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Nick breathed in the scent of Charlie’s freshly-shampooed curls as they stood holding each other at one end of a picnic table just outside Truham’s grounds before school. Their friends sitting around the table, deep in their own conversations, paid them no attention. Charlie’s head rested on Nick’s shoulder, and Nick’s large arms coiled around his upper body. They’d just finished talking about taking a trip to London the weekend after Nick’s last day at Truham. The thought of there being a last day like this had them both subdued – even Nick, who was generally excited by the idea of starting uni. Charlie’s eyelashes fluttered as he opened his eyes.
Suddenly, Charlie’s body tensed up. Just across the walkway inside the school fence, Charlie could see a group of younger boys talking amongst each other while they stared directly at him and Nick. That could only mean one thing.
“Don’t look now, but there are some guys staring at us,” he spoke quietly into Nick’s ear. He raised his head from Nick’s shoulder, but stayed close because Nick still held him tightly in his arms. Charlie’s eyes darted to the boys’ general direction to give Nick a heads up.
Charlie meant for Nick to glance stealthily towards them, but he began twisting his neck to look in their direction. Charlie put his hand on Nick’s cheek, turning his face back around with a smirk. “I said don’t look!”
Nick acted like he was looking down at something on the ground, and then cut his eyes towards them. He looked back up, into Charlie's eyes, saying, “Yeah, so, who cares? They’re so small, what can they do?” Nick grinned at his boyfriend and clutched him tighter. “I’ll protect you.”
“Nick? Seriously?” Charlie pulled back, and Nick’s arms instinctively dropped to encircle his waist, not letting him get away. “I… we … have come too far at this school to have some group of Year 9s staring at us for being publicly affectionate. I am done putting up with homophobia at Truham. We have dealt with so much and worked so hard to change the culture of this school to be more open and accepting, and I’m not going to have homophobic children come in and undo all that work. How dare they stare at us like that!”
Charlie’s speech raised Nick’s hackles. “You’re right, Char! Didn’t they get the fucking memo?” Nick furrowed his brows along with Charlie, saying, “The Head Boy at this school is gay. Get. Fucking. Over. It!”
“I really can’t deal with this today,” Charlie said. He really couldn’t. He was already feeling emotional talking with Nick about his last day at Truham, which implied their time of seeing each other every day was rapidly coming to an end, since Nick would be attending uni four hours away in Leeds.
Busy discussing the situation with each other and not looking back towards the boys staring at them any more, Nick and Charlie didn’t notice the boys on the move, making their way over.
As the group of five rounded the gate towards the picnic tables near the street, a domineering figure stopped them after they’d taken only a few strides towards their goal.
“Stop right there! Where do you think you’re going?” Harry said, stepping out from the picnic table he’d been leaning against that was nearest the school gate. He was blocking them from reaching the table with Nick and Charlie.
Sam, surprised there would be obstacles other than their own nerves and indecision, stuttered in his soft voice, “Umm… umm… we… we were just going to talk to Charlie and Nick.” His big hazel eyes grew even wider as Harry crossed his arms and looked down at him.
Harry had chilled over the years, but he still wasn’t above giving the younger kids a hard time just for the hell of it. Harry smirked, saying, “What makes you think they want to talk to you?”
Sam stood frozen. Harry had a point. Nick and Charlie didn’t even know them, so why would Truham’s fabulously queer power couple want to talk to them – a group of younger boys who hadn’t even done their GCSEs?
Albie came to Sam’s rescue. Stepping between him and Harry, Albie said, “They might not want to talk to us, but that’s their decision, right? Not yours.” Determined to keep his voice from shaking but thinking it might if he said anything else, he looked at Harry pointedly without another word.
Harry stared with his mouth open, flabbergasted, finding it unbelievable that this tiny little Year 8 was talking to him like that.
By this time, the attention of the other table had been piqued, and Nick and Charlie observed what was happening. Being Head Boy as well as a decent person, Charlie couldn’t condone anything that even remotely smacked of bullying, even if it meant he would have to deal with this group of young homophobes.
“Harry, just let them by,” Charlie uttered exasperatedly.
Having turned away from Nick at the commotion, he looked back at his boyfriend like, Might as well get this over with . He assumed they were coming over to dogmatically confront the two older boys for their PDA or lodge some other homophobic complaint. These boys would never even imagine challenging a hetero couple outside the school gates for kissing or snuggling , Charlie thought. Sometimes though, kids had parents at home who taught them it was okay to impose their narrow-minded views on others.
As Sam, Albie, Tariq, Rhys, and Luke approached, Charlie tilted his head and huffed out a breath, looking at them disdainfully.
Nick moved forward a few steps to stand beside Charlie. He crossed his arms atop his puffed up chest, making them appear even larger, asking in a stern voice, “What do you want?”
Both Harry’s table and the table of friends that Nick and Charlie stood near looked on.
The boys moved forward nervously to stand before Nick and Charlie, digging deep to muster the courage they needed to speak to them.
Sam, not to be outdone by Albie’s bravado with Harry, spoke first. “Umm… well… uh… we… so everyone knows the two of you are dating, and…”
Before Sam could get another word out of his mouth, Nick said in a clipped tone, “Yeah, mate, we’re dating.” Nick dropped his crossed arms and took Charlie’s hand. “Do you have a problem with that?” Nick asked, glaring at Sam.
All the boys’ eyes grew wider at the accusatory question, even Albie’s. Sam was dumbstruck, seeming to mouth words with no sound coming out.
Charlie turned to look at his boyfriend, saying, “I think their problem is with us demonstrating that we’re dating.” He looked back at the younger boys and pointedly added, “But they wouldn’t have a problem if we weren’t a same-sex couple.”
“Actually…” Tariq started to say.
Before he could get any more words out, Luke blurted out from behind Sam and Albie, “My moms are lesbians!”
The Head Boy’s and the Rugby Captain’s eyes widened as they stared at the group of younger boys. Harry and some of the crowd at his table sniggered. Charlie and Nick heard an “awww” behind them and turned their heads to see Imogen’s head tilted, looking at the younger boys kindly, and Tara and Darcy smiling broadly. Isaac, Tao, and Otis had their eyebrows raised, looking at Nick and Charlie in an ‘it’s your move’ gesture.
Turning back to the group, Charlie spoke first. “Okay.” He suppressed a burgeoning smile, continuing, “Is that what you want to talk to us about?”
Sam took a deep breath. “Uh… no… umm… not exactly. Ummm… well, we’re not homophobic. We’re all queer, actually.”
Rhys, now that the ice was beginning to break, interrupted, “Not Luke.”
Sam looked around at Rhys and Luke. “Right. Not Luke, but he’s an ally.”
Nick and Charlie’s expressions softened as they listened. Graciously, Charlie asked, “What can we do for you?”
Finally, Sam got the right words out. “We want to start a club for queer students at Truham.”
“And allies,” Tariq interjected, putting his arm around Luke’s shoulder as he said it.
“And allies,” Sam confirmed. “And we wanted to ask if you’d be a part of it?”
Before Charlie or Nick could answer, Albie spoke up. “We think if you support the idea, more people will be willing to be a part of it. It will be more successful.”
“Yeah, you’re like two of the most important students at this school,” Tariq looked around for confirming nods from his friends, before adding, “and you’re also queer and…”
“That’s, like, amazing!” Luke exclaimed.
“And we know that your support would help so much,” Albie finished the thought.
Still not letting Nick or Charlie answer, Sam continued the speech. “We know that you are leaving soon.” He gestured towards Nick, and then motioned towards Charlie, saying, “And you’ve got only one year left, but that’s also the point… we want the work you started in making Truham a more queer-friendly school to continue even after you’re both gone.”
“Some of us still have a long time here,” Albie added earnestly, a pleading look on his face.
When they stopped, Charlie looked at Nick, smiling, and asked, “What do you think?” even though he knew the answer.
Nick looked at his boyfriend and said, “Yeah, I think we should help them.” Charlie looked directly into his eyes, beaming.
Charlie then turned to their table of friends. “Isaac? Sahar? Tao? You in?”
Isaac nodded, and then Otis spoke up, “What about us?” He motioned between himself, Christian and Sai.
Sai rolled his eyes at Charlie. “Yeah, mate. They said allies are welcome, right?”
Nick’s heart warmed at the sentiment. He’d appreciated the support his closest rugby friends had given him over the years, once he’d let them in.
Charlie turned back to the boys, who were bouncing on their heels but doing their best to temper their excitement. “You should talk to some teachers as well. Go to Mr. Ajayi in the Art Department and Mr. Farouk in the Science Department.”
Nick added, “And you should also talk to Coach Singh.”
Sam, Albie, Tariq, Rhys, and Luke were all grins as they thanked Nick and Charlie over and over, and nodded towards the others at their table before running off to tell their other friends what happened.
It was almost time for Form, and the groups at the tables outside started to disperse. The girls who still went to Higgs left first to get there before they were late. Charlie held Nick back for a moment, letting their friends walk ahead of them through the school gates and towards the buildings.
When they were alone, Nick looked at Charlie. His blue eyes held back tears. “What’s wrong?” Nick asked, taking Charlie’s face in his hands.
“Nothing, I just… I was thinking about how things might have been different… for me… for both of us really… if we’d had something like that… like what those kids have,” Charlie said, his voice quivering slightly.
“What? Like a group of queer friends?” Nick questioned, dropping his hands down to pull Charlie closer. “We did have that.”
“No.” Charlie paused, blinking, trying to get the words right. “I mean, yes, we did have supportive friends. But what I meant is representation. Older students who were out. Role models at the school, besides a few teachers. Peers .”
Nick grew thoughtful, and after a moment whispered, “Yeah, maybe I would have figured myself out sooner if we’d had that at this school.” He paused, looking into Charlie’s eyes. Charlie put a hand on Nick’s face, cupping his cheek and looking at his boyfriend with tenderness. Nick continued, “When we first got together, I wanted so badly to be with you without hiding, but I was so scared and unsure of my identity. I kept wishing that I’d met you when I was younger because then I would have known.”
“Yeah.” Charlie smiled up at Nick, not sadly but reflectively. “Maybe if I hadn’t been the only out student at this school and getting bullied because of it when I was younger, I wouldn’t have jumped straight to homophobia as the reason those kids were staring at us.”
Nick grinned at Charlie. “Ha ha! You said straight!”
Charlie rolled his eyes, but laughed, pointing at Nick. “Shut up!”
Charlie sighed, looking down, thinking, before looking proudly back up at Nick. “I guess we started something. Just by being ourselves.”
“Yeah.” Nick beamed at Charlie. “I guess we did.”
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A few weeks later…
To check on RATH's progress one year later see Trailblazers - Part 3
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