Connor's Tale - A Jonnor story

Chapter 1 - The Beach Party

It was the end of the year beach party at Anchor Beach and everyone was having fun.  Jude and Connor had finally made it to the beach after taking a bit longer than they normally would.  Connor was getting the hang of moving about on the crutches, but once he got off the sidewalk, street, or other solid surface, he didn't move quite that fast and the grass and sand was slowing him down. 

"You got it?" Jude asked, his hand hovering behind Connor ready to reach out and steady him as they walked down the beach, Connor maneuvering his crutches on the sand.

"Yeah, I got it" Connor replied, trying to keep his balance and get through the crowd of fellow students without running in to anyone.

They had only gotten a few steps, and started to look for a place to sit down, when a classmate of theirs, Logan, caught a football right in front of them.  He started to turn back to the guys he was playing with when he spotted Jude & Connor.

Seeing them, Logan got a big grin on his face, "this is going to be fun" he thought..."Okay, wait, wait, you two are like gay for each other?"  Logan asked them, his face showing confusion and amusement when he asked that question.

"Gay", Jude hears that word directed not just at him but at Connor and his blood runs cold. Its not like he hasn't heard it before at other schools and other times, and it had always been easier to ignore or pretend it didn't matter to him, but this time it really hit him hard. Because not only did Jude know it was true, but it wasn't just aimed at him this time, it was also directed at the boy who had gone through so much for him, who was now being targeted because of Jude. He looks down, he can't meet Connor's eyes, "it's all my fault" Jude thinks.

For Connor, Logan's words leave him stunned. He hears those words that Logan is using, but the reality of them is like tossing cold water to his face. "This isn't what he wants" Connor thinks and he turns to look at Jude and there he sees the sudden blankness on his boyfriend's face. But Jude is looking down, not making eye contact and Connor realizes that Jude is shutting down. He only waits for a second to see if Jude will do anything but the dark haired boy seems frozen by Logan's comments.

"Not this time" Connor thinks, "I held back when Jeremy and Blake grabbed Jude for wearing nail polish at the beginning of the year, but I promised never again." Seeing those jerks picking on Jude for his nail polish had caught Connor by surprise. He had been unsure what to do and even though it was only took a few seconds before he decided that he should step in and had even started to move forward to intervene, it was too long. Ms. Williams, their science teacher, had arrived and broken things up and sent both Jeremy and Blake to the principal's office. Connor could never forget the look of hurt and shame on Jude's face when he looked at him before he ran off. Connor didn't follow his friend and didn't know what he was supposed to say or do. Jude never said anything about Connor not standing up for him, but Connor still felt like dirt for not moving faster. He had even painted his own nails the next day to show Jude that he would be there for him. But that look of hurt on Jude's face that day was a reminder that Connor should never hesitate to defend this boy who had taken such a big piece of his heart.

Shifting his eyes back to Logan, Connor replies "Yeah so what? You got something to say about it?" Without even realizing it Connor had shifted his body, no longer crouching with the crutches, but standing taller, moving slightly forward to put himself between Logan and Jude."Nah man, it's all good" Logan replies with apprehension.

Connor Stevens is one of the big jock guys in their grade. Tall and athletic, he plays on two sports teams(!), Connor had always been admired by his peers and very few guys have ever gotten on his bad side. Mostly because he never seemed to have a bad side, he was always friendly with everyone, but Logan suddenly remembers hearing about when Connor confronted several guys who had been making fun of Jude behind his back when Jude wasn't talking to anyone. Connor had made it very clear to them, and everyone else, that anyone who had a problem with Jude, had a problem with him. That had put a quick stop to the teasing and taunting.

Logan tried to get himself out of this situation fast, "I just heard and I thought..." but Connor interrupts him, "You thought what!" Logan tries to back up, he really didn't plan on getting Connor mad! "Nothing man, it's cool". But Connor's not buying it, "Get out of my face." Logan backs away never even looking at Jude or noticing that his eyes were on the ground or that his shoulders has slumped forward. Logan takes off and make a note to himself, do not ever cross Connor Stevens!

Sitting off to the side on their blanket, Taylor and Daria watched the whole exchange with two entirely different reactions.

For Taylor, she has a sudden feeling of guilt for the decision she had made to tell people that Jude and Connor were gay and dating. Earlier that day, she had told several girls who she knew were huge gossips about the boys in the hopes of proving to Connor it would be okay.  She had figured that once they knew something that juicy, it would be all over school in no time. But now...Taylor began to think that maybe it wasn't Connor who wanted their relationship to be secret, that maybe it was Jude who didn't want to say something.

Taylor had confronted Connor just yesterday about why he didn't admit to Daria that he liked Jude, but he had only replied that he couldn't. Taylor had felt sorry for Connor for not being able to admit his feelings, but she had thought that he was just being a stupid, popular, jock boy who was more concerned about his reputation than about Jude's feelings. But seeing Connor jump on Logan so fast while Jude was being so quiet and closed off..."I think I made a huge mistake."