Hey guys BIG SUPER apology to anyone who was waiting for the next chapter. what can i say? life got in the way a bit for awhile but i'm back to it! so sorry to all the awesome people who emailed me wondering what had happened... hehe yeah, i got a bit of that! anyway here it is. bit different.
"There's more than one way to skin a cat." Kurt said rubbing his hands thoughtfully and eyeing the laughing dickheads across the quad.
I pondered that for a moment. "Really? How many ways to you reckon?"
"Huh?" Kurt was obviously too caught up in this thoughts.
I rolled my eyes. "How many ways can you skin a cat?"
Kurt stopped his evil plotting for a moment to consider. He shrugged and looked at me. "Up, down and across I guess."
I squinted at him, "what about diagonal?"
He glared at me "can we focus for like two minutes here I'm planning some serious revenge and your distracting me. Besides diagonally makes no sense, would be too difficult all things considered."
I sighed, bored. I scratched at the flaky wood table. Someone had written RT waz here. I never get that. I mean is it somehow easier to write a z then an s? Or does the z symbolize cool'. Like look how I can't spell! See I have street cred cause I never finished skool! I thought who ever wrote it and all the fellows in the waz' cult were probably wankers. I wonder what became of RT, huh sounds like `arty' when you say it out loud.
Kurt was silent for a few moments glaring at the boys. I watched a ladybug meander along the rough wooden surface of the table and occasionally glanced up at Kurt.
"Why do you think people skin cats then? I mean they cant be particularly good eating can they? I mean do people even wear cat fur? It seems a bit gross really. All the yuk blood. Guts too, have to get rid of them. Oh that's so gross! Where did that saying come from-"
"Matt! Will you shut up!" Kurt snapped.
You may wonder how we got to the point of an abstract discussion about the process of skinning the feline species and the origins of such a phrase.
It all started with a boy. Of course you say, it's always about a boy. Well this boy was one of the `popular' clones. Meaning metro haircut, the almost a Mohawk but not quite there look. The fluoro t-shirts with artificially ripped jeans. This ones name was Sean.
Kurt met Sean in detention.
Kurt's POV:
Detention sucks. Mr. Clemens sucks. As if algebra was that important in real life. The maths people always say it is, like you can't build a bridge without algebra. Who gives a fuck? I highly doubt I will be building bridges at any stage of my life. I'll probably end up on the dole, living in a run down old house with a mangy cat and a heroin addiction the way my life's gone so far.
I stared at the blackboard at the front of the room. Things were mostly shit at the moment. Dad had vanished for the most part; mum no longer knew what planet she lived on, let alone the fact that she had a son. The only good part was Matt and Anna, Matt's mum. Liam too now he had joined the fray. In fact Liam was becoming like a little brother, especially since Matt's time to hang out had reduced dramatically with the introduction of Aaron. The Boyfriend.
While I didn't hate the boy anymore I didn't exactly like him either. No matter what, even if it was unintentional, he came between Matt and me. Matt wasn't just mine anymore and that thought still stung.
God, Matt was seriously the most gorgeous person I knew. He was even more beautiful due to the fact he didn't seem to realize just how good-looking he was. In fact Matt had a fairly low opinion of himself induced in part by his arsehole of a father. But Matt had these honey coloured eyes that just seemed to glow and radiate whatever it is he's feeling at the time. His body is all willowy and slender but with a natural muscle mass that came with genetics rather than work.
No, got to stop thinking about him. Getting hard. Fuck, Aaron was a lucky bastard. It still hurt that Matt couldn't see me as more than a friend. But this shit happens. Gotta forget about it. Concentrate on something else.
Miss Ebbing has one weird looking nose, it's all holey and there's a massive growth on the side. Gross! Ok no hard on to speak of now. Shit she noticed me looking!
"Mr. Mitchell? Have you no homework? If not I can give you some lines to write." She smiled a nasty little smile. Stupid cow.
"No thanks Miss Ebbing. I have some English to do." I picked up a pen and started doodling on the notebook in front of me. Fuck work, its not like I was going to University anyway.
I drew a dragon balancing on a crystal ball. Then a knight came into the picture. Oh no a sword! What are you going to do dragon? Fire! Flames erupted out of the dragons nose.
"Hey that's a really good drawing!" I heard the person next to me whisper.
I rolled my eyes. God, could the freak not notice I was kinda busy? I looked over at him. Huh, a `popular'. Why was he deigning to talk with me?
He smiled. Huh. A cute `popular'. But aren't they all cute, in their own generic little way?
"Yeah sure." I answered and went back to my picture.
As we left school for the day, I fretted about telling Anna I had had detention. I didn't want to give her any reason to be disappointed with me. I walked slowly towards the gate.
"Hey! Wait up!" A voice shouted from behind me.
Turning I saw it was the annoying popular from detention. I rolled my eyes.
"What do you want?"
He faulted at my hostile tone. "Um... I just wanted to say hi. Um. I'm Sean by the way." He stuck his hand out for me to shake.
I stared at the proffered hand and frowned, shaking it grudgingly. "Hi. So. I'm going to go. Nice meeting you." Weirdo.
"Your name's Kurt. I um... saw some of your pictures in art class and we have English together." Sean rushed on quickly.
I looked at him carefully, wondering if he was ok in the mental department. "Ok. That's great. I'm glad we bonded like that. Be sure to call me when the next reunion is coming up."
"Ok, can I have your number?" He grinned.
What the fuck? "Why do you want my number?"
"You know, to call you. For our next reunion, I was thinking maybe we could hang out this weekend. Say Friday night." He was still grinning.
Wait. Was he asking me out? I looked him over, not too bad. He was a bit straight laced for me. A bit too `country road'. His blonde hair faux Mohawk, expensive brand name shoes and well presented school uniform made him seem all too wholesome. The kinda ignorant wholesome that went to church at Christmas with the family but probably got drunk of a weekend and made fag jokes with his other well-bred friends.
He was asking me out?
"Are you asking me on a date?"
He blushed. It was kinda cute. Pity he was the exactly the kinda people I despised. "Um. Yes." He was looking at his shoes now, cocky grin absent.
"Will you buy me dinner?" I asked thoughtfully.
His head snapped up. "Yes, sure I mean if you want. So do you want?"
I shrugged. "Only live once."
"Oh! Ok. Um. Right. Sweet. Seven?" He stuttered.
"Whatever." I flicked my head at him then started to walk away.
"Ok! See you then Kurt."
He was a bit cute. If a bit puppy doggish in his appeal. Well, that was an unexpected turn of events. Who whudda thought.
"Hey Kurt!" He caught up with me again. "So, can I have your number?"
"Oh right."
"Detention?" Matt asked as soon as I walked in the door. "Who?"
"Mr. Clemens. He's such an arsehole!" I ranted as I dropped my bag in the doorway.
Matt was lounging on the couch wearing a black singlet and boxers. Fuck. I sighed, untouchable. I sunk down on the couch next to him.
Matt gave me a woeful look then wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Matt smelled like cinnamon. No joke, it was like his natural smell was this weird combination of leather and cinnamon, well that's the closest I could compare it.
"Poor dear." He said in a fake British accent.
"Shuddup!"
Liam came bouncing into the room. "I have a date this Friday! Yes, Liam Roche worked up the courage to ask out Kelly Jackson. So hot."
Matt snorted. "So your balls finally dropped huh?"
"Huh. I have a date Friday night too." I added in without realizing. Bugger.
They both stared at me then suddenly it was a flurry of arms and legs as the two Roche brother's pinned me to the couch.
"Who, what, where?" Matt yelled.
"You know this could make a really interesting porno." I said as I grinned up at them. They grimaced at each other but did not relinquish their hold like I was hoping. Bugger.
"You my boy, have a sick mind. But that is neither here nor there at the moment, tell us who the fuck you're going on a date with you sneaky motherfucker!" Matt demanded.
"Just this jock." I answered, wincing slightly when I saw Matt look wary.
"What jock?" Liam asked eagerly.
"Just this guy who started chatting to me in detention. He asked me out and I figured you only live once." I said reasonably. God, Liam's bony knee was digging into my side painfully.
Matt got off me. He still looked wary. "Man, those guys can be arseholes. What if he's luring you out there to beat you up?"
"Don't say that Matt! I think its great!" Liam broke in grinning down at me.
"Thanks Liam. And would you mind terribly hopping right on off, your freaking bony knee is bruising my kidneys."
He laughed but got up.
"So.... What are you going to wear?" Liam flipped his wrist and put on a lisp.
"Liam? Are you being homophobic?" I asked and he just laughed and ran away. He appeared two minutes later with a serious expression on his face. "Wait. What am I going to wear?"
So today was the day. It was my first date with a boy. Sean had called me the night before I I'm pretty sure I had the most awkward conversation of my entire 17 years of life. We had finally sorted out where to meet up and I hung up quickly to try and end the torture. This is going to suck. I stood in front of the mirror checking myself out. A friend's band t-shirt, old black jeans that were getting a bit raggedy. Maybe the jock would think I bought them that way. Ha. God. What am I doing? What am I even going to talk to him about? Football? The price of cabbages in China? This was a bad idea.
I looked up to see Matt in the doorway watching me. No, it was a good idea. There needs to be some distance here. I smiled at him but he just frowned back.
"I don't like this. What if he's going to beat you up?" "Look, I'll be fine. If he does anything I'll just knee him in the balls and run. Besides we're meeting out, so we'll be in a public place." I reassured him. I kinda liked that he was so concerned.
"Yeah but-"
"Matt shut up. It's going to be fine."
He narrowed his eyes at me. God Matt is hot when he's cranky. Fuck. I smiled sadly to myself. Dating is good.
"You call me if anything happens ok?" Matt added.
"Yes mum. Quit bugging me about it."
Liam ran into the room from the bathroom. "How'd do I look? This shirts not right is it? I'm going to change my shirt. Did I put enough cologne on?"
I looked at him; my eyes almost watering from the waft of cologne that rushed my way as Liam had ran in.
"Man, Liam did you bathe in it?" Matt threw in, waving a hand in front of his face.
Liam's face fell. Aw.
"Its not that bad but I think you may have gone a bit overboard. Get a warm washcloth and wipe a bit off yeah? And the shirt looks good." I said smiling at the frantic boy.
"Come on Liam, I'll help ya." Matt grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. At the door he turned and looked at me. Smiling strangely he nodded at me.
I met up with Sean in front of a café style restaurant. He kept glancing around nervously and my heart sunk, this wasn't a good idea, he looked like he was about to run if a car door slammed. I took pity on him.
"Look Sean, you don't have to do this. We can end it right now. You clearly aren't comfortable."
"I'm fine. Really. Lets get something to eat."
We got a seat and picked up the menus. After scanning it for a bit I looked up and noticed that he was peeking at me over the top of the menu. Huh. "What are you going to order?" I asked when he quickly looked down blushing.
"Um.... Oh... Um..." God was he stupid?
"Oooook. Well I'm going to get the calamari and lemon risotto." I said to break the awkwardness.
He stared at the menu for a little bit then finally decided. Jesus, I have never felt so awkward in my life.
"So..." I started after we had given our orders to the waitress. "How about them penguins? Crazy penguins."
He stared at me like I was mental. "What?"
"God, I was just starting conversation since it didn't seem like you were going to. Besides penguins are crazy. They have that funny walk and they slide everywhere on there bellies... Wish I could do that. And after that cartoon, I picture them dancing too. Haha dancing penguins."
Sean had started smiling somewhere during my tirade about penguins. I either go silent or ramble when I'm nervous. Seems like tonight was a rambling night. Damn.
"So penguins huh?" He laughed. "Personally I prefer squirrels. They're so weird looking and its like they're always on drugs the way they run around, always chewing on things."
I squinted at him. "Hmm. You're a bit weird. Why are you talking about squirrels?"
"Huh!" He looked indignant. "You started talking about dancing penguins!"
"Penguins don't dance. God you must believe everything you see on TV. I mean it's a cartoon man." I told him importantly.
"What! I... ah!" He looked so frustrated. I started laughing at him and he relaxed a bit but still looked annoyed.
"Hehe oh man. Love it. But seriously, squirrels? Anyway. So you have any brothers or sisters?" I picked up a sugar packet and started fiddling with it.
Sean looked a bit lost as to what was going on but played along with it anyway. "Yeah I got two older brothers and a younger sister. What about you? Do you have any?"
"Nah not really. Matt and Liam are kinda like my brothers."
"Matt huh? That's the guy you're always hanging out with. You ever... You know?"
In my dreams. "Nah. He's my friend. So... You know I hung out with Matt huh? You been stalking me?"
"What? No!!" He looked indignant. "I just saw you before is all."
"Ok ok."
The food arrived soon after and we ate quietly for a bit. Sean kept glancing up at me nervously.
"What?!" I demanded after a prolonged silence.
"Nothing. Its just... how many piercings have you got?" Sean asked timidly.
"Huh?" I squinted at him. "A few I guess. Um. Like 12." I grinned at him as I pointed to all the piercings. "I'd show you the last but I think this restaurant is PG rated."
Sean choked on his pasta. "You mean?"
I watched his eyes travel down to the table over my lap. I grinned and waiting for him to take a sip of water, his eyes still trained there as if he could see through the tabletop.
"Want to see it?"
Although getting sprayed with water wasn't the most fun thing, it was worth it for the expression on his face.
"Fuck! Kurt! Don't say things like that!" He glanced around but no one seemed to be paying that much attention.
I wiped my face with a napkin and laughed. "Thanks for the shower."
The movie was atrocious. An action movie that if you looked at objectively didn't make any sense whatsoever and silver skivvies didn't always have to mean evil mastermind. We both sat uncertainly and very consciously not touching through the whole movie. It was kinda painful. And then it got worse.
As we were walking out of the theatre after a very mind numbing and body aching (not in a good way) experience, Sean suddenly ran off. I looked around to see him pretending to read a movie guide then looking over and greeting a girl and a guy from school. Casually. As if he hadn't just been walking with me two seconds ago. Prick.
I walked off, towards the exit, pulling out my phone to call Matt to come get me when Sean jogged up beside me. "Hey. Shit movie huh?" As if he hadn't just split and made sure he wasn't seen with me.
"It wasn't the movie that was shit. Ok that was shit too. But there was something shitter." Damnit. I need to learn where to leave it and not babble on.
"Huh?" He looked shifty and as we came out into the undercover car park, I turned and decked him one. Not hard. Well, not really hard.
He grabbed his face with his hand. "You punched me."
"Yeah well you were being a dick." I looked at him expectantly.
"But you punched me. Like as in punched." He looked shocked. It was kind of cute.
"Yeah no shit. I was there as well. And you fucking deserved it."
"But you punched me." He was still looking shocked.
"Get over it. God. Fags can punch too."
"You are a dick. I can't believe you punched me!"
"Quit whining about it already! You" I pushed his shoulder roughly "were being an arsehole and so you deserved it!"
He grabbed my arm. "Look, about before-"
"Whatever. Look I'm just going to head home. Lets just never speak of this again. Oh wait! No much problem of that I there? You'd never let your friends see you speak to me anyway!" Wow. So I was pretty angry about this. I stormed away.
"Wait! Look I'm not ready to be out ok? I'm sorry but I'm not." He ran after me and grabbed my arm.
"Yeah well, I was stupid for going there in the first place!"
"Stop being a fuckhead!" He shoved me.
Oh. He didn't just shove me. I shoved him back. He shoved me back. See the pattern? It went on for a bit until we started full out wrestling against some poor saps car. Suddenly I was slammed back against the side. Sean had my arms pinned and his hips against mine.
Whoa.
Dark green eyes started into mine.