Kennedy is King

by Cameron James

  I found myself smiling more times than not at his amusement, at his confidence. It practically made his entire face light up, and I fucking loved it.

  The RAVENS won, a staggering six nil, and I left as they began to celebrate, all jumping on top of each other, screaming and shouting in triumph. I watched from the edge of the field, until my phone vibrated in my pocket. I ignored it, I knew it’d be Cody, but I still turned around and left.

  The sit in was in Rowan’s house, a baritone in the choir. He had a nice house, that was usually vacated. I didn’t really know where his parents were, and honestly, I didn’t really care. Every year we were guaranteed to have at least one party in his house. The majority of us had, had our first taste of liquor in Rowan’s house. When we were sixteen and his parents had forgotten to lock their liquor cabinet.

  That night, I discovered I didn’t like rum, nor sherry, tequila nor brandy, but I did like whiskey. A lot. The hangover, however, I did not like, but Rowan’s parties were never disappointing, and never out of control.

  You wouldn’t really know anything was going on if you’d just been a passer-by of the house. In fact, it was almost as if there was no one in there, but the front door was open, all I needed to do was push it.

  I closed it behind me, smiling at the few theatre boys who were walking up the stairs. They smiled back, waving to me as I walked down the hallway until I let myself into the kitchen. There were spirt bottles hung on two circular optic stands. A bucket of ice between them, a small plate of cut limes, and second of cut lemons, and what remained of the glasses he’d set out.

  I picked up a glass, inspecting it by holding it up to the light then poured myself a shot of JD. I searched the kitchen top until I found a bottle of coke, topping up my glass before continuing out into the garden.

  I walked up behind Cody as he lounged on a garden chair. His legs over the arm rest, his back against the other. A mixer was resting on his stomach, his hands clasped around it. as he sat laughing with Theo and Cassidy around a firepit.

  Theo had seen me coming, smirking at me happily but not letting on that I was behind them as Cassidy and Cody laughed about something together.

  Cody’s scream, when I touched his shoulders, was beautiful, and I’m sure he’d deny the noise until his dying day.

  Theo started laughing uncontrollably as Cassidy almost choked on his own mixer.

  Somehow, Cody didn’t spill his drink.

  “You fucker!” he stated, reaching up to slap my arm, I grinned at him as I sat myself on the empty seat beside Cassidy.

  No one else would have gotten away with sitting beside him, I knew that for a fact. Which was why the seat was still empty, and neither Theo or Cody had dared, but there was very little he could actually do, or even threaten me with.

  Instead, he sighed, lifting his legs and resting them over mine. I rubbed his shins because his legs felt cold.

  “How was your date then?” Cody almost spat at me, “did he leave you because you’re a bastard?” he asked, I smirked.

  “No.” I said amused, “it was, okay.” I added scrunching my nose at Cassidy as he tutted.

  “Only okay? That’s sad.” He said, I shrugged. “Second date material?”

  “No.” I whispered then took a sip out of my drink. Theo and Cassidy booed at the same time, “and what about you? No one at this party worth taking to bed?” I asked, Cassidy sighed.

  “If anyone wants something from me, they can come to me.” he said shrugging as he finished off his glass.

  “Refill?” Theo asked, Cassidy nodded passing his glass to me, to pass over. I sniffed if before I did. Frowning at Cassidy, he almost laughed.

  “Vodka.” He shook his head, “I’m not drunk baby, I promise.”

  “Not on vodka, no.” I said as I gave the glass to Theo, he grinned as he walked around the fire pit and towards the kitchen.

  “What about you?” Cassidy purred at me, I frowned as he stroked down my chest.

  “What about me?” I replied, almost nose to nose with him. He grinned as he ran his fingers over my chin, he seemed perplexed that I hadn’t shaved, then he hit my cheek.

  “You could have anyone here. You could literally take your pick, why aren’t you taking anyone to bed?” he asked. “You’re free now, and it’d really piss off Devon.” He said almost gleefully turning to Cody who was examining me as he nursed his drink.

  “Not that you have to.” Cody said, I almost sighed. “The sex, or piss off Devon.” He said nodding, “in fact, I don’t even know where Devon is. Is he even here?”

  “He wouldn’t miss Rowan’s party.” I said softly, because he wouldn’t, besides the fact Rowan was one of Devon’s friends. They were in the choir together, so he had an obligation to come, but, if he chose not to well, that’d ruffle some feathers.

  If Cassidy decided not to come, well that’d raise some eyebrows.

  If I decided not to come, well that’d shut down this party in a matter of minutes, and he’d never host again. I guess it was close given the relief I saw on Rowan’s face when he caught my eye.

  “You could sleep with Rowan.” Cassidy whispered as I nodded ‘s’up’ to Rowan, who replied with a fluttery wave. “That’d really piss off Devon.” He said gleefully. I looked at him, his eyes widened as if he was the most innocent of all the innocent.

  He was not.

  “Thank you, baby.” He cooed as he took the drink from Theo,

  “What game are we playing?” Theo asked as he sipped from his own drink.

  “Who should Kennedy shag.” Cody said drolly, Theo nodded.

  “Oh, that’s easy.” He said shrugging, I looked at him as Cassidy laughed. “Kennedy should shag me.” he stated shrugging at me, I beckoned him towards me.

  He came with ease.

  I put my hand on the back of his hand, splaying my fingers in his hair, then I kissed him. All lips.

  “Not tonight.” I whispered, he sighed against my mouth. “And Rowan wouldn’t sleep with me, because it’d piss off Devon.” I said, Theo hummed as he turned looking over the garden.

  “Wouldn’t stop him sleeping with me.” He said,

  “You go get him.” Cody said, Theo looked at him. “Enjoy yourself Theodore.” He added, Theo nodded to him, drinking down the last of his drink before walking towards Rowan.

  “Twenty he pulls.” Cody said, I slapped his hand.

  “It’s on.” I said, he grinned as he turned to watch Theo. “I’m not having sex tonight.” I said, Cassidy sighed lightly.

  “Neither am I…” he shrugged lightly, I laughed softly as Cody touched his hand to Cassidy’s head.

  “Are you feeling okay Cass?” he asked, he sounded concerned. Cassidy turned to look at Cody.

  “I am feeling a bit under the weather.” He replied dramatically, “hold me Cody.” He added, so Cody did.

  “You’re such a drama queen.” I said, Cassidy flourished his hand.

  “I’m the Queen of the castle.” He replied, as he reached underneath the couch we were sat on. “and keep it up, I won’t let you smoke with me.” he said, shaking his lunch box at me.

  “Now it’s a party.” I said as Cassidy beamed.

  “You’re the saxophonist.” Stephen said as I walked towards him. I almost laughed as I nodded to him, watching his eyes roam over me. He stopped at my trainers, almost frowning at them. I smiled.

  “You’re the goalkeeper.” I said, he smiled at the floor.

  “How did you find that out?”

  “I went to the game.” I said slowly, he looked up at me, he looked shocked. “How did you find out I play the saxophone?”

  “I might have hung around the orchestra hall.” He said, I laughed. “Nike?” he asked, I tutted at him so he frowned at me.

  “Alexander McQueen.” I said, he coughed.

  “They’re about three hundred pounds. They’re inside trainers.” He said, I shrugged lightly as I looked down at my trainers. They were still pretty white. He shrugged ba
ck dramatically at me. “You came in trainers this time, that means you intend to play with me.” he said pointing at me, I almost smiled, then I scratched the back of my head.

  “Got to beat you at some point.” I said, he laughed.

  “Dream on your Majesty.” He said, I cocked an eyebrow at him as he dropped the football onto the floor. Resting his foot on top. “Did you enjoy the match?” he asked, I laughed as I walked towards him, standing in front of him. He stood straighter, showing me his full height. He was almost nose to nose with me, I was an inch or two taller.

  “You guys won.” I said, “it was almost impressive.”

  “We always win.” He said then scrunched his nose at me. “Well, except against the Wolves. They’re dickheads.” He said shaking his head. “You guys sounded pretty good.”

  “Pretty good.” I laughed. “We’re incredible.” I said,

  “And so, so modest.” He said in a gasp, I gasped back kicking the ball out from underneath his foot. He laughed as I ran around him, chasing after the ball, until I could stop it, and I could kick it into the goal. I turned to look at him as he laughed.

  “Game on.” He said then ran at me, pushing his shoulder into me so I stumbled backwards as he reached the ball.

  “Red card. Come on ref, that’s definitely a red card.” I said, he smirked at me over his shoulder as he began to run down the cage so I followed.

  We sat, in the middle of the football cage, facing each other. His legs stretched out next to me as I sat, my knees raised. He seemed to be examining me, I let him. Mostly.

  “You’re far more…” he paused, searching for probably the right adjective, “normal, than I thought.” He said, I smiled.

  “Thanks.” I said narrowing my eyes at him, he laughed.

  “You know what I mean, I’d expect you to be all above running around, having fun you know.” He said,

  “What exactly do you think I do?” I said, he shrugged.

  “Eat caviar, go to state dinners.”

  “You rich kid shaming again?” I said, he smiled.

  “Just, King shaming.” He said, I shook my head as I leant my chin on my knees.

  “You don’t like me, do you?”

  “I don’t trust you.” He said, I frowned. “Well, I don’t and I don’t see why I should either. We’ve spoken twice Kennedy. I actually think I’ve spoken to Cassidy more.”

  “When have you spoken to Cassidy?”

  “We snap at each other frequently. He isn’t happy when I put my posters over his.” He said, I frowned, then I laughed.

  “You were putting up the poster for the bike ride?” I said, he nodded slowly. “That’s you.”

  “It’s an annual event, something sporty. We decided to make it a bike ride this year. It was a sponsored football game last year.”

  “How did that work?” I asked, he met my eyes.

  “It was five a side, the football team played for twelve hours, swapping out every hour or so. We raised two and a half thousand.” He shook his head, “we wanted to do something that wasn’t football.”

  “We do the Christmas showcase for the same reason.” I said lightly.. “Every year. The Christmas showcase to raise money, then the musical in the summer.”

  “Everyone seems to do something.” he said shaking his head. “The boys who do extra Maths, are giving maths tuition for something like ten pounds a session to raise money.”

  “Smart.” I said, he shrugged.

  “Isn’t that the point, they’re smart.”

  “You say this like you don’t know why we raise money.”

  “I don’t.” he said shaking his head, “No one seems to talk about it. as if we should all just know because we’re upper sixth.”

  “It’s for Preston.” I said, he frowned. “Preston Bates. He was a student, a few years ago, really not that long ago. Before we started at least. He was a part of the theatre, played the piano in the orchestra. He was well on his way to going on to become a pianist. He was incredible.”

  “Okay?” he said confused, I sighed.

  “He failed his Piano grade in his last year. They don’t really mean much, but it meant the world to Preston. He failed that, and he just…” I sighed. “He didn’t think it was worth it anymore. He figured that was it, that was his application to music school gone, that was his future gone, so…”

  “So?” he asked frowning at me, I met his eyes.

  “So, he killed himself.”

  “What?” he whispered, I nodded.

  “On the grounds, in the woods. His friends found him; it was…” I shook my head. “Horrible. The year after, our head master and Preston’s parents created the Preston Bates Foundation. Suicide Prevention mostly, it’s why we have Mental Health week, and why we raise money for him every year. It’s always the upper sixths choice what gets done.”

  “I didn’t realise.” He said shaking his head, “I’m surprised you… know.”

  “My…” I sighed, “my big brother was one of Preston’s friends.”

  “You have another brother?” he asked, I nodded.

  “Harrison.” I said softly, “he’s twelve years older than us. Married, kids the whole dance.” I almost laughed. “Luckily, he’s working with Dad, you know, he’s the legacy. It means Cassidy can perform, like he wants, and I can play my saxophone.”

  “Huh.” He said, then he laughed. “Thanks for the extra knowledge.” He said nodding then he stood, I looked up at him. “But I still don’t trust you.” He said, “sorry.” He added,

  “You’re not going to give me anything back?” I asked, he bit his lip. His fingers threading through his hair until he tugged on it.

  “I’m an only child.” He said softly. “First in my family to come here. That’s all.” He said softly, I nodded as he left the football cage.

  ♕

  Chapter Four

  Our English lesson was alive. Whispers making their way around the desks as our teacher – god love her – continued to try and spark our interest with Wuthering Heights. It wasn’t working, in fact, it was never going to work and she should’ve just given us the Spark Notes and left us too it.

  The whisper was feverish, something interesting and worth talking about. Presumably. It hadn’t reached Theo and I yet. As we sat at the back. Theo had recounted his and Rowan’s rendezvous with such delight that we hadn’t listened to the first half of the lesson, and now we were sat wondering just what was going around the class.

  Three different people turned to look at us at the same time. Some looked fearful, some intrigued, as if they wanted to see our reaction to the news.

  I scowled them, because I could. Theo glared. It was frightful. Then, a note landed on my desk. It was folded like a crane. It impressed me so much that I didn’t want to unfold it, but I wanted to know what everyone was whispering about.

  I looked around the class, trying to find the origami master but failing, so I carefully deconstructed the crane.

  I flattened the paper out onto my desk.

  CALEB’S 18TH BIRTHDAY

  I looked at Theo, lifting it so he could also read it. He rose an eyebrow at me, as if he wanted to make the class squirm. All it took was a nod, and the party would go ahead.

  It was almost frightening how much power I had. Especially over something like someone’s birthday party.

  “Caleb?” I whispered to Theo shaking my head, “who’s Caleb?” I asked, the room held their breath.

  “I want to say he’s middle ground.” Theo said frowning. “He’s not one of ours, or yours. I don’t think he’s…” he rose his eyebrow towards some boys at the front, they were a part of the football team and the only ones listening to the information about Wuthering Heights.

  I let my gaze linger on them for a few minutes before looking back at Theo and shrugging.

  “I guess we’re going to a party.” I said, the room exhaled. The whispering beginning almost instantaneously, then halted when our teacher turned from writing on the board
, to give us our assessment brief.

  Otis, conducted us with such joy that it was almost contagious. I watched him during the breaks in the music. I held my saxophone close to my mouth, smiling to myself until he caught my eye. We both laughed and then, he nodded to me so I began to play again.

  “Beautiful boys.” He said, then he smirked. “Goldstein won’t know what hit them this year.” He added happily, it took all my effort not to laugh or lose my breath and to keep playing.

  We’d gone head to head with Goldstein a prestige Musical Theatre and Music boarding school every year since our orchestra formed. Most schools protested it, saying the Goldstein boys had an unfair advantage as they were all studying their instruments, but Otis.

  Otis stated that it wasn’t unfair, and it’d be even more embarrassing for them when they lost against us. They had, in the senior category lost against us for the last three years, and my god did it piss them off. They thought they were the best. It turned out; they were wrong.

  The annual competition was a matter of weeks away, and Otis needed us to be perfect, so when I opted to stay behind after orchestra to go over one of the more difficult sections in the music, he was more than happy to toss me the keys and leave me in the orchestra hall alone, and I did practice.

  I really did. I played and replayed my entire part in our competition pieces until I could do it without the music before me. My eyes began to travel around the room, reading the posters, that I’d read a thousand times before, taking a brief look at the clock, and then I jumped.

  “Sounds good.” Stephen said as he leant on the doorframe. I rose my eyebrow at him as I lowered the saxophone.

  “Not perfect.” I said, I sounded breathless it seemed to amuse Stephen.

  “Gorgeous sound though.” He said nodding then he bit his lip. “Or whatever.” He added, I laughed. “What are you practicing for?” he asked,

  “Competition.” I said, “in ten weeks, we’re competing, against Goldstein…”

  “Goldstein.” He repeated, a scowl on his face, I frowned. “I hate them my god.”