MUD - An LGBT+ Story

Year 11 - The End is Beginning

There is a certain status attached with being in Year 11, the oldest students in school now familiar with the expectations of GCES's, the Year 7's staring in awe not wanting to get in the way and teachers knowing your level of knowledge and what needs to be done to achieve the highest possible grades. Year 11 was the year of everything being the same, same form teacher, same form room, same subjects and timetable, being in the same form room meant we all stayed in the usual seats and this familiarity settled me down ready to take on the year ahead.

The year has been progressing well, I have been occasionally attending the extra French tuition during lunchtime, only me and Andy went to them and really I'm not sure why Andy went because he was good already but I wasn't complaining as he was able to help me, which I was grateful. All the main subjects Maths, English and Science are fine, my grades are decent which is the main thing and the teachers aren't concerned, meaning no stress providing I don't mess it up between now and the summer. There is a lot of work involved, for Geography, we went on a field trip to the town centre and have to work on a report about the type of shops in the area, part of the marks will go towards the final GCSE grade so I hope to get the highest possible marks, this will take a bit of the pressure off the exam. As for Art I have yet to decide on the theme and story for my comic, its starting to get to me as the uncertainty is unsettling, some nights I've struggled to sleep trying to think of a story as the lightning of inspiration has yet to hit me. In the mean time I've been scribbling down a few manga designs and layout ideas to make me feel that some progress is being made. It will be printed as it will be completed digitally and when printed I'm going to wear down the paper to make it look old and well used to give it an authentic feel. In Drama I'm working with Him now yet still need to put together a 20 minute performance, we have no ideas on what to do so plan to go round to his house after school and figure out something.

Dropping my bag on his bedroom floor I sat on the bed, He took off of His tie and blazer, casually put them over the back of the chair and unbutton the top button on his shirt, His shirt was already untucked from his trousers "shall we get thinking of ideas? Here's some coca cola I'm so thirsty!" He poured out the drinks as He spoke then handed me a glass "thanks, anything in mind to do for drama?" I sounded serious as deep down we needed to get something started or it will become a rush "Umm what about our own comedy sketch?" He suggested shrugging his shoulders, I wasn't keen "not sure, as we could die in front of the whole class if they don't get the jokes and there goes my self respect" I joked "didn't know you had any self respect anyway" he looked sassily at me "hey! Speak for yourself" rejecting his audaciousness and we laughed together. He sat on the floor leaning up against the bed and started looking through his phone, I did the same as the room went quite "put your iPod on shuffle lets hear what the first song that plays?" His suggestion intrigued me and reached for my iPod and pressed shuffle, the instantly recognisable start of the Circle of Life from The Lion King began to play "Oh circle of life! Bit of Disney" He sounded none committal from the random song "guess our version of The Lion King is a bit too ambitions for Drama work" I said flippantly "You can be the monkey with a big red ass hanging out" He laughed, smiling gave him a nudge as a gesture of stop messing. Jumping up started to look around his room hopping for some inspiration, the posters of Pans Labyrinth and The Matrix were still on the walls "Geez take your blazer and tie off, chill a bit matie" he spoke pleasantly but also impatiently, after thinking for a second I thought why not and took them off and placed them by my bag and saw Him smile, glancing out of the window daylight was rapidly fading as the night sky began to surround us. Started to look through the games on his desk and thought maybe doing something based on Mortal Combat wouldn't be a wise choice then picked up a selection of books "spotted any ideas" he asked as if he new instinctively I was looking for ideas and not just having a nosy around which made me feel happy inside "Not yet, put your iPod on so we can have some cool music" he smiled at my suggestion and searched for his iPod, which was in his blazer pocket, pressed play and the Scissor Sisters started "oh nice, I like these too" I was impressed, He came over and stood right next to me putting his arm around my shoulder "Lets see what you've got?" He asked and I passed him the books in my hands, removing his hand from my shoulder he started to look through them and stopped on Romeo and Juliet, giving a sly smile "shall I be your Romeo?" looking directly in my eyes, this made me flustered for words and lost track of my thoughts and all I was able to do was giggle and smile shyly "We could do part of it?" He suggested, gathering my thoughts "Not sure, gonna be difficult to memorise, never mind perform it!" Clearly I wasn't keen on the idea "Okay, what if we modernise it or base our own mini story on Romeo and Juliet means no difficult crap" This time I put my hand around His shoulder as He spoke and could feel his body purr like a kitten "Actually that's not a bad idea I like it and maybe I could use the story for my Art project too, if that's okay?" The idea sparked in my mind "You bet it's cool, let's do it!" He enthused and picked up his laptop "lets sit on my bed, I can type on my knee but first need to get out of this horrible shirt" with a gently throw the laptop landed on his bed and he opened the wardrobe to show a selection of jeans, shorts, t-shirts and school uniform trousers and shirts, he grabbed a t-shirt at random and sports shorts and went to the bathroom. While I waited for Him started to think of the play we could do and sat on his bed, walking back in He was now changed and I admitted to myself He did look good in shorts and should take more notice in Games, He jumped on the bed and sat next to me put the laptop on his knees and opened it ready to start typing and turned off the iPod.

"Shall we set our play now or in a different era?" He asked first and after thinking for a minute I suggested "what about during the roman times?" He types Roman times under the heading ideas "Possibly but what about costumes ya know, set today would make things a lot easier?" He was right and I agree so He deleted Roman times and put set in modern times "the story is about two guys who like each other and can't be together because..." He tailed of speaking as he reached the end of the idea and I stepped in "...because they have been hiding their love for one another but now its too late as its the end of the world and they are going to die!" I became more excitable as my idea flowed from my mind "oh like, got drama" He spoke hurriedly as He was trying to keep up with the typing as not to forget anything "but why?" I was confused by this question "what do you mean" I glanced over and he looked at me "why the world ending?" And smiled "oh...because... Aliens?" He gave me a look of disapproval "I'm not writing this down" he laughed "what about a volcanic eruption?" It was His turn for a crazy idea and I laughed "get your acting skills ready boy you are going to be drowned in lava" teasing and nudging me "you're joking right?" I asked "Nah written down now, better than Aliens" he laughed "thinking about it, I can live with it. What about if there was actually very few or no words and its all through sounds a bit like a mime?" My imagination started to kick into gear "and the focus can be on our emotions, the lighting can slowly build to red and yellow to represent the volcano and the sound effects can keep increasing" I was enthusiastic and energetic as I explained my idea. He jumped off the bed its fantastic!, let's try a few things out" so joined Him in the middle of his room "So what if the first scene is us walking past each other catching one another's eye" He pointed and walked around His bedroom as He spoke "then one of us wants to approach be decides against it" "Yes sounds good" encouraging Him to continue "Next scene we see each other again" he added "but this time we walk up close" I added and he did the same in His room looking in my eyes yet walking past, forgetting to do anything my mind was momentarily absorbed by his actions "yes, that!" I stuttered "all the while the nose is increasing and the lighting is becoming more dramatic to represent danger" I said whilst visualising the look in my mind "Yes!" He agreed without doubt "then the next scene is me looking sad then realising there is impending doom, goes running off stage to find you. The next scene is you doing the same and run off to me" He quickly made notes on the laptop has the ideas flowed "so now the noise is loud and lights will be a red and yellow for the final act, right?" He double checked with me "Yes that's it, and from opposite directions we run on, look around, run towards each other and..." he interrupted me whilst I was speaking "we run towards to each other, like this" and he ran lightly towards me embraced me and kissed me, he kissed me gently yet firmly on the lips, my mind went blank with the overload of emotions hitting my senses, closing my eyes, life went black yet I could still visualise Him clearly, I'm not sure if I kissed back but knew I didn't pull away. All too quickly He stopped kissing "...and lights cut to black to be dramatic?" Spoken in a soft calm voice which was like a soothing hug to my feelings, in contrast I was barley able to speak "yeah..yeah dramatic... I mean black."

"How did you guys get on figuring out Drama after school yesterday?" Was the first thing Claire asked in form the next morning "oh, we did a lot" He grinned "think we need to practice the last scene a lot more" this time giving me a knowing glance and I smiled embarrassingly, Claire looked both at me and then Him and the look on her face was like that moment when realisation hits you after you've been trying to work something out for ages and finally know the answer "I see" she said with a tone to clearly indicate she fully understand what happened. After yesterday my emotions were like an explosion of fireworks had just gone off in my mind, heart and stomach, it's difficult to pin down exactly the specific feelings but it clearly wasn't awkward or guilt, far from it, maybe shyness mixed with excitement is the best way to explain it. On my mind was how do I act and what do I say to show what happened was good, very good without messing things up? He acted so cool and didn't make a big deal about it which put me at ease as kissing Him felt so right, there is no need to make it into a drama and say anything, yet I might need to do something as He has been making all the moves, my mind went deep into thought as doing things like kissing isn't usually the first thing I think of.