A well kept secret

Mission Manure

Fall 1934

Lem headed to his dorm room to find it empty. He checked the common room and there in a far corner were his friends. He walked over to them but remained silent. Jack and Philip were in an intense chess game. Over time his friends had learned that when it came to a chess game between Jack and Philip you should never interrupt in any way. The two were extremely competitive.

"How long have they been going at it?" Lem whispered to Alex.

"Two hours. This is their second match."

"These two." Lem shook his head.

He watched the game unfold and felt two eyes watching him. He looked up to see Jack looking at him carefully.
This is how it had been since Christmas last year. They would be close, hold each other, never discuss what they had going on. They'd look at each other, but not say a word. They laughed and joked but there was always something between them. Some sort of taunt rubber that they didn't want to snap.

But they watched each other carefully, they were stuck in a sort of waltz that could leave one of them forgotten if they didn't stick to the right melody. Lem sent a gentle smile to Jack. But turned to listen to George as he rehashed the parts of the game Lem had missed. And despite listening to George, he could feel Jack's eyes pierce him every now and then. 

"Checkmate" Philip adjusted his glasses with a smirk. 

"What?"

"Look at the board, instead of getting distracted." 

"Damn, well you win this round Philip, but don't think I won't win next time." Jack ran a hand through his brown hair. Lem took a deep breath trying to control the rhythm of his heart due to the other boys action. 

"What shall we do now? And Philip don't say another round. I'm bored of watching you two play chess." Alex added as Philip opened his mouth.

"Why don't we make a new plan." George whispered. 

The others broke out into large smiles and nodded in agreement. With that they made their way to the stairwell in the back. And quietly one by one they slipped through the door. They made their way up the winding staircase, mindful of each creak the wooden stairs gave. George was leading the group up the stairs, when his weight shifted, and he grabbed the railing for balance. 

The others immediately stopped. Lem held onto George's arm as they looked to where his foot had fallen through the step. 

"They seriously need to fix this place up." Philip's eyes shifted around the staircases fearfully. 

"The chances of that happening again are low. We'll be okay." 

"And where exactly did you get that statistic, Alex?" James snorted.

"Up your ass." 

"Shut up boys, let's just continue." Jack took the lead and brought them to the very top of the staircase. He moved aside a wooden board, that hid a large hole in the wall. The others made their way through it. 

Lem stretched and took a seat on a the couch in the attic. Jack sat beside him. To Lem's left Alex forced his way on the couch, squishing Jack and Lem together. The others took seats where ever they could. 

"Alright, does anyone have a prank the Muckers could pull?" 

"We could cover the teacher's lounge in shaving cream again."

"Yeah, but since we've done that we should think of something else." 

"Oh I have a good idea..." Alex laughed. 

"Dear dumbass, enlighten us." Philip snorted. 

"I'm going to ignore that, because you'll end up loving my idea." Alex glared. "What if we used the horse shit to cover the gym floor with it?" 

His idea was met with silence, as the others mulled over it. 

"I actually really like that idea." George laughed. 

"But it's really smelly..."

"We can always take a shower after." Lem added. 

"So Mission Manure, is a go?" Jack grinned. 

"All those in favour of Mission Manure?" 

All hands went up. 

"That settles it. Stage two, come up with a plan." 

The light in the attic turned into a warm orange, as the sun started to set. 

"We should head out, dinner will be served in the dining hall soon." Lem broke up the plotting the boys were invested in. 

"Fine, But we meet here tomorrow to discuss the rest of this plan." Alex grumbled. 

Alex walked out with George, with Philip and James right behind them. Jack placed the wooden plank over the hole. 

"This might be our best prank yet." Lem laughed.

"I don't know, I think setting the school bells for different times was amazing." 

"That's true, but this will be incredibly inconvenient." 

The two walked side by side, down the steps. 

"I'm going to miss you next year...all of you." Jack broke the comfortable silence. 

"Sometimes I forget, that we'll graduate this year, and you'll graduate next year." 

Lem took a step forward, and slipped. Jack caught him by the arm. 

"You alright?" 

"Yeah, didn't Alex say there was no way we'd have a faulty experience on these steps again." 

"We both know Alex made that up, without a single use of a braincell." 

Lem laughed, and felt Jack keep a hold of him. 

They walked down the steps in silence. Jack's arm remained wrapped around Lem's arm. Over the year Jack had grown a lot, and was now an inch taller than Lem. 

The common room was empty meaning that the others had gone off to get ready for dinner. 

"Will you be alright Lem."

"Jack, I'm not a girl. I'm fairly sure I can make it to my dorm without an issue." 

"Right, Of course." Jack fidgeted while looking at his friend. Lem felt that emotion rise within him. The one that made him want to melt on the spot, and surrender to Jack's every whim. 

"Make sure you get to your dorm safely." 

"I'm not some girl either." Jack titled his head with a smile. 

"No you aren't. You're much more than just some girl." Lem took a step closer to his friend. "But you're still a girl." he added and ran off. He could hear Jack curse behind him. 

He slammed his dorm room shut, and pushed his back against it. George turned to look at his friend. Lem slowly slid down the door. 

"What happened?" 

Lem broke out into sobs. "I almost kissed him."

"Oh."

"I love him, I love him, I love him. And it'll never be enough." Lem cried into his knees. 

He felt George wrap his arms around him. And he cried harder. George remained silent, knowing he couldn't find the words to help his friend. 

Once his sobs turned into hiccups, George finally spoke. 

"We're already late to dinner, but do you even want to go?" 

Lem shook his head. 

"Alright I'll bring you something to eat." 

George left Lem. The boy stood and pulled out a sweater from his wardrobe. He switched his uniform for the sweater, and tucked himself into bed. He curled up to stop the waves of pain that attacked his chest.