Jamison looked at the clock in the small classroom. The windows were thrown open in a futile attempt to attract a nonexistent breeze. Every second seemed to last a minute. Just forty-five more ticks of the old clock until he was finally finished with his junior year of high school. He looked around the overcrowded classroom, a year-full of memories crowded into the small stuffy science room, good and bad. Forty seconds left until the summer. After school, he had plans to go downtown with some of his friends, or at least, the closest thing his town had to a downtown. Thirty seconds left.

The school year was uneventful at best. There were tests and projects, quizzes and papers, but still nothing changed. He still had the same friends as last year, the same routines, the same clothes, even the same boyfriend, Nathan. They had met at an ice-skating rink, Nathan was the instructor, and Jamison was the clumsy student.

Jamison slipped around clinging to the wall, pathetically trying to stay on both feet. He pushed out from the wall and his feet flew out from under him. Before he could hit the ground, Nathan gracefully sped up and caught him from behind.

“Thanks.” Jamison uttered, embarrassed to be found so venerable.

“No problem.” Nathan shrugged. Nathan pulled Jamison pulled up and placed one hand on Jamison’s hips. “Stand up straight. Keep your shoulders back. Slowly.” Nathan took Jamison’s hand in his and led him around the rink a couple of times. Jamison motioned that he was tired and he slowly skated off the rink and sat down to remove his skates.

“Good job.” Nathan said, sitting down next to Jamison.

“Thanks.” Jamison smiled. He was looking at Nathan’s face, trying to find any hint of sarcasm. Not finding any, he started to soak in Nathan’s looks. He was pretty cute. Dark brown hair framed his oval face, bringing out his grey eyes. Light stubble surrounded his red lips, drawn into a wry half-smile.

“I don’t mean to sound forward or anything but, would you like to grab some coffee?” Nathan asked shyly.

“Sure, when do you get off work?” Jamison shrugged.

Nathan checked his watch, “In… thirty seconds.”

Thirty seconds later, Jamison and Nathan officially started dating. Jamison never realized, but Nathan went to the same school, and had been for the past seven years. Jamison bit his lip, thinking of his continuing relationship with Nathan. Over the course of the six months, they had been going out; Nathan had slowly gotten more and more annoying. When Jamison needed a shoulder to cry on, Nathan always managed not to be there, but when Jamison needed some space, Nathan was annoyingly present. Nathan also was not “out” so when they were in public, they could not show any signs of affection. After six months of dating, Jamison wanted to be able to show how he felt for Nathan, or how he had felt for Nathan. Making out in his room while his parents are away is one thing, but a spontaneous kiss on a walk was another thing.

The bell rung its high-pitched squeal and students started to get up, ready to begin their summer break. Jamison hurried into the hallway, looking for Natasha. He found her hugging everyone goodbye. At only five feet tall, she was dwarfed by anyone she hugged. Jamison crept up behind her and pet the top of her head. She glared up at him affectionately, scrunching up her face, wrinkling her small nose. He poked her between her eyes, she growled in return, biting her bottom lip.

“See you next year Natasha!” Came an oily voice from behind them, Natasha cringed as she realized that it came from her math teacher, Mr. Brenton. Behind his back, everyone spread malicious rumours that he was a paedophile. There was no actual proof, but that did not stop anything.

“Yeah, ok.” Natasha sighed, “Come on Jamison, lets roll.”

Jamison walked on an almost deserted street with four of his friends, Natasha, Emma, Daren, and Nathan, who of course would not even stand next to him. Instead, Jamison had to stand next to Daren, Natasha’s dick of a boyfriend. On top of being a complete asshole, Daren was also a complete slut. Natasha was completely blind to this, and adored Daren more then anything, Daren’s loyalty had always been a little wavering.

Emma was a tall blonde, who fit all the stereotypes that accompany her hair colour, or so it seems to the eye. She was pretty, sexy, and she knew it. Despite the fact that she acted young and sweet, she was in no way innocent. She had been sexually active since eighth grade, and used it to get what she wanted. She met Jamison in ninth grade when she need help with her math homework, and it took her a while to figure out why her efforts to seduce him came to no avail.

The downtown is Jamison's town was mostly empty shop fronts topped by cheap condominiums, but there were a few fun stores. One of the most frequent places visited by this entourage was the town’s jazz café, Café au Lait. Jamison always had the same drink, a double espresso with a shot of mocha. The five friends went into the café and placed their orders, Jamison of course had a double espresso with a shot of mocha, Emma had a no foam soy-milk late, Natasha had a mocha frappe, Daren had a medium roast house blend with cream, and Nathan had a hot-chocolate. They all poked their fun at Nathan for buying the wussiest drink, he always did.

Jamison sat in silence drink his espresso as his friends made small talk around him. He looked up at the stage, empty, as usual, the place was to poor to afford anyone professional, and so usually only open mikers who thought they could sing got up on the old wooden stage and poured their heart and bad tone quality out. To his surprise, someone actually took the stage. He was somewhat short, and had spiky black hair. He looked obviously Asian-American, but his voice had almost no accent to it what so ever.

“Hi,” He said nervously, “My name is William, and I’ll be singing What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong.”

His voice was low and sweet, nothing like the song’s original artist. Although he went just as low as Louis, his voice had no hint of gruffness, rather, it was sweet and smooth, sexy. Jamison looked into William’s eyes, and for the first time, heard the lyrics of the song.

“I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shakin’ hands, sayin’ “How do you do?”

They're really saying “I love you”

I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world” William finished his song, holding the last note for over twenty beats, never turning it sour. He smiled shyly, and hopped off the stage. Jamison went up to talk to him.

“Good job.” Jamison offered.

“Thanks.” William blushed

“Some friends and I are grabbing some coffee, you wanna join?” Jamison asked nonchalantly.

“Sure, I’ve got about half an hour to kill.” And with that William joined the five friends for coffee; he was a double espresso. After about half an hour William got up and started to say his goodbyes. He discretely slid a piece of paper into Jamison’s hand and walked out of the café. Jamison slid it into his pocket, and soon forgot it was there.

“He was a good singer.” Natasha stated

“Yeah” Daren agreed, paying more attention to the woman behind the counter’s ass as she bent down then to his girl friend.