Eric's Pov:

I got out of my car and grinned when I saw Daniel, Kourtney and John rushing over.

"What it do kids?" I said slinging my backpack over my shoulder and closing my door.

John pulled me into a tight hug and patted my head. "I'm here for you buddy. I got your back and if you need anything just let me know." He said in an over dramatic voice.

I pulled away and looked at Daniel for answers because Kourtney was being just as weird as John.

"What's with the freaks?" I asked sidling closer to him.

He popped John on the back of the head and even though he rolled his eyes at Kourtney he had a small smile on his face. He looked back at me and his face went neutral.

"I'm assuming you didn't read Sunday's paper? Duh of course you didn't. None of us did but the Senator said something about it this morning to John and he read it and you know he's... John. No biggie or anything but you were in the gossip column. They apparently got wind of you being gay and got on the school's web page and so the incident with Coach was briefly talked about. I wouldn't worry too much. They didn't slam you at all, in fact the piece was very positive."

I nodded and shrugged. "No biggie then. They outed me to the rest of Dallas so what? It's not like I was in the closet anymore. So why are they tripping?"

Now he looked back at the school and nodded towards a car I knew all to well.

"What the hell are they doing here?" I yelled and stomped over to the building's grand entrance.

I flung open the door and I stalked to the office. Doris smiled kindly but advised me to stay out of there.

"Sweetie I don't want you getting worked up because they're being..."

"Assholes? Nah nothing they do surprises me. But this is crap and Delilah doesn't need to be dealing with their shit."

She nodded but looked at the clock. "I called her brother to come in and help. You know how your parents get when they... are in a mood. He should be here any minute. Just let them deal with it for you." She suggested sweetly.

I smiled at her but turned on my heel and walked into Delilah's office.

"How dare you let his dirty laundry get out into the media! Do you have any idea what this could do for our-"

I slammed the door shut and interrupted my mom's screams at the Dean.

"Morning to you too Michelle. Hello Alexander. Why are you at my school bothering my Dean?" I asked politely even though the anger I was feeling made me want to yell and yes even slam the door and stomp my foot.

My dad looked away from me in disgust and my mom glared. "Eric, now is not the time for one of your childish antics. Go to class while I deal with what you've done and how best to clean up your mess."

I smirked and took a few steps closer. "Morning Dean Becker. Sorry about them but it seems no matter how much money they have neither of them can afford manners or class."

I looked down at my seated parents and narrowed my eyes. "Let me point out the obvious. You two have no say or control over anything that pertains to me or my 'messes' Now you're going to leave here and not bother the good dean again."

My dad stood up and glared at me. "Don't take that tone with us! We have very important careers to protect and you flaunting your.. your 'rebellion' could jeopardize everything your mother and I have worked so hard for. You're dragging the family name through the mud and-"

My sarcastic laugh overlapped what he was saying. "I'm not concerned by any of that. In fact I'm currently thinking up several ways to really demolish your reputations if you persist on being here. Let's make one thing clear. You will NEVER again show up here and bug or try bullying the Dean or I will personally make your life hell. You need to leave before something happens that even the best PR rep can't spin in your favor."

The door opened and Steven walked in and glared at my parents. "Is there a problem here? Security is waiting in the hall Dean Becker."

I smirked. "Now you'd best get going unless you want to be thrown out. I'm sure the tabloids would love pictures of you two being escorted out."

My mom stood stiffly and her and my father started walking out. "I'm so disappointed in you Eric." She murmured with a little shake of her head.

I shrugged. "Live with it. It gets easier. I've been disappointed in the both of you as far back as I can remember. So let's just agree to stick to the original arrangement. You stay out of my way and I stay out of yours."

Steven closed the door behind them and looked between me and Delilah. "Everyone good?"

Delilah nodded and smiled at me. "Awe you came in here to protect me from your parents' wrath? That's so adorable and so completely unneeded. I could have taken care of them just fine but it was still sweet." She cooed giving me a big smile.

I rolled my eyes. "No shuddup Delilah I was just.. They're assholes and you would have gotten all pissy and then the next time I'm in your office you'd have laid into me. I wasn't being sweet or whatever." I grumbled.

She rolled her eyes and looked at Steven. "And you came in here too because you were worried? Ahh I swear you boys are just so damn adorable. Now get out of my office so I can make a few calls. There's a bit of a situation but don't worry I'm handling it." She waved us off and picked up the phone.

Steven and I walked out together and I groaned and turned back to go to Delilah's office. Steven stopped me and shook his head.

"I need to go in there and figure out what those assholes did before I got here. I can just imagine what they tried to pull."

"Let her take care of it. If she can't deal with whatever it was then she'll let us know. Besides your friends look like their about to explode from the curiosity." He said nodding towards them.

"I just have this feeling..." I said seriously.

He nodded and pulled me into his office. "What are you worried about? Why were they even here?" He asked sitting down on his couch.

I paced back and forth. "Apparently the paper found out about me being gay and what happened with coach so they printed up a story in the gossip column in yesterday's paper. So they were here to... I don't know raise hell about it I guess. I haven't even seen it. John read it because the Senator was bumping his gums this morning. But Daniel said it wasn't even a negative article."

He shrugged. "So they wrote about you being gay big deal you weren't in the closet anymore and what the hell did your parents think they would accomplish by coming here and bitching at Del?"

I stopped pacing and looked at him. "That's what I'm worried about. There was nothing to be gained from it but.." I trailed off as a horrible suspicion popped into my head.

"But what? Come on, what are you freaking out about?" He asked gently.

"They paid the tuition for the year but is it possible for them to... I don't know cancel the payment or something? I love this school and they know that and that is the only thing they've ever threatened me with. Freshman year I got into a screaming match with my dad and he threatened to pull my tuition if I didn't do what he asked. "

"Calm down. I'm almost positive they can't pull tuition once the school's accepted and deposited it. But even if they do I'm sure Del could come up with something. Look just let her handle whatever it was and if she can't then she'll come to you and we'll all figure it out then. Besides it may not even have anything to do with your folks. Remember she's still trying to find a replacement coach to fill in permanently. I'm just the temporary fix." He reassured me calmly

"Yeah, you're probably right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Listen up everyone! So you were all here the other day and saw the blow out between your ex-coach and Eric. I'm going to be filling in and have a few new things I want to implement. Before I can do that I need to time you all and assess your abilities. So we're gonna stretch and warm up and begin."

The team all complied and damn if I didn't feel like I was gonna drool any second. He's always hot but in his workout clothes wow just wow. The whistle blew and I snapped out of it and began stretching.

John walked over and leaned against the fence next to me. "Soooo he's gonna be your temporary coach?"

I nodded but kept my attention on the members of my team he was currently observing. "Yeah but honestly it wouldn't be too bad if he took the position permanently. He's got decent ideas and he has track experience." I shrugged.

"Hmm not to mention he's hot and looks even hotter in his jersey shorts and sleeveless shirt. I heard he's gonna be your workout partner. Damn you should totally get at him." He gave a low whistle and wagged his brows when Steven leaned over to demonstrate proper start positioning.

I finally looked away from the track and looked at John. I fought back the irrational jealousy I felt about him checking Steven out.

"Somebody got a crush?" I teased him.

He wagged his brows. "Nah, he's sexy as sin but not my type. I go for the more.. well I like twinks. That's what really gets my motor going. What about you?"

"No twinks don't do it for me." I said rolling my eyes.

He mock punched me. "No I mean do you have a crush on the sexy man? Cause you know that could get.. complicated really fast. Not that it would be that surprising I mean hell, he's hot, nice and friendly and you spend a lot of the day around him but.." He shrugged.

"But he's a straight teacher and the brother of our principle. I know. I'm not crushing on him but even if I did end up feeling something I know it would be pointless. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy the eye candy."

He slung his arm around my shoulder. "Not what I was gonna say. I was gonna say it'd be a challenge but if you were to get at him you should be careful. Don't want you getting hurt."

"Awe it's nice to know under all the bravado and cockiness you have a tini tiny beating heart." I teased.

He laughed and wagged his eyebrows. "My heart's gotta be small to make up for all my cock-iness"

The whistle blew and I looked up. "Eric you're up." Mr Becker called.

"Go get him tiger!" John whispered. I rolled my eyes but laughed as I jogged over and flexed.

Mr Becker looked at me and grinned. "I want you to give it your all. No holding back okay. I want you to really nail it and show me how good you are." He instructed.

I rolled my eyes. "Why? So you know how hard you have to push yourself to keep up with me when we start running together?" I asked sweetly.

He stepped closer and grinned. "Doubtful, you'll be the one trying to keep up. I'm really good." He stated confidently with a smug smile.

I smirked. "I'm better." I taunted making him grin as I was getting into position.

He blew his whistle and I shot off. I got in my zone and ran with all my heart. Pumping my legs faster and faster until it felt like my feet were barely touching the tract. The whistle blew and I jogged back to Mr Becker.

He patted my back. "Well done. Guess you are as good as everyone says." He praised.

I felt a blush come and turned around to see the rest of my team gathering around. Hopefully they'd think I was just flushed from my run and not the compliment from our new coach.

"Alright I just want to start off by saying you all did great. There are a few things we need to work on as a team but nothing too bad. As I've said earlier I have some ideas and I'm gonna lay them out for you. From now on the first thirty minutes of practice we're gonna be in the weight room working on our resistance and endurance. Then we'll proceed with regular training out here. However I'm placing you all in groups of two with a teammate that has approximately the same time as you that way you can motivate each other to work harder. However as there is an odd number the fastest person will run with me. I've already started setting up the pairs and tomorrow I'll set you up. Now I'm not saying it's mandatory because it's not but my personal suggestion is that each pair also try and run together at least a couple of times a week on your free time. Any questions?"

No body said anything and he dismissed us to hit the showers and go home. I hung back and waited until everyone was gone to ask him my question. He knew it'd been bugging me and after seventh period he said he'd see if he could get Delilah to tell him what this morning was all about.

"So did you ask Delilah if my parents tried to pull my tuition?"

He looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone and nodded. "She said no they weren't trying to pull tuition and even if they tried it wouldn't be possible but she said they did make a comment about transferring you to a different school. Del told me to tell you not to worry about it because she made a call to a lawyer friend to see if they could even do that and she said that since you live on your own and are legally an adult you are under no obligations to move schools just because they demand it. So you're good and can stop stressing."

I nodded and let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks for talking to her and tell Delilah I said thanks for checking it out for me."

He shrugged. "Thank her yourself she just texted me to tell you that you are having dinner at her house tonight."

I shook my head no. "Tell her thank you but... it's... I wouldn't want her catching any heat for having a student over."

He rolled his eyes. "You're gay so it's not like they can claim y'all were being inappropriate. Plus it's a family dinner and honestly she just wants to make sure you're eating right."

"Still with my parent's crap this morning and the thing with coach I just wouldn't want to get Delilah in any kind of trouble and I have something I need to do so it's not really a good night for me to go over."

"You sure?"

"Yeah catch ya later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I flopped down on my couch and threw my legs over the back.

"Why the hell didn't you go? I woulda jumped at the chance to hang with that bowl full of hotness. You should sneak up to his apartment and snap a few shots of him in the shower for my spank bank." Kourtney giggled and I huffed.

"First off I was invited to Delilah's house for dinner. Nobody said anything about him being there. Secondly can you please get your hormones in check? I mean I really don't wanna hear about you lusting after our teacher and finally I'm not breaking into his apartment to snap a shower candid of him so you can spank your monkey. If you have a thing for him then do your own dirty work."

She giggled. "You are so silly. Of course I think he's hot cause he is. But trust me honey, I ain't about to go there. I'm obviously not his type and well..." She trailed off with an unhappy sigh.

"Well what? Come on sugar plum tell your gay boyfriend what's got you so unpeppy all of a sudden." I cooed.

She heaved a sigh and I could hear her shuffling around. "You gotta swear not to say anything." She pleaded.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course, I promise not to say anything."

"I kinda sorta have had a thing for this guy for a while and well I think.. No I know I'm head over heels in love with him and well he doesn't feel the same." She mumbled sadly

"Who the hell is it and can I beat some sense into this idiot for you? You're quirky and hyper but sweet and wonderful and if he doesn't see that then he's a fuckin idiot and needs his ass kicked for hurting my girl." I growled.

"No you cant beat him up and he didn't purposely hurt me.... I haven't told him how I feel. It's... I just know he doesn't feel the same." She said quietly with the same sad tone as before.

"If you haven't told him then how do you know he doesn't? Any guy would be lucky to have you. Do you wanna tell me who it is?" I asked softly. I didn't want to pressure her but it'll make helping her easier if I know who.

She sighed again. "I know he doesn't feel that way because we're friends and he-"

I sat up and groaned. "Oh hell tell me you did not fall in love with John!?! Oh, shit that was insensitive. What I meant was if you fell in love with John then well..." I trailed off because she started laughing her ass off.

"No silly goose. Uhhh Daniel. I fell for Daniel and I think he thinks of me as a sister." She said sadly.

I mulled it over. "You two would actually be great together. I don't think you have a bad shot either. I'm not sure he's gaga over you but he does have a soft spot for you and you could work that to your advantage." I advised already thinking about his subtly hints towards her. Silly blind girl.

"You really think I have a shot?" She got instantly peppy and I smiled.

*Knock*Knock*

I got up and walked to the door but kept talking.

"Yeah I do. I think it may take some of your skills but if you really set your mind to it I don't think he'd have a snow ball's chance in hell of resisting. Hang on KT someone's at my door."

"It could be a rapist. Want me to stay on the line so I can call 911?" She joked. I looked through my peep hole as the person banged again.

"No it's not. It's Steven. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait, wait! Just leave the line connected." She insisted.

"Why?"

"Umm... cause?.. I mean what do we really know about this guy? He could be a serial killer for all we know. I've seen the documentaries and the neighbors and family of those freaks always say what a nice guy he seemed." She reasoned but I could hear her slight giggle,

"Bye KT"

I bit back my grin and unlocked the door.

"Hey, Um Del wanted me to drop this off in case you didn't eat a real meal." He said holding up a bag that had plates in it.

I laughed and grabbed it when he handed it to me. "Tell her thanks but it really isn't necessary. She's got enough going on in her life. She doesn't need to worry about whether I'm eating healthy or not. I'm a big boy I can fend for myself."

He shrugged and raised his eyebrow, a smirk playing on his yummy lips.

"What?" I asked leaving the door open so he could come in if he wanted to, as I put the food away.

"Do you always answer the door dressed like that?" He asked biting his lip but still managing a smirk.

"What's wrong with what I have on?" I looked down and groaned.

Yeah I'm so totally awesome! I answer the front door in my black boxers that have 'Spank me' in bold red block letters across the ass and nothing else.

"I.... well you see, I was in the shower and my phone kept blowing up. So I rushed out and answered it but It was KT and I just had a towel on and it felt weird to listen to her boy problems like that so I threw on my boxers. I didn't put any pants on cause I was just going to bed anyway and I mean who wears pants to bed. I don't, usually just boxers sometimes nothing but ah anyway she had boy troubles. Boy problems as in she likes a guy and she's worried he doesn't feel the same. Not as in she is like secretly a guy and my boxers were sort of a gag gift from a.. friend. Not like a regular friend cause it'd be weird if all my friends bought me underwear. It wasn't.... it. Well you see he knew I liked.. black and he thought it'd be funny cause of what happened on my last birthday and Oh hell I.... am doing it again. Yeah apparently I answer the door in my underclothes. Sorry."

He titled his head back and laughed. "So you still haven't got over the nervousness around me yet? Well you said you needed to get to know me and it looks like we'll be spending enough time together to become friends. So when do you wanna start running?"

"Ummm whenever's good for you." I mumbled.

"Okay we'll talk about it at school. I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing." He smirked as he closed the door.

I walked over and flipped the lock. Yeah that was so smooth. Ughh why does that stupid sexy man have to turn me into a brainless babbling dork?