< Chapter 15

Chapter 16

The second week progressed similarly to the first week of school except that there were no assemblies, games or anything else to get them out of class. Any lenience that the teachers might have given them before was gone and it was time to get down to work. Everyone settled into a routine as the school year really began.

"How often are you guys meeting for the Lincoln Report?" Nick asked Lance at lunch on Wednesday. They were all lounging outside in the sunshine, trying to forget about the piles of assignments and homework that seemed to accompany grade ten.

"The week that the paper comes out we meet every day, like last year. But on off weeks, we’re meeting on Mondays and Thursdays. We’re short a few people so we’ve got to assign other people to do it." Quite a large portion of their staff had graduated the year before, and the remaining members were pressed to find other people to join. They had posted up signs over the school so that people would stop by and check the Report out, but it hadn’t turned out as big a crowd as they’d hoped. Fortunately though, the signs had brought out a few freshmen to the paper, which had worked out in their favour. The freshmen were excited to be a part of the team and didn’t mind doing odd pieces that other staff members didn’t want to do, but the main issue they were dealing with at the moment was that they didn’t have a main photographer. Lance had agreed to help with photos for the year, but just having one wouldn’t be enough.

"What are you looking for?" Kyle asked from his end of the table. He had been in mid conversation with AJ and Josh about a movie they wanted to see that had finally came out on DVD that week when he’d heard Lance talking about the paper and needing more people. "Like, people to write? Or what?"

Lance shrugged. "We’ll take just about anyone who wants to help out right now. It’s always good to have too many people than not enough, but we’re most in need of someone who likes to take pictures. Who wouldn’t mind going to events and photographing it. I’m doing some, but I can’t do everything. Plus, a lot of the extra pictures that don’t make the Report, are used for the Yearbook." Lance smiled as Kyle turned to Emily and poked her.

"What?" She asked quietly. Lance could see her cheeks darken and she shook her head. "Oh ...I don’t think so."

"What?" Lance asked. "Do you take pictures?" Both Kyle and Billy snorted and rolled their eyes.

"Does she take pictures?" Billy asked. "You should see her room. She’s amazing. She always has her camera with her and I swear, she has a million photo albums filled with pictures she’s taken."

Lance felt excitement pooling in his stomach as he got up to join them at the other end of the table. "Are you serious?"

"Hey," Britney interrupted. "Didn’t you say something about going to school for photo journalism next year?"

All eyes turned to Emily who blushed and ducked her head behind Kyle. "Uhhh..."

"Why didn’t I know this?" Lance asked sternly. "You so need to come with me to the office tonight. I know that Matt Kelly is going to be there after school working on something ..."

"Matt Kelly?" Emily asked.

"He’s the editor this year. He’s always there after school working on something, so he’ll be there. You can come and talk to him. You should so do this. Especially if you’re going to do photo journalism next year. It will look so boss on your resume. Working on the paper AND the yearbook."

Emily looked at Kyle who nodded enthusiastically. "You should do it baby, I keep telling you that you’re such a great photographer. I don’t know why you didn’t join at St. Petes."

"Because ...it’ll take up so much time.." She argued softly. The truth was that she’d always wanted to do it, but wasn’t ever sure if she was good enough. Plus, it was always just a hobby, something she wasn’t sure that she could do professionally, despite what everyone always told her.

"Do you have any pictures here with you?" Lance asked hopefully. If she had a portfolio, that would only better her case for getting onto the staff. Not that they would turn away her help, but at the same time, if Mrs. Renado really enjoyed Emily’s photos, she would be able to help her in getting into a post secondary programme for photography.

Emily shrugged. "I have a photo album in my locker. I was supposed to bring it home the other day but forgot."

"Awesome," Lance clapped his hands together excitedly. "We’ll meet at my locker after school and then you can come with me. If you don’t like it, no pressure. But you should at least give it a try."

Nick grinned as he jumped into the conversation. "Yeah, Lance wasn’t sure if he should go in last year and he almost didn’t. But now, now he has his own section of the paper that he runs all by himself.."

The sound of a throat clearing caused for him to stop. Christina smiled sweetly at Nick who blushed.

"I mean, that he runs with Christina."

"Thank you," She said proudly.

"You’re welcome," Nick stuck his tongue out at her. "And he does photography and sometimes does other things too."

"And it doesn’t take up as much time as everyone thinks," Lance assured her. He knew that Emily was graduating that year and had to focus on getting good enough grades to get into college or university. But at the same time, knew that extra-curricular activities were just as important as grades.

"I guess you’re right," Emily said as she started to get excited about the idea of working on the paper and the yearbook. "If I can put it on my resume, then it shows that I’ve had experience."

"And there’s the college newspaper too," Kyle said supportively. He held his girlfriend’s hand and gave it a squeeze. "If they know you’ve worked on a paper before they’ll be even more eager to have you join."

They spoke excitedly amongst themselves about the newspaper and Emily joining when Christina turned to Britney. "So, when are cheerleading try outs?"

"Oh my god," Britney said with a start. "They’re tomorrow afternoon."

Christina gave an excited squeal as the guys all started to laugh. "Okay, I’m so there."

"Count me in," Billy agreed.

"Me too," Kyle said as he high fived Billy. Britney blushed.

"Oh, you guys don’t have to come."

"Uhhh, yeah, we so do." Christina assured her. "Of course we’re going to be there to watch you try out. We’re your support!"

"I can’t make it," Lance said regretfully. "Report meeting."

Emily nodded. "If I’m gonna be joining.." Lance flashed her a look and she laughed. "Since I AM joining,"

"That’s right!"

"I’ll be there too I guess."

"We’ve got practice," Nick said pointing to himself and Justin.

"If you’ve got practice," Lance asked, "then how is she trying out for cheerleading?"

Justin snorted as he flicked Lance’s ears. "Last time I checked, we practice in the gym, not on the football field."

The whole table burst into laughter as Lance ducked his head in embarrassment. "I thought they held try outs in the gym."

Britney shook her head as she snickered. "No, usually they do but they’re holding them outside. It’s so nice and there’s much more room to maneuver. Actually, the football team will be running their practice while we’re trying out, so that’s going to be way intimidating."

Josh stood up and kissed Christina’s forehead affectionately. "Well, I’ll be there too. Tons of girls, jumping up and down wearing skimpy clothing? Count me in!" He jumped out of the way as his girlfriend smacked his thigh playfully. "But for now, I have to get down to the guidance office. I have a few things to go over with Mr. Egan about my future."

"Yeah, I need to stop by and check out the pamphlets for a few colleges," Billy said as he stood up as well. He pressed a gentle kiss to Britney’s forehead and waited for Josh to do the same before they said their good byes and headed out of the quad.

The rest of the afternoon passed by uneventfully. Lance waited at his locker for Emily to show up, pleased when he saw her stride purposefully down the hall towards him. Her cheeks were pink and she had a strange smile on her face.

"What are you smirking at?" Lance asked by way of a greeting. Her blush deepened and she shook her head.

"Oh, nothing." Emily’s pulse was still racing and she was itching to talk to Britney and Christina, both whom had already left for the day. She had only been at Lincoln High for a week and was still trying to get a feel for the school and its students. It was definitely different than St. Peters. Of course, most of St. Peters’ students were kids she’d gone to school with since kindergarten, so they’d known each other for ages, but still, Lincoln High seemed to have a different way of doing things.

Lance flashed a wry smile and nodded in the direction of the Report office. They walked part of the way in silence until finally Emily paused. Ever since she’d first been introduced to Lance, she had always felt comfortable with him. He was shy yet confident, a lot smarter than he ever let on and someone who she knew she could trust, despite not ever really getting that close to him. He simply had an air about him that let her know that he was someone she could ever talk to if needed.

"Everything okay?" Lance asked. With the way Emily had been reluctant to join him to the office earlier that day, he assumed that she was having second thoughts. "I was serious when I said you don’t have to join if you don’t want to."

Emily gave a shy shake of her head. "Oh, I so want to come. I’ve spent all afternoon looking forward to it." Once she had taken a deep breath she turned to Lance with a serious expression on her face. "It just..."

Just from the expression on her face and the tone of her voice, Lance knew that whatever was on Emily’s mind was serious. He felt his stomach flip a few times, unsure of what she was about to say. A moment of uncertainty flashed in her eyes and Lance smiled. "You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to."

"I can trust you, right?"

Lance’s eyes widened and he nodded. "Of course." There were times when Lance felt a little intimidated by Emily, Kyle and Billy. They were foreign to him, yet at the same time they were three of the most fun people he’d ever met and was glad that Josh had done his placement with Billy and Kyle, which had brought the two groups of friends together. Most often than not, when they all got together, Lance spent his time with Nick and Justin while Kyle, Billy and Emily hung out with Josh, Christina and Britney, with Alex jumping from group to group. But when it all boiled down, they were one cohesive unit and Lance knew that if he ever needed them, they would be there for him. Which was why he stepped forward and focused attentively on Emily.

"Do you know Marshall?"

Lance wrinkled his nose, trying to place the name. "Uhh..."

Emily bit her lip. "He is in my Calculus class, so I think he’s a senior. Bleached blonde hair, blue eyes and always wearing really baggy jeans with huge tee shirts."

With the visual picture Lance had, he could pin point exactly who Emily was talking about. "Oh yeah. He’s always hanging out in the smoking area at the back of the school. Always driving around with the rap music blaring out the windows." Emily nodded causing Lance to do the same. "Yeah, I know of him. Marshall Mathers. I’ve never spoken to him before. Why?"

"He asked me out."

The gasp was out before he could stop it. "What?" He saw her blush and nod her head. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth and she shrugged. "Since the first day he’s been sitting behind me or beside me in calculus and walks me to my locker after class. I thought it was because his was just down the hall, but yesterday he stopped and talked to me for the whole break and then walked me to my next class."

"What about..." Lance started to ask, concerned for Kyle’s sake. He knew how much Kyle was in love with Emily and thought that she felt the same. Without wanting to jump to conclusions, Lance refused to read more into what she was saying until she said it.

"Well today I was with Kyle, he was waiting for me after class and we walked together. Marshall seemed kind of put out, so he came by my locker after last period. He told me that ..."

Lance raised an eyebrow and waited. It was increasingly hard for him to be impartial with the way she was glowing from Marshall Mathers’ attention. "He told me that he’s been watching me and is interested in me, wanted to go out sometime. He wasn’t sure if he should say something, but when he saw Kyle pick me up after class, he realized that he was going to have to move fast if he wanted to get me before anyone else had."

"But someone else already has," Lance argued briskly. "Or have you forgotten?"

Emily looked as if she’d been stricken, Lance took a step back. He hadn’t expected that reaction from her and instantly regretted the harsh tone he’d used.

"I ..." Emily looked deep into Lance’s eyes.

"I’m sorry," he interrupted softly. "I was out of line."

"I just ...no one has ever come up to me like that and explicitly expressed their interest in me. At St. Peters, well before Kyle I’d never really had a boyfriend. I was always the girl that all the guys said was their best friend or little sister. No one has ever ..."

Emily’s words only made Lance feel worse and he frowned. "I’m so sorry. I ...I just thought.."

"No, I mean, I understand." She took a deep breath and focused on a spot on the wall. "Can we ...sit down before we go inside?"

Lance nodded and sat down in the hallway, back against the lockers. He patted the ground for her to join him, pleased when she did.

"I really am sorry," he reiterated. Lance needed Emily to know that he deeply regretted what he’d said and how he’d said it.

"It’s okay. I was in shock when he told me that he thought I was gorgeous. He said I was sexy and wanted to get to know me better. He said he saw me at the assembly on the first day and since then he had been wanting to talk to me, but wasn’t sure what to say. Then when he saw Kyle pick me up today, it made him realize that if he didn’t move quickly he would lose me. I swear Lance, I was so surprised. Like I said, no one has ever said that to me before. No one has ever come right out and told me they’ve liked me, and it felt good."

"What did you say?" Lance asked softly. He saw Emily’s eyes open wide and hoped he hadn’t said the wrong thing.

"Oh my god, I immediately told him I was flattered and he took it as a sign that I was interested. He tried to step in close to me and kiss me but I backed up. God, I’ve never seen anyone so forward before. It was so weird, just because it was me he was forward with. You know?"

Lance nodded, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"And then I said that I was flattered, but I already have a boyfriend that I love so much."

Lance winced. He wondered how Marshall had reacted to that. "And?"

He thought I was playing hard to get at first, but I told him I was serious. That the guy that had picked me up after class was my boyfriend. I showed him a picture of Kyle and I from my photo album and he seemed disappointed. He told me that if I ever change my mind, not if I break up with him, but if I ever change my mind, to give him a call. Then he kissed my hand and walked away."

The expression on Lance’s face could only be categorized as pure shock. "He what?"

"Yeah," Emily said with a snort. "Like if I ever wanted to cheat on Kyle, he’d be more than happy to help me."

"Gross." Lance said, causing them both to laugh. "Wow."

"Yeah. It’s weird. I mean, I had no idea how to react."

"Are you going to tell Kyle?" Lance had to ask, curious as to what her answer would be. Without hesitating she nodded her head vigorously.

"Oh yeah, totally. But I’m kind of flattered by it. I’m not interested, but still, nice to know that someone else thinks I’m hot."

Lance blushed and gave an embarrassed shrug. "Yeah, you’re kind of hot. For a girl."

Emily snorted as she punched his shoulder. "Thanks. Did you think I wouldn’t tell him?"

There was the question of whether Lance should be honest or not. They stared deep into each other’s eyes and the question wasn’t even a question. He couldn’t help but shrug. "I don’t know, it’s ...not a normal situation. You’re not interested in Marshall." Lance paused and raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

Emily rolled her eyes and smacked Lance’s chest. "Of course not."

"There you go. You aren’t interested, it’s not an issue. Kyle doesn’t ‘have’ to know about it." He saw her start to argue and raised an eyebrow. "BUT ...he does have to know about it because it’s important. It’s a hard call."

"Except that it isn’t. I wouldn’t ever not tell him. I tell him everything."

"Everything," Lance asked, suspicious. Her grin told him everything he needed to know.


"EVERYTHING." Emily thought about her interaction with Marshall and started to giggle. Lance wished that the girls were here with her, they probably would have handled the whole issue much better than he did. "Do you tell AJ everything?" Emily asked, startling Lance out of his daze. He thought about the implications of the question and smiled.

"Yes."

"Everything?" She asked in the same tone he had. They shared a knowing smile and Lance felt a greater respect for her than he ever had. With a decisive nod he answered her question.

"Everything. Even the embarrassing sex stuff, the stuff I don’t even tell Nick and Justin."

Emily opened her eyes wide, slightly surprised. She’d overheard a lot of Nick and Justin’s talks when they’d all be at someone’s house or out, and knew that when they got to talking about sex, it was no holds barred. She also knew that between the three of them, Nick, Justin and Lance, they pretty much talked about anything and everything, so for Lance to admit that he’d told AJ things that he couldn’t even tell Nick or Justin, that meant something.

Emily leaned towards Lance and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she said softly. From the intake of breath she heard, Emily knew she’d caught Lance off guard. With a glance up, she looked into his inquisitive green eyes. "For the talk, I really appreciate it."

Lance shook his head. "The girls would have been better at it. Even AJ or Josh. I’m not very good ..." The feel of Emily’s hand on his wrist caused for Lance’s sentence to die on his lips.

"That’s not true, you’re awesome to talk to. A great listener."

"Oh yeah," Lance sighed. "The first thing I do is accuse you of going around behind Kyle’s back. Really great."

"Kyle would probably say you were. I could see that you were trying to be impartial, waiting to listen to what I was going to say, but at the same time offended on his behalf. You’re a really good friend Lance."

The halls were silent around them, the two at a loss for words. It was the sound of a classroom door opening that broke the awkwardness.

"We should get to the Report," Lance suggested.

"Do you really think that they’ll like my pictures?" Emily clutched her photo album close to her chest as they headed down the hall towards the office. They stepped into the spacious room and Lance noticed that there were quite a few people working in there that afternoon.

"You’ve got nothing to worry about." Lance squeezed Emily’s hand for reassurance as they approached Matt Kelly’s desk. "Matt?"

The senior looked up, his frown turning to a smile at the sight of Lance. "Bass. What can I do for you?"

Lance introduced Emily to Matt, which turned out that they were both in senior English together. After a few questions and a visit from Mrs. Renado who had been in the office checking up on a few items, it was agreed unanimously that Emily would be an asset to the Lincoln Report as well as the yearbook.

They went over the next few weeks’ events throughout the school, deciding who would do what and when. The main events at the moment were the upcoming cheerleading auditions, varsity and freshman basketball try-outs, homecoming at the end of the month as well as auditions for the school play.

"I can cover cheerleading auditions," Emily suggested. She had really wanted to be there to support Britney with the rest of the gang, and thought that would be a great way for her to ease her way into the paper. She exchanged a look with Lance who grinned in relief.

"Awesome," he agreed. The thought of covering it for the paper hadn’t even occurred to him until Matt had mentioned it, and if it was a choice between covering that or the first varsity basketball practice of the year, he would rather be there for basketball. "I’ll do the basketball team."

Both Emily and Matt raised an eyebrow causing for Lance to burst out into embarrassed laughter. "Oh my god, I mean..."

"The whole team?" Matt teased lightly. "Won’t Alex be jealous?"

Before, any reference to his and AJ’s relationship would have made Lance uncomfortable, but throughout the duration of the year before, as well as the summer, it had been made public that they were together romantically. It wasn’t as easy as Lance had hoped it would be, as there were a lot of people who were vocally homophobic, but at the same time, it wasn’t as difficult as he’d anticipated. He knew it had a lot to do with the fact that those people who knew that he and AJ were a couple, also knew that Justin was bisexual as well as Nick was gay, and in that, they had a lot of very influential friends within Lincoln High.

Lance was also learning that he was who he was, and despite the fact that it might not be a ‘socially acceptable’ lifestyle for most, it was as justified as any other. No one could, or would, ever tell him that he was any less of a person because of who he loved or how he loved. One thing that his parents taught him was self respect, and love, so in effect; Lance was not one to worry about the opinions of those who did not matter.

"What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him," Lance joked, flashing a wink at Emily. The three broke into comfortable laughter. "But seriously, that’s so not what I meant. I’ll cover the basketball practice; you can cover the try outs."

"And at the same time, you can cover the football practice. We’re 1-0 for the season. People doubted that we would be able to win without Kevin Richardson, so this might be a good time to get people psyched about this year’s football team."

Before they knew it, five o’clock was upon them and Lance had to go meet his mother outside. With reassurances that Emily didn’t need a ride home, Kyle would be picking her up, they headed out to the parking lot to wait for their respective rides. It was then that Emily turned to Lance, a serious expression on her face.

"Could you maybe not tell anyone ...." She started, unsure of how to word her thoughts. It was for naught though, because Lance understood.

"I won’t say anything to anyone."

Emily shook her head. "I don’t mean forever ...just until I talk to Kyle. I know if you talk to AJ then AJ calls Josh, Josh will talk to Kyle and then ..."

"When are you going to tell him?" Lance asked, curious. "Not that I’m rushing you, it's none of my business and not really my story to tell, but the longer you wait, the more risk there will be of him finding out on his own. Like, say tomorrow you guys run into Marshall and he says something ...Kyle’s gonna be pissed that you kept it from him."

Emily nodded, deep in thought. She hadn’t wanted to tell him right away, but Lance was making a good point. She knew that Marshall hadn’t really taken no for an answer, and now was wondering if he would say something to her or Kyle tomorrow after calculus. "You’re right."

"But like I said, it’s not my place to judge. And I won’t say anything to anyone if you don’t want me to." It would kill him not to tell anyone, as he was dying to tell Nick and Justin about it, not to mention AJ.

"Just ..." Emily sighed and gave Lance a smile. "I’ll tell him tonight. I probably would have anyways, but still..." Before she could finish her thoughts Kyle’s familiar car was pulling into the parking lot. He honked twice as he parked in front of where Lance and Emily were standing.

"Hey, Gorgeous," Kyle said, grinning.

"Hey sexy," Lance answered. Emily snorted in laughter while Kyle chuckled. Before she climbed into Kyle’s car, Emily gave Lance a tight hug, thanking him once again for everything that afternoon. She was buckled into her seat when Kyle leaned out the window.

"You need a ride?"

Lance shook his head. "No, my mom should be here any minute."

Although there was no one in the parking lot, Lance looked around and shrugged. Kyle shook his head. "You want us to wait 'til she gets here?" Lance shook his head.

"Nah, she’ll be here any minute."

"Okay, well we’ll see you tomorrow."

Lance waved his good-byes to his two friends and sat down on the curb, waiting for his mother to pick him up. It gave him ample time to think about his life and how much it had changed in the past year. How glad he was that he and Stacey had finally made up after so many months of fighting. How much he missed Justin and Nick and couldn’t wait to watch them practice the next day as he took pictures for the paper and yearbook. How much he loved AJ and wanted to call him as soon as he got home to just hear his voice. But mostly, Lance thought about Emily and Kyle, how Emily’s words had made him feel when she’d thanked him for being there for her, for listening to her talk about Marshall.

It was the same feeling that he got when he’d be with Nick and Kevin in the summer and Joey and Brian would be around. Lance felt as if he was out of his league, but at the same time, would see the looks of respect they would give him. Sometimes, he wondered what would have happened had his family not moved to Middletown, who he would be without these people in his life. He missed his friends back home, and still talked to them once in a while, but even though they had known him his whole life, he knew they had no clue as to who the real Lance Bass was. Sometimes even he didn’t know who that was, but with each day, the gang here were slowly helping him to find who that person was, what that person was, and Lance couldn’t help but feel infinitely grateful that his parents had ruined his life by moving him right before his first year of high school.

The first thing Lance did when his mother arrived to pick him up was hug her tightly and kiss her cheek. He thanked her profusely and when she asked what for, he only smiled and said ‘everything."

End Chapter 16


Chapter 17 >