Magnolia “Childhood, adults always say, is the happiest time in life, but Brian knew better.” A week ago, their teacher gave them a presentation to do as homework. It consisted to present the person they are from the moment they were born, till this very day and what they want to do after grade twelve. So basically present their lifeline. It seemed so third-grade to do this, considering this is a class of twelve graders, but they figured what-the-hell might as well receive good grades in an easy project. “…and after graduation I want to become a famous singer.” One of the girls said in front of the class. “Thank you.” She handed her written project to the teacher and sat down at her desk after her presentation. “Thank you Annett, that was very good.” She smiles to her teacher with all her white teeth and pink sticky lip-gloss. “Mr. Kinney.” The teacher says as he sits back down to his desk and writes on his grade sheet. Brian glances at Justin and stands up unwittingly with his lined paper pages and his disk. He hands his PowerPoint disk to the person in charge. “My name is Brian Kinney. I was born May 17th here in Pittsburgh. I’m 17 and I have a younger sister.” He’s bored and uninterested in his own presentation. “These are pictures of me as a baby.” The pictures were clicked one by one. “This is me at the age of two. This is me at six playing soccer.” He pauses. “This is me at sixteen with my friend Emmett. And now here I am. Thank you.” He joylessly shuts up and sits back down next to Justin. “You missed some parts don’t you think Mr. Kinney?” The teacher gets up and addresses Brian directly. “No.” “What about when you first started school, maybe you should present this just like every other person in this class.” He crooks a smile contently. “Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll be able to give you a good grade for this presentation.” Brian keeps on staring down at his favourite spot on his desk and nervously moves his leg up and down. His stone walls are solidly built high around him. “No, thank you. I’m done.” Justin worries as he watches Brian’s reaction as he sinks down in his plastic chair. He hates how his teacher angers Brian like that and actually enjoys it. If he could he’d punch him right in his face till the mother-fucker screams and bleeds. But he can’t. “Fine by me. Miss. Cameron.” The teacher calls for the next student to present. She stands up and gives her disk. Proudly, with her biggest smile and sweetest voice, she introduces herself with more information than any one would wish to know. Her first grade picture appears in large format on the white screen. Any emotions Brian and Justin could possibly have quickly fade away and rapidly feel uncomfortable when they see themselves in their first grade class in the picture. Two young boys with their classmates, and their first grade teacher, the teacher that makes them feels sick to their stomach just by watching his fucking face in a picture. All they can fixate on is the two young boys, one with very light blond hair and one with very dark brown hair, faking a smile to the camera. Justin gets more agitated and stares at the pictures as they slide. All showing the innocent little boy he was when he was seven years old, looking happy and full of energy. He then remembers when he was younger he used to be friends with that girl presenting, Amy Cameron. There are pictures of all his first grade friends, including Amy, of course, and Brian. There’re pictures of him finger painting with his friends, playing on the playground and smiling widely with his childhood peers. Brian watches every dreaded picture, tighten his jaw and clenching his teeth together. He avoids looking at the picture slide. He has a pair of scissors in his hand and he scraps the wooden desk with them. He accidentally cuts his palm with them by holding the blade too tight. He tries to wipe the blood off and covers his hand with his sleeve. He glances at Justin and sees him acting agitated too. Justin’s shaking his left leg nervously. Brian doesn’t think that Justin notices that he’s making his desk vibrate. “Mr. Taylor, are you okay?” The teacher asks, interrupting Amy’s presentation. “Yeah.” Justin answers with his jaw clenched tightly, he doesn’t look up and stares blankly at his hands. Brian can’t seem to stop staring at the pictures without blinking as they flash brightly in the darken classroom. It angers him even more that Justin’s hurting. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ “… my childhood was the best part of my life…” Amy kept on rambling about her God-damn childhood. Justin quickly gets up unnoticed and heads towards the classroom’s backdoor exit. He walks in the white empty school hallways till he finds the nearest washroom. The stall door slams shut behind Justin. He let’s out small faint cries. Justin angrily pulls onto his long blond strands of hair, kicking the door and the walls surrounding him. He hits his forehead against the ugly blue metal painted door. He kicks the cheap plastic toilet paper distributor until it brakes down to the floor. Screaming with his teeth tightly clenched together to stop himself from screaming or crying. Justin pulls harder on his hair so it can hurt, hurt, hurt painfully. He pants against the wall, feeling tiny drips of sweat running down his forehead and neck. He storms out the stall, looking low at his feet, when he bumps into someone’s chest. He looks up uncaringly and sees Brian looking straight at him, his lips closed and his eyes filled with worry and sadness. Brian slowly wraps both his arms around Justin, hugging him very closely. “Don’t touch me.” Justin pushes him and fights back to pull Brian away from him. He hits Brian’s shoulders weakly and tries to pull himself off but despite his efforts Brian holds him tight against him. “Fuck you.” Brian calmly holds him until Justin’s body feels too weak and he stops fighting him. Justin falls in Brian’s hug and wraps his arms around Brian’s body, tightening his fingers in Brian’s shirt and skin. Brian combs his fingers through Justin’s long locks and kisses his hair softly.