DJim's Log

//Tuesday 4:13 PM

An Old Story From My Past, The First Chapter.

This is an old story from my past. Just gonna post it up and explain about it later.

The story is called The Lost Boy. Just like the name of the title, it's about a boy who somehow lost his path along the way in life.

The contents in this story are partially based on my real life and obviously altered to fit the story and help protect those involved.

Anyway I'll explain more on why I decided to write this and probably continue to blog about my own life a little bit more in my next post.

This is one of those really long stories so... grab a snack and read on. Enjoy.

- The Lost Boy. -
DJimSD TM

- Chapter 1 The Surprise -

“I missed my old friends already,” Austin said – “It has been about 8 months since I've left the school...”

Austin was a transfer student from an all boys boarding school to a public school in his hometown. He met a whole lot of different people as the public school was co-educational (mixed). He made friends with Kevin, Calvin, Cory and Mikey. Kevin, Calvin and Cory were his classmates while Mikey wasn’t. He was a student a year ahead of them. Cory introduced him to Austin about a month ago at a birthday party. Cory and Mikey were the ones who are very close to Austin. And now five of them were in the cafeteria having a meeting during break. As usual the cafeteria was cramped with students and it was noisy.

“What!?” Austin snapped when he found his friends were staring at him.

“Nothing.” Calvin said.

“Yeah…” Cory agreed. Mikey just nodded.

“It’s just that… it’s strange! I mean, you know, that’s the first time I heard you said that you missed your old friends since you came here!” Kevin commented. To Austin, Kevin seemed to have comments on every topic they discussed. And Austin was always grateful for having him as a friend because of his honesty and bravery in giving comments. Unlike the others like Calvin, he rarely gives any comments because he thinks it was better to just keep quiet. Cory and Mikey, well… they seemed to be one… they laughed a lot, had the same way of thinking and opinions and the most of all they loved to sing a lot as well.

Amongst the five of them, Cory was the most talkative one, Mikey came in second, then Austin, Kevin was next and Calvin was the last one. Cory should always deserve a trophy for being the most talkative person in the group. Austin always felt sorry for Calvin maybe because he doesn’t talk that much. Calvin seemed not to be contented to voice out his opinions, he usually expresses them in his cartoons.

“Wonder how is it going now…” Austin said as he remembered his good moments in his former school, the kind teachers he left, the cherished moments with his old friends either at school or at the hostel rooms. It was all just a memory now.

“Stop wondering off! I think you’ve gone too far.” Kevin joked. Everyone laughed except Austin. He thought there was nothing humorous to laugh at.

“It’s just that I’m kinda worried, guys. An old friend of mine called me yesterday, he talked about our school, and unfortunately, things are not how they used to be since I’ve been gone. Imagine more than a hundred students left the school!”

“Wow… a hundred!?” Cory asked with disbelief. Austin nodded.

“Just how many students are left now?” Mikey asked.

“Probably less than two thousand left.” Austin said.

“Stop worrying, Austin. Why are you thinking about all this? You’re in this school now, therefore, you’re a student of this school… officially!” Mikey said. Everyone agreed, even Austin.

Somehow, Mikey was right.

“I’m a student of this school now, why should I think about my old school? But isn’t that unfair…? After all these years, I’ve been brought up in that boarding school and I have to forget about it all now? I spent almost half a decade of my life there, and now, I have to leave it behind?” Austin thought.

Sometimes Austin felt guilty for leaving the school. He was always worried if whether he made the right choice or not by transferring to this school. He still remembered the moment when he told his mother that he wanted to transfer to a public school in town. He couldn’t stand the look on his mother’s face... like a fierce tigress. He always knew that his mother would disagree with the proposal. But fortunately after a lot of persuasions, his mother finally agreed. His father was speechless. All he could do was observe and above of all, he was glad that Austin made up his mind to transfer to a public school in town. He always wanted Austin to study in a public school so he could spend time with him but Austin’s mother insisted to send him to a boarding school just like his sister.

The fact is, Austin missed his home, his hometown. For five years he was at a boarding school a thousand miles from home. He was homesick. That was the reason why he wanted to transfer to a school in town, so that he could taste his mother’s cooking, see new friends, meet girls. He wanted to do everything an ordinary teenage boy does. He admitted he really hated his former school, not only was it far from home, but there was no life, no freedom. It was like a prison. It was then when a friend of his who has transferred to a public school told him about the exciting new things he experienced: he realized that he wasted five years of his life in a boarding school. Who cares about the rules when he can have fun and study at the same time. Yes, Austin sure made the right decision. He simply did not have any life there, only friends with the same luck. Everything was controlled then, but now that he has decided what to do, he has a life. An independent school life.

Austin’s deep thoughts were disturbed when Cory spoke, “You really missed your friends, huh?” Austin just nodded, forcing a smile.

“Hey guys… guess what? I had a new classmate today!” Mikey said abruptly. Everyone was so tensed before has just now lightened up a bit, relieved to hear someone changing to a new topic.

“He seemed to came in late. It’s the beginning of the second term now!” Cory said.
At that moment, Austin saw a tanned, tall guy entered the cafeteria. He was vaguely familiar.

“No… he couldn’t be!” he thought. “Johnny!?” Austin exclaimed. He didn’t believe that he’d actually called out Johnny’s name like that. His eyes were concentrated on Johnny, walking through the crowds of students.

“That’s it. His name’s Johnny! How’d you know?” Mikey asked.

“Austin!” Kevin cried. Austin’s eyes were still on Johnny’s figure.

“Huh? What were you saying?” Austin asked when he realized Kevin was calling his name.

“Sheesh…” Cory said.

“Ah! That’s him… Johnny!” Mikey said as he saw Johnny at the snack bar.

“Huh? He’s your new classmate?” Austin asked. Mikey looked questionably at Cory, Calvin and Kevin. The three of them just shrugged.

“I thought you were not paying attention!” Mikey said, annoyed.

“Repeat what you’ve said. What’s the story?” Austin asked.

“Okay. For you information, I’ve got a new classmate today and to my surprise, you guessed his name. How’d you know that?” Austin didn’t answer Mikey’s question.

“He’s nice looking, eh Mike?” Cory remarked. He then whispered something to Mikey. He nodded and Cory’s eyes brightened. Kevin and Calvin just eyed him suspiciously.

“Wow! That’s great!” Austin said, his eyes were still stuck on Johnny.

“What do you mean by ‘that’s great’?”Mikey asked.

“Umm, I’ve been dying to talk to him again. So, could you help me out?”

“Huh?” Cory said. Everyone looked at Austin.

“You know Johnny?” Mikey asked.

“Of course I know him! Well, not that I know him personally. I just knew him by his reputation. He doesn’t really know me though. He’s one of the amateur photographers at my old school. You can say that he’s my idol. He’s a cool photographer!” Austin explained.

Everyone was quiet, thinking what to say next until Cory broke the silence, “How come you didn’t had the chance to talk to him before?”

“He was always busy.” Austin answered simply.

“Busy?” Cory asked.

“His photographs.”

“Oh.” Cory said. Mikey sighed. Kevin and Calvin as usual were keen in listening to the conversation.

“We had a photography club back at my school, that’s why he was busy all the time.” Nobody said a word. “He was the president of the club, so you know what that means… busy!” Austin continued.

“Cool!” Cory said. Now everyone started to smile.

“Doesn’t he looked sort of arrogant? I mean the way he walked… the way he stands upright!” Cory remarked. Mikey raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, Core! Although he looked that arrogant but he had a reputation for being really friendly. I’ve spoken to him couple of times at the school and he’s cool!” defended Austin. It’s wasn’t true. Austin lied. He never even said a word to him. Johnny had always ignored him at school, especially in the photography clubroom. It was like Johnny tried to avoid him. Austin never knew why he did that, ignoring and avoiding him. It felt like Austin was a disease to be avoided. One question still remains unanswered: "Why did Johnny always talked to my friends and not me? Did I do something wrong that offended him?" Austin thought.

“Austin’s right. He’s kind of friendly. I mean, by the time he stepped into the class this morning, he introduced himself straight away! So far, I like him. The girls certainly love him! They already gave him the ‘welcoming gesture’ – the reactions you know.” Mikey said.

“Yeah! Yeah! I know what you mean.” Cory said.

“Gee… just in one day, he’d made new friends. Even the girls love him already. He’s always a very likeable person, back in my school. Every teachers seemed to like him. Hmm, wonder how he does it? I’ve been here for months already and still nobody notices me! I’m invisible, as if I don’t exist.” Austin said – “I’m so jealous of him!” Austin was used to be a teacher’s pet and quite popular, maybe because of his academic achievements. But the situation was different here. Austin was nothing here, a simple ordinary student. Maybe that was the difference between a boarding and a public school.

“Why?” Cory asked.

“Well, for one thing, he’s a good photographer and he’s popular!” Austin said.

“Aren’t you popular too…?” Cory asked.

“Well, yeah! I can say that though, just because of my academic achievements. But I don’t know what he is popular for, his friendliness or his good looks. At our school, we had a society for boys who had good looks. And for your information, I was included although I didn’t want to. It was a discrimination.”

“Well?” Mikey asked.

“Well, I’m not saying that I’m that good looking. It’s just that I had the looks. Nothing much. Neither did Johnny. He was in the middle, in the border line between good looking and bad looking. He’s just nice, you know?”

“How specific.” Kevin said jokingly. Everyone laughed.

“But I still don’t understand…” Mikey said.

“Neither do I. I don’t even know how it really works. Let’s just drop this, okay?” Austin proposed. Everyone agreed.

“Hey Core! You’re quiet today.” Mikey said.

“Yeah, why?” Kevin asked too. Austin just managed to smile, tired of talking.

“He must’ve ran out of debatable words!” Calvin said jokingly, smiling at Cory. Calvin was always happy whenever Cory stayed quiet; he was tired of always listening to Cory’s voice. Cory, on the other hand, was a member of the school’s debating club and had the habit for debating especially with Calvin.

“Nothing!” Cory answered, simple and short. He looked bored but anyhow he forced a smile. Austin suspected something that there must be something going on. Austin knew Cory too well, because whenever he was quiet like that, there must definitely be something significant going on.

“Good, cos I like that!” Calvin said teasingly. Everyone except Cory smiled widely. He looked insulted. He sighed.

“Okay… okay… hey guess what?” Mikey asked.

“What?” Austin asked. Cory who was sitting beside Mikey looked at him.

“There’s one more thing I haven’t tell you guys. Johnny’s my neighbor!”

“What!? You’re kidding!” Cory said. Calvin stared at Cory suspiciously because of Cory’s drastic behavior change.

“Hmm, you’re up to something, aren’t you Core?” Austin asked. Eyes were then concentrated at Cory.

Cory was silent for a moment and said, “Nothing!” Mikey just shook his head, he knew what was going on. Earlier, Cory told him to introduce him to Johnny. He was interested to be friends with him.

“Hey, why are we talking about him now, anyway?” Mikey asked.

“Well, you brought up the topic!” Cory finally said something. Calvin smiled sinisterly at Cory which disgusted him. Austin always found the both of them were funny because although they were not on the same side sometimes but still they were the best of friends.

“Shh!” Austin demanded.

Moments later, three freshmen girls were passing their table, as usual smiling widely. To whom they were smiling, Austin had no idea. One of them was Cher. She was the one who was walking in the middle, probably indicating she was the leader of the three. She was undoubtfully cute. And Austin really likes her. Well, it was more than likely to be a crush.

“Psst!” Calvin said as he elbowed Austin who was sitting beside him.

“I know, I know!” Austin said, he was blushing. Kevin just kept quiet, smiling widely. Cory and Mikey stayed quiet as well, forcing themselves not to smile or even laugh. They all knew what was going on. They knew Austin had a crush on Cher since earlier this year; she was his love at first sight. That’s why they stayed quiet so that Austin could have his few moments, few great moments. Because of Austin’s extensive interest on Cher, Calvin and Kevin helped him to find out Cher’s whereabouts. They even entered clubs that Cher entered, they joined the ECAs that she’d done, and doing almost everything hoping Cher would notice him. By doing so, he could get close to her and talk to her, telling his feelings for her but until now, he couldn’t do it. He hadn’t any confidence yet. Apparently there was something that held him back from approaching her, maybe because he also had a crush on his classmate, Sara. His friends didn’t know that. Calvin and Kevin assured him all the time that Cher would like him too. That was just to build up Austin’s confidence. They guaranteed because to them Cher had given positive reactions, like smiling at Austin whenever they met. They were like her shadow, following wherever she goes. And Austin knew Cher suspected that he liked her. Just as Cher was out of sight, all of them started to laugh. This made Austin blushed even more.

“Stop it!” Austin demanded, still smiling. “You’re laughing at me now but wait till I get her…!” Austin thought.

- End of Chapter 1 -