Unremarkable - 1. Where It All Began.

Unable to find a comfortable position in which to fall asleep, Matt tossed and turned in his bed for what must have been the twentieth time. The thought of starting at a new school the following day made him nervous. Reaching over to his bedside table, he picked up his diary and started scribbling away furiously. The sound of pen scratching paper broke the otherwise silent environment of his bedroom. He sat up, scratched his jet black hair and rubbed his caramel coloured eyes to clear his head. His eyes were too far apart, and the way his ears stuck out reminded him of a bat and he hated that mole by the side of his left eye. Being a regular at the remedial lessons at his previous school, he wasn't a smart person either. Precisely because of this mediocrity, girls never noticed him. Not that it mattered . He was far more interested in attention from guys. Sure, girls called him cute all the time but that had never turned into attraction of any kind, which suited him down to the ground.

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6 April 2012

Shucks. School is starting tomorrow. I hate to think that I’d have to get used to a whole new environment again! Barely got used to that last place and now I have to get acquainted with a new one. I hope that the people at this junior college will be less annoying than the immature airheads in secondary school. Sigh. I can’t stand being around them anymore.

One thing’s much better for sure; they finally have a proper track team in this school. That’s a huge improvement from the stupid Library club I was stuck with. With any luck, I’d be able to score a spot in the team and really kick some ass.

Not sure if I’d even make it onto the team though, I know I can run alright, but I’ve never participated on a competitive level. Heard from seniors that the standards are especially high and that certainly doesn’t seem to be in my favor. Anyway, I’ll just go in, all guns blazing during recruitment and hope that with some stroke of good luck, I’ll make the cut.

So much to worry about, too little time. I should just shut this crazy brain and chill. Yup. That’s the way. Chill, Matt. School will be fine tomorrow.

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Unable to set his mind at ease, he closed the diary, opened his laptop and scanned the list of bookmarks on the browser until he came to a familiar link – “Watching Brad – JustUsBoys...”

He had been reading this incredible story online for a week now, staying up late just to get through all the cliff-hangers. He had chanced upon the story after a number of chapters had been written, allowing him to indulge in multiple chapters a night without fear of catching up too fast with the on-going storyline.

This particular novel had been more than a mere pastime for him. The romance that developed between the protagonist Ted, and his love interest Brad, had initiated Matt’s craving for a soul mate. Trapped in a conservative society, and born into a family of staunch Christians who never had kind words for alternative lifestyles of any sort, vicariously living through the love blossoming between Ted and Brad, was the only escape he could find.

Matt had made peace with his sexuality a long time ago but he was far from being proud or confident of his identity, of this dark side which nobody had seen. An identity that had manifested itself as the persona “Mattman” in the online forums; the only place he could be himself, albeit only in a virtual space. The forum was a place where he felt safe from being judged and away from the fear of being called an ‘abomination’, as his folks referred to gay people.

Matt was deeply engrossed in another riveting installment of Watching Brad when a sudden beep startled him. The blinking icon on the top left corner of his screen indicated a reply to his comment. Scrolling up to his previous comment, he noticed that a fellow JUBber - as the netizens on the forum called themselves - agreed with his literary analyses of a previous chapter and added interpretations of his own that Matt found refreshing. His name was D-And. Excited that someone online was actually as much of a literary buff as himself, he gave an enthusiastic reply. Soon the two were engaged in a heated exchange of literary analyses for the entire novel thus far, to the amusement of on-looking JUBbers all trying to get a word in. They had been talking to each other for almost two years now, both the forums and through text messaging. Even his best friends joked about them being an internet couple, given the many good things Matt had to say about D-And.

It was not until Matt felt like there were lead weights on his eyelids did he realize he had spent close to an hour talking to his friend, practically hijacking the original Watching Brad thread. Despite all the fun, he knew he had to end the conversation to have a sliver of a chance to be awake for school the following day. Begrudgingly, he sent a private message to “D-And”, telling him that he had to leave the discussion.

Strangely, Matt felt some sort of unspoken connection with the person he just spent a good hour talking to, and was certain that there was some kind of chemistry between them. When “D-And” replied with a simple “…catch ya later, homie”, Matt grinned, thinking that it was really cute for someone as mature as him to use the word, “homie”.

Matt dragged himself off to bed. The conversation with “D-And” had taken mind off starting at a new school and relaxed him so much that he was out cold the moment his head hit the pillow.

--

As with all nasty Monday mornings, the shrill ring of the alarm roused Matt from his short but deep slumber. Never a morning person, he sat up in a foul mood, sporting a killer headache from the lack of sleep, a looming sense of dread rising from the pit of his stomach with each passing second. Before he stepped out of the house, the trepidation had spread through his body, filling him with a deluge of anxiety and a huge wave of adrenaline.

The bus ride to school did nothing to alleviate his anxiety. If anything, the boisterous crowd on the bus only served to add to his already cluttered mind. He was a bundle of nerves. He had never been very adaptable to changes and things often took quite a while to grow on him. Turning his head from side to side, he peered through the mass of teenagers now crowding the school foyer and his gaze fell on his friend Dylan, a tall, built teen with sandy-blonde hair cut like one of those runway models. If anyone needed a living, breathing mannequin, Dylan would be perfect for the part. His masculine features and deep, brooding eyes made him look as if he had walked right out of a fashion spread from Vogue; his charisma never failed to put him right at the pinnacle of the social ladder and his bubbly character defined him as the life of the party. He was apt at settling into new environments and meeting new people extremely well, unlike Matt who was more like a social disaster. There, standing to one side, was Elizabeth, svelte brunette with caramel skin and a figure that would make even Sofia Varaga jealous.

Elizabeth was the brain of the group, although she was by no means your stereotypical nerd. At eighteen, she was already an accomplished debater who represented the country in international competitions; she had been invited to be part of the MENSA society, a true testament to her genius. Intellect aside, she had a full figure that should not be possible on her otherwise thin frame. The first thing you would notice is her hair. Icy blond waves accentuated the contours of her face perfectly; juxtaposing the azure blue in her eyes, practically commanding attention. She was usually a lady of few words unless with familiar company. Still, she was possibly as popular as Dylan because of her good-natured personality. Girls want to be her and guys wanted her. Even girls who started out jealous of her could never continue disliking her for long because she was like an innocent little lamb; a very smart, very nice and very, very hot lamb.

With company like this, it was no wonder Matt felt like a shadow. Try as they might to encourage him to be sociable and widen his social circle beyond them, self-doubt killed most of their attempts before they could set them in motion.

The trio had known each other for almost their entire lives. Using the term siblings to describe their friendship would be an understatement.

Dylan it was who spotted that lonely boy in his nursery class. The boy who always sat alone. Ever the sociable one, he befriended the lone wolf, and the rest is history. The two could not be more different as day and night, but that probably was the reason why they had been such good buddies in the first place. Matt, being the quiet and reserved one, would just stare and take in all of Dylan’s crazy antics, while Dylan’s amicable personality attracted people to hang out around them, indirectly bringing in friends for Matt.

Liz came by in primary school and took a liking to the boys instantly. Like Dylan, she noticed that Matt would always sit alone whenever his best friend was not around and made it a point to sit with him. Getting Matt warmed up to her was not an easy process. She fast became friends with Dylan, however, and the increased amount of time they spent together eventually chipped away at Matt’s shyness.

“Liz, D, wait up!” Matt shouted across the hallway. Dylan spun around and flashed Matt a smile that probably had enough wattage to power up a factory.

“Hey, finally decided to show up huh? Thought you’d chicken out of first day just like you did in secondary school. You know you got to meet everyone somehow, yeah? It always gets better once you get to know them; you just need me here to be Mr Ice Breaker huh?” Dylan quipped, never allowing a chance to tease his friend slip.

“Stop being a prick, D. Hey Matt, nervous ? You don’t look so hot today.” Liz stepped forward and enveloped Matt in a tight embrace, hoping to ease his anxiety.

Matt beamed. “I’m better already. No thanks to you, D.” With his best friends and stronghold in tow, he instantly felt more secure, knowing they had his back. They carried on their friendly banter as they moved towards their period-one class, International History. First day of class was a drag as expected, with the usual introductions being made and their very mundane history tutor droned on about attitudes he expected from his students and standards of their submitted work.

Somewhere during the transition between punctuality and proactivity, Matt’s mind wandered and he observed his classmates to see if they were reacting the same way. It did not surprise Matt that most of them were indeed losing concentration of what Mr Tan was babbling about. What did surprise Matt was the Adonis seated in back of the class, looking bored out of his mind just like the rest of the students. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

With a head of short, hazel hair spiked up to create an “out-of-bed” look and a jawline that was sharp enough to cut glass, forget Dylan the model and Elizabeth the bombshell; there was a Greek god sitting right at the back of their class. Adonis-guy had the most amazing shade of emerald in his eyes which Matt could stare into forever. His defined arms were covered by a snug v-neck. Adonis- guy lifted his head up suddenly, as if realizing that he was being watched, and made eye contact with Matt. For a moment, Matt stared back, stunned, enamored by the emerald green eyes looking in his direction before coming to the realization that he had just been caught staring. He jerked his head away, only to come face to face with a look of amusement from Dylan.

“You have to stop eye-raping this new guy man, else you’re totally going to scare him away” Dylan whispered into Matt’s ear. Matt turned a deep shade of red. Dylan enjoyed catching Matt ‘in-the-act’, staring at another guy and teased him for quite a while before finally letting the matter rest.

Throughout the rest of the period, Matt could not stop himself from stealing more fleeting glances at the new guy, always ready to look away casually if he ever looked up again. The period became tolerable after the discovery of this new eye candy. The bell rang indicating the end of period, which disappointed Matt to no end because there would not be another History lesson until two days later.

In a rush to keep his books and to catch up with Dylan and Liz, who left him to stare at the Adonis on his own, the zipper of Matt’s bag got stuck. Panicking as his friends disappeared into the sea of teenagers, he gave the zipper a hard tug and felt his elbow make contact with something solid.

“Ugh!” Someone groaned behind him.

Matt wheeled around.

Staring back at him was a pair of startled emerald greens, his hands clutching the side of his stomach.

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