Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 02:52:14 +0000
From: Darren C <daryncolemane@hotmail.com>
Subject: Life Starts Again

Disclaimer: You know the rules, if you are underage, or offended by
homosexual relations, this is not the story for you, and begs the
question of why you are looking through the archives.

This story is a complete work of fiction and none of the characters
actually exist. I have drawn portions of my life into the story, was well
as my friends lives, but ultimately, this story is just made up.


Chapter One: Can't Tell You Everything


Justin Ellis was a new student at SDRHS and wasn't at all enjoying what
little time he had spent there. His classes had already started a week
before he arrived, today was Tuesday and his schedule was B, C, D, and A
or, Math, History, English, Free. He walked slowly down the hallway
looking for room 109 where his math class was, still very disoriented
with the design of the school he had shown up a minute late to class. The
teacher, a tall young man with blond hair and blue eyes stared at him for
a moment curiously.



"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Uh- Is this Math 12 Academic?" Justin asked in almost a whimper.

"Yes, Did you just get transferred into the class?"

"Uh- yeah, sorry I'm late, I'm new here and didn't know exactly where
to go."

"Please take a seat and I'll issue a book and calculator in a moment. I
hope you've learned what we will be covering in class today, but if you
need any help, feel free to ask me or anyone else."

"Thank you"

Justin walked over to an empty desk in the middle of a row besides a
window and took a seat, pulling out his binder from his backpack and
opening it to a fresh sheet of loose leaf. After he was issued a book and
calc. He began the assigned work; the class was really boring and no one
spoke through the duration, which bugged him, as he wanted to at least
get to know a few people. The math work wasn't that difficult either, he
had learned some of this last semester from his friend Gordon, but
nevertheless he worked away and did his best. As first period came to a
close, he asked the teacher which way it was to the history room; the
teacher had pointed him down the hallway and gave a few quick directions
before going back into the class. Justin was still uneasy in this school
and strode quickly through the crowds, making it just in time to get a
good seat near the front of class. When the room had finished filling
with people the teacher stood and began class, with neither Justin nor
the teacher having to be introduced, as they had met the day before when
Justin picked his schedule up from Administration. Mrs. Pick was a very
beautiful young woman, tall and thin, every guy's dream, and well,
everyone except him. Half way through class the guy sitting next to
Justin looked over and asked if he knew where to find the map of Germany
in the geography book. The guy was very good looking, not a drop-dead
hunk but had pleasant features, he had relatively defined muscles with a
smooth face, blue-gray eyes and short chestnut brown hair, he had an
innocence about him that was appealing, Justin figured he had to be
popular with those looks alone. Stunned only for a moment Justin gathered
himself, and spoke.

"Uh yeah, its right..." He flipped through a few pages quickly and
stopped at a page. "...Here, page sixty one" gesturing towards the
European section of the book.

"Thanks, I'm Drew by the way" He replied with a smile on his face.

"I'm Justin, Nice to meet you"

"So you're new to the area, aren't you?"

"Yeah, my father just got a job transfer and we moved last week, though
today is my first day"

"Really? What are your next two classes?"

"Umm, I have English and a Free. You?"

"Political Science and a Free" He said, looking at his schedule. "Hmm,
as you're new here, you probably didn't know that we have to stay in
the Cafeteria or Library during our frees, did you?"

"No, where is the best place to go?"

"Café. Most definitely; as you're new here you are welcomed to join me
if you want. I don't have any frees with my friends, and could use the
company"

Drew had turned back to his work and was writing something down, most
likely related to the topic and Justin just sat in his seat and stared at
his paper in awe. His first day was going well, not only had he slipped
into both classes easily, but also he made a friend, a cute one at that.
He quickly shoved that thought to the back of his mind. `None of that,
that's how you got yourself into trouble the last time' He thought to
himself. It was hard to admit to himself that he was gay, even his
parents accepted it better then he did, but it didn't matter, new
school, new life. When the bell rang for recess Justin walked slowly to
the cafeteria to see what the menu was, for such a vivacious school,
their menu sucked, and not seeing anything he liked, walked out into the
huge; double-story lobby and took a seat on a bench in a quiet corner and
started to draw. This was his pass time, he had always preferred the
imaginative worlds created in his mind over the harsh cold world of
reality, at least in his universe he could go back in time, or visit
distant worlds. What could be more fun then that?

Next class was easy enough, though Justin didn't like English, he never
had any problems passing it, and so he simply did his work, stayed quiet
and waited for the bell to ring at lunch. They were told to read a book;
he didn't remember the title, only that, with every passing chapter,
Justin felt the urge to shoot himself to end the boredom. Even lunch
would be boring, he had no groupies to hang out with, and he didn't want
to track down Drew, for fear of looking like a puppy without an owner and
scaring him off. So he would sit alone again at the bench and draw some
more. He had always been told he had a talent for drawing, but Justin
didn't see it at all, in fact, he hated almost all his pictures. No
matter how hard he tried, none of them ever looked exactly like he had
imagined and it frustrated him that he couldn't even draw one picture
that resembled the image in his mind.

When his free period came around he headed back into the cafeteria and
stood, waiting for Drew to come through the door. It took a few minutes,
but eventually he saw Drew slowly walking towards the doors, when he
finally reached the cafeteria Justin couldn't help but slap a huge grin
on his face.

"Hey Drew." He said kind of shyly.

"Hey Jus' how are you?" Drew inquired.

"I'm fine, little bored. I see I've adopted a nick-name," He said as
they both walked over to a table and took a seat adjacent from each
other.

"You don't mind do you? I just tend to speak before I think"

"Not al all, I have so many nick-names as it is." Justin laughed and
looked over at Drew. "And what about you, how are you?"

"Not to bad, have a little CALM work to finish before I go home, too bad
I don't understand it..." He sighed.

"Oh? Let me take a look, I took the course last year so I might be able
to help."

"Really? Thanks." Drew replied as he opened the binder and slid it over
to Justin.

After skimming over the paper in the binder for a moment, Justin looked
up and smiled, "Its simple enough really, badly worded, but simple, you
have to make a visual representation of a topic that is uncommon in
everyday life" He said. "Then you must write a page about why you chose
the topic and how the picture represents said topic"

"Wow, that was... err... is simple!"

"I did one of these before, actually, I still have it with me" Justin
dug through his backpack and found his old copy of the assignment. "Here
it is, as you can see, the picture can be anything you want, my topic was
trust and on the back, is why I chose to make my topic trust and how the
picture represents that."

"That is an awesome picture! Impressive!" Drew exclaimed.

The picture was well done, it was a vast network of chains, small, large,
but one, the one in the middle and the largest was broken. It was shaded
and had a little blue coloring for added effect, but it was nothing,
anyone could draw a chain.

After thirty minutes of working on his assignment, and casually talking
with Justin, drew put his work away and said he would finish the drawing
at home later on. Justin was becoming very comfortable with Drew and
unfortunately, attracted to him as well. Both were unusual because Justin
wasn't a very social person, and had restricted his personal life to
fantasies, where he was in complete control.

"So, what are you interested in?" Drew asked out of the blue.

"Well, I like to draw and write. As well as bike and swim, not to good
at much else. What about you?"

"Wrestling, hiking, video games and roller-blading." He replied. "May
I see some of your drawings? If they're anything like that CALM one,
you're very talented."

"I don't see why not. I have them all separated into categories,"
Justin sighed as he looked through the binder. "Its all here, all my
work since I was five" Justin handed him the binder of work with one
hand as he slipped a folder of art into his book bag with the other.

Drew flipped through the images admiring the skill and effort put into
each one. Not having this much talent, he was a little jealous. He set
down the binder and closed it.

"This may sound weird after only knowing me for what, two hours and
twenty minutes, but do you want to come over to my place after school?"

"I cant, my parents are expecting me to unpack some of my boxes tonight,
maybe some other time?"

"Well, how about this, I come over to your place, help you unpack some
stuff, and then we can work on whatever homework we have...then maybe
play a few games?"

Justin screaming an ungodly `YES" mentally, he hadn't had a friend
over in so long that he had forgotten what it was like, but not wanting
to sound desperate he simply replied, "Sure, sounds good" It was a
great day after all, he made a friend and was having him over the first
day they had known each other, could the day get any better? Then the
bell rang for them to go home, so the answer was yes.

Both of them walked out of the cafeteria and to the bus, the ride being
short was a blessing as the kids were rowdy and irritating, this is why
Justin was antisocial, he couldn't tolerate people who acted so
immature, but at least he wasn't alone, even Drew seemed to be in mental
agony from the kids screaming, talking and throwing things. When Drew and
Justin stepped off the bus, Drew's jaw dropped to the ground.

"You live here?!" Referring to the two story blue house that sat
between two fields.

"Yeah. I don't like it, too large for us, it'll be hard to furnish all
the rooms." Justin laughed. "Actually, its perfect for us as we have
too much stuff, hard to believe we crammed it all in our last home..." he
said as he opened the front door and led Drew in.

"Who's there?" asked a voice coming form another room.

"Just me mom, oh, and a friend from school." Justin replied, walking
into the dining room to see his mother setting up the china cabinet with
Drew following close behind.

"Oh?" She said as she turned around to face them. "Its nice to meet
you, I'm Mrs. Ellis, but you can call me Beth." She held out her hand,
waiting for him to shake it.

He took her hand and gave it a polite yet strong handshake, "I'm
Andrew, but I prefer Drew, It's nice to meet you Mrs. Ell...err...Beth."

"I hope you will be joining us for dinner tonight" she said with a tone
that translated to "you're staying and I wont take no for an answer".

"Sure, that would be great..." Drew said before Justin started to push
him out of the room. Justin was so embarrassed; his parents were like
modern hippies without the drugs and sex... thankfully.

"Ok, time to go unpack my things now, come on Drew" he said in a weak
embarrassed laugh. This was going to be a long night, his mother was
already plotting something, he could tell.

When they got upstairs to Justin's room, he closed the door and turned
back to his guest. "Sorry about that... She's just really...disturbingly
happy..."

"Not a problem, really." Drew looked around at the huge room and the
boxes upon boxes that surrounded the walls. "I suppose we should get
started then... there has to be at least thirty boxes here"

"Forty-two actually...but who's counting?"

Justin and Drew unpacked as many boxes as possible in an hour before
finally taking a break; most of the things they unpacked were
Sketchbooks, posters and clothes. They also found the computer and
unpacked that and hooked it up, he was surprised how easily things went
with someone else there to help him, after testing the computer to make
sure it didn't explode they both took a seat on the bed and looked at
each other quizzically, as both knew they still had homework to start and
were getting hungry. Neither had to say a word, it was almost
telepathically transmitted that they were both dreading homework. Taking
his binder from his backpack Justin looked over at Drew and set some of
his work across the bed.

"We had better get started, or we'll never get anything done. Have you
finished the History assignment?" He asked.

"Uh, no...I'm almost done but I'm still having problems with the maps"
He replied, embarrassment almost choking him.

"Not a problem. I'm not great with maps, but I'm sure I can help. How
many questions do you have left?"

"Just the last one, what are the co-ordinates for the city of Berlin,
and give a brief history of the region."

With both of them working at it, they were able to quickly find the
answer to the question and get their History homework out of the way,
they were about to start on other homework when Beth knocked on the door
and asked them to come downstairs for dinner. As long as Justin could
remember, Beth had made the best food he had ever ate, she never took
cooking lessons, but she had a great memory and had an entire cookbook
memorized. Along the way she explained that Justin's father would be
late once again getting home from work and that she wasn't finished
unpacking the kitchen and dining room, her tone had suggested an apology
to Drew, who really didn't mind at all.

When all three of them got downstairs Beth told them that they were
having chicken fettuccini with fried green peppers.

"Wow, sounds fancy, my mom just usually cooks a breast of chicken and
potatoes" Drew exclaimed as he took the seat Beth ushered him to.

"No, not really fancy, but we've all traveled a lot and just kept all
the recipes we've came across that peak our interest" Beth replied
happily as she sat down.

Dinner was long and boring as Justin's mom interrogated his new friend
and chatted his ear off with stories of the places they had visited on
vacation and the occasion business trip, though Justin never went on
those trips. As the conversation progressed Justin noted that his mother
was steering the conversation towards Drew's personal life, knowing that
she was trying to find out if he was gay or not, irritatingly Justin said
nothing hoping she had enough self-control not to mention that her son
was gay. He wasn't going to lose his friends again, not like the last
time and before Beth had a chance to get him into the compromising
position of `what's your sexuality' Justin interrupted them both.

"Mom, I don't mean to interrupt, but as both Drew and I are finished,
we should really get back to our homework, still a little more to do..."

"Oh my, I'm sorry sweetie... You two go do your homework," She said
before turning to Drew. "I'm sorry for chatting your ear off Hun, It's
just we don't have company very often and I tend to ramble when we
do..."

"Its alright, I mean, I learned a lot tonight. Not only about you but
the places you've all been to. And thank you for supper, it was
delicious"

Justin and Drew cleared their plates and glasses from the table and put
them in the sink in the kitchen before heading back upstairs to Justin's
room to do homework.

"Jus', I have a big favor to ask you" Drew said as he closed the door
behind them. "Uh...would you help me draw my picture for my CALM work?"

"Shouldn't you attempt it on your own first?"

"Well I was hoping that maybe you could teach me to draw also..." Drew
blushed; making Justin aware that it was difficult for Drew to admit he
couldn't draw, and this was his way of saying it.

"Ok, if I teach you to draw, I'm going to have to sit beside you and
guide your hand, but I wont do it all for you"

"Well, I wouldn't make you do my work for me, I just need help getting
my idea onto paper"

"Alright. Grab the other computer chair there and pull it up to my desk,
oh and don't forget your CALM work, cant do anything without that."

Drew pulled up the chair and began to tell Justin what he wanted to draw.
It was a complicated picture, especially for a beginner. So Justin took a
little time to explain that he should do a rough sketch of what he would
like the finished work to look like, and then add pieces or subtract the
pieces that didn't fit with the theme. After watching him sketch out a
very rough picture, Drew began to do just that, and reworked the picture
until it was `perfect'.

"This wont do... I need a good copy but I can't draw it the way I see
it. This sketch helps, but I can't do it."

"That's where I come in...and remember, I'm not drawing this thing for
you...I'll just help you." With that, Justin took Drew's arm and slid
under him until his right shoulder was underneath Drew's right armpit,
Drew momentarily holding his breath.

"Does this make you uncomfortable? If so, I can teach you another way,
but it's a little more time consuming,"

"No, it's fine" Justin slowly took Drew's hand with the pencil and
slowly sketched the lines out for him, teaching him the rhythmic
movement's of the wrist to help him create the picture... after a while
Justin stopped guiding Drew's hand and let him draw on his own. It was
during this time he had realized just how big Drew was compared to him.
`I fit under his arms' Justin thought to himself. `He's so big. Cute
too' His thoughts began to wander and he once again shoved them back
into the darkness of his mind. How could he keep these thoughts at bay?
How could he finally feel normal?

It was about twenty minutes later when Drew sat up straight and took a
long stretch before looking down at his work. He wasn't destined to be
the next Picasso but it was good enough for his school project.

"I'm impressed Drew. You did that on your own. Most people whine until
I cave in and guide their hand again"

"That's a cheap way out...I was just glad you could help. Thanks" Drew
blushed again making him look cuter then ever.

"Anytime. Wow, it's almost seven, can't believe how fast time went. Do
you want to stay the night? You did say on the bus you lived on the other
side of town, it's quite a drive from here. Mom wouldn't mind and dad
wouldn't care anyways as he's rarely home anymore."

"Sure. If you really don't mind."

"Not at all, you can either sleep on the couch, my bedroom floor or, and
I'm being generous here, my bed"

"With or without you?"

"Which would you prefer?" Justin said without thinking before he spoke.

"Ha ha, well...you are cute" Drew replied, still chuckling.

"Ok smart-ass, you can have the bed, I'll take the floor"

The night went by without a hitch and both Drew and Justin slept soundly.
Drew's clothes were washed that evening and they had unpacked a few more
things before heading off to bed. Justin couldn't remember the last time
he had someone spend the night at his place, but was enjoying the company
while he had it.


End Note: I know its a slow first chapter, but I promise that Chapter two
is better. I am just trying to get a feel for these characters. Im 90%
sure that I will post Chapter 2 and only 50% sure about posting Chapter
3. I have them already planned out, but depending on reader
interest...you get the point. Please email me with comments / questions.