Milton's Hero

by Drew Hunt

  Milton’s Hero

  By Drew Hunt

  Published by Queerteen Press

  Visit queerteen-press.com for more information.

  Copyright 2012 Drew Hunt

  ISBN 9781611523126

  Cover Photo Credit: hjalmeida

  Used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

  Cover Design: Written Ink Designs

  All Rights Reserved

  WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

  No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America. Queerteen Press is an imprint of JMS Books LLC.

  * * * *

  Matthew, this one’s for you.

  At every turn you’ve been there to suggest, support, and advise.

  Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you.

  Read what happens next with Milton and Steve in

  Milton’s Superhero, available November 2012.

  * * * *

  Milton’s Hero

  By Drew Hunt

  “So, want to come back to my place to…work on my human biology homework?” JJ Brockwell waggled his eyebrows at his girlfriend, Maggie Jones, as they walked the hallways of Empire Preparatory after their final class of the day.

  “Is that all you think about?” she replied.

  “No, sometimes I think about chemistry. The chemistry between you and me.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You smell nice. New perfume?”

  She batted him away. “You bought it for me last year. I’ve worn it lots of times.”

  JJ nodded to a couple of fellow baseball players as he passed them. Turning back to Maggie, he asked, “So, my biology homework?”

  Maggie rolled her eyes. “You get all A’s in biology.”

  “I want to keep my grade up.” He smirked.

  Maggie shook her head, her auburn waves catching the overhead lights. “Horndog.”

  “It’s your fault.”

  “Huh?”

  JJ lifted Maggie’s hand and kissed it. “If you weren’t so beautiful I wouldn’t get this fired up.”

  A shrill call of, “Give it back!” plus accompanying laughter caught JJ’s attention as he and Maggie rounded the corner outside the boys’ gym.

  A group of seniors on the basketball team was playing Keep Away with a magazine. A shorter boy kept jumping up to try and catch it, but failed each time.

  “Milton!” Maggie yelled.

  “Who?” JJ asked.

  “Milton Katz. He’s in my art class. Everybody’s always picking on him.” She let go of JJ’s hand and stepped forward.

  “Maggie, no.” JJ took her arm to stop her. To the crowd he yelled, “Hey!”

  Two of the basketball players looked over at the advancing JJ.

  “Give it back!” JJ said.

  “This ain’t anything to do with you, Brockwell.” Jerome Prince glared at JJ.

  “I’m making it something to do with me.”

  Even though he was a grade below the point guard, the two were about the same height, although JJ had a few pounds on the basketball player. JJ had learned early on to stand his ground and stare down his opponents. Either things would escalate into a fight, or sense would prevail. With four against one, the odds weren’t exactly in JJ’s favor, if this did turn into something.

  “Didn’t know you were friends with this dweeb,” one of the players said, poking Milton in the arm.

  “He’s a friend of Maggie’s, so that makes him a friend of mine.” JJ knew this was a bit of a stretch—he didn’t know the guy, but hoped it would get him in good with Maggie. Besides, JJ was always a sucker for protecting the underdog—and from the looks of Milton, he was a walking definition of underdogginess.

  Milton’s gaze turned to JJ, hope, surprise, and something JJ couldn’t identify shining in his big brown eyes.

  “Jer, JJ’s cool. Give the fag back his comic,” Leroy, another of the basketball jocks, said. He reached for the rolled up comic in Jerome’s hand, but Jerome didn’t relinquish it. “Come on, man, we’ll be late for practice!” Leroy urged.

  Maggie put a hand on JJ’s back, but JJ’s stare didn’t waver from Jerome’s face.

  “Jer.” Leroy let go of the comic. “We need to get moving.”

  A few tense seconds later Jerome ended the staring match by dropping his gaze from JJ’s. He drew back his lips, bared his white teeth, and snarled. “Shoulda known you’d be a fag lover, Brockwell, you having two dads.”

  Maggie removed her hand from JJ’s back and took a step toward Jerome. JJ put an arm out to stop her.

  Not looking at Milton, Jerome tossed the comic in his direction. Milton fumbled the catch, the multi-colored pages fanning out as the comic sailed to the floor.

  This caused more laughter from the gang, who began to move in the direction of the locker room.

  Milton cried out, “You’re walking on it!” In a quieter voice he added, “It’s a collector’s edition.”

  Jerome, whose foot was on the comic, whirled to face Milton. JJ managed to insert himself between the two.

  Jerome drew back a fist, but his arm was stayed by one of his buddies. “It’s not worth it, man.”

  “Nah,” Jerome agreed. “Ain’t gonna have coach kick me off the team for fighting. Beside, it’d hardly be a fair fight. One man against three girls.”

  JJ feared Maggie would lash out. He wasn’t disappointed.

  “You think you’re a man?” She laughed. “Your last girlfriend told me that when you asked her to give you a blowjob she needed a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers.”

  Shit, JJ thought, way to defuse the situation.

  Her comment drew laughs from the other three jocks, although, judging by the look of fury on Jerome’s face, he didn’t find it amusing.

  “Good one,” Leroy said. “I’ll have to remember that.”

  Jerome pushed the guy against the wall. “Yo, shut your mouth.”

  Judging it was better to get out of there before things got even uglier, JJ bent down, scooped up the comic, put an arm around Milton’s shoulders, and led him and Maggie down the hallway.

  The group of jocks seemed more interested in pushing each other and horsing around than in the retreating threesome.

  “Thanks,” Milton said when they’d gotten several yards away.

  “That’s okay.” JJ looked down at the smaller guy. That odd look was on his face again. “Here’s your comic.” JJ dropped his arm from Milton’s shoulders and with the other handed over the comic.

  Milton looked crestfallen. “Might as well toss it in the trash.”

  JJ looked at the comic. “There’s only a slight tear at the corner, and sure, the first few pages are a bit mashed up, but I’m sure you can still read it okay.”

  Maggie asked, “Do you need us to walk with you to the subway or something?”

  Milton bit his lip before nodding.

  JJ knew his chances of getting any that evening had just gone from zero to zilch.

  * * * *

  As he was dumping his books in his locker before heading to lunch, JJ spotted Milton out of the corner of his eye. He’d seen the kid a number of times
the past few days. Milton was a junior, but Maggie had said he’d skipped a couple of grades. Previously, when he’d seen Milton hanging around, JJ hadn’t said anything, but this time decided to call the guy over.

  “Hey, Milton. You heading to lunch?”

  The kid started in alarm.

  JJ slammed his locker closed and approached Milton, who shied away.

  “You okay?” JJ asked.

  “Uh, yeah. Doing good. Thanks.” He took a couple peeks at JJ, but for the most part stared down at his own shoes.

  “So, unless you’ve got other plans, you want to eat lunch with me?” Normally JJ ate with the members of the baseball team who shared his lunch period, but he guessed they wouldn’t mind if he ducked out on them this once. He knew it wouldn’t go down well if he took Milton to the jock table. No, I’m not ashamed to be seen with him, JJ told himself and for the most part he believed it.

  “Really? Thanks!”

  JJ shrugged, it was just lunch. Anyone would think the way the kid’s face lit up he’d just been given box seats to a Yankees’ game or something.

  They got in line to purchase their lunch, but there was a problem when Milton swiped his card at the register.

  “You have too many items for the free meal,” the fat lunch supervisor said, her grey curls spilling out from under her cap. “You’ll have to put something back.”

  JJ didn’t think many kids would qualify for free lunches, their high school being private.

  “Oh, uh,” Milton reached for his apple.

  JJ remembered Maggie had said something a day or two earlier about how Milton was able to go to Empire Preparatory on a scholarship.

  “It’s okay. I’ll have it.” JJ took the apple from Milton and put it on his tray.

  Milton was back to staring at his shoes.

  As they carried their lunches across the room, Steve—JJ’s best friend—caught JJ’s eye. JJ shook his head and nodded in Milton’s direction. Steve looked confused, but was almost immediately nudged by one of the other baseball players at their table.

  “It’s okay if you want to sit with your friends,” Milton said, setting his tray down at an empty table.

  “I’m eating with you.” JJ placed his tray next to Milton’s.

  When Milton turned to remove his backpack, JJ put the apple back on Milton’s tray.

  “But I—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” JJ had had the free state meals back in Texas and it’d made him feel like a charity case. So he was careful not to make a big thing of the apple.

  “I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

  JJ shrugged. “If you want, but it’s no biggy.” Realizing he needed to move the conversation on, JJ quickly tried to think what he could talk about. “Did you replace that comic from the other day?”

  “Uh, no. It’s my birthday next week. I hope I’ll get some money so I can buy another copy then.”

  “Oh, right.” Jeez, this guy must be hard up. What do comics cost, a couple of bucks?

  They both started to eat. JJ felt uncomfortable with the silence, although Milton seemed okay with it.

  Swallowing a mouthful of chicken stew, JJ asked, “You gonna wear anything special next Friday?”

  The following Friday was Halloween and the school had decided to have a non-uniform day. It was all some of the kids had talked about for days.

  Milton shook his head. “Probably just wear jeans and a sweatshirt. What about you?”

  “Maggie wants me to put on my western duds.”

  Milton’s face lit up for a second time. “Cool!”

  “Doesn’t really go with my New York look, but hey, what’s a guy to do when his girlfriend insists?”

  “Maggie says you’re from Texas. You don’t talk like a Texan.”

  JJ smiled. He’d tried to lose the hick image. For as long as he could remember he’d been called Junior. He, his daddy, and his granddaddy were all called John Brockwell. His granddaddy was known as ‘John,’ everyone called his daddy ‘Brock,’ but ‘Junior’…no, it was too southern. Calvin had suggested ‘JJ’ short for ‘John Junior.’ And JJ had liked it, although his daddy often forgot.

  “I can tell you’re from New Yawk.” JJ dragged out the final word.

  Milton giggled. “How could you tell?”

  “It’s a gift.” JJ smiled.

  Milton sighed. “Maggie’s a really lucky lady.”

  “Huh?” That one sure came out of left field. “You don’t have a girlfriend yourself?”

  Milton shook his head. “It’s true what those goons said the other day, I’m gay.”

  “Oh.” JJ wasn’t exactly surprised.

  “It’s okay, most of the time. Most people here in New York City are pretty accepting.”

  JJ nodded; he knew things were a lot easier for his daddy now. Back in Parish Creek his daddy had pretty much been in the closet and was miserable. Then Calvin came along and offered them a new home and a new start in the Big Apple. Although JJ had missed his friends back home, he’d soon made new ones. And then there was Maggie. It hadn’t exactly been love at first sight, but they had certainly liked each other from the first time they’d met. JJ had been wearing a plaid shirt, Wranglers, a pair of cowboy boots, and a hat. He smiled to himself at how he’d laid on the southern charm and how Maggie had eaten it up. It had the unfortunate consequence of her often requesting that JJ “dress country.”

  “Do you have a boyfriend then?” JJ asked.

  Milton’s face fell. He shook his head. “Yeah, right. In case you haven’t noticed I’m, like, a total geek. Heck, even my name screams geekiness.”

  JJ smiled. “Your folks into poetry?” They’d studied John Milton in English the previous year.

  Milton shook his head. “Nope. I was named after my grandfather, who was named after Milton Berle.”

  “Who?”

  “Exactly.” Milton sighed. “And jocks don’t exactly line up to date geeks who’re named after dead TV comedians.”

  “You like jocks?”

  Milton blushed and refused to meet JJ’s eyes.

  JJ took a couple more bites of stew, but noticed Milton had stopped eating. “So what if you’re a geek? You still got a lot to offer the right guy.”

  Milton snorted.

  “I mean, I’m not gay, but even I can see you’ve got a great little body. Trim, compact…” JJ realized he was digging himself into a hole.

  Milton looked up. “You really think so?”

  “Yeah, ’course. I’ve heard a couple of girls say you got a cute butt.”

  “You’ve noticed my butt?”

  JJ smiled. “I said I’d heard some girls say that. I’m straight, remember?”

  Milton sighed. “Yeah.”

  Thinking he should move to safer ground, JJ said, “Calvin, my other dad, once told me something interesting about when he was at school.”

  “Oh?”

  JJ had finished the stew, and so moved onto dessert. “Yeah, he was a geek back then and my daddy was a jock—”

  Milton clasped his hands together. “And they fell in love in high school.” He sighed.

  “Uh, not exactly.” JJ had heard the stories so many times; how his daddy had pretty much ignored Calvin back then and Calvin had been resentful of the jocks because they teased and bullied him. If JJ were totally honest, he wasn’t happy that his daddy hadn’t defended Calvin back then, but he understood his daddy was trying to fit in and stay under the radar. “No, Calvin told me that it’s tough for gay kids, especially geeks, in high school, but one thing that helped him survive was that in years to come the geeks would be earning all the money and the jocks would be on minimum wages, probably working for the geeks, mowing their lawns and stuff like that.”

  Milton laughed. “I like that. Calvin sounds smart.”

  JJ nodded. Calvin had told him to make sure he studied hard so he’d be able to get into a good college and therefore get a good job. The fact was, however, he’d pretty much guaranteed JJ a position
in the advertising/PR firm he and Maggie’s dad owned.

  “Though the bit about mowing lawns doesn’t apply here in New York.”

  “No, but you get the point.”

  Milton smiled.

  JJ wondered if he should invite Milton home one evening after school so he could meet his folks. They—Calvin in particular—might be able to give Milton some advice. He’d mull it over and maybe ask Calvin about it.

  Their meals finished, the two took their trays to the window.

  “I’m surprised you don’t eat lunch with Maggie,” Milton said as they made their way out of the lunchroom.

  “Can’t, ’cause I’m in AP chemistry and I have to take the late lunch period.”

  “Both a jock and a brain.” Milton sighed. “Some people have all the luck.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  JJ was a fair enough student, and Empire Prep’s baseball team was nothing special. Basketball was king at their school, and the basketball jocks made sure everyone knew it. JJ played baseball because he liked the game. What talent he had was because of his daddy, who had played in the minor leagues.

  “You should try out for a sport, it’d help keep you in shape.”

  Milton rolled his eyes.

  Outside the lunchroom, they went their separate ways, JJ immediately being hailed by one of his buddies.

  “Out of my way, fag!”

  JJ turned around to see that one of the basketball goons had pushed Milton, almost knocking him to the floor.

  “Hey, dumbass!” JJ sprinted down the hallway and got in the guy’s face. “What are you doing pushing my friend?”

  “I should ask what the fuck you’re doing standing up for a queer? You one as well?”

  JJ kept his cool. “The word is gay, and, no, I’m not. Milton is my friend, and no one”—he pushed the guy—who was a couple inches taller and about ten pounds heavier, against the wall—“disses my friends.”

  “It’s okay,” Milton said from a few feet away. He’d moved back.

  JJ, not letting go of the asshole or moving his eyes from him, said to Milton, “No, it isn’t okay.” To the jock, he demanded, “Now apologize,” while continuing to stare the guy down.

  “Is there a problem here, gentlemen?”