Slam!

The slam of a locker door in the boy's locker room made Teddy jump. He shook his head, finally waking up from his thoughts. Ever since he had met that guy Billy, his thoughts had become more and more complicated. He didn't know what to make of it, he had never really thought about a guy this much before.

"Were you daydreaming again Altman?"

Teddy turned to see Greg looking at him quizzically.

"You haven't been focusing very well lately Ted, what's wrong?" Greg asked.

"Nothing, I just have a lot on my plate right now," Teddy answered.

"Well you need to start focusing, because next week we have our biggest game of the season against our rivals the East Side Daredevils. We need you to play at your best if we are going to win, okay?" Greg said back.

"Yeah, I get it, I'll try," Teddy said.

"Oh, and another thing Altman," Greg said, "You need to stop talking with that kid Billy Kaplan. It won't help your reputation if people catch you hanging out with him. It's just not natural for jocks to be talking to people like him, unless they are making fun of him. So if you are going to be one of us, you better start acting like it. Got that?"

Teddy frowned, "What's so bad about talking to Billy? I don't see why he is so bad. So what if he's a nerd, can't we all just get along?"

"It's not that he is just a nerd Ted," Greg said, "Rumors have been going around that Kaplan is a big queer. If you start hanging out with him, people will think that you are a queer too; do you want that Teddy, do you?"

"No…I guess not," Teddy sighed.

"Exactly, so my advice to you," Greg responded, "show him whose boss, rough him around a bit. Don't let him think that you ever want to be friends with the likes of him. See you tomorrow Ted."

As Greg left Teddy went deep into thought again. Greg had flat out said it. Queer. Was that why I have been thinking about Billy so much? Was he also queer? Do I like Billy? He never thought about this before, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. What can I do? Should I take Greg's advice? Do I want to be associated with a queer? So many questions and not one answer….

As soon as Teddy got home he ran up to his room, fell onto his bed, stuffed his face in his pillow, and started to cry. Normally Teddy Altman would never do this; he would be a man and rub some dirt on it. There was nothing to rub, however, nothing physically hurting him. This was a mental wound that would not go away. No matter how many times he had tried, he could not get Billy Kaplan out of his head. Greg had made the wound bigger today, and Teddy couldn't take it any longer, so he let it out in streams of tears.

After about an hour, he heard a knock on his door. It opened to reveal his mother.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Teddy looked up from his pillow, his eyes red and puffy from crying. "I guess…" he said.

"What's up Theodore?" his mom said.

"Nothing mom, I'm fine" Teddy said.

"Theodore Marv Altman," his mom said firmly, "I know you; you do not usually cry like this for nothing. There is something wrong and you need to tell me."

"I wasn't crying," Teddy started, but then saw his mom's stern face, "Ok, fine, I was crying. I have a lot on my plate mom, and I am really stressing out."

"Well I don't know how to help you if you don't tell me specifically what you're stressing out about."

"I can't mom, I just can't"

"Ok, fine," his mom sighed and got up off his bed, "but whatever you do, I want you to make the right choices, ok?"

"Yes, mom," Teddy replied.

Teddy immediately went back to his thoughts when the door shut. Make good choices…what choice do I have to make? He thought about it for a long time and finally found the choice that he had to make: Don't become friends with Billy and maintain his popularity or become friends with Billy and lose everything. Why was this so hard? Shouldn't this be an easy decision? I would be only friends with Billy, right? And losing this made-up friendship wouldn't be hard, right?

He knew what he had to do, and he made his choice. He just hoped that his mom would have thought that it was the good choice.

For the next three days Teddy ignored Billy to the best of his ability. Whenever he saw him in the hallway he would walk right past him, not even looking at his face. Whenever Billy would open his mouth to try and talk to him he would walk away. It had worked perfectly for three whole days, but by Friday, Teddy felt horrible.

Why was it so hard to ignore this guy, he thought, it has been working so well. I feel so bad though; I feel like I need to talk to him. No, I can't, I need my reputation. I need my popularity. I need….

"Teddy, why have you been ignoring me this week!?" a familiar voice called after him from down the hall.

Teddy turned around to see none other than Billy Kaplan walking toward him. "I've been trying to talk to you about the dance and you keep walking away, what's up with that?" Billy said sternly.

Oh god, Teddy thought, he noticed. What am I going to do?

"Kick his ass Altman!" Greg called behind him, "now is your chance to show him whose boss!"

Oh, no, Teddy thought again, now what? How am I just supposed to kick the person who I saved earlier this month's ass? How can I kick the person that I likes most's ass? No, I am not going to like him; I am not going to be queer!

"Teddy?" Billy asked scared.

And that's when Teddy punched Billy in the face, sending him to the floor. Billy's face was in shock and horror. He got up from the floor and ran down the hallway crying.

"Way to go Altman!" Greg yelled.

Teddy just looked down the hallway in shock, what have I done...