The Barnstable Chronicles: Book 5 - Beautiful Boy - 12. Back to School and Graduation

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Noah?”

“My heart hurts.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I miss Sky. It made me cry last night.”

Daddy reached across the table and took my hand. “But you’ve been with Sky for the last two weeks, Noah.”

“Yes. And then I wasn’t—and it made me sad. And then I saw the new picture, and it made me cry.”

“Did you not like the picture?”

“I did. It just made me remember that Sky wasn’t with me, so I cried.”

“Did you call him?”

“No. I didn’t want Sky to hear me sad. That would have made him sad.”

“I’m proud of you, you know.”

“You are? But I cried.”

“Everyone needs to cry now and then. You’ve seen me cry when I’m sad.”

“Yes, and I took care of you.”

“So—the next time you feel sad, can I take care of you? David, too.”

“Yes, please.”

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

“When you finish your breakfast, why don’t you call Sky?”

“I’m scared to. What if he didn’t miss me? What if he wasn’t sad?”

“Do you really think that wonderful boy didn’t miss you?”

“I don’t know.”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Yes. There is.”

I finished breakfast and stayed out on the deck while Daddy cleaned our dishes. Nana and David were still sleeping, so I was alone.

“Hello?”

“Noah! You called me!”

“Yes, please. I missed you last night.”

“I missed you, too. I cried for a long time. I needed you to hold me in your arms.”

“I was sad, too. I saw the new picture on my wall, and it made me cry because you weren’t with me.”

“You got a new picture?”

“Yes. Daddy took it when you were showing me around the school. It’s of you and me in the hallway, and we’re holding hands. It made me miss you even more.”

“I want to see it.”

“We get our sleepover on Thursday. It will be there.”

“Okay.”

“Sky?”

“Noah?”

“I love you a whole lot, you know.”

“I know. I love you a whole, whole lot.”

“And I love you a whole, whole, whole lot!”

That made us giggle. Daddy’s a smart man because I felt a lot better.

We had our sleepover on Thursday, but we didn’t do very much sleeping. Instead, we made love with each other until we couldn’t anymore. The next week I was in Barnstable for Papa’s fourth week.

Papa is really acting different—I mean a good different. He’s so happy now that Kelsey is living with him.

One night, Kelsey showed me how he engineers buildings. Papa drew a really cool house, but there were things that he needed Kelsey to figure out so the house wouldn’t fall down. He did a lot of math on the computer. Kelsey said some of it was geometry, and some of it was algebra. He even let me help him with some of the algebra. Kelsey told me I helped make Papa’s new house safe for everybody! That made me happy.

I had a nice visit with Papa and Kelsey, but I was never so excited to go back to school. I was going to be with Sky every day—only in person. While I was in Barnstable, we had Facetime calls every night so we could be naked together and watch each other cum. That’s fun and all, but it’s way more fun to be in the same place together.

The next morning Daddy and David both walked with me to school. Daddy said they were going to go and be interviewed together on a radio show called The Elvis Duran Show, so they would both walk with me to school and then take the subway to the radio station.

Ms. Clancey was real happy to see us again. She said she liked my suntan and blonder hair. That was nice, but when Sky leaned in to me and said I looked even prettier than ever—that made me goose-bumpy!

In English class, I had to stand up in front of everybody and give my book report on Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda.

Simon is a very lucky boy. He’s seventeen, and his family loves him very much. He also has some of the best friends anybody could have. Nick has been his friend since they were four. He met Leah in middle school, and Abby is his newest best friend.

But Simon is sad because all of his friends can date anyone they want to. But there’s no one for Simon to date. Some girls at his school would like to date him, but he doesn’t want to do that anymore. He wants to date boys. Simon doesn’t want anybody to know about that.

One day, Simon finds a message on the school website from another boy named Blue. The message said that he liked boys, too. Simon wrote him an email and said they were alike. They began writing back and forth, and Simon started to really like Blue. He wanted to find out who he was.

Another student finds Simon’s emails on the library computer and tells Simon to help him date Abby—or he will tell the whole school all of Simon’s secrets. When things don’t happen with Abby, Martin (the other student) publishes all of Simon’s emails on the school website.

That makes Simon angry, especially when Blue finds out and says they can’t talk anymore. That makes Simon sad.

Simon has to tell his family that he likes boys after the whole school finds out. It’s not a problem, and Simon doesn’t get in trouble because they love him no matter what.

At the end of the story, Simon and Blue meet. Simon finds out that Blue is someone he has known for a long time. They kiss and fall in love. That made me happy.

Everyone liked my book. Some of the girls said they wanted to read it, too. Mr. Hendrickson said they made a movie out of my book called Love, Simon. That name is a lot easier to say than Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda. He told us that Simon only has one sister in the movie, but the rest of the story is pretty much the same. I’ll have to ask Daddy and David if we can watch that movie sometime.

The best part of going back to school was that I got to be with Sky every day. The second-best part of going back was I got to go back to the aquarium. I was surprised when I got there. Mike said that Vanessa had to move to Florida so she could take care of her sick sister. So that meant it was going to be just me and Jaxon feeding my friends.

I didn’t know Jaxon as good as I knew Vanessa. He was always nice to me, but Vanessa always tried to be around me more.

“Good morning, Noah! It’s gonna be just you and me, kiddo. You ready to feed your friends?”

“Yes, please. I have missed seeing them.”

Jaxon and I had fun feeding the penguins, dolphins, and sea lions. Oscar barked real loud when he saw me and came up for his hugs.

“I’ve missed you, Noah. I love watching how you connect with the animals. I wish I could do something even close to that. How do you do it?”

“It’s pretty easy. I just watch the animal and look in their eyes. Then I just hear what they’re thinking in my brain. It’s not like I listen to a voice. That would be silly. Duke and Oscar like my hugs, too. That makes me happy.”

“Do you want to have lunch with me, Noah? Then we can come back and get ready for the big feed.”

“Yes, please.”

Jaxon told me about his family while we ate lunch. He was from New Jersey—a town called Atlantic City. He said there were a lot of people who went there to visit. His mother worked at a casino dealing cards, and his father ran a hot dog stand on the boardwalk.

“Yummy!” That made Jaxon smile and laugh. He should do that more. It makes him pretty.

When Jaxon asked about my family, I told him my mother died when I was little, and now I have three daddies. He got real excited when I told him about David and Daddy, but he didn’t know Papa.

The big feed is a lot of work, but we got everything done. I didn’t drop the pole this time, either! Jaxon is real strong, too. I could see his muscles work when he was lifting the buckets of fish for the sharks.

When we finished cleaning, Jaxon and I walked down to the front office. David was there with another man who looked like a real-life superhero. Jaxon shook David’s hand and told him he was a big fan of his music. Jaxon said the other man was named Brandon and that they were partners. Daddy shook Brandon’s hand, and I said hello.

On the way home, I asked David what a partner was. He explained to me that sometimes people introduced their boyfriend as their partner.

“So Jaxon and Brandon are boyfriends?”

“Yes, it looks that way, Noah.”

“Oh.” The next thing I did was think about them in bed, making love. Thinking about all that muscle made my cock fill up! That would be a pretty thing to see.

We didn’t get another big break from school until Christmas. I love Christmas! For the first week of the break, we all went to the ocean house. Daddy and David put up a giant Christmas tree that went all the way up to the roof! The tiny white lights made me happy, and they glowed at night.

Christmas morning was the best Christmas I can ever remember. I got some really neat presents, too! Nana got me a whole bunch of new books to read. Daddy and David gave me a Nintendo Switch. I also got a blanket. Daddy said it was called a weighted blanket. He said it was heavier than regular blankets and when it was wrapped around you and made you feel safe while you sleep.

After we all opened our presents, David said he would be right back. He came back with another box and told me I should open it.

“Oh, wow! A puppy!”

I held him in my arms and hugged him—not too tight, though. I didn’t want to hurt him! Daddy asked me if I had any idea what I wanted to name him. That was easy. I wanted to call him Barkley. I thought that was a perfect name because it’s like Ian’s funny brother in Onward—and because puppies bark! Everybody thought that was the perfect name, too.

After breakfast, I made a Facetime call to Sky. I had to show him Barkley, and my puppy made Sky smile. The best thing was Sky got a Nintendo Switch for his Christmas, too. Now we could play games together—even when we weren’t together.

The day after Christmas, Daddy drove me over to Sky’s house. I wanted to take Barkley with me, but Daddy said I couldn’t do that. He and David promised to take real good care of him while I was gone. Oh—I was going to spend the next week with Sky and his family at their cabin in Maine!

A little later, we went to the airport and flew on the big plane to Portland. Instead of getting in a car like we do when we go to Barnstable, we got on a little plane and flew to Bar Harbor. The little plane was louder than the big one, but that was okay because Sky and I wore headphones and played with our Nintendo Switches. Neither one of us even got nervous.

When we got to Bar Harbor, it was cold! But we got into a car right away, and it took us to the cabin. There were a lot of hills outside, but we got to the cabin after a little while. The cabin was pretty—and it was big!

We got our suitcases out of the trunk and went inside. It was nice and warm inside. Sky said his mom made her phone turn on the heat while we were still in Boston. That’s a good idea. I’ll have to tell David about that in case he needs to turn on the heat before we get to the ocean house. But so far, the house has always been warm when we would get there.

There was a lot to do in Bar Harbor, and I had never done any of them before. But the best thing was making love to Sky—and him making love to me. We had to be quiet, though. His parents’ bedroom was downstairs behind the kitchen. Sky’s bedroom was upstairs on the other end of the cabin. But we still had to be as quiet as we could. It was okay. I like making love when we’re quiet—not like the yelling Daddy and David did on the ship!

The first day we were there, Oliver and Angela took Sky and me to a place to ride snowmobiles. Oliver said it was a national park, and the roads were closed in the winter, so we could ride the snowmobiles on the roads that the cars used when there wasn’t snow. It was loud, but with our headphones on, it was okay—and it was a lot of fun!

The next day it was snowing, so we stayed at the cabin, but Sky and I played in the snow and made a giant snowman. I made the snowman a snow-puppy, and we named him Little Barkley.

The next day was the most fun of all! We went to another part of the mountain and rode a sled that was pulled by a whole bunch of dogs. The dogs were so pretty, and they were strong.

After the dogs took us around for a while, the man who was in charge said it was time to give them a break. One of the dogs came up to me and nuzzled into my chest. I gave him a big hug and rubbed his belly. He told me he liked how that felt. When I told him I had a puppy back home, he said that my puppy was very lucky to have me as his human. That made me happy—and it made me miss Barkley a little bit, too.

We got on the little plane a couple of days later so we could fly to Portland and get on the big plane to New York. It was Saturday, and we would be going back to school on Monday—and that meant that I would go back to the aquarium real soon!

It was nice to see Nana, Daddy, and David again, but it was even better to see Barkley! He remembered who I was and crawled all over me and kissed my face and neck. That tickled!

On Sunday, Daddy and David talked to me and said we needed to think about if I would like to go to college after high school. I asked Daddy if I should, and he said if I went to college, I could concentrate and learn more about something that I really liked a lot.

I asked him if I could learn more about sharks and the other animals I worked with at the aquarium. David said that was the perfect thing for me. They said that would mean I could study Marine Biology. I liked that idea a whole lot!

I asked Daddy if Sky would go with me to college, and he said that he talked to Oliver and Angela. Daddy said that Oliver was going to start a new job in Los Angeles once Sky graduated. He said Sky and Angela would be going with him, and Sky was going to go to college in California. Sky was going to study singing and acting at a place called CalArts.

My heart started to hurt as soon as I heard that Sky was moving. We wouldn’t be together! How could that happen? We loved each other!

* * * * *

The last five months were really strange. Most of the time, Sky and I would be really happy—especially on Thursday nights. But then we would be sad when we would talk about not seeing each other. And then we would be happy when we would do things to get ready to go to our new colleges. And then we would be sad because our colleges were so far apart from each other.

I got accepted to Adelphi University. It was about 40 minutes from the city, but you have to take a train to get there. Daddy and I took the train when we went to visit the campus. The train wasn’t as fast as a plane, but it was fun to see everything move by so fast. I had to wear my headphones, but that was okay.

When we got to the university, we went to visit some people who worked at the college. Everybody was real nice. They told me about a program they had for students like me. It was called Bridges to Adelphi. Mrs. White, the lady we were talking to, told us that it was a program for students on the spectrum. There were about thirty students in the program.

In the program, we get an academic coach and a learning strategist. The academic coach will help us pick the right classes so we can get our degree. The learning strategist will help us be successful in the classes. Mrs. White felt that my being at Aaron School already gave me a big head start on that.

She also said I would have a peer mentor. That would be another student on the spectrum who has already been there for a couple of years. The mentor would help me learn how to do everyday things, like doing my laundry, joining different clubs, following the rules, finding the best pizza, and being there for me when I feel anxious or stressed. I thought that would be nice—especially since they would pair me with a mentor in the dormitory.

Mrs. White told us there was a three-week summer program called the Bridges Launch Program. I would meet my mentor then, live in the dorm with him, and take a class. She said it would be like a practice session for when I start regular college in the Fall. So daddy signed me up for the program before we left her office.

Mrs. White said she was going to have one of the peer mentors show us around campus. His name was Carlos Rodriguez. He was a Senior from Mexico City and was going to get his degree in International Studies.

Carlos was real nice. He even showed us his dorm room. It was pretty small, but Carlos said I would get used to it pretty fast. He said he didn’t spend a lot of time in his room because he was usually in the library studying or in class.

He showed us the different buildings on campus, including the big science building. That’s where I would be taking a lot of my classes. Carlos said the biggest difference between high school and college was that instead of walking down the hall to go to a different class, we just walked to different buildings.

The more Carlos showed us, and the more he talked about how much he liked being at Adelphi, the less anxious I was feeling. I was starting to get excited. When we were finished with our tour, Carlos took us back to Mrs. White. When he said goodbye to us, he leaned in to my ear and told me, “You don’t have to be afraid to go to college. There are a lot of nice people here who will help you with everything you can think of—and everything you won’t think of until it comes up.”

“Thank you, Carlos. I wish you were going to be here when I get here. That would be nice.”

“I do too, Noah. You are a really nice boy. You seem like you are very smart, too. You’re going to do very well here. I just know it.” That made me happy.

I’m glad Sky and I found out that we would be apart after we graduated five months before it was going to happen. It didn’t make either of us happy, but it gave us more time to get used to the idea and get ready for it to happen.

A few weeks before graduation, I was in Mike’s office at the aquarium. He told me that when I graduated, my internship was going to end. That made me so sad that I started to get tears in my eyes.

He held out his arms and hugged me. He told me not to be upset because he was going to offer me a full-time summer job. It would mean that I would have to move to the ocean house and go to the aquarium five days a week. But, he said the best part was that I would do the same thing I already did, I would just do it every day—and they would pay me just like they pay Jaxon.

I was surprised Jaxon got money for feeding the animals with me. I guess I just never thought about it. Now they were going to give me money! He said that it would be good for me to have some extra money to spend when I was in college. Mike’s a smart man.

Sky told me his visit to CalArts was exciting for him, too. He said California was a real pretty place, and the people who showed him around the campus were real nice. They didn’t have a Bridges program like Adelphi, but there were a lot of people who would help him get used to being in college. When he talked about his new college, he got excited and was smiling, and then he felt bad. He said he didn’t want me to feel sad because he was excited.

I told Sky I was excited, too—I was excited about my new college and my new job, even though my job wasn’t really new. Then I would feel bad about the same thing Sky was feeling bad about.

I asked Daddy why I felt so confused about everything. He told me that it was perfectly normal to be excited about some things and sad about others. He said that when David moved to Russia, he was sad about that—but he was happy about a lot of things, too. He also told me that even though I might feel sad, I should never forget that everything will always work out the way they’re supposed to, even if we don’t understand it at the time. I didn’t understand, but then he reminded me that he found David again.

“So, I’ll find Sky again?”

“Maybe you will, Noah. Maybe you’ll meet another beautiful boy when you’re in college. Of course, you never know for certain what will happen, Noah. But you should always know that something wonderful might just be around the corner.”

“Okay. That makes me feel better. I’m still excited because new things are going to happen for Sky and me.”

Daddy hugged me and said he was proud of me.

I was proud of myself when I was sitting on the stage at Aaron School with the other 15 Seniors. We were graduating! We were wearing blue robes and funny hats. We listened to some of the teachers say things about how we were going to go out into the world, but we were ready to face our new and exciting challenges.

Sky and I were sitting next to each other, and we could see our families sitting together in the audience. Mrs. Rousch was at the podium and telling everybody about each one of us. When she finished, she would call us up to get our diploma.

She talked about Sky.

“Skylar Davis is one of those students who will never be defined by what others think about him. He is intelligent, bright, funny, and always there to help others. For example, whenever I needed someone to show a new student around our campus, Skylar was always there to help out.

“Skylar will be attending CalArts in Los Angeles in the Fall. He will be working toward a degree in Theatre Arts. Congratulations, Skylar. We are proud of all that you have accomplished and excited for all that lies ahead for you. You may come and receive your diploma.”

Sky walked to Mrs. Rousch, and she handed him a folder. His diploma was inside. He had a big smile on his face when his mother stood and took his picture. Was she crying? Weird.

When Sky sat down, Mrs. Rousch started to talk about me.

“Noah Danner is one of the newest members of our Senior class. When he arrived at Aaron School, he quickly became a vital part of our student body. He was immediately accepted and loved by the other students in his class. Noah’s internship with the aquarium at Westhampton proved that the program could lead to immense success. He begins working for them as a regular employee next week.

“Noah will be attending Adelphi University in Garden City next Fall, where he will be pursuing a degree in Marine Biology. Congratulations, Noah. We are proud of all that you have accomplished and excited for all that lies ahead for you. You may come and receive your diploma.”

I went to Mrs. Rousch. She shook my hand and handed me my diploma in my other hand. Nana, Papa and Kelsey, Daddy and David, Mike, and Mr. Vincente stood up and applauded for me! I graduated! That made me happy—real happy!