I'm Not Gay

Chapter One- Where Worlds Collide

Matthew Sanders chuckled as his friends retold their tales of the party they were all at on Saturday. Like every other Monday morning, Matthew Sanders, Brian Haner, Zacky Baker, Jimmy Sullivan and Johnny Sewerd found themselves standing in the parking lot by the two cars that brought them to Huntington Beach High School. The five boys were known throughout the school for being the most dominating and feared group. Even while they, themselves, paid no mind to other students, the student body did their best to stay off of their bad sides.

Matt's laughter was cut off by the sound of a powerful engine revving, his hazel-gold eyes moving toward the sound. Settling on the gorgeous, deep green classic '68 Mustang GTO, Matt gazed over the sleek paint job and tinted windows. It was definitely a beautiful car. Admiration of the car ended when the engine was cut off, the driver side door popping open.

Silence fell over the parking lot as it seemed every single student watched the Converse-clad foot touch the ground, followed by a second one. Matt quirked an eyebrow as his sights fell on the boy that stepped out of the car. He seemed to be about Johnny's height, maybe an inch shorter. His mess of black hair fell into his face in a style that looked as though he just rolled out of bed, or had just been accosted by a random person in a closet. Whispers immediately fill the school grounds as the boy leaned back into the powerful vehicle to pull out his simple black messenger bag.

The ebony-haired boy wore a simple green and blue checkered button-down shirt which was left open, the black under-shirt tucked into the waist of his dark blue denim skinny jeans. Matt couldn't stop the quirking of his eyebrow as his gaze moved over the white belt wrapped around the boy's waist, stars cut out of the leather strap. The shorter boy ran a hand, encased in a black fingerless glove, through the mess of his hair, causing some of the girls in the distance to giggle insistently.

"Who the hell is that?" Zacky asked, his own green eyes moving over the tattooed forearms and the obvious eyebrow ring glinting in the boy's right eyebrow.

Matt shrugged, "New student? Maybe things around here will become interesting?"

It wasn't until Home Room when Matt figured out just how interesting his school days were about to become.

~~~~~

Hearing the opening of the door and the sudden silence falling over the room caused Matt to slide his eyes open. The boy entering the room didn't even acknowledge the silence as he approached Mrs. Curry, handing the older woman a slip of paper. The woman smiled warmly before standing.

"Everyone, this is C.J. Livingston. If you don't mind, C.J., we usually allow any new students to answer a few questions?" Mrs. Curry suggested.

"I don't mind," the soft tenor voice responded, causing many of the girls to giggle. Turning toward the class of teens, Matt tensed at the passive, calculating green eyes that stared back, looking over everyone in the room, "How about you?"

The girl he picked on blushed, biting her bottom lip nervously before asking, "Where did you move from?"

"I've moved a lot. I was born in Ireland," the boy replied, Matt catching the slightest hint of an Irish accent, "I moved from Ireland to Boston. From Boston to Jersey. From Jersey to Baltimore. From Baltimore to here."

"Why do you move so much?" another girl cut in, leaning forward, causing the top of her shirt to fall open.

Matt was surprised when C.J. glanced at her briefly before looking away, shrugging, "My mother received a job offer and she wanted to get away from Jersey."

"How old are you?" a random boy from the side of the class asked.

"Seventeen," came the curt reply, green eyes moving to look over the raised hands.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" another girl bravely questioned.

The boy didn't seem to understand the giggles as he shook his head, causing Matt to smirk, "What about a boyfriend?"

Sharp green eyes met Matt's gaze instantly, "Is that an offer?"

The giggles fell silent, Matt sitting upright, his eyes narrowing into a glare as the boy standing at the front of the class barely flinched, "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Well, I was hoping that I wouldn't be surrounded by bigots. While I am not interested in seeing anyone, I have had my share of sexually innuendoed comments to last a life time and I don't appreciate the terms of your questions pertaining to my sexual preference," the boy responded automatically, not even blinking at the seething glare, "See, while I am forced to move around, I have come to know many people, and some of the best of them were same-sex preferred."

"Aw...are you a two-pump chump?" Matt threw back sarcastically.

The boy quirked a pierced eyebrow before replying, "I can assure you, any of my past relations has never made complaint of my skills."

"I understand. Picking out the easy-to-please ones so they don't have anything better to compare it to, right?" Matt questions, smirking as his arms cross over his chest.

"You can believe whatever you wish, but from my point of view, I can only see a boy lashing out because he's built his ego large enough to compensate for what he's lacking else where," the boy replied evasively.

Matt shot to his feet almost instantly, "You might want to watch your words, fucker."

"Mr. Sanders!" Mrs. Curry exclaimed.

"I'm afraid the only time I am able to watch my words is when they are written on paper, and as you can see, I'm lacking paper at the moment," the boy shot back instantly.

"I said shut the fuck up!"

A smirk formed on the boy's lips as Mrs. Curry's exclaims went unnoticed, "I must say, your vocabulary is truly remarkable. Did you get your comebacks from a first grader?"

"Opposed to the 'Book of Retorts for the Socially Inept'?" Matt snapped in return.

The shorter boy standing at the front of class placed a hand on his chest, his facial features shifting to a look of mock hurt, "Oh, how you wound me with your words. Really, I think I might feel something?" His features shifted to that of a condescending look as he met Matt's intense gaze, "Nope. I'm afraid I'm just not bothered by anything you have to say."

Matt couldn't believe it as his hands clenched into fists. This...boy was testing him. Looking the boy over once more, something about him screamed 'Don't Cross Me!'. Something about him rubbed Matt the wrong way. The flat, cynical voice. Passive and calculating, almost cold, gaze. The stoic facial features. Everything about him screamed dangerous, but Matt knew. The kid was hiding something. He was trying to make himself seem more dangerous than he really is.

Matt sat in his seat, crossing his tattooed forearms over his chest, "Whatever you say, poser. Do all of us a favor and throw yourself off of the closest bridge."

There! Matt glared as a cynical and sarcastic smirk formed on the boy's lips. The stoic features broke for a moment as his face twisted into a sarcastically amused expression.

"Been there. Done that," the boy waved dismissively.

"You've thrown yourself off a bridge?" a girl from the front of the class asked, to which the boy nodded, stoic features once again in place, "Why?"

"After watching a friend of mine do it, it seemed like a good idea at the time," C.J. replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Apparently you never got the 'If your friend jumps of a bridge, would you do it too' speech from your mother," Matt snorted out.

Another sarcastic smirk formed on the boy's lips, "Can't say I have."

Matt quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing as Mrs. Curry insisted C.J. to take his assigned seat on the other side of the room. The boy nodded and made his way to the empty seat. Matt watched as C.J. sat down, his hands resting on the desk as he leaned back in his chair. Matt glared once more at the boy before moving back to his relaxed position, closing his eyes again.

~~~~~

The day passed and sure enough, Matt found himself classed with C.J. in Creative Writing and Chemistry. Entering the cafeteria a few minutes after the Lunch Bell rang, Matt grabbed a tray, gathered his preferred food and made his way over to the table. Sitting beside Brian, Matt instantly greeted the only girl of their group.

Katherine James was a bright, warm-hearted girl. Petite enough that Johnny towered over her by a few inches, Katie was the apple of their eye. Her open-minded toward everyone and kind heart caused the boys to be very protective of her, Zacky obviously a bit more protective. Matt smirked as Katie once again chattered with Jimmy, oblivious to the side glances Zacky continued to give to her.

"So, heard you got in an argument with some new kid," Brian greeted, quirking an eyebrow at Matt.

It was usually difficult for someone to get under Matt's skin, but that arrogant prick managed to do it with barely more than three sentences.

"I'd rather not talk about that ass. Livingston is lucky I didn't punch his teeth down his throat," Matt growled, stabbing his food with the plastic fork.

"Livingston?" Katie inquired, looking up from her conversation with Jimmy.

"Yeah. Some new kid, C.J. Livingston. Fucker really has it coming to him," Matt replied, trying to keep himself calm.

Katie glanced around the cafeteria, her gaze falling on a lone figure sitting at an empty table, Converse-clad feet propped up on the table, eyes trained on the ceiling. Looking around again, Katie noticed the boy was on the receiving end of admiring looks and jealous glares. Katie was about to question what was so wrong with the kid when the boy pulled his gaze from the ceiling to the notebook in his lap. Eyebrows knitted together with thought, Katie couldn't understand what was wrong with him. He just seemed lonely.

The guys at the table watched as Katie's shoulders tensed, light brown eyes widening in shock. Following her trained gaze, Matt noticed C.J. was staring back, passive green eyes flickering with an unreadable glint. Katie and C.J. stood up at the same moment and before Matt or the guys could say a work, the petite girl rushed at the boy. Matt glanced at the slack-jawed Zacky, eyes flickering with hurt and shock, before he caught sight of Katie embracing the stiff form.

"I thought it may have been someone else with the last name Livingston, but wow! It's you!" Matt heard Katie exclaim, to which the boy gently pried the girl's grip off of him and placed her hands at her side.

The stoic gaze seemed to have softened as they moved over Katie's form. A growl came from Zacky as Katie blushed warmly at the assessing gaze. C.J. glanced over her body quickly, his gaze trailing over her face for a longer period of time before a soft smile formed on his lips.

"You look good, Kate," the boy responded, causing the girl to giggle, "I wasn't aware you moved here."

"Three years ago," Katie giggled warmly before taking his hand in her own before leading him back to the table.

"You know him?" Matt found himself sneering, causing a flicker of confusion to flash in Katie's eyes.

C.J. again pulled his hand from her grasp, causing Katie to look up, obviously noticing something that Matt and the guy's didn't, "Sorry," Katie glanced back at the guys, "Yes, Mattie, Charlie is an old friend of mine from Jersey."

A smirk appeared on C.J.'s lips, "Just an old friend? I'm hurt, Kate. I thought we were closer than that before you moved."

Alarm formed in Katie's eyes as she opened her mouth to say something, the boy placing his index finger over her parted lips, "Relax, luv, I'm only taking the piss out of you. I'm...glad you considered us friends."

As C.J. removed his finger from her lips, the same pink lips formed into a mega-watt smile, causing Zacky to growl from beside Matt, Katie giggling before asking, "So, do I want to know how you managed to get under Mattie's skin?"

That same smirk from earlier appeared on the boy's lips as he raked a hand through his hair, "I consider it a gift to be able to perform such feats."

"Your mouth is going to get you into a problem one of these days," Matt sneered.

Katie's mouth fell open, as if to say something in the boy's defense, but a rather empty laugh left C.J.'s lips, "Tell me something I don't know."

"Charlie!" Katie admonished, to which the boy shrugged, "Be nice. Mattie and the guys are the only people here that don't try to take advantage of me. Why don't you eat lunch with us? We can catch-"

The softened gaze hardened, causing Katie to fall silent. C.J. glanced over the five guys, his green eyes clashing with an almost similar pair of green eyes. Breaking Zacky's gaze, C.J. shook his head, taking a step back from Katie.

"I can't," He held up a hand, cutting Katie's response off before she could say anything, "No, Kate. I appreciate the warm welcome, because let's face it, even someone like me can't help feeling at home with you, but I just can't do it this time."

"Wow. Is there something we can use to chisel the ice around his heart?" Zacky remarked softly, not liking the hurt flickering in Katie's gaze.

C.J. inhaled deeply and obviously to his discomfort embraced Katie for a brief moment, "I'm sorry Kate, but...so much has changed."

The boy, much to Zacky's irritation, placed a soft kiss on Katie's cheek before pulling away, "Charlie," C.J. paused from turning around as Katie called on him, "I just wanted to say that I'm always here for you, if you ever need to talk. It's...the least I can do."

C.J. allowed one last soft smile to grace his lips before retreating to his table. The group watched the admired new student gather his things, pick up his tray of untouched food and made his way to the trash can. The cafeteria door shut behind his retreating figure, leaving a whirlwind of whispers behind him.

"Katie, not trying to pry, but how do you know him?" Brian asked, seeing Matt and Zacky glaring at the door.

Katie smiled sadly as she sat in her original seat, "Four years ago, I tried to commit suicide." The sharp looks in her direction caused her to look at her intertwined hands resting on the table, "I...I was so distraught over my fighting parents and that I was always caught in between, but I felt that I was the reason they fought so much. I...I was tired of being forced to feel guilty after every argument that I..." Katie swallowed the lump in her throat, "...jumped off of the beach pier in the middle of December."

Matt looked up sharply at the words, remembering the snide remarks from this morning, watching closely as Katie continued, "...I woke up in the hospital, three days before Christmas. Ma and Dad...they were so upset...so guilty. I asked how I got there and Ma told me a classmate of mine had been sitting on the far end of the pier when I jumped."

"Livingston jumped in after you," Matt finished, to which Katie nodded, "So this morning, when he said 'After watching a friend of mine do it, it seemed like a good idea at the time', he was referring to you?"

Katie blushed, "Yes. Charlie saved me. Ended up catching pneumonia. I...I felt so bad, but Charlie told me that throughout every new move, I was one of the only people that ever seemed genuine and it would have been a great loss to society if I had given up my life so easily."

Matt inwardly growled. Damn. Smart. Sarcastic. Obviously up-to-date on comebacks. Good looking, not that he was looking mind you. And now, he was a fucking Saint.

This kid was hiding something, and Matt would be damned if he wouldn't figure it out.