Among the Stars, Chapter 2, Part 1.
Chapter 2- The Secret
"Lightpaw?" Professor Yangston called. Zain raised his paw to signify his prescence. "Locksted? Martin? Melburn? Nox?" a white paw went up in the air two rows down and three chairs to his Zain's right. Professor Yangston aknowledged each raised hand with a brief nod of his antlers. Zain found himself again gazing at the white paw, briefly imagining himself holding it, letting his imagination lead him where his common sense would not let him. "You don't even know his first name yet, and you want to hold his paw?" a voice within his head rose unbidden, seeming to puncture the bubble of his lucid imaginings- "So what?" he found himself vituperating the voice that the old Zain might have called 'common sense'. "A guy can dream, can't he?" Professor Yangston, having finished roll call_,_ snapped Zain from his internal musings. "As we all know,"he said, "We live in a Galaxy that we call the "Milky Way" - a few students gave affirming nods, "And if you'll be so kind as to refresh my memory, what type of Galaxy is itthat we inhabit?" Zain again raised his paw. "Yes? Mr... er..." Professor Yangston consulted his list- "Lightpaw?" "The Milky Way is an Sbc barred spiral galaxy, sir." Zain said, somewhat uncomfortably aware of the sidelong glances from several of his classmates. "Well stated, Lightpaw! Well you heard him everyone, but what do those letters mean? Now if you'll focus your attention, please, to the blackboard..."
The relentless autumn rain, combined with other distractions, made the rest of the class seem to fly by. Zain, having promised to meet Matt in the cafeteria for lunch at four, padded quickly down the stairs at the end of the hall. The scents of the cuisine of several continents met his nose as he neared the cafeteria, coalescing with the scents of the students themselves, forming an aroma which he could only describe as a school cafeteria smell. Matt, with his bright orange and ebony stripes, stood in stark contrast to the generally less vibrantly colored population of the cafeteria. He waved to Zain as he approached, though his mouth was too full of spaghetti to say more than "'sup?". "Thought you said four?" Matt asked, swallowing a large amount of spaghetti. "Yeah, I know, sorry- Yangston wouldn't let us go until we understood everything that happens in the Universe." Matt grinned, but a his eyes held a quizzical look. "S'ok, but hey, is everything okay with you lately? You seem sort of... I dunno, distracted all the time." "What do you mean?" Zain started to lie, but upon thinking about it, decided that telling Matt the truth would make it easier in the end. "No one has been picking on you, have they?" Matt growled, baring his rather impressive set of canines, his well-defined forearms flexing. "No, no. It's nothing like that." Zain said quickly, not wanting the tiger to get the wrong idea. "Everything's alright, but... um..." he paused, deciding on how to explain it without making a fool of himself, especially since the tiger seemed to have already assumed the worst. "Hey guys! Man I'm hungry-" Mikee threw his bag on the ground and fell into a seat next to Zain, falling silent upon seeing the rather serious faces of his friends. "Erm, guys... what's with the long faces? It's only the second week of school, you couldn't possibly have flunked a test yet." Matt was the first one to speak. "Zain and I were just, er, talking about something." "Secrets secrets are no fun! Come on, I wanna know too." said Mikee, trying his best to lighten the mood of the situation, though Zain felt even more nervous now that he had an audience. "Just tell them, they're your friends." A voice within him whispered- "Besides, they have to live with you either way." "Easy for you to say." he admonished the voice. Waiting on it certainly wasn't going to make it any easier.
"Alright, sit down Mikee, and I'll tell you." Zain sighed, running his paws through his headfur nervously. Mikee slowly took a seat in the chair next to Zain, his smile slipping off of his face at the sight of his friend's morose expression. "Zain..." said Mikee in a small voice, putting his small paw on Zain's forearm "Did someone die?" "No... no. No one died." Zain said, flashing him a brief, half-hearted smile, not wanting to him get the wrong idea as well. "Well is it... erm." Mikee trailed off. "Hmm?" Zain asked. For some reason, letting him guess was easier to deal with than having to decide how to tell them. "Um... well- and don't take this the wrong way- are you gay?" Well there it was-kind of. Trust Mikee to cut right to the heart of the issue. Mikee saw the look on Zain's face and quickly began to apologize, thinking that he had gravely offended his friend, though Zain raised a paw and cut him off. "Well no, er... yes. I mean no, I'm not. Not exactly." Zain paused, still deciding how to explain the situation. Mikee had come from a deeply religious family, and his nonchalance in asking whether or not he was gay both surprised him and bolstered his confidence. "Well, until recently, I was just sort of, I dunno, curious I guess." Mikee and Matt both nodded. Zain felt a lump in his throat; he'd only known his two new friends for about three weeks, though he already felt closer to them than many people he had considered friends back home. Trying not to let his emotions overcome him, he continued. "There's this guy in my class... an arctic wolf... I just..." Zain halted, unsure of how to continue. Mikee rested his hand on Zain's forearm again, reinforcing the bond that he felt towards them both. "Come on, we're your friends... I could give a shit less about who you're attracted to, as long as you're happy." Matt said. "Thanks, guys..." Zain said weakly, tears were starting to fall down his nose. He was surprised at how much their acceptance meant to him, and how much this was affecting him, it generally took quite a lot to make him cry. "I'm, uh... I'm gonna go back to the dorm I think. Thanks again for understanding." "No problem, man." Matt said in his husky, soothing voice. "If you want to talk more later, just say so, okay? "Yeah" Mikee piped up, smiling. "We'd probably starve to death without you anyway." Zain nodded, flashing them both a brief, if tired, smile. Not wanting to draw more attention to himself, he drew his hood down over his eyes and got up, and walked quickly to the door.