Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 10:53:01 EDT
From: Double A
Subject: Raven Hair(27)

Disclaimer:

     After a hiatus of sorts, I am back with another story! Yay!
Anyway, due to personal problems, I've been unable/unwilling to write much
of anything for a long time. Here is a new story from me to you. For those
of you who know my style and enjoy it, you should really like this
one. Like I said, though, I haven't written anything for a while, so I may
be a bit rusty. For those who don't know my style, I tend to use a lot of
build-up and "storyline".  So, if you came on to find a story for a quick
jack-off, then this probably ain't for you. However, if you want to take
the time to read a beautiful tale of young love, then sit back, take a sip
from your glass of wine, and enjoy!

And remember...Always stand up for what you think is right, don't listen to
bullshit, no matter who is saying it, and always speak with your fists and
swear a lot to be heard!

******************

Part 27:

	It's kind of like this guy who's running down a path that is littered with
various objects. As he passes each object, he picks it up and snaps it over
his head. Broomsticks, boards, Taylor Hanson's spine....They are all broken
in half, and so the guy moves on, until he reaches a slab of concrete. His
eyes filled with confidence, he picks up the concrete and smashes it over
his head. It doesn't break, though, but the guys skull does and he collapses
to the ground. When he recovers, he's so injured, that he couldn't even snap
a matchstick over his head.

	That's the way it was with David. School was so great. He had Matt and he
was making loads of new friends. So, as was the tradition of friends, they
gave out their e-mail address and web-site to each other.

	Now, David's new website was a lot tamer than his old one, but it was still
the second coming of "The Redrick POV" and talked about his sexuality and,
despite what happened several months back, it also touched on how he was
attracted to Zac Hanson.

	As was mentioned earlier, David lived in a very prejudiced province, but he
happened to live right in Hick-ville, as far as BC went. People walked
around in white tank-tops, which, in this incidence, would be correct to be
called "wife beaters." It wasn't a bad place to live, though. It was quiet
and, as long as nobody mentioned that they happened to be anything other
than a white, hetero, god-fearing christian, then things worked out fine.

	David walked in to school one Monday, in early March 1998, and someone
yelled at him, "Hanson sucks, faggot!"

	David turned to face the guy, who turned out to be one very large
nazi-esque guy, flanked by three similar-looking friends. He shrugged and
said, "You're right. They do." and walked away.

	What David didn't know, was that that phrase would be his typical greeting
when he arrived at school every day, for the next three months.

	In math class that day, he was called over to the desk of Amber Thompson, a
girl who he's always had a bit of a crush on. So, like a puppy, he scurried
over. He noticed that several of her friends around her were giggling, but
he didn't care, because *the* Amber Thompson actually wanted to talk to him.

	When he sat down beside her, she immediately leaned in close and inquired
excitedly, "So, you're, like, actually bi?"

	He smiled at her enthusiasm and nodded, "Yup."

	"Have you, like, ever...you know...done it with a guy?" She went on to ask.

	David shrugged, "Well...yeah, actually."

	"Like, how many times?" She begged to know.

	David shrugged, "I dunno...A lot."

	She seemed satisfied with this answer, because she moved on to, "But, have
you ever done it with a girl?"

	David nodded, feeling somewhat disappointed at the mentality of this pretty
girl, "Yeah."

	"Do I know her?" She wanted to know.

	David shrugged, "I don't think so. She doesn't go to this school."

	"Which school does she go to?"

	So David, totally captivated by this vixen's beauty, replied, "Marie
Curie."

	Amber's eyes opened wide, "But...but that's an elementary school! How old
was the girl?"

	David could have stopped there, but he went on to reply, "Twelve." before
wishing that he suddenly dropped dead.

	While Amber reeled from that, a guy sitting next to her leaned in and
inquired, a very patronizing look on his face, "So, let me get this
straight. You're bi, you have a thing for a twelve year old Hanson
kid....*and* you fuck twelve-year-old girls? Geez, what the fuck is wrong
with you?"

	"N...nothing." David stuttered, wishing his mouth had been sewn up at
birth.

	Luckily, the teacher entered at that point, and all jeering ended for that
class.

	However, the rest of the day became a living Hell. People insulted him in
the hallway, Matt decided it was better to avoid him, and he came to his
locker everyday to find crude poetry taped to it. One of David's all-time
favorites, though, involved Zac Hanson, a thermos and herpes.

	And speaking of herpes, somebody had started a rumour, to go along with
everything else that was going around at Lord Tweedsmuir, that David not
only had herpes, which would have been bad enough, but also had AIDS. Right
from the beginning of March, David's second attempt at Lord Tweedsmuir
Secondary was ended, all because he gave out his website address. People
were now literally trying to injure David. Walking home from school, people
tried to run him over with their cars, and would always yell out insults at
him. Once, he made the mistake of biking to and from school and, four blocks
from his house, a truck smacked into the back wheel, sending David flying
back-first into their windshield. Of course, they immediately pulled over
and jumped out before the blood seeped through the glass, because they
feared getting AIDS from him.

	That didn't stop David, though. He actually went to school the next day,
with a new bike that his father had bought him. On the way to school, he was
biking down a hill, when a minivan driven by several kids from the math
class pulled out from a side street in his way. He couldn't stop in time, so
he smacked the side of the van, flew several feet over the hood, and landed
on the road right on his elbow. It was his left elbow, it was true, but it
still had him at home, on painkillers, for the next week.

	During that week, David's father sat down with him and had a very serious
talk. One of his friends' sons attended Lord Tweedsmuir, so he was well
aware of the cause of David's new outlaw state, and the results that he had
to endure. It was mostly academic at that point, but David told his father,
"Dad, I'm bisexual."

	His response was, "Well, as long as you still like girls, that's okay with
me." but then he went on to explain, "This bullshit has got to stop with
you, David."

	The guidance counsellor at the school expressed concern that perhaps it was
a bad idea for David to return, given the circumstances that he had put
himself in. In other words, David was expelled from school.

	The rest of the year passed by well-enough. David's arm healed and he stuck
around the house, watching movies and babysitting Natalie, while his father
and step-mother, who had finished maternity leave, were at work. They were
surprisingly very happy with his not being at school this time.

	"It's okay." They'd tell him, "Your responsibility was supposed to be
school, but it's not at this point. So, your new job will be to stay at home
with your sister and take care of her, while we're away."

	So, instead of sitting in class and learning with people his own age, David
now spent seven hours a day alone at a house, feeding his baby sister
expressed breast milk, changing her diapers and putting her down for naps.
David couldn't say that it was all bad. He spent so much time with Natalie,
that he was the first one to see her smile and the first one she hugged. He
loved his little half-sister and he didn't mind being with her all day.
Sure, she cried a lot, but which babies don't? And he didn't have to go to
school. That was good, wasn't it? He'd go on the internet and talk to his
online friends. He'd sit there and wait for Gavin to get home and he'd talk
to him a lot too. He was growing quite close with him and was even thinking
of going to meet him someday, since he was only two states above him.

	By the end of May, David's father and step-mother had decided that it would
be good for David to go to Montreal for the summer and visit his mother and
sister. David was actually looking forward to it too. He hadn't seen his mom
and sister in almost a year and he loved BC, but it might be nice to see
Montreal again for a couple of weeks.

	On June twenty-fifth, 1998, five days before Natalie turned six months old,
David hugged his father and step-mother goodbye, and boarded the plane back
to Montreal. It was a nice flight, and he saw My Girl 2 as the inflight
movie. Watching it now, without the distraction of sex, allowed him to
really see the romantic interaction between Anna Chlumsky and Austin
O'Bryan. David thought that that kind of romance would be cool in a book,
and so, on the plane, he began writing notes for a romantic novel that would
take place in a fantasy world called "Whiteshadow Isle", based on two
particular scenes from the movie. The first scene, was the one where "Vada"
is asleep, and "Nick" walks into the room and just stands there for a few
seconds and looks at her, the shy attraction visible in his eyes, then, as
he walks away, the slight smile that comes across "Vada's" face, as she
understands what has just happened. The second scene, where "Vada" has just
found out that her father might not be her real father and she begins to
cry. "Nick" gets a very compassionate look in his eyes and wipes a tear from
her cheek, with a bent finger. The beauty of their teenage love inspired
David to write a novel that, over a year later, would become the basis for
every other piece of writing that he ever did and a book that he would spend
many more years trying to get published, with little success.

	Back in Montreal, David smiled as he heard french for the first time in
almost a year. Nobody spoke french in British Columbia and he wasn't sure if
he even remembered how to speak it too well. It was 33 degrees Celsius,
which was about 98 degrees Fahrenheit, so David was sweating buckets as he
hauled his suitcases through the terminal and outside into the hot air of
Dorval, Quebec.

	He got in a taxi and the driver, flashing a big smile, said, "I'll est tres
chaud aujourd'hui, calice!"

	In English, that meant, "It's too fucking hot today!"

	David nodded in agreement, understand what was said, but not sure of the
correct response.

	It was a forty-five minute drive, given the rush-hour traffic, back to
Hampstead, where his mom lived, and so David thought a lot. Being back in
Montreal again, he thought a lot about Aaron. Aaron would have just finished
MIND and would be in first year Cegep, starting in September. He wondered
what he was doing with his summer. Probably, he wasn't even in Montreal.
Probably, he was back in LA, with his dad, on vacation. Then again, even if
he was in Montreal, David doubted that Aaron would want to see him.

	"Why the hell am I still thinking about that asshole?!" He thought to
himself, "Aaron told me to fuck off a year ago and he hates my guts!"

	Besides Aaron, David thought a lot about Natalie. He missed her quite a bit
and was anxious to get back to BC and be with her again. He hoped she
wouldn't grow up too much over the summer.

	David also thought a lot about Hanson. They had released "3 Car Garage"
recently, and David had hated it, as much as he hated Hanson. If they were
already reduced to releasing songs that they wrote when they were toddlers,
it was a sure sign that they were through. All the better too, because David
had heard about a new band of young kids that had recently begun doing pop
music, instead of really stupid country songs. Best of all, they were
Canadian and very, very cute, especially the drummer. David didn't know what
it was with him and drummers. Anyway, the band was called "The Moppats" or
"The Muppets" or something, but he was eager to find out more about them.

	The taxi pulled to a stop at 14 Northcote Road, and David was actually
happy to see his mom standing outside. He opened the door and ran up to her,
hugging her tightly, while she paid the cab. His sister was outside,
babysitting some little two year old, by the name of Michael. They hugged
too.
	He brought his bags inside his old room, which was now Michael's room, and
then sat down and had a lemonade with his mother. He didn't think he'd be
this happy to be back in Montreal, but he was.

	The feeling lasted for about an hour, then his mother went back to, "Aww,
David, why are you always in my way?" and "Why don't you piss off for a
little while, so I can be alone?"

	The jet lag had gotten to David, though, so he went to bed and slept for a
few hours. That evening, he got a call from his old buddy Matt, and the two
of them went out to Lazer Quest.

	David almost passed out when he entered Lazer Quest, though. The place had
become a shrine to Hanson. Hanson had visited Montreal a few months back,
and there were signed posters, merchandise and other stuff that just
nauseated David.

	All in all, David had a good vacation. He went to visit his grandmother in
Ottawa for a few days, then came back and spent more time with his mother
and sister.

	A week after his arrival, he got a phone call from his father. He was glad
to hear his voice, but not so glad to hear what he had to say.

	"We've been thinking," his father said, "well...your step-mother has been
thinking that...maybe it would be better...I mean, for Natalie and I...Well,
there was a lot of stress when you were here and it put a big strain on my
marriage and everything. Basically, I'm going to treat you like an adult and
ask that you not take the return ticket and you stay with your mother in
Montreal. It's your choice, ultimately, of course, but I think it'd be
better if you'd stay with your mother."

	David was shocked, but at the same time, he wasn't totally surprised. He
cried, he talked, he asked for an explanation and his father gave one. In
the end, though, he agreed to stay in Montreal.

	Of course, his mother wasn't surprised of his father's decision. She called
him a coward and a liar and a bastard and, in a small way, David inclined to
agree. He could do little else but relay his woes to Gavin, though, and
Gavin was sympathetic, of course, but could offer no physical support, which
David really needed.

	So, David finished grade 11, by working over the summer and fall. He had
missed the signup deadline for the fall, anyway, but he didn't have the
required credits to enter Cegep. So, he went to summer school and a
three-month finishing school called Education Plus and met the winter
deadline.

	Spending New Year's Day of the last year of the millennium, even though it
wasn't really the last year of the millennium, with his mother and sister
was depressing. There was no kiss, no drinking, no partying. Just sadness.

	On January twenty-first, 1999, an eighteen-year-old David Levine started
Dawson College in the department of Creative Arts.

	And, once again, he looked around at all the hundreds and hundreds of
people milling around, walking, talking and doing things, and began to feel
panic, so he ran to the bathroom and threw up.