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A New Kid in Town
Part 2 A new boy has come to town, and Paul seems to start falling in love with him.
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From previous part…
I stepped forward. “He’s my friend, this has to do with me. I’m not gonna stay out of it!” I said, angrily. Our friends were amazed at my behaviour. I have always kept a low profile and had never done anything like this before.”
“Okay you girly, wanna stay in, I’ll grant your wish”. I never saw his fist coming. When I regained consciousness, I was laying in the grass, my nose bleeding, surrounded by many concerned faces. I sat up slowly. The bullies were gone.
“Now, that was really brave, Paul!”, exclaimed Becca, hugging me. “Are you okay?” I nodded.
“Come here, bro”, Mark offered his hand. “I’ll take you home”. He helped me up and held me. My head was still spinning a bit so I hung onto it.
“Where are they? Have they gone?” I asked.
“Yeah! We threw them out! If they know what’s good for them, hopefully, they won’t dare to come back!” said Sean, one of the guys in my class. I smiled, I liked how our class always stuck together when it was important.
Mark helped me going home. As I hung onto him, I perceived something I had not found out before. Under his loose clothing, he seemed to have a noticeable bandage around his chest. I looked at him, concerned that he might have been hurt or something, and he noticed what was bothering me. He put his finger to my mouth and whispered “It’s okay, Paul. We’ll talk later”.
A New Kid in Town - Part 2
The worst part of being hit hard in the face, is the next day, when your eye is so swollen that you can’t even open it completely. It didn’t hurt too badly, though. There was no way I could hide it from my mother today, so I just resigned myself to it.
“My God!” she exclaimed, as soon as she saw me. “What happened to your eye, Paul?”
I simply shrugged. There was no way to deny that I had been involved in a fight.
She just nodded. “Let me see it, honey”, she added, getting closer. There was, of course, nothing magic she could do to improve it, but at least she was able to help the swelling go down with some ointment and a pill.
At school, everything was more or less normal. No one teased me very much about my bruises. There was also a bit of over-protectiveness in the air. None of the students in Mark’s course bothered us in the slightest, and they didn’t even get near us, with the exception of Mark himself. I kept an eye on him just in case, and noticed that he also kept watching me from time to time, but nothing bad happened at all.
Becca seemed to be the most preoccupied of all about my eye. I kept telling her that I was okay, that it would get better soon. It was a bit disheartening seeing the always-laughing girl with such a concerned expression. Thankfully, we were able to explain to her that there was no reason to worry that much, that my eye would be okay again soon.
I was still a bit concerned about the bandages I felt around Mark’s chest the day before. I didn’t know how bad the bullying might have been for him, and I was wondering if he might have some broken ribs or something. I’d keep watching out for him, as there was no way I’d allow them to hurt him anymore.
That afternoon, I accompanied Mark on his way home, after spending a big part of the afternoon with our peers, in the park again. I loved being with him, and also wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t have problems on his way home. When had I become so protective of him?
“You should try to play ball with us sometime, Paul”, he suggested, making casual conversation while we were walking across the city.
I had spent most of the time playing cards with Jake, Terry, Becca and another guy called Victor, while Sue was avidly reading a book about real science in science fiction movies and books, that one of her uncles had bought for her.
“You already know that I’m not that good at all that stuff”, I replied. “I guess I could try sometime, though. I’m awful at sports, you know?”
“Don’t worry, we just play to have fun”, he tried to convince me. “Heck”, he added, “I love your peers, I wish mine were half as good.”
I simply nodded and smiled. I knew he appreciated them a lot, and I also knew that the feeling was reciprocal.
During the conversation, something weird happened and, for some unknown reason - even for me - I casually held his hand. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t even try to loosen it. It’s unusual for two boys to be holding hands, but, fortunately, the streets were empty, so no one would say anything.
“Wanna see something?” I suddenly asked him, remembering something important. “There is a place where I used to hide when I was a small kid, would you like to see it? I still go there sometimes, when I don’t want to be found”.
“Yay, of course! I’d love to see it, I didn’t know you had a secret place!” he exclaimed, delightedly surprised.
“Come with me!” I said as I started to run, still holding his hand. He came running just behind me. For some strange reason I wanted him to see my secret place.
It was in the outskirts of the town, but not far away from where we were. There was an old, run down building that used to be a hotel, that had been abandoned for years, at least as far as I could remember. It was in a really bad state, but if you went through a side passage and climbed a bit, you found yourself in an open space that most probably had been a nice garden in good times, and that a couple of friends and I had transformed into our own secret playground when we were younger.
“Wow!”, he exclaimed amazed. “I didn’t know such a place existed here!”
“Yeah!” I replied proudly, “and it’s all ours!”
I wanted this to be our own secret place, with no one else around - our little world, in which we were free to do whatever we wanted. I looked him in the eyes, suddenly feeling a strong urge to kiss him. He looked back at me, with an unreadable expression. This was going to need a leap of faith; it could take our friendship to the next stage, or ruin it totally.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a bit, and opened them again. He was still there, looking at me with those wonderful deep green eyes. Gosh, this was going to be terribly difficult.
Finally, I couldn’t do it. I’d like to say that I was brave enough to kiss this lovely boy, with whom I was now totally in love, right there, but I just wasn’t. Why are these things so difficult?
"Lets go back, they’re gonna miss us", I said, eventually, taking his hand again. "I’ll have to be home soon or my mum will be worried, especially after this", I added, pointing at my still swollen eye.
The next day at school, I found it hard to keep my attention in class. My mind kept thinking about Matt. One of the teachers even had to reprimand me when he asked me about whatever he was talking about, and I had no clue even of what the question was.
After lunch, Sue approached me discreetly.
“Can you wait for me after class, Paul?” she said. “We need to talk”.
Just as she had said, she waited for me at the end of the class.
“So what’s wrong with you? You have been the whole day with your head in the clouds”, she asked, as we got out of sight of anyone who might be able to overhear us. I just shrugged.
“You like him, don’t you”, she asked directly. Sue had never been one to beat around the bush. I could play dumb, but there was really no point in doing that. I stared at her for a few seconds.
“Is it that obvious?” I asked her. She nodded.
“You were absent the whole morning, and drooling whenever you saw him. Yeah, I’d say it was pretty obvious”, she said, giggling.
“Yeah, I like him a lot! He’s so gorgeous!” I exclaimed. She smiled at me. “He doesn’t know it, does he?” I asked, panicking a bit.
“Maybe. Dunno”, she replied, “you boys are always so blind to these things”, she giggled. “Becca asked me about it too, just so you know”
“Great, now half of the school will know that I’m gay!” I exclaimed, annoyed with myself.
“Don’t worry, luv”, she comforted me while smiling. “We already knew!”
Could it be that obvious? I hadn’t ever told anyone about my preference for boys, yet they already knew!
“Have you already kissed him?” she asked, as if casually.
“No! I mean, no - I wanted to, you know, but then, dunno, I kind of panicked”, I confessed. “Do you know if I might have a chance with him? I mean, what if he doesn’t like boys?”
“You’ll never know until you try, my dear Paul”, she replied. “I don’t know if it works the same with a boy as with a girl, but if it does, being brave and knowing what you want will earn you points. Shy away and you’ll lose them”. So easy to say, so hard to do.
I didn’t feel like facing anybody, I didn’t go to the park, but went to my secret playground instead. I put on my earphones and my music player, sat on the floor and started throwing little stones at a tree.
When probably an hour had passed, maybe two, I felt someone taking the earphones off my head. I turned around and saw him standing right in front of me.
“I thought I would find you here”, said Mark. “Mind if I sit down with you?” he asked. I nodded, and turned the music player off. He sat by my side.
“I went to the park and you were not there, so I thought that I might find you here”, he said.
“Yeah, I didn’t feel like going today”, I replied.
“I guessed so. That’s why I thought I’d find you here. The guys asked about you, you know?” he said.
“Sure? Did they?” I asked surprised.
“Yeah of course”, he exclaimed. “They were a bit worried about you, for what happened the other day, you know?”
I looked him in the eyes and put my face close to his. He didn’t pull away. Neither of us said a word. I moved forward and just kissed him, straight on his lips, his lovely sensual lips. He kissed back. I had never felt that rush of electricity flowing through my body. Gosh, I loved this boy!
“No, I can’t, not now! This just isn’t right”, he said sadly, a moment after our kiss ended. He stood up, sighed and started to walk away. I felt the tears coming out of my eyes. He came back and kissed me again with passion. Then he moved a step back.
“I have to think about all this”, he said.”I like you, a lot, but I just can’t! Everything was going so well, and now this! It’s not easy for me, you know? I need to know where my head is, and where my heart is. Gosh, I’m so confused!” he exclaimed .
He came back to where I was, and kissed me on the forehead. Then he turned to go.
“I think I ‘big L’ you, you know?” that was all I was able to say, as he was going away.
End of Part 2
Lots of thanks to Amrad for helping me fix most of the mistakes in the text! The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
Comments
A switch?
Mark or Matt?
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Sorry for the lapsus
It's Mark. Sorry for the lapsus, it's ages since I last wrote something :)
You Have Presented an Interesting Problem
There are a number of interesting permutations here. Is Mark a girl transition to a boy, or is mark a boy transitioning to be a girl? I have a feeling that it's going to be a shock to Paul either way. I know Mark is hiding breast, but that doesn't prove the direction of transition either way. I just hope Paul can sort things out without being too hurt.
Portia
Outstanding story
I love how you are treating this one. The guessing as to which way Mark is transitioning is painful to wait on (cliche cliffhanger). But I find the dilogue extremely satisfying - the voices for each character. You have a gentleness and warmness written into these characters I very rarely find in reading. You have got my attention with this story Purple :) Keep it up. I am looking for more of this.
Sephrena
Hmmmm.......
Paul kisses Mark and Mark kisses him back. Hmmm. Next chapter should be interesting. Nice one Ms Dragon. Stands humbly with empty bowl in hand and asks more please? (Hugs) Taarpa
Which way?
Which way? Mark to Laurie? Laurie to Mark?
And how much difference will that make to Paul.
I can see this going several quite different directions.
New Kid is a great story! Now
New Kid is a great story! Now I am wondering about Mark and Paul.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Where's the Next
Chapter? I felt like saying Where's the Beef? but figured Wendy's had that copyrighted. hehehe! Im agonizing here...Need more of New Kid in town!
We needs our preccciooussssss!
Sephrena
Wow Thanks!!
I hope to be able to publish the next part in the following days :)
Any More Coming?
I'd like to see enough to see which way Mark's going, though it seems clear that his sexuality isn't going in the direction he expected...
Eric