Chapter 2
My Life Duo Maxwell
(DUO POV)
All my life, I've believed in fairy tales. Way back when I was just 6 years old, I used to steal the books from the library and try and read all the old classics such as 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Aladdin', and 'Cinderella' all of them would leave me in tears, and that would have been from just looking at the pictures! I've always wished that I were a prince, trapped in a high castle waiting for my true love to come and rescue me. I bet I sound pathetic I'm nearly 19 now and I still do it. My mind wanders so often that even when I'm talking to someone I'll space out. I'm trying to teach myself to stop doing it, however, I couldn't do it without the help from Father Maxwell of the Maxwell Church.
However before we get into all the heavy stuff I'd better introduce myself. The names Duo Maxwell. I may run and I may hide but I never tell a lie – That's my motto. I'm an orphan from the Maxwell Church, in the Sanc Kingdom. Though how did I get there, you might ask yourself?
To be honest I don't know how it started out, however I was found wandering round the streets when I was only four years old by a street gang. They took me under their wings and looked after me. The leader was nice to me. His name was Solo.
I lived with them for the first few years of my life. They taught me how to live on the streets as a proper street rat. Their motto was 'What you take is what you get'. I found out in my first week of being in the gang that many of the members were skilled in stealing things. They were like magicians making things disappear and reappear in their pockets. So stealing from shops became my speciality and…selling myself to get money. However I didn't start doing this until I was 10 – Sick I know but it was between having an apple to eat or having an apple covered in chocolate. I still have the scars and I think that by the time I was 11 years old I was totally put off of sex for life.
I hated waiting on some street corner for some sick son of a bitch to come by and ask for a BJ or to listen to their pitiful life. I'd always say in the sweetest voice I could conjure. "Sure honey just as has long as you have the cash" I'd flutter my long eyelashes at them as they'd take out a wad of notes and hand them over to me. Sick bastards, it was mostly men but I did have a few women. Though they weren't as bad and most of them just felt sorry for me.
By my 11th birthday, I fell hard for Solo. Yeah that's right I'm gay so sue me. It still hurts for me to think about him. He was always there for me and he always gave me a little more food than the rest of the gang. That pissed some of them off…however that was just the start. All of them were jealous of me I guess. Solo was a very good-looking guy. He could have chosen any person in the whole world… But he chose me. I felt like the luckiest brat in the whole world that night. He was 5 years older than me, but we didn't care. Every night I'd sleep in his arms after our little lovemaking and I'd forget where I was. You know that wish I told you about, well I believe that Solo was my Prince and he'd rescued me. He was everything to me...and I loved him. He told me he loved me, and I believed him. I thought my fairytale was coming true.
It stayed like that 2 years until I was 13 years old. I'd seen members of the gang come and go. Some dying of pneumonia during winter and some even getting murdered by mad men or 'customers'. Every time someone would die I would feel a painful loss. Not only were they just my gang mates but they where my friends too. By the time, I thought it was coming up to my 13th birthday; I was the master at stealing and picking locks. I could get into anywhere. I was happy with my life...that was until Solo died.
The rest of my life is a blur after that and I don't like to think about it. However, I can remember how I met Father Maxwell quiet clearly. I was running that day. I ran and ran and ran. I didn't know where I was going nor did I care until I bumped into the priest. He took me in and kept me at the church under his watchful eyes. Since then I've never left. It's been nearly been 5 years. Father Maxwell tried to get my past out of me but I've never been able to tell anyone. It's just another secret to add to my already mysterious life, and I'm taking it to my grave.
Everything's fine now, I live at the church with the rest of the orphans, and it's actually fun to have people to talk and tell stories too. Believe me I have loads of fairy tales to tell that I've thought up. The kids all know me as the God of Death for I normally always wear black. I also have long chestnut hair that I normally tie back in a braid it's nearly a metre long now! A nun that looks after the orphan children named Sister Helen tried to cut it off when I was asleep once because by the time I was 14 years old it kept getting tangled a lot as I always wore it down. I woke up, just as she was about to descend the awful scissors onto my beautiful hair and yelled for help. Nearly waking up the whole neighbourhood I might add.
After what we now call the 'Incident', Sister Helen vowed she'd never try and cut my hair again. So she brushed out all the tangles and mud (Some how that had come tangled in there. What? Can't a child have a little fun?). Anyway...Oh and did that hurt! I nearly cried when she put the brush through. After she gave me one single black leather band and taught me how to braid my hair. It's been like that ever since, and I will never cut my hair...only to get rid of split ends. It's a reminder to me about all the people I've loved in the past.
Father Maxwell once said to me that the most stunning feature I have apart from my hair is my eyes. He said they reminded him of a violet flower glittering in a field on a summer's morning. Though at the time I snorted at the comment thinking it was a load of...I shouldn't think of the word because at the moment I'm sitting inside my home, the church. But anyway, now that I look back I feel warm inside because he actually said something nice about me. I actually felt loved, which I haven't felt for a long time. If it weren't for a the dreams I've been having, which have only just started over the last year, I think I'd actually feel at peace.
Dreams. What are they anyway? Sometimes I'm scared to fall asleep to find out what I'll see behind my lids. They confuse me to no end. I've told the Nun, Sister Helen about them. She told me it was because I watch too much television at school, and read too many fairy tales! But there must be something else behind them. I normally have one weird dream once a week, but recently they've become more frequent.
I used to have dreams about Solo. He used to plague my dreams every night. My mind used to go over and over everything to see if there was anyway to save him. However after a few years they slowly disappeared. I still do have the odd dream about him; they are the worst nightmares in the world. However, the ones I've been having lately are the ones that confuse me. They're normally set in a large marble ball filled with dancing men and woman. I'd wait round the edges of the dance floor, dressed in the finest suit I've ever seen. Then this person, faceless, asks me for a dance. Well not ask me, he just takes my hand and leads me out onto the marble dance floor. Then all of a sudden, we'd take off round the room knowing this complicated waltz. I bet I couldn't even dance it if I tried in reality but in my dreams it looks like I've been dancing it for years. In reality, I can dance many different routines but nothing like the one in my dream.
You know I dance for a club where I've been going since I've lived on the streets. They pay me £80 each song I sing and dance to (I put 80 of it in the churches contribution box each week, the other 20 I spend on beer at the end of the night…So sue me I like my beer!). They wont pay us any more than that even though the club is massive and earns shit loads of money. They say they don't like paying tramps the bastards. So yeah you read that right I'm a pretty good singer and dancer. Father Maxwell and Sister Helen tell me that all the time when we sing hymns in the choir. Though the songs I sing in the church are completely different to what I sing in the club.
Thankfully, Father Maxwell doesn't know about my job. I wouldn't be able to live at the church if he did. He wants me to become the perfect student in and out of school. I have to keep to the way of the bible and I know most of it by heart as I've read it and had it read to me so many times. I spend most of my nights in the church, doing homework, practising the on the organ and talking to the kids. My only time of freedom is on Saturday night when I sneak out to do my job at the club. It's my chance to be the real me.
Anyway back to what I was saying about my dreams...oh yeah...the dance would finish...we'd step away...bow...and then he'd vanish...the next thing I'd know I'd be staring up at my bedroom ceiling...confused and with the most painful headache ever!
"Duo if you don't hurry up you'll miss the bus for your first day back at school!" I winced at the thought of going back to school after the summer holidays. This time I'm going to be a senior, so it's my last year at school. Yay!
I turned to the full-length mirror in my room and looked at my awful self. I only have a few clothes and all are second hand. The church can't afford to buy all new clothes for the kids so I get them from donations. Hell the church can't even afford for every kid to have a shower every night, that's why I only have a shower every Sunday. At the moment, I'm wearing the type of clothing kids my age would never go out wearing and I smell.
At the Sunday ceremony when I get to play the organ for everyone, I wear a black shirt and black trousers. The other kids have White shirts, however the cloth white doesn't suit me…its too pure. Anyway apart from looking nice I smell nice because I have my weekly shower on a Sunday so I actually smell good. My black shirt and trousers are the only nice clothes I own. Father Maxwell only allows me to wear them on Sundays. Today I'm dressed in a pair of light ripped denim dungarees. For starters they are a little too big on me so the straps keep slipping down my shoulders.
Wait it gets worse! Underneath I'm wearing a mustard coloured t-shirt. I also have a multicoloured jumper tied round my waist. It looks like a type of jumper an elderly person would wear at Christmas. At school, they have a strict hair code for boys. Our hair is not allowed to be any longer than shoulder length. Therefore, I hide my metre long braid under a hat. Luckily at our school, you're allowed to wear hats in P.E. Also my hair gets very greasy, as I can't have a shower. To be honest I don't think anyone would want to look at it anyway. You might ask why I don't I shower after P.E? Well someone would probably tell the teacher about my hair. Life's a bitch. The teachers also like to time how fast the boys can get out the boys locker rooms, so there isn't any time to shower after everyone has left.
"DUO!" There was another shout. I roll my eyes. Sister Helen sure does shout loud.
"I'm going!" I yelled back grabbing my plastic bag full of my schoolbooks. Sadly, nobody's ever donated a school bag. I pushed my large glasses back up on my noise. I hate them; they remind me of what that woman out of an English soap. What I don't have is a TV, so I don't get to watch it all the time. I just read the TV guide to find out what's happening. Luckily, they have pictures. Anyway my glasses cover up half of my face. I guess that's lucky, they're sort of a disguise for me. Say if somebody went to the club I dance in and saw me. They wouldn't recognise me because I look so different.
My best friend Quatre, who happens to be mega rich, told me that I have two lives, which is somewhat true. There's me, Duo Maxwell, the church choirboy, geek, freak, loser, whatever they call me at school. Yeah that's right, I'm the school freak. I've never had a boyfriend (that's partially because the school is full of straights) and this side of me has never been kissed (by anyone at school), let alone had...Well you know. Duo Maxwell is my vulnerable side, my shy side…well to the people who don't know me. What they don't know is that I've been to the bottom with the scum and to some extent it has taken an effect to the way I am with people I don't know.
There are three types of people in all schools round the world and colonies. First being the popular kids, the athletes, jocks, cheerleaders whatever you might call them. Everyone would love to go out with one; everyone would like to be one. There would be the famous three girls who where the most beautiful girls in the school. At my school, their names are Relena Peacecraft (head cheerleader, main girl) Sally Po (Second Cheerleader) and Dorothy Catalonia (Joint second cheerleader). These three girls parade around the school, wearing the shortest skirts anyone has seen in their life and constantly putting people down, like me. There would also be the that one guy...the guy every girl (or boy) would get up in the morning to see, the one who is so perfect in every way, from the muscles in his shoulders to the way he, in his own way, struggles to uphold tradition. Oz High School would not be the same without him. High School would not be the same without him. I would not be the same without him (1). The one and only Heero Yuy. Of course, he's surrounded and followed by a bunch of boys who want to be him. While he is also flocked by all of the girls who want to date him. The lot of them have tons of friends and go to parties every night. I'm surprised they even have time to do their studies.
The second lot are a little down from the popular's and are known as the intermediates. They go though school doing their work and never being called a geek for doing it. Normally this lot are friends with the popular people and the geeky people. They are the ones who have to watch everything they do. With one wrong decision they could loose their rep and be known as a Geek. Which is what I of course am known as.
We are the poor, the bookworms, the computer freaks, fridges or just the Geeks and I am all of them in one. These types of people do anything to get friends, but they know deep down that they never will get to be one of the 'Popular' people. However in my case I won't stoop that low which is why I'm the bottom line to everyone's joke. My past makes me realise that you should make the most outta everything, which is very when I go to school I work my ass off as hard as I can.
I only have one friend who is Quatre, and I'm quite happy and content for it staying like that. When I first started school I used to come home crying. Everyone hated me, and I'd done nothing wrong. Some would come up to me in the corridors and knock books out of my hands or chuck food at me in the cafeteria. I'd be called 'Choir Geek'; 'Stinky' or 'Loser'. I have to admit sometimes I am a bit accident prone, all the bad things happen to me.
For example one time when I was coming out of school my plastic school bag split into a million pieces sending my books all over the pavement. Nobody helped me. They all just looked and then suddenly burst out into laughter. I could see tears in their eyes as more students came out of school and stood on my stuff breaking my irreplaceable pens and pencils. My heart ached as I looked up to see Heero Yuy standing not far off with Relena Peacecraft hanging on his arm like a monkey (did I mention their going out? They're the school best couple). Relena was laughing her head off, tears streaming down her face and he...he looked amused and that's when he said it.
"Geek. Maybe you should buy a new bag loser." Everyone burst into laughter. His two friends Trowa and WuFei slapped him on the back congratulating him. My heart seemed to smash into a million pieces. It's a shame I still fancy him the way I do. I feel guilty dreaming about him when he acts like the biggest arsehole in the world. I should be dreaming about Solo however I still have Heero Yuy in my mine saying he loves me…but we all know they're just dreams. Dreams never come true or I'd be standing in a mansion with a million pounds in my hand right now with Solo by my side.
Anyway, Heero is 110 straight.
Anyhow as I was saying Quatre says I have two lives, there's me and then the there's Shingimi. The God of Death. That's what they call me at the club. That's when I let go of myself and just live. I take off my glasses and hat and let my hair down in its braid. I go out and have a few beers, dance and sing then after a few hours...Everyone wants me. So you might ask yourself why don't I act like this at school? Well it's simple like I said before, I don't want to upset Father Maxwell, and well...It's like a spells been put on me (I know fairy tales again), when I step though the school gates and become Duo Maxwell I become shy, a proper geek. I think I would be embarrassed if anyone from school saw me dancing. The club happens to be in a little alleyway in town where nobody in our school would be found dead going. So I'm fine, plus they probably wouldn't recognise me since the club does me up pretty good before a show. I have a shower there before I return to the church. That means I have two showers a week, lucky me! Shame they're one after another. I think Sister Helen got suspicious one Sunday when I came for my shower already clean. I normally go running round the block early in the morning to work up a sweat.
"DUO THE BUS IS OUTSIDE AT THE STOP YOUR GONNA..." Before she could finish, I ran pass her. I couldn't miss the bus. Last time I did that I was running along side it for about 2 miles. I think they got that trick from Spiderman the movie, I watched a little of it at school on one of the last days of term when the teachers let you mess around.
I got there just as the last person paid for a ticket. I dug into my pocket only to find that my bus pass was missing. Shit (Sorry Father), it was on my bed I had forgotten it.
"Errrr..." I looked around to see if Quatre was on the bus so I could borrow some money from him but he didn't seem to be on today. Shit (Sorry Father). The only time I needed his money.
"What's wrong forgot your money kid?" The driver asked. I nodded dumbly the guy rolled his eyes "I'm sorry kid I can't let you on without a pass or money"
"But..."
"What's wrong? The choir geek forgot his money?" Someone called from inside the bus as everyone burst into fits of laughter. Great, I'm already being laughed at and I'm not even at school yet.
"Sorry kid, I have to get this lot to school. Please step off the bus." I felt my eyes brim with tears as more laughter erupted from the kids on the bus. I bit my lip trying to stop the hurt and embarrassment from showing on my face as I got off the bus. The doors sealed behind me and the bus took off. Just to top it off someone had time to dump a bottle of coke all over my hat and down my back as the bus drove off. I was soaked, cold, and Pissed Off. I'd been laughed at and now I'm going to be late for school. Great First day back.
TBC...
(1) A Quote from a movie 'Never been Kissed' I just thought it would go well in there.