Mark Ponyboy Peters

Thank you everyone for your very thoughtful comments! I love that so many of you are so invested in this story and the characters ... ultimately that's exactly the type of response us writer types like to see and hear, so thank you very much!!!

I didn’t know what to say to that. Mum, Dad and Jason were all staring at me waiting for an answer, but there was no way I could give them one. No way at all! In the end I just pushed my chair back from the table, got up and left the room. As I lay down on my bed, I knew what they would be thinking. He can’t defend himself. Or worse. He won’t defend himself. So therefore, he must be gay. He simply must be. ‘Fuck ‘em all,’ I said aloud. ‘Fuck who?’ I suddenly heard Jason ask f

@Paladin thank you for your comment, and no need to apologise. I do agree in some respects, particularly the part about people using their supposed 'phobia' as a defense ... and hasn't that been done to the death in the court system??? BUT ... I have seen reactions in people which I can only describe as 'fear', even if whatever they were actually fearing may have been difficult to identify. It wasn't just bigotry or hatred, I don't believe. Yeah, I know, it's all totally irrational, but the fear expressed in those reactions sure seemed real enough to me. I guess we all deal with these things differently and react to situations differently. Just not sure that completely dismissing 'homophobia' works, that's all.

Thank you 🙂

@Summerabbacat @Mancunian @chris191070 @centexhairysub @Paladin @Al Norris @weinerdog @VBlew Oh wow! Thank you to everybody for your comments and thoughts on this chapter. This one certainly seems to have stirred up a few feelings. I won't reply to every comment, but perhaps a few general comments for background might be in order, just so you know what I was influenced by. Yes, I went to a Catholic high school, forty+ years ago, in a rural town, where bigotry and homophobia were always pretty close to the surface (and still are). Quite a bit of what I have written about in these stories is a reflection of my own experiences and those of people I knew. Write about what you know, right? So having said that, despite what we all feel NOW, or what we know NOW, forty years ago many of the experiences I have described and included in my stories were commonplace no matter where you lived. Parents who are homophobic, parents who think the arts aren't for "their" kids (lest those kids might be -- shock, horror -- queer!), schools who champion sports instead of the arts . . . do I need to go on? We may not have liked it, but that was life. On a personal note, my father may not have been quite as outspoken as Tim's father, but I know that (at least back then) his feelings weren't that dissimilar. He may not have verbalised his feelings all that often, but he still made sure he got his point across. I'd like to think that he mellowed a little in his later years though. Since then, times have certainly changed and attitudes have definitely mellowed, I feel. I doubt any of us would put up with all that crap in this day and age ... we wouldn't stand for it, as there is so much support available these days ... but let's be honest, all those years ago there wouldn't have been too many places in the world where this wasn't the norm, and how we dealt with things back then was the only way we knew how at the time. Hopefully you'll notice some changes in attitude as the story continues! Thanks very much for your interest!!!

‘So, why didn’t you tell me you could sing?’ Guy asked as we drove across town and back to his place. I simply shrugged. ‘You never asked.’ ‘Fuck me!’ I raised one eyebrow at him and smiled. ‘You know what I mean, asshole,’ he said, as he gave me a sharp jab in the shoulder. ‘And what about Ben? Can he sing?’ ‘Trust me. You don’t even want to hear him try. This whole thing was nothing but blackmail. He dared me to try out for the show, or he’d tell Tom Jackson that I was

I'm not going to give away too many secrets @Summerabbacat

‘So, let me get this straight,’ I asked Ben, while still being highly embarrassed by his having walked in on me and Guy. ‘You’re not gay? And we don’t turn you on?’ ‘Nope. And nope. Well, not sexually anyway,’ he said, while shaking his head. He was still leaning against the doorway with his arms folded across his chest, and all the while he was grinning at us like a madman. ‘You’re telling us that seeing us like this makes you hot, but you’re not gay? What are you then?’ Guy asked him

Thank you kind sir. And yes, I'm sure many of us have memories of favourite places from our younger years! 😃

And horny! lol Ben won't give away all his secrets here, but be sure to read the next story in the series. That is all 🙂

I was first to reach our corner the following morning and waited for about five minutes before I finally noticed Ben approaching. As usual he was dawdling along with his school bag over his shoulder, his white school shirt hanging out over his grey trousers, and looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world. ‘Good morning,’ he cheerfully said as he reached me. ‘Morning to you too,’ I replied. ‘You do any better yesterday afternoon?’ I shook my head. ‘Fuck it. You pair

We had our second rehearsal for the school musical the following afternoon after school, and the only word that comes to mind, which accurately describes it, would be . . . chaos! We all thought that Snowy had bitten off more than he could chew in dreaming up this idea of a modern rock musical and so too, it seemed, half the school faculty was thinking along those lines as well. One by one they popped into the school hall to check on our progress, with their snide remarks and quiet sn

Yes, yes and yes. 🙂

Thank you! ❤️

"When was this written?" Errr ... yeah. About 20 years ago!

The telephone rang that night and I barely lifted my head off the pillow for long enough to hear it being answered. I hoped to God that it wouldn’t be for me. Dropping my head back down into my pillow, which was still damp from the tears of fear that I had cried when I had arrived home, I remembered the sweating and the cold panic of just a few hours earlier. It was something the likes of which I had never before experienced, as far as I could remember. And it scared the shit out of me

OH DEAR!!! LOL 😅

I guess that's just the kind of guy he is!

Thank you @Summerabbacat. All the musical references were designed to add some fun to the story, and hopefully bring a few happy memories back for some of us "oldies" LOL I think the Chrysler Sigma and Mitsubishi Sigma are exactly the same vehicle. If my memory is correct, Chrysler were bought out by Mitsubishi, so there was just a badge switch. There were lots of similar deals with the various car brands ... Ford and Nissan had some models that were the same vehicles but with different badges. Also, Ford and Mazda had a similar deal as I recall. Back in the 80's I worked in the auto parts industry, so I knew some of this crap ... can't remember much of it now though! haha MP

Next morning, before first period at school, I looked and looked for the beautiful newcomer but couldn't find him anywhere. ‘Maybe he's chickened out,’ Ben said to me as I dejectedly walked along the corridor towards our classroom. ‘I hope I haven't scared him off,’ I said back to him. ‘Nah. Don't worry about it. I'm sure that he'll show.’ When we reached the classroom we headed straight for our usual seats, right down the back where we would hopefully be out of view of O

Yep ... they are regulars in Thompsonville ... the next one to come after Song For Guy.

Can't Stop The Music! Oh, YESSS!!! LOL

@Summerabbacat @Cane23 @Paladin @CincyKris @centexhairysub @weinerdog @chris191070 Thank you ALL for your comments and feedback. Loving your musical suggestions, which have certainly brought back some memories for me. There were lots of Aussies I could have (and probably should have) included here, but I had to draw the line somewhere! lol I loved Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair as a kid. Have been a massive fan of Jon English and Marcia Hines since then. Had the privelige of seeing them together in concert in the very early 1980's on their Jokers and Queens tour. Almost got to meet them (my uncle was the Manager of a club where they were playing and we all went to their show) but when we went to meet them backstage during the intermission Marcia was in a massive argument with her manager at the time, so we all had to back-pedal to our seats! Heard there's going to be a new version of Jesus Christ Superstar going to be performed in Sydney later this year. Would be great to go and see it. In Year 7 of high school our school choir was travelling to an eisteddfod, and I can still remember the entire bus singing along to Sherbert's Howzat when it came on the radio. I think ABBA's Fernando was also a hit at the same time ... or was it Bohemian Rhapsody ... I'm not sure now. As for some of the names you guys have bandied about, there were a few of these that I liked: Renee Geyer, Sherbert, Skyhooks, JPY. What about the Ted Mulry Gang all you Aussies out there? lol Have to admit that I've always had great difficulty in liking the Minogue sisters though. I have an aversion to singing budgies! hahaha (sorry if that offends anyone!) Then there are the stage shows we did at school ... the most memorable of these for me was Joseph in Year 8 (I was in the choir and helped our art teacher with painting the sets). Anyway ... ahhhh ... the memories!

Yes, and I'm loving the comments and interactions with readers on here as well 🙂

‘Hey, Tim,’ I heard Ben call out to me. Turning around in my seat I saw him walking towards me, so I flashed him a smile and a wave. He waved back and kept on walking. ‘So, are you going to try out for the musical this year?’ he asked as he sat down next to me. ‘I just noticed they’ve put a poster up on the notice board. Auditions are next week.’ We were the best of friends. We were both seventeen and were both in year eleven at MacArthur Catholic High School. But there were a few