"Are you ready?" Caine asked Kiaan.
Sammy felt a spark of jealously over the fact the two boys were planning to head off alone, which was ridiculous. Kiaan wasn't gay, and as such, he wasn't competition for Caine's heart.
'It's because you thought you were special to him,' Sammy realised.
...
'How stupid.'
The sadness and disappointment must have been plain to see, as when Caine caught his eye, the kindhearted boy extended an invite.
"So long as it's okay with you?" Caine turned to Kiaan. "It's your house after all."
"Sure, yeah," Kiaan said, flashing him a smile that looked genuine enough.
'Do I truly have friends now?' he wondered. The idea still seemed unreal, like a dream or an elaborate rouse. That people could want or value his company. It seemed false.
Sammy hadn'
Never before had Jess felt out of place in her own home. Ricky's presence was cloying and dominating, tainting the safety of her sacred personal space.This was all she had; her family and home comforts. As bad as things got as school, she always felt a sense of relief on returning to her house."So?" Ricky shrugged. "Do you wanna do this here?"Jess shook her head in the negative.She backed away instinctively as he rose from the chair and stepped toward her, smirking at her reaction as he handed her the empty beer bottle.It made a hollow ding as she dropped it into the recycling pile behind the bin. Staring down at the empty boxes and cartons, Jess felt herself relaxing. The chaos of the outside world melted away, leaving nothing but the blank quiet of her mind.She let Ricky grab her wrist, lead her through her front door and out into the street, faintly
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Mike cursed himself under his breath as he stomped home.'Why can't I tell him how I feel?' he wondered.Plonking himself on the sofa, he sank into the cushions, wishing he could disappear completely; fall into the cracks and become forever lost.'I know I've blown it,' Mike thought. 'So why can't I just let it go?'He loaded up his social media, searching Sammy in profiles.Nothing.'He doesn't even have a profile?' Mike frowned. He wondered if he was partly responsible for that before challenging himself with the very real possibility he was the sole reason. Sammy didn't have any friends until Caine turned up. The friend's he'd bought over from primary school had been quick to abandon him when Mike and his friends had singled him out as their victim.'I ruined his childho
Belle re-applied her make-up using the works bathroom mirror. She kept her eyes low until it was time to apply the kohl liner and she was forced to look herself in the eye.Memories of that boy flooded her brain. Every time she looked at her face, she saw his, crumbling as she issued her crushing rejection.Each time she tried to think about something else, anything else, but his face would always appear. His sad blue eyes, messy dyed-black hair, and stereotypical snake-bite piercings.When he'd asked her out, her response had been laughter followed a verbal bashing.She'd been trying to make her workmates laugh. And they had. Vigorously.'I need to apologise,' she realised. She'd been meaning to, but the boy hadn't returned since and she had no way to contact him. She didn't even have as much as a first name.Giving her lips a last coating of burgun
Jess dithered at the front of the queue, taking in what remained of the school's meagre offerings with an audible grimace. A pile of green beans, steamed fish portions and some grain that was probably quinoa. It was always quinoa.She grabbed a banana from the fruit tray and placed it on her tray beside her apple juice.'A healthy meal indeed,' she thought.Out of habit, Jess scanned the cafeteria for a vacant table before remembering she had a group to sit with now. Walking over to their table, she almost tripped when Ricky threw his hefty arm into her path."Sit here," he grunted, kicking out the plastic chair opposite.Jess felt the eyes of his friends sizing her up as she slid into the chair. She tried to ignore them, concentrating on the tiny meal in front of her. Every move she made felt deliberate and robotic, as though she were under scrutiny; a bug bene
The final lesson of the day was Religious Education. A waste of time by all accounts. Occasionally it was interesting, but having the class taught by a devout Christian meant the discussions were often one-sided.Today the teacher was reviewing the scientific evidence for creation. Mr Porter finally turned their attention to the football sitting in the centre of his table. The class had been wondering about its purpose since they piled in and took their seats."Can anyone hazard a guess at how this ball came to be here?" he asked the class."Erm... you put it there?" Cat said."Any other guesses?" Mr Porter pressed."That somebody else put it there," someone spoke up."So we can agree that somebody put the ball on the table. Where would you place the mathematical probability that someone sat the ball on the table?""One," Damien said. "Or
Mike was captain of both the school football and the basketball team. Blessed with a muscular built, limber form and the surefootedness of a mountain goat, he rarely stumbled. It had to be today of all days that Mike managed to trip, and over his own feet no less.He ducked as Sammy turned, looking over his shoulder a few times before turning back on himself to inspect the bushes."Erm... why are you following me?" Sammy asked."I was just..." Mike tried to dream up an excuse but drew a blank."Please stop following me," Sammy said before spinning on his heels and rushing off."Wait," Mike called. He fished himself from the brambles and underbrush, wiping away the 'sticky willy' seeds as he pursued his target.He caught up to the smaller boy with ease."What?" Sammy cried, stopping dead. "What do you want?""Did you t
Sammy watched the captain of his own high-school basketball team from the window of his flat. The guy was hurting, that much was obvious. But did he deserve this level of punishment?He hated to admit it, but Mike's company hadn't been awful. Though he wasn't exactly sparkling with wit, there was something almost cute about him. A childlike innocence. And it wasn't as if the guy was unattractive. His body was near perfect; all in proportion and with tight, neat little muscles.'I'm a pervert for noticing that,' Sammy scolded himself. To be fair, Mike had been checking him out almost constantly for the past few hours. He hadn't even been sneaky about it.The memory of Mike's eyes on his body caused his blood to rush in the opposite direction of his brain. He considered sacking off homework and relieving himself instead.Knock knock knock...The door creaked as his mother
Zonked out in front of the television as the movie credits rolled, the name 'Damien' travelled down the screen, breaking her trance.She looked away from the TV to her issue of Kerrang magazine. The singer slashed across the front cover had piercing blue eyes, dark hair and facial piercings.'He looks a little like...'"Damien!" Belle cried, swiping the magazine from the coffee table and making her roommate jump. "He's everywhere I look.""Erm... who is Damien?" Kalpna asked.Belle wondered how she was going to explain the Damien situation. Coming up empty, she shook her head and told her roommate and friend that it didn't matter."I'm here if you need to talk about anything," Kalpna offered, her pretty face creased with concern.The reason for her concern became clear when Belle caught sight of herself in the mirror above the fi