Under a Paper Moon

[Gustav’s POV]

Ugh, I hate school, I thought as I drummed my fingernails irritably on the desk, my eyes drifting up to the clock above the whiteboard, there was some weird combination of numbers and letters on it that just seemed to mock me every lesson. Maybe I was just crazy. I hate maths though, I have no idea what’s going on have the time. I’m just glad my name begins with ‘W’ because when teachers tried to be twats and put the class into alphabetical order then I’m always at the back; and I need to be at the back to plot my schemes.

5 to 3, five more minutes and I can get the hell out of this damn building and go to my friend’s concert. Ben, Si and John had managed to get their mums to give them the day off so they could queue and get barrier, but because my mum has a stick shoved so far up her ass you can see it through her mouth, she wouldn’t let me off school if the world was fucking ending. So I was just going to have to meet my friends there.

The sound of the bell ringing ripped through the classroom and a wave of relief washed over me as I heard that heavenly sound. Before Mrs whatsherface could stop me, I’d thrown my books into my bag, slung it over my shoulder and darted out the door into the corridor. My school tie bounced up and down as I ran towards the school doors and out into the open air as I began the short journey home. Not long before I could go and meet my friends. Fuck yeah!

I entered my house with a huge smile on my face; I loved gigs, even if it was just for my friend’s band, I fucking loved the whole atmosphere. Plus I had a very good feeling about tonight, as proven by how I actually bothered to fix my messy black hair and put on eyeliner. I don’t know why I don’t wear eyeliner more, it makes my eyes stand out a lot and if I’m honest with you they’re the only physical trait I’m proud of – I’m really ugly otherwise. I’m far too tall and far too skinny, my nose is huge and I have a really retarded mouth. Not to mention my hair is fucking annoying, ugh.

That aside, as soon as I’d gone downstairs to get my clothes from dryer, my parents started right into their ‘gay’ comments. They thought they were absolutely hilarious. No. They need to stop. I hate when they say I look gay or emo, because clearly they hate how I dress plus being labelled isn’t fun. I know they’re only poking a bit of fun but they should stop before I murder one of them.

I lifted my clothes from the dryer and turned back around to climb back up the stairs to my bedroom. I was so excited for later. You have no idea, really. Once I was in my room, I locked the door and immediately stripped from my ugly black and green uniform. It wasn’t that nice uniform either, it was dull and hideous and ew. No wonder my parents called me gay…

I stared at myself in the mirror beside my wardrobe; why the hell would anyone like me? Look at me dammit, I’m ugly. As I said before. I was covered in bruises too, but that’s a different story completely and right now I would rather not get into that because it’d just ruin my good mood completely! I’d already come to terms with my hideous-ness so that wasn’t going to put me down. Before I started thinking about the causes of the bruises though, I pulled on my black, ripped skinny jeans and my white shirt that sat baggier on my body than it probably should’ve. Oh well, what could I do? I lifted my converse from beside my bed and pulled those on too before checking my hair in the mirror once more and going back downstairs.

“Mum, I’m going now!” I called out into the house, not waiting for an answer before I left.

-

Once I got to the bar that the band was playing at, I immediately spotted Ben and Si near the front of the long queue. No sign of John though, I wonder where he is. I skipped over towards them, yes I skipped, pulling them both into a hug once I reached them.

“Where’s John?” I asked, concert nerves kicking into my stomach all of a sudden. Ugh. But at the same time, I was struck with excitement.

“Said he needed to go get something,” Ben shrugged and looked over my shoulder (amazingly). A grin spread across his face he began pointing and waving at something so I turned around to see what he was pointing at, and sure enough there stood John. But he was with someone. I began waving too, a grin spreading across my face as I tried to get John’s attention.

“HEY JOHN, WE’RE OVER HERE!” Si shouted, mirroring my grin.

John looked up at us and smiled, grabbing the stranger’s arm before dragging him over to where we stood. Whoever it was looked quite disgusted with us, I have no idea why though! I mean look at how awesome we are!

Once they reached us, the stranger decided it’d be a good idea to blurt out, “John who the hell?"

I tried to refrain from rolling my eyes at him. That was rude! Oh well, I'd probably be like that too if I'd gotten dragged over to a bunch of mental cases. I looked down at him, he was really cute… he had floppy brown hair and wide eyes. His ears were pierced and he definitely looked like John, so I’m guessing they were brothers or something, only he a lot smaller…and prettier… Godammit Gustav shut up, your gay is showing.

I do remember John talking about his brother once though….Fraser I think he’s called.

“Hey I’m guessing you’re John’s brother Fraser, right?” I smiled at him and his look of disgust seemed to evaporate almost instantly. Weird. “I’m Gustav, one of his friends.”

“Oh could you be any more homosexual?” Ben giggled as I shoved my elbow back into his stomach. Fraser seemed cool, even though he hadn’t said a word. I made a mental note to make friends with this guy as soon as possible.