MUD - An LGBT+ Story

Grouped Together

Mrs Smith burst through the doors looking flustered catching everyones attention and the murmur in the classroom quieted in expectation "A lot to get through this morning class. No assembly today" Mrs Smith was rushing her words whilst speaking and the news of no assembly transcended into a ripple of approval from the form and me and Steve looked at each other to question the situation. "Instead all the boys are to go to the CDT woodwork classroom and all the girls are to go to the school hall" this triggered a distinct noise of discussion as to what this could possibly mean "any ideas?" I asked Steve "No" he replied "Settle down 11S. You will find out why when you go to the rooms, there's not enough time to explain now so please make your way to the rooms" Mrs Smith insisted and we all made our way to the classrooms. Arriving at the horrible CDT room the first thing I notice was the Year 7 boys already sitting in an area and there was a noisy group of Year 8, plus Years 9 and 10, my form joined the other boys from Year 11 and Me, Him, Steve, Andy, Noah, James all stood in a group together theorising what all this could possibly mean. The noise in the classroom was chaotic and it was freezing in the CDT woodwork room, as always, outside the weather was clear with early November sunshine, yet at this time of the year the sun is just a deception as it means the temperature is devilishly cold and I was trying to resist shivering. Whilst waiting I thought, never expected to be in this classroom ever again and started to think about the horrible Year 8. Eventually Mr Williams who had a rugby ball in his hand, Mr Ralph and Mr Grant all entered the classroom at the same time and we all looked at each other as this combination of teachers made no sense, Mr Williams blew on the whistle around his neck to get everyone's attention "Right boys why are we here? We are going to be having two Sports Day's this year" my head dropped at the news as this created a lot of chatter and joyful laughter. Blowing on his whistle again "Calm down! There will be a sports day on the last Friday of term before Christmas and will consist of a Rugby match and football match for each Year group. Your respective year will be split into four teams, two will play rugby and two will play football, all the matches for each the years will be played across the sports field at the same time. Any questions so far?" A hand went up from an eager Year 7 "we will play against different years, sir?" Mr Williams went over to him "no there will be one match of rugby and football played in your year, you need to decide in your groups, who is going to be on the teams and play which sport. Myself, Mr Ralph and Mr Grant will go round with a team sheets when completed hand them back to one of us. We will also hand out forms for the second Sports Day, this will be in April before the Easter holidays and is going to be athletics!" The excitable noise levels increased again the echo in the room magnifying the situation "Okay, calm down we need to get through this as quickly as possible" Mr Williams straining to control the boisterous environment developing "The events will be listed on the form, put your name down under that event, they include 100m, 200m 800m, long jump, triple jump, javelin and discus. Again all year events will take place on the same day and will be rotated" the same eager Year 7 put his hand up again "Sir, can we be in more than once event for athletics?" He was just about audible "Good question only put your name down twice after everyone has put their name down, you all should take part. We will now hand out all the forms, when completed hand them to one of the teachers and you can go to your first lesson of the day." The teachers walked around the room handing out the papers, this was the cue for the onset of pandemonium as the jostle for putting names on the best team and preferred sports started. I hung back with Steve, Andy and James we couldn't chat as the noise in the classroom reached health disturbing levels, deep down I just hoped they would forget about me and the stress of taking part can be avoided. As the names started to fill up the teams, James was added to football as one of the goalkeepers then Steve had no choice as he was put down for rugby which left me and Andy as the paper and pen was handed to us with a space to fill for one of the rugby teams, we looked and smiled awkwardly and it was a case of who would crack first as the noise meant a negotiation was out of the question. I handed Andy the pen in hope and he snatched the it just making out the words "you owe me" as he wrote down his name and I instantly felt guilty. The last list to complete was athletics and despite my best denial attempts I knew this would be a problem as there are more slots and sure enough the paper was handed to me to add my name, looking at the events I didn't want to do anything, the only time I really run is for the bus. Reluctantly, feeling like I was signing my life away, pausing for a further second noticed His name under the 100m race which made me smile for the first time this morning and added my name to the same list.