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Chapter 2

Chapter 2

       My family was going over to my grandpa's house for dinner. He insisted on having us over for dinner, along with Destiny, for some family time. We were just waiting for Dad to get off of work before heading over.

       Mom was upstairs getting ready and Kenny was sitting on the couch, looking at a bunch of papers stapled together. "What are you reading?" I asked.

       "Oh, just the script for the play," he said. "It's really good."

       "You got it already?" 

       "Yeah, auditions were on the first day of school after semester break, which was the day after we moved here.. It was a really quick process and the cast list was posted today. I'm just going over it."

       I leaned over the couch, looking at the script. "Ooh, and you already have the lines highlighted," he said. "So, what's your character? The party animal? The nerd? The student who's failing class?"

       "Uh, none of those," he said. "My character's name is Deacon and he's a closeted homosexual."

       "What? Really?" I asked. "Doesn't that bother you?"

       "Why would it?" Kenny asked. "It's acting."

       "No, not the acting part," I said. "Mom and Dad's reaction. You know how religious they are and how much they're against it."

       "Yeah, I know, so I'm hoping they don't find out until it's too late for them to pull me from the play. Do me a favor and don't say a thing about it to Mom and Dad?"

       "Don't worry, I won't," I said. "I'm just happy you're in a play again. You really love acting and you have been a bit....distant lately. It's nice to see you doing something you love."

       "Yeah, well, this is a new place to live and a place to start over," Kenny said.

       "From what, exactly? Because you never told any of us why you were so eager to move."

       "It doesn't matter. It's in the past."

       "Whatever you say. So, what is the play exactly about? All I know is it's about teenager stuff."

       "Well, there are four main story arcs featuring different characters," Kenny said. "There's one character who is always partying and starts failing classes, one who is dealing with her parents getting a divorce, another having relationship problems, and then the homosexuality arcs with my character struggling with keeping it a secret."

       "Does he have a love interest?" I asked.

       "He does," Kenny said. "Calvin is playing the love interest."

       "Ooh, how interesting," I said. "So....It really doesn't bother you at all?"

       "Like I said no," he said. "It's acting. Just acting."

       "Fair enough," I said.

       It wasn't long before Dad came home from work and Mom was ready to go, so the four of us headed over to Grandpa's house. Destiny was there, helping Grandpa set the table, and Dan was sitting on the couch playing with Anastasia.

       "There's my favorite cousin," I said, going over to Destiny and giving her a hug. "You're not contagious, are you?"

       "No, my stomach flu is gone," she said. "Thank goodness. It was torture being sick."

       "Yeah, I know, I've been sick before," I said. "So, is Dan treating you well?"

       "Better than his last girlfriend, if you know what I mean."