabby into your house earlier today. I absolutely adore kittens! May I see her?” Ruth asked.39

“It’s actually a he. His name’s Reginald.”40

Ruth giggled. “What kind of name’s Reginald?”41

“What kind of name’s Ruth?” Jaytin responded. To this, Ruth cackled hysterically.42

“If I had a dime for every time someone asked me that!” Ruth exclaimed through her tizzling. “Actually, my parents are very religious. I have a brother named Eli and a sister named Mary.  But what can you do?”43

*    *    *44

    The final day of pre-season practice came to a close. Varsity Coach Willis ordered the team to sit on the green as he gave his usual speech before revealing the team captain. As the coach droned on, Dallas obsessively chewed away at his fingernails. Bryce clapped him on the back and with a winning smile whispered, “Don’t be nervous, you’re practically a shoo-in.”45

“Yeah, practically.”46

Despite Bryce’s reassurance, Dallas gnawed on, ceaselessly.47

Finally, Coach Willis concluded his tedious oration. “So boys, on to who’s going to be captain this year.” 48

Dallas pricked his ears. 49

“So, assistant Coach Gallagher and I watched you all play this summer and you all have improved enormously. We’ve seen you guys do amazing, nearly-professional things out on that field. It was a very hard decision to make,” (here, a few boys snorted in disbelief) “but Coach Gallagher and I have finally decided that this year we are going to try something new.” He paused and looked around at the team significantly. Dallas, felt dizzy and realized he had been holding his breath. Something new? He thought to himself, horrorstruck.50

“We are going to have a co-captaincy between our former captain, Dallas Taverra, and our new, talented Jaytin Swenson, better known as the Viking.” He added the last comment with a laugh. “So congratulations boys! You’re our new captains. I look forward to seeing you team up to help us triumph over Lancaster.”51

    In the locker room, the entire team was chattering and murmuring. Dallas was sulkily pulling a clean t-shirt over his head, trying to ignore the whispered disbelief of his fellow teammates, when he felt a hand on his shoulder that made him internally jolt. He turned around to find Jaytin beaming at him. “Hey Cowboy, congrats on making captain!” “Yeah, you too, Viking,” Dallas responded to Jaytin as he moved to his locker, fumbling through his clothing. As he watched Jaytin search, Dallas noticed his slim, muscular frame, toned shoulders and sinewy arms. He felt his eyes drift up along his legs, his calves…to his thighs…and then... Shit! He thought to himself, shaking his head wildly. Was I just checking him out?52