"You don't seem very happy"

"You don't seem very happy," Matt said. "I mean, look at you. You should be the king of the world but when I met you, you were bullying some kid (that's me, by the way), and you just don't seem to be getting a lot of joy out of school. So, what's the problem?"

"You say that like you can fix it."

"Well, I've fixed a lot of problems since I've been here. But I can't fix anything if you don't tell me what's going on. Are you shy around girls, is that the problem? I mean, if you wanted, you could be banging half the girls in the school... and probably half the teachers, too, but you're not, are you?"

"No."

"Either you're shy or you're not interested. Now, it could be that the whole bullying thing is part of a cover-up for being shy. I get that. The all-star quarterback is supposed to be outgoing and cool... but somehow I don't think that's the problem, or is it?"

"Not really. I can talk to people fine."

"And when you're at parties and stuff, you don't retreat into corners and wish you were somewhere else?"

"Hell, no. I hang with my homies."

Matt suppressed his wince at Jordan's use of 'homies.' He was starting to get an idea of what was going on... or what might be going on. The problem was, if he'd misread the situation, he just might set Jordan off like a bomb.

"That's what you like, isn't it. Hanging with the team, with your friends. Nothing wrong with that... hell, you're building the kind of teamwork mentality that will prepare you for business success in the future."

"Yeah, sure."

"You don't seem convinced."

"My dad is like you. He says a real man would be out their fucking girls right and left. If they didn't like it, he'd fuck them anyway and tell them to complain to the school board because he knows and we all know that the school board isn't going to do anything to the star quarterback who's going to lead the team to two championship seasons."

Matt took a deep breath and then jumped into the deep end. Man, if he was wrong, he was going to get a fist in the mouth. Hell, if he was right, he might get a fist in the mouth. "Did you ever try to tell him that you're gay."