Behind The Curtain

Kenneth Clark's brown eyes slowly peered open to the sound of a buzzing alarm from his bedside; he brushed his shaggy, deep hair from his face and let out a tired yawn. The eighteen-year-old reached over and smacked the off button on the clock and let out a sigh, "One last day." Today was the day of his high school graduation, no more early days of waking up and dragging himself to the same school he'd been in for most of his life. Now it was all about college, more than like Bear Mountain University a few hours away, and that in its own right was equal parts exciting and terrifying. But what made him nervous for college wasn't the distance or deciding what he would study, no, it was something a bit more internal and admittedly selfish. With senior year behind him, the only thing Kenny wanted to experience at this point was the pleasure of being with a woman.

As the end of high school was getting closer and closer, the more he noticed his virginity. Just about all his friends had at least a single girlfriend by now; hell, most had more than a few. Kenny couldn't help but envy that, and it wasn't only just for the sex. There was, of course, the unspoken fact that no guy wanted to go to college still a virgin, but for Kenny, it went deeper. He wanted to be with someone, to be able to look at a girl and know that she was all his. It happened with his parents, who met in high school, became close friends, and before college was even done, they already had Kenny's older sister, Sydney, on the way.

There were plenty of girls who had crossed his mind over the years, Rachel White, an absolutely stunning blonde who was best friends with his older sister, Sydney. Anna Ross, a drop-dead gorgeous and supremely innocent blonde whom he became close friends. And as of most recently, Nicole Moore, a fun-loving, punk rocker who had taken him just about everywhere but her bed since she befriended him. Though all of these girls and more were only thoughts in Kenny's head, sure, he'd interact with them, but he had never made a move outside of his fantasies. He was too timid when Rachel took him to the prom, too cautious with Anna until she got a boyfriend, and too apprehensive about thinking Nicole would see him as anything but a friend. Well...you still have today, Kenny; it's never too late to take a chance, right? The teen thought to himself and finally found a small smile growing over his face.

With that thought revitalizing his mind into actually wanting to go to school, Kenny jumped out of bed, grabbed a fresh change of clothes, and then jumped into the shower. After a good twenty minutes, the teen was lightly jogging down the hallway, heading into the open center of his house. He passed by the living room, smirking as he saw both his cousin Juliet, a beautiful blue-eyed brunette, passed out on the couch, alongside her best friend Quinn Greene, a tall, toned, smoking hot redhead. The muted television still played whatever movies they were watching all last night. He gave a small shake of his head and headed into the kitchen.

As Kenny entered the kitchen, he spotted his parents, Andrea and Ethan, enjoying a quiet cup of coffee together, "Morning honey," Andrea warmly smiled at her son who grabbed a pair of apples out of the fruit bowl on the counter, "Ready for your last day of high school?"

"Is that a serious question?" Kenny jokingly replied as he glanced over to his father, "Is anyone going to wake Julie and Quinn up? If they don't get going soon, they'll probably end up being late. It'll ruin their whole day,"

"Those two were up quite late last night, I believe they muted the television at...three? I figured we'd let them get an extra twenty minutes...unless you want to go wake them?" Ethan suggested, and Kenny immediately gave his head a shake,

"And get my head chewed off? No, thank you," Kenny denied, and his parents shared a short laugh together. "Okay, so the plan is to meet you both in Dartwin outside the mega center, right?"

Andrea sipped her coffee and gave a nod, "Right, you get out of school by noon, but you have to be at Dartwin before three. The Ceremony starts at three-thirty, just after the Dartwin classes are done with theirs."

"Right, got it, one-hundred percent," Kenny assured his parents, "Okay, I'm gonna go grab Mindy and get to school a little early then," Kenny turned around, going for a key rack only to freeze as he noticed the keys to his work in progress, Gran Torino, were missing, "Uh...where are my keys?"

"They aren't on the hook?" Ethan's tone was uncaring as Kenny immediately rushed over, searching over the counter, "I told you not to misplace those."

"I didn't!" Kenny exclaimed, "I hung them up right here last night just like you told me! I swear to God! Where could they have gone?!"

Andrea let out a small whine, "Oh, honey, this is cruel, come on,"

Ethan let out a small, disappointed sigh. "You're no fun, you know that?" He teased his wife while folding the paper up and dropping it on the table. " Kenny glanced back as his dad got up and headed over to the kitchen counter where he produced a set of keys that sat on a place mat, "Take my car today; I'm...your car is in good hands, and you'll see it later today," He said with an easy smile while tossing them over to his son,

Kenny's eyes widened as he caught the set of keys, "Wait, you're serious?! What are you doing with my car?!" Kenny exclaimed with excitement, but Ethan remained tight-lipped, "A-Are you sure you're good with me taking yours?!"

"You proved yourself responsible plenty of times; I think I can trust you going to and from school today," Ethan said with a quick wink, "Just remember to keep it under the limit, yeah?"

"Sure, Dad! Oh God, Mindy is going to freak!" Kenny all but laughed as he turned and ran from the kitchen and out the front door,

"Yeahhhh," Ethan sighed with a stretch, looking towards his wife coyly, "It sure is tough being the favorite parent, but someone has to do it."

"Mhm, I know, it does take a toll on me," Andrea merely hummed back as she gave her coffee another sip.

Kenny and Mindy made it to school in no time at all, beating the final day buses of students by a good fifteen minutes. As expected, when Kenny pulled into the school parking lot, they were met with the third main member of their friendly little trio, a tall, athletically built black teen, James Jackson. Though by his own insistence, everyone in and outside of school called him JJ. Friendly, kind, an all-star player on the hockey team, and definitely attractive to nearly all the girls in the high school, JJ was definitely an abnormality when it came to typical jocks. He never stuck inside any main cliques; he was friends with people, and when you have such an agreeable guy like JJ, that meant he was friends with almost everybody. Moreover, what confused people the most was his lack of interest in the girls consistently throwing themselves at him. He rarely had any girlfriends in high school, and when they did, they were all very brief and ended "on good terms," as Kenny constantly heard, which was something Kenny did his best not to be bitter about, considering his low luck with girls.

"Holy shit, I must be dreaming!" JJ called out with a laugh as Kenny parked. Walking over as the pair climbed out, he had a wide grin on his face, "Last day of school, and you finally decide not to show up in a rolling rust bucket?!" Kenny sighed, rolling his eyes as JJ and Mindy both shared a laugh,

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up," Kenny played it off, locking the car and heading around the front end, "My dad insisted I take his because...well, my car is gone, I guess? He sent it somewhere for such a big secret he won't tell me about."

"Maybe he did you a favor and just brought it to a junkyard," JJ cracked another joke, which Kenny answered with a light sock to the arm. The trio began to walk, and JJ sighed, looking between them before returning his gaze to the high school, "Can you guys believe this shit? Last day. Honest to god, last damn day in this place, and then we're done."

"Couldn't be happier," Mindy smirked, "All I want to do is get a few years of writing classes in at BMU, and then I am so done with all this school crap."

"But then, how would we ever see you?" JJ teased, and Mindy elbowed him in the ribs with a grin,

"You'll be too busy in the rink to be worried about where I am," Mindy sarcastically retorted, and JJ chuckled, bringing an arm up and wrapping it around the small tomboy.

"Hardly; you and Ken are my crew. There is no way anything is coming between us; we're linked." JJ wholeheartedly assured,

"That's so sweet, JJ; I think I'm gonna go throw up," Kenny jested, and the trio broke out into a laugh. It was by far an odd set for best friends, but Kenny wouldn't have traded them for anything.

Long Time no see, guys. It's been a lot of months since I properly worked on any writing in general, let alone this story, but I finally felt the urge to come back with a new idea. For anyone lingering around the story and looking to see these characters going at it with all the drama in between, I hope you guys are gonna enjoy it.