Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 22:24:31 +0000 From: Nick Shafer Subject: Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Chapter 1 Don't let the Sun Go Down on Me. (c) Copyright Nicholas Shafer 2003 I've written before for nifty, but this is my first foray into the high school genre, so any feedback at all would be much appreciated. I love email. So please let me know at s4shafer@hotmail.com The usual disclaimers apply, this is a work of fiction and nothing written here really happened. If you don't approve of consenting sexual acts between minors of high school age (16-18), or are under 18, don't read on. Chapter 1 -- `Made in England' Don't you hate it when someone introduces you to their friends like this? `This is Lindsey' `Hi' (Nod) `Russ' `Hi' (Nod again) `And Matt' `Hi' (Nod. Do I look a nodding dog or what??) And you absolutely know that when you speak to that person again you will have no idea of their name, and either make an embarrassing attempt at it, or just pretend you know and forever never address them by their name, calling them `mate' instead. Unless it's someone who catches your eye, someone you know you won't forget. Ever. `And this is Kit.' By now I was running on automatic and stuck my hand out to shake...whoever he was...'s hand. `Hi' I mumbled. `Hi, nice to meet ya.' My head snapped up. That was the sexiest voice I'd ever heard. I flipped my sunglasses back onto my forehead, and stared. It was all I could do not to gasp out loud. Standing in front of me had to be the most gorgeous boy in the world. Now don't get me wrong I'm not one for over dramatizing, but he had these eyes -- I have a thing for eyes, they can tell you anything you want to know about a person in an instant -- eyes that literally sparkled. They were a deep emerald green, and made him look so...so alive. As for the rest, well he had a cute face -- a face any model would be proud of, perfect skin, no imperfections and a nice button nose. And all this set off by messy strawberry blonde hair, enough to make me go weak at the knees any day. `Clay, you ok man?' I snapped out of my daydream and found my guide Kyle was giving me a strange look. I realised to my horror that I was still holding Kit's hand. I let go suddenly. `Sorry man' I grasped desperately for an excuse `but you looked so much like a mate of mine from back home.' Nice save Taylor, just don't make an ass out of yourself again today, I thought. Kit smiled. `No problem, really. Good meeting you...hope I'll see you around soon.' He squeezed my arm in a friendly way. `Yeah, I hope so.' `Hey...' Kyle was calling across the canteen to another group and I realised I was set to meet another group of faces to forget. As I wandered off I took a last look back at Kit. He smiled. Well maybe the day wasn't a total loss after all... A few hours earlier. My bedroom. California. USA Dammit. How come you can never find what you want to wear to make a good first impression? I mean look at me, and English boy on his first day at an American high school. What's `cool' to wear here? Hmm...shall I stick with the English stereotype and drag out the white linen suit, Panama hat and walking cane? Kidding...really, just kidding. I'll hazard a guess with a pair of cut-off's and T shirt instead. I guess I'm also getting a little ahead of myself. Let me introduce myself, my name is Clayton Jerome Taylor, but everyone calls me Clay, and I'll occasionally let CJ slide. I'm about 5'6" medium built -- that's not skinny, but not jock muscley either, with styled light brown hair that goes blonde in the sun. My eyes, like my hair, are brown, and I rather like them. I'm not overly keen on my looks, but at the moment my skin is spotless and I've got a good tan. Hey, life could be worse. And I'm from England, well a small island between England and France called Jersey, but no one's ever heard of it, and if I say Jersey here everyone thinks New Jersey -- that really pisses me off. One historical point I'd like to clear up, your state was named after my island -- given to our people's ancestors by an English king as a gift -- anyway I digress. (I'm good at that.) I was born and grew up on Jersey, which is tiny, and had a rather boring life until about 6 months ago. My father, who is the owner of a large English Internet development company, told me that he was planning to expand in a big way. Into America! And so -- to cut a long story short -- here I am. In California, 17 years old and ready for my first day at an American `High'. Oh, and I'm gay. Did I mention that? I guess you might say it's kinda of important, but I'm trying to keep it off the top of my mind at the moment. I was pretty open about it at home; everyone at school knew, in fact I think most the island did. I was pretty well known with school stuff I did, plus I worked as a personal assistant for a local senator -- yah freaky huh -- so I had a big public profile. My mum knows, she'd figured it out ages before I told her. She's really cool about it, she even comes clubbing with me! My dad, well I'm sure he knows, but we both choose not to talk about it, and for now I'm content to keep it that way. And I have had a boyfriend, just one...but that's something to talk about later. I only hope that my sexuality is accepted here as it was at home, which explains why I'm waiting before I let on, and maybe only to a few friends -- if I make some erk! -- to start with. From what I've seen so far from the guys who live round my neighbourhood -- a nice exclusive little suburb -- the talent here is very good, I just hope some of it's gay. Oh, one last thing. Forgive me if I use English phrases like `talent' or `Rrraa' for good looking guys. It's just me. But as for the spelling i.e. neighbour, or colour. Well I don't apologise. That's just proper English. ;-) Later that Morning This is very confusing. I really should've done a bit of research before I came and joined the school system. Radison High the place is called; it seems nice enough -- big grounds with large sports fields at the back, a swimming complex and new school hall. Now my confusion -- apart from my driver driving on the other side of the road all the way here -- I'm not entirely used to the school grades system. At home we have years i.e. we go in at 1 and finish in 13. Pretty simple. Here I guess I'm a `senior' ...I'll work out the rest soon I'm sure. The other weird thing is well, promise you won't say if I tell you? Promise? I've never had girls in my school before. I know, it's sad isn't it. I went to an all-boys Catholic school -- talk about queer breading territory! Don't get me wrong, my best friend's a girl, and I'm friends with loads, it's just I've never been taught with them before. I've gotta report to the principle's office first to get my class list and get a tour of the school. This sounds about as exciting as having my teeth drilled, but at least I'll get a free tour of all the cuties. Damn, I gotta keep my mind off of that! The Principals Office I must admit I was feeling quite anxious when I knocked on the Principals door. I'd got on really well with the headmaster at my last school, all the pupils did really; he was young and understood where we were coming from, and so I didn't want to face an old discipline tyrant. But, to my surprise, I was greeted by a man in his early 30's dressed quit causally in shirt-sleeves and a tie who introduced himself as Mr Winters, the Principal. Things were looking up, he seemed pretty cool, and out the ground rules for Radison; `You work for us, we'll work for you. ' Hey, I can handle that, academics have never been a problem for me, and I was on the swim team back home, so if I get rewarded for doing what I enjoy then no probs. "Just so you can get a feel for the place I thought I'd let you have a tour with a pupil in your grade. Kyle, come in please" "Hey sir", a boy entered the room. Nice, I thought, very nice. He was about my height, with brown hair clipped quite short, a nicely defined body, and best of all a killer smile. "Hey Kyle" the Principal continued "This is Clayton Talylor..." "Clay, please sir..." "This is Clay, and he's just moved here from England, he's going to be in most of your classes, so I hoped you could give him a tour and look after him today?" "Sure thing sir. Come on Kyle, I'll show you the ropes" "Sorry," I replied "I don't do bondage." Kyle gave me a quizzical look, and then cottoned on. "Cool, someone with a sense of humour. You'll do ok here." As we left the Principals office Kyle quizzed me on my life -- I won't bore you with the details again -- and told me that he was on the swim team too. Cool, I was looking forward to seeing my new bud in a Speedo. He told me that tryouts for this year's team were just a few weeks away and hoped I'd be joining. To tell the truth I was a bit unsure, I'm not sure what the quality of the swimming is like here, but hell I agreed to give it a go. We also compared timetables, and found like the Principal said that we shared most subjects. I groaned when I saw I had double maths first, I hate maths, really hate it. It's the only subject that throws me. English, no probs, History, great. But maths...well it's just so...math like! Kyle grabbed my arm and led me down a set of winding corridors. On thing I knew was that I'd get lost in no time. So this was it I thought as we reached room 2063, my first class. It wasn't that bad! Can you believe it! Kyle offered me to sit next to him so I wouldn't be nervous; I was just happy to get close to him the teacher Mr Lambert looked the grumpy old maths sort; you know moustache, smells of dust. But he seemed more interested in sport than teaching maths and was delighted in having a new student from England to fill him in on the latest cricket developments. Now, I've never been a big sports fan, but I told him the most I knew, and he seemed content. When w finally did get round to some maths it was stuff I'd already covered at home and so I spent most of my time helping out Kyle -- he's a cool kid, but not so strong academically. When the lunch bell rang Kyle told me to come along to the canteen and met his friends. I could tell by now that Kyle and I would be good buds, so I was pretty eager to meet a few more of his mates. "They're a cool bunch, though a little strange" "Sounds like my kind of people" I said The canteen was busy by the time we arrived and I got the layout immediately. It was a canteen like very other in the universe. You know I think there must be a standard sating plan. So called `Cool' kids here, the jocks over in the corner, a small group of giggly girls. And that unmistakeable smell of mass produced food. Yuk. "Hey there's Lindsey, come on Clay, lets go say hi." That Night The afternoon seemed to fly by. I remember bits of it. I remember English, we were doing Shakespeare and Mrs Glick was really happy to have a real English student to read the lead in Macbeth. I tried to explain I lived closer to France than Scotland, but it didn't seem to work. I remember agreeing to shoot some hoops with kyle round the back of the school. I did okay, but I'll never play for the team. I remember giving Kyle my number, asking him to call. I hope he can come round this weekend. I remember wandering to the car, oblivious. Because all I could think about was Kit. Gorgeous Kit. What a day. I just couldn't get his smile out of my mind. I wanted to be near him, I wanted to touch that smooth tanned skin; I wanted to run my hands through his hair. I wanted to get a grip, what an idiot I was being, we'd said about 10 words to each other. As I slipped into bed that night, I remember his face, etched it seemed into the back of my eyelids, was the last thing I saw before I fell asleep. Okay guys, I'm cutting it off there for now. I know not much has happened yet, but I've got exciting plans for Clay and hopefully a few surprises for you. Chapter 2 real soon. Any feedback would be great, and please don't be too harsh. Love Nick.