Kel's Journal Entry 11
This story is a work of fiction copyrighted by Lastimer. Do not publish or reproduce on another site without author's permission.
Okay, time for the regular disclaimer: This is a story of mature themes (at some points at least). This may include some sexual acts. Be advised that if you're not 18 or older, (or whatever it is where you live), you shouldn't be reading. But if you defy this, it ain't my fault.
Well, welcome to my first attempt at internet fiction. This is the main branch of this story, following Kel. There are future plans to expand this story to talk about other characters, but for now Kel is the narrator. This story really isn't designed to be an literary orgy, more a story of relationships, friends, and dreams. The chapters may seem a bit on the short side as of yet, but that's because I'm still new to actually writing down my story ideas. I'm open to any comments.
The place this story takes place is a fictional town in Central New Jersey. There will be references to other areas that happen to be real places.
If you are offended by the opinions expressed in this story, just remember they are those of the characters, and do not necessarily reflect those of their creator (ME).
September 9
It was finally time to return. No longer was I free to go anywhere I wanted from 8 to 3. But in actually, I wasn't dreading this day. This was the first time I would be able to see a lot of people in months. I don't really take the time to see a lot of people in the summer, mainly because I'm only really acquaintances with some people. Also, a lot of my friends are gone the entire summer, so I don't really see them.
Just like the day before, I went into the cafeteria where they were handing out schedules. Today, I was joined by Drew and Sarah. Unlike myself, they were sans schedule at this point. "I can't wait to see what classes you guys are in," I told them.
"Yeah," Drew said back. "Hopefully we'll have more classes together."
"Before we say that, we should just hope you're in my lunch."
"True."
My sister saw one of her friends. "Well, there's Danielle. I'll see you guys later."
"Okay sis." I turned to Drew next. "I've already got my schedule. I'm just going to put some of my personal stuff in my locker. I'll wait for you there."
"Fine."
So I walked down to my locker. I put my mirror on the door. That's one thing I'm crazy about: my hair. It's not really a problem in the summer, since I normally just put a hat on. It has to be in place, otherwise I'm really upset. But that's just about the only thing I put up at that point. The real reason I went here was to wait for Mark. And soon enough, he showed up.
"Hey Mark!" I yelled to him.
He looked at me with a nice smile. "Morning Kel. Got my schedule!"
"Good. Let's compare."
I looked down at the listings. We had a lot in common here. Honors classes all over the place, just not all the same ones. We were in the same Honors English class, and the same Chemistry class. We also shared the same gym and lunch.
"Good," I said. "I guess we'll be see a lot of each other this year."
"I guess," he said a bit cautiously. No matter how nice I was being, he needed time to trust anyone.
I looked down the hall. "Here comes Drew and Vince."
Okay, time to introduce Vince. You see, you haven't met him because he was in Europe the entire summer. His parents let him go backpacking with his older brother, who had graduated. Very cool thing, if you ask me. I normally have hangups with kids who have lots of money and are spoiled rotten, but he is one of the exceptions to the rule. But that's because Vince has a great family who has kept him down to earth. Both his parents come from very modest families, and made their money the hard way. Now, they own all sorts of businesses around Buckdale. They make him realize that you should be responsible to the community. He does all sorts of community projects, volunteer work. He's even got me to go do some too.
Physically, he's your average kid with Italian roots. Dark hair and skin, kind of short. He's luckily blessed with the metabolism of a shrew. Believe me, he needs it: I've had his mom's cooking. If I was in his family, I could be fed helium and floated above sporting events all over the country with a Goodyear sign on.
"Hey guys!" I yelled out to them.
"Long time no see Kel," Vince said. "How's everything going?"
"Same old, same old. Sar and I got a car though."
"Great. Now you guys are the drivers." Vince's brother Mike got this role last year. He wasn't a happy camper, but we sure took advantage of it.
"Say Kel," Drew said to me quietly. "Why's Mark here?"
"It's a bit of a story," I said. "Long story short, I saw him yesterday being Stacy's mule at the mall. I told him that if he needed to get away from her, he could talk to us."
"All right," Drew responded. I know he's comfortable around me, but I think he was a little put off by being around someone who was known to be gay.
Mark sensed Drew's lack of comfort. "I got to get going. My homeroom's on the complete other side of school. See you second period, Kel."
"Bye." I then turned to talk with Drew and Vince. "So how was Europe."
"Greatest Vacation ever!" Vince exclaimed. "We spent a lot of time in Italy and Spain. We saw all sorts of hot girls. I even got to know one chica a little better, if you know what I mean."
"Serious?" I was more than a bit skeptical. Vince isn't the most trusted guy. If there was a category in the yearbook, I'd definitely vote him `Most Likely to Commit Perjury."
"Hell yeah!" He took a picture out of his wallet. "Her name's Mercedes."
"Man she's hot." Drew replied to the picture. "I'd ride her anyday!"
Good use of the pun.
I responded to his claims, "Well, congratulations Vince." I decided to change the subject. "Let's see if we're in any classes together."
I turned out Vince was only in the same Math class as me, but that was it. Fortuantely, this year Drew was in my lunch. Also he had the same Spanish and History classes as I did. We really aren't ever in the same classes, because I like to take Honors courses. History happened to be Drew's only honors class, so we were happy to be in the same one.
"I noticed you guys had third period gym. Keep an eye out on Dave for me. He's in there with you guys.
"Who's Dave?" Vince asked.
Drew responded, "He's kinda like Kel's younger brother. Drew lost his dad this year in an accident, and his mom was in the hospital for a long time. Kel's family took the kid in."
"Oh."
"We should probably get to homeroom," I said to them.
"Yeah." They both said.
We dispersed to our homerooms. None of us are in the same part of the alphabet, so we're not in the same room. But as soon as I started I noticed someone familiar barreling down the halls. Michelle Harlan, a secret admirer of me who was all but secret about it.
"Hi Kel!" She said to me.
"Hi Michelle. How was your summer."
"Fine. So what classes are you in?"
As soon as I showed her my schedule, she exclaimed. "Cool! We have Lunch, English and Chemistry together!"
"Well, I'll see you then. I've got to get to homeroom."
"I'll go with you then. Remember? Same part of the alphabet."
"Yeah." Dammit, I thought to myself. It's flattering and all, and Michelle's cute, but I'm not interested. Still, I didn't want to break her heart. So I let her walk with me.
The first day of school is always interesting with new teachers, especially with my name. A lot of people take a double take when I raise my hand to the name Kelly. I even had one teacher tell me to stop joking around. That took a while to sort her out.
I have history first thing in the morning. I was happy to see that Mr. Myers was teaching sophomore honors this year. The old bat that used to teach it retired, so we were spared from the horrifying experience of which we were warned by upperclassmen.
English was next on my schedule. Mark was in that class, and that was enough to motivate me. Adversely, Michelle was in it. I happened to sit down next to Mark, and Michelle took it upon herself to sit next to me on the other side. Michelle a bit of a hassle, but I still think she's friend material. If she just settles down, she'll be just fine. But the best news came when I found out that Billie would also join us. Since Michelle had already taken the seat next to me, Billie took a seat in front of me. We starting talking, and we were happy to be in the same class.
Having an early study hall is my favorite opportunity. I hate doing homework at home, so I do all the classes after study hall the day it's due.
My parents hate that I do this, but as long as I keep up the grades, they'll live with it. I walked with Michelle again to this class, since study halls are often attached to science classes. One day a week we have a lab in place of the study hall. Fortunately, it's a Monday lab, so I'll do all the work on the weekend anyway.
I was also happy to see Sarah in my Chem class. The only period that we shared together, from what we found out. She took the freshman class in her first year, while I skipped to Biology. So we ended up in the same level. I know Mark's in the class to. As much as I would love to be lab partners (and more than that), I would probably end up with Sarah, since we work well together.
But when we got into class, my plans went astray when Matt turned up in my class. Sarah was sure to want to work with him. When the teacher assigned our partners by name, I soon found myself with Michelle. Sarah was the next name, and much to her chagrin, she had someone other than Matt.
After four long periods with academia, I welcomed Vocal performance class. It was the first time all day that I'd seen Billie. Vocal Performance was my favorite class, since I loved to sing. I wanted to do the exclusive productions last year, but they normally don't take freshmen. But this year I had a chance.
As it turned out, Billie's an amazing singer. Compared to her, I sound like Britney Spears before the voice editing (By the way, I sing like a guy.
It's just a simile. I don't sing girl parts). We had decided early on to try and work together. We were happy to find out that they were starting the auditions for the Mustang Madrigal in a few weeks. Despite the sound of the name, the show was actually more of a revue. Old classic songs, dance numbers, the like. I wanted to do it last year, but I was a bit too scared.
But this year, I wanted to try out more than anything.
After our class finished up, Billie and I headed to the cafeteria. We met up with Drew and I found a table. I had told Billie about my conversation with Mark last night, so she was ready and invited him over to our table. We were soon joined by Dave and his friends. After the horrible fate I was dealt last year, I got a royal flush this year.
Oh wait. Here comes the dreaded pair of twos known as Michelle. She quickly joined our table and got a seat right across from me. Fortunately, Billie and Drew had already established their seats next to me. There wasn't going to be a repeat of English class here.
"Hi everyone," Michelle introduced herself. "I'm Michelle."
"Hey Michelle," I said politely.
Soon after she started greeting everyone at the table. The advantage she had is that only three of us: Drew, Mark, and myself knew her previously. Billie's new in town and the other guys are freshmen, so they really didn't have a right to protest. Oh well. For the time being, she's sitting with us.
We went about our business before I went for my Spanish class. Drew and I sat together, and I know my teacher was already suspicious of us. We love doing that.
Next was gym class. We don't dress or anything in the first few days, so there weren't any problems with the locker room. Mark and I were in the same class, so it was another chance to be in the same class.
Finally was my math class. Honors Algebra II is horrible at the extreme end of the day. Not only is it boring, but you have the added anticipation of the final bell. Vince was there to brighten the mood though, and I know he'd make the teacher's life a living hell. He's the class clown, though he is smarter than he looks and acts.
After school wrapped up, I went to the street where Sarah had parked our car.
"Hey Sarah!" She was already sitting in the front seat. Dave was also in the car. His mom was still in therapy, and we were responsible for getting him home.
"Ready to go?"
"Just wait. I asked Mark if he wanted a ride, and at lunch he accepted."
"Man Kel! You are sending out some many signals. If he doesn't figure it out soon, I'd have his libido checked."
"Okay, can it Sarah! He's coming."
Mark entered the car a few minutes later.
"So where are we going?" Mark asked.
Sarah replied, "We're going back to our house first. We'll make some food, then we'll head over to the park."
"This is a little tradition," I said. "Since we were little, our parents have held a picnic on the first day of school. Now, this is the first year that we'll be doing the whole thing ourselves."
"That's cool," Mark said. "I just wish I could have done something."
"Please. Vince is coming, with his mom's cooking. We will be able to feed the entire school."
"So who else is coming?"
"Us, you, Drew, Matt, Karrie, Dave and some of his friends, I think. Hey Dave, are you're friends coming?"
Dave answered, "I asked them. Definitely Jeff, but every one else was unsure."
"And our families," I said to finish.
Mark replied, "That's something I don't want to bring. When it comes to me being gay, they don't want anything to do with it."
Sarah put her two cents in. "You know what? I cannot believe how people can act like that. Haven't they ever heard of unconditional love?"
"To them, I'm a failure. I could be a billionaire, President of the United States or just about anything else. It won't matter. As long as I'm in `this phase.'"
"Phase? Don't they know anything?"
"To be honest, they were always shitty parents. This just gives us all easy ways to break the bond."
It sad that he has to say it like that. I don't think I could make it with my parents hating me. That was half the battle for me.
I have to say that the picnic was great. I really got the chance to hang out with everyone, and catch up with some people. The added bonus was that Mark seemed to become a little more open. This is what I'm trying to do: I want him to realize he can be accepted. There ARE people who don't care if their friends are gay, just as long as the qualities of friendship exist. That was my biggest worry in coming out, and he still holds it inside.
As the picnic was beginning to wind up, I came up to Mark to ask to talk a little more in private.
"Mark, wanna take a walk?" I asked him.
"I guess so."
I knew the park like the back of my hand. With that in mind, I took him to a little shore on the lake.
"This is beautiful," He remarked, "It's sure cool having this place around."
"I love the outdoors. It's something I inherited from my mom. She's taught me a lot about the woods."
"Let me be frank," he started, "Why are you being nice?"
"Because. There's nothing wrong with you."
"Look. My sister was the same way. What should make me believe you won't turncoat on me?"
"I've never been that kind of person."
"There hasn't been much to trust in my life. I don't know if I can stretch my neck out for too many people."
I was desperate. I really wanted to make him trust me. I think I had to use the big bombshell.
"Okay. There's one thing I can tell you to trust me. But with that, I need to trust you."
He looked at me kinda funny. "What?"
"You're not alone. I truly feel sorry for you because I never want to be in your position."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"Perhaps. The truth is, I'm gay too."
He looked at me for a minute. I was petrified. Was he upset with me?
Did he think I was lying?"
"You are?"
"Yeah. I'm gay."
He let out a sigh of relief. "I see everything. No wonder you and all your friends were okay with me. Because they're okay with you."
"Here's the thing: I only have a few people out there who know. Sarah, my parents, Drew, and Dave. Billie also knows, but she's not here. I'm not exactly ready to come out to anyone else."
"I have some good news for you: Your secret is safe with me. I never officially came out. I just became the little freshman faggot. I always turned a blind eye to it, until Greg jumped me."
"That asshole isn't welcome with me either."
He took my hand, "Good. Thank you for being there. I know I can trust you." That's when he gave me a hug. "Listen. We should go back before anyone suspects anything."
"All right."
So I now have Mark. Mark has me. We're not in a relationship or anything yet, but I think I'm getting there.
Yes! Kel has gotten Mark's trust! But is it going to be love?
This is going to be the last chapter for a couple of days. I want to develop more of the story, and I need to get ahead a bunch of chapters to do so. So please be patient. For any comments or questions, e-mail me at lastimer@hotmail.com .