Published: August 31st, 2012
By: Lafingdog.com
Being gay in high school is not always easy, and now Kyle is having unexplained visions. His friend, Jenny, is convinced that he is psychic. When thefts occur at his school, Kyle realizes that his visions may be trying to tell him something, if only he could figure them out!
As editor of the school newspaper, Kyle already has more on his plate than he can deal with. And when the newspaper staff tries to help figure out who the thief is, personalities clash and tensions rise. These conflicts may tear them apart, or form friendships they never would have imagined. Regardless, Kyle’s world is about to be changed forever.
“So I’m both gay and psychic? That seems like a lot for one high school guy to handle.”
Read chapter 1 and see what you think!
“What the …”
Kyle grabbed frantically at the air as terror filled him. He had just been pushed off a huge building. He could barely make out the figure of a man watching him as he fell. He gained speed, and air rushed around his body; he realized death was seconds away. Kyle sat up in bed and gasped for air. As his head continued to spin, he attempted to focus his eyes to reassure himself he was actually in his room. He looked down at his hand and saw his cell phone. The light was still on, and he remembered Kendra called him and woke him up.
He took a deep breath and felt his heart finally begin to slow down. He was sure it wasn’t a dream. He had been awake. He had just hung up his phone. What? He looked at his phone ... two minutes ago? He was positive he hadn't fallen back asleep, but what other explanation was there? I've always had weird dreams, but that was ridiculous, he thought. He dragged himself out of bed, muttering, “Great way to start the day.”
Kyle stood in front of his mirror after showering and quickly ran gel through his dark brown hair. He glanced into the mirror and thought about how often girls complimented him on his green eyes. He got a lot of attention from girls with his “sexy eyes and soccer-player legs.” Kyle was 6’1” and born with his dad’s good looks. He was also born gay, which tended to break girls hearts when they found out.
He threw on jeans and a sweatshirt and headed downstairs. His dad was in the kitchen making breakfast, “Hey Kyle,” he said, “don’t forget you’re picking up Lyndsey after school today." Kyle groaned and waved off the toast his dad offered. He grabbed his bag on theway out and yelled, “Gotta run. I’m late.”
He jumped into his red Honda Civic, plugged in his iPod and blasted music as he sped off to Camlin High School. He pulled into the parking lot, hopped out and headed toward the main entrance of the two-story brick building. He saw his friend Jenny and yelled, “Hey, wait up!” Jenny turned and smiled. Then she rushed to tell him the news. “Hey Kyle, did you hear about the stuff that was stolen from the nurse’s office? I think I should write a story
about it. I can interview the school nurse this afternoon. What’s her name again, Ms. Goodwin, right?”
Kyle smirked and opened the door to the building, “Hi Jenny, how are you? I’m great by the way, thanks for asking. Oh, and yes, the school nurse’s name is Ms. Goodwin.” “Sorry. You know me,” Jenny laughed. Kyle laughed too. He and Jenny met last year when they signed up as staff members for the school newspaper, The Echo. Kyle knew right away that Jenny had a crush on him. He had worried that telling Jenny he was gay would interfere with their
jobs on the newspaper, and possibly end their friendship. As it turned out, confiding to Jenny had bonded them in a way Kyle never expected. Jenny was now one of his closest friends.
Jenny was a junior like Kyle. She was blond with blue eyes. Kyle thought she always had the perfect, classic put-together look. She was the head news reporter on The Echo, where Kyle was editor. And she was extremely driven. Together, they headed into the computer room.
“Good morning, Mr. Brown,” they said. Mr. Brown was the computer teacher and adviser on The Echo newspaper. He was short, pudgy, and sported the classic comb-over that did nothing to hide his balding head. Mr. Brown spent most of his time trying to get rich by inventing weird gadgets. Kyle doubted that would ever happen because the inventions were never successful.
Mr. Brown grunted hello but never looked up from his Popular Science magazine as they headed towards “The Cave.” The Cave was actually Mr. Brown’s office but it had morphed into the newsroom after Jenny organized and decorated it. As they entered The Cave, they saw a pyramid of pop cans on the table. The cans had been fished out of the trash. A note was printed in big black letters on the white board, “IT’S NOT BRAIN SURGERY, GUYS!” They knew it was Bruce's handiwork. Bruce was on the news staff and Kyle thought it was funny how much he looked like the legendary actor and kung-fu fighter, Bruce Lee. He suspected that was why Bruce called himself the Ultimate Environmental Warrior, even though his last name was spelled Li, and he was Korean, not Chinese.
As Jenny cleaned the white board, Kyle tossed the cans in the recycle bin. Suddenly, he gasped and clutched at his stomach. He couldn’t catch his breath. He grabbed onto the table to keep from falling as everything faded to white around him. He heard the echo of Jenny’s voice, but couldn’t make out what she was saying. Then,
before he knew it, Mr. Brown appeared to him with what looked like a giant remote control. As quick as Mr. Brown appeared, everything went black.
“Kyle, are you okay? What's wrong?” Jenny asked. Kyle realized his eyes were shut tight. He slowly opened them to see Jenny standing next to him with a puzzled look on her face, “Yeah, I think so,” he said, and tried to clear his head. “Uh,” he paused for a moment, “was Mr. Brown just in here?” “No,” Jenny said as she raised her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?” Kyle saw the confused look on Jenny’s face. “Never mind, I’m okay,” he said. He didn’t know what had just happened. That was weird, he thought.
Just then, Brandi and John walked in. Brandi was dominating the conversation, as usual, and John just nodded and pretended to be interested. Brandi was the fashion/gossip queen of Camlin High. She wrote the entertainment column, Brandi’s Buzz. She was the co-captain of the cheerleading squad, extremely fit, popular, and
considered herself a young Beyonce. Her hair, make-up and nails were always perfect and in fashion. Brandi loved being in the middle of all the activity in the school.
John was the sports writer and star quarterback for the school football team, The Camlin Chargers. He was a stocky, 5’10” football jock. His football buddies called him Pez, which was short for his last name, Lopez. The only reason John got involved with
the newspaper was because he was short an English credit. He was best friends with Robert, Brandi's boyfriend. They played football together. Brandi turned her attention to Kyle and Jenny, “Oh my gosh! I was just telling John about this great band I found for Homecoming. Oh, and did I tell you …”
Kyle and Jenny turned and smiled to each other as Brandi rambled on at the speed of light. They tuned her out when Bruce and Zach walked in. Bruce and Zach were both sophomores and were new to The Echo staff. Zach was The Echo’s photographer. He was never without his cherished camera around his neck. He was tall and lanky, with sandy brown wavy hair that always looked like he just crawled out of bed. He was also shy and awkward. His grandfather had been a famous photographer and had passed on his camera and talents to Zach.
Kyle waited for Brandi to stop and draw a breath before he interrupted her. “Okay guys, let’s get this meeting started.” He grabbed his soccer ball off his desk and began to shuffle it back and forth between his hands. “We pulled off the first issue of The Echo
without any major problems. It looked great. Let’s hear some ideas for our next issue.
Why don’t we start with Jenny, she was telling me about a theft at the school.” All eyes turned toward Jenny. "Well,” she began, “I was leaving school late last night after my debate meeting and
noticed a police car out front. I went to the school office to find out what was going on, and I heard that Ms. Goodwin’s laptop was stolen from her office sometime yesterday afternoon.”
“Wow,” Brandi said. “That’s like the third laptop that’s been stolen this year.” “I know.” Jenny said, “I think there’s a story here. I thought I’d interview Ms. Goodwin and try to find out more details about the other thefts.” “Sounds like a good idea,” Kyle said, “Everyone agree?” The group nodded.
“Now, John,” Kyle continued, “Are you are covering the games as usual?” “What else would I be doing?” John answered sarcastically.Kyle paused and tried not to show his irritation. Once again, he wished John had never been put on the newspaper staff. He thought John was rude and cocky, and hated his constant sarcastic comments.
“Zach, you will be photographing the game and Homecoming.” "Yep,” Zach nodded. “Brandi, I’m assuming you will be covering the events and fashion at Homecoming?” “Yes.” Brandi exclaimed, standing up. “And in a magazine the other day, they had a great section on the best and worst dressed. So, I was thinking it could be up to me to find the best and worst dressed at Homecoming. Zach, I’ll need you to follow me around and take pictures.”
As Zach's mouth dropped open and he attempted to mutter a response, Kyle and Jenny quickly jumped in with a resounding “NO!” “Uh, Brandi,” Kyle began, “while we respect your eye for fashion,” he motioned for Jenny to sit back down, “we need to honor everyone’s unique taste.” “Even when they look ridiculous?” Brandi put her hands on her hips. “Yes, Brandi, even when they look ridiculous” Kyle answered. “Fine,” Brandi rolled her eyes, and plopped back down into her seat. “Anyway,” Kyle said, glad that Brandi let it go without an argument, “Bruce do you have any ideas for your column?” “I do,” Bruce said. “As you know, I've taken on the huge responsibility to try to enlighten our school about the urgency of recycling. I've put recycling bins in both the student cafeteria and the teacher’s lounge.
According to my calculations, the students are recycling about 70% of all recyclable items, which is still not acceptable. But the real crime is the teachers. They are only recycling about 40% of the time and that is on a good week! I want to interview the staff and find out what they have against recycling.”
Kyle tried not to laugh as he responded to Bruce’s idea. “I wonder if we could refocus your article on the importance of recycling and a reminder of where the recycling bins are. I think you should include the percentages in your article, but for now, let’s hold off on the teacher interviews.”
“Well, okay,” Bruce sighed. "But I'm going to include a reminder of what items must be recycled. Obviously they've forgotten.” Kyle smiled. “That sounds great Bruce.” He dropped his soccer ball to the floor and rested his right foot on it, his standard end-of-the-meeting move. “We got a really good response on the Dear Jane advice column. We have even more letters this time, so I’ll make sure to pass them on. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
“Yeah,” Brandi teased, “when exactly are you going to tell us who this Dear Jane person is?” “Sorry guys, I gave my word,” Kyle said. “I’d do the same for you. We’d better get going, the bell’s about to ring. Great meeting.” As everyone gathered their things to leave, the door burst open and there stood Mr. Brown. He held a giant remote control in his hands. “This is it!” he yelled, “This is the invention that is going to make me rich!”
While everyone pretended to be interested in Mr. Brown’s newest lame invention, Kyle shook his head. Wow, that is exactly what I saw earlier. I’ve never had déjà vu like that before.
About the Authors
TC Hart are co-authors who believe in the importance of a caring, compassionate future generation that celebrates everyone’s uniqueness.
We are best friends who are native to Washington State. We love to travel, go to the theater and try new things. Our latest adventure is zip lining. Which should be interesting since we are both terrified of heights!
Tasha Hill is an educator and married with four boys. Cheryl is a nurse and married with three boys and two girls. We are first time authors and extremely excited about the release of our first book!
And onto the giveaway
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
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