Isaiah had just given the ball his best kick and was now watching Jonathan and Caleb blast across the field after it. The clock was down to one minute and this would be the point to win the game for them or blow it for them. Isaiah watched as the clock slowly counted down the time, seemingly flowing in slow motion. The other team jumped him, and he threw the ball into the air. Jonathan bounded into the air and caught it and continued to run. Isaiah was hopeful but still nervous about the game. He often would feel anxiety on the field since, when he applied for the team, he just made the cut. Isaiah looked up just as Caleb managed to break free from the other team and take off running just in time for Jonathan to get tackled and throw the ball to him. He could see that he was really pushing himself as hard as he could; he could tell by how fast he was moving. Caleb pushed through one last person and jumped onto the goal line. The crowd of students in the bleachers started to scream and go wild. He threw the ball to the ground and did his brand of victory dance.

Caleb looked up at the people in the bleachers and raised his hands in the air at the cheering crowd. He could see Sheena, his girlfriend of three years. Sheena, the girl of everyone's dreams, five foot six, one hundred and twenty pounds with blonde hair and brown eyes and a beautiful figure. She was the girl that everyone sought but she was his girlfriend. They were considered to be the school power couple. Although she was beautiful, her attitude would often be a turn-off to most guys. She was his first girlfriend and he loved her but sometimes he had a hard time dealing with this attitude. It had been a particularly rough day with her. She had wanted to go to the mall at lunchtime, but he wasn't able to because his father had put the time lock on the truck, so she blew up at him. Sitting with her was her two friends Stephanie and Katelyn who were kind of her followers. He looked over at the parent section, Chris, Jonathan, Mike and Andrew. All their parents were sitting there, Caleb's parents, as usual, weren't there. They had been gone for almost a week now and probably wouldn't be back for another two or three days.

The crowd in the bleachers slowly cleared out to the point that only Sheena, Stephanie and Katelyn were left back. The coach blew the whistle that hung around his neck. The sound almost made Isaiah flinch, the high-pitched tone for some reason went right through him and it was something he still hadn't gotten used to.

"Good job, good job! Hit the showers, guys," called Coach Adams as he dropped the whistle back around his neck. The coach was a short stumpy man but when it came to football, he knew his stuff and he was certainly passionate about the sport. Caleb walked down the field with Jonathan, Isaiah, Mike and Andrew. He looked at Isaiah as he walked watching him move. The two of them hadn't really spoken but Caleb had always admired him. He was on the football team, and he was an academic, a bit of a nerd even. How he managed to do so well in both always quietly amazed Caleb.

"Caleb," yelled Sheena waving at him from the bleachers. Caleb blatantly ignored her as she called to him, clearly not in the mood to deal with her. Caleb smiled at Isaiah as he realized that he was staring at him.

"Good job, bud," said Caleb. Isaiah smiled at him almost bashfully, still not quite used to getting compliments on his performance on the field, especially from the other guys on the team. He was often teased by them because he was smaller and other rumours floated around about him.

"Thanks," said Isaiah. Jonathan walked up beside Caleb he was excited about having just won the game. He had heard Sheena call out to Caleb. He was his best friend since fourth grade. They had met at a football camp one summer and had been good friends since then. He wasn't the biggest fan of Sheena. He didn't like the fact that she was so controlling of him, and he just seemed to let her do it. Nonetheless, he thought he would make sure Caleb knew she was calling to him because he didn't want to have to listen to it later.

"Caleb, Sheena's yelling at you," reminded Jonathan. Caleb looked back at Jonathan with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm not in the mood to deal with her right now."

"Sorry." Isaiah watched as Jonathan put his head down and walked away. Everyone knew that Sheena and Caleb had been fighting today before the game. It was almost impossible not to know. Every time they fought; Sheena managed to make a big scene about it just to make sure she got her point across. That she wasn't getting her way and she always managed to make it look like Caleb was such a bad person. He felt sorry for him; just the look that would come over his face when she was screaming at him. He looked so belittled and frustrated, but Isaiah could tell that if he said or did anything it would just make him look worse.

"Another fight?" asked Isaiah. Caleb looked at Isaiah, caught off guard. He didn't realize that anyone knew he was fighting with Sheena. Although it wasn't all that uncommon for people to notice because as she was today, she was always extremely vocal about her problem. Caleb forced a smile for the sake of keeping up his appearance.

"Um… yeah man," said Caleb. Andrew watched as Caleb walked ahead of them, then looked at Isaiah. Andrew didn't like the fact that Isaiah was on the team. He didn't feel like he belonged; he just didn't think he was good enough. Caleb would often stick up for Isaiah when the other members of the team teased him. He was the team captain but even off the clock, he wouldn't stand for them saying anything about him. Andrew looked at his twin brother Mike who was walking just a few feet away.

"Man, I hate having to shower with that faggot," said Andrew. Mike felt the same way his brother did, he didn't know where the rumours came from but, for some reason, they made him uneasy. But he also didn't need Caleb being on their case about it either, although his brother didn't seem to care.

"Shh, Caleb might hear you," he warned.

"Yeah, whatever," said Andrew nonchalantly. Isaiah stopped walking and looked back briefly having heard the last part of the comment. He and Andrew made eye contact briefly as the two of them walked by him. Andrew was someone that he didn't particularly get along with, Andrew didn't like him and had no problem showing it. As long as Caleb wasn't around to say anything to him about it, his brother Mike was someone who didn't talk to Isaiah. The two of them walked past him, he took one last quick look at the field and walked into the locker room that adjoined the school gym. The team was excited after the win, they walked in patting themselves on the back before starting to get undressed. Isaiah stepped up to his locker which was two units down from Caleb's, but right next to Jonathan's. Jonathan stepped up to his locker and lifted his shirt off then looked at Caleb who was fiddling with the lock on his locker.

"Awesome job out there, Caleb… as always," said Jonathan.

"Hey man, I couldn't have done it without you guys!" said Caleb, getting his locker open. "Awesome pass out there. Got us the game." Caleb patted Jonathan on the back and lifted off his shirt. Isaiah followed his lead and lifted off his shirt. He rolled it up and put it into his locker. Jonathan took his pants off and then walked past him with a towel around his waist leaving just him and Caleb. Caleb had his back to him; Isaiah couldn't help but stare at him. Anyone could tell by looking at Caleb that he really cared about his body, he went to the gym daily and was heavily involved in sports for years, this gave him the almost sculpted body that now stood before Isaiah. His father was Cuban giving him a dark exotic look. Caleb looked over at him and flashed him a greeting smile.

"Good job out there, Caleb. You saved the day," said Isaiah trying not to seem obvious that he was staring.

"Hey, thanks. You too, bud." Caleb took his pants and underwear off then grabbed a towel out of his locker. He put the towel around his waist and shut the locker quickly putting the lock on it. Isaiah leaned into his locker to look for his towel with a smile on his face that Caleb couldn't see.

"See you later." Isaiah continued to undress as Caleb walked past him.

"Yup," said Caleb briefly as he walked past Isaiah into the shower room. Isaiah finished undressing then put his towel around his waist and shut his locker not bothering to lock it.

Isaiah walked into the shower behind the other guys. Caleb, Jonathan, Chris, Andrew and Mike had walked in ahead of him. They were standing under a group of showerheads that hung from the ceiling in a circle, the boys stood back-to-back as they washed. Isaiah took one of the showers away from the rest of the group, he turned on the water and started to work through his shower routine. He could clearly hear the group's conversation.

"So, guys, where's the victory party tonight?" asked Chris dumping soap into his hand from a squeeze bottle.

"Hells yeah, mutha, that's what I need! Caleb are we doing it at your house again this time?" asked Jonathan excitedly. Caleb had an unsure look on his face as he spoke.

"I don't know, man. My parents are outta town but I'm not sure about the whole party thing. The girlfriend is going to wanna hang out and, quite frankly, she hates you, idiots." The group laughs at the comment. The rest of the team and Jonathan in particular didn't like Sheena, they all saw her as just a spoiled brat that leached off Caleb. Every one of them, except Isaiah, had tried to get him to leave her at some point and any onlooker could see that it bothered him.

"The feeling's mutual," said Mike. "I'm sure she knows that."

"Man, that shit's weak. You need to tell that bitch how it is. But then again, we've been telling you that for years! We know how it is eh buddy?" Jonathan made a whipping noise and made the action with his hand then continued to scrub his chest. The team laughed at the comment, and Caleb shook his head hiding his frustration.

"Man, whatever. At least I got some pussy to get whipped by! When's the last time you got anything other than the Sears catalogue?" said Caleb, keeping with the light mood.

"Haha. Fuck you, ass. I get plenty o' pussy." Jonathan turned off the water on his showerhead and stepped away from the shower. Andrew looked back at him with a big smile on his face. Everyone knew Jonathan for two things other than football, partying and women, he made it no secret that he was heavily into either. He'd often talk about his conquests in the locker room, much to the dismay of the others.

"Yeah, from that fat chick!" Andrew called out for everyone to hear. The group laughed, and Isaiah found this to be particularly funny. The "fat chick" they were referring to was his best friend Casey. He didn't like hearing them talk about her like that, but he knew that she would get a kick out of him being teased, little did they know she used him just as much as he used her. Isaiah snickered out loud and shook his head not realizing it.

"Whatever," said Jonathan. Jonathan was irritated about being teased and everyone laughing at him. As Isaiah laughed, he turned his attention to him with an angry look on his face. "What are you laughing at, faggot?" Isaiah became nervous as Jonathan approached him putting a towel around his waist. Jonathan was significantly larger than him and probably had about forty pounds on him. The words were something that Isaiah had unfortunately become used to over the past year or so since the rumours had started to circulate about him. The entire room had gone quiet, the only sound was the water streaming from the showerheads. Isaiah shot Caleb a nervous glance before he spoke.

"Nothing, man… Just thought about something," said Isaiah his voice cracking.

"That's what I thought, fucking faggot!" Jonathan pushed Isaiah harshly, and he stumbled almost falling to the floor.

"Man, knock it off…" Caleb put his towel around him and stepped over to them, he wasn't about to stand for Jonathan getting physical with anyone, particularly the smallest member of the team.

"Hey! Calm down. We all laughed at you. Didn't hear you talking to anyone else like that," said Caleb taking a defensive posture. Jonathan turned around and looked at Caleb still with an angry look on his face. Caleb knew he wasn't surprised; this wasn't the first time he had to come between Jonathan and Isaiah. Caleb stood staring at Jonathan waiting for a response half expecting what he was going to say anyway.

"Caleb, why do we have this faggot on our team anyway." The rest of the group nervously looked on wondering what was going to happen. These incidents didn't ever get too serious, but this was probably the first time in a long time Jonathan had physically attacked Isaiah. They knew that Caleb wouldn't stand for it.

"Man, Jonathan, you know you're my best friend, but I'm still team captain. He's on the team because he does what he's supposed to do. Now just shut up before I have to get the coach involved." Jonathan stared at Caleb angry and hurt that Caleb would always take Isaiah's side in these situations.

"Whatever. I'm out of here. I'll see you, boys, later." Jonathan walked out of the shower room and waved at the others on his way by. They stay silent for a few seconds hearing Jonathan thrashing his locker around briefly then the sound stops. Isaiah looks at Caleb shortly and then goes back to shower.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, man." Caleb walked back over to his shower and hung up the towel in front of him. Mike looked at each of them sensing that the tension had faded and decided it was ok to get back on the topic at hand.

"So. Yeah. Party. When?" Caleb smiled at Isaiah and then looked at Mike, deciding to let the incident slide off for now.

"Fuck it. Just come over to my place. Tell the peeps and bring your friends. The 'rents aren't in town and it's the weekend. We might as well take advantage of it." The team started whooping and hollering with excitement. Caleb smiled and turned off the water, he put his towel around him and walked out into the locker room. Caleb opened his locker and took out the clothing he would wear for the rest of the day. His favourite black jeans and his orange silk button-up. He finished towelling off still thinking about Isaiah, he would often stare at him when no one was looking. Caleb felt guilty for feeling this way, and he felt as though he could never act on it. People in Strathcona just wouldn't allow it and Sheena would never forgive him. He felt he was stuck with her at this point, not that he didn't love her but lately their fighting was getting to him.