< Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Two weeks had passed since that night at the Shake Shack and Nick had yet to make any more progress in his hopes to get Kevin to notice him. Every time he would see the senior walking down the hall, Nick would convince himself that it wasn't the right time to approach Kevin. Either he was running late to class, or Kevin had too many people around him, or that Nick just wasn't ready. Despite his near hit interaction with Kevin and how heavily it weighed on his mind, he found that he was busy enough so that he wasn't too obsessed with it. With the first two months of grade nine behind them, the teachers were slowly upping their work and expectations, preparing the students for what was to come in their later years.

The three freshmen had fallen into a comfortable routine between them, to the point where Nick and Justin couldn't understand how they got along without Lance before and Lance wished he hadn't waited so long to speak up. Both Nick and Justin were astounded by how smart Lance really was. When he had said that first day that he was more of a numbers person, he hadn't been kidding. Technically, Lance should have been in grade 11 math, but he hadn't wanted to skip that far ahead and call too much attention to himself, so instead he breezed through grade 10 math, pretending that he was having as much trouble with it as everyone else did. And through Nick and Justin, Lance found a greater appreciation for all things sports. He still was hesitant to participate fully in gym class, but Lance couldn't deny that he enjoyed watching basketball games at Justin's after school, not to mention the million other sports that were always on the TV when they were supposed to be doing their homework.

~*~*~*~

The school was decorated full for Halloween, which was only two days away. There were paper spiders and black cats decorating lockers, decals of witches and goblins and ghosts on the windows, while doors had cobwebs and black and orange streamers, inviting students to enter, if they dared.

"I saw the first poster up for basketball tryouts," Justin announced with a grin as he joined Nick and Lance at their lockers. Lance didn't seem all that interested but Nick's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah? Which nights?"

"Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone comes out on Tuesday, and if they pick you to advance, you come on Wednesday. Then they pick more to advance who come on Thursday. And then on Friday morning they'll post the new team and there is a meeting that afternoon."

Lance could see the excitement just as present in Nick's eyes as it was in Justin's, which truthfully shocked him since it was always Justin talking so much about wanting to do nothing except play basketball. The question of what would happen if only one made the team flashed in his mind for a moment, causing for his stomach to clench. Without thinking about it, he voiced the question.

"So... what happens if only one of you makes it?"

Nick and Justin exchanged glances. "Which one?" Justin asked.

"What?"

"Which one?"

Lance's face contorted in confusion. "Does it matter?"

Both Nick and Justin nodded at the same time, both teens with serious expressions on their faces. "It does matter. If Justin makes it and I don't, it's okay. I'll be hurt, but that's the way it goes. He's more focused on it than I am anyways, but if I make it and he doesn't..." Nick didn't even finish his sentence. He knew how devastated that Justin would be to not make the team no matter what, but if he didn't make it and Nick did, it would hurt that much more.

"You'd be mad?"

Justin nodded, unapologetic.

"At Nick?" Lance could feel his temper flare at Justin's immaturity. Thankfully Justin shook his head.

"God no, I wouldn't be mad at Nick. But I'd be mad. It'd be like if Nick and I tried out for some Art Competition, and I got picked and he didn't."

Lance looked at Nick who nodded in agreement. "Look Lance, I appreciate the concern but we've gone over this a million times. We have anticipated every single scenario possible and we're cool with it."

"What will happen if you make the team?" Lance asked Justin. "Will you still hang out with us? Or with them?" Lance pointed towards the ceiling, indicating the jocks from the basketball team.

"Both. I can't ignore them, they'd be my teammates. But I'm not going to forget who my real friends are."

Nick understood Lance's concerns and so he put his arm around his friend and smiled warmly at him. "Don't worry Lance, it's going to be okay."

"I just..." Lance sighed and felt slightly embarrassed at how nervous he was. Justin threw his arm over Lance's shoulder and pulled both him and Nick in for a tight hug.

"Don't worry Lansten. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you." Justin looked at his watch before pulling away. He remembered he'd come by to tell them something. I've got a doctor's appointment after school today. I'm leaving during last period."

Nick nodded. He pulled a few books from his locker and shut the metal door. "I'll be over around seven?"

"Great. See you then."

With that, Justin took off in the direction of his class, leaving Nick and Lance alone. "So, you haven't said whether you're going to look into the school paper." Nick nudged Lance gently as they headed down the hall.

"Yeah. The meeting is tonight after school." Lance was unbelievably nervous about going to this meeting and asking if he could join. He had no idea who would be there and whether or not they'd even let him join. A thought struck him suddenly and he turned to Nick, hope in his eyes. "Do you maybe want to come? You don't have to join, just offer support?"

With a wave of regret, Nick shook his head. "I can't. I'm meeting Aje in the art room after school and we're going to work on our fall projects. They're due next Friday. Plus I have to get started on my portfolio. You can't just take upper year art courses, you have to be accepted in. It's sort of like they're exclusive to those who are really interested in art, and I want to get as much stuff in it for spring." Nick's teacher, Mrs. Edwards had informed the class earlier that week that if they were serious about taking art long term at Lincoln High, they would have to prove to the art department their dedication. Deadlines for submissions had been set to April 1st, and although it was only the end of October, this wasn't something that was to be taken lightly. There were quite a few requirements that portfolios had to meet, and Nick didn't want to leave everything to the last minute in the new year.

At the mention of AJ, Lance felt his cheeks heat up. He hadn't had a chance to talk to AJ about anything deeper than small talk and he'd hoped that he would be able to get to know him better. He had given Nick advice in trying to spark up conversation with Kevin, yet hadn't taken any steps to better acquaint himself with AJ. He couldn't deny that sometimes he felt a little jealous of Nick who was able to hang out with and spend time with AJ effortlessly, but mostly he simply wished that he was comfortable enough with himself to risk embarrassment.

"Oh. Okay, no big deal."

Nick flashed Lance a sympathetic smile and squeezed his arm reassuringly. "You'll be fine."

"I hope so." Lance turned to walk down the hall. He stopped a few feet away from his locker. "How late do you think you'll be here?"

"Mom's picking me up at five thirty. Two hours should be enough time. You need a ride?"

Lance didn't really, but it would just take one phone call to his mom to inform her that he'd get a ride with Nick. Making a quick decision, he nodded his head. "Sure. I'll call mom and tell her that she doesn't have to come by to pick me up. Will your mom mind?"

Nick knew his mom wouldn't mind driving Lance home, she loved Nick's friends and although she'd only met Lance once, she had found him delightfully polite and well mannered. "She won't mind." It was settled, Nick would meet Lance at their lockers at five thirty. Each gave a wave good bye as they headed off in opposite directions.

Lance stopped outside of the door to the office of the school newspaper. The Lincoln Report was advertised with a window decal, there were old issues tacked up to the cork board next to the door along side flyers that advertised many Lost and Found items and miscellaneous notices. There were faint murmurs of conversation coming from behind the closed door and for a moment, Lance wanted to turn around and run. He could go to the library and work on assignments that he had, or go outside to watch the cheerleaders practice. Anything except go inside that room and potentially embarrass himself.

Before he could turn around and leave, the door opened and a girl he didn't recognize came out. She smiled at him and held the door open for him to enter. "I don't know why they close the door," she said with a roll of her eyes. "No one ever knows we're open. You can go on in."

Lance smiled gratefully at her and nodded. "Thanks." Now he had to go in. Lance was happy that she'd unknowingly given him the push he needed to make the step in. He wasn't sure what to expect, but having everyone in the room stop what they were doing to turn and stare at him wasn't at the top of the list. There were in all, ten people sitting around at various computers, talking and laughing, yet at the newcomer's appearance, all movement stopped. Being the centre of attention caused Lance to freeze up completely. He couldn't find his voice, nor could he make any movements.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lance saw two familiar faces, both which were staring at him in amusement. Perched on a table with his legs swinging down was Kevin Richardson, while sitting in the chair to Kevin's right, facing the football star was Howie Dorough, Lance's one time computer's partner. Kevin had one eyebrow cocked in the air while his lips were curled in a smirk.

"Can we help you?" The voice that had spoken was sharp and impatient, and because Lance had turned to look directly at Kevin and Howie, he hadn't seen who had spoken to him. He made a mental note to remember to tell Nick that he should have come with him to the Report office instead of hanging out with AJ in the art room. Lance must have taken too long to acknowledge the voice, because it rang out again. "I asked if we can help you."

Lance turned his head finding himself face to face with a scowling Chris Kirkpatrick. The senior had his arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows knitted together and a look of pure annoyance on his face. "I... I'm here..."

"Yes, you are. We're all just wondering why!"

Lance's eyes narrowed and he stepped back. His cheeks had flushed a deep pink and he tugged nervously on his tee shirt. "I'm here to join the paper." Lance's voice was soft and he looked down at his shoes. What he wanted was for everyone to go about their business and for Chris to stop embarrassing him, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Everyone continued to stare and watch Chris try to humiliate him. That came in the form of laughter. Loud, booming laughter.

"Right, kid. Sure." Chris walked away and Lance felt like he'd been dismissed. He didn't appreciate how Chris was treating him and wanted to say something, but nothing would come out. Finally, he looked at Howie and Kevin with pleading eyes.

"You..." He cleared his throat and started again. "You suggested I come down. A few weeks ago.."

Howie and Kevin exchanged surprised looks, both chuckling. Lance felt his cheeks burn again and he sighed in frustration.

"You did, in computers that day."

Howie took a closer look at Lance and recognition sparked in his eyes. "Oh damn, yeah. That's right." He turned to Kevin and nodded. "That day we had to take fresh meat computers. The lab was all messed up. He'd done that wicked site and showed me how to fix the bugs in mine. We were looking at some assignment he had to do about a newspaper."

Nodding, Kevin smiled at Lance. "That's right. Shit, I forgot all about that." Kevin jumped off of the table and approached Lance with an apologetic shrug. "Sorry about Chris, he's got his period or something."

"Fuck you Richardson," Chris' voice came from the other side of the room, causing for everyone to laugh.

"Not if you paid me Christopher. You're so not my type." Kevin turned to Howie and nodded. "D, I'll see you tomorrow. Chris, bite me! I've gotta go. Gretchen's probably having a conniption because I wasn't at her locker fifteen minutes ago waiting for practice to end."

Chris appeared once again, this time a smile decorating his pixie like face. "Later, Train. Oh, and take the fresh meat with you."

Lance scowled at how rude Chris was being to him. His scowl elicited a laugh from Kevin. "Chris, don't be such a prick. This is.." he turned to Lance in question. "What's your name kid?"

"Lance Bass."

"This is Lance, he's your newest member of the Report."

"I don't need anymore people."

Everyone in the room grumbled at Chris for his comment. Nothing could have been further from the truth, as they were not only understaffed, but running into multiple problems with the new computer programs that had been installed to make the process of printing off issues easier. In fact, they weren't sure how they would get the next issue out in time without having to revert to the old program. And no one wanted to have to deal with that headache.

"You're such a lying bastard," Kevin argued. Lance was astounded at how Kevin was talking to Chris, but what astounded him more was how Chris relented.

"Fine, we do need someone, but him? I doubt he would know a newspaper if we hit him over the head with it."

Howie rose to Lance's defense, both literally and figuratively. "Actually Christopher," Howie pulled Lance close and threw his arm over his shoulder. "This kid is a whiz on the computer. He gave me some amazing pointers on uploading .jpegs and .gifs to my site and when I saw his mock layout of what a school newspaper should look like, it was pretty good. You should take a look at what he's done."

Chris cocked an eyebrow at Lance before he sighed and shook his head. "Fine. FINE." Chris held out a piece of paper for Lance to look at. "Are you familiar with this program?"

Although his mind told him to dash out the door and never look back, Lance took the paper that Chris was offering and scanned it. His lips curled into a small grin when he recognized the format they were using. "I've only used it a few times..."

"A few times? Only?" Chris said in disbelief. He was cut off by Kevin's hand on his shoulder.

"See Chris, everything's gonna work out. I can practically hear Gretch seething with anger so I should go before she comes looking for me. Later."

A chorus of 'good byes' filled the air as Kevin slipped out of the office. The door shut behind him and Lance felt a pang of disappointment that one of his only supporters was gone. At least he still had Howie who remained at his side. Chris was still glaring at him, although without as much heat as he had been.

"You really know this stuff?"

Lance shrugged. "Maybe, why? Don't you?"

Chris' eyes narrowed and he growled. Through clenched teeth he answered, "If I did, I wouldn't be asking you now would I!"

Lance felt that maybe pissing Chris off wouldn't be wise, since he seemed to hold a lot of power in the office. It took one look to the large flow chart that had been erected on the wall with multiple colours of construction paper that Chris didn’t just hold a lot of power at the Report, he held all of the power. He was Editor In Chief. Lance's new 'boss'. A sinking feeling filled him and Lance swallowed the fear that was rising in his throat. All he could do was mutter a meek 'Sorry'.

Chris must have noticed that Lance was uncomfortable and he backed off. he held his hands up in defeat before rubbing his face with them. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just a little frustrated right now. You've come on a bad day."

Lance shrugged and looked at the door. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea..."

"NO!" Chris yelped. "No. If it gets out that I chased you away, especially since we're so short staffed Mrs. Renado will have my hide. Plus the fact that you're fresh meat and we don't get many of you in here... lets just say I'll be dead before I can blink. So..."

Lance didn't want to stay when he wasn't wanted but more so needed to keep Chris out of trouble. If Chris truly did not want him there, he would rather just go. "No, it's okay. I won't tell that you chased me out of here, I'll just say I came in to check it out and decided it's not for me..."

"Look," Chris exhaled. Lance could see an almost desperate look in his eyes. He shook the paper in his hand. "Do you know this stuff or what?"

Lance nodded. "Yes. I do. At least enough. I mean, I don't know the shortcuts and stuff, but I know the general premise."

"Good." Chris grabbed Lance's arm and dragged him towards a desk at the back of the room, hidden by mounds of papers and folders. "Everything is run from this computer. Everyone hands in their articles on disk and I go through and upload everything."

Lance's hands were trembling as he sat down at Chris' desk. He took a moment to look up at the senior and was hit with a moment of awkwardness. As scary as he'd looked, hell, as scary as he'd been up until this moment, Lance was now looking at him through different eyes. Behind the pitch black hair, the spikes, the dog collar and the faint smudges of eyeliner Lance could see, was someone just like him. That revelation made Chris seem a little more real to Lance and he didn't feel as nervous.

"What the fuck are you looking at kid?"

Lance mumbled something under his breath as he turned to look at the screen before him.

"What did you say?" Chris squinted his eyes and leaned in closer.

"My name is Lance," Lance repeated with a steady voice.

Chris clenched and unclenched his fists as he took a few deep breaths, finally, he forced out a smile. "Fine. Lance." Chris placed an emphasis on Lance's name. "Can you please look at this and tell me where we're going wrong here."

It was a lot of pressure for him, especially since he still wasn't sure he belonged here, yet with Chris looking at him with such a mixture of disdain and hope, he knew that this would make or break his place in the school. If he could prove himself to this room of upperclassmen, gain status and their respect, he would make incredible connections and headway in the social hell that was high school.

"Of course." Lance took a deep breath in before letting it out slowly. "Can you maybe.. just give me a few minutes to look at things, play around with it and see what the problem is? I'll let you know what I find."

Chris looked as if he would rather eat glass than leave Lance alone at his computer, but they both knew he had no choice in the matter.

Chris stood up and stretched his back and neck. In a daring move, Lance put his hand on Chris's arm. "I can't do any more damage than what's already been done right? Have you saved anything?"

"No, we can't. It won't upload."

"So there, the worst that can happen is I look at it and nothing changes." Lance turned back to the computer. He gave a brief glance over his shoulder. Chris nodded silently and walked away to take a chair at the other end of the room.

It took him about forty minutes to figure out what was wrong. It would have been less had Chris not hollered over every ten minutes or so, asking how things were coming and whether or not he could come back. Lance made a few adjustments to the page he had set up and smiled. He silently thanked his parents for nourishing his technical mind at such a young age and never discouraging him to pursue what interested him. With one glance up, Lance saw Chris watching him from behind a book which was upside down. "It's easier to read it the other way."

Chris' eyes narrowed once more and Lance could picture the way his lips were probably pursed, hidden behind the book. "You done?"

"Yes and I think I know what your problem is." Howie's snicker caused for Lance to blush. "I mean... with the computer.. not that you have a problem.."

"Shut up and let me look at this." Lance watched in silence as Chris took his seat and started moving the mouse up and down the page.

"I saw disks labeled on the desk so I put them in and set up a rough first page. They're probably not what you were planning on using, but it's just for you to see what I've done." Lance bit on his thumb nail nervously, waiting for Chris' wrath.

Soft sounds and murmurs were escaping Chris' lips and in a surprising move, Chris looked up at Lance through wide eyes. "What did you do? I couldn't get anything to justify, the font would screw up and the pictures were appearing over the articles instead of next to it."

"From what I could see, on the page you'd saved earlier, you were using the same format as the old version of the application. Am I right?"

Chris didn't nod, but he didn't shake his head either. He didn't need to, Lance already knew the answer.

"It's a common mistake. Normally you can do that, but with this particular program, you can't. They've upgraded it and made an already easier application, easier." Lance clicked the mouse a few times and instantly the whole page was blank. He heard Chris' gasp and turned his head to look at the senior. "Don't worry, it won't take all that long to redo. I just want to show you what I did."

Grudgingly, Chris had to admit that Lance had pretty much saved his ass that day. He'd been going insane trying to figure out how they were going to get the paper out and explain why they weren't using the software he had fought so hard for the school to buy them. When he'd pitched the idea, one of his main focus points was the ease with which the program worked, and how anyone, even students new to the paper would be able to get the hang of in case of his absence. In less than an hour, Lance, a fresh meat, had come in and solved his crisis. Chris' lips curled into a genuine smile and he nodded encouragingly at the kid.

"And you see," Lance said fifteen minutes later, "that's all you need to do."

"That was too fucking easy," Chris admitted with a blush. "I..."

Lance shook his head, his intention hadn't been to embarrass Chris, just show him where he'd gone wrong and offer ideas of how to fix it. "No problem. I understand."

They looked at one another and a look of respect had passed between them on both of their behalf's. They were interrupted by Howie who was smiling at them. "Well, I'm glad that another disaster has been averted. Chris, I told you this kid was good. Lance, it's been a slice. Anything that can keep Chris quiet for that long is genius in my books. I'll see you guys later."

It was then that Lance looked around the room to see they were alone. The clock on the wall said it was nearly five to five and he had just over a half an hour before he had to meet Nick. Unsure of what Chris would do now that they were alone, Lance headed towards an empty table and sat down. He pulled out a notebook and his math textbook and started working on the homework he'd gotten earlier that day. About ten minutes had passed before Chris spoke, startling him enough that his pencil flew out of his hand.

"Come here!"

"Huh?" Lance gasped as his pulse raced.

"I need you to look at something." Now that Chris actually knew how to use the program properly, he had a lot of work to do to get the issue done by that Friday morning at the latest for the Halloween issue. It was Wednesday and he had his work cut out for him. He didn't raise his eyes from the monitor, grunting when Lance hadn't reacted. "NOW." This time he looked up to see Lance watching him, eyes wide. "Please?"

Lance hurried across the room, he stopped directly behind Chris and watched over his shoulder.

"Here are two front pages, tell me which one catches your eye better."

Lance studied both pages. Each profiled different stories, written by different students, neither of whose name he recognized. "Ummm.."

"Do you know either Karla or Sebastian?" Chris asked. His head was cocked to the side and he seemed to be thinking about something very seriously.

"Ummm, not really." Chris looked up at him and Lance shrugged. "No. Should I?"

Chris shook his head. "Nah, I mean, they're not important, it's the story. But one has this problem with me being Editor and is always saying how I play favourites, which I don't. I profile whichever story is more relevant and news worthy. I told them that I would have an impartial judge look at both pieces and help me make the decision. You're the impartial judge. Which do you think should be front page?"

Lance swallowed thickly, this was shaping up to be a day to top all days. He shrugged. "Can I have a minute to read the articles?"

"Skim them. Skim and based on the first few sentences, see which would make you want to actually read the whole article." Chris sat back against his chair and waited.

Lance read Karla's first, finding that he wasn't all that interested in the latest school fashions, what the coolest of the cool were wearing and what that said about them. "Done," he said in a bored tone.

"Already?" Chris asked. "You had time to make a judgment.."

"Next!" Lance said sternly. "I could care less what the colour of a girl's purse says about her, or what a certain number of shoes means. I mean, you might have a portion of the girls interested in it, but that's a small minority because there are girls that just don't care. And the guys, well it'll be in the garbage before there's time for them to get inky fingers." Chris raised his eyebrows before clicking his mouse to reveal the second article. Lance was halfway through reading it before Chris stopped him.

"Why did you minimize the screen?" Lance asked with a frown on his face. He had skimmed the first few sentences like Chris had suggested, but found his eyes traveling back up to the beginning to read it in more depth. This Sebastian person had written an article on balancing social time and school time and how a healthy mix of both was necessary for becoming successful both socially and academically. It stated that if you were academically confident, that filtered over to the social aspect, and the reverse was true also. There had been suggestions on how to achieve that success and Lance had made it to the second point when Chris minimized the window.

"Because you've answered my question. We're going with Sebastian's."

Instantly, Lance felt bad for Karla, whose story was being tossed aside. He couldn't deny that the second article was much more relevant to the students as a whole. "What is going to happen to the fashion article?"

"It'll go later on in the issue," Chris said. He was already fitting articles into their respective spaces within the paper, adding advertisements and working on his rough copy of the final draft. He frowned when he realized that all the submissions had been received and yet he was still short an article. "Damn!"

"What's wrong?" Lance asked. He looked up at the clock and jumped when he realized how fast time was passing. It was nearly twenty five after five and he was meeting Nick in just over five minutes.

"I'm short one article. I must have miscalculated." Chris shuffled the papers on his desk, searching for something. Finally, he found what he'd been looking for because his face stretched into a smile that Lance thought might crack. He'd never in all the times he'd been around or seen Chris, been witness to him looking anything remotely this close to happy. Lance was in awe. "Damn, I 'm good." He looked up and was practically beaming. "They think I'm crazy. They might be right, but that's not the issue. They think I'm crazy because I keep old articles that we don't use. Someone handed this in for the last issue and it didn't fit, so I kept it and it will fit perfectly. All I have to do is find the disk and bam, it's in there. And if I don't, I'll just retype it in." At that moment, Chris noticed the time as well, yelping as he scrambled to save his work.

"Now what?" Lance asked amused. He momentarily forgot he had to meet Nick, caught up in Chris' burst of energy.

"I've got a show tonight, and I was supposed to be at Digs' house ten minutes ago. He's going to kick my ass." Chris practically flew around the office, shutting off monitors and closing windows. Lance stood rooted to the spot as Chris flew by him in a flash of black material. "Come on, I gotta get outta here."

Lance was startled to see that Chris was waiting for him at the door. "Oh, sorry."

As Chris locked the office, he gave Lance a quick smile. We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. On weeks the paper comes out we're usually in here every day. If we haven't scarred you too much, be back tomorrow. If not, thanks for your help."

Before Lance could even formulate a thought, let alone a response, he was alone in the hallway. Chris had ran down the hall and around the corner in lightening time. The school was eerily quiet as Lance quickly walked down through Soph Hall down to Fresh Meat Lane where Nick was waiting impatiently.

End Chapter 5


Chapter 6 >