A Song For Guy

by

Mark Peters
.

PART ONE

 .

“Hey Tim”, I heard Ben call out to me.

I turned around in my seat and saw him walking towards me, so I 
flashed him a smile and a wave. He waved back and kept on walking.

“So, are you going to try out for the musical this year?”, he 
asked as he sat down next to me. “I just saw that they put a poster
up on the notice board. Auditions are next week.”

We were the best of friends. We were both seventeen and were both
in Year Eleven at MacArthur Catholic High School. But there were 
a few differences between us.

The first being that he was blonde, built like a footballer
(he played second row in the school rugby team) and was more 
rugged than what you would call classically good looking. 

Me, on the other hand, I was tall, thin, had light brown hair 
and was supposed to be cute (hey, that’s what the girls told 
me, and I wasn’t going to argue with them!).

I was also kind of shy. He was an extrovert.

He was a school sports star. I was into other things, like 
photography and music and drama.

The main difference however, was that while he lusted after 
Kathy O’Hara and Rebecca Smith and half of the other girls in 
our class, I lusted after him…………… and Tom Jackson and Michael 
Anderson and half of his football team.

So there you go. We were as different as chalk and cheese. 
But we were still the best of friends. Always had been.
Always would be.

Ben was also the only person in the entire world who actually 
knew about ‘my other side’. I was scared shitless when he had 
found out about me and I had feared that I would lose him 
forever as a friend. But thankfully, that didn’t eventuate.

I think it was about three years ago when it had happened. 
He was at my house one weekend for a sleepover, when he found 
one of my gay porn magazines under my bed. 

When I had looked up at him he was just holding it in front of 
him, looking at the picture of the hunk that was on that 
month’s cover.

He looked from me to the magazine and back to me again. For a 
long while he said nothing.

“So, you’re actually into this stuff?” he had finally asked me.

“Uh. Ummm……I guess so”, I had nervously answered. There had 
been no use lying to him. He knew me too well.

I was shitting razor blades, I can tell you.

The silence lengthened.

“Ah, well. Whatever cranks your motor”, he finally said to me, 
as he grinned and handed the magazine back to me.

“But…but…” I had started to say. But could not quite find the 
right words.

“Don’t sweat it, Tim”, he said to me, still grinning. “It doesn’t 
freak me out or anything. I have a cousin who is gay. And he’s 
just the coolest dude I know. I’m OK with it. Truly. Just, Ummm, 
keep your hands to yourself. OK?”

“You won’t tell anyone will you?”

“No. Your secret is safe with me.”

“And we’re still friends?”

“Of course.”

I wanted to hug him just so much. But that probably wouldn’t 
have been a good idea!

So, can you believe it? Probably not! I still have trouble 
believing it myself. But there you go.  That’s just how we were.

“Well? Are you going to try out?” he asked again, bringing me 
back to the present.

“Ummm. I don’t know.”

“Come on Tim. I’ve heard you sing. You’re fuckin’ awesome. 
Well compared to that great git that they had in the lead last 
year you are, anyway.”

“Thanks. I think.”

He laughed. “So, are you going to try out or not?”

I just shrugged. So then he resorted to blackmail.

“If you don’t, I’ll tell Tom Jackson you were perving on him 
in the showers after sports class yesterday.”

“You wouldn’t?” I whispered.

“Hey Tom”, he called out across the courtyard.

“Yeah?” came the reply from the other side.

Ben looked at me with that mischievous glint he often got in 
his eye.

“Don’t you dare,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Aww, nothing. I’ll ask you later.”

Tom just dismissed him with a wave of his arm and turned back 
towards his friends.

“You bastard,” I said to Ben.

“Well? What do you say?” he asked, placing his arm around my 
shoulders.

“Alright. Alright. Anything for some peace and quiet. But only 
on one condition.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That you volunteer to help on the stage crew”, I said with a 
grin. “Is it a deal?”

“Yeah, it’s a deal. You won’t be sorry you know.”

“I think I already am. What sort of musical is it, anyway?”

“Something that Snowy has dreamt up. A Rock Opera, whatever 
that is?”

Snowy was our music teacher, otherwise known as Mr. Snowden, 
or sometimes even, “Sir,” And he was one of the coolest 
teachers I had ever had. 

Ben must have seen something in my eyes.

“Is that good?”

“Don’t know. Could be, I guess. Depends on what sort of songs 
they use.”

“It’ll probably be something like ‘The Sound of Music’”, he said.

“Oh. God no! Anything but that.”

The school bell rang just then, signaling the end of lunch time.

“Come on, get up off your backside, we’ve got Science now”, 
Ben said to me. “There are some rats awaiting our surgical 
skills.”

Suddenly, I didn’t feel much like school. 

*   *   *   *   *


I made it through Science class without losing my lunch, but 
only just. 

You can’t imagine what sort of a job Ben did on the poor 
bloody rat. The dude was sick, I was sure of it.

In spite of the Science class fiasco, for some reason I just 
couldn’t get the idea of the school musical out of my head. 

I think I was actually starting to look forward to the 
auditions now, even though they were still a week away and I 
was naturally nervous about singing in front of anyone.

I was grateful that Ben would be there also, it would make it 
a little easier. He had that kind of relaxing effect on me.

When classes were finished for the day, we did what we did 
most days and headed down town to the mall, where we usually 
either went to the amusement arcade or to a café, or sometimes 
just sat around with our friends.

We bought ourselves a drink from one of the shops, then sat on 
a bench in the sunshine and drank it.

One of the strange little games that we often played was one 
we called “Pick a Partner”, where we checked out guys or girls 
that we thought would suit the other.

It was dumb. And it was embarrassing. But it helped pass the time.

Ben said to me, “What about that one?” pointing at a guy in 
his twenties that had just come out of the music store.

“Too old”, I answered, then asked, “How about that chick over 
there?”

“Definitely”, he answered.

We both slurped up the last of our milk shakes and then threw 
the empty containers at a nearby garbage bin.

“Bullseye”, I yelled as mine went straight into the bin, 
pumping my arms into the air in a sign of victory.

Ben could only say, “Oh, shit,” when his missed by a mile.

We found a few more likely partners for each other, but soon 
grew tired of it and ended going back to his place, where we 
just hung out and watched some television.

Just on dark I decided it was about time I headed home, so I 
said, “See you later,” and left him to it.

As I walked the few blocks to my house I couldn’t help but 
start singing to myself. Just softly, but I was singing 
nonetheless, and it wasn’t just in the shower this time.

I was actually looking forward to next Wednesday and the 
auditions. 

*   *   *   *   *

The rest of the week flew by and on the weekend I was left to 
my own devices, as Ben and his family went away. Something to 
do with a wedding that he really didn’t want to go to anyway.

I fantasized about the guy on the cover of my latest magazine 
and found myself in my room jerking myself off over him on 
more than one occasion.

It was always difficult for me when Ben was away, because he 
was really the only guy that I liked hanging with, in spite of 
his permanent unavailability. It didn’t bother me much that I 
would never be able to have sex with him. It just bothered me 
when he wasn’t around and I was left alone.

I’d never had a boyfriend and the only sexual experiences that 
I had ever had, besides what I did in the shower or in bed at 
night, were usually quick wanks with total strangers in public 
toilets. And these were experiences which usually scared the 
hell out of me and resulted in my not going near them for 
months on end anyway.

I thought about jumping on my push bike and heading down to 
the park, but ended up just watching television instead.

How did that old country song go? “Oh, Lonesome Me.”

Ben was thankfully back at school on Monday and told me all 
about the wedding and in particular this girl he met there.

“You should have seen her”, he kept telling me. 

“So, did you score?” I asked.

“Only a quick kiss and cuddle outside the hall where the 
reception was. I got to feel her tits though.”

“That much I didn’t need to know”, I said to him.

“What about you?” he asked. “What did you get up to?”

“Sweet F.A.”, I answered. “It was depressing.”

“We’ve really got to find you a boyfriend”, he said.

“How?” I asked. “Will we put an add in the newspaper? How 
about this? Teenage Boy Wants Boyfriend. Must be cute. 
Must come from rich family. Must have own car.”

“That’ll do for a start”, he answered.

“Yeah, right!”

That afternoon after school we went down to the mall and, 
as usual, sat in the sunshine playing “Pick a Partner”.

“Too old”, I told Ben.

“Too ugly”, he said to me.

“Cute. But too young”, I said.

“Like, wow”, he said.

This banter went on for about half an hour. You know how the 
old saying goes, “small things amuse small minds.”

Just as we were about to leave however, I looked up and 
noticed a guy about our age, come out of one of the clothing 
shops.

I gave Ben an elbow in the ribs and said, “Check this guy out.” 

We both watched him as he just stood there in front of the 
shop, with his hands thrust deep into his pockets, looking 
casually around him.

For a moment he glanced in our direction, but his eyes seemed 
to simply glide over us, causing my heart to sink.

But then his eyes darted back and settled on us, and for what 
seemed an eternity, we just held each others gaze.

I was sure that I saw the corners of his mouth turn upwards 
briefly, but this soon evaporated when a woman, who I assumed was 
his mother, came out of the store and handed him some parcels.

I watched as he smiled in my direction, then rolled his eyes 
in a sign of exasperation.

Then before I knew it, he and the woman were walking away, 
in the opposite direction from where Ben and I were sitting.

I continued to watch him. I just couldn’t take my eyes off 
him. Then just before he disappeared into the crowd he quickly 
glanced back at me, and I was sure that I saw him smile at me 
once again.

“Now that was cute”, I said to Ben. “Have you ever seen him 
around before?”

He simply grinned at me and shook his head.

*   *   *   *   *

The week rolled around quite quickly, and all of a sudden I 
found it was Wednesday. Audition Day.

The school had been abuzz with rumours about the fantastic new 
musical that Snowy had dreamt up, but so far he hadn’t let 
anything slip regarding it’s content or subject.

“You will all just have to wait and see”, was all he had told 
us during music lessons. So we waited.

But today was the day.

Ben had been bugging me all week about the auditions, making 
sure I was going to be there and wasn’t going to chicken out. 

I have to admit that I felt like doing just that, because the 
thought of standing up on a stage and singing with god only 
knew how many people watching me, scared me shitless, but I 
knew that Ben wouldn’t let me do that.

So here we now were. About twenty aspiring thespians, gathered 
in the school auditorium awaiting our leader. 

Ben was there also, partly just to make sure I didn’t back out 
at the last minute, but partly also because he was going to 
honour his end of the bargain.

“All we need now is for Snowy to show up”, said one of the 
juniors, who was starting to get jittery.

“Well my children. Wait no more”, this voice suddenly boomed 
from the back of the hall.

We all spun around to see Snowy walking down the centre aisle.

“Sorry sir”, the junior said as Snowy approached us.

“What for, Mr. Harris?” Snowy said as he walked past the kid, 
roughing up his hair as he did so.

Ben and I just looked at each other.

Snowy reached the front of the hall then sat himself on the 
edge of the stage, looking us all over.

“Alright then. Take a seat please Ladies and Gentlemen and we 
will begin”, he said to us, while gesturing towards the front 
row of chairs with an extravagant sweep of his arm.

Quickly, we all found a seat and plopped ourselves into it.

“Good. Alright then”, he began. “I know that there have been 
many weird and wonderful rumours floating around the school 
for the past week, about what we are and are not supposed to 
be doing with this new show. Well, I am here to tell you that 
all of them are true. And none of them are true.”

“Huh?”, the same junior that had spoken earlier now said.

Snowy was grinning.

“Yes, we are going to do the most exciting musical that this 
school has ever seen. That one is true. As for doing Grease, 
or Cats, or The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Joseph and the 
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, or Tommy, or any other musical 
that you’ve ever heard of, that will depend entirely on you.”

“Sorry sir, but we don’t follow”, one of the girls said.

Snowy paused before continuing.

“What I mean is this. We can do songs from those musicals if 
you guys, the stars of the show, want to. It’s as simple as 
that.”

“Sorry sir. We’re still lost”, the girl said again.

“I think that what he is trying to say”, I said, “Is that we 
get to do whatever songs we want. Is that right, sir?”

“Precisely, Tim.”

“But what sort of a musical is that?” the girl asked. “I mean, 
what about the story. Hasn’t it got to be about……something?”

“Yes it does. And it will be about something. That is your 
challenge. To piece together a musical, that has a story and 
makes sense, using only your favourite songs.”

A buzz suddenly went through our small group and Mr. Snowden 
just sat there grinning at us.

“What about the auditions?” someone suddenly asked.

“What auditions? If you are here, you are in. It’s as simple 
as that. All we have to do is figure out what we are doing, 
then what sort of voices you lot have, then who gets what 
roles.”

“Sir, it almost sounds too easy”, I said.

“Tim, easy is one thing it will not be. Trust me on that.”

“What about the story?” someone else asked.

“That is the only thing that I have absolute discretion over”, 
he said. “Basically, what I want is this. It will be a 
boy/girl thing. Not unlike Grease, if you will. Boy meets 
girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl finds out something about 
the boy. Girl dumps boy. Boy chases after girl and wins her back. 
Something like that.”

We all looked around amongst us, not quite knowing what to 
make of this idea.

“Is this actually going to work, sir?” I heard someone ask.

“You tell me? Let’s see. Where can we start?” Snowy asked, 
while scratching his chin.

Once again, there was quit a buzz from our group. I noticed that 
several students were now shaking their heads.

“Children, please”, Snowy said to us. “A little quiet if we may.”

Slowly the buzz faded away.

“Thank you. Now, how about we start by working out what kinds 
of music we all listen to? I mean what performers? Then from 
there we will see if we can come up with some songs that might 
fit our theme. How about you start Carla?”

“The Bee Gees, sir.”

The next kid was a Beach Boys fan. Followed by a girl who just 
loved ‘Grease’. Graham Lowe was heavily into AC/DC, man! While 
Peter Simmons was a Kenny Rogers fan.

Next came fans of Madonna, Elton John, Queen, Elvis Presley, 
The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, The Monkees and ABBA.

“And how about you, Tim?”

“Ummm, Meatloaf, sir.”

“Ahhh. A Bat out of Hell nut?” he said, grinning. 

“You could say that, sir.”

“Ben?”

“The Eagles, Supertramp and a whole heap of others, sir.”

“Hmmm. That could be interesting. So, doesn’t anyone, besides 
our young AC/DC fan Graham, listen to Australian artists?”

“I know all of Slim Dusty’s songs”, one kid said eagerly. 
“Dad has absolutely everything of his and we have to listen to 
it all the time.”

There was an outbreak of laughter from the group.

“Michael, that probably won’t be of much use to us”, Snowy 
said, grinning. “But thank you anyway.”

Just then we heard the auditorium doors open and someone start to 
walk down the aisle, their footsteps echoing throughout the hall.

We turned around to see who it was, and instantly my heart 
jumped into my mouth. Ben gave me a bit of a dig in the ribs, 
but I was too busy staring to respond.

It was the boy from the mall. He was looking directly at Snowy 
as he walked towards us and hadn’t noticed me yet.

“Please god,” I whispered, turning back around and facing the stage.

I could feel my face burning up. I could feel a tingling 
sensation in my loins. 

“Calm down”, Ben whispered in my ear. I glanced at him and 
noticed him grinning. 

I had never felt like this before, not after merely looking at 
someone. This was weird.

“Ah, Mr. Harding”, Snowy said, getting down off the stage and 
standing in front of us.

“Sorry that I am late sir”, the boy said. “We were sorting 
things out with my enrolment at the office.”

The boy walked over to Snowy and stood beside him, then turned 
and faced us all.

It was him alright. I wouldn’t ever forget that face. I sunk 
down lower in my chair.

“Students, I would like to introduce you to a new boy in 
school. This is Guy Harding. He will be starting here tomorrow, 
in Year Eleven. And he is going to help out with the 
musical with the set designs and stage crew.”

The boy said, “Hi”, and sketched a wave then looked us over, 
starting at one end and working his way along the line.

When he reached me, he stopped. Our eyes met and held for what 
seemed a long time, then he blinked, and managed a faint smile, 
before continuing along the line.

When he was done, he quickly glanced back at me again, before 
then turning to face Snowy.

Shit! And he was even going to be in my class. Thank you god!

To be continued ……