The Lightwalker in Maple Hills (Boyxboy)

Chapter 19

I sit on a bench in the locker room rereading the texts that Kobie sent the day before wondering if I am reading them wrong.

'Just meet me in the locker room'

A part of me feels like it is a prank with TJ and Jimmy, but another part remembers how concerned Kobie was when Jimmy shoved me against the wall. About how he told me he likes me last night The look on his face proved that he didn't like them but his actions proved he couldn't leave them. Just as I am about to leave the door opens and Kobie rushes into the locker room pulling the hood of his simple grey sweater off. He looks at me and smiles a bit.

"I didn't want Coach Cooper to see me. He doesn't like it when I hang out with you." He says.

The thought of Coach Cooper controlling Kobie's decisions disgusts me along with the thought of determining who he is suitable to hang out with.

Kobie takes another few steps closer but stops when I don't respond to anything he said. "You okay, you're quiet," he asks.

"Are you just going to let Coach Cooper determine everything you're going to do?"

"It's not that Evans, it's just I am his top wrestler and I don't want him to get any thoughts. That's all."

"Oh, right," I say with a hint of sarcasm. "Tell me, when did you know you were gay?" I ask.

"I knew I liked guys when I was in ninth grade." He says.

"Didn't you have a girlfriend in ninth grade? What was her name..." I say thinking a minute before the name pops up in my head. "Sarah Whitman?"

He stands there for a second before looking down at his feet. He moves his left foot up and down a bit before he nods his head. "Yeah, and I figured out I likes guys. What's so bad about that?"

"So what she turned you gay?" I ask jokingly.

Kobie suddenly looks up and charges at me, pushing towards the bench with a sign of rage in his eyes. "I am NOT gay Evan's! I like guys but I also like girls okay." He holds me by my throat while the other hovered just inches from my face in a fist. Panic runs through me and shows in my eyes as I stare at him, and my heart feels like it is about to beat out of my chest. He towers over me at the angle he holds me in, but after a second, his fist falls and he lets go of my throat. "I'm sorry... Evan's. I...I didn't" he says stuttering through his words. "Please, I'm sorry."

I continue to sit pushed against the bench in both shock and anger. Kobie would get mad at anyone who attempted to hurt me, let alone touch me. He would get protective and make sure that I am okay so that he could go beat them up later, but when it comes to himself, he is allowed to touch and hurt me. I look at him and he reads me eyes and looks down and slowly backs out of the room.

"Evan's please I am sorry." He says again.

"Are you fucking crazy?" I ask quietly. Kobie looks up at me, and I know that he didn't hear me. I rub my throat that is slightly burning.

"Are. You. Fucking. Crazy," I say louder. He straightens up and looks back at the door with wide eyes before he raises his hands up. "Evan's! Shut up please, I don't want Coach Cooper to hear us."

"Are you fucking serious? You just slammed me against the bench and held me by my throat and you're scared of Coach Cooper? Why? Are you scared that he will come in here and figure out what you and I are doing? Are you scared he is going to know you're gay?" I say louder.

Panic runs through Kobie's face as he continues to turn back and look at the door. "Evan's please." The look on his face lets me know I have won this match, and to know that I finally have the power to make Kobie scared fills me with a feeling I never knew I had, A feeling that has been hiding at the bottom of my stomach for the past several years; power.