Playing The Straight Game [boyxboy]

01

Farren looked up at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, splashing his face with cold water.

His green eyes stared back at him, his dark brown hair shining under the low battery lights their school insisted on using in order to save energy or some bullshit like that that Farren didn't care about.

He took in the bags under his eyes, sighing before making his way out of the bathroom and to his locker. He chewed his lip nervously as he pushed in his locker combination.

Much as he tried not to let it show, he was super worried about today's meeting. He needed football, it was his ticket to a scholarship.

Everything was riding on this meeting. If the coaches decided to pull out of State Championships, Farren could all but rule out the chance of a scholarship.

University was expensive, so if there was anyway he could minimise the cost for his aunt and her partner with whom he lived, he would try.

He had been living with them for the past ten years, since his parents untimely death when he was seven. They had done so much for him, supporting him financially all these years. He didn't want them to have to take out big loans for him to go to college. He had savings, of course, and his parents had left him quite a sum. But it wasn't enough for four years of university.

Sighing, he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind when he heard the sound of familiar footsteps coming up behind him.

He turned around and came face to face with his best friend, Jesse.

And as nervous as Farren looked, he couldn't deny that Jesse seemed a lot worse for wear. He was always such a worrier.

"Hey," Jesse said, and Farren could clearly hear the nerves coming through his voice, as much as the other boy tried to hide it.

"Hey J how's it going," Farren replied with a forced smile. If one of them was to be the supportive one, it would have to be him.

Farren and Jesse had been best friends since Farren had moved to Sinclair to his aunt's house. Jesse used to live in the house next door but after his younger twin sisters, Ada and Lauren, were born they relocated to a bigger house about five or ten minutes away.

Like Farren, Jesse was also on the football team and Farren could tell from the way Jesse was nervously rubbing his neck he too was worried about the meeting.

"Oh you know, okay I suppose," Jesse replied, unable to keep the worry out of his tone.

Farren understood why Jesse was worried. He needed a scholarship even more than Farren did. Jesse's family was by no means poor, just big. He had two older brothers who is parents were already paying for to go though college.

The thing with Jesse though was that he didn't just want the scholarship for himself, he wanted it so his parents could afford to put his younger sisters through college.

He was selfless like that, Jesse was.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll be fine Jess," he said, trying to reassure himself just as much as the other boy. "I mean, if worse comes to worse there's always baseball. Or academic decathlon. Or even show choir. Though I'm not sure how well that'll go over with the rest of the team." He said, making a feeble attempt at a joke. It was weak, but he knew Jesse appreciated it, as he shot him a grateful smile.

The boys made their way towards the social area, which was like the entrance hall of the school and the place where students hung out before classes began.

In reality, it was just a big hall filled with students nattering on about the happenings of the school and the ins and outs of their weekends.

Farren rarely hung out there, but the team had been instructed to wait there when first period started and wait for further information.