Warning:
I don't think I should have to be put a warning in here, but unfortunately there are still a bunch of narrow-minded idiots in the world, so I guess I'll have to. This is going to contain slash, a.k.a boy/boy relationships. If you have a problem with that, then just hit the back button and get over it. Don't send me crap bitching about it. It's happening all over the world – deal with it.+++
Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realised what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now
Backbeat the word is on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now
And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
But I don't know how
Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall
Today was gonna be the day
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realised what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now
All the roads that lead you there are winding
Ail the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how
I said maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall
I said maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall
I said maybe
Your gonna be the one that saves me
Your gonna be the one that saves me
Your gonna be the one that saves me
+++
::Wonderwall::
Whenever something bad happens or is just sprung upon you, you always try to see that positive silver lining lurking beneath the surface somewhere. So you smile as the knife is twisted, because you know it's all just part of a bigger, far nicer picture. When his mother told Brian they were moving to a tiny town in the NT, he looked and looked but couldn't find a damn thing. Not a single minute glint of silver.
Nestled amongst the huge cardboard boxes filled with his stuff, he glanced out the window at the night sky disdainfully. Black River was the type of town where everyone knew everyone, and everything that went on. It had one main street consisting of a butchers, bakery, post office, two clothing shops, a 'supermarket', a newsagent and a few snack shops. It didn't even have a proper restaurant. For the life of him, Brian couldn't figure out why his mother wanted to move there of all places. She'd claimed that after being trapped in the hustle and bustle of London all her life, and then Adelaide, she craved the wide open spaces that only the middle of nowhere could offer.
He had to admit, the new house was a lot bigger than the old one. And they actually had a yard, with a proper garden and room to breathe. But that was there the pros stopped short.
He looked back down at the drums he'd saved up for all his life and tapped them un-energetically. They'd been in Black River two days, and met no one. For a town that was supposed to be 'close knit', they weren't doing too well.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It took him several more rings to actually realize it was the doorbell and he flew off his seat, tripping over a box on the way to the door.
"Coming!" He yelled, untangling his foot from the box and bolting downstairs to the door.
"Hello?!" He pulled it open, puffing and forcing back the urge to double over. He'd never been the athletic type. The boy standing there looked about his age, and peered at him through a curtain of messy black hair.
"You the one playing the drums?" He asked finally, wiping the hair away from his eyes. Brian glanced down at the drumsticks in his hands. He thought it was pretty obvious. The other boy followed his gaze then his green eyes flicked back to Brian's face.
"Do you mind not playing after 7? It's annoying." He paused thoughtfully. "In fact, stop playing altogether. You suck."
Brian stared at him, unable to tell if he was kidding or not. "Excuse me?"
The boy stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I said, you should stop playing because you suck. Seriously. You're worse than a two year old."
Brian gaped at him as he turned and walked back up the tiny brick path casually. At the gate he turned around and mock-saluted. "See you at school."
And with that he was gone.
"Who was that?" Brian's mother, Elizabeth, yawned and stared blearily over her son's shoulder. Brian shrugged and closed the door. "Neighbor, I guess. Just asking if I could stop playing at night."
"Reasonable." She ruffled his pale blonde hair, laughing when he jerked away. "C'mon, you should get your butt to bed. First day of school tomorrow, wouldn't want to be late." She winked and Brian's stomach sunk. School. Worse, boarding school. It was the only school within miles, and it was still a four hours' drive away. Brian had never been to boarding school before and the thought of living with nearly 400 teens scared the hell out of him. What if he ended up with a homicidal maniac for a roommate? As if reading his thoughts, his mother smiled reassuringly.
"You'll be fine. I promise."
'As if that's gonna change anything.' Brian thought sourly.
●●●
Moncrieff's Educational Boarding School was supposed to be 'prestigious' and 'highly recommended', 'the only place for your child to learn'. Brian couldn't really see how it was any of those things. Who'd recommend it? The kangaroos?
"Aaaand we're here!" Elizabeth sang, swinging the car into the only vacant spot. "Nice, isn't it?" She squinted at the huge brick building through the windshield. "I guess that's just the dormitories. The actual school must be behind it. Oh, did I mention they have horses? You love riding horses!"
"I do?" Brian couldn't remember ever going near a horse, let alone riding one.
His mother just laughed in her strange way. "Oh, Brian, what am I going to do with you? Come on then, I expect Mr. Moncrieff is waiting."
Professor Moncrieff was a tall sinewy old guy with the type of face you find on people who've spent their lives in the sun working. He also had a very firm handshake that made Brian want to ask if he just wanted to snap off his hand and be done with it.
"Brian York, is it? It's great to put a face to a name. Your mother's told me a lot about you."
'I bet she has.' Brian thought darkly. His mother had a bad case of Bragging Mother Syndrome.
"Please, sit."
The second her rear touched the chair, Elizabeth leant across anxiously. "Will he be sharing a room with any girls?"
Brian inwardly groaned. She seemed to think that all the girls were going to lunge at him, tear off his clothes and prevent him from doing any schoolwork for the whole year. Moncrieff smiled a thin sort of smile.
"The girls and boys rooms are at separate ends of the building. You have nothing to worry about."
"Oh. Well that's a relief then!"
Brian rolled his eyes and the usual questions began. It took half an hour to fully assure Elizabeth that yes, her son was going to be perfectly safe, he would get the proper education he needed, make lots of friends and have a grand old time doing so.
Finally with a dismal wail Elizabeth pulled him into the most embarrassing hug of his 16 years of life, sobbing loudly onto his shoulder.
"Make sure you write." She sniffed. "And don't get to call."
"I won't." Brian glanced at Moncrieff who was watching with an amused smile.
"Make sure you eat all your food and take your Vitamins, and be nice and polite and do all your homework and…"
"Yes mum, alright." He pushed her away a bit and she regained her composure, dabbing at her cheeks with a tissue. She gazed at him and shook her head.
"My baby's all grown up."
Brian wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "Okay, see you on the holidays." He said quickly, practically pushing her out the door. "Sorry about her. She gets a little…melodramatic." He apologized. Moncrieff waved his hand.
"She's a mother, she's allowed to be."
There was a knock at the door and without waiting for a reply, a boy with golden sunstreaked hair and dark grey eyes came in.
"Mr Helena," Moncrieff pursed his lips, "how many times have I told you not to just come barging in whenever you feel like?"
"Sorry sir." He looked anything but, and watched Brian curiously.
"Brian this is Matthew, he's your roommate and will be helping you get settled. Anything you need to know, he'll be happy to answer, won't you Helena?" He glared at the boy warning and Matthew shrugged. "Sure."
"Here's the key to your room. Please don't lose it. And Matthew I don't want to see you in my office for the rest of the day understand?"
He handed Brian the tiny silver key and he realized he was actually doing this. He was going to live in a room with someone else, in a dorm, in a school. And as Matthew led him out of the office into said dorm, Brian realized he was terribly terribly doomed.
●●●
Matt hated doing the whole introducting thing. It was all Daniel's fault for leaving suddenly, leaving him roommate-less. He could've killed him.
"You're just in time for your next lesson, which is bio, with me. It's in the science area which is beside the library. You'll find your way around pretty quick, it's not hard." He gave Brian back his timetable and Brian smiled miserably.
"Thanks Matthew."
"Matt." He corrected. "I hate Matthew."
"Okay." Brian agreed meekly, staring around at everyone like he'd never seen humans before.
Bio was Matt's least favourite class. They have a cranky psycho teacher, the most boring work and it was one of the 3 classes he have to spend with Jamie Freeman, the bane of his existence. Jamie was a hotheaded, extremely arrogant jerk and sat right in front of them. Luckily for Matt, every so often he went to Spain to visit his mother's family and could be gone for weeks at a time. Times like those Matt considered to be haven. Less luckily, he was back.
"Miss me?" He leaned over our desk with his trademark smirk.
"Yeah, like a hole in the head." Matt muttered, pulling Brian none-too-gently into the seat next to him. Brian froze. It was him, the guy who'd told him to give up on his drums.
"It's you." He said in awe, as if he'd never expected to see him again, even though Jamie had made it pretty clear they were going to the same school. Jamie raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You…um, last night."
"Oh right." He said vaguely. "It's you."
Unfortunately, when there was Jamie, there was Koda. If there's one person Matt hated more than Freeman it was Koda Dekostanzi.
Sure enough less than two seconds later he fell into the seat beside Jamie, dragging a hand through his short bleached dreadlocks.
"'Ey Mattie." He greeted him with his usual evil grin. "New guy?" He raked his gaze down Brian purposefully and back up. He was practically undressing him with his eyes but Brian didn't seem to notice. He just smiled faintly and Jamie elbowed Koda with a snicker. "Stop checkin' him out."
"Why?" Koda smirked, elbowing him back. "Jealous?"
"Yeah right." Jamie chortled. Koda slung his arm around his shoulder. "Aw don't worry man, I'll always love you the most." He grinned and they both snickered in their evil way.
Every now and then Matt wondered if they were more than just best friends. Then he wondered why the hell he wasted the time wondering. He didn't give a damn if they were screwing each other, he just wished they'd disappear.
Throughout the lesson, Brian was hopeless. He kept mucking up his answers and forgetting everything and stuttering and stumbling and dropping things then blushing bright red and apologizing a thousand times. He still wanted to find a nice hole to crawl into. Or preferably a cliff to jump off.
Towards the end of the lesson Freeman spun back around chewing a pen lid.
"Hey we're throwin' a party for Acidburn's 2nd birthday, wanna join in?" He asked Brian. Brian's eyes lit up. "Yeah o – "
"We're busy." Matt cut in quickly, glaring. Jamie sort of glared back, then spun back around and muttered something to Koda, which sent the dreadlocked boy into hysterical laughter and got him kicked out of the room.
"Who's Acidburn?" Brian asked as the bell rang and everyone filed out. He was more than a little annoyed at Matt for destroying his chances of getting in with what was obviously the 'in' crowd.
"Just the band they're in. They play around the school a bit. Look, you want a huge tip to help you make it through this year?" Matt glanced at him.
"Sure." He looked back eagerly.
"Stay away from Koda and Jamie. Trust me, they're nothing but trouble. They're arseholes who'll do anything to humiliate you and ruin your life, plus everyone knows they're into drugs and shit."
He hesitated. "Are…are they gay? Coz they sounded…" He blushed for the thousandth time that day and Matt wondered why he didn't just paint his face red altogether.
He shrugged. "Koda's slept with nearly every guy in this school so you do the math. I don't know about Jamie and personally I don't give a shit. Like I said, they're arseholes."
++++++++
This came out a little, okay, a lot longer than I intended and I'm terribly sorry if it was too boring. I would love any feedback though, so please, feel free to click that button.
Dirty + Angel + Toes