Jack peeled into the parking lot Thursday morning, the first day of his senior year in high school, radio blaring. He skidded into a space and stomped on the brakes of his Mustang at the last second, bouncing to a stop just an inch from the nose of the monster four-wheel drive in the opposite spot. The guy in the truck was leaned over in the seat - Jack hadn’t even realized he was in there, but that made it even better to see the surprised look coming his way when he popped up.

Ennis......... he drove a cool truck, but otherwise he had to be one of the most boring guys in school......... seemed like people liked him ok, but Jack wasn’t sure why exactly....... he didn’t play sports, wasn’t in any clubs - maybe the rodeo club, like he could freakin’ remember for sure about that......... he didn’t date, never said much - what was there to like about a guy you’d gone to school with goin’ on four fuckin’ years and knew nothing about. Jack wasn’t sure who his friends were, or even if he had any. ‘Course, since he didn't play sports and didn't run with his crowd, he hadn’t really paid that much attention.

Jack had lots of friends, knew all the cool people and more than his fair share of the dweebs, and everybody knew him - and most of them liked him. His two best friends were Nick Peterson and Tyler Jeffreys. They did everything together...... well, they used to do everything. Last year when he’d started going out with Lizzy, he’d had to drop out of the pack, hang with her more. That had mostly sucked though, ‘cause all she’d wanted to do was watch OC and Dawson’s Creek on tv and go cruising so all her girlfriends could see her in the hot new car his parents had given him for Christmas. She’d gained eight pounds sucking down Sonic milkshakes and eatin’ cheeseburgers, then got pissed at him about it. She’d made him wait for fuckin’ ever to have sex, then it was lame...... what the fuck ever - at least he wasn’t a virgin anymore. They’d broken up over the summer - he’d let her do it, didn’t give a rat’s ass, was glad it was over. He’d started doing stuff with Nick and Tyler again the last couple of weeks, but that wasn’t as much fun anymore either.

He was determined to get it back together though. This was his last year of high school and he planned to make the most of it, not get sucked into any more bullshit relationships! That meant he probably wouldn’t be gettin’ laid much, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make if it meant being free to do whatever the fuck he wanted to. Girls around his school were just old-fashioned enough to want to be dating a guy before they had sex, then the guy was like marked for life or something and no other girl would touch him. Since he and Lizzy had split over the summer and everybody was already cool with it, he could get a new girl friend, but then he’d be branded for the rest of the year. He’d rather just skip it, either find some girl away from school to fuck, or just keep doing what he was doing now- whacking off. It got old after a while, but it did the job. He could survive on it for one more year. Next year, when he was in college, everything would be different.

Ennis wasn’t surprised at all to see Jack Twist behind the wheel of the loud sports car that had come just a hair’s breath from bumping into his truck. Jack was the spoilt rich kid that most everybody loved most of the time, shook their head at the rest. Jack was smart and funny and one hell of an athlete, but he was also moody and high strung, seemed to be gettin’ worse every year. Ennis’d never had many classes with him, didn’t know much about him personally, but he’d overheard the teachers talkin’ about him a couple of times last year when they didn’t realize he was listening, worryin’ about Jack, like maybe he had problems at home or something. Ennis had never heard any of the other kids say anything like that, and usually they knew everything that was going on way before the adults did. Whatever... he and Jack had never been friends, probably wouldn’t get tight this year either. Jack wasn’t his problem - thank God. He had enough without addin’ Jack to the pile.

Ennis grabbed the old leather satchel that he carried his books in, jumped down from his truck and headed for class, just a few steps behind Jack. Jack was carrying a brand new backpack, whistlin’ some song Ennis had heard on his radio on the way into school, boppin’ his head to the beat. He was wearing jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and running shoes. Everything looked brand new. Ennis looked down at his clothes - same old jeans he’d been wearing forever, plain black t-shirt that was soft from washin’ but a little faded, and his cowboy boots. He had some gym clothes in his truck for later. His mom had bought him some new clothes, but he felt kinda self-conscious wearing them, like he was gettin’ all dressed up to impress people or something, which was totally not true. He was who he was, a farm boy, and they could take him or leave him - he didn’t care either way. He knew Jack Twist would leave him, and that was fine. He’d made it through three years of school without bein’ Jack’s friend, he could handle one more. And then he’d be free of this small town ‘berg with all it’s fucked up shit, and his old man with his iron fist wrapped tight around the reins a his life - Ennis couldn’t fuckin’ wait to be free.