Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:12:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tayler C. <harmonicdreamer@yahoo.com>
Subject: That's Why You're Beautiful

       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 connaŚt 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. :)