Mike laid out three sheets of poster paper and stepped away to imagine how he was going to lay out the posters. He wanted to do one of a guy on a skateboard. He could not figure out what the second one was going to be. He was not concerned about the third one. The idea would come to him while working on one of the other two. The wording was going to be the same for all three—Miners Creek Skatepark presents A Concert for GSA; 10% of Proceeds to MCHS gay-straight alliance; date and time; $10.

  He turned on his tape player to listen to some music while he worked. He picked up his tracing pencil and began working on the skater boy. As he was in the middle of tracing out the skater, the idea for the second poster hit him. Why not Fred himself? Fred with a rainbow birthday hat and maybe another one of Fred on a skateboard. Of course, why didn’t he think of that before?

  All Mike had to do was draw. He only had a couple of nights to work on the posters because he wanted to hang them up in the hallways well before the show itself. If he was able to finish the posters by the end of the week, he could hang them up first thing Monday morning. The posters would be up the entire week before the concert that following weekend.

  Another idea came to his mind. As he drew in the outline of the skater, it occurred to him that the posters themselves could be auctioned off at the show for money for the GSA. He started to slow down his work to make sure his drawing looked perfect to sale. As he began on the lettering, Joe came into the room to watch.

  “That looks great, Mike,” Joe said admiring Mike’s work.

  “Thanks! I’m thinking of selling the posters to benefit the GSA,” Mike said while he worked on the lettering.

  “That’s a great idea,” Joe looked at his brother. “Can I tell you something?”

  Mike stopped the lettering and looked up at Joe. “What is it?”

  “I wanted to tell you how proud I am of the man you are becoming,” Joe said giving Mike a smile.

  “What brought that on?” Mike asked.

  “Just watching you work on the poster. I’m thinking about all that you have done since you started high school. You started dating a guy, came out, started a gay-straight club, raised money for it. Shit, I didn’t have a fraction of your ambition and your bravery when I started high school,” Joe said leaning against the wall.

  Mike put the cap on his marker and turned to face Joe. “That’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  “I mean it. Mike, you’ve set an example for me on how I should live my life. On my own terms. You inspired me to announce to everyone about my trying out guys. You continue to inspire me every day,” Joe said and got on his knees in front of Mike. Mike was beginning to tear up. “I look up to you.”

  “Oh man, you’re going to make me cry,” Mike said letting a tear fall down his cheek. Joe gave Mike a hug.

  “Thank you for being my brother,” Joe said.

  “What are you doing right now?” Mike asked as they ended their embrace.

  “Nothing,” Joe said.

  “Hang out with me while I work on these posters. I would love the company,” Mike said picking his marker back up and uncapping it.

  “It would be an honor,” Joe said and pulled out the desk chair to have a seat. Joe’s attention turned to the music coming from Mike’s boom box. “What are you listening to?”

  “The Cramps,” Mike said continuing working on the letters. “It’s a tape Rocco gave me.”

  The music was foreign to Joe’s ears. He listened for a moment. “Are they saying bikini girls with machine guns?”

  “Yeah. That’s the name of the song,” Mike said drawing in some of the smaller shade lines in the skater.

  “You listen to some weird shit since you met Rocco,” Joe said. Mike looked up and laughed. “When are you going to start getting tattoos?”

  “What makes you think I don’t already have one?” Mike said smirking.

  “Oh, well, what did you get tattooed?” Joe asked jokingly.

  “’Mike hearts Rocco’ right on my butt cheek. Want to see?” Mike laughed.

  “No, that’s alright. I’ll take your word on it,” Joe said rolling his eyes.

  By the time they went to bed, Mike had finished two of the posters. It was too late to start on the third, so he rolled all the posters up and placed them in a tube. Joe bid him good night and went to his room. Mike went over and sat on his bed. He spent a couple of minutes thinking about how nice it was to hang out with Joe before turning his lights out.

  “You guys sound kickass,” Jared said when Fred finished up their practice session.

  “Thanks, Jared,” Rocco said. “What songs did you like the best?”

  “I loved your Ramones song. And how could I not like your Buzzcocks songs and Dead Kennedys medley,” Jared recalled.

  “Wow, you know your music!” Pete said.

  “Yeah, you guys are playing all my favorites,” Jared said approaching the stage.

  “Did we do your favorites justice?” Rocco asked.

  “And some! It’s great to hear these songs live. All I’ve got are copies of copies of tapes so they all sound shitty on my cheap tape player,” Jared said.

  “Copies of copies? That must sound terrible,” Rocco said.

  “Yeah, but it’s what I can get,” Jared said. Rocco gave him a confused look.

  “You can go to the record store and get those albums pretty cheap at this point,” Pete said.

  Jared looked down at the ground and moved his foot in half circles back and forth. He put his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans. His jeans were old and ragged. His flannel shirt had a small tear in the front tail that had been haphazardly sewn up. It hit Rocco and Pete simultaneously that Jared’s family were dirt poor. Going to the record store was not a viable option for Jared.

  “Hey, do you think you’d want to borrow those albums sometime?” Pete asked.

  Jared looked up and smiled. “Yeah, I’d love to!”

  “Do you have a CD player?” Pete asked. Jared’s smile dissipated.

  “No, I only have a tape player,” Jared replied.

  “Tell you what. Since you have copies of copies, how about I make you copies of your favorites from a CD? It’ll sound like you just bought them from the record store,” Rocco said.

  “You’d do that?” Jared said smiling again.

  “Fuck yeah, I would. It’s a disservice to those bands to listen to shitty bootlegged copies,” Rocco said.

  “Make us a list of the albums you want, and we’ll see if we have them,” Pete added.

  “Cool! Man, you guys are awesome!” Jared said excitedly.

  Pete looked at the members of the band. There was a general sense of what Pete was thinking. They all agreed to the unspoken thought.

  “Hey, would you be interested in earning some extra money?” Pete asked Jared.

  “Sure, what are you thinking?” Jared asked.

  “Well, Mike helps us with set up, but we can tell that our demands are too much for one person,” Pete started. “We could use some more help.”

  “Oh yeah?” Jared asked eagerly.

  “Yeah, we don’t pay Mike. He’s doing it because he’s Rocco’s boyfriend. So, sometimes….well, you get what you pay for,” Pete said. Rocco gave him a sarcastically dirty look. “Sorry, Rocco. It’s true.”

  “Yeah, he can take some convincing to do his job,” Rocco said.

  “If we paid someone, we could guarantee that we’d have quality service,” Pete replied. “We could pay you $15 per show?”

  “That would be awesome! What would you want me to do?” Jared asked.

  “Unload the car, take our instruments to the stage, set them up, make sure we have food and drink before, during, after the shows, break down the equipment. That kind of stuff,” Pete responded.

  “Sweet deal! I’m yours,” Jared replied.

  “Great, you’re hired,” Rocco said.

  “We have a show this coming weekend. It’s a private party. Are you available?” Pete asked in a business-like voice.

  “I can be,” Jared replied.

  “What’s your transportation situation like?” Pete asked.

  “I can get a ride where I need,” Jared answered.

  “I can get you,” Austin replied. “You can help me load up the drums in my car.”

  “You sure? I can get a ride to your place,” Jared said.

  “Let me pick you up the first time and we can go from there,” Austin said.

  “Cool, oh, I think my next lesson is here. You have a pen and paper so I can give y’all my number?” Jared asked. Raz produced a pencil and a paper from his pocket and gave it to Jared. Jared wrote down his number and handed it to Pete. “Just give me a call when you’re ready to come get me.” Jared waved and walked over to a 12-year-old in full protective gear. The two walked over to a small bowl to work on tricks.

  “We did a good deed tonight, fellas,” Rocco said strumming on his guitar.

  “I felt bad for the little guy. And Mike does need some help,” Pete said. “You think Mike will be okay with this arrangement?”

  “Yeah, I have a feeling he’ll be happy to pass the work off to Jared. He only agreed so we could hang out more under the guise of a job. I don’t think he knew what he was getting into,” Rocco cut Pete an evil smirk to indicate that Pete’s diva demands would send anyone over the edge.

  “Very funny,” Pete quipped.

  Monday morning, Mike hung all his posters on the walls of Miners Creek High School. As he tacked the posters up, kids started looking at the posters. Mike heard a few “Sweet” and “Cool” remarks coming from various points behind him. Such a positive response gave Mike a spark of hope. He looked forward to being in a crowd of his peers that supported the effort—or at least wanted to hear music.

  At lunch, Jared and Mike were talking about the weekend and the private show when Chris sat down.

  “Hey guys, what’s up?” Chris asked.

  “Hey Chris, we were just talking about working with the band this weekend,” Jared said.

  “Oh yeah? How’d that go?” Chris asked.

  “Very well!” Jared replied.

  “Yeah, so well, that I think I may resign,” Mike said laughing.

  “Seriously?” Jared asked.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “No, not really. But I may opt out of the hard physical work. I mean I only did it so I could get into Rocco’s pants,” Mike said.

  “Yeah, yeah, such is the life of a groupie,” Chris laughed. “Hey, Mike, baseball tryouts are coming up soon. You think you’re going to try out?”

  Mike looked down at the table for a moment before responding. “I’m not sure. I don’t know if I want to be on any sports teams.”

  “Come on, you are so good. It’ll be a chance to hang out,” Chris said.

  “I don’t know if that’s my vibe anymore,” Mike said looking off in the distance.

  “I didn’t know you were into baseball,” Jared said.

  “Yeah, he played all during junior high,” Chris said. “We won lots of games because of him.”

  “Is that true?” Jared asked Mike.

  “I guess. It was a team effort,” Mike said trying to play down the conversation.

  “Don’t be so modest, Mike. You’re good. We’ll have a chance of going to state if you’re on the team,” Chris stated almost pleading.

  “I don’t know,” Mike said unsure of how to respond.

  “If you’re that good, you should do it,” Jared said.

  “It takes up so much time,” Mike said. “I like having all the extra time to hang out.”

  “Oh, you mean, you like all the extra time with Rocco,” Jared retorted.

  “Well, yeah,” Mike said sarcastically.

  “Your boyfriend is a punk rocker. Being on a sports team is not going to take away any of your street cred,” Jared said.

  “Oh, is that right?” Mike said laughing.

  “I mean, you don’t have that much to begin with,” Jared chuckled. Mike gave him a sarcastic “haha”.

  “Well, I’ll think it over. I got to make the team first,” Mike said.

  Rocco sat down in front of Ms. Richards’s desk ready to discuss potential colleges. He had picked out three schools he wanted to apply to: Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, and the University of Tennessee. Ms. Richards was in the next room making copies of transcripts for the steadily increasing number of student requests. This time of year, Ms. Richards spent most of her days copying transcripts, stamping them with the school seal, and sealing envelopes.

  Ms. Richards entered her office and took a seat.

  “Sorry about that, Rocco. I had a few transcript requests I didn’t get to yesterday,” she said as she pulled out Rocco’s file. “What did you think of the schools I had you look at?”

  Rocco opened the manilla envelope and laid out three booklets.

  “Oh, these are GREAT choices! I think you have an excellent chance of getting into all three. They will be fighting for a student like yourself,” Ms. Richards exclaimed.

  “You think so?” Rocco asked unconfidently.

  “Absolutely! Straight A’s, in a band, lots of extracurriculars, and forgive me for bring this up but it’ll be important, Hispanic.” Ms. Richards said.

  “Well, I prefer Latino. Being Latino matters?” Rocco asked.

  “It’s not the only thing but it certainly helps,” Ms. Richards stated. “I’ll be honest. Schools are killing themselves to accept minority students.”

  “I don’t know how to take that,” Rocco said. “I’m not a very good representation of Latino culture. I can’t even speak Spanish.”

  “You don’t have to be a stereotype, Rocco. Your presence as a Latino is what matters. Be proud of who you are,” Ms. Richards said. Rocco nodded.

  “So, what’s my next step?” Rocco asked.

  “You’re going to want to start writing essays. Vandy and the University of Chicago asks you to write about why you’d be a good student. My advice is to write a two-page essay about why you should be accepted. Then take that essay and tailor it a little for each of the schools. You’ve got to sell yourself in these essays. I also want you to start filling in these applications. It’s not difficult but you’ll have to gather lots of information and write in the information for all three. That can be the time-consuming part, but it is totally doable.” Ms. Richards explained.

  “Okay, that is a lot to do, but I can get it together,” Rocco assured her.

  “The Vandy application needs to be sent by end of the month. Do that one first. Then work on the University of Chicago application. The UT application can wait until last,” Ms. Richards said. “Would you like me to look over the applications before you send them?”

  “Yes, I want to be sure they’re good,” Rocco said.

  “Great. I’m happy to help. Since you have a couple of weeks to get Vandy in, let’s meet next week so I can see your progress. Try to get that one done by next week,” Ms. Richards said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rocco said giving her a salute. He gathered the three booklets together and stuffed them in his backpack. He got up to leave. As he left the main office, he was excited for his future.

  Mike waited in the car for Jared. Mike agreed to drive since he was still working for the band. He would be the designated driver for the roadies. Mike had already been picking up and dropping off Jared every day for school. Austin had to give Raz a ride as well as lug his drums, so room was limited in his car.

  Mike didn’t really mind as he and Jared had become closer than he and Chris had ever been. Mike and Chris mostly just talked about baseball. Mike and Jared talked to each other on a deeper level. They shared their hopes and fears with each other. Mike felt that Jared had let Mike into his world.

  Jared’s house was a faded and aging trailer in one of the town’s most rundown trailer parks. On one end of the trailer was a large antenna held up by duct tape. In front of the trailer was a rusted patio two-seater along with a couple of torn out car seats. Jared and his younger brother shared a room in the trailer. They lived with his dad who had been divorced for years. The entire trailer smelled of vegetable beef soup. Jared would have been deeply embarrassed about someone picking him up at his trailer. Jared spent as little time at home as he could. When he couldn’t be at the skatepark, he was at some school function, not out of school spirit, but to get away from this god-forsaken place. However, since Mike shared about his relationship with Rocco the first time they met, Jared felt a certain level of comfort with Mike.

  Jared opened the door of the trailer. It looked as if he were telling his dad something. Mike had never been inside the trailer. He only saw one small piece of the inside when Jared opened the door. From the brief glimpse inside, Mike could tell that no one in the family was assigned household cleaning duties. Jared slammed the door, not out of anger but out of necessity as the door would not latch unless it was forced. He made his way to the car.

  Mike saw that Jared was not wearing his usual knit cap. His chin length hair was parted in the middle and hung down on either side of his face.

  “You ready?” Jared said as he got in the car. He placed his backpack in the floorboard.

  “You’re not wearing your cap,” Mike noted.

  “Yeah, my dad took it. He said he needed to wear it to work because the factory was cold,” Jared said.

  “Oh, okay,” Mike said. Jared looked like a different person without his cap. He looked even thinner and younger. “You going to be alright without a cap?”

  “I guess,” Jared said. “My head feels kinda naked.”

  Mike was wearing Rocco’s hat, and, without hesitation, he took it off and offered it to Jared. “Want to wear this?”

  “Nah,” Jared said a little surprised at the gesture. “That’s Rocco’s hat. I can’t let you part with it.”

  “You can borrow it just for tonight,” Mike offered again.

  “No, I’ll be fine,” Jared said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Mike put Rocco’s hat back on and maneuvered the car out of the trailer park. It was a difficult feat to avoid all the potholes in the gravel road. They made it to the main road and out to the skatepark.

  Their first stop was to Austin’s house to help him load up his drums into the car. This was the toughest part of the job. Austin’s car was a smaller vehicle. Considering the front seat had to be vacant, it was like a game of Tetris to load the drums into the back seat, the trunk, The drums themselves had to be positioned into the backseat followed by the stand and the cymbals in the trunk. The large bass drum would be carried by Mike in the back seat now that he had his own vehicle.

  Austin was waiting for Mike and Jared out in the front. Mike pulled into the driveway. The two got out of the car. Austin waved them over to the garage. His drum kit was already setting behind the garage door in a neat and tidy formation. It took only a few minutes for Mike and Jared to load everything into the two cars. Austin tried to help but Jared insisted that he stand back to allow the paid professional to do the job.

  The next stop was Pete’s house. The only real equipment Pete had was his microphone and himself. Mike and Jared would chauffer Pete to the show just like the lead singer he was. Once they got Pete, they would make their way to the park. Rocco would take his own car there. Before they drove off from Pete’s, Pete handed Jared some tapes that he had recorded. He asked Mike to play one of the cassettes on their way.

  When they pulled into the lot of the skatepark, they saw that the crowd was already forming. The lot was already three quarters full even though the show was not supposed to start for another two hours. Luckily, O’Malley had a special set of spots roped off for the band which was next to the stage. Over the past few weeks, O’Malley noticed how far the band members had to haul their equipment, so he installed a gate next to the stage for easy access.

  Mike pulled into a spot almost in front of the gate. Austin and Raz must have stopped somewhere on the way since they were not at the park yet. Mike and Jared started to unload the bass drum and Pete’s equipment.

  “Oh shit. We’re going to sell out tonight,” Pete noted as he got out of the car. There were already groups of teenagers in front of the stage. They were mostly just hanging out chatting amongst themselves. Several had brought lawn chairs. Mike smiled at the crowd as he opened the gate. Jared took the drum with Mike’s Fred logo and transported it to the stage. Mike took the stands for Pete’s microphone and set them up on stage. Mike spotted Toya and Moni in the crowd and waved. Toya, in her usual spritely manner, jumped up and down waving back.

  Mike spotted a set of headlights pulling in next to his car. It was Austin and Raz. Jared took note and bolted towards the gate. Mike followed behind to help with unloading and transporting the drums to the stage. Jared started setting up the stands for the drums without Mike’s assistance. Seeing that Jared did not need his help, Mike stood back and waited for Rocco. Aside from their frequent late night rendezvouses, the two had not been alone away from everything since their camping trip. They had been so busy with band practice and the GSA show that they hadn’t stopped to enjoy each other’s company for quite some time. Mike started to think about a camping trip when he saw Rocco pull in. Mike immediately ran towards the gate to greet him.

  “Hey, there!” Mike said excitedly.

  “Hey!” Rocco said giving Mike a kiss and hug.

  “Are you ready?” Mike asked.

  Rocco reached in the car and put on Mike’s junior high school baseball hat. “I am now.”

  Mike loved the way Rocco looked in his old hat. He loved that Rocco revered a piece of his own history so fondly. He loved that his old hat had become his lucky charm. Rocco had it on backwards. Mike reached up and situated the hat as it should be worn with the tattered bill in the front. He pulled the bill down over his eyebrows.

  “You look sexy like that,” Mike said and pecked Rocco on the lips. Rocco gave Mike his crooked half-smirk and grabbed Mike to give him a deeper kiss. The bill of the hat hit Mike’s forehead and slid up higher. Mike reached his arms around Rocco’s neck while the hat fell off Rocco’s head.

  “Uh oh, I guess I’m not sexy anymore,” Rocco said smiling.

  Mike reached down and picked the hat off the ground. He repositioned the hat as it was before their kiss.

  “There, all sexy again,” Mike said. “I have an idea I want to float by you.”

  “I’m listening,” Rocco said.

  “We haven’t been camping alone for a while. Part of the reason for that is the weather, but I really miss the solitude we have. What do you say we get away for an overnighter somewhere?” Mike proposed.

  “I’d love that,” Rocco said grabbing Mike’s waist.

  “I was thinking maybe I could ask my dad to rent us a cabin at the state park,” Mike said.

  “He would be alright with you and I going to a cabin alone?” Rocco asked with skepticism.

  “Well, I wouldn’t tell him it was just us. I could tell him something like we are having a band retreat or something along those lines,” Mike proposed.

  “Oh…you sneaky bastard,” Rocco joked.

  “He’d think it would be a group of us, but it would really just be you and me,” Mike added.

  Rocco thought about this idea then smiled widely. “I love this idea. I’m all in.”

  “As I expected you would be!” Mike said. Rocco took Mike’s hand and gave it a kiss. Mike took Rocco’s hand and placed it on his chest.

  “I love you, Mike Barber!” Rocco said.

  “I love you, Rocco!” Mike replied. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds until Pete poked his head from the gate.

  “Rocco, get over here, you gotta see this!” Pete exclaimed waving over toward him.

  Rocco and Mike went over to the gate and peered in. Rocco was stunned at the sight of the crowd. The audience area was already starting to overflow. He couldn’t believe the turnout. Easily, they must have already raised $200 in attendance alone.

  “Can you believe this turnout?” Pete exclaimed.

  “No, I can’t!” Rocco exclaimed.

  Jared appeared from the back. “Rocco, is your stuff in the car?”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s unlocked,” Rocco replied to Jared with eyes still on the crowd. Jared darted out to Rocco’s car.

  O’Malley approached Pete, Rocco, and Mike.

  “You guys are officially a sell out performance!” O’Malley exclaimed. He must have been super excited since he rarely got so hyped up.

  “How many people are here?” Rocco asked.

  “We’re at 200 right now. We’re going to have to stop admitting people in a few minutes,” O’Malley said excitedly.

  “Wow! What about the people who come later?” Pete asked.

  “I guess they’ll just have to stand in the parking lot. I had no idea you guys would attract such a crowd,” O’Malley said.

  “Well, it’s for a good cause,” Rocco said.

  “I can’t really charge people to stand outside but we could have someone with a bucket to get donations,” O’Malley said. “Of course, all the donations are yours.”

  “Well, let’s get backstage and make sure everything is in working order. We don’t want to disappoint our crowd,” Pete said. They meandered their way behind the curtain to check the equipment as best as they could. It was a difficult feat with the chatter of the gathering audience. Luckily, all the sound levels did not need to change which made them glad that they practiced at the park over the past few weeks.

  Pete started to warm up his voice with some vocal exercises. Rocco stretched his fingers and did some finger exercises on his unplugged guitar. Raz sat quietly to calm his nerves. Austin pretended to play the drums without hitting the batter heads. Once they had about 15 minutes before the start of the show, Mike and Jared went around to get drink orders from the guys. They returned with a cooler of drinks that O’Malley had prepared for them.

  A few minutes before curtain time, the members of the band gathered in a huddle to pump themselves up. Their plan was to be backstage when the curtain opened. Pete would walk on stage and introduce each band member as they walked on individually.

  “Have a great show, sexy,” Mike whispered to Rocco right before curtain call. He flicked Rocco’s cap down a little further so that only his nose and lips were visible from straight on. He loved the mystery it gave Rocco.

  The curtain opened and the crowd went into a frenzy of cheers and applause. Pete ran onto to stage. The crowd started to cheer even more.

  “Welcome to our show. Tonight, we are playing for the Miners Creek High School Gay-Straight Alliance because we are QUEER AS FUCK!!!!” Pete screamed into the mic. The crowd cheered even louder. “I wanna introduce the posse. On lead guitar, the awesome Rocco.”

  Rocco took a breath and ran onto stage. He was startled by the amount of people in the crowd. He couldn’t believe all these people came to see them. He waved and went over to his guitar.

  “On bass, the fantastic Raz,” Pete said as Raz ran on the stage and took his spot. “On drums, the impeccable Austin,” Austin ran on the stage, spun a drumstick in the air, caught it, and went up behind the drums.

  “I’m Pete, we’re Fred. LET’S ROCK!!!!!” Pete yelled and looked over at Rocco. Rocco nodded. It was good that the bill of the hat blocked his view of most of the audience except the front row. If he saw the audience again, he would have frozen from fright. He saw Mike in the front corner of his visual field.

  “2…3…4…” Pete counted. Rocco started playing the beginning chords of their first song as he drifted into his internal visions of music. He only saw the notes and Mike standing in the front. The rest faded out of his awareness as they played through their set.

  As always when he plays a stellar set, Rocco forgot all time and space. It was as if he had highway hypnosis. Before he realized it, the show was over, and the curtain closed. They enjoyed the sound of the crowd cheering them on for an encore.

  “Here Comes Your Man?” Pete asked Rocco. Rocco nodded his head in excitement. Pete looked over at Raz and Austin and said the name of the song. They returned to their positions. The curtain opened again to louder cheers.

  They began playing the Pixies song. Mike started to melt as he watched Rocco play only for him. His heart started to flutter at the sight of Rocco singing backup to Pete.

  “Here Comes Your Man…” Rocco sang along with Pete.

  As the song wrapped up, Rocco looked up from his guitar at Mike. He mouthed the words “I love you” before the curtain closed.

  The band ended up raising a little over $500 for the GSA that night including the $50 from the sale of Mike’s posters.