The Apprentice
by and © N Fourbois
Chapter 32
"You're quiet this afternoon, Kieran," said Jack as they planted themselves on a double seat on the top deck.
"A bit shellshocked really."
"Oh?"
"Can you keep a secret, Jack?" Jack nodded and, along with the actions, said "Cross my heart and hope to die."
"I've just been busted and outed all in one go."
"McLarney?" Kieran nodded. "I thought it was rather intense in there. What brought that on? You didn't touch him up, did you?"
"Not quite. But he's a bright boy. He doesn't miss much. I think a number of things started it off. To begin with I put a photo of me with Orlando on my desk.
"Who's Orlando?"
"My last boyfriend. Anyway, William spotted it and started asking questions."
"You could have refused to answer."
"I know, but I think I wanted him to ask them, I wanted him to probe. I'd provoked it, as it were. I needed to get something off my chest. I think it started when you said William had a crush on me. That unlocked something in my brain. It said to me 'you know, Kieran, you've got feelings for that boy and you're repressing them.' He also mentioned I'd let him off lightly over the ragging business. Then he told me I could see him naked if I wanted to, but when I'd fallen into that trap, he added that he'd have to see me naked as well."
"How did you react?"
"I said not in College 'cos I'd left my last school because of something similar."
"Implying it could happen outside College?"
"I suppose so, but you know a standing dick has no conscience, or caution, if it comes to that."
"It sounds to me as if the boy has got you both weighed up and stitched up," said Jack.
"And I don't care, either." Kieran's voice lowered itself to a whisper. "He wouldn't be the first junior boy I've had fun with."
"There but for the grace of God go I," quoted Jack. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"Not a lot." Then Kieran gave Jack a sharp look. "Hey, you're not suggesting I should ask William out on a date?"
"No, stupid! I was going to suggest that we hung out together on Saturday, but I like your thinking. My folks are visiting relations for the weekend, my brother's away at university and my sister's going with my parents. Fortunately I have a rugby match in the morning or I'd be going with them. And so I've got the house and the rest of the weekend to myself, plus a fridge and freezer full of goodies. We might get to know each other better, I thought." In the mood he was in Kieran simply took that last remark at face value, without any ulterior motive. "Mind you, unless anything untoward happens in the meantime, the time will come when you might want to ask McLarney out on a date." Jack pressed the bell as the bus was approaching his stop.
"See ya tomorrow, Jack." Jack had reached the top of the stairs. "And yes. I'll check with my parents, but I'd like to spend the weekend with you," Kieran called out down the aisle. A whole lot of heads turned round including those of the remaining College boys. Kieran at least had the grace to blush.
As the bus moved off he returned to his own deep, dark thoughts. Was today a triumph or a disaster? He might have to wait until he arrived at school the next day to find out the definitive answer to that one, but for the moment he was coming down on the side of a success. He had cleared the air with Jack and William. Then there was Saturday to look forward to, but why hadn't he taken the initiative and invited Jack to his place first? He thought it better for that to remain a rhetorical question rather than to provide answer. And why did Jack always refer to their fags by their surnames? Was he suppressing something there too? Perhaps from himself? Kieran alighted from the bus and walked the last couple of hundred yards to his house.
He unlocked the front door and walked in.
"Hallo, darling," his mother called out from the sitting room. "Have a nice day at school?"
"Yes, thanks. I'm getting to know a lot of the boys better and beginning to feel that I belong there. I feel that I'm starting to settle in."
"Good. I'm so pleased. Your father and I still have a bit of a conscience that we weren't there for you when you were at St Sergius's."
"Don't think any more about it. The way things have happened the whole affair has really turned out well for me... though it didn't look like it at the time. I've come to realise what a crumby school St Sergius's was. I'm going to change and get on with my prep. Oh... by the way, Jack Bastion has invited me to spend the afternoon and evening round at his place on Saturday. We haven't got anything on, have we?"
"No, we've actually got a weekend to ourselves. Your father's playing golf."
"Oh, and Jack's parents'll be away. It'll only be the two of us."
"Then you'll just have to behave yourself even better."
"Mum, you know I always do."
"I know you do, love. Do you need any extra money for food?"
"No, thanks. He said his mother's going leave him all sorts of goodies to make up for his not being able to go away with them. He said that was some kind of double reward, but he's not arguing."
"He's not going to be the Orlando replacement, is he?"
"Mum!" Kieran exclaimed. "I'm going up to my room."
"It's all right, love. I'm only teasing."
"I know," smiled Kieran.
The next day at school Kieran and Jack were having tea with their friends. Out of the corner of their eye they saw William and Toby going off to fulfil their fagging duties. Jack was about to start clearing his plate and mug when Kieran put his hand on Jack's forearm and held him back.
"Let them go, Jack. They obviously enjoy each other's company and what I've noticed is that if I'm there, rather a lot of talking gets done and not much tidying. William would much rather chat." Then they started talking with the gathered company about their fags and what they got them to do.
"Mine's an idle little tyke," said Freddie Driffield. "I don't really know why I bother to tip him."
"What do you get him to do?" asked Ozzie Beckstein.
"Only clean my shoes first thing in the morning, and then not every morning. Just when they need it and I supply the shoe polish and brushes."
"Have any of you seen that old film If...?" asked Johnnie Philpotts.
"With macho Malcolm McDowell?"
"Yeah, it comes up on television every so often. Supposed to be a cult film now."
"In it," continued Philpotts "one of the prefects would get a fag to warm the bog seat for him, and they would get beaten if they didn't do it."
"What? With a stick?"
"Yes, a cane. The prefects were allowed to do that in those days."
"Eeeh," said Freddie "they have it too easy these days."
One of them looked at his watch and decided it was time for him to off and have a swim in the indoor pool before going home. Another one had a read-through for the end of term play and so the company dispersed. Jack went off to the computer room to do some of his IT project and Kieran slowly made his way to his study. He would make a start on his prep until Jack was ready to go home. When he got there, William had just finished tidying the study and was about to go off and do whatever he did after school. He was glad he had caught him. William was pleased that by tidying at a snail's pace the job had taken long enough for Kieran to turn up.
"Hi, William, still here?"
"Hi, Kieran. I just wanted to make sure you were pleased with your study." He looked up at him with the doe-like eyes and the sweet smile.
"What's that smell?" Then Kieran noticed it. William had plugged one of those electric air fresheners into the socket.
"It was my mother's idea."
"My, she thinks of everything. Thank her from me for producing something so sweet," and he wasn't referring to the air freshener.
"So, have you had a good day?"
"Yeah, PE was great. We started proper gymnastics, not just circuit training and getting fit. It's only floor work, cartwheels leading on to somersaults. It'll be next term before we get on to apparatus. Mr Bridgeman's such a good teacher. He really makes you confident. But do you know what Toby and I discovered today?" Here William lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone. "He said that some boys in our class had been skiving showers after the lesson and so he had to count us in to the showers and count us out to make sure we'd had a proper shower or we'd stink the school out. Well, you know those white gym trousers he wears, almost transparent?"
"Stirrup pants," answered Kieran. "They're called stirrup pants because of the strap that goes under the foot and pulls them tight. All proper gymnasts wear them and because they're made with lycra and are elasticated they keep tight to the body and don't get in the way like loose clothing."
"Well, you can see his bulge quite clearly through them. Toby and I both noticed it when we went into the shower and when we came out we then noticed it must have been twice as big and you could clearly see the outline of his willie."
"I can see I shall have to watch the way I dress when you two are around."
"Yes, but that's not the end of the story. When we got to our next class, Toby and me asked who it was that been skiving showers and no one had been." Both boys laughed out loud.
"Okay, William, you'd better go off and do whatever you're going to do or with all the whispering someone might think I was seducing you." Kieran suddenly realised what he had said and wished he hadn't. William whispered
"And one day they might even be right." Kieran blushed and William said goodbye. 'I must be more careful about what I say,' thought Kieran. 'I might get away with that with Jack, but not with someone William's age.'
There was a knock at the door. It made Kieran jump as he was absorbed in his work.
"Are you ready to go home, Kieran?" It was Jack's voice.
"Sure. I'll just put my stuff in my bag and lock my laptop away and I'm ready."
Seated on top of the 29 bus Kieran told Jack how much he was looking forward to the weekend. Jack told him that his mother had okayed it, but there mustn't be more than the two of us. She didn't want to return Sunday evening and find there had been a rave and the house had been destroyed.
"As if..." laughed Jack. Kieran didn't tell him about the conversation he'd had with William. He might tell him the Mr Bridgeman story over the weekend. At Jack's stop they said cheerio and Kieran was left with his own thoughts until he arrived home.
"Hi, Mum," he called out as he opened the front door. There was no reply. He walked through to the kitchen and saw that his mother was working in the garden. He went out and said hello. "What's for tea?"
"Ham salad. Good day at school?"
"Yes, very good... and lessons weren't bad either."
Finally dawn broke on Saturday morning. Kieran had to endure his impatience for a few more hours. Of course, he could have gone into school and given Jack some support on the rugby field, but he felt that it would have been too much too soon. He'd found out that Toby and William were playing in the U14s B XV and was afraid he might have been tempted to wander across and watch their game, or rather watch them, a step too far, he feared. His hormones might make him spin out of control. Discretion was the better part of valour. He couldn't settle to anything that morning. He had made sure his prep was up to date so that he could go to Jack's with a clear conscience. Finally his mother said
"Kieran, as you appear to have nothing to do, you can come and give me a hand with the shopping at Waitrose." Normally that was an irritation he was keen to avoid, but today he consented without argument since he realised it would help to pass the time. They were back before twelve and his mother asked him if he wanted anything to eat before leaving for Jack's.
"A couple of sandwiches would be nice, please. He'll have had team lunch at school and so I don't know when we'll be eating." After devouring them he went upstairs, changed into his best hip hugging pair of 501s, the ones without the holes where the material had worn thin, his newest pair of trainers with white socks, he tested his armpits before putting on a deep pink granddad vest, officially marketed as melon rather than pink, and placed a pullover around his shoulders for although in October the days could be quite warm, the nights turned chilly. He said goodbye to his mother, checked his hair in the hallstand mirror as he went out and jauntily made his way to the bus stop. 'You don't think my crotch looks too big in these, do you?' he thought to himself as he waited for the bus and giggled. 'Never,' was the reply he gave to himself, but the imaginary voice was that of William's. The bus arrived and he boarded. By the time he got off it was one o'clock and he made his way to Jack's house. He rang the doorbell, Jack answered and took Kieran into a great big bearhug.
Jack led him into the sitting room, comfortably furnished with a large sofa and several deep, matching armchairs.
"Let me take your sweater... OMG, what is that you are carrying?"
"A gentleman's handbag."
"That's a bit poofy, isn't it?"
"Well, I am a poof. Anyway, they're quite fashionable on the continent." They made themselves comfortable on the sofa. Kieran went on. "It was something I was taught to do during my apprenticeship, that if you're going anywhere special it was better to keep your things in a gentleman's handbag than to have unsightly bulges in your trousers." Jack giggled at the idea. "Then, quite coincidentally, my parents brought this one back as a gift after the business trip."
"So I'm something special?" Jack asked and wriggled his eyebrows at the same time.
"Of course."
"And what do you keep in there?"
"You don't ask a lady what she has in her handbag," reproved Kieran in a mock haughty tone of voice.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"I could murder a cup of tea," replied Kieran. Both boys got up and went into the kitchen.
"Kick your trainers off and make yourself comfortable." Jack took them and put them into a rack in the utility room. Kieran was pleased to see that Jack made the tea using proper tea leaves and a teapot.
"So what's this apprenticeship you mentioned?"
"It's a long story, but if you're interested I'll tell you."
"I'm interested." Jack put the cups, saucers, teapot and strainer, milk and sugar on a tray and carried them into the sitting room. His mother would have been proud of him. "Alexis taught me to make tea like this."
"Who's Alexis?"
"My ex, the one that went to New Zealand."
"Hey, I remember now. He was the one who looked after me when I came to look round the school. Back to the tea. Funny. I was taught to make tea like that as part of my apprenticeship. Anyway, apprenticeship. You already know I got caught, or rather set up, doing stuff with another boy at my last school. At the time my parents were abroad on one of their business trips. They've got another one coming up before Christmas. OMG, that was embarrassing! I had to come out to my parents over the phone. Would you believe it? At the time I was staying with my uncle who's not much older than me. Now he is gay, gay and out, professionally gay I would say, especially at weekends, but that's another story. As I had a lot of time on my hands, Eric decided that now I was officially out, I ought to be put through an apprenticeship on how to be gay properly and be safe. And that's just what he did. He said I'm now a 'craftsman', free to practise my trade, but I have to take on an apprentice myself before I can become a master craftsman."
The boys finished their tea.
"Would you like to see my room?" said Jack. They went upstairs and Kieran could see that his bedroom was in fact an extension built onto the house. "This is my room. It's got its own bathroom." Kieran's eyes went straight to the double bed. "Oh, that. I sometimes have to double up if my brother's at home and we have guests as well, but it doesn't happen very often. It was fun when Alexis was around."
"Are you out to your parents?"
"Oh, sure. You couldn't remain in the closet when Alexis was around. He was so... what shall I say?"
"Camp?"
"Let's just say extrovert. My parents told me rather than me telling them, and I must admit it made life easier from then on."
"Did they know that you and Alexis had sex together?"
"I didn't say we did."
"C'mon, Jack. You said he was your boyfriend and so you must at least have kissed or you're not boyfriends." Jack put his hands up.
"Okay, Kieran, I give in to your logic. We did stuff together. My parents know we slept together, but it was all on the basis of 'ask no questions and you'll be told no lies'... nor the unbearable truth. How are you on computer games?"
"So so," said Kieran modestly.
"Okay, here's what I've got. You choose." And that's how the afternoon passed with Kieran turning out the winner 3 - 2.
"Time for a drink, I think," said Jack. "Tea or something long and cool?"
"As you know how to make tea properly, it's a cup of tea for me."
"Good, because Mum's left us some freshly baked scones, homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream, and they don't really go with fizzy drinks." They went down to the kitchen.
"Anything I can do to help?"
"As you're a connoisseur, will you make the tea and I'll get the scones ready. Hold back a moment while I warm these through. Do you fancy a curry tonight? You don't have to. I have got other things."
"A curry sounds great."
"Do you do a lot of cooking, Kieran?"
"I wouldn't say a lot, but my Uncle Eric says you can't be a proper gayboy if you can't cook."
"He's got these views, has he?"
"Yeah, I'll probably think of some more in a minute. He reckons that if you get in a civil union or just become partners, at least one of you's got to be able to cook and if you can, it gives you an advantage. So it became part of the apprenticeship. Only simple things, but I enjoyed doing them. I'll cook you a meal sometime when my parents are on their travels."
"Because scones, jam and cream are a bit messy, we'll eat them in the kitchen. We usually eat in the kitchen as a family. The dining room is for guests and special occasions."
In a few minutes they were sitting at the kitchen table tucking into scones, getting sticky fingers and bits of clotted cream stuck on the end of their noses which made them giggle. Jack got up and fetched some kitchen roll to act as serviettes.
"How did your rugby match go, Jack?"
"We won 14-10, but they got two tries whereas we only got one. We won on penalties which is never so satisfying."
"And which team were you playing in?"
"The 3rds, and if we go on playing like that, there's not much chance of promotion to the 2nds. They won 21-3."
"Jack, to change the subject, there's something that puzzles me. Tell me to piss off if you don't like the question, but why do you always refer to Toby and William by their surnames?" Jack immediately coloured up.
"You don't miss much, do you? Okay, you've told me some of your secrets. It's only fair for me to be open with you. I fancy them both something rotten and it's just one of the strategies I use in order not to get too close to them."
"I can certainly appreciate that. They're both A class boys, but I haven't got your hang ups, probably because I've done stuff with younger boys, whereas it sounds as you've kept to your own age group."
"Something like that. There are several boys in College that I do fancy, but I am frightened to cross the Rubicon, as it were. It makes it worse because they've both admitted being gay and Cholm... er... Toby is virtually crying out for it. Hey, what's this A class boy?"
"Nothing. It's just the obsessive in me, the need to classify. When I notice a boy, A means I'd like to get him into bed, B I wouldn't kick him out of bed, C when his balls drop he'll be reclassified to A, and D yeuk! Anything else goes unclassified."
"And Toby and William are?..."
"Both As."
"And me?"
"Ask me again just before I go home. I don't want to ruin a budding friendship."
The two young men were sitting opposite one another at the table, looking directly into each other's faces, their heads getting closer and closer. The cream deposited round their lips and on their noses just made them giggle that much more. Their faces were so close that Jack made a lunge and licked a blob of cream off Kieran's nose. Kieran countered by licking the cream off Jack's lips and they automatically locked in a kiss. As they pulled away, they looked at each other. The smiles turned into grins, then to giggles.
"If we're going to do that," said Jack "we'd better go upstairs."
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