EDITED 2/8/13
The pain was deep inside his chest, crawling up his throat and screaming to get out. God, he felt ill. God, he wanted to vomit. God! Why did he keep saying ‘God’? He wasn’t even sure if he believed in Him!
Adrian rolled over and stretched the muscles around his mouth, squinting and yawning. At the yawn, his stomach protested and he reached, producing nothing but a raw throat and teary eyes. He curled up into a fragile ball and moaned, slamming his mouth shut with such force that his jaw ached.
“M-martin?” Adrian called out to the boy next to him, but the boy didn’t stir. “Martin…? Martin?”
“Urgh! What, Adrian?” the small voice called out from under the covers; soon, a head emerged. Martin’s hair was sticking to the pillow and his eyes were rimmed with sleep.
Martin had been known as the ‘boy-in-the-next-bed’ since Adrian joined the school, and often talked to him when they were both alone. They didn’t hang around with each other, but Adrian knew that Martin was reasonably nice.
“M-martin, I feel ill. I can’t get up to work. Could you tell the nurse for me?” Adrian tried to sound as though he wasn’t ill, but he didn’t really see the point.
“What’s wrong with you?” Martin asked, his voice hushed as he wiped grime from his eyes. He had sat himself up in bed and had turned his body so that he was half lying on his side so he was looking at Adrian.
Adrian remained silent, shutting his eyes and trying to ignore how loud Martin’s voice seemed.
“Adrian? I said ‘what’s wrong?’ Tell me so I can tell the nurse!”
“T-t-tell her I’m ill.”
“No, tell me what’s wrong!” Martin hissed. Adrian rolled his eyes at the boy’s stubbornness and groaned a little as his head started to thump. “Adrian, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so awkward?”
I’m not awkward. You’re awkward. Adrian thought a little sourly and attempted to turn away from Martin but at his slight movement, something stabbed him directly in the stomach.
“It… it f-feels like I’m b-being s-stabbed!” Adrian gasped, ashamed at how high pitched and impish he sounded. “Owh. Argh.”
“You’re ill, I’ll go get the nurse…now.” Martin decided aloud, and he flung the bed sheets off himself.
As soon as Martin stood up, Adrian didn’t focus on his own pain because something very odd occupied his thoughts. His mind remained still for two or three seconds until it registered what on Earth Adrian had seen, yet he wasn’t too sure. Martin… Martin had something yellowish on his trousers. Something yellowish which was positioned right between his legs; but what was it?!
“Um…M-martin? You… you have something on your trousers. You better change them before y-you go to the nurse… um…” Adrian stopped because he didn’t know what to say. Martin’s cheeks glowed red as he glanced down at his crotch; he gasped and swallowed, shoot Adrian a dark look.
“Erh…right. Ignore that, okay?” Adrian nodded as Martin gulped, pushing his trousers off as fast as he could and struggling to put on some new ones. “Just…it happens. Ignore it, Adrian. Don’t tell.”
“I won’t.” Adrian whispered through gritted teeth, and Martin ran as quickly as he could out of the room.
II
What had he seen?
What was yellow and sticky-looking?
Where had it come from?
Why had it appeared there?
What the hell was it?!
Adrian, lying in bed, couldn’t stop thinking about it. Considering he had a lot of time to spare, his mind kept wandering to the scene which he’d seen earlier that morning. What on Earth had been on Martin’s crotch and why was he so embarrassed of it? Had he wet himself? That was the only explanation Adrian could think of, yet it didn’t fit. Fourteen year old boys didn’t wet themselves and Martin would have noticed as soon as he had awaked… so, what could it have been if Martin hadn’t noticed? Adrian assumed that it was involuntary, if Martin hadn’t noticed.
What was involuntary, yellow, and embarrassing?
Adrian needed a book because though people thought otherwise, he didn’t know everything.
He struggled to pull himself out of bed, his arms shaking and his stomach protesting as he put his black coat over his pyjamas. Adrian pushed his curls from his face and tried to straighten himself up as he stumbled a few steps, realising how weak he was. With a few seconds to rest, Adrian found a small amount of strength and made his way out of the dormitory and down the stairs.
Pacing himself, he felt as though his stomach and his head had been swapped around as he stumbled down the steps, resisting the urges to gag as he smelt the cooking sausages from the kitchen. He made his way slowly across the foyer, his bare feet making a slapping noise as they hit the marble floor, and he gave a sigh of relief once he’d reached the library.
Once he’d found the science section, it had taken Adrian a total of twenty-seven minutes and thirty-six seconds to find what he was looking for. He’d searched through ‘Adolescent Boys’, ‘Biological Issues’, ‘Puberty, the Body and The Mind’, and ‘Pubescent Human Beings in the 18th Century’, but nothing held the answer until he stumbled across another book. The book, grimly titled ‘Difficult Puberty for Boys’ was boring and somewhat grotesque, but Adrian found what he needed. He grimaced, his emotions a mixture of humour and disgust, as he read the passage on ‘Changing Bodies’ and found a description of the sticky-looking yellow gunk which had been on Martin’s body. As he read, Adrian felt more sick, and once he’d found the word, he slammed the book shut with such violence that the librarian gave him a deep, un-womanly snarl.
Wet dreams. How could a dream be wet?
Adrian felt himself go pale and he got up, pilling the books up, refusing to put them back; he walked as quickly as his weak legs would carry him out of the library, wandered into the nearest toilet, and vomited.
He wasn’t sure that he wanted to grow up.
III
Within four weeks and two days, Adrian had experienced something akin to Martin’s experience himself. It had been a highly embarrassing affair and it was the only point when Adrian desperately wanted to be Morton so that he could erase the memory which caused him such severe embarrassment that he would happily have jumped out of the nearest window. Sadly, he’d been in a bathroom when it happened, and the window was far too small.
They had been playing rugby in the bottom group of Games (calling it ‘games’ was stupid, Adrian had always thought, because usually, ‘game’ implied that you were having fun, and sports certainly wasn’t fun) and it had been raining for five days solid when they’d gone out. Within half an hour, Adrian and the other fourteen year old boys were soaked in thick brown mud which had splattered their green and red sports kits. Adrian could feel the mud in his hair, sliding down his body, as he entered the school sports building just after three o’clock.
Grabbing their school uniform, the boys headed for the showers. A hot wave of steam hit Adrian in the face as he put his bag near the shower, pulling out his uniform and placing it on the top. The steam was warm and calming, soothing his aching limbs. He grumbled as he leapt into the shower, thankful there was a curtain to draw across each individual cubical so that all the boys could shower in peace.
As the hot water soaked into his bare skin, Adrian breathed. For the first time in nearly a month, he felt relaxed… well, relaxed until he looked down. What the hell has happened? was Adrian’s first thought, until he took a deep breath and looked down again. He was shocked at how… inflamed and different it looked, but his mind refused to form the correct word in his head. He just couldn’t bring himself to say that he was-
“Adrian, hurry up! I need the shower!
The voice belonged to Craig, the boy who had welcomed him back to school after he’d been away. The boy in his Latin class… the boy caked in mud. Oh God, he couldn’t see this! Panicking, Adrian lathered his hands with soap and tried to get rid of his bulge, but it did nothing. Shite. Shit. Shit shit shit shit SHIT-
And suddenly, the shower curtain was ripped open.
“Adrian’s got a stiffy!” came a loud, teasing voice, and Adrian wished that the tiles would open and swallow him up.