About a Boy

“Kellin what are you doing?” Vic asked with a raised eyebrow as Kellin began to play with his hair. They were hidden in Practice Room Five on Tuesday at lunch, the one that nobody would ever go into because they were convinced it was haunted. It made sense, the scratches on the back of the cupboard were quite creepy.
“Plaiting your hair.” He replied simply, fiddling with the silky locks.
“Why?”
“To make you look pretty.” Kellin answered.
“You don’t think I’m already pretty?” Vic demanded, mock offended.
“Eh. You’re alright.” Kellin joked, smiling with pride when he made Vic laugh. Obviously, it was a lie, he thought Vic was the prettiest person in the world, but he wouldn’t admit that to anyone, especially not the other boy.
“You love me. You wish you were as pretty as me.” Vic joked prodding Kellin’s stomach and pulling his hair away from the other boy, running his fingers through it to rid himself of the messy plaits.
“Why’d you do that?” Kellin pouted.
“You’re silly,” Vic laughed.
“You love it.” Kellin winked at Vic, secretly feeling elated when Vic nodded.
“You never agreed you loved me.” He pointed out.
“I love you?” Kellin offered, breathing becoming a lot shallower as Vic leaned closer to him.
“You mean it?” He asked.
“Of course I do, Vicky.” Kellin mumbled, suddenly feeling nervous. He avoided meeting Vic’s eye, instead looking down as Vic leaned even further forward. Another inch and their nose would be touching, or their lips could be touching…
“But do you really mean it, Kells?”
“What do you mean? V-“ Kellin was cut off by Vic’s lips planted on his own. And Kellin almost immediately got over his shock and began to return the kiss he had been desperate for since he had met the other boy. He gently pushed his tongue into Vic’s mouth and continued with the kiss, both of their tongues moving together as they remained in their passionate embrace. The two boys continued their kiss for another few minutes, finally pulling away only because they were struggling to breathe.
Kellin stared at Vic, who was smiling gently at him, and reached forward to hesitantly take his hand in his own.
“So you’re my boyfriend now,” he said simply, looking at Vic with an almost daring look in his eyes.
“Alright.” Vic smiled happily and kissed Kellin again before leaping up. “I’m going to see Jaime and Tony now.”
“Now? You can’t just kiss me and leave, Fuentes.” Kellin frowned, still sitting on the floor. “Are you telling them?”
“Not if you don’t want me too.” Vic looked concernedly at Kellin, bending down and sitting next to him again.
“I… I just don’t know if I’m, like ready, you know? Only my friends know I’m even gay.” He stared at the other boy, who nodded in understanding.
“I get it. I won’t tell anyone.” He stroked Kellin’s cheek.
“Thank you. I… Um, I really like you…” He murmured, pressing his lips to Vic’s once more before the other boy got up to leave.
“I like you too…” Vic smiled and exited the room, leaving Kellin to bask in his own pride and happiness.
____
“Come on.” Kellin commanded, dragging Vic into his house for the second time. Vic had asked his father, who had said that Vic could go to Kellin’s house as long as he was back by seven seeing as it was a school night. “Hello?” He called once they were on the large entrance hall.
“Kellin?” Heather emerged from the living room, staring at Vic with wide, interested eyes. “Who are you?”
“Hi, I’m Vic.” He offered Heather his hand, which she gladly shook. Kellin frowned at his sister, because he clearly had already developed a crush on Vic, and began to push his boyfriend upstairs.
“Go to my room. I’ll be up in a second.” Vic nodded and waved to Heather before ascending the stairs.
“He’s gay. And seventeen.” Kellin hissed to Heather, who glared and pouted at him.
“Who said I had a crush on him?” She stuck her tongue out at her brother and flounced away before he could say anything else. Kellin shook his head and followed the same path Vic had to his bedroom, where he saw the other boy sitting on the edge of the bed, flicking through a notebook.
“Hey.” Kellin said softly, sitting next to Vic after closing the door and kissing his gently.
“Hey.” Vic returned, smiling when they pulled away.
“So... Can I see your songs?” He demanded.
“How do you know I write?” Vic asked with a small frown.
“I’ve seen you.” Kellin shrugged. So yeah, he was admitting that he watched Vic from across the room in school. He didn’t really care at this point, because Vic was his boyfriend now.
Vic rolled his eyes and turned to the first page of the notebook he was holding, offering it to an eager Kellin,
“Don’t, like, judge me too harshly.” He said.
“I won’t.” Kellin brushed off Vic’s concern and began to read a song titled ‘She Makes Dirty Words Sound Pretty’.
If you call me at all don’t tell me that I’m ordinary
‘Cause I won’t be passing you please don’t leave
And if you tell me you’re listening to everything you read...
Turn off this light, call my name
Don’t talk, just ride
Who wouldn’t let you be all about, about me?
I’m only trying to work this out...
“Wait, wait, wait. Why haven’t I seen this before? I never knew you were this good! I mean, just... Wow.” He concluded, grinning at Vic, who smiled back shyly.
“Thanks. It’s just something I do in my spare time...” He trailed off and glanced at his writing on the pages in front of Kellin.
“You are phenomenal.” Kellin said. “Can I read some more?” He asked, already turning the page and looking at ‘Falling Asleep On A Stranger’. And the lyrics, embarrassingly enough, made him want to cry. “Vic...”
“Aw, Kellin.” Vic stroked his cheek, forcing him to look up. “They aren’t that bad.”
“Why are they so sad?”
“It’s just easier to write about sad stuff, I suppose.” Vic shrugged and connected their lips once again. They kissed for a while, until they heard Heather scuffling around, probably in an attempt to catch Kellin doing something wrong.
____
“For seniors only there will be a Christmas ball, if you like, on December 22nd,” Mrs. O’Sullivan announced at the beginning of their Tutorial in the hall a couple of weeks before the end of term. The boys all grumbled in annoyance.
“Does there have to be?” Kier yelled from the back row, his friends began to laugh, immediately stopping when they saw Mrs. O’Sullivan’s murderous gaze. “Speak to me at the end, Mr. Kemp. But yes, there has to be. Over three quarters of the girl’s from St. Martin’s Girl’s have bought tickets. You will attend.” With that, the woman walked off the stage, gesturing for Kier to follow her to her office.
“You going?” Kellin muttered to Vic as Mr. Ward began to lead them out of the hall.
“Well, we have to don’t we? I don’t want to, but whatever.” Vic shrugged, tugging Kellin out of the seat he was sitting in to leave the hall.
“But we can’t, like, go together.” Kellin pouted.
“Your choice.” Vic pointed out. Kellin frowned but continued to follow the other boy. “Are you going to ask some girl?” He continued.
“No. I’ll just go myself. You?”
“I might perform with Jaime and Tony.” He shrugged.
“What do you mean by perform?” Kellin asked.
“Mr. Kowalewicz asked the three of us to do some stuff earlier, because the school’s to poor to afford proper entertainment.” Vic explained. “If I do that, I can actually enjoy myself at this dumb thing.” Kellin nodded and smiled.
“Do you know which songs you’ll do?”
“I have some originals...”
“The ones I saw when you came round yesterday?” Kellin clarified. Vic nodded and Kellin smiled. “The lyrics are incredible. I need to hear you play them sometime.”
“Maybe.” Vic said absently, tapping Kellin on the chest and walking into their form room.
“Vic? Can you come round again? On Saturday?” Kellin begged as they sat waiting for Mr. Wentz to enter the classroom.
“Probably.” Vic smiled and nodded to Kellin before turning back to his friends who were staring at him, confusion clearly written on their faces.
“You two are so into each other.” Justin commented.
“Can you shut up? Before I punch you in the face, preferably.” He snarled at the boy, who laughed and flicked Kellin, then turning to his phone and sending someone a text.
“What are you doing?” Kellin asked curiously.
“Asking Tay to that stupid ball thing.” He replied. The group had planned to buy their tickets that day at break, all dreading the idea of a dance with the St. Martin’s Girl’s of all schools, but were even more frightened of being at the receiving end of Mrs. O’Sullivan’s wrath. “You know,” Justin continued, “her friend Katelynne likes you, apparently. Should I just tell her you’re going with someone else?”
“How does Katelynne even know me?” Kellin frowned, not remembering a girl with that name.
“From some party? I don’t know, she wants to go with you though.”
“Just say I’m going with someone else,” Kellin shrugged, glancing at Vic and wishing they could go together. But like Vic had said earlier that day, it had been his choice.
“She said ‘yes’!” Justin laughed and Kellin high fived him, laughing with his friend until Mr. Wentz entered the room, calling ‘Body language in an interview today’.
____
“I want you in groups of two to five, and all you’re doing is writing a song. And you’re doing your specified solo song later on in the year, so... Get into your groups and start!” Mr. Kowalewicz announced the next day in music. Kellin quickly went to sit next to Vic, who grinned and pulled out a notebook.
“So...”
“No love songs. Please.” Kellin begged. “Because us writing a love song together-“
“Will not end well.” Vic finished. “Okay. Want to do the opposite and do a hate song?”
“I was thinking a kind of... I dunno, I had this one line: ‘The thought of you’s no fucking fun, you want a martyr I’ll be one’...”
“I like that...” Vic said, writing Kellin’s lyrics down. “That sounds kind of hatey... Red!”
“Red?” Kellin repeated with a confused smile.
“I think of the colour red when I think of hate... Red for cancer?”
“Wait, I’m a bit confused...”
“Take a look up at the sky and I see red for the cancer, red for the wealthy...” Vic quickly wrote down the line and tapped his pen on his chin. “Erm...”
“Suicide?” Kellin suggested. “Because of blood?”
“Red for the drink that’s mixed with suicide?” Vic looked at Kellin expectantly, who nodded in excitement.
“But they can’t go in the same verse, I don’t think.”
“Your line could go in the chorus.” Vic decided. “So like: something, something, something the thought of you’s no fucking fun you want a martyr I’ll be one because enough’s enough we’re done.” Vic declared proudly.
“I like that line.” Kellin nodded. “That’s good.”
“So we’ve actually got some stuff done.”
“Which is a rare occurrence in lessons with me.” Kellin winked. Vic giggled slightly and Kellin turned to look around the room. Jaime and Tony were sitting in a corner with a bass and guitar, just messing about really, and he could see his friends talking to some guy called Jason. “We’ve probably got the most done.” He commented.
“I think so. Nobody ever really does anything in the first lesson with things like this. And we’ve got a month to do it.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t come over for, erm, extra composing sessions,” Kellin grinned again and Vic swatted at him with his notebook, a smile still plastered on his face.
“Yeah, whatever. I can’t be bothered with this now. I’ll go home and start putting chords and stuff to it, maybe write a couple of verses.” Vic said.
“Okay,” Kellin agreed. The two boys sat together for the last ten minutes of their music lesson, laughing about nothing, just enjoying having a chance to be with each other, even if Kellin wasn’t entirely satisfied with the small touches here and there.
____
“So who are you guys working with?” Kellin asked Justin when they left the music room for break.
“That Jason Butler guy. He’s alright. Great voice,” Justin answered. “But you and Vic? I knew you guys were friends, but I didn’t realise how close you were. Is something else going on?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively, laughing when Kellin shoved him.
“Can you shut up? I wouldn’t go out with Vic. Ever,” He denied, immediately feeling bad for saying it. “He’s just... Not my type.”
“What is your type then?”
“None of your business. And not you,” Kellin responded snidely, entering their form room and opening his desk to get his maths and physics books.
¬____
“Vic? Have I done something to upset you?” Kellin approached Vic on Thursday, who had been pointedly ignoring him all day.
“Yes.” Vic said stonily, pulling out his Latin textbook and forcefully shoving it into his bag.
“What is it, then?” Kellin asked, getting annoyed.
“I think we should break up.” Was all Vic said. Kellin felt his heart plummet from his chest to his stomach.
“W-what?” He stammered. Vic couldn’t honestly be doing this to him. How long had they even been together?
“Apparently I’m ‘not your type’.” He said. “And if you would ‘never go out with me’, why are you even doing this?”
So he had heard what he said to Justin on their way out of music. “Vic… I didn’t mean that. You know that I just wanted- I didn’t want him to find out-“
“And why is that, Kellin? They know you’re gay anyway. Is it just because it’s me?”
“No! Vic, I wouldn’t-“
“I’m gonna find another partner in music, okay?” Vic stepped away from Kellin and walked out of the room to make his way to the music classroom before Kellin could say another word.
And he felt like crying, because he had just lost the boy who he had been desperate to be with ever since he laid eyes on him, and it really hurt, because Vic was the most understanding person he knew, but he still wouldn’t accept him… Kellin brushed at his eyes angrily before his tears could fall and stalked to the music classroom, keeping his distance from Vic, who also looked upset, but was still managing to laugh with his friends. Kellin wondered who Vic was going to start a group with. It was lucky, in a sense, because they’d only had one music lesson so nobody had made any progress… Apart from them, with ‘King For A Day’. Kellin had to duck his head to hide the tears forming in his eyes again, getting more and more irritated with himself for being so pathetic, until someone tapped him on the arm. He spun around sharply to see Alex, some hipster kid, urging him to go into the classroom.
“Alright, guys,” Mr. Kowalewicz started, “get into your groups and continue!”
Kellin watched as Vic approached Jack, Jesse, Justin, Gabe and Jason. The boys spoke for a few moments, before they nodded and Jason trailed behind Vic, who led him to Kellin.
“You can go and be in a group with your friends,” Vic said stiffly. Kellin nodded and stared at Vic with pleading eyes. Vic maintained eye contact with the other boy, looking as though he was about to start crying, before turning swiftly on his heel and going to sit on the other side of the classroom with Jason.
Kellin walked quietly to sit with his friends, who smiled sympathetically at him.
“What happened?” Justin asked, tuning his bass.
“We had a bit of a fight…” Kellin murmured, still watching Vic and Jason laugh as Vic started to play a tab.
“That bad?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Kellin shook his head.
“I won’t make you, then.” Justin put a comforting hand on Kellin’s shoulder and turned back to his bass. And it was times like these Kellin actually appreciated his friends, for being so understanding and sometimes just nice.
“We haven’t much done,” Jesse informed him. “Just a tab or two. Can you write lyrics and stuff? You’re the most emo.” Kellin nodded and turned away again. Jason had a hand on Vic’s arm, which made his blood boil. Because he was the only one who was allowed to touch Vic… Well, before he was, now he wasn’t so sure. Kellin dug out a notebook and started to write. He stared at the grey lines for a few minutes, blinking back tears as he thought of Vic once again. He ended up not writing anything in that entire forty five minute period, instead watching Vic and Jason, wishing the second boy dead.
When the bell rang, Kellin silently packed his bag and left the room, hovering behind Vic. He tossed a tissue into the bin and looked curiously when he saw a sheet of paper lying at the top with Vic’s handwriting on it. And when Kellin realised what it was, a new wave of tears overcame him and he couldn’t stop them from falling when he saw the title ‘King For A Day’ written at the top.