"Of course I do, but what are you, seventy? I don't go to bed at ten thirty."

"You also didn't run several miles today."

"Hey," Casey laughed, "is that a fat joke?"

"Not if you don't want it to be," Isaiah laughed with her.

"Nah, I'm just kidding. I'll let you go for now and see you on the bus tomorrow."

"Okay, sounds good. See you then." Isaiah snapped his phone shut and laid back on his bed relieved that the conversation was over. Casey could sometimes be a little overwhelming when it came to certain topics Caleb and Jonathan both being their own topic. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he closed his eyes imagining what school was going to be like tomorrow, deciding it best to avoid Sheena at any cost. He didn't need a confrontation with her. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to talk to Caleb at school or how they were going to handle their situation, but he couldn't wait to see him again.

It was around eight-thirty and Caleb had gotten home just over an hour ago, the rest of the day went just as he thought it would likely go. They sat and watched the game, the other team won and then they sat around and complained about what they did wrong or what the coach did wrong for an hour, eating pizza. Caleb was sitting at his computer, doing something he did frequently, chatting on the internet. The internet was a good outlet for Caleb, he felt he could talk to most of the people there and not worry about being judged. He had made a couple of friends from chat rooms that he would talk to online. Most of them were friends from larger cities, he had never been able to meet anyone from Strathecona. He had talked to several in the surrounding cities, he had a few he talked to regularly. Mostly they were only interested in a sexual encounter, and they were usually closer to his father's age, or they were married. Caleb could understand that there were people out there that didn't realize their feelings as soon as he did. Or that some people felt that they couldn't act on it for other reasons but didn't like the constant harassment he would get once he announced himself to be a football player. He was very careful not to tell people a lot of information about himself and he didn't have pictures of himself anywhere online. When he was fifteen, he told a friend who he was online and gave him a picture of him after only talking for a few weeks. The person turned out to be a thirty-five-year-old man and he showed up at three of Caleb's games following their conversation. Even after Caleb expressed his discomfort with it and his fears the person didn't care about it, he eventually had to threaten the guy by going to the authorities to get him away from him. He still talked to some people, but it was strictly platonic conversation, he only considered the one or two people he talked to from the city to be actual friends. An instant message window popped up on his screen just as he signed into his MSN. It was his friend from Toronto, Ryan. Hey, what's up? This person was someone to whom Caleb felt comfortable telling everything. He knew that Caleb had been with Sheena but was interested in guys. Well, I broke up with my girlfriend. Caleb typed back to him. Awe, I'm sorry to hear that are you okay? Caleb smiled to himself at the sympathy knowing full well that this person couldn't stand Sheena based on what he had told him and was probably jumping around his living room with joy. Yeah, I'm alright ... I found someone new. Caleb finished the thought with a smiley face emoticon. There was a bit of a delay and Caleb wasn't sure what to expect from the person. Well, that's good, I'm happy for you. Hopefully, this one will treat you better, but I hope you don't keep lying to yourself for too long babe, you know how those people turn out. Ryan was in his early twenties; he and Caleb shared their experiences including Caleb's run-in with the older man when he was younger. Um, actually it's Isaiah. Caleb responded. Caleb had talked to Ryan a lot about Isaiah and Ryan had been encouraging him just to talk to him about it. Oh my god really? I'm so happy for you. You were finally able to talk to him about everything then? Caleb couldn't help but smile as he typed about his current situation with Isaiah. Yeah, we talked on Friday night, we won our game, so we had a victory party, and he came over. He actually felt the same way all this time that I did, but even longer. Caleb hit enter to send the message but kept typing. I'm so happy right now I can't even put it into words, everything just seems so perfect you know. I just feel so free now. Caleb typed quickly and hit enter sending the message. It was only a few seconds before Ryan's words popped up on the screen. I'm really glad you finally got through this Caleb. I must admit after some of our talks I was really starting to worry about you. I thought that sometimes I was going to see you on the news talking about a teenage suicide or something. Caleb was surprised at Ryan's words he had never really felt that way before and didn't think that he had projected that feeling in their conversation. Nah, that'll never be me. Just as Caleb hit the enter button on the computer, he heard his phone go off having received a text message. Hey, I'm gonna get off of here for now so I will talk to you later.

Caleb signed out of his MSN and walked over to get his phone from his duffel bag. He knelt and picked up the phone and looked at the face. It displayed that he had one new text message from Sheena. Caleb felt a sinking feeling in his chest and swallowed hard before he opened the text message as he sat on the bed. Can we talk? Caleb let out a sigh in frustration as he typed up a response to her on the phone. Maybe. What about? Caleb was going to be as brief as he could with her, not wanting to get into anything with her. The phone bleeped again signifying her response which only took seconds to come back to him. Us? I'm sorry. Caleb was caught off guard not sure what to say to her. Um, okay. He responded to her. Can we meet? Caleb didn't want to but decided he would at least hear what she had to say not wanting to upset her anymore at this point. Where? He texted her back quickly just wanting to get it over with. How about the field? The field was somewhere that Caleb used to take Sheena when they first got together so that they could be alone together. They hadn't been there in a long time, and she would often get mad about going there with him now that they were able to get alone time in other places. She thought it was stupid and pointless, but Caleb liked the quiet and being able to look up at the stars at night he found it romantic just being there. He was unsure about what to do but he had to type back something. Alright. Be there in ten. Caleb hit the send button and stood up.

"Here goes nothing." Caleb talked to himself as he stood up from his bed and headed downstairs and out to the truck. Caesar had left already, and his parents were still gone, leaving him to be the only one in the house again.

Sheena got Caleb's response quickly which must have meant he was just as happy to get to talk to her as she was to talk to him. Sheena jumped off her bed and ran downstairs. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a glass of wine as she grabbed the keys from the table.

"Where are you going at this hour?" asked Norma.

"I have to go talk to Caleb," said Sheena hoping not to get much of a response out of her.

"You can't wait until tomorrow at school to tell him?"

"No mom we won't be able to get any time alone at school tomorrow." Sheena started to put on her shoes.

"You know this is your fault if you treated him better and maybe cut down on the drugs. His uncle told me about the pot they found in his drawer, you know as well as I do that, he doesn't do any drugs," Norma ranted.

"Alright mom, I get it." Sheena let out a sigh of frustration and stepped out of the house. She walked over to her mother's car and got in. Sheena couldn't help but be excited, Caleb's text messages sounded like he was willing to try and work on their relationship. She pulled out of the yard trying not to speed, she didn't want to get there too early so she didn't appear desperate. It had been a long time since the two of them had been to the field, she had been there once since she and Caleb had gone together. She and Caleb had had a brief period of separation and she had taken Chris there once. Caleb never found out about her and Chris and now that they were separated again if they didn't end up together again then she would most likely end up with Chris. Chris was the next best thing to Caleb, he was attractive, came from a rich family and he too had a bright future. Sheena was almost there the sun was only minutes from setting, she hoped that it would affect Caleb's attitude may be making him more open to her. He was romantic like that, and she had banked on it before, she hoped it would work again.

Caleb pulled into the field, the sun was well on its way to setting and Sheena was nowhere to be found. It might have been romantic if he wasn't so tense about seeing Sheena. He wasn't surprised that she wasn't there. Sheena was never on time for anything that they made an appointment for. He put the truck in park and got out he took a look around. He was glad to be back in the field, the foliage seemed to be in full bloom and the wind blew across the flat area freely. The scenery helped calm him, something he was most likely going to need after this ordeal was over. Caleb could hear a car coming and leaned against his truck staring at his feet. Sheena pulled up next to him in her mother's sedan Caleb could see the smile on her face.

"I'm sorry," she said getting out of the car with an apologetic tone. "My mother was freaking out about me leaving so late. I didn't have much choice but to tell her about us," she ranted, "And, of course, once she found out, you know how she gets. Then she went into why you were mad, and it must have been my fault. I just told her that we got into an argument about the party the other night. And of course, then she brought up the weed I left in your drawer and that I should be cutting down on the pot..." Caleb had enough of listening to her he wanted this whole thing to be over, already not able to stand the sound of her voice.

"... Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked, interrupting her with impatience coming out in his tone. Caleb put his foot up on the tire of the truck in an effort to convey his impatience in case she wasn't hearing it in his voice.

"I know. I'm sorry," Sheena shook her head and lit up a cigarette she got from her purse. "Caleb I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Sheena paused, waiting for some kind of reaction from him before deciding to continue. "I love you, Caleb, and I just want you back. I don't want us to end like this," she pleaded. "Over something so stupid."

"Sheena, you told the coach you saw Isaiah kissing a guy," Caleb was blatantly angry at her and wanted her to know. "You told me you weren't gonna tell anyone."

"Caleb, I..." Sheena had a look of surprise on her face. Caleb looked at her, he couldn't believe that she was acting like she never said anything about it.

"... You "what"? The coach didn't need to know anything about this. You just did it to scare me." Sheena could tell this wasn't going the way she had planned it to and wasn't sure how it was going to end.

"I'm sorry, Caleb. I don't know why I did it. Before now, I've had no reason not to like Isaiah." Sheena tried to keep her tone calm and sympathetic. "He was one of my favourite guys on the team."

"Mine too." Caleb smiled at her, and Sheena looked back at him with shock in her eyes not expecting him to be so bold.

"What?" she asked, shocked. Caleb let out a sigh.

"Sheena, there is no point to this..." Caleb stood up straight and walked over to the truck door when she grabbed him by the arm.

"Wait, please," she begged. Caleb stopped and turned to look at her. "I know this thing with Isaiah was just you trying something out, and that's cool. Just so long as he knows that we can go back to the way things were." Caleb held back a laugh and cut his eyes at her.

"Sheena, what makes you think I would want to go back to the way things were?" Caleb started to tear up as he spoke his frustration brought him to tears. "You know I loved you, but I meant what I said to you yesterday. I'm so sick of being treated like your prize to show off to all of your friends," he cried. Sheena watched him breaking down and started to cry with him. "Then, the second I open my mouth, it doesn't matter what I'm saying. As long as I'm the one saying it, it must be stupid." Caleb wiped his eyes with his sleeve and tried to pull himself together. He was mad and felt as though he was through shedding tears over her, but it was really hurting.

"Caleb, I know I'm not perfect and I'm sorry if I like the world to know that my boyfriend is hot, and I'm attracted to him. I just love you so much." She wrapped her arms around him, Caleb kept silent and didn't respond to her hug. "You can't even say it, can you?"

"What, Sheena?" he asked quietly. Sheena looked up at him still keeping her arms around him.

"I'm losing you, Caleb," she cried, "You can't say you love me anymore."

"Sheena," said Caleb pulling out of her hug, "you lost me a long time ago."

"You're right." Sheena looked at him shocked as she stepped back. "The real Caleb is gone and all that's left is some faggot!" she screamed. Caleb watched as Sheena quickly got into her car and slammed the door. She started the car and squealed out of the field, spraying him with dirt. Sheena drove out of site Caleb could hear her car leaving the area.

"Fuck!" Sheena screamed. She pulled the car over roughly a mile up the road. She hit the steering wheel as hard as she could causing the horn to go off. For once in their relationship Sheena felt like she had completely lost control, she had to do something about Isaiah there was no other foreseeable way for her to end this foolishness and be back with Caleb. "I fucking hate you!" She wasn't sure at this point what she was going to do but she was going to start by talking to Jonathan. She knew how much he hated him and was looking for any reason to lash out at him.