Have We Gone Too Far?

I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock beeping away. For a split second I thought I was at home and I had no idea why I could hear an alarm. I've never used one and I don’t plan to either. Then I remembered that I was at Cole’s.

I looked at the man who was lying next to me; he was rubbing his eyes and trying to wake himself up. My eyes drifted over to the clock. It was seven. Seven in the bloody morning! We’ve only had like two hours sleep.

I tried to dose off again as he got out of bed and got changed into a smart grey suit. My eyes kept flickering open again though because I’m one of those people who struggle to get back to sleep once they’re awake.

Cole looked amazing in his suit but I was a bit surprised to see him in it because he doesn’t come across as the sort of man who works somewhere they have to dress smartly. Maybe he’s a lawyer; maybe he’s a secret flipping millionaire! Probably not, I sighed.

“Good morning,” he whispered when he noticed I was awake, well, half awake. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“It’s alright,” I mumbled as I stretched out my arms and tried to fix my hair into place.

“You look adorable in the morning.”

I laughed at him, what was he on about?

“I think you mean I look a mess!”

“No I don’t. Your hair’s all flat and in your face and you just look so young and innocent...”

“And tired,” I sighed.

I looked in the mirror at the side of the bed. I suppose I don’t look too bad, but you can easily tell how little sleep I got last night.

“I didn’t mean to keep you up so late,” he chuckled, “but you can’t say that it wasn’t worth it!”

I smiled at him and groaned a little as I started stretching again and got out of bed.

“Do you want anything?” he asked me. “A drink? Some breakfast?”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Your clothes are just over there,” he said, pointing to the pile of clothes on the chair in the corner of the room.

“Thanks.”

When he walked out I quickly flung my clothes on and tried to make myself look fairly presentable before going downstairs to meet Cole at the dining table in the kitchen.

His house was really nice; I could tell he decorated it. The whole place had a warm welcoming feeling to it, but a hint of mystery too, just like him. The kitchen had abstracted tiles on the walls and the table had a really colorfully patterned cloth across it.

“You have a really cool house,” I complimented him.

“Cheers,” he sighed as he passed me a cup of tea and a piece of toast.

I looked up at the ceiling; it had little spot lights placed randomly around it, creating an amazing lighting effect across the room.

“How are you feeling?” he asked me.

“Tired,” I sighed.

“Anything other than tired?” he asked me.

“I can’t really explain to be honest. I'm too tired to put the words together.” He chuckled at me quietly.

Watching him as he combed his hair reminded me of how incredible it looked last night. It was all flouncy and wispy; beautiful.

“You look great,” I told him.

“Thanks, I’ve got to look my best for the first day at work.”

“First day!” I said. “Good luck," i smiled, "you should have told me sooner, if I’d known I wouldn’t have kept you up so late,” I said, taking responsibility.

“It’s not your fault. And I’ll need all the luck I can get. Kids aren’t always the easiest people to work with.”

“What do you do?” I asked him, curiously.

“I'm a substitute teacher at this school and a kind of therapist. The school seems alright but I'm so scared that I’ll have to deal with someone I can’t handle.”

I wanted to try and help him feel better but we all know that when you get a new substitute teacher, you’re going to make his life hell.

“You’ll have to make sure they know you’re in charge right from the start, or they’ll muck about none stop and no one will listen to a word you say.”

He smiled at me to let me know that he appreciated the advice.

“I don’t think I’m going to be doing much teaching today and when I am I'm going to have someone watching my lessons to assess me and to help keep them under control.”

“You have nothing to worry about then,” I said to try and calm him down a little.

“Thanks,” he sighed. “It’s going to be a long day though.”

“Just think about how great you’ll feel when it’s over.”

I love giving simple advice like that, sometimes they don’t understand what I'm on about and just laugh in my face but some people take me seriously and until they stop doing that, I’ll keep trying to help.

At half eight, Cole started rushing around to get all of the things he needed for work. I couldn't help but smile when he thought he’d lost his car keys because it turned out they were only in his pocket.

“Do you need a lift anywhere?” he asked me.

“Could you drop me off near town? That’s probably the closest place to my house.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if I just take you home?”

“It’s complicated,” I sighed.

“Fine,” he laughed at me. “I’ll take you into town.”

I smiled brightly at him, mainly because I was glad he didn’t ask why I didn't want him to take me home, but partly because I was happy to be with him.

***

Thank God, nobody’s home! I walked up the empty driveway, then went round the back to climb through the kitchen window. It was still wedged open a little. It’s a pretty good job we’re not in a high crime area seeing as my parents are so bad at locking doors and windows when they’re out. Just imagine how they’d react if they came home to find our house wrecked and missing practically everything we own; I have a feeling that it would somehow become my fault.

I jumped down from the kitchen counter and ran up to my bedroom to change into my uniform and to get all of the things I need for school. I knew I was going to be late: it’s nine already, but I’d much rather miss a bit of form and have some teacher yell at me than stay at home waiting for mum or dad to come home.

I put on my uniform and started to feel like everything that happened last night was just a dream. I'm just some kid. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and sighed, knowing that if I was older, me and Cole would have an actual chance at building a good relationship.

As I stared at myself I heard music start to play. It was my message tone, so I had to rummage through the pockets in my jeans that I wore yesterday to try and find it. When I looked at it there were a few messages from Kyle and a few from Beth. Great, they’re worried about me again all ready.

I read through a few of the ones from Beth but they were all basically along the lines of ‘where the hell are you?’ The annoying thing is, it’s only ten o’clock and I’ve barely missed anything yet! She just gets really concerned really easily.

The ones from Kyle were all from last night. He said he was sorry he had to bail on me and stuff like that. Kyle’s a really nice guy and it’s a good feeling knowing that he cares enough to apologize. I suppose because he’s been my best mate for so long he just knows when something’s bothering me and he’ll try to make it okay again.

I deleted my messages and put my phone in my blazer pocket. I then picked up my bag and marched down the stairs, heading into the kitchen to get out of the house.

As I clambered out of the window my phone went off again. It was Kyle, I was pretty surprised because he tends to keep texting at school to a minimum, unlike most people.

You won’t believe what I just found out. Hurry up and get here so I can bloody tell you. It said.

“Someone seems excited,” I mumbled to myself.

I knew it must have been pretty important if he was willing to text during lessons.

I’m on my way now I sent back to him, but then I realized his phone probably won’t be on silent, he doesn’t usually have it on in school so I doubt he’d have remembered to turn the volume off. Oh well, he can get me back later.

I ended up having to run a fair bit of the way to school because if I didn’t I’d miss break and wouldn’t get to find out why Kyle was so excited. Part of me was desperate to know, but then a thought hit me. I bet he’s just trying to get me into school. It’s a long shot, but it’s not the first time he’s done this. I know he’s only tricked me into coming in once before, but still, there’s a slight chance that this time will be like that.

My pace slowed to a walk as I got close to the school. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was rushing to get in. When I walked onto the yard, I tried to act cool, well cooler than usual. I can be a little full of myself at times.

“Hiya Zacky,” I heard Liza shout to me.

I didn’t really expect her to talk to me today after the disaster of a party she had last night. I suppose she has more confidence than I thought.

“Sorry, I don’t have time to talk,” I said as I walked pretty much right through her.

“Okay,” I heard her whisper miserably.

Perfect! Now I’ve upset Liza. Just perfect. What’s wrong with me? She’s so nice and I'm just ignoring her. She deserves so much better than that. The way I see it: the sooner she gets over this crush she has on me, the better.

“Where have you been?” Kyle asked as soon as I was with him behind the bike shed.

“Let’s just say it was a long night,” I grinned at him.

“Who was she?” he asked, sounding pretty interested now.

It hurt a little when he said ‘she’, but he doesn’t know I'm gay so he was bound to think I was on about a girl.

“None of your business,” I answered to annoy him.

“Was she fit?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling like a jerk.

I hate that I have to lie to him about people I spend time with, but it’s the only way I can stop him finding out more about me.

“So, you text me saying you found something out...”

“Ah, I knew you’d mention that.” Did you now? “I'm psychic you see.”

“That better not be the big news,” I hissed.

“Fine,” he laughed. “Brace yourself,” he sighed starting to sound serious. “It’s not really my news to tell, so you can’t tell anyone, okay?” he whispered.

“Okay,” I said unsurely.

“If anyone else finds out I will blame you,” he hissed at me.

“Okay, okay. I won’t say a word.”

“Fine then...”