I swiftly opened my eyes to the sound of "Something to See" by Glenn Lewis on my phone. 5:45 am. This will be the biggest year of my high school career. I hummed along to the mellow sound of the song for a minute and decide to turn the alarm off. Walking over to my mirror, I stopped and observed my face. Not too bad, I suppose. Six feet even, shaggy brown hair, coming down below my ears, lightly touching the nape of my neck. Steely grey eyes which I inherited from my mom. People always compliment them and say that they look so mysterious and ambiguous. I scrunched up my angular nose and stuck my tongue out, making a quite comical face. I looked intently at my taut, lean torso, giving off a faint hint of a six pack forming. I also took a quick gaze at my slightly defined arms. It definitely wouldn't hurt if I gained a couple more pounds. My gaze traveled down and acknowledge my ever-present morning wood. "Oh joy," I sighed aloud, grabbed my bathing towel and went to the bathroom for my morning duties.
I came out of the bath fresh and clean and headed to my bedroom to put on my toiletries that consisted of body powder, deodorant and my favorite cologne, Euphoria by Calvin Klein. I walked over to my closet and picked out an Abercrombie & Fitch pale blue and white button down and a pair of skinny jeans. I slid on my jeans as I heard a knock at the door and my brother came in. "Tristan, you're a senior now. Like, officially. That's so awesome. I can't wait until I'm a senior," my brother Tanner said, flopping down on my bed. "Yeah, I know right? I'm super excited. Graduation's right around the corner, bro. And I can't wait. That will be the day I'm free," I replied back, buttoning up my shirt. "Looking hot, you sexy homo!" he whistled at me. My family and my closest friends know I'm gay. The parental units took it surprisingly well and so did Tanner. My brother and I are really close. I'm protective of him in a way, but at times I feel he's more protective of me. "Yeah right," I said rolling my eyes. "Come on! You're a hottie Tris! You should see how all the girls at school ask about you. They always wanna know the scoop with you, dude. They love you."
"If only I loved them in that way back." I say with a broad smile on my face. "TRISTAN! TANNER! DOWNSTAIRS! BREAKFAST!" my mom shouted up the stairs. "Better get dressed before Mom throws a fit." I said to him. I grabbed my school bag and headed downstairs to eat breakfast. "Hey, Mom," I beamed as I grabbed a slice of bacon and poured myself a glass of apple juice. "Good morning sweetheart," kissing me as she grabbed her briefcase. "I have to be at the office early today. I have to do open house showings to 4 clients, so it's going to be a long one. I won't be here after school. Your father should be coming in from his run in a few minutes. I have to go. I'm in a rush. Love you sweet heart. Love Tanner. Got everything? Do I have everything I need?" She rapidly sped through her mini speech. She didn't even give me a chance to interject! She mumbled a couple of more words, pacing the kitchen a couple of more times, and decided she had everything and she headed out the door. " NO PARTIES GUYS!" She yelled as she headed to her truck. I sat down at the island and waited for Tanner to come down so we could go to school. Shortly after, my dad walked in panting and sweating. "Hey, Dad. Mom just flew out of here like a bat out of hell." I said, laughing. "She'll learn to slow down one of these days. Are you ready for senior year? I remember..."
"Remember your senior year like it was yesterday. I know, Dad." I heard the story over and over and over again. "Sorry son. It's just that it was the prime of my teen years; captain of the football team, amazing social life, perfect GPA, acceptance into one of the premier schools of California. Ok, now I'm rambling. I'm going to get ready for work, Kiddo," excusing himself. "Have a good day, Dad." I said, laughing as he walked up the stairs, Tanner while was coming down them. They made an exchange and Tanner walked to the door. "Let's get this show on the road. "About time. Took you like a whole day."
"You shut up! I had to pick out the right outfit. I didn't wanna look too new-y or like too put together."
"What a girl," I retorted. "At least I bag them."
"Bag them? You're so lame."
"UGH! I can never win with you!" Tanner said looking defeated. "Come on. You gotta have a better comeback than 'At least I bag chicks'! That's so lame!"
"Such a smartass."
"There we go. Now come on. We gotta get to school sometime before lunch hour," I said grabbing my keys from the counter and my bag. We walked to the car together and got in, going to school.
We arrived at Hollywood High School 10 minutes before we were supposed to go to homeroom, so that meant time to catch up with my best friend Kyle from summer break. They went backpacking through Europe. Fascinating right? I'm stuck here in boring Los Angeles. Not stuck, but I spent my summer at the beach and in the greater L.A. area. How mundane. "I'll meet you after school Tanner. I'm so ready for this year." I said enthusiastically. "Alright catch you later, bro." He said as he headed to the far side of the school. I walked to the side entrance and walked up the stairs to see whose homeroom I was in. The seniors homerooms are always on the top floor, as well as an alphabetical list of the students and the homeroom they belonged to. I went over to the C's and searched for my name. Capriotti. Homeroom: Ms. Hall, my favorite teacher. I've been in her theater class just about every year, and in the school's theater productions since grade 9. I felt a tugging at my shirt and suddenly, I was yanked back and spun around. Only one person. "Kyle! How was your summer?" I asked "It was great! I have to tell you all about it. Hopefully we have a class together. Who's homeroom are you in?"
"Ms. Hall's. You?"
"Davenport. Let's hope he's not hung over first day of school."
"Horrible!"
"I'll catch you later though if we don't have any classes together, yeah? After school?"
"You know where I live." Kyle walked away and headed to Davenport's direction, me going the other way to Ms. Hall's classroom. I made it to her room and was intercepted with a really big greeting. There were only about 5 students in the room. Some kids I don't really care to know to be quite honest. "How was your summer Tristan?"
"It was pretty good I guess. I didn't do too much of anything. I went to the auditions you told me to go to. Of course you know how they ended."
"It's not booking the jobs that I'm concerned about with you. You have plenty of time. I want you to go to them so you can network. Meet industry insiders and get familiar with them. I have another list of auditions in the area if you'd like."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to go to a couple more," I said. "This time try to engage with the client instead of just doing the part." She really reminded me of Rachel Ray, in attitude, in stance, even the way she talked. Same dark hair and eyes, same body build, same intonation of speech. "Got it. I really wanted the Victorious job though. That would have been interesting."
"I read some of the script to the show, and it's not a bad show at all. Just look into these. Hopefully, you'll find something that interests you," she said handing me the paper with the list of auditions. I took the paper and headed to a seat near her desk. "Are you going to be in choir this year?"
"I signed up for it last year, but I'm not sure if it's on my schedule."
"We have a new teacher this year. One of my dear friends and we've worked together so many times in the past. I'm glad he came to the school. I think you'll like him as a teacher."
"I hope so. The main reason I didn't last year was because of You-Know-Who."
"Of course, darling, of course." She said rolling her eyes. "You're on my role for 4th period Play Production. That makes it a whole lot easier for me because I haven't chosen a production for fall this year. The class gets to choose as a whole."
"Sounds fun." Our conversation ended as the warning bell rang. Students came in and slowly filled the room. Emily Cane sat one seat in front of me and turned around and spoke. This was odd because we barely talked to each other even though we're basically in the same social circle. And we've been in the same homeroom for four years straight. "Omigawd, like, hi, Tristan! How are you? It's been, like, so long since we've talked. How are you?"
"I'm good Emily. How was your summer?"
"It was like totally cool. We like went to New York and all and like the Hamptons and it was totes blaze. I like definitely had the time of my life." Such an airhead. "That's great. I pretty much stayed here the entire summer."
"Too bad! Well, like, anyway, why don't you have like a boyfriend yet?" What? She knew? "Oh come on. You totally ignore all the girls. Like, all of them. So I just added two and two together. And it's four. So... how come?"
"It's a little bit personal, but I don't think anyone here is my type." I sort of laughed at how forward she was being. The final bell rang. Thank God. "Alright class. After this year the real world starts." A half the class groaned while the other just rolled their eyes. "I know you don't want to hear it this early in the morning, or this early in the year, but at this point, it gets real. No more playing. With that being said, I'm about to call the roll. I want complete silence until after I've called the roll. Any talking, you get written up and sent to the office." She then started calling the names while the rest of us zoned out. Well I did anyway. She knew who I was, so there was no need in me paying attention. There was a knock at the door and one of the office assistants came in. "Ms. Hall, you have a new student for your homeroom. He just transferred today. I have his paperwork right here. He's right..." she said turning around. "Oh he was right behind me. Must be in the hall. Anyway, his name is name is Zackary." When she said his name, he walked in the door. I silently gasped at his beauty. My God this guy was gorgeous. "Hi, Zackary! I was just in the middle of calling the roll. Find a seat and I'll pencil you in." He scanned the room and looked for an empty seat. Either one in the very back or the one right behind me. I watched him walk over to my side of the room and realized he was coming to the spot right behind me. He was absolutely breathtaking. He had long raven black hair reaching the middle of his back, neatly held together in a ponytail. The most beautiful golden honey colored skin, without a blemish in sight. He was tall too. At least 6 ft 2 and I noticed he had golden hazel eyes. He was just... perfection. He gave me a slight smile. I was temporarily paralyzed for a couple of seconds. Ms. Hall continued to call out the roll. It took all of my might not to just turn around and just stare at him. She was done calling out the roll so we were free to talk. Suddenly, I couldn't think of anything to verbalize. Just my luck. "Soooooo, Tristan, given your, like, situation, I think we should totally like get to know each other and become, like, better friends. That sounds totally great right? I have a, you know... brother, and a girl cousin, like... you know. And they're, like, just like you. It could be like super, super fun."
"Ok, yeah sure, Emily. That's fine. We're basically in the same group anyway. I guess it wouldn't hurt."
"Oh my GOD, Tristan, you're so nice! You're so not the hard ass that everyone says you are."
"Wait what?" I replied, turning red. "Oh yeah. You're like always in your own world. Like you're here with us, but you're, like, not." She said, twirling her long blonde hair, probably extensions. "Nice to know," I retorted, faking a smile. I was being embarrassed in front of the fucking vision of love. Great. Just great. Then he started laughing behind me. Even better. I looked back at him and blushed even harder. "I'm about to pass out class schedules, so when I call your name, please come and get your schedule." After a couple of seconds my name was called. I went up to get my schedule and returned to my seat. "Let's compare schedules." She said taking my schedule out of my hands. "Well, like, we totally don't have any classes together. But at least we have the same lunch." Zack's name was called to get his schedule. I sighed. He was so beautiful. He looked at it, then kinda shrugged and went back to his seat. He was so appealing. It was almost as if he didn't try at all. I loved that. Shortly after, the bell rang and we all got up to head to our classes.
I knew the school like the back of my hand. I looked at my schedule and headed to Mrs. Long's class for English. I put my bag down at the front of the classroom and walked the halls and walked around for a bit, looking for some familiar faces. After I didn't see anyone I too much cared for, I went back in the classroom. Mrs. Long was a really beautiful Hispanic lady, with a long slender frame, and dark hair just touching her shoulders. She was at her desk typing away at her computer. I just took a seat near the middle. Soon, other students started filling in around and soon the whole class was full. The warning bell rang and shortly after, the final bell. A part of me was hoping I would see Zack. Mrs. Long closed the door and just explained the basics; what we would be learning, her expectations, our expectations from her, and the materials we needed for the class. The rest of the period we just talked. I had a feeling we would be doing a lot of socializing today. After the bell rang, I headed to my math class. I hated math. It's definitely my worst subject. I walked in and the teacher, Mrs. Berry had us stop at the door. "Name please," she said softly. She was so shriveled and wrinkled. "Capriotti," I said holding back a giggle. "First row, 4th seat, please." I went in and sat down at the seat and just waited for everyone to get in. I saw Kelly, Kyle's twin sister standing at the door and she just yelled "HEY TRISTAN!" speaking right over the poor old lady. "Don't speak like that young lady! What is your name?"
"Smith. Now anyway, HI TRISTAN! I'm so glad we're in this class together," she smiled widely, waving at me. "Kelly please take a seat in fifth row, 5th seat please." When Kelly sat down, I turned around. "You know you're gonna give her a heart attack, right?" I stated, cracking up. "Oh well. This is gonna be so awesome! Have you seen Kyle today?"
"Yeah a little bit before homeroom. Are you in any classes with him?"
"Hopefully not. The little queer always steals my shine."
"So not true."
"QUITE YOU TWO!" Mrs. Berry bellowed. I definitely was not expecting that! I couldn't do anything but laugh. "No laughing please," she said in her calm voice again. Oh wow. What the hell did I get myself into? I'm in for one hell of a year. Once she finished seating everyone in alphabetical order, she went to the front of the room. "I'm Mrs. Berry and I teach both Algebra III and Geometry, respectably. I really want every to understand the fundamentals and the core of math and I want each student to grasp the subject and hopefully remember it for the rest of their lives."
"What if we aren't going to use math in the field that we're in?" one guy said. "It's not like we're going to do shit with it in the long run."
"HEY! Language. And about that, you will come to learn that every situation you come into contact with, everything you do, you will need math. Some skills and situations require more advanced skills. And I'm here to administer that to you students." She was beaming from ear to ear. It's like she was getting an orgasm just talking about math. Wow this lady was weird. This is going to be one crazy year.
Davenport's French class was next on the list. This is my 4th year taking this guy. What a wreck. As you may have guessed, I'm Italian. I would have chosen the language, but unfortunately, it wasn't offered. Only French and Spanish courses were offered, and I opted for the former. And I decided to stick with it. Mainly because it was an easy A, and because Davenport was SUCH a drunk. Well we really didn't know if he was an alchy or not, but he definitely acted the part. He was almost three ham sandwiches away from being a penguin. Yeah, I think that's the best way to describe him. Penguin. He waddles like one. He's always perspiring under his arms, even when the room is cool. So he's like... shiny like one. And if he ever gives homework, you never have to turn it in, but say 'Davenport, I turned it in, you must have lost it' and you have an instant A. Bingo! Who wouldn't get a foreign language credit for basically doing nothing? That's like the untold American Dream. I walked to his room all the way on the other side of the building and I ran into Emily and her best friend Kirsten. "Hey chicas."
"Hey Tristan," they said at the same time. "Don't forget what we talked about, Tristan." Emily said. "Of course not. We'll talk during lunch." I said to her, genuinely being nice. "Oh my God are you going to break the Great Wall of Tristan?" I heard Kirsten ask her. "No. We've just come to an understanding." I walked in Mr. Davenport's classroom and he wasn't in there. I sat my school bag down on a desk and went to the bathroom and to get some water. David and his buddies were in there horsing around. Typical. David and I used to be really good friends freshman year. He started hardcore partying and doing drugs and I definitely didn't want to be around that type of environment every single weekend. I went to take a whizz and pretended like I didn't see them. I quickly finished up and washed my hands and headed back to the classroom. Someone was sitting at the desk my bag was placed. "Sorry but I had this seat..." It was him. Zack was sitting in the desk that I picked out. "Oh, sorry, I'll move. My apologies." Gosh! Even his voice was beautiful. "No, no. It's, umm, it's fine. You stay there. I'll find another seat."
"It's one right behind. You can sit there. I don't mind, Mr. Hard Ass." I kind of chuckled and sat down behind him. "Please don't call me that again."
"It's all jokes man. I'm Zack by the way."
"Tristan."
"It's really nice to meet you, Tristan," he said turning around in his seat. "How are you in French IV?"
"Well, I took French one, two and three in my former school. You know that four comes after three right?" UGH! I'm such a spaz! I'm normally cool around guys. How are you in French IV? Is that the best you can do Tristan? How lame are you? "Oh, yeah, yeah. I knew that." Smoooooth Tristan. Reeeeeeal smooth. He cracked a smile. I almost melted in my seat. "I'm also full Creole and my mom and dad both speak Creole and French. So, as a result, I took French in high school."
"So you're from New Orleans?"
"Not quite. Baton Rouge. My dad had a job offer here, so my family took it and the rest is history. Here I am." There you are. The most beautiful guy ever. "That's great. I've been here my whole life though. How do you like it here so far?"
"We've only been here three weeks at most. I'll check back in with ya on that once we've settled." With that, Davenport walked (or shall I say waddled) into the class and started passing out a syllabus. Like we're going to need it. "A whole new ball game. A totally new technique I'm trying out this year. It's in experimental form right now, I'm going to read over it. I want this signed and returned by next Monday." Great. Now, of ALL years, he decides to be a teacher. How appropriate. He finished reading the syllabus and moved to the front of the classroom. "Who can tell me what this proverb means? A l'ouvre, on connaŒt l'ouvrier." Silence. I looked around the class and no one seemed to know the answer. "A carpenter is known by his chips," Zack said. "Very good, young man. French idioms and proverbs are what we're going to be tackling the first couple of weeks. The French structure their proverbs sort of like the English, being that they organize them with more bulk of what's needed than necessary to get the point across." He lifted his arm and a big wet spot was plastered on his shirt. Same old Davenport. "AprŠs la pluie, le beau temps. That should be an easy one. Who can tell me what that one means?" Silence again. I chuckled in my seat at how he was attempting to be a teacher. But, with that being said, I did know that aprŠs le pluie means after the rain. Le beau temps, the good time? No. Too literal. He wasn't going for literal. Calm. "After the rain, the time is calm."
"Close, Mr. Capriotti. After the rain, comes the calm. Very good. So you get the gist of what we'll be going over in the first couple of weeks." Davenport was one of the younger teachers at the school. Why he chose a high school to work at, I'm not sure at all. Teenagers are like vultures. They circle over a prey and once they find that weakness, they exploit it and rip it apart until there's nothing left but a feeble mass of bones. I'm sure he was a nice guy, but his teaching methods were atrocious. At least he was trying though. The rest of the class went by more of the same. Zack was answering most of the questions, probably because his former teacher actually taught him something, while the rest of us were mostly silent or interjecting if something registered in our minds after a long summer.
I walked to the Fine Arts hall and headed to my Play Production class. Theater was always my favorite class. I saw Kyle ahead of me and I sped up to catch up with him. "Hey buddy, where you headed to?"
"Ms Hall's. I'm actually in that class next."
"Great. Me too. This is going to be great!"
"You definitely have to tell me about your summer."
"Of course! It was probably the best summer I've ever had."
"Great. Everyone had the best summer but me," I replied feeling a tinge of green envy. "Oh come on! We're in Hollywood. What did you do all summer?"
"Auditions and the beach."
"I did a Swed, an Austrian, and a French guy. European guys are so much more fun."
"You slore! Here you go screwing half the European population." I joked. "And it was damn good too." Kyle said licking his lips. "Of course you would say that." We made it to Ms. Hall's room and we sat right beside each other. "So, how is the action your way?"
"Dry as the Sahara. Of course there's some guys who have potential, but I just... I don't know."
"Great Wall of Tristan."
"Does everyone know this but me?" I asked bewildered. He looked at me for a moment and squinted his big green eyes. "Yep."
"So that's just it? I have a wall around me? I didn't notice. I'd like to think I'm pretty open."
"It's not that you aren't open, just a bit more tough to get to mentally. You always seem so focused on something else. You're always in your head." I guess he kind of did have a point. "But you're my best friend so I just try harder." I slugged him in the arm. "You douche," I said sticking my tongue out. "Don't make me bite it." The bell rang and Ms. Hall passed out a syllabus. She knew all of us by face at this point and we knew each other. There were about 18 of us in all. She read over the syllabus and told us to get our stuff because we were going to the auditorium. "Most of your class time will be spent in here. So you guys will have to document your work yourselves in a portfolio because it's not written work." Sounded fair enough. "Today we're going to do a couple of acting exercises. The first game we're going to play is a game called killer. I will choose a killer, you will not know who the killer is. You guys will sit in a circle and try to guess the killer. The killer will wink and if he or she winks at you, then you have to dramatically die." This sounded fun. We all got in a circle and covered our eyes. Once we got the signal to uncover our eyes, the intense stares started. For about a minute, there was only intense staring. Suddenly, Lauren, a freckled ginger, started coughing. Then all of a sudden the coughing turned into a brutal hacking sound. Then she pretended to faint. The "killer" had gotten her. There was another round of intense staring going around. I saw Sarah, a girl in grade 11 wink at me slyly. Think. Creative. I started twitching. Slowly at first. Then gradually twitching sporadically. Then a surge of twitches started before I let out a small scream and fainted. "Good Tristan! Very dramatic, the electrocution." Shortly after I did my little performance, a guy named Charles or Chucky or Chauncey or whatever his name was pretended to stand, but instead just fainted. Pretty neat. Chelsea, one of my friends since middle school, blurted "I know who the killer is!" looking dead at Sarah. But before she could say the name she wrapped her arms around her torso and started flailing across the stage. Wow. Sarah works quick. "This killer is a really good one, aren't they?" Ms. Hall said, sipping on her jug of coffee. Then another one just put their hands over their throat and self-choked themselves. "The killer is Sarah." Kyle said plainly. "Go for Kyle. You have immunity, and you are not allowed to be killed, and you get to choose the next killer." I knew he was going to choose me. We covered our eyes and sure enough, there was a tap on my shoulder. I waited a while and we uncovered our eyes. Hmmm. My first victim. I scanned the circle. Channie looked like a good target. He's dramatic. Lauren's really pretty. I can take her out. She wasn't looking at me. I skimmed for a little while longer and chose my first target. Brooklyn. She's a tiny little thing. And she was looking directly at me. I quickly winked. She looked around and feigned a fearful look in her eye. Then she just let out a loud no and fainted. Impressive. I'm going to take my time. Let this one marinate. I scanned the circle again. This blonde guy was looking in every direction like a madman. I looked at Chelsea once again. She was making eye contact with me, so I winked at her. She just said, "Oh no. I'm going under. Not again." She dropped right after. That was kind of funny. I drew out the suspense even more, and I looked at Chucky, the really dramatic guy. I winked at him. "Curse you, killer! Curse you! You despicable runt! Curse you!" and with that, he simply laid down. This caused a roar of laughter from the rest of us. I waited a couple of more seconds to see who was connecting with me, and I winked at this guy. He just toppled over lazily. The blonde wild eyes guy just blurted, "Its Tristan! Tristan's the killer!" Fuck. Well at least I had fun doing it. Just then, the bell for our lunch rang. I grabbed Kyle by his arm and headed towards the cafeteria. "I'm starving. Let's put a move on it."
"Geez, Tristan! I'm hungry too. Slow down though."
"Oh yeah, you know what's weird? Emily Cane just all of a sudden decided to talk to me in homeroom. She wants to be friends. How crazy is that?" I said to him. "Not really. I mean we are like around each other all the time. She's a little ditzy, but she's great. I think she needs a gbff."
"Excuse me, a what?"
"Gay best friend forever. It's every girls must have." We stood in the line and continued to talk. "She's such an airhead, but hey, we could have fun together." Just then, I saw Zack sit down at a table. YES! He has this lunch period. Wow, he's just breathtaking. Kyle was rambling on about nothing and I zoned out, thinking about Zack. I have no clue who this guy is, and I'm already going head over heels for the guy. I don't even know if he's gay. I'm only setting myself up for failure. "Hello! Earth to Tristan Capriotti?" Kyle said waving his hand in front of my face. "Wait what?" I said confused. "I asked it was ok if I came over after school today."
"Yeah yeah. That's fine. I don't mind."
"Who is he?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're smitten. Who is he?"
"Wow. You can't be serious." I said giving up. "I know you like a book. So who is this guy?" he said raising his voice a couple of decibels. "I'm not telling!"
"I'll find out sooner or later, though. We know everything about each other." He did have a point. I still didn't want to tell him just yet. I got a slice of pizza and a cup of fruit salad, paid for it and scanned the cafeteria for a place to sit. Then I heard Emily and Kirsten call me and Kyle's name. We headed to that table. I sat down on a seat next to the end of the table, Kyle sitting right beside me, with Kirsten and Emily opposite of us. "Oh I am so glad you two are, like, in this lunch with us. There's a couple of more on this lunch with us. I think Shane and like Kara and like Sean and Jason are on this lunch with us. Oh eww. There's that slut guy Adrian. He's such a slut. He was like going out with my brother for a while and like while he was dating him, he was like going around sleeping with men for like, money! Oh my god, he's like a gay prostitute." I laughed at her. I couldn't stand him either. He was such a nuisance. "So, Tristan, I told Kirsten here about you and Kyle. I hope you guys don't mind. We're totally for the whole gay thing. I have a gay brother, and like 5 of Kirsten's cousins are gay."
"Oh, I don't mind Emily. I'm open, but like I don't need for everyone in Hollywood to know I'm gay, you know," I said giving her a small warning. "Ohh, of course not, Tristan! I only told her because we have that in common. You guys should totally come to cheerleading practice with us and like sleepovers and like talk boys and do our hair and nails." Emily said smiling. I couldn't believe it. "Oh come on, you two! We're only joking! You should see the look on your faces. Priceless." This is going to be one hell of a friendship. I looked over and I could only see the back of Zack's body. Even from behind, he was gorgeous. The rest of half the crew joined us, and we just talked and laughed about our summers. When we were walking back to class, I tried to catch up to Zack, but he was nowhere to be found. I gave up and went back to the auditorium. I sat down in a seat and Kyle followed after me. "So you going to tell me about Europe?"
"Of course! We went to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, England, and France. It was so great though. We went mountain climbing in the Alps. That was the best part. It's like so different compared to California mountains. It's more calm and serene. I really did have a good time."
"Next time, take me with you, loser."
"I didn't even think to ask you."
"How considerate of you." Just then, the bell rang. We talked for a short while after then the bell for the next lunch rang. We continued to talk about much ado of nothing with Lauren and Chelsea joining us. They were both so damn funny. We've all been in the school's productions numerous times, so we were really familiar with each other. Lauren and Chelsea were best friends, so that helped a lot. They both knew Kyle and I were gay too so it made things a whole lot easier. "This year is going to be so great. All 4 of us in the same class together. This is epic." Lauren said. "It's like the Fantastic 4 all in one room together and a burst of orgasmic fun."
"You make us sound like whores." Chelsea said. "Well I'm a self-proclaimed slore, so that's just fine." Kyle said. "Of course you are. Your hole is wider than the Lincoln Tunnel." I said to him. "Oh God!" Lauren said loudly and laughing. We joked around the whole class period until it was time to leave and go back to the classroom.
I walked down the hall to my music theory course. This was a new one and I figured I'd sign up for it just for the hell of it. It was the choir room, so we were seated on permanent risers. The teacher was quite a looker too. Not that I'm boned up for him or anything, but he was attractive. He was short, really muscular, caramel skin, and he had green contacts in his eyes. Of course he was gay. I didn't mind at all. Not like I'm gonna sleep with the man. Or maybe I would. HA! After the final bell rang, I took a seat right by Lauren. "Hey you dirty ginger, I didn't know you signed up for this class too. How awesome!" I said excitedly. "I know right. I wish the other two were in here." Just then the teacher walked to the front of the room. "Good afternoon class. I'm Mr. Whitehead. I taught formerly at North Hollywood High and Immaculate Heart and now, here I am. I have two masters in vocal music and a bachelor in sound engineering. That means I can professionally arrange and engineer the songs that you hear on the radio. Pretty neat, and I have. Just not popular songs." I wondered if he worked with my favorite singer Beyonc‚. "I'm really interested in teaching you guys about music theory because it's the basis of what is the wonderful world of music." He talked some more about himself, and then he told us to tell him something about ourselves. I told him that I knew how to play piano, that I'm in love with the female passagio, and that I've been in a couple of musicals. After that we talked about some basic chromatic scales and triads. I'm going to enjoy this class too. If you haven't noticed already, my mind operates very artistically and unstructured and creatively. Anything else, it typically takes me longer to fully grasp it. We talked more about the core of what we were going to be learning for the rest of the class period until the bell rang.
I walked all by my lonesome to my last class of the day, biology. Mr. Paisley was another one of the younger teachers, but he was on the strict side. I sat my bag down and went to go get water. After I returned to the classroom, I saw Zach. I was so excited. I instantly started smiling to myself. Just then, Kelly and Kyle walked in together arm in arm. "What are you two doing here?" I interrogated them. "We're in this class silly," Kelly said twirling her platinum blonde hair between her fingers. "It's weird that Kyle and I would get a class together though. That hasn't happened since 9th grade."
"It must me fate. Freshman year, and senior year, how neat."Kyle said. Rut oh. We're in for trouble. "Please take your things to the front of the room. You will be sitting in alphabetical order and the seats are split into two because each pod will be your lab partner for the rest of the year." He then started sectioning us off into the pods. Luckily, I was paired with Zack. I was the happiest guy in Hollywood right about now. "So, Tristan, we meet again," he said. "We meet again." I repeated. "I hope you don't mind being my lab partner for the rest of the year," he replied giving me the most perfect, megawatt smile. "You say it like we're joined for life."
"You it like it's a bad thing," Zack said back to me. "Potentially."
"What are you implying, Mr. Tristan?"
"Oh nothing. Let's just, ummm, let's just pay attention." Was he flirting with me? And was I flirting back? After everyone was seated, Mr. Paisley went straight to work, giving us a bellwork question. "You will be given a bellwork question for the first 10 minutes of class. After 10 minutes, it goes away. No more time allotted. I will collect bellwork at the end of each week. They are worth 20 points each, so I suggest you find a way to keep up with them. Some will be more difficult than others, some will be a simple unscrambling related to biology." I wrote down the question and answered it the best way I knew how. At least he wasn't grading on accuracy. I don't hope. "I forgot to mention, I will read the answers." Fuck. Just great. He passed out a couple of papers and told us to sign them. He also gave us a couple of worksheets and some notes that he typed up regarding the structure of a complex cell. We read over the notes and we were supposed to work in pairs on labeling the different parts and functions of the cell. Zack took this as an opportunity to talk to me some more. I was more than happy to converse with him. I found out he played baseball and he had a younger sister who was 8. I told him about my family and about my theater and music. "You're a complex guy, Capriotti."
"The Golgi complex! That's what we were missing." I said, trying to ignore him. "See look we're finished." I looked up and he was staring at me. We made eye contact for about 30 seconds and I looked away. If I were to look any longer, I would have been too vulnerable. He was still looking at me. "Do I have something on my face? A pimple or an abnormal growth?"
"No it's just that you're..." he hesitated. "I'm what?"
"Nothing. It's irrelevant. Write your name on your worksheet. I'll turn these in." I wrote my name on my paper and handed it to him. That was really strange. I brushed it off and continued to talk to him as normal. I really enjoyed talking to him because not only was he gorgeous, he was also really intelligent. After the bell rang for us to be dismissed, Zack said to me "Here's to life, Capriotti."
"Here's to life." I smiled back at him. Kelly and Kyle came up to me. "That's him isn't it?" Kyle said in a sing song voice. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Kyle," I said irritated. "It's definitely him. Do we know this guy Kelly?"
"No, Kyle, I don't think we do. We'll have to do some investigating."
"You will NOT! You two will not be doing anything because there isn't any investigation to be doing. Case closed."
"I'm still coming over later, right?" Kyle asked me "Yeah it's still fine with me." I walked to my car and waited for Tanner. Emily came over and sat on the hood of my car. "Hey Emily, what's up?"
"A couple of us were, like, headed to Zuma tonight for, like, a beach party to celebrate back to school. Are you in?"
"Yeah sure. I'll see if Kyle wants to go too. He's coming over after school."
"Great! We're planning on showing up and just hanging out from like 6 until like... whenever. I don't know. Just be there kay?"
"You got it girl." Just then, Tanner walked up. "I gotta get the little one home. Give me your phone so I can put my number in it." She gave me her phone and I put my number in it. "Call me, text me, whatever. Let me know when you're down there." I said. I got in the car and proceeded to drive off the lot. "Who was the babe?"
"Oh her, that's Emily. We've known each other for years." I turned up the radio and headed home.
I was starving, so I went straight to the refrigerator to get something to eat. I settled for a basic turkey sandwich. Just then I got a text from Kyle saying he'd be over in 15 minutes. I went upstairs and straightened my room up a bit. Not that it was dirty, I hated my room to be dirty and messy, but to make my bed and get some of the things that were on the floor off. After I was done, I decided to surf the internet for a while. Nothing too grand or big. Youtube, a music message board, and a fan forum. I was so into the videos that I didn't even hear Kyle singing right along with me. "Hey queer don't do that again! You scared the hell out of me!" I said, frightened. "You looked so into it, I couldn't help it! Who sings that song anyway?"
"It's just an old song from about 2008. Nothing important. Hey, you wanna go down to Zuma later on? Emily invited me and she said she'd like you to come down too. You game?"
"Yeah sure, I'm down for it. When?"
"She's gonna text me when she gets there, but I was thinking around sunset."
"Ugh! I don't have anything to wear."
"We're about the same size. You can borrow anything. I don't care, just have it back to me sometime this week."
"Awesome. Now about biology today," he said slyly. "Oh no, here we go again."
"Tristan, you didn't see your face. You were glowing. I've only seen you look at a guy like that once and that was Chase. Remember that?"
"I remember. But I don't even know if he's gay. It's like I'm setting myself up for failure here. I don't want to like fall head over heels for the guy. I just want to get to know him that's all."
"It's more than that. You can fool yourself, but you can't fool me."
"Whatever. Let's go downstairs and watch tv or something." We went downstairs and watched one of Kyle's favorite channels, Disney Channel. After about two hours of laughing and watching the shows, Emily text me and said she was heading to the party. "Come on, let's get ready. Em just text me and said she was heading out." I walked upstairs and looked in my closet for something to wear. I grabbed my black skinny jeans, a solid gray v-neck, and a light sweater. It gets cold here come night time. Kyle chose a red button down and a pair of my shorts and Vans. The red shirt complimented his green eyes. "Looking sexy, Kyle," I said to him, whistling. "Not too bad yourself, mister!"
"Do you think I need something else? Like a necklace or something? I look so plain."
"Nah, you look fine, but a necklace wouldn't hurt." I went over and grabbed my long dog-tag necklace and looked in the mirror. "That's better. Let's go." I walked over to Tanner's room to tell him that I'd be going out to Zuma and to let mom and dad know. I also put a note on both the desks in the office if Tanner didn't tell them. I got my keys and we headed to the beach.
Once we got there, I parked in one of the last parking spaces left. It was crowded. We got out and walked down below the pier and found everyone in a big crowd just talking and laughing. Emily ran up and hugged me out of nowhere, "Glad you made it, Tristan." Then she went over and squeezed Kyle's butt. "Yeow, Mama! Don't get me to excited."
"You look hot! Both of you do. Come on, join us." We went to the middle of the gathering and everyone was talking and gathering sticks and wood for a bonfire later. This Spanish guy named Jose had his guitar and he was slowly playing a calm melody. Mostly everyone were joking and horseplaying together, so I just decided to sit back and watch. "Get up and dance with me, Tristan! Come on, show me your moves!" Kirsten said, grabbing my hand. A couple of others were dancing too, so I decided, hey, why not? Jose started playing an uptempo song on his guitar, and the others started dancing and Kirsten and I joined right along with them. After a while, I got tired and let Kyle take my place with her. I saw a couple of kids I knew and went and sat in the general area close enough to them but far enough away so it didn't seem like I was eavesdropping. I looked out into the ocean and the beautiful pinkish orange horizon. I felt someone sit near me and I didn't think anything of it, until he spoke. "It's amazing isn't it?" I turned to see Zack sitting right beside me. "How did you know about this?"
"I come here to surf all the time. My board and wetsuit are in the car. We do have beaches on the coast you know. Just not as nice as the ones here." He said giving me his charming smile. I smiled back at him. "I spent my summer out here and around this area. There's something so mysterious about the ocean. It's calm but it can be potentially dangerous." I said looking straight ahead. "The fear of the unknown attracts us to certain things and ideas." He said, leaning into my arm. "Yeah, right," I said, leaning back into him. I got up and walked over to Jose, and asked if I could see his guitar. He handed it to me, and I started playing the clean melody of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" and started singing along. Zack stopped a few feet to my right and was looking directly at me. "Open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and damn you're free. Look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love, love. Listen to the music as we dance and sing. A la, peaceful melody, look into the sky and I am yours." As I said the last line, I made eye contact with him, making him smile that confident smile of his. I wondered was he flirting with me like I was with him. I finished up to an applause and people telling me to do more songs. I decided to do another and this time, I opted for Incubus's "Echo" I just played the melody for a minute because I couldn't exactly remember the lyrics. After a while of thinking I started singing. "There's something about the look in your eyes. Something I noticed when the light was just right. It reminded me twice that I was alive. And it reminded me that you're so worth the fight. Oh, yeah... Your biggest fear will be the rescue of you. It's strange how it turns out that way. Could you show me dear, something I've not seen? Something infinitely interesting." I made it a point to look directly at him as I was singing the entire song. After I finished, I gave Jose back his guitar and returned to where I was formerly sitting. Zack came back over to me, and told me to get up and follow him. We started going away from the crowd, in a more secluded area. After a while we got behind a cliff of rocks. I sat down, and he sat right next to me. "Why did you bring me out here?" I asked. He just looked at me and sat down beside me. "I wanted you alone."
"For what reason?" I asked nervously. "He didn't say anything, he just kissed me on my forehead. Did he really just kiss me? "Well, that was really unexpected."
"Don't talk. You'll ruin it," he said reaching for my hand. We just looked out into the night ocean for about 10 minutes in complete silence. He moved his arm up to around my neck and shoulders and we stayed like that for a while. "We should go back before they start to worry."
"I know, but I don't want to."
"I have to get Kyle home, though." I said not wanting to leave either. "Hey, how about you come here tomorrow? Just us? No distractions." He said hopefully. I couldn't resist. "You got it," smiling at him, I started walking away. I found Kyle and told him that I was ready to go. It was nearing 10 and we had to go to school the next day. We talked in the car for a while. "Where did you disappear to after you stopped singing?" Kyle asked me suspiciously. "Why do you need to know, father?"
"You were with your lover boy weren't you? Oh my God! Did you do it? You did it! You're blushing!"
"I'm not blushing because we did it! We didn't do anything actually. We just sat there and looked at the ocean." He gave me a look that said 'I don't believe you'... "Honest! I promise. That's all we did. Well he did kiss me on the forehead and we held hands. But other than that, it's all we did."
"Tristan has a boyfriend. Officially jealous."
"He's not my boyfriend yet. I wouldn't say that yet."
"He's totally your man." I kind of rolled my eyes. I pulled into Kyle's driveway. "Good night, Kyle. And don't interrogate me about this anymore." I said to him, giving him the evil eye and pointing my finger at him. "I'll catch you at school tomorrow, Trisha."
"Don't call me that, Kylie." He got out of the car and walked in. I proceeded to drive home. When I got there, my mom was in the kitchen reading over something. "Mom, I'm home."
"Oh, hey honey. Did you have fun?"
"Yes! I'll tell you about it tomorrow. I'm really sleepy." I gave her a hug and headed up the stairs. I took my clothes off and got into my night clothes. Getting into bed, I couldn't think of anyone but Zack and that beautiful smile of his.
Thanks for reading. This is my first time ever attempting to write a story. Its fiction and the characters are for the most part make believe. Some of the physical characteristics and descriptions are based off people I have come in contact with, but slightly modified to conceal their identities. Please, I welcome feedback and I want to hear your opinions and thoughts on this story so please feel free to email me at HarmonicDreamer@yahoo.com. Thanks again. :)