Tears for Toby - 2. Chapter 2

Part 2
The Best Laid Plans
I was frustrated with Joseph Burton. We had been friends for what seemed like forever and I so wanted our friendship to become closer but it never seemed to go anywhere. From when I first saw him we became friendly that was in our first year of school. Joey was the tallest boy in the class and I’m sure the meekest. I used to get a real kick out of watching his face when I used to be paying extra attention to another boy, or girl, in our class. He didn’t realize it at the time but I used to do it on purpose just to see him scowl, and look at the person who was the centre of my attention with disgust which never failed to amuse me.

After the time when he pulled me back and stopped me running into the road we got more attached to each other. We started having sleepovers at each other’s homes and I really thought our friendship would get even closer. Fat chance, during the sleepovers I would pretend to go to sleep then slowly roll over as if I was just turning in my sleep. I’d make sure that my groin would make contact with Joey’s arm that was always there between us. At first I thought that he’d placed it there on purpose but every time I made contact with his arm there was no reaction from him as he was fast asleep. I couldn’t believe that he could fall asleep so quickly, I once went as far as taking my dick out of my pyjamas and resting it in his hand but got no reaction, absolutely zilch. I was becoming more and more frustrated and got to thinking that Joey wasn’t interested in doing anything sexual or if he was he was hiding it very well.
I knew Joey was shy but this was driving me nuts.
It was a month before the end of the Spring Term that I hatched my plan to get Joey so jealous that he’d come out of his shell.
A new boy started at our school Vincent Peterson, and was in our class, he was quite a good looking boy and I thought.
Toby boy, he’s just the one to get Joey all wound up, so from that moment on I made sure that Joey could see us chatting and smiling at each other and becoming best buddies.
I decided to carry out my plan till the end of term and would then go round to Joe’s house during the first week of our holidays to pay him a surprise visit and see how he would react.

We broke up on the Friday and on the following Wednesday I went around to Joey’s house. I was all excited with anticipation as to how Joey would respond to my appearance on his doorstep. I rang the bell and waited a moment before the door opened and a total stranger was standing in the doorway.
I was dumbstruck for a moment before quickly regaining my composure and asking, “Is Joey at home,” thinking the man might be a relative come to visit
The man in the doorway frowned before saying, “I’m sorry son, but there isn’t anyone by the name of Joey living here.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and blurted out, “You mean to say Joseph Burton doesn’t live here.”
The man’s eyes lit up and he smiled, “Ah I understand, no the Burtons’ don’t live here anymore, we bought the house from Mr Burton, and they moved out on Monday and we moved in yesterday.”
I was so shocked for a moment that I just stood there not uttering a word till I suddenly came to and asked,
“You wouldn’t happen to know where the family have moved to sir.”
“No, I’m sorry I can’t help you son.”
After thanking the man for his assistance I turned and made my way back home. My plan to get Joey jealous so that we could further our friendship had completely backfired and now I had no idea what part of the city he was living in or even if he was still in the city.
I felt really down as I trudged back home and I was now wishing that I should have been content to let our friendship take its natural course instead of trying to manipulate it. At least I would have known that he was going to move and could have made plans to meet during the holidays. Now thinking about seeing him sitting by himself in the cafeteria eating his lunch brought a lump to my throat, and I felt tears start to trickle down my cheeks.

The whole of my summer holiday was a total disaster I just couldn’t get interested in anything, even when Vincent called around I would just sit and mope till he gave up and didn’t bother to visit anymore. My parents tried to cheer me up when they discovered that my hangdog mood was due to the fact that Joey had moved and I didn’t know of his whereabouts.
My parents only knew Joey, and had never met his parents and had no idea what his parents Christian names were. If we had known we could have tried to locate them, but as there were hundreds of Burtons in the directory and not knowing there initials it would have taken forever to try and find them, And what further deterred us we weren’t even sure if they still resided in the city.
I rode around the local neighbourhood on my bike in the hope that I might spot him, but after a week of going to all the places that we had been together and not seeing Joey I gave up, and just hoped that if he was still in the city that I’d see him in school when the autumn term started.

It was the first time that I was wishing for the holidays to end, and the days just seemed to have like 48 hours instead of the normal 24, time just seemed to drag. But the day did finally arrive for us to resume our education again and I left home with a spring in my step and couldn’t wait to walk through the school gates.
When I did walk through the gates just half an hour later my joyful mood crashed and my whole life seemed to have been turned upside down.
After registration I was looking around everywhere and not seeing Joey I asked Keith Buckle, “If he knew which class Joey Burton was in.”
Keith gave me a funny look before saying, “Didn’t you know he wasn’t coming back to Oak Grove school again, he was moving to another school, he didn’t say where but I don’t think it’s anywhere close by.”
The rest of the day was like a fog with me walking around in a daze. Eventually school ended and I made my way home with the thought buzzing around inside my head that my friendship with Joey was definitely at an end, and I had been instrumental in causing it by trying to manipulate our friendship to suit my own desires.