One of the Boys

The moment that I caught his eyes was the moment the everything went quiet. There were not more panting, no more groans, no more shuffling fabrics, it was so quiet the settling dust made more noise than me. This only lasted for half a moment, and soon the paralysis left me and I spun round swing the door open, an dashed out the room, my face was turning a brighter shade of red than teenage girls after a week on the beach.

"Hey who is that? Hey!" The light shining into the room from the door's window that I had stood in front of, had obviously shadowed by face into obscurity, but it had greatly defined his. The drops of perspiration that had been coming out of his hairline was part of the detail, so were his bruised lips.

"Hey!" If my thoughts had slowed me down even by a millisecond his shout sped me up. I wasn't going to stay around and be identified.Even now in his voice I could hear a deep rooted terror spring out, almost controlled, but the fear of being caught made his voice take higher pitch than normal. I continued to run down the corridor and around the campus until I reached the library were I hid until my next period started. For my next two lessons, I stayed as low as possible, trying to erase images of Leo in ecstasy from my mind.

I noticed that the boy with a history of wetting himself was in my 3rd period Art's class. He seemed to shrink when he saw me, his body sliding low into the curve of his chair and his head bent back into his chest, gaze far away from mine. I notice that he was wearing different trousers. I'd have to find a way to apologize for my actions, my promise to behave has already been submerged by my hot headedness and my I-don't-take-any-shit attitude. I refrained from saying anything to him, not wanting to acquire any attention from my new classmates. If they had heard any rumours about me they stayed quiet, maybe another one had developed since I had ran out of the class room. I chose to keep to myself as I listened to the teachers ramble on about the year's plan. So far this prestigious, crème de la crème college wasn't much different from all the other private schools I've been to. Just more a more elaborate campus, larger grounds, fancier food, a much more intense curriculum, and hotter guys.

As art class finished, and everyone started filing out I noticed a small boy with pale blond fluffed hair standing by the doorway. Teddy was peeking in with only his big blue eyes and small nose visible from the door's window. On his head was a pair of bear cub ears, with a rosy inside. Perplexed I went up to him, noticing that most of the boys greeted him on their way out and each ruffled his hair. Teddy didn't seem too pleased by this and stood there pouting and slowly liking his lolly pop.

"Hey," I said withholding any urge to ruffle his hair, "What are the ears for?"

"Punishment," he grumbled, "Dr. Massy, my Drama teacher, caught me sleeping."

"Oh?"

"I didn't get a proper 10 hour sleep last night because of stupid Marcus."

"Can't you take them off?"

"There is a lock at the back of the headband. It is humiliating,"

"I'll say, you look like a little Teddy Bear now, all you need is a brown nose."

"Hate this place sometimes, none of the teachers care about how degrading this is. I am not 5 years old, they all love it."

"As do teenage girls, so you tell me,"

"Yeah," he scratched the area by the cub ear and winked "That does make it all worth it. I might save this one and keep it for a special girl of mine." I rolled my eyes, boys in this place were a mess.

"Theodore, is that you?" We looked behind us to find my art teacher, Mr. Houssier. He grabbed something from his desk drawer and came over to us. Teddy hid his lollipop behind his back quickly and gave him a big smile. "Here is what I promised you back in July. Limited edition papaya, passionfruit, dragonfruit, and guava jellybeans. Straight from that little shop in New York."

If Teddy had a tail to go with ears, it would be wagging. "No way, I didn't think you'd do it.Thank you so much."

He gave the large plastic tube to Teddy, "Only if you promise to not have some in the morning, or late at night. You doctor reminded us about your family history of diabetics after your last check up, and your mother was complaining that we aren't monitoring your restriction well enough." He peered at Teddy from over the rim of his circular glasses, "So no eating them all at once you hear?"

"Yes Mr. Houssier, sir."

"Good, now accompany our new arrival, Lucas Jones here, to the lunch hall, and make him feel welcome. "

"Could you remove my ears please sir?" He smiled sweetly at the older man who shook his head firmly.

"You did the crime Teddy, falling asleep is not permitted and something that you should be in great shame off."

"No one else has this done to them. This is discrimination!"

"No one else falls asleep."

"Fine, have a nice day Mr.Houssier," he almost sang.

On walking out the classroom door, Teddy blew a raspberry at the old man and stuck his tongue.

"Real mature Teds,"

"What, he is the dumbest dipshit I've ever met."

I rolled my eyes once more and he popped his lollipop back from God knows where into his mouth and hummed an unrecognizable song. We grabbed some lunch of the buffet table and I wave a small hello to my mother who was eating at the Staff long table. She kissed the air quick and spun back round to whatever conversation she was having.

I convinced Teddy to go outside to eat today and chose a seat by a large fountain behind the main part of the field. It was still very hot today and the boys all felt it, few tried to undo as many button's as possible, but under the watchful eyes of the teachers it wasn't possible to get passed a loosened tie and the top two buttons.

As I munched my apple that made most of my lunch I surveyed the grounds, and found with ease what I was looking for. At the back of the field there was a large gazebo, with three picnic tables sheltered underneath it from the sun's blazes. Lying on the table arm over his hazel eyes was Cameron, fanning himself with a wad of paper, he's lips moved slowly and he's eyes were focused on Leo. The boy I had just seen in a storage room just over two and a half hours ago was now sitting rigid and tense on the edge of the picnic benches surveying the whole of the field, his eyes going from one person to the next. He was bravely still wearing his tie and all this buttons up.Setting the example I presume, and I shuddered at the sight of him, he managed to look cool and distant even in this heat. His appearance unwrinkled except for the tension that coursed through him.

"What's up with you brother," I nudge Teddy, who was woefully picking at his green beans. I had told him the if he didn't eat at least one portion of vegetables everyday I would by my own set of ear headbands , locked onto his head and throw away the key. He was very glum now and didn't hear what I asked right away.

"I don't quite know, he's been like that since I saw him at the end of 1st period. Completely out of it. Probably something to go with the school council or a teacher's assessment. He worries about those things a lot. Cameron's the only one he can stand when his like this so I wouldn't try to go up to him now if I were you. He can be quite... snappy.

"I love my brother, and he'd always been fun to play with, but not these past few years. Somethings changed. My mummsy calls it growing up and being at teenager. She's still holding out that I don't go through it."

I didn't say anything but watched as Cameron juggled his water bottle trying to catch his attention. Leo smile slightly and together they wandered off.

"Are Cameron and him... together,"

"Nope, though all my gay best friends wishes they would. They says they have fantasies of the two of them together, and so do most of the gay community of this school district. I find it ew. It's only bromance. Though I am his actual bro and the only thing I get is a free pass into the Games."

I leaned back onto the base of the fountain and started on my banana, "Tell me about the Games. I heard of it from the other schools I've been to, but I've never been to school in this area before. How does it work?"

"Well, it's really famous in all the schools around here, but the thing is teachers are not to find out about it. Selling out is the biggest inter school crime. Basically, each dorm house is a team, there are 5 dorm houses and each compete against each other, over the year. The winning team get to go on a date with their girl of choice from the one of the other schools. The winner, as in the overall best player, gets to sleep one week in the girls college across the woods. St. Beatrice. Marcus was the winner last year."

"So I've heard,"

"Everyone works together to keep it a secret, we aren't suppose to mix with the girls of the schools unless it's the weekend. In December the girls school pick a guy and the school she wants to spend a week sleeping in, and the boy's competition ends in June. You can't refuse to go out with whomever picks you. It's one of the rules. Many guys hope to get their "dream girls" this way. Plus the winning team gets access to the password."

"What is this password?" this whole thing sounded a bit extreme just to get some.

"It lets you bypass the code for every closed off website in the college." None of these were of any use to me. No site I visited tended to be closed of by the college's security system.

"That's all, all you win is girls, and the chance to go out with one. That could wait for the summer holidays."

"Yes, but think about it, it's much more exciting to do it right under the teacher's noses. It's more exciting as well. Plus if you win you get first pick at choosing who you want as your dance partner for the May ball. It's the biggest social event of the district and all the schools come together."

"Whatever, what about sport competitions are there any of those?"

"Yeah that's how teams can win, but I hate sports, it makes me really sleepy. I and I always have to sleep it off in the next period, and then-" he woefully pointed at his cub ears, than went back to playing with the lady bug that was crawling on his index finger.

We ate the rest of lunch in peace, people came up and said hi to Teddy every now and then commenting on his cub ears with mention that it was only the first day back. I tried to stay out of their radar, but Teddy introduced me as "my guy Lucas". Teddy gave me a mobile phone just before the end of lunch as I was heading for the sports grounds and him another way. He explained that no matter what the teachers believed, it's now a necessity to own a mobile phone. His own was a smart phone with a scanned in picture of Katy Perry licking a lollipop with the words Teddy's stick scrawled on.

Walking towards PE I though of my parents and the dinner meeting they planned to have with me each week. The notion was strange. I didn't know if I liked the idea of them suddenly being brought into my life at such a high frequency. It was something I'd always hoped for, in the secrecy of my own thoughts. It'd be weird seeing them, secretly waving hi to them and them being there to monitor my every action every single day.

A boy jumped in front of me grinning from ear to ear, his blazer thrown over his shoulder and backpack hanging over the other, being not zipped completely I could see it crammed with note paper and textbooks. I couldn't help to grin back with him, as I stared at his dimple and light spray of beauty spots revealing an eastern European origin.

"What are you so pumped about?" I asked suspiciously.

"I've finally got you to myself, from here to the backfield changing rooms."

"Sweet, cause that's not weird or anything that you've been trying to get me alone."

"Nah, just to talk mate. Such as, what do your folks do?"

"They're in schooling sector." I replied uneasily.

"Hmm, scholarship kid than? Not many at this place," he was jogging backwards in front of me, watching me as we headed for the changing rooms. "But frankly, you are cooler than most people in this place, I can already tell," his vitality impressed me, physically I was in pretty good shape, but I felt that this guy could run circles around me without trying.

"How can you tell, you've just met me." his backpack bounced up and back down onto his hip, much like that dog tag that hanged from his neck. I lengthened my strides to keep up with him.

"I have the male intuition thing going on. I know who's worth hanging out with and who's not."

"That's why you hang out with Leo -the permanently depressed self entitled god of this place?" From the little I had seen of them, their relationship has always irked me. Cameron's eyes lowered and he came to a sudden halt. I would have crashed into him if it weren't for his hold on my shoulders. I turned to look at the huge freckled hands on my shoulders, once more aware of how his large bone structure was encompassed within his lean muscular frame. My head at such a close proximity landed right in the crevice of his chest. My eyes were dead center with his dogtag that he hadn't notice slip out from his abrupt stop.

"Leo and me, it's..." here he searched for the words, trying to put a feeling into letters. "Well it's complicated. He's a great guy, and yeah he's not always a good guy, but when you're his friend for as long as I have, you see there's a reason for all that he does. Honest," he let my shoulders go and turned back to face the sun on the west side of the school were the sport fields lay. The dogtag reflected the sunlight for an instant before he placed in back into his shirt instinctively. My mind was fixated on the words engraved into it, that seemed in a new light, engraved into his heart.

Race to the end, I'll be waiting to congratulate you at the finish line. and at the back added on at a later date was
Live your life full and hard because I will keep on living mine watching over yours. (2005)

"Let's see how fast these little legs of yours can go. I'll race you to the field." He chuckled at his own idea grabbing a hold of his blazer and and looking back at me, "Let's get that little heart of yours racing, yeah?" And he took of kicking up dust from the pebbled ground, unaware that my heart was replaced by a hummingbird heart beat.