Mark Ponyboy Peters

I stood outside Guy's house, feeling like a total stranger. It was a house that I had been inside a thousand times over recent months. It was a house that I already knew almost as well as my own. But this time it was different. This time, for the first time in months, I didn't know if I would be welcome. I had left Ben and Jonathon at McDonald's, with my head spinning from what had happened earlier, and worried sick that Guy would actually refuse to believe that what he had seen

Ben and I were both rostered to work at the supermarket the following morning and ended up spending the entire morning helping out with packing away a truckload of stock that had arrived. We were too busy to talk much, but I did manage to let him know that Jonathon was going to come and see me at some stage today and that he wanted to talk to me alone. I hadn’t mentioned any of that to him last night. ‘I wonder what he wants?’ he asked. ‘I don't know. He's got me curious though.’

Not too sure if we still have directory assistance ... but when this was written 20+ years ago we sure did 😋

Being the middle of December, with Christmas now only days away instead of weeks, it was bloody hot. This was summer at its best and I was right, I had decided; one of us definitely needed a car! For the entire trip up the hill, all I could think about was seeing Guy drive away from me, and judging by how quiet Ben was as he trudged along beside me, his shoulders hanging low, I would say that he would no doubt be having feelings of a similar nature regarding Samantha. When we arrived a

@Summerabbacat yes, definitely sad news about Nellie. She was certainly one of the greats! As a racing fan myself, and an owner of racehorses, I feel these types of losses as well!

We were awakened early the next morning by the sounds of birds in the trees outside the room, the sounds of cattle in the paddocks along the river behind the motel, and by the sounds of early morning traffic on the highway. It may not have been the perfect start to the day, but hey, two out of three ain't bad. Or so the song goes! While Guy still lay in the bed we had shared, I got up and wandered over to the window, which overlooked the paddocks and the river behind the motel. As I pu

And @Summerabbacat thank you for continuing to entertain us with all these Aussie classics! Loving it!

@Al Norris you need to think more about the big picture, of which Tim and Guy are only a part. I haven't ever specifically written anything further about them or their families and what happened between when they first met Matt and Luke, but as the series goes on there are some gaps that gets filled for all the characters. At the moment I am reviewing the next story in the series, 'Thompsonville', and I may flesh out some backstory here. You just never know! 😋

@weinerdog yes, that university is what actually brings them all here. There are currently 5 stories in this series. The first 3 stories (this one is the third) introduce several characters from different places. They all come together for the 4th story and then we go on with their lives from there... 🙂 There is also a 6th story in the works 🙂

We didn't make it home that night. It was more like just after lunchtime the next day, but no one seemed to mind. After Guy had dropped Ben and Samantha home we ended up sitting in his car out in front of our house for about half an hour, just talking. I wanted so badly to hug him before he left me there, but we both knew that wasn't possible. Well, not in broad daylight anyway. We settled for discreetly holding hands, until one of the neighbours happened along, after which I gave him

OK ... I have to admit that the Beverly Sutphin reference was lost on me ... but Google was my friend, and now I have another movie I need to see! haha!

When we skipped down the stairs beside the stage and burst out into the auditorium, laughing and giggling and carrying on, we had expected everyone to have left already. We were soon stopped in our tracks, however, when we found all of our parents waiting there in a group; mine and Ben’s and Samantha’s, along with Guy’s mother, all chatting away as if they had been long lost friends. When they spotted us they stopped chatting and turned towards us, all beaming at us as if we had just been a

Thank you! If only I could give both a <heart> and <laugh> emoticon for the same comment!!!!!

Opening night was finally here, and from the other side of the stage curtain we could hear the hum of the auditorium filling up with people as they found their seats and chatted excitedly amongst themselves. We could also hear the sound of the last minute tuning of musical instruments coming from the band, who were set up directly in front of the stage, in an enclosed area between the cast and the audience. Ben and I were standing in relative darkness in the stage wings, just near the contr

‘You know I love you, don’t you?’ Guy whispered to me, as I lay with my head on his lap, his fingers gently stroking my hair. We were sitting on the blanket by the creek, listening to the nightlife and the frogs along the banks. Suddenly everything seemed to be getting all too heavy for me. I sat up and looked out across the water, watching the reflections of the city lights dancing on the rippled surface. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, anxiously. I turned to face him, and took his han

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

I just froze, but then I realised that it wasn’t my father. It was Jason. The little prick must have climbed in through the window. ‘It’s none of your damn business,’ I replied. ‘And what the fuck are you doing in here anyhow?’ ‘So? Where have you been? Dad tried knocking on your door when Ben rang you. When you didn’t answer he just reckoned you must have been asleep . . . anyhow, that’s what he told Ben. I figured that you mustn’t have been in here, though. Looks like I know you bett

Yup! LOL

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