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“So, when is it that we start talking about our soulmates?”
“Tao, I’ve told you a hundred times, it’s when your eyes meet.”
“And I’ve told you Charlie, don’t exaggerate,” Tao scolded,” but then muttered to himself “it’s not been a hundred times,” which made Charlie laugh as he reached into his bag, under the picnic table they always sat at, and pulled out his lunchbox.
“Life isn’t all about soulmates, you know,” Isaac said, not even bothering to look up from the pages of his latest book.
“Maybe this year is the one, we’re all 16 now and the school is merging with Higgs so you never know.” Charlie said with a shrug, pulling the crust off his sandwich.
“Charlie, you’re gay, the girls at Higgs are not going to be your soulmate,” Tao pointed out, and received a crust thrown in his direction for his trouble.
“Hey, don’t you know you shouldn’t throw things at people!” Harry jeered as he and a posse of rugby lads walked past.
“And if you do throw things at people, make it more meaningful than a crust of bread,” he added, as he threw his empty drinks can over his shoulder, hitting Isaac on the back.
“You’re such a prick, Harry!” A rugby lad shouted.
“I’m sorry about him, he can be such a dicknozzle sometimes,” the boy added as he picked up the empty drinks can from just behind Isaac and placed it in the bin that was a mere metre away. Charlie watched, enraptured by his kindness. The boy caught Charlie’s eye and winked at him. The self proclaimed trio of outcasts sat in silence until the rugby lads had moved on to their next targets.
Charlie opened his mouth to speak but was shocked when:
“There once was a boy called Nick
Whose arms were incredibly thick.
I want him to hold me, to hug me, to squeeze me.
And I want to sit on his dick.”
Charlie slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Holy shit!” He exclaimed.
“Did you just?” Isaac asked, shocked.
“He bloody did!” Tao agreed, both of them staring at Charlie who just looked mortified.
“I just… I just spoke in a limerick,” Charlie giggled. “Oh god, my soulmate is a rugby lad,” he groaned when he realised what had just happened. “Which one do you think is Nick?”
Tao rolled his eyes, and stuffed more of his sandwich into his mouth.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
It was a couple of days later that the girls from Higgs came to Truham for the day, a settling-in-session of sorts. They were split into small groups and allocated a group of boys to show them around and act as tour guides.
Tao, Charlie and Isaac all stood by the music block entrance, waiting for their group of girls to show around.
“This is gonna be fun,” Isaac said, bouncing on his heels.
“Oh shut up Isaac, I can definitely think of better ways to spend my time,” Tao grumbled.
“Well, it beats Mr. Walker's class of interpretive dance we were supposed to be doing,” Charlie said, as he tapped away on his phone, messaging Tori.
“Hey, hey, hey, happy Truham Trio! What’s crackalacking?”
All three boys looked towards the noise. A blonde from Higgs with a tall girl with her hair in braids and hand-in-hand with a shorter girl. Charlie heard Tao grumble something he couldn’t decipher and he saw Isaac quickly close his book and tuck it safely away in his bag.
“Hi,” Charlie said, with a small gesture that looked only a little like a wave as the three Higgs students walked towards them.
“Hey, I’m,
Darcy, Darcy Is a star
I love you, just as you are.
Out at school the chaos reigns
Monster munch and dinner stains.
Darcy, Darcy
Is my star
I love you, just as you are.
I’m Tara,”
Tara didn’t look embarrassed or ashamed or anything out of the ordinary at her nursery rhyme interrupting her introduction.
“Umm, you just,” Tao stuttered.
“Yeah, we’re soulmates,” Tara replied proudly, linking hands with the blonde who had shouted at them from across the yard.
“This is Darcy,”
“Hey!” Darcy said with a huge smile, one hand linked with Tara, and the other playfully punched Isaac in the shoulder. To which, he just looked at his shoulder as if the contact had blemished him.
“Why don’t you break the soulmate curse, so you don’t have to talk in rhyme?” Tao asked.
“Tao! Don’t be so rude,” Charlie scolded.
“Oh we did. We just love surprising each other with random rhymes,” Darcy said, bouncing on their toes
“When Darcy says ‘we’ they mean ‘them’” Tara chuckled.
“You love it too,” Darcy protested.
“Yeah, I do,” Tara conceded and tapped the end of Darcy’s nose playfully.
“Tara put her clothes on, Tara put her clothes on, Tara put her clothes on, and I just frowned.
Darcy took them off again, Darcy took them off again, Darcy took them off again and they just laughed.”
“Darcy!” Tara laughed and dragged them away from the group.
“So err, that just happened,” the third girl stated as she fiddled shyly with one of her braids.
“I’m Elle, by the way,” she smiled.
“I’m Charlie, this is Isaac and that’s Tao,”
“Tao?” She repeated and looked at Tao with a quizzical stare, he returned a very uncharacteristic smile and waved in her direction.
“So, this is the music block,” Charlie said as he gestured to the building behind them.
“Nice, both Tara and I are playing in the orchestra.”
“No way! Me too. I play the drums,” Charlie answered excitedly. Isaac followed behind them as they walked into the classrooms, Tao trailed closely behind.
Once Charlie had shown them the music block, and they had tinkered with the drum kit, Tara, Darcy and Elle made their excuses to find the toilets.
The boys stood in the hallway, waiting for them.
“So, they seem nice,” Isaac said, which caught both Tao and Charlie off guard; they both just stared at him.
“What?” Isaac shrugged.
“Nothing, you just, you don’t normally voice an opinion on things,” Charlie said, sounding a little confused. “Right Tao?” Charlie looked to his friend for back up, Tao started to nod but when he opened his mouth, the words he said weren’t quite what he had expected.
“Elle Argent is her name, is her name,
Elle Argent is her name, is her naaame,
Her eyes, her ears her mouth her nose,
Elle Argent from her head to her toes.”
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie asked, snorting a giggle.
“I think it was the tune of head, shoulders, knees and toes,” Isaac said through his smirk.
“Oh kill me now,” Tao groaned. “Why do you get limericks, and I get a fucking kids song?”
“I think it suits you,” Isaac replied, as deadpan as possible.
“Do you think Elle knows?” Tao said, utter fear in his voice.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
“Come on boys! We’ve been doing this all term and none of you have beaten Christian's time yet! Come on!” Mrs. Singh boomed as the boys started to slow their pace after being made to run continual laps of the rugby pitch in an attempt to help build their stamina.
“Hey Nelson!” Sai huffed as he caught up to Nick, you see Tara Jones? She’s come over from Higgs today.”
“Yeah? So what?”
“So, didn’t you two have a thing back when you were 13. Well, now’s your chance,” Sai struggled to say through his laboured breathing, but he also managed to give Nick a sharp elbow to the ribs.
“Yeah, maybe,” Nick replied.
“So, you coming to Harry’s party?” Sai asked, as they slowed their pace to a jog.
“There once was a boy called Charlie
He has a jaw chiselled quite sharply,
He plays the drums and gets lost in his sums
But loving him would be gnarly.”
“What the fuck man? I didn’t know you were gay!” Sai exclaimed.
“I’m bi actually,” Nick replied with a shrug and picked up his pace and ran off. He knew he was bi, he’d figured it out a little while ago when he was completely obsessed with ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ and realised it wasn’t solely Kiera Knightly that made him have those feelings. He came out to his mum, who had been wonderful and loving and nothing short of amazing and supportive, but he figured he didn’t need to advertise the fact until his potential soulmate was potentially male. His head now full of his soulmate, he wondered just who this Charlie was. His mind started racing with all the people he had seen in the last few days. But none really stuck out. He remembered the new kid he showed around, but his name was Daniel, and he definitely had eyes for Aled.
He thought about the boys in year nine that he had to show around for orientation. And then his mind flicked through all the new faces who tried out for the rugby team. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember any of them being called Charlie.
It seemed the harder Nick tried to remember anyone called Charlie, the further away the image got.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
“I think Tao might be my soulmate,” Elle said softly as Darcy snorted a laugh.
“Darcy, this is serious!” Tara scolded, elbowing Darcy in the ribs.
“Sorry, but Mr. Grumpy Gills out there? Seriously?” Darcy said, pointing back to the corridor they just left.
Elle went to reply but instead,
“He’s tall and gangly Tao Xu, Tao Xu,
Arms like twigs to hug you, hug you,
He will fight your corner and protect you at all cost.
Look past his grumpy, Tao Xu, Tao Xu.”
“Woah,” Darcy uttered with wide eyes and a shocked look on their face.
“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Tara replied.
“How do we break the soulmate rhymes?”
“That’s easy, you just need to say the exact same thing to each other,” Darcy answered.
“What did you two say?” Elle asked.
“Now that would be telling,” Tara said with a wink.
“How do we know what the other is going to say? I’ve only just met him,” Elle moaned.
“If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth fighting for,” Darcy replied, linking arms with Tara who kissed Darcy’s cheek. Elle rolled her eyes, knowing full well she wouldn’t get much help, but at least she knew who her soulmate was. She was very aware a lot of people never find their soulmates.
“Do you think Tao knows?” She wondered out loud, eliciting a giggle from Tara.
When the three of them emerged from the bathroom, there was an electric silence. Charlie looked at Isaac, who looked at Tara, who looked at Charlie, who smiled a little, then nudged Tao who stumbled backwards a little.
“So, soulmates then,” Darcy said with a loud clap of her hands. Charlie huffed a giggle, Isaac smiled and closed his book, Tara groaned and Tao just looked at Elle. Elle looked at Tao and blushed.
“Umm, Tao?” She spoke softly, and shyly as he fiddled with a broad of her hair.
“I’d like to umm. I’d like to get to know you better,” he said with a reassuring smile, Charlie could hear the nerves in his voice but that was only due to having known him since forever.
“I’d like that,” Elle replied. Tao offered his arm and Elle linked her arm. “We’ll err, we’re going for a walk,” Tao stuttered, unable to take his eyes off Elle.
“Alright you two, you be safe now!” Charlie shouted.
“Don’t do anything Darcy wouldn’t do!” Tara called with a chuckle.
“Babe, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do,” Darcy replied and Tara just kissed them again.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
Charlie was walking toward their usual picnic bench, reciting his algebra equation so he could write it down, but he hadn’t realised that he was talking out loud. So when he was on his fourth rendition of the algebraic answer, his words changed.
“Nick has a dog called Nellie
Who loves a rub on her belly
He takes her for walks, and runs in the park
How I wish I could meet his dog, Nellie”
“Oh my god, oh my god you guys, my soulmate has a dog!” he cried as he ran up to the table where Isaac and Tao were waiting.
“Alright Charlie calm down,” Tao grumbled.
“I will do no such thing! I’ve always wanted a dog! But mum's always said no, they don’t like animals.”
“I’m happy for you Charlie,” Isaac said with a comforting hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
“So, how do you think I can meet this guy? I mean I must have seen him already, I just have no idea who it was. Ughhghhh,” Charlie growled in frustration.
“Calm down, I mean he’s got to be around here somewhere right?” Isaac added plainly.
“Who Isaac? We have the computer geeks over there salivating over Minecraft, the emos day-drinking behind the bike shed, and don’t get me started on the rugby lads, lads lads lads,” Charlie said, finishing with the most laddish impression he could muster.
“What about Nick Nelson?” Isaac asked.
“Who? The Rugby King? Fuck off, don’t wish that on me,” Charlie scoffed as he slammed his lunch box onto the table and took the lid off with perhaps a little more force than needed.
“Why Isaac? Why would you even suggest him?”
“Because I wanna believe in romance?” he replied with a shrug.
The three of them sat there, in a comfortable silence, as they had every lunchtime since starting at Truham four years ago, when suddenly Isaac spoke.
“Three in the bed and Charlie said roll over, roll over, so they all rolled over and Tao fell out.
Isaacs in the bed with all his friends, he loves them, he loves them. They snuggle together and support each other. He loves them, he loves them.”
“Isaac,” Charlie said with tears in his eyes.
“I guess you are all my soulmates,” Isaac said with a shrug. He was then surprised by the sudden rush of arms wrapped around him.
“I’m so lucky,” he added with a chuckle hugging them back tightly.
As Isaac made his way to the library to exchange his book, he heard someone muttering in the corridor.
“There once was a boy called Spring
He wants to pleasure you and smiles with a grin
He longs for a dog, he needs a warm hug,
Nick you’re bi actually, that is your thing.”
He stopped in his tracks, not wanting to turn the corner and disturb the person talking about his best friend. He took careful steps towards the corner, keeping as tight to the wall as possible, cursing every squeak his shoes made on the linoleum floor.
He slowly peeped round the corner and couldn’t help but smile to himself. He knew exactly who the person was.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
“So they said we just have to say the same thing to each other at the same time?”
“Yeah,” Elle replied, as she played with the zip on Tao’s coat.
“But how are we supposed to know what the other is about to say?” he groaned. Elle shrugged and pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw.
“You’re really talented, you know,” Tao said quietly so as not to disturb her.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I really enjoy watching you draw, it’s very relaxing,” Tao replied as he rested back on his hands and continued to watch.
“Bet you can’t guess what I’m drawing,” Elle said with a smile as her charcoal pencil continued to glide over the paper.
“It doesn’t matter it could be a, a,”
“Shoe potato,”
“Shoe potato,” they said in unison.
Elle dropped her pencil, Tao froze.
“Did we?” Elle muttered.
“I think so,” Tao mumbled. And then Elles lips were on his. They were soft and warm and everything he didn’t know he needed until that very moment. Tao felt his world click into place, his card aligning and the stars start to twinkle. He could swear, although he’d forever deny it, that he saw butterflies fluttering around them. As they broke their kiss, both slightly out of breath, Tao whispered, “so I guess you’re stuck with me now then.” To which Elle replied, “that’s fine with me,” and they both returned to kiss the other with every feeling and emotion they could share.
⋆˙⟡♡⟡˙⋆
“Isaac, why am I here on a freezing cold Saturday morning, freezing my arse off when I could be warm and snug and asleep in my bed?” Charlie grumbled.
“Because, my grumpy little house elf, I have a surprise for you.”
“Here? At Truham locker room. My most hated place. A place I don’t think I’ve ever seen you come to before? This, this is where you bring me on a freezing Saturday morning when I could be warm and snug in my bed?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes,” Isaac nodded.
“Just wait, all will become clear,” he said, waving his hands in front of his face in a mystic way.
“If you’ve turned into a bully, I’ll never forgive you,” Charlie huffed as he crossed his arms to try and maintain some body heat.
“Just wait,” Isaac repeated.
They waited, and waited, Charlie only checked his watch a handful of times before he deemed himself too cold to expose any extra flesh to the elements.
Suddenly, the locker room door swung open, out came all the Truham rugby players. Charlie and Isaac instinctively moved to one side and tried to stay out the way best they could. The bulk of the team walked straight past, one guy, Charlie thought his name was Sai, gave them a smile and a wink, which Charlie found confusing and unnerving at the same time. The door shut behind them all.
“Well, what now?” Charlie grumbled.
“Just wait,” Isaac replied, as he placed his book into his coat pocket.
It was only a few moments later the door swung open again, out stepped the last player on the team, squinting into the morning sunshine. He was tall, and his hair, slightly damp from his shower, shone auburn in the sunlight, his freckles alight with the exertion from rugby practice. He had his bag slung over one shoulder, no coat, just a T-shirt on, showing off the definition of his biceps. Charlie's breath hitched at the sight of him. It was him. The guy who picked up the drinks can weeks ago. They both seemed to just look at each other, both seeing, and sort of recognising. Then, as Charlie saw the boy was about to speak, he spoke too.
“Hi,” they breathed out in unison.