Could I Be? (BxB)

Chapter 12

Thoughts of Zane's parents have been knocking on my mind for the last few days and I can't help but feel conflicted. I love Zane more than anything and want to protect him from anything that may make him upset or cause him harm, but I feel bad for Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, despite everything that they've done to him.

They want him back so badly. Zane may have heard what they said, but he didn't see how much hurt was in their faces whenever Zane's name came up. Maybe if he saw what was going on when they were talking about what they'd done after Zane left, he'd have a different opinion of them and might want to at least let them know he's okay.

It's finally Monday and the first baseball practice of the season has arrived. I may have made the team already, but I'm still nervous about one thing: how the other team members will react when they find that a gay guy is changing with them in the locker room. Looks like I'll have to find out the hard way.

With my practice uniform in my bag, I make my way over to Klein Field, where the Stanford Cardinal baseball team has their home games and practices. Finding my way into the locker room, I see that there are already a little over two dozen guys in here, much of the baseball team. Ty and Shane aren't here yet, so I'm doing this all alone.

I suck in a deep breath and walk over to my designated locker. The second I take a step in, everyone stops what they're doing and looks over at me. Seeing everyone else stop makes me stop too. I try to register their faces, but all I can see are blank stares. It's like they're all waiting for me to do something, like I'm some wild animal.

Exhaling audibly, I continue waling over to my locker and finally turn and face it. What I see makes me feel cold to the core. Keyed into my locker are three simple letters: 'FAG.' I was already expecting something like this, but expecting it and having it happen are two completely different things.

Through my peripheral, I see everyone still staring at me as I watch the letters, slightly hoping they'll disappear. But the more I stare at them, the more they're burned into my mind. I turn back to my so called teammates and see the same expression on their faces: blank stares. It both relieves me that they're not getting some kind of pleasure in this, but it also pisses me off because I know one of them did this.

But I'm not going to let this get to me. I reach into my pocket and pull out my room key. Placing the tip of it to the metal locker, I write my own response to the word. The locker room fills with a high pitched screech, making me and the other guys wince. After a few minutes of keying, I'm finished and I swipe the keyed paint on the locker and the flakes that remain on my key.

I take a step back and admire my work. Underneath the word is my own simple six word response. 'AND I'M PROUD TO BE ONE.' I put my key back in my pocket and open my locker, showing the front of it to the other guys so they can see that this won't change me. Glancing back at them, they've all gone back to changing into their uniforms.

Still not knowing who keyed my locker, I begin to undress. A few of the other guys have started their own conversations, but I choose to tune them out. There's a pair of footsteps that stop right behind me and I turn and see Ty. "Hey, Ty," I say.

He turns away from his locker and his smile returns. "What's up, Eric?" he says.

"Mostly...this."

I show Ty my locker and his smile deflates when he sees what's permanently engraved into the metal. "Do you know who did that?" he asks.

"Not a clue. I'm pretty sure it was one of these guys in here. They were all watching me when I first walked in here, like they were waiting for a reaction from me. They didn't get one, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me."