Stand
Chapter One
Maxxie stands and looks at himself in the full length mirror in his room. He is looking for something. He is looking for a part of him that makes him different. He knew since he was a little boy that he was different. Every now and again he would go and look in the mirror and try and find what was so different about him that he was bullied every single day. The group of boys running after him flashed through his mind. He didn't want to be any different than all of the other boys. He didn't choose to be the way he was. He was the way he was weather he liked it or not. If he could change, he would.
He looked back at his body again. He had a sad look in his eyes. He looked at his toned lightly tanned legs, these were the limbs that allowed him to dance and perform, what he loved the most. He looked at his toned rippled stomach that he had once been so proud of but now, he hated more than anything. He looked at his strong muscle arms which also allowed him to perform the beautiful art of dance. Then the last of all, his head. His beautifully masculine jaw line, deep blue eyes, lightly tanned complexion and what he loved the most, his bleach blonde hair. His hair had originally been brunette but he had it cut to a boyish style, suiting his strong jaw line and masculine cheek bones, then dyed it blonde.
His concentration was broken when his dad knocked on the door, telling him that he was going to be late college if he didn't make a move. Maxxie tried to put the worries to the back of his mind and started to get dressed.
--x--
Maxxie felt something hit him hard on the back of the head. He didn't need to turn around as he knew exactly who and what it was. He knew he couldn't ignore them because they never did leave him alone no matter how many times he shouted it at them. He fixed the chain on his bike and stood up. He felt the hand on his shoulder as it squeezed him tight. He turned around slowly, the hand not moving from it tight position on his shoulder. Maxxie faced his attackers, the same group every time.
"Well if it isn't gay boy and his bicycle" The leader of the gang said giving Maxxie a menacing look. He had pitch black hair and deep green eyes. He had a look of pure anger on his face. Maxxie just stood and stared back at him, like he did each and every single time. He wasn't going to give him what he wanted, he wasn't going to give him his reaction.
"When are you going to start being like everyone else and stop being a gay boy dancer?" Another one of the said, spittle forming with his words. Maxxie knew if he said nothing he will get a bruise in the same place were the last one faded. Maxxie was about to open his mouth to tell them he wasn't going to change when he felt a sly punch under his rib cage. Just where they wanted it, where no one could see. Maxxie fell to the floor beside his bike and they left him each with a kick on the leg and they left him there to gather himself together.
He eased himself up from were he sat on the floor, feeling the pain of where he was grasped hard on the shoulder and the kicks to the leg. Sadly, it didn't phase him anymore, it was just a normal day in Maxxie world as he called it. He was going to skip college again and he was going to his favourite place in the whole wide world until he had to make his way home, hopefully without meeting the gang of bullies again. He unhooked the chain on his bike and clambered onto the seat. Just as he was about to whizz off, he ran into him, again.
"Maxxie, college starts in five minutes don't tell me that you have forgotten your coursework again?" Tony said as he stood in front of him, innocently misunderstanding everything. Maxxie was getting better at lying to him every time he did it. Maxxie knew that Tony was worried about him but Tony had to worry about himself and the main source of his worries that went by the name of Michelle. She made Tony's life a living hell. The sad thing is that Tony still loved her with everything he had. Maxxie hoped that he would see through her but as time goes on Maxxie felt that it was going to be too late.
"I would forget my head if it wasn't screwed on properly. I will be back in about ten minutes. You know the drill" Maxxie faked a perfectly white smile at Tony. Tony and Maxxie were in the same registration class but were in seperate classes through the rest of the day, every day. It was nice having someone look out for him, the key element being one. Tony was the only one that cared.
"Well make sure you are Max, I can't keep covering for you. I am bound to be caught sometime. Do you fancy hanging out with me at the weekend, me and the lads are going to a party up north, would be cool if you could make it" Tony asked Maxxie expectantly, but knowing what the answer will be. The same as usual, no. He waited hear his excuse this time.
"Tony, you really need to stop asking me, you know that I am very busy at the weekends, you know I would if I could" Maxxie said avoiding his gaze. He was starting to feel guilty. It wouldn't kill him to go out one night he thought. He knew that Tony was wearing his guard down. Something Maxxie didn't want, he had to be strong to face those bullies every day. If only Tony knew.
"Yea Maxxie, same old story. I would like to know what or who for that matter keeps you busy all of this time" Tony said making sure he make eye contact with Maxxie before walking past him towardsa very paitent Michelle who was waiting at the college door, as usual.
Maxxie wasn't going to give in, he was not going to let Tony push and shove all the way into his life. He had barriers put in place to stop people from getting close to him. The sooner Tony realised this the better. Maxxie finally sped off to that special place just as the bell was ringing out loud signalling that college had just begun, without him, again.
"Why do you always talk to him Tony. You probably are the only one, the little gay boy has no friends. What are you trying to achieve from talking to him?" Michelle pressed on with the conversation like she did most mornings. Tony was starting to get really pissed off about it.
"Michelle, put yourself in his position, with no friends and no one to talk to. I think that you would find that you would be grateful if someone came and talked to you once in a while" Tony said taking his heavy psychology text book from his faded light blue locker.
"Yes Tony, but not from a guy like you" Michelle stifled a giggle. She knew what Tony was like and when she was around there was only one thing on his mind, sex.
"Michelle, grow up. I am sick having this conversation day in day out. If your going to be like this you may as well just not talk to me" Tony slammed his locker door and started to walk towards the registration classroom leaving Michelle in state of shock. Something was up with that boy, she was going to find out. She would not be taken as a fool.
--x--
Maxxie cursed himself again for not being able to dance the way he usually could. He felt miles away. Like he wasn't connected with his own body. He couldn't understand why though. Was the bullies finally getting to his core? No, they had done that the first time they had set their eyes on Maxxie. Was it the fact that he was missing so much college and his exams were creeping upon him? No, he always managed to maintain a high grade in all of his AS levels and he revised for everyone of them the night before. Then he realised what it was that was holding him back. Tony. He hadn't been able to get that disappointed look that he had given him out of his head. Why did Tony even bother talking to him? He had everything he could ever want. A loving family. Great friends. The AS results in the year. A stunning looking girlfriend. What did he want from boring lonely Maxxie? He just couldn't work it out.
The alarm he had set on his phone to let him know that he had to get home, rang loudly on the hard roof top, knocking him out of his daydream. He grabbed his phone and started to run as hard as he could down the emergency exit stairs to where his bike had been waiting for him. When his alarm went, he was late. He would have to make up an excuse, he was never home late from college.
He pedeled harder with each turn as he raced through the broken estate that he lived on. He was half way there now, racing faster and faster. Up and down pavements, swerving to avoid pedestrians walking along the footpath, not once slowing down. His heart was racing fast until he didn't see a dent in the path. The bike began to wobble uncontrollably and the bike slammed down onto the footpath, throwing him against a wall, face first. He slowly eased himself up from were his head hit the wall to feel trickle of blood coming from the top of his head towards his eye. He pulled down his jacket sleeve and placed it on the large oozing cut on his forehead. Just as he tried to pick himself up for the ground, he felt a large familiar hand on his shoulder.
"If you can't keep control of your little trike then you shouldn't be riding it gay boy" A loud voice boomed as the hand turned him around and threw him against the wall. The bully came right into Maxxie's face, he could feel his dirty breath on his neck.
"Whatever would your mummy say if she found that her perfectly gay son was skipping college, I bet she wouldn't be too pleased" The angry voice said, waiting for Maxxie to give him his reaction. The blood was still trickling down Maxxie's forehead and was just sitting on above his eye brow, ready to go into his eye. Maxxie just stared back at the angry face, trying not to look scared but he knew that it wasn't working.
"Not talking today are we? We will make you talk. Give it to him lads" The bully said as he stepped back and let his companions come forward, their fists starting to clench. Maxxie looked all around him, trying to find an escape, he couldn't find one. They were coming at him from all angles. He didn't have a hope, he was just going to have to take it like a man and hope that it would be over soon. He felt a hand grasp the collar of his jacket and hold a firm grip on it. Within three seconds, a hand had smashed into his face, causing his cheek to bruise and his mouth to bleed. Another hand pounded its way into his stomach, with the other hand of the attacker following it, repeatedly. Another pair of hands were round his neck, strangling him. He tried to block out their shouts of insults and hurtful words but he knew that it wouldn't work.
The attacker that had been trying to strangle him now had a knife held at Maxxie's neck. His life was over, he was never going to see his family ever again, he was never going to achieve his dream of becoming a professional dancer in the west end and he was never going to get the chance to tell Tony his true feelings for him his feelings that he had hidden so long. Feelings of love that would never be shown, if they were either accepted or rejected, he still wouldn't get the chance. He was going to die. He tried to hold the tears back but he was in such pain that he didn't care anymore, he just let them run freely from his eyes. He was in too much pain to hear the running of footsteps coming towards him, shouting and screaming something, he couldn't make it out. The voices were getting distant, he punches and grasps on his body weren't getting as painful anymore. It was like he was drifting away from the world. It felt like, he was dying.