iLove Guys–Chapter One

Daphne Baumgartner

High School Student

October 2025

It was August 13, the first day of school. Not just school, but senior year; the last year all 53 students would spend together at Gaymann Academy. Everyone filed into their seats right as the bell rang, and Mr. Brokeknees rose from his chair.

“Good morning, class. Now before we get started, I’ll put the seating chart up on the board; this should only take about six or seven minutes.”

“SIX SEVEEEENNNN!” exclaimed Yadiel Cardenas and Morgan Haley. John Gulley shook his head and chuckled under his breath. Ethan Gilbert, at the front of the room, looked up from his book and rolled his eyes. This year was important, and he couldn’t afford to deal with any tomfoolery or distractions. Tucker Corizzari and Logan Myers did the six seven hand motion. Finally, the students got up and moved to their assigned seats.

“Alright, that’s enough, quiet down now,” sighed Mr. Brokeknees. This was going to be a loooong year. “You will all be assigned homework due on block day. This will help me get to know you better, and get a perspective on what you know about government before we get into our first unit. You may use the rest of class time to work.”

John looked up from his computer. Right in front him sat his crush, Yadiel. He was a tall, built man with jet black hair and dark eyes; Eyes that John could stare into for hours before he would even consider glancing at the homework. Yadiel rose from his seat, “Hey Mr. Brokeknees, can I go to the bathroom?”

“You don’t have to ask me that, Yadiel. Sign out and take a hall pass.”

“Aight.” Yadiel turned to leave, but made eye contact with John. “Uhhh, can I help you?” and muttered an insult under his breath. John snapped out of his daze and loudly exclaimed, “Sorry Da- Yadiel!” John cursed under his breath. He got caught in the act and wished he could fade from existence right then and there. “Were you boutta call me daddy? Weird ass…” Yadiel turned back around and walked out of the room. Everyone around him erupted in laughter. Over the noise, John heard Yadiel’s boots thudding on the carpet, then clicking on the hard floor outside. First day, and things were already going to crap. He took a deep breath, got himself together, and reopened his computer to work on the assignment, but before he could stop it, his instagram popped up. 4K images of sweaty, shirtless dudes wearing cowboy hats popped up on his screen, and he rushed to turn the brightness down before anyone saw. He really had to be more careful about this stuff if he wanted to survive his last year in high school without the gay accusations. Little did he know, Morgan was seated right behind him, and he smirked at what he just saw on John’s computer. “Someone has a dirty mind…” he snickered under his breath.

Across the room, Logan and Tucker sat next to each other, eyes glued to their screens. Logan took a sideways glance at Tucker, and they made eye contact. They quickly turned their heads back to their computers. Logan was a bit flustered, but at least it was easy to hide on his tanned, olive-toned skin. Tucker had less luck in the skin department, and his cheeks flushed red. Logan hesitated before saying, “Hey, my name is Logan. It’s nice to meet you!’

Tucker stopped typing and turned to Logan. Looking closer, Tucker could see a brunette with his hair gel obviously failing to tame the wild wisps of brown circling his head. Not in a bad way though– in a way that said ‘I’m a good guy, but I don’t mind a little adventure!’ His gaze shifted to his eyes, the color of bright blue water from off the coast of a tropical island. Tucker was sucked in and wondered what secrets lay behind those daring irises. The perfection of his face was topped off with a strong, sexy nose, but he couldn’t stare too long without looking suspicious, so he looked up and said softly, “Nice to meet you, I’m Tucker.”

“Random question, but do you golf perchance?” That hopeful yet subtly pleading expression sent Tucker into a whirl.

“Yeah, Yeah. I do. I’m pretty good, too… not to brag or anything.” Tucker smirked and dusted the sleeve of his shirt.

“That’s awesome! I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to Top Golf with me this Saturday? It might be a stretch but… I’m probably not as good as you, so it might be nice to have someone there to guide me” Logan smiled at him, and Tucker just couldn’t refuse.

“Yeah, dude, sounds great. I’ll be there.” He then hesitated a moment before asking, “Hey, do you want my number so we could stay in touch?” He winced at the question, but Logan quickly replied,

“Yeah, definitely. Here’s my phone, just enter it there.” Tucker smiled at him and took the phone.

The bell rang, and everyone headed to their next class.