Be True

Chapter 01

BE TRUE

CHAPTER 01

It was a quarter after eight in the morning and Josh knew he was going to be late for school. Even so, he continued to stare into the bathroom mirror and adjust the half dozen strands of hair he had plastered onto his forehead with gel.

"Maybe a little superman curl..." He adjusted the lock into a circle and glued that down.

He took a second and stepped back from the mirror. He tilted his head this way and that.

"Nah!" He dragged a comb through his hair, including the lock in the front and whipped it all back and to the side. Like a helmet. He peered into the mirror again. "Oh no. The Biebs." His hands began to blur back and forth as they reset the whole do from scratch.

A pounding on the door. "Josh!"

"It's okay, Mom..." He spoke through the door.

"You'll never make it!"

"Okay Mom, I got it! I'm going, I'm going!"

Josh raced out of the washroom and nearly bowled over his mother waiting by the door.

"Whoa!" She planted her hand on the wall and just managed to keep her balance.

He smiled and bared his teeth, braces and all. "What do you think, Mom?" He lifted both hands in a 'tada' gesture.

"What now? Who are you trying to look like today?"

He looked shocked. "You mean you can't tell? It's Johnny Depp! Johnny Depp!"

"Johnny who?"

"Johnny Depp!" His shoulders slumped as his face fell. His hair fell an inch too. "You know like, 'Pirates of the Caribbean?'"

"You want to look like a pirate? On purpose?"

He rolled his eyes. "Never mind." He zipped out the door and rushed off for school.

She turned around and watched him go. "Why does he always have to look like somebody else anyway?" She scratched her head.

~~~

Josh made it to school just in time. Just in time to finish up at his own locker, and then race upstairs to another locker in another part of the school. Just before he got to that locker though, he stopped. In fact, he had stopped well short of the turn in the hallway beyond which was that other locker in question.

He took a big breath in and out. He balled his hands into fists. He edged up to the very lip of the corner and poked his nose around it, while keeping the rest of himself hidden by the edge of the wall and the lockers beyond.

And there she was.

And where she usually was. Over by her locker, getting her books ready for first period. With Tommy by her side. Look at how happy she was...!

Josh rolled the other way and put his back to the wall. He sighed. He shook his head.

He had to admit, they made a good-looking pair. Tommy was a good choice. The obvious choice, really-all tall and handsome, football team, you know. Made you sick just thinking about it. He cursed beneath his breath.

You know, he was just thinking, that if he ditched his glasses, Tommy and he weren't really that much different. And it was true. The two boys, in fact, were nearly the same height and size...well, ten pounds of muscle weren't really that much of a difference. One good summer of constant weight lifting would have done it. That or a bucket of steroids. And yes, Tommy's hair was blonde and wavy, in a not so feminine but cool kind of way. While Josh's hair was brown like bark on a tree and wire straight. With tangles. So, like barbed wire, then. Huh. Josh pushed his glasses back up on his nose without thinking about it.