Chapter 34

I’d be pretty safe from being spotted here tonight. At least, I hoped so. But then again, I knew the guys in my soccer team were on to me, and that rumors about my sexuality were spreading faster than I could deny them.

I wasn’t sure why I was still in the closet.

I crushed my cigarette in the full ashtray and popped a piece of gum into my mouth. Smoking was a nasty habit I intended on quitting by the end of the month. My mother and I had made a promise to each other. By August, on my birthday, we’d be non-smokers. I was worried about her. She smoked a pack a day and coughed a lot. It was all the stress she was under lately. My dad had lost another job and he’d been moping around the house for weeks now, making her crazy.

I rolled up the car window and chewed on my bottom lip. I hated going out alone. And this was my first time at Reggie’s on a Friday night. I’d been too scared to go until tonight.