Class Acts Volume 2

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

One afternoon, when Shay had finished with baseball practice, he found Lilly alone, waiting at the car for him. He walked up to her and gave her a kiss. “Where’s Dwayne?”

“Mr. Higgins wanted to talk to him about something after rehearsal. Dwayne said that if it took too long we should just go ahead, and he’d take the bus home.”

Shay felt the now familiar combination of relief and disappointment. He hated that conflicted feeling and felt guilty about it as well. “We’ll wait a while for him. That is unless you need to get home.”

“No, it’s fine with me.”

As they stood by the car waiting, several members of the baseball team walked by. It gave Shay a good feeling for them to see him with Lilly alone, even though he knew they’d probably figured out he and Lilly were waiting for Dwayne, Shay made a show of putting an arm around Lilly as he waved to his teammates.

After a time Dwayne came trotting toward the car. He looked excited.

“What did Mr. Higgins want?” Lilly asked.

“The English Department wants us to do some of the scenes from Midsummer Night’s Dream for the school in an assembly. They want to see if we can get the kids interested enough to come see the whole play. Mr. Higgins wants me to do the introduction.”

“That’s great,” Lilly said.

“One of the scenes he’s picked is with you and Lysander. So you’ll be in it, too. We’ll do it in full costume the morning of the first performance.”

On the way home, Lilly and Dwayne talked excitedly about the assembly, and which scenes would be included. Shay listened, feeling a bit left out. Part of him wished he’d been able to try out for the show. But another part was glad he wasn’t involved because of the situation he and Dwayne were currently in.

When they pulled up in front of Dwayne’s house, Dwayne asked what had become his usual question. “Are you coming in?”

Dwayne was trying so hard not to pressure Shay and to follow his rules. It made Shay feel like a heel. The guy loved him, and Shay was treating him like a leper. The combination of Shay’s libido and his love for Dwayne overcame the guilt. “Yeah.”

* * * *

A few weeks later, Shay sat with his jock buddies in the auditorium, waiting for the assembly to start. There was the usual hubbub of talking and laughter. Leading up to the performance, Lilly and Dwayne had been very excited to be able to present the play to the student body. Shay hoped it would go well for them.

The house lights dimmed, and a spotlight illuminated the apron, stage right, and the audience quieted. Dwayne stepped from behind the curtain. There was a smattering of laughter in the audience. Dwayne wore a black, floor-length cape. There was a gold crown on his head. Shay shifted in his seat.

Dwayne raised his arms, spreading the cape like wings. The inside was lined with emerald green satin. Scattered green sequins caught and reflected the light. “I am Oberon, king of the fairies,” Dwayne announced in a clear, strong voice.

There was more general laughter this time. “Typecasting,” someone in the audience yelled. More laughter followed.

“Oh my God,” Shay murmured to himself, lowering his head and covering his eyes with a hand.

Randy leaned over to Shay and whispered, “Bet you’re glad you dumped that faggot now, aren’t you?”

Shay didn’t respond.

As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Dwayne launched into his introduction of the play. Shay tried to listen, but his mind was filled with conflicting thoughts: empathy for what Dwayne must be feeling at the audience’s response, pride that he could carry on so well in spite of it, and apprehension his association with Dwayne might surface.

Dwayne concluded his introduction with a flourish of his cape. “And now, good sirs and madams, let the revelry begin!”

There was a spirited round of applause, punctuated with whistles and hoots as Dwayne left the stage. The curtain opened and the snippets of the production began. Despite his discomfort, Shay was impressed with the performance. Both Lilly and Dwayne were excellent in their roles. Shay was further mollified when Lilly appeared on stage, and Randy leaned in and said, “Your girlfriend is pretty hot. Bet you wish you were up there making out with her like that Lysander dude.”

At the end of the show, after the cast had taken their bows, Mr. Higgins walked out in front of the audience and gave a brief speech, encouraging the students to come to one of the full performances. The cast bowed once more, and the curtain closed.

As the students filed out of the auditorium, the cast greeted them. Lilly came running up to Shay and put her arms around his neck. Shay hoped Randy was watching.

“How’d you like it?” Lilly asked.

“It was great, you were great.”

“I still wish you were playing Lysander,” Lilly said, giving Shay a kiss on the cheek.

Over Lilly’s shoulder, Shay could see Dwayne talking with a group of students. He looked in Shay’s direction and gave him a wistful smile. Shay returned the smile and gave Dwayne a surreptitious thumbs up. Dwayne’s smile deepened, and he turned away.

“Can Dwayne and I catch a ride home with you today?” Lilly asked.

“Um…no, I got a game in Fowlerville.”

“We could wait for you. I’m sure Dwayne would love to hear what you thought of the performance.”

“Uh…No. It’ll be late. You guys go on. Tell Dwayne I thought he was great.”

“Okay,” Lilly said brightly. She kissed him once more and moved on to join the group with Dwayne.

Shay watched them briefly, then with a heavy heart and feeling like a heel, he turned and caught up with his jock buddies.

* * * *

After seeing the widespread reaction of the audience to

Dwayne’s initial appearance on stage, and realizing how most of the school perceived him, Shay decided he had to curtail his association with Dwayne even further. But how to do it? The after school rides home with Dwayne and Lilly now were so much a part of their routine. However, Shay was feeling paranoid enough about being exposed, he decided he had to do something. To his enduring shame, he chose to take the coward’s way out.

The first afternoon after the assembly that the trio were to ride home together, Shay put his plan into action.

“Where are we going? Lilly asked, when Shay bypassed the usual turn off to her house.

“I need to get home early tonight to study, and since it’s a little out of my way to drop you off and then take Dwayne home, we’ll take him home first.” Shay hoped she didn’t think this strange, as he’d been going out of his way to take her home first for the past few months.

“Oh…Okay,” Lilly said.

Shay glanced up into the rear view mirror. Dwayne’s expression made Shay’s heart ache. He knows, Shay thought.

After that, without explanation, Shay took Dwayne home before Lilly every night. It wasn’t long before Dwayne stopped coming to the parking lot after school.

One afternoon as they drove home, Lilly asked, “Did you and Dwayne have a fight or something? He’s not riding home with us anymore.”

Shay shrugged. “No. I guess he figured he was being a third wheel. Maybe he decided we’d like to spend more time together.” Shay reached out and squeezed Lilly’s hand.

“Well, I miss him. But it’ll be nice to have more time with you.” She snuggled closer to Shay,

Shay put an arm around her shoulder, bent, and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, it will.”