HOLA PEEPS!
THANK YOU for each and every one who sent me some feedback throughout this series!! It was greatly appreciated!! I'll try and reply to all of you, I promise xx
Loads of you asked why I decided to end the story after only six chapters, and my answer is simply this...
...as a writer, whether professionally, or as an amateur, you have to KNOW when to end it...and preferably on a high!
Hope you enjoy, I certainly did in writing it.
If y'all wanna email me about the story, of any of my other stories on Nifty, feel free xx
liciousryan@gmail.com
Peace and Love, Ryan
RICH BOY, POOR BOY CHAPTER SIX By Ryan White
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
"You mean that, Rich Boy? You wanna stay with me and this dump?" Gizmo asked in a tiny little voice, as if he was afraid of the answer.
Another kiss initiated by Kieran gave him as answer in more ways than one.
"I'm staying...with you," Kieran whispered back, caressing Gizmo's face before he crushed his lips with his own, one more time.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
"Kieran? Will you come in here for a moment, please?"
Kieran, quick as he could mopped up the rest of the grape juice that had been wasted by the new bunch of kids that had been brought into the soup kitchen for a warm meal and something to drink a few hours ago. It just HAD to be grape juice, didn't it...fucking stained everything in sight!
Many of those said children were thrown out of their houses, or their parents were no longer capable of actually taking care of them anymore, whether in jail, or alas, passed away, so Kieran did his utmost best to make sure than they had a good time whilst visiting there, each and every time they had kids over.
Since he no longer could do it on the school's soccer team, he always taught the kids some of the basic skills of the sport, followed by a little showdown between two teams that he himself would then divide them into. The kids, especially the girls, always had a ball when they were visiting the soup kitchen, and of course, not only because of them getting to actually play as well...most of them had more than a roving eye on the insanely handsome Kieran himself.
Just imagine...wow...just a few months ago, Kieran wouldn't have allowed himself to have others see him dead or alive in this situation. If it wasn't for himself and his former buddy Andy both getting community service for stealing his former soccer teammate Dylan's car, then he would have never set foot here and he would most probably still have been deep, deep in the closet... he would have been still dating that bitch Lucy Rae and doing all he could to make sure his deepest, darkest secret as very much intact.
Alas...he didn't foresee falling in love with one of the boys he had met here...one of the most sexiest, most genuine people he had EVER had the privilege to meet and get to know.
That boy's name...was Gizmo.
Four months after being thrown out of his house by his more than controlling father, his mother not really having a say in what her husband had decided to do, he was getting used to living in total and utter squalor. Oh, there were times where he wished it all away, especially when himself and Gizmo would wake up on the cold winter mornings, and there would be no immediate hot water for a bath, and forget about having a shower or any privacy...the soup kitchen was simply too small for that.
"Yes, Mam, you called?" he said questioningly, as he entered the Mother Superior's office, with a twinkle in his eye.
The elder nun looked at Kieran more nothing but pure maternal loving inside her very own eyes...because thanks to her chosen profession, she never had the honour or the chance to bear children of her own, but she knew, inside her wise old heart and soul, that if she ever did, she would want a child, a boy or a girl, exactly just like Kieran.
"My boy, take a seat, will you? We have to talk."
"Sounds dangerous...did Gizmo steal fruit from next door again?"
The nun smiled and shook her head. She then leaned forward and placed her hands together in front of her, on her old, decrepit wooden desk of work.
"Kieran...there has been a call this morning, someone has agreed to be a sponsor for you."
Kieran sat upwards immediately; his eyes drenched in confusion as well as not completely registering what the elder nun was saying to him.
"Sponsor? What kind of sponsor? Like money?"
The Mother Superior smiled as she pushed some papers forward towards him and signalled at him to read it.
"It is all there. There has been an anonymous donor, who is willing to sponsor you to go back to school. Of course, and you will read it there, the sponsor asks for only one demand in exchange for the funds for your tuition...it has to be anywhere else than Freedom High."
Kieran's blue eyes flickered over the papers as carefully as he could, but inside his heart, he was hardly digesting what he was hearing or reading. Jesus...this was it...this was his chance to actually get an education and build a new life for himself and for Gizmo...but wait...this all seemed just WAY too easy and WAY too sudden at the same time...
"Mam, may I ask who made this sponsorship avaliable?" he asked, the papers still in his by now, sweaty, nervous hand palms.
"My boy, don't you know the meaning of the word "anonymous", the nun said and winked at him.
"Oh yeah, right...didn't get that part in my head just yet. Mam...I don't know what to say, I mean...Freedom High was my life! I built my reputation there...I had a name there...people there actually wanted to be ME and be my friend...and now, to go to another school, how's that even gonna work?"
The Mother Superior nodded and turned towards her computer...old and slow as the day was long, but then again, they couldn't afford anything else. Like she always, always said...there was no need to buy something new if the old one was still in working condition, which said computer was. Just about.
"I read up on a few schools in the area, now three of them is way out of town, but Franklin High looks like our best bet. If you read there in the papers, the donation includes a blank cheque...that means I have to fill in the amount it would cost to keep you in school, for the remaining two years of your high school education."
Hearing the nun talk about Franklin High, made Kieran's pulse quicken like a F1 race car, from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds...
"But Mam! Franklin High is Freedom High's direct rivals! We always felt like had to go to war when we played soccer against them! How can I go there of all places? Isn't there any where else I can go to?"
The elder nun smiled once more and sat forward, looking Kieran straight in the eyes.
"There was a certain time when you would have said the exact same about this place, wasn't it? How is that working out for you?"
Kieran's eyes softened and he blushed.
After all that the nun and this place have done for him...taking him in when his own parents in the four months that had passed, couldn't have bothered to just call and find out how he was? Not once! They had literally thrown him to the wolves, just because he was gay, and just because he couldn't be who they WANTED him to be.
These people...these warm, loving human beings, they didn't ask questions. Not once! He sure as hell knew that the Mother Superior was more than clued up about him and Gizmo being in love...which coming to think of it, her being a nun of all things, that was huge in itself, that she allowed that to happen...she didn't need to verbally give her blessing to their relationship...the mere fact that she gave him so much love and care, proved that.
The least he can do, like honestly, was to make life a little bit easier for them, and he knew that Franklin High was the closest to the homeless village...which would save insane money on petrol and gas as well. With all they had done for him, who was he to want something more, something better?
He swallowed slowly, before he nodded.
"Tell the sponsor, if the offer still stands, that I'll take it. And sorry, again for being a brat. Franklin High, here I come, I guess!" he said, the excitement beating inside his sixteen-year-old chest at the thought of mixing it up with kids his and Gizmo's age once more...being out there on the soccer field, playing and scoring goals...being an actual teenager for the first time in four long months...oh my god, now that he thought about it and that it had completely registered, he couldn't wait to tell Gizmo!
Before he felt the office, he turned around and this time it was his turn, to look at the Mother Superior directly into her soft, warm eyes.
"You know, don't you? Who the sponsor is? I know you do."
The elder nun smiled sneakily and simply shrugged her shoulders.
"I must not tell lies", she said, her lips pursed, before she playfully waved him off with her hand.
**
"I got you something."
Kieran smiled as he saw the sheer level of excitement on Gizmo's face, and that smile turned even wider when he saw the boy of his dreams was holding one hand behind his back.
"Okay, confess! What did you steal this time?" he asked, mischief evident in his eyes.
Gizmo mockingly looked momentarily as if he had been stabbed, before he giggled and held out what looked like a small box towards Kieran. The latter boy's eyes widened to the extent that Gizmo thought Kieran was having a heart attack, before he realised why Kieran was behaving this way...
"Dude! Will you chill the fuck out, it's not a fucking wedding ring! My god! Just open the god damn thing, okay?" he said, blushing and laughing at the same time, before he literally pushed the gift right into Kieran's hands.
Kieran blew out some steam...just for a moment, a ring was exactly what he thought it was...more to the point, where would Gizmo have gotten it from was what he was most worried about...before he took the small box in his hands, turned it around so that the opening was right in front of him.
"Wait a second, there's not gonna be a puff of smoke in here or some shit that's gonna make my face green or something, is there?" he asked, with one eye suspiciously flickering towards Gizmo.
"Nah, I saved that one for the Mother Superior...JUST OPEN IT, WILL YA?"
Gizmo was nervous, that Kieran could tell. What was with this gift, that made the boy he loved and adored so incredibly anxious...he slowly opened the top part of the small box...
...and inside was the most beautiful silver-plated bracelet he had ever seen in his entire life.
"Jesus..." Kieran muttered as he carefully took the piece of fake jewellery out of the box and allowed it to lay inside the palm of his hand. Before him, Gizmo was nervously pacing up and down the small room, but Kieran was momentarily too stunned to say anything.
"I picked the box up next to the jewellery store...I just thought it would look better inside there, it's nothing fancy, in fact, it's fake as hell, but I just thought, I'd give you something to wish you luck for tomorrow, you know, starting school again and everything."
When Kieran didn't answer immediately, but simply continued to stare at the bracelet, Gizmo started to fidget and his eyes were suddenly all over the small room, situated right at the back of these soup kitchen which they have been sharing for four months...
"You know what, I'll just take it back to the spaza shop, I dunno what the fuck I was thinking, why would a rich boy like you want anything fake like this, hanging from his fucking wrist, just give that here and I'll get rid of it..."
Kieran quick as lightening, snatched the bracelet away from Gizmo's grasp, before his eyes softened once more and he walked closer to the latter, who was by now, shaking with sheer nervousness and fear that Kieran had rejected his present.
"I'm sorry, I'm not a fucking millionaire, I know you hate that thing but..."
Gizmo was silenced emphatically and brutally in the form of a passionate kiss. So much so, that he stumbled backward and bumped his head against the wall of the room. That didn't bother Kieran...he kept kissing the sexy blonde teenager with everything he had inside him. He leaned down and attacked Gizmo's neck, licking and kissing the flesh of the boy he loved.
Once he felt Gizmo shaking with sexual desire and emotions, he lifted up his face from his neck and stared into his eyes with nothing but the raw, innocent teenage love he felt for him. He reached upwards slowly and caressed the right side of Gizmo's cheek, only for the boy to sigh and close his eyes.
"You idiot...you fucking stupid idiot..." Kieran whispered before he hugged to the boy to him.
"How can I not love this? You bought it for me! I don't fucking care if it is fake! I had been faking my entire life until now so what's one more thing...and this...this bracelet is the best gift I ever gotten, and you know why...?"
He felt Gizmo shudder and he felt the latter's face ever so slowly shake as an answer in the negative connotation. He hugged the boy closer and kissed his hair, before burying his face into Gizmo's neck one more time.
"...because YOU gave it to me. I'll fucking never take it off, I promise! I'll wear it with pride...get it? Pride? Us? Gay?"
For that, he got a soft punch in his ribs from his boyfriend, groaning before giggling slightly, before he embraced him one more time.
"I love you, Rich Boy..." Gizmo whispered as the two remained standing in total embrace, as equals.
**
"Kieran?"
Kieran was just about to take Gizmo through a tour of his old school, Freedom High, when he heard a voice, and a familiar voice at that. He turned around and saw the one person that he hoped he would bump into...
"Andy! Hey, man!"
Andy smiled emphatically as he walked towards his former best friend...and after being friends literally their whole lives, after everything that had transpired between them, the two boys suddenly didn't know what to do their stupid male pride...do they greet each other shaking hands...do they high five, do they fucking fist bump...
...but that all changed as Kieran rolled his eyes dramatically, and pulled Andy into a loving hug of sheer friendship.
My God, he didn't realise how much he had missed Andy until that moment and time.
Way back, when they had been caught stealing Dylan's car and they ended up getting community service, everything had changed. Kieran's father Gordon had managed to get a restraining order against Andy, prohibiting him from seeing his son, and therefore, their once tight friendship had been blasted to smithereens...Kieran tried so many times after that to repair their friendship, but it was to no avail, thanks to Gordon's threats, Andy had been properly warned and scared off.
Once they eventually released each other, Andy smiled at him, happy to see his friend after all this time, before his eyes were etched in confusion.
"You're the last person I expected to see here? Did you come and watch your former team smash those losers from Franklin High?"
Kieran cleared his throat, before he quickly looked at Gizmo and then back at Andy.
"Uhm...actually, dude, I'm one of those losers now. I'm going to Franklin and I'm on their soccer team and yeah...I'm here because we're playing Freedom this afternoon."
Andy was shocked, that was the last thing he had expected to hear. Only then, his eyes fell onto Gizmo...and he had to think of his grandmother naked very quickly because this boy, who ever he was, was the sexiest boy he had ever seen, apart from Kieran himself.
Andy was openly out to everyone at school and Freedom, to this day, treated him like an animal for it. That was one of the reasons why Gordon Smith had refused hm to ever see Kieran again...the whole town knew of Andy's sexuality. He always hoped and prayed that someday...somehow, he would get to leave Freedom in his dust, for once and for all, to hopefully never return...but he had to wait to graduate high school before any of that could happen. Until then, he had no choice but just to endure the abuse. It wasn't as if it was going to be stopped, not in this god forsaken town.
Kieran's eyes locked onto Andy and his clear apparent attraction for Gizmo and quickly held up his hands.
"This one is taken, sorry buddy. Andy, meet Gizmo. Andy is...was...well, my best friend in Freedom High, we've known each other since birth, in fact our mom's gave birth on the same day. Yeah, man, we share a fucking birthday! Andy, this sexy fucker you see here, is Gizmo. He's my...well, you see...he's, my boyfriend."
For a minute Kieran thought that Andy must have been suffering from something which closely resembled an anaphylactic shock, but after a few seconds, Andy nodded, and looked to have turned back to what was deemed as normal. He smiled slightly and stuck out his hand towards Gizmo, who slowly, after looking what was perceived as permission from Kieran, returned the gesture.
"Nice one, I'm really happy for you. Uhm, looks like the match is about to start so...I guess I'll see you after the game," Andy said, what he hoped would have sounded as cheerful, but Kieran saw right through him.
Having grown up as infants together there was very few things that Andy could ever hide from him all these years.
"Give us a few minutes, okay? I'll be okay, I just need to make sure he is...I told you he was out whilst I wasn't...it has to be a big ass shock for him," Kieran said to Gizmo, whilst gently taking his boyfriend's hand for a few seconds, before he ran after Andy.
**
"Come on, pal, I haven't known you since yesterday...okay we have drifted apart these past few months thanks to my dad, but I need to know that you're okay and that you're doing just fine! Talk to me!"
Andy turned around, and after making sure they were alone, or that at least there was no one within hearing distance, he shook his head and looked at the ground, gently knocking around a stray pebble with his foot.
"I told you, that I was gay. Fucking hell, Kieran, I told the whole entire Freedom who I really was. Were you gay back then too? Or was it something you just happen to figure out after your dad threw you out of the house? Or...Jesus...was it because of that, that he did?"
Kieran placed his hands inside the pockets of his shorts and sighed.
"I was always gay, buddy. I just didn't have the guts you had to come out, I had more to lose, you know that. Why do you think I dated Lucy Rae all this time? Man, how desperate must I have been, that bitch is a total nutcase!"
"I hear she's been talking shit about you at school, to everyone who wants to hear, saying you have some dead-beat job as a waiter? That can't be true, can it?"
Kieran pulled a nasty face and rolled his eyes. He didn't expect any less from someone like her.
"What was I supposed to do? The soup kitchen I'm staying at..."
"You're staying where? Jesus, Kieran! Have you totally forgotten about ME? I could have given you a fucking roof over your head! I've...well, I guess I can say it now, there's no reason to bloody hide it any more..."
Kieran looked up at Andy, who was clearly inside a spat of turmoil in his mind and body, and the latter closed his eyes tightly before he turned towards Kieran once more...
"Do you realise that I have loved you so for long, I can't even remember? And not as a friend, fuck that, I mean real fucking in love with you. All those times that you allowed me to...you know, give you blowjobs and stuff like that, do you know what it would have meant, to someone like me, who was ridiculed and HUMILATED every day after coming out, if you would just have said...Andy, don't worry, everything I gonna be okay, because I'm gay too? At least I wouldn't have felt like I was all alone in this world!"
Kieran's eyes were the size of saucers right then...he never, ever suspected that Andy might have more than genuine friendship feelings for him...yes, he kinda knew that having him suck his dick might come back and bite him in the ass someday but he was a different person now!
Before all of this, he was Kieran Smith, captain of the school's soccer team and one of the most popular kids at Freedom High...he didn't care who got hurt in the process, as long as he got his way...
"Andy, buddy...if this is gonna hurt you, I'm sorry. But I just couldn't do, what you did. I saw what happened to you and I thought, hell no. I always tried to protect you, as far as I could, you know what, from idiots and bullies around here...and then we got community service for stealing Dylan's car and I met Gizmo. He's one of the homeless boys I'm working and living with over there. I fell in love like I never thought I would, dude. I love Gizmo...and I'm sorry again, but me and you are buds. Best buds. And best buds can't fuck, because if it goes crap then so will the friendship. I'm sorry, Andy. And I'm really sorry I didn't tell you I'm gay sooner. I was a jerk, I own that. Four months living on the streets homeless...that changes you."
Andy blinked his eyes a few times, as if he wanted to stop himself from crying at Kieran's words, but he toughed up and smiled at the boy he had known ever since they were day old baby boys. He placed his hand on Kieran's shoulder, and sighed, but then he was back to being his old self.
"I know. I always knew it was a long shot. Hey...at least all of this wasn't a total failure."
"What do you mean?" Kieran asked in return.
Andy winked at him.
"I got my buddy back. Can't ask for anything else."
**
"Come on, Kieran! Shoot, come on...FUCK! Jesus, is that goalkeeper on fucking steroids?"
Gizmo had his hands on his blonde head as once more, Franklin High escaped going in front inside the very intense soccer match between themselves and Freedom High by a massive save by the Freedom keeper, who had thwarted Kieran, as well as the other strikers from Franklin mercilessly all afternoon. The score was 0-0, but not for the lack of trying on both team's part.
Andy, who was standing next to Gizmo as they watched the game, turned towards the boy he had only met just about an hour ago...
"That's Dylan Frasier. It was his car that we had borrowed...not stolen, by the way, that night. It's because of him and his dad that we got community service. When Kieran was forced out of Freedom High, it was Dylan who was made captain."
Gizmo snarled at Dylan, who was organising his defence for yet another attack by Kieran and the Franklin High front three and once AGAIN, a diving safe from Dylan kept the scores level, to the applause of the Freedom High supporters in the stands.
Gizmo gritted his teeth and secretly, so did Andy...he might still be a Freedom High student, but his loyalty definitely wasn't, not after how the school had treated him since coming out.
Ten minutes to go, and Kieran was on the attack. In his mind, he saw Gizmo egging him on and he desperately wanted to score against Freedom High, of ALL teams, just so that he could get his own personal revenge on the school, the town, all the fucking homophobes and naysayers that lived in it! If THAT wasn't motivation to fucking score, then he didn't know what was.
Once more, he slipped past two defenders, as if they weren't even there, and as for the whole entire afternoon, every time he had the ball, the Freedom crowd tirelessly boooed him, beyond belief. He could hear the monkey-like noises made towards him by the Freedom faithful in the stands, and that just made him try harder.
Fuck! Suddenly it was just himself and the keeper once again! It was just Dylan left to beat...
FUCK!
Once more, Dylan spread himself out to block the powerful shot made by Kieran, and the ball was swiftly given back to the Freedom players.
"Hey, Loser!"
Kieran turned around...there was no one behind him...except Dylan...
"You just call me a loser?"
Dylan sneered at him, and he clapped his gloved-up hands together, as if he was enjoying every moment of whatever this was.
"Guess who's fucking your ex-girlfriend these days?"
Kieran froze. So did the majority of the players on the pitch. They immediately saw that Dylan and Kieran's minds weren't on the game anymore.
"What did you say?" Kieran shouted, top of his voice, his hands balling into fists at every syllable.
Dylan strutted out towards Kieran and stared him down, and even the latter was shocked at the sheer level of distain in the other boy's eyes.
"I'm saying that you're no longer the big man you thought you were around here, are you? I hear you're waitering in some piss coffee shop! How the mighty have fallen! You can ask Lucy Rae...she finally had something big in her mouth this morning after years of being with you!"
Kieran couldn't believe what he was hearing...Jesus Christ, he and Dylan were friends!
Or so he fucking thought, clearly...there was a strange fire in the other boy's eyes that Kieran had NEVER seen before. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gizmo and Andy together in the stands, confusion etched on both their faces, both of them clearly not understanding what was going on.
Was Dylan deliberately trying to get him sent off? Was he egging him on to punch him or even worse? Knowing that would result in a straight red card? Could Dylan really be that cruel? They have been teammates for years!
"I'm not doing this. You're pathetic. Let's just finish the game..." Kieran said firmly, and started to turn around, before he heard Dylan one more time...
"You can try all you want, Kieran! I'm the man here now! I'm the big guy now! Lucy Rae is MY girl now! And you...ha! You're just a distant fucking memory...so fucking happy I was the one telling the police you stole my car...couldn't wait to get rid of ya!"
WHAT...
WHAT??
Kieran's eyes widened and the look on Dylan's face told him everything he needed to know...
...of course...Jesus, no wonder Dylan avoided him like the plague before the hearing that got both himself and Andy community service and a criminal record to boot...no wonder he wasn't the same after that...no wonder because IT WAS HIMSELF who was behind it! It was never Dylan's father...it was Dylan himself!
Dylan had to know they didn't STEAL the car in the full since of the word...he thought that Dylan would understand because they were friends and teammates! and then he STILL told the police that himself and Andy had STOLEN it, knowing it would ruin him! Fucking hell, and by so doing that night...without even knowing it...he played right into Dylan's hands.
All this time he thought it was Dylan's dad who wanted to teach himself and Andy a lesson...he never realised how much Dylan clearly...seemed to hate him. And all because...he was jealous of Kieran, being Kieran. Being popular. Dating Lucy Rae. Being the big guy on the school grounds. Because he wanted all of that...for himself...
Kieran swallowed...and once more, like so many times that afternoon, he smiled. Dylan must have thought he had gone psycho, because he looked at Kieran as if he wanted and expected a fight...he wanted Kieran sent off, that was for damn sure now...but Kieran just kept smiling.
"Hey Dylan. Thanks."
"What for?" Dylan spat out, his eyes still that glowing, fiery red.
Kieran looked over at Gizmo, and then back at Dylan.
"Because if you hadn't ratted me out to the cops that night, I wouldn't have met the love of my life. So, you can have Lucy Rae with my all my blessings. And guess what, I never wanted her. I just used her, to make myself look good. So, good luck with that...she'll find another boyfriend as soon as one more popular comes along!"
And with that, Kieran sped off in the direction of the centre of the pitch and at once, signalled at the ref to blow the whistle to restart the game.
He wanted to score a goal even MORE now.
**
Stoppage time.
Not one team could score in ninety minutes of game play. If things finished as 0-0, it would be Freedom High that would take the bragging rights, as they had one more point on the league table, than Franklin High, their direct rivals.
Once more in desperate need of a goal and the urgency to SHOVE it towards his old school, Kieran charged forward, with the ball rolling at his feet. He passed it to a team mate as he saw multiple defenders coming, and with the speed and grace of a ninja, he side-stepped the two, before receiving the ball back. Once more, like so many times that afternoon, it was only himself and Dylan...there was nothing between them...
Kieran quickly thought where he wanted to shoot the ball, to Dylan's left or right and he distinctly remembered that Dylan was weaker on his left, but then again, Dylan might anticipate that, he wasn't stupid either.
The decision was taking right out of his hands, when one of Freedom High's defenders had manage to haul Kieran in and tackled him viciously to the ground.
"Fucking traitor!" he heard the distain whisper, with a hand pushing Kieran's face right into the muddy grassy pitch with a cruel laugh, before he heard the whistle blow and suddenly all of the Freedom High supporters in the stands seemed to go ballistic...and after he had managed to wipe the mud out of his eyes, that's when Kieran saw why...
...the referee had given Franklin High a last-minute penalty.
"What the fuck? Ref, come on, that was a clean tackle!" Dylan shouted to no avail, the referee shunned him as well as the other Freedom players away from him, and indicated that he had made his decision and that he was sticking by it.
After getting the okay from his new teammates, to take said penalty, Kieran grabbed the ball and placed it neatly, and slowly on the white, round penalty spot, about twelve yards away from Dylan, the opposing goalkeeper.
This was it.
If he could score this...there would be very little time left in the game, if there was any at all. If he scored this, Franklin High would win the game.
This was his one chance to make all the bullying stop...all the taunts, all the homophobic crap that Andy and whoever else in this town, who was forced to live in secret, in hiding, in fear of being who they were BORN to be, this was going to be for ALL of them...who was forced to live in the scum town that was Freedom. Never again, would Freedom, be something to fear.
"TRAITOR...TRAITOR...TRAITOR..." came the jeers from the Freedom crowd as it rained upon him. Once more he turned towards where he knew Gizmo and Andy was...and Jesus, where would he be without them...
...he glanced towards the silver bracelet hanging on his arm...Gizmo had given it to him as a symbol of good luck, and boy, oh boy, did he need it right now.
Kieran stepped away from the ball a few feet, and looked upwards to see in what direction the wind was blowing.
"Come on, you fucking wanker! Think you can beat me? You're nothing now! You're fucking useless! This ain't Kieran's turf anymore! THIS IS DYLAN'S HOUSE NOW!" Dylan screamed the top of his voice, with the roaring support of the home crowd behind him.
Another quick look towards Gizmo, and although he was far away from him, he clearly saw the boy nod towards him, and at the same time, he held up both of his hands in front of his skinny ass chest, in the classic shape of a heart...
Gizmo loved him.
God...he had all the money in the world a few months ago...he lived in a huge ass mansion, and never wanted for anything in this world...
...but he had never, ever felt so stinking rich...so incredibly content, than right now...when he had nothing to his name except for a few measly bucks in his wallet.
He didn't need it.
He had Gizmo.
Kieran heard the whistle blow. That meant the ref had given the okay for the penalty to be taken. Dylan's left side was his weakest, that he knew. The latter would expect the ball going in that direction. He closed his eyes; he made his choice.
The next thing he knew...the ball was in the back of the net, and the Franklin High players descended on him as if he had just won them the fucking FIFA World Cup.
As the celebrations went on, Kieran saw Dylan laying on the ground, from where he had tried his best, but ultimately failed to stop Kieran's match winning penalty, deflated with his own face covered in globs of mud, from where he must have landed in trying to save the shot.
As Kieran ran back with his new team mates, he heard the final whistle blow, and before he knew it, he saw both Andy and Gizmo coming towards him like they were literally being chased by lightening...and it was Gizmo who reached him first, himself and his skinny ass body jumping happily into his arms and holding him as tight as he ever had before.
Kieran didn't care...he didn't CARE if the entire Freedom High saw what was happening. There was a time that he did, there was a time that he would have died before admitting that he was homosexual...gay...a poof...a faggot...but now...this was the happiest, most greatest moment of his life, being on this exact same pitch, where he had created so many memories in his previous chapter, with two of the people he cared most about in his life.
Andy...dear Andy, with whom he started this whole journey, only to discover that there was more to himself than just money and popularity.
And then there was Gizmo...the dude he loved more than he ever thought he could love any human being. The smile and the love in his eyes towards the boy were clear for everyone to see.
Kieran placed Gizmo down on the ground, still surrounded by his Franklin High teammates as well as several of the Freedom High bunch who was making their way out of the school after their loss...he winked at a confused Gizmo...and with EVERYONE looking at the two of them, he gently placed his arms around Gizmo...and kissed him.
The Franklin High players cheered and celebrated with Kieran and Gizmo as if they just announced they getting married...meanwhile those who attended Freedom High was shocked beyond belief...the player, the man, the popular soccer star Kieran Smith...was gay...and now he had made damn sure that everyone knew. At fucking last.
Together, the Franklin players joined together and raised Kieran and Gizmo off the ground and carried both of them out of the school grounds, whilst signing Kieran's name loud enough for the entire Freedom to hear.
Gizmo laughingly reached out and grabbed Kieran's hand, which he held very tightly inside his very own. Kieran smiled at the boy he loved, with all the warmth and desire he had for him, evident and clear as day.
Finally...he had won.
He had triumphed.
He was Kieran Smith, and he was proudly gay.
**
TWO YEARS LATER
"And now, I, as the proud principal of Franklin Highschool, I present you to, your Valedictorian for the class of 2022, Kieran James Smith!"
The entire assembly, each and every one of the parents, former students and teachers attending the graduation ceremony stood up in total unison to applaud the by now, tall and lanky Kieran, who was blushing like crazy as he walked up the giant steps, to where the principal was waiting for him. He shook Kieran's hand, before signalling that it was time to make his speech.
Kieran smiled nervously as he stood before the microphone and swallowed very slowly...his eyes immediately searched for one particular person and after a few seconds, he found him. Both boy's eyes lingered on the others before Kieran winked at him, eliciting a laughing murmur from the Franklin High faithful. They knew exactly for who that action of sheer affection was meant for, after two years of seeing the most romantic love story develop between two teenage boys that they ever felt they would.
Kieran cleared his throat and thouroughly composed himself.
"I'm not gonna bore all of you with a long speech, so Gizmo, sit your ass down! All I wanted to say...and this is coming straight from deep inside of me...to those of you, who are gonna follow our class, in the next year and the following and so on...all I can say, is NEVER, EVER forget where you came from. Never be different from who you really are. Because in the end...all that we have is OURSELVES. Never be afraid to seek help, because it will always be there, if you need it. Never be afraid to ask. Not in here, not in Franklin High. I came here two and a half years ago, with so many flaws, so many dreams dashed and so many mistakes, and what did you do? Y'all accepted me, and my boyfriend, yes BOYFRIEND, with all the love you guys had. That's something I will never forget, and that I'll take with me, wherever I go in life. And hopefully, if you haven't already, you'll also find someone who is just right for you. Thank you!"
Thunderous applause followed Kieran as he smiled and left the stage. In the traditional fashion, all the graduating students joined each other on the soccer pitch and as dramatically as possible, threw all their capes in the air, as a sign to all of them, in some way or form, starting a new chapter in their lives.
"You were awesome, as always!" Gizmo happily said as he hugged Kieran and kissed his temple, to which the latter caressed his boyfriend's shoulders, and holding him to his body, tight as usual.
"I love you...I love you so much..." he whispered, only so loud so that Gizmo could hear him.
"Kieran...?"
Gizmo felt Kieran's entire body stiffen up, before he withdrew from the hug, and looked behind the boy. Kieran's face silently asked the question that he knew he would...was it who he thought it was...and Gizmo solemnly nodded yes.
A glance towards his bracelet, still dangling from this wrist after two years of having received it, Kieran took a deep breath and he turned around.
"Mom...I didn't think you would come. I know I invited you, but with Dad and everything I wasn't sure..."
Maria Smith came closer towards her son, the tears streaming from her face, before she reached out and emphatically grabbed Kieran in such a firm embrace that for a second, Gizmo thought that she was choking the young man.
Kieran always felt that if this moment ever arrived, that if this ever would happen, that he would have great difficulty showing any kind of affection toward his mother, but that all flew out the proverbial window, the second her arms embraced his own.
Together mother and son stood and cried, each to his own, at having seen each other for the first time in over two and a half years.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Maria would whisper over and over and Kieran answered her back by hugging her even closer.
"I know, Mom. I know you had no choice. Dad...Gordon...he had the final say back then and you were totally dependent on him, I know that you, you couldn't go against him. Not then. But the Mother Superior...she told me everything. You never really forgot about me, did you?"
Kieran's mother looked up from their embrace, tears still very much evident in her eyes, the same eyes that Kieran had inherited from her, before she frowned...
"You know...?"
Kieran nodded and smiled as he took his mother's hand.
"It was you. The sponsorship. Two years ago, so that I can finish school. It could only have been you, and no one else, and I figured it out anyway, so the Mother Superior, didn't really have a choice but to tell me. I thought you threw me away, like a dog in the street...but Mom...you never really did, did you? You made sure that I got my education, you made sure that I was clothed and fed, still after everything that happened. I don't know how you managed to fool Dad by paying for my studies, but all I wanna say is...thank you. I really missed you, Mom...every single day."
Maria beamed out of sheer unbridled happiness, before her attention fell to Gizmo. For a few seconds, there was a tad of awkwardness, especially on her part, but eventually her face softened, and she reached out to him.
"Both of you. I want to get to know you better. Even you, Kieran. I've lost and missed out on so much of your life, I don't want to miss out on any detail ever again. Tonight, I'm taking you both out to dinner and..."
"...actually, Mom...if you don't mind...let's just get some take out and have it back at the soup kitchen. If you really wanna get to know me again, then we have to start there. That's my home now. That's where I became a grown up, Mom. That's who I am. You're not gonna get to know the new me in a fancy restaurant. Please...I really don't want to lose you again. Please."
Maria shook her head in amazement, at just how much her son had grown, not just in height, but also emotionally, spiritually...and eventually nodded in agreement, wiping away a few more tears, before she gently placed her hand on Kieran's cheek and looked at him with love her in her eyes, as only a mother could for her only son.
"When did...when did my boy become a man...?" she whispered.
**
"You sure you wanna do this, especially alone?" Gizmo asked, as they parked the car.
Kieran was silent for a few seconds, before he took hold of Gizmo's hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. Gizmo understood immediately, Kieran needed and wanted to do this on his very own.
"I love you, Rich Boy," he said, mischief once more rolling around in those beautiful green eyes of his.
"Are you ever gonna stop calling me that?" Kieran giggled and leaned over to kiss his boyfriend.
"Nope. Never. You're stuck with it. For life! Just like me, the Poor Boy," Gizmo joked, as he leaned his head onto Kieran's shoulder.
"Ha! Rich Boy, Poor Boy...sounds like a good name for a love story..." Kieran said before he kissed Gizmo one more time, and opening the car door.
"I'm here, if you need me. Okay?" Gizmo said and Kieran nodded...but he needed really, to do this on his own.
As he started his walk and journey through the various graves inside the cemetery, he knew exactly where to go. He had been here that day when they had the burial service...and because of what happened in the past, he had to resort to hiding behind a tree with only Gizmo at his side and his tears to say goodbye with...and after that, he had been too busy with school and the final exams to actually make the time to come here.
He stopped abruptly as he saw the name on the grave, the name he had been looking for, and knelt down, careful not to have his graduation toga get any kind of dirt on it. He still had to take it back later that afternoon.
"Hey, Dad."
The grave of Gordon Smith was before him, in living memory, and just like the letters of the name had been etched into the granite, so was all his memories of his deceased father, the good and the bad, as it drifted before him like film noir of old.
"As you can see...I made it. I actually made it. I'm a high school graduate. Look, Dad, I'm not here to gloat or to brag or anything like that. I've made peace with you and with what happened. I forgive you, Dad. Because if you didn't disown me that day, I might have always been as privileged as I had grown up to be, always as obnoxious, and always as degrading to people beneath me. Thanks to you, I learned that life doesn't work out that way. People need to be cherished, not hated upon, regardless of their race, or their gender, or even their sexuality or their religion. And if there is one good thing you managed to teach me, then I'm happy it was this."
Kieran stood up, before wiping way a few tears. He gazed upwards into the afternoon sunshine...and he sure hoped that his father was in heaven...because then he would be looking down upon him now. And hopefully, just hopefully, he'd be proud of him.
"Good bye, Dad," he said before he turned around and started to walk backwards, towards a further three rows of graves on the left-hand side of the cemetery.
**
The tears streamed down his face before he even reached the next grave.
He didn't even bother to wipe them away, he just let it flow. He had to. He couldn't, wouldn't stop crying, even if he could. At times, it felt as if he always would. He once again, knelt in front of the grave, threw out the depleted magnolias that he found there, and placed the roses than he had brought with him, carefully into the pot that was situated next to the grave.
He closed his eyes, the tears still flowing, and once he had composed himself, he opened them again.
"I bet you never thought, never thought you'd see the day where I was graduating from high school, but here I am, I did it. And if it wasn't for you, I probably would have ended up living on the streets."
Kieran breathed out slowly, before he continued.
"How can I ever, ever thank you? You were not only a mother to me, but to so many others back in the village. If it wasn't for you, my life would have had no meaning. I'll never forget what you gave me, what you meant to me. And I know that God sure as hell is smiling up there, because he has one of his best angels is with him right now."
Kieran stood up, his eyes sadly glancing over the name etched on the grave.
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
MOTHER SUPERIOR
JANE LILY
ANDERSON
He wiped his eyes and sniffed his nose, before he placed his hands inside his pockets.
"I'm gonna do you proud. Me and Gizmo. That is a promise," he finally whispered, before he sighed, one more time, and slowly walked back to where Gizmo was waiting for him in the car.
"You okay, Rich Boy?" Gizmo asked, getting out of the car and hugging Kieran before he even reached the vehicle.
"I'm okay. Hey...look at us! Rich Boy, Poor Boy! I hope the world is ready for us, because we're gonna CRUSH it!" Kieran said, as he happily picked a giggling Gizmo, still skinny as a pauper after all these years, up and swung him around in his arms.
And as the afternoon sunlight flooded the surrounding area and kissed the graves inside the cemetery, so did Kieran and Gizmo.
Their own journey into this world, was only just beginning.
**
THANKS FOR READING!! HOPE I DID Y'ALL JUSTICE!!
And a HUGE thanks to those who had sent me emails and always encouraged me to actually FINISH this story and not leave it hanging haha. I love you guys.
Any feedback, positive or negative, can as always be sent to liciousryan@gmail.com