I don't believe in Omens, tags open

[Dylan Katz]

Dylan dressed in new jeans and a green plaid shirt and a pair of leather boat shoes. He also carried his heavy duty D&D backpack in case he ended up with any time to work on his current project, a town with nearby adventures. He really was not looking forward to his first day of school. He hadn’t really made any friends on Saturday as he had hoped he would. There had been too many people who hadn’t been prepared so the play never started.

He arrived at school early and did the registration thing in the office. The girl looked up his locker number. “You’re in number 162 and you share with Quenten Ferris,” she said, giving him a pitying look. Not to scare you or anything, but he is bad news. Just plain mean and he doesn’t like anyone, so don’t even try to make friends.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Dylan said giving her a grin that faded after turning away. Not a great beginning to his scholastic career here in Los Angeles. He would have to try to avoid keeping things in his locker when possible or maybe use his gym locker instead. Not having any of his books yet, he could put off the decision and instead went to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and a bagel. Settling down at an empty table, he spread out his books and sat down with his notebook to begin scribbling down notes and thoughts as he sipped on the hot sweet coffee

[Jefferson Davis McIntosh]

To say that Jeff was upset that Varina had used his picture without his permission would have been an understatement. How could she be so insensitive that she would use a picture of him and Zach when they'd gone to such pains to keep their relationship a secret? And when they were on what could safely be considered poor terms? And two days after Zach had been brutally attacked? Sometimes he found his sister's mind simply unfathomable. He wished he'd known this was what she was up to; then he would have known to stay home. He didn't think he could stand it if anyone were to bring up that he was half of the mascot of the new gay club and oh yeah the other half was in the hospital nearly dead. Thanks, sis.

He hurried along, head down, trying even harder than usual to avoid attention. If only his mother hadn't insisted on dropping them off early -- now he knew why! She was always in league with his sister -- then he could at least have headed straight for class, but no, he had time to kill. He sighed and glanced into the cafeteria. It looked (mostly) empty, so he hurried inside and plopped himself down -- only to discover that he really hadn't been paying attention, and there was in fact someone next to him. Oops, how had he not noticed? The guy's belongings were strewn all over the place. "Oh, hey, you don't mind if I sit here, do you?" He asked, rather lamely considering that he was already sitting.

[Dylan Katz]

Dylan looked up and smiled sheepishly. "No problem, let me make more room for you,"he said and began to stack his books more neatly. "I'm Dylan Katz and this is my first day here. We just moved here from New York." Looking his new acquaintance over, Dylan thought he looked athletic, perhaps a bit bookish."It'a very nice to meet you."Dylan didn't really look that much different, though less athletic perhaps.

Looking past Jefferson's shoulder, he saw a poster with his companion's picture on it. "Glee? What's that? Our Glee club at my own school didn't have much of that going on, just singing and dancing for the most part. Is the other boy your boyfriend?"The other male looked rather attractive.

[Jefferson Davis McIntosh]

"Yeah? New York? Another East Coaster, sweet! I'm from Alabama." He explained. Of course, other than being located on the East Coast New York had little in common with Jeff's home state. "I'm Jefferson. Jefferson McIntosh. You can call me Jeff, though." He held out a hand as they made introductions. "So are you a Gould or Silver student?" Not that it was going to make much difference except with regard to what classes they took, since they were finishing out the semester together. Jeff really hoped the schools didn't merge; not only would that make his position on the football team more precarious, but also it would be easier to avoid Zach if they remained at different schools.

He didn't need to follow Dylan's gaze to know what the other boy was looking at, but he automatically swiveled around in his chair anyway. "Dammit! She put those up everywhere, didn't she?" He fumed, turning back to the table sharply and slamming his elbows down so hard he jarred his arms. "Ex." He corrected sourly. He'd been hoping to avoid this conversation, so of course the first person he encountered would notice and ask. "Ex-boyfriend. By almost a year. And Varina only named it that to trick people into joining." He added cynically. "It's supposed to be Gay, Lesbian and Everyone Else. And she did not ask my permission to use my picture for her stupid club." Because he would have unequivocally told her no.

[Dylan Katz]

Being unaware of much of what had been going on in the district recently he didn’t understand the degree of emotion that Jefferson was displaying, but he did realize that he had stumbled into something that made his new acquaintance uncomfortable. “I’m sorry I asked… Is sexual preference a touchy subject here? I don’t want to offend someone accidentally,” he said in a low voice. At his old school there had not been too many problems other than gang altercations. Los Angeles was a totally new playing field, it would be naïve to assume that the rules were the same.

Dylan had so far avoided questioning his sexuality. He was immature in many ways and dating was something he was not ready for, but seeing the poster with two good looking young men embracing passionately upon it made his breath catch and an itch begin deep in his core. He blushed and took a sip of his coffee, hoping he wasn’t as obvious as he felt he was in his new found interest. “Why does your sister embarrass you this way? Does she hate you?” he asked. He couldn’t imagine his sister acting in such a way.

[Jefferson Davis McIntosh]

"To some people it's the preference that's touchy," Jeff answered, thinking of Kate's confession. He doubted she would be thrilled should anyone notice her interest in girls, not with the way she'd carried on about it on Saturday. "I just don't like being reminded about my mistakes."

Did Varina hate him? She was sure as hell disappointed that he didn't act like she thought a gay man ought. She claimed to humiliate him because she cared; Kate backed her up on that. That probably was her motivation, but that didn't make him any happier about her constant attempts at making him over. "Naw, she doesn't. She's just annoying." He replied grudgingly, hating to give Varina any credit when she'd callously used his picture (and Zach's!) for her stupid club.

This topic of conversation wasn't particularly comfortable -- in fact, it was exactly the conversation he'd wanted to avoid -- so Jeff decided to abruptly change topics. "So uhhh you watch the Superbowl this year? Can't believe the Giants won, you must be proud." Even if he was normally a fan of the Jets, he must be proud that one of his home state's teams had won over the Patriots. "The half time show was kinda meh, but the game was awesome!"

[Dylan Katz]

"I don't know, I have never played football and don't really understand it. The giants would have won with or without me so it can't really be a case of pride and I am not really a comfortable spectator. Maybe if I was dating a fan and was keeping him/her company, I might enjoy it, but for the moment I persist in disappointing my dad by abstaining from pigskin worship," Dylan said cringing as he waited for the friendliness on Jeff's face to disappear as he realized what a nerd he had just met. "The only sport I know anything about is speed skating, that's not very useful in Southern California though." He wracked his brain for something that might redeem him. "Hey I'm going to go see Alice in Wonderland tonight would you like to hang out. Tim Burton is awesome!"

[Jefferson Davis McIntosh]

Jeff pressed his mouth into a thin line. ".I'm on the football team." He informed Dylan tersely. Talk about critical! Apparently this guy was one of those hate-all-jocks types, then. "I think I'm allowed to like something without calling it worship." If someone didn't like football, whatever. But they didn't have to go all snarky on him when he was trying to make polite conversation!

"You're going to see what?" He furrowed his brow at the other boy at the mention of Alice and Tim Burton. "Uhh. That's the play the middle schoolers are putting on, right?" How that involved Tim Burton was beyond him, though. "I dunno, I don't really do plays. Winnie might go with you, though, she digs that kind of thing." Varina would undoubtedly love for Jeff to start going off to the theater, but that was not in his plans. He'd been dragged to Silver's musical the year prior and fallen asleep during the first act, much to Varina's chagrin. Dylan thought football was boring; Jeff felt the same way about plays. Especially ones put on by his fellow teens. Maybe if the acting was half-way decent they'd be sort of interesting, but it still wasn't his preferred way to spend time.

[Dylan Katz]

Dylan's eyes widened in horror. "I didn't mean you, oh fuck I'm sorry. My dad is the one that worships football. He keeps trying to make me love it the way he does. I think if I went home and told him I was on the team he would be so happy he'd orgasm or something equivalent to it. I really didn't mean to be insulting," he said sincerely. "I want to make it up to you, but I am not quite sure how. Do you like to roller skate? I am better at ice skating, but I can manage inline skates." He looked hopefully at Jeff.

He drank the last of his now luke warm coffee, making a face at its bitterness. "They really need a better coffee machine here or at least clean out the filter of the one they have. All it really needs is a bottle of white vinegar and lots of water. I used to work as a Barista back in New York. It was boring, but the tips were good. I met lots of people too, I should see if I can get a similar job here, then maybe I will busy enough that hopefully i won't unintentionally insult random Football players who could smear me all over school.

[Jefferson Davis McIntosh]

"Sure, no offense taken." Jeff lied. Yeah, he really wasn't too thrilled with his new acquaintance. "Inline skating? Uh, no, never really tried it. I pretty much stick with football and track." He replied cautiously. Was Dylan some sort of eighties revivalist or something? This guy was definitely more Varina's speed, that was for sure. "Ask Winnie, she might go. Or that Russell guy, he likes all that eighties shit."

The last statement, however, made it clear that his initial suspicions were correct -- Dylan was a hater of jocks. Random football player? Didn't we just exchange names? "I don't smear people all over the school. Or anywhere else." He added. He wouldn't hesitate to defend himself, or to use violence against someone preemptively should he feel threatened, but he wasn't the kind of guy who just went around shoving people into lockers for kicks.

Jeff stood and flung his bag over his shoulder. "I need to get to class." Was he really more interested in fending off inquiries of his classmates rather than talking to someone who thought he was some sort of neanderthal bully? Yes, yes he was. "Good luck finding a job as a barista or whatever."