The situation was so absurd, and Robby was so full of shock from the events of late last night, that he didn’t know what to say. “I don’t think so” was all he could think of.
There was another silence. Max finally said, “Well, I suppose I should go. I think my family is finally getting up. I’m starved for breakfast.” He went on as if voicing an afterthought. “Why did Andy go? Is he gay or something?”
Stunned into silence, Robby realized belatedly that he hadn’t thought about what people who didn’t know Andy was transgender would think about his going to PFLAG. He didn’t feel right about sharing Andy’s gender identity with others without his permission. He knew Andy had wanted to kiss him, but he didn’t know if that made Andy gay or what. He hadn’t thought about it. If you were female and were into a guy, you would be straight. But Andy was a guy. Did that make him gay? It was enough to make his head spin. And worse, Robby wondered what it made him.
The silence went on too long. Max was getting impatient. But his instincts must have been pretty good, since he didn’t press. “Well, whatever. I’m glad you had a good time. Are you going to join the group? Maybe sometime I could go with you? If that’s okay, I mean.”
Max’s offer to come with them startled Robby more than anything else he’d said. He thought about outing Andy. He thought about Max’s more bigoted comments. He thought about whether Max was into Andy and was surprised to feel a twinge of jealousy.
“Gee, I don’t know. I guess you could come.” Robby felt like hanging up on Max. “I gotta go. I gotta call Andy.”
“Oh, okay. Bye, then. I’ll see you at wrestling tryouts.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Robby had forgotten all about wrestling and the tryouts. They were right after school resumed. He knew Max was into wrestling. He wondered if Andy would be too.
ANDY RAN into Max, Luis, and Rhonda near the school’s front door a couple of days later. “Hey, you guys. How was your holiday?” he asked.
Luis seemed effusive. “My older brother got a car! He’s going to let me buy his old one!”
“A car? For Christmas?” Andy was pleased but surprised at the extravagance of the gift.
“It was my papi’s old car. It’s a Dodge Dart but in really good shape.”
“If that old tank is your brother’s car, what are you going to get from him?” Max had a mocking tone in his voice and an amused look on his face.
Luis realized Max was going to make fun of him and answered defiantly, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Robby joined the group. “Wouldn’t Max like to know what?”
Luis shrugged. “What kind of car my brother is selling me.”
Robby looked at Max. “It’s his old VW bus. It needs a lot of work. I told Luis I would help. The chassis is in pretty sweet condition, though. If he fixes up the mechanics, he’d have a real vintage baby.”
Rhonda cooed, “Hey, man, groovy. Hippie bus. Marijuana is legal now, so we could get some weed and take a Magical Mystery Tour. We could paint Peter Max stuff all over the outside.”
They all looked at her. “Just sayin’.”
Luis nodded with his eyebrows up and his lips in a considering grimace. “We could do that!” He looked at Rhonda. “Far out!” He put up his hand to high-five, and she reciprocated.
ROBBY FOUND time to talk to Andy alone. “My sister got arrested,” he said sardonically.
Andy stared at him, astounded. “She did? What did she do to get busted?”
They continued down the school corridor. “I’m not exactly sure, since no one is talking to me at home, but I think it has something to do with Smartass.”
Andy nodded slowly. “Wonder what he got her into.”
“I suppose we might hear something at school. Have you seen any of them yet? My sister is at school today, but she’s a year behind me, so I don’t have any classes with her.”
They strolled along, both deep in thought. Then Andy said, “Oh well, Hey, I heard that the schedule for the Quiz Kids’ events is coming out this week. We’ll find out which other schools we’ll be competing with.”
Stopping in the hallway where he stood, Robby shook his head. “Oh damn, I forgot all about that. I hope it doesn’t interfere with wrestling. I’d hate to have to miss either one.”
His mouth open with surprise, Andy protested, “You have to come to Quiz Kids! We can’t win without you!”
Robby shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to see which I have to drop, if either.”
LATER MAX and Robby stood in line in their gym clothes, waiting for their turns to try out for the wrestling team. “This is your first tryout, isn’t it?” Max eyed Robby strangely.
Robby, who had been distracted, nodded. “Yeah. I really buffed up this summer. I was in no shape last year.” Noticing Max’s appraising stare, he flexed a bicep. “Not too shabby, huh?”
Max gave him a quick up-and-down look. “Fuck, yeah,” Max said, but he had trouble getting the words out. He turned sideways and looked down the line behind them. He seemed to adjust his gym shorts. “I don’t see Andy.”
Robby looked the same way. “No, he’s not going in for wrestling. He’s afraid it will interfere with the schedule for Quiz Kids.”
Max looked at Robby. “Aren’t you worried about that too? I mean, aren’t you their star player?”
Robby shrugged. “Dunno. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
School was starting to get more complicated for him. Here he wanted to participate in both wrestling and Quiz Kids. He was trying to find out what Claire was up to. He was worried about taking too many classes and having too many extracurricular activities. And now Max was acting all squirrelly.
“Hey, dude, you okay?” he asked Max.
Max first looked surprised, then put back his shoulders and gave Robby a defensive but challenging look. “I’m cool, bro. Nothin’ to it. I got my eye on the game, you know.” He waited a moment and said, “What’s your problem?”
“Nothin’,” Robby lied.
“Hey, I almost forgot. I found out what went down with your sister Claire on New Year’s Eve. Nothing really big.”
“Oh yeah? What happened?”
Max leaned toward Robby in a conspiratorial manner. “Smartass and his boys got busted for stealing brews from a convenience store. I guess the girls were in the car. And rumor says Smartass had his uncle’s gun. They busted the whole bunch of them.”
Robby’s face wore a wondering look. “Claire? Busted with beer?”
Max nodded with a look of triumph on his face. “And stolen beer at that, and with a weapon-involved crime. I’m surprised they aren’t all kicked out of school.”
“Czerwinski!” The wrestling coach’s assistant called Robby’s name.
“Go for it, bro,” Max said.
Afterward the two boys compared notes. “I made it,” Max crowed.
“I made second squad,” admitted Robby, not as disappointed as he thought he’d be.
“Oh yeah? How come?”
“I just don’t know the moves. I’m strong enough, but I don’t know dick about wrestling. I thought I did from class, but not well enough to make the team.”
Max eyed Robby speculatively. “I could teach you.”
Robby grinned broadly. “Hey, yeah. We could do that. Maybe I can join the team if there’s an injury or something.”
Max grinned but looked uneasy. “That sounds pretty harsh. But hey, que sera sera.”
AT HOME that evening, Robby found himself sitting across the dinner table from Claire. To both their amazement, their mother had decided to cook a meal, a stew with carrots and potatoes to be precise, and they were “going to eat dinner like a family, damn it,” as she said. Claire and Robby gave each other astounded looks but did their best to act like it was no big deal.
Just before their mother told Claire to clear away the plates, she said to Robby, “Things are going to change around here. I realize I’ve been too busy and harried, and we need at least a sem
blance of some sort of stability in this apartment. From now on Claire and I will cook dinner, and we will eat as a family. You two will have a set list of chores, but in the evening you will first do your homework. Once Claire is done with her punishment, she can go out in the evening, but she will have to clear with me first who she goes out with and where they go and what they do. So long as you mind your p’s and q’s, young man, you can do as you please. Is that understood?”
Claire had come back to the table and exchanged a look with her brother.
“Yes, ma’am,” Claire said at the same time as Robby.
“How long do you think this will last?” Robby asked Claire when they ran into each other in the hallway before bed.
She just shrugged. “It’s not as bad as all that. The guys just shoplifted some beer. We didn’t even go into the convenience store with them. I don’t know why the girls got busted.”
Robby peered at her. “But I heard Smartass had a gun!”
Claire rolled her eyes at him. “Oh God, the rumor mill is going great…. Umm, guns… is it? No, he didn’t have a gun. Why would he use a gun to steal a couple of six-packs?”
Robby nodded. “Good point.”
Robby texted Andy when he was in bed.
It’s a mess here. Claire really fucked up. I’ve got to finish my homework.
Okay. You okay with that?
He sighed. Whatever. He just didn’t know.
Chapter 10
“HEY, CHECK this out, bro,” Andy called to Robby as he joined him for lunch. He had the schedule for Quiz Kids in his hands. Andy excitedly read, “We’re competing with teams from Bellevue, Tacoma, and Redmond.” As he approached Robby, he read the last line on the schedule. “Oh no. The finals are in Olympia.”
“What’s wrong with Olympia?” Robby asked.
Andy felt sick. “People knew me as a girl there.”
Robby stared at him a moment, then said, “Oh. And you think there might be people competing or in the audience from your school?”
Andy was sure his expression said that that was exactly what he was thinking.
“I guess we should wait to see if we even make the finals before we worry about stuff like that,” Robby suggested.
“Since I didn’t make the main wrestling squad, at least I won’t have any conflict with the Quiz Kids schedule, unless a wrestler from the first squad is injured and Coach asks me to compete.”
“Good thing, since you’re our star player,” Andy said.
Robby glanced at the schedule. “The first event is next Monday at East Sammamich. We’ll have to practice this weekend to get ready for it.”
Andy nodded, then asked, “What do you think of Pollack’s biology class topic this semester?”
Robby seemed startled at the change of subject. “You don’t think we’ll get questions about that, do you?”
“Of course not. Or at least, I would be amazed. Sexuality is hardly what they usually ask about, is it?”
“No. I just wondered why you brought it up,” Robby said. “I dunno, I guess it’s an improvement over no sex education at all.”
When Mrs. Pollack’s class finished its semester on genetics, they moved on to human sexuality. There were the usual giggles and rude remarks, but Mrs. Pollack’s grim looks put the damper on those. While they would cover reproduction, Mrs. Pollack said, the plan was to cover sexuality more generally. Everyone was mystified by what that could mean. Andy looked forward to finding out but also feared just how embarrassing it would turn out to be.
He also wondered, given how good the school administration had been in dealing with his trans status, if they would cover GLBT issues.
MAX STARTED Robby on wrestling practice Saturday morning. They had to use the playground at Robby’s apartment complex since the school was closed and there was nowhere they could use in Max’s neighborhood. The surface was surprisingly crumb rubber, allowing for softer falls. It was the Seattle area and therefore not a real chilly winter, but nevertheless the two boys were in sweat clothes and knit caps.
Max started them out by pointing out where a person’s strengths and weaknesses were.
“That’s the first thing you need to know, where you can unbalance your opponent. For instance, which do you think is weaker, a guy’s thighs or his knees?”
Robby and Max were both in their sweat clothes but had puffy jackets on over them. Robby kept putting his hands under his armpits and blowing on them. Max looked cold too.
They were standing in what Max said was a ready position, leaning forward from the hips with their arms forward, ready either to take advantage of the other guy’s weak spots or to defend their own. Robby looked at Max and thought. “His knees, I think.”
Max nodded. “Good. That’s if you’re facing him and he hasn’t gotten hold of you somewhere. Check this out.” Max fell onto one knee, reached around Robby’s bent knees, and pulled them forward. Robby started to tip backward, but Max let go so he could right himself.
“Now try that with me, but try my thighs,” Max directed.
They got back into ready position, and Robby went down onto one knee and put his arms around Max’s thighs. Nothing happened.
“Hey, that’s not easy,” Robby protested.
“Exactly. Now try my knees.”
This time Robby was able to make Max start to bend at the knees, but he suspected Max was letting him. “Now that was too easy.”
Max grinned. “Don’t worry. It won’t always be. Now let’s add my head in your belly.”
He demonstrated, grabbing Robby’s knees and pushing into his belly with his head, knocking him off his feet—almost.
Robby then got to try knocking Max back.
Max had Robby practice knee and leg takedowns for a while before moving on to a more complicated maneuver.
“Lean toward me,” Max instructed Robby, but Max then grasped Robby’s shoulders and pulled him toward himself. When Robby moved his leg forward, Max dropped to the playground surface on his knees.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Robby protested breathlessly.
Max laughed. “Wrestling!” He had one knee behind Robby’s lead foot. He put a hand behind Robby’s forward leg and stood, pulling Robby’s leg up into his armpit. Since Robby was standing with Max holding one leg up, it put him off balance.
“Now I reach around with my hand, like this, to the inside of your thigh.” Max did just as he described. “And then I can turn and knock you on your butt.” He at first kept Robby from falling, but the last attempt put Robby on his ass. “Ouch!” Robby protested. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
Max got back into ready stance after giving him a hand up. “You try it with me.”
Robby stretched his shoulders to make himself ready and stepped toward Max. It took numerous tries with more explanation for Robby to get the sequence of motions, but he eventually had Max on his butt on the ground.
“This is fun!” Robby pronounced.
Max rubbed his butt and made a sour growling noise. “Maybe for you.” But when Robby looked at him, he saw Max was grinning.
They tried a couple of other motions and then called it a day. Robby felt like he and Max had cemented a friendship, where in the past they had always been a bit distant. He high-fived him and waved as Max headed home.
ANDY KNOCKED on the exterior door of Robby’s apartment on Saturday afternoon. He had some reference books with him, and they planned to practice building up knowledge for the Quiz Kids event that Monday.
Claire opened the door. “Oh, hi, it’s you,” she said.
Andy gave Robby’s sister an amused look. “Yes, it’s me. Hello, Claire. I’m here to practice Quiz Kids with Robby.”
Claire just stood there, gazing at Andy. After a while she said, “I’m really sorry, you know. About what the boys did.”
“Okay,” Andy replied. “May I come in?”
Claire stepped back from the front door, looking flustered. “Oh, sorry.” She watched Andy as he walked t
o the coat tree and hung up his hat and coat.
“What’s it like?” Claire asked.
Andy stopped in the middle of stuffing his gloves in his coat pocket. “What’s what like?” He knew full well what Claire was asking, but he wanted to make her say it.
“What’s it like to be a girl who thinks she’s a boy?”
Robby stood at the end of the entrance hall. “Claire!” he said ominously.
Claire jerked with surprise. “I’m just asking. What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s very rude,” Robby said.
“Why?”
Andy waved a hand at Robby. “Forget it, dude. It doesn’t mean anything. She’s just asking.”
Robby whirled to face Andy. “Well, she shouldn’t ask. It’s none of her business. It’s your business, and that’s what matters.”
“Let’s go to your room,” Andy said.
Giving his sister a furious look, Robby nodded at Andy and led the way to his room. After he shut the door, he stood with his hands on his hips, looking hard at Andy. “Why do you let her get away with it?”
Sighing, Andy put his books on the computer desk. “Let’s just get to work, can we?”
But Robby clearly wasn’t ready to let the matter drop. “You let people walk all over you. You forgive the rudest behavior. You let those turds at school get away with murder. I bet you don’t tell your parents what goes on. Why is that?”
Hanging his head, Andy walked to the bed and sat on the edge. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Robby stared at him for a while. “I think kissing you makes it my business too.”
Andy’s head went up. “What?” he exclaimed.
Going over to the bed, Robby hesitated, then sat down next to Andy. He looked at his hands, fidgeting them in his lap. “I think you really like me. Like a boyfriend or something.”
Andy could only stare at Robby, his mouth open. “A boyfriend?”
Putting his arm around Andy’s shoulder, Robby gave him a squeeze. “Yeah, and I liked that. I want to be your… boyfriend.”
A Fine Bromance Page 8